Miner: Difference between revisions

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| suggestedupgrades = [[Mining Laser]]; [[Refinery]]; [[Cargo Rack]]s; [[Collector Drone]]

}}

Mining in Elite Dangerous is a very manual process; the player must use a mining laser to chip off pieces of an asteroid, which are then scooped up to be refined on-board. As time consuming as it can be, a miner with the right technique can make just as much money as they would in other professions.

Mining in Elite Dangerous is a very manual process; the player must use a mining laser to chip off pieces of an asteroid, which are then scooped up or collected with a drone to be refined on-board. As time consuming as it can be, a miner with the right technique can make just as much money as they would in other professions.

To mine, the player must have a ship equipped with a Mining Laser and a Refinery. ~~The player will need~~ to ~~use~~ the ~~mining laser on an asteroid until a chip breaks off, at which point the player will need~~ to ~~fly close enough to the chip that they can~~ guide ~~it into their cargo scoop which will then allow them to refine the chip by using~~ the ~~Refinery module which~~ can be ~~accessed through the ship's right control panel~~. It is recommended that players obtain system data from the Universal Cartographics in order to determine what asteroids are mineral rich and as close to "pristine" as possible which will ensure that the player gets the most 'bang for their buck'.

To mine, the player must have a ship equipped with a Mining Laser and a Refinery. Cargo Racks are important to store the refined minerals and metals. Drones are recommended to improve efficiency. A detailed guide of the process can be found below.

It is recommended that players obtain system data from the Universal Cartographics in order to determine what asteroids are mineral rich and as close to "pristine" as possible which will ensure that the player gets the most 'bang for their buck'.

==Equipment==

* A [[ships|~~ship~~]]

* [[ships|Ship]]

** A great choice for starting miners is the [[Cobra Mk. III]], due to the size of its cargo hold, internal compartments, and its manoeuvrability. It can also fit the Class 2 mining laser.

* [[Mining Laser]]

** Required to extract the ore fragments from an asteroid.

** Higher quality lasers may extract ore fragments faster.

** Multiple lasers may also be equipped, but will draw more power in total.

* [[Refinery]]

** Required to process the collected ore.

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* [[Collector Drone]]

** Automated collection massively improves profit per hour by collecting fragments automatically.

** These require limpets to work (Purchase limpets at any munitions store)

* [[Limpet Controller/Prospector|Prospector Drone]]

** Prospecting allows miners to view the mineral content of an asteroid even from a distance.

** These require limpets to work (Purchase limpets at any munitions store)

==Locations==

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Locations of planets with pristine metallic rings can be found [http://imgur.com/a/vEqgv#0 here] .<nowiki/>

==Guide==

Make sure to bind a Mining Laser (preferably in its own firing group) just like you would do with any other weapon in game. Fly within range (being 500m) of the asteroid and blast away with the Mining ~~Lasers~~. You have to hold down the trigger for a while (depending on the quality of Mining Laser you have bought) before a ~~piece~~ of rock ~~chips off~~.

Mining involves three main steps:

# Fragmenting

# Collecting

# Refining

It is important to note that these steps will generally be happening all at the same time. Technique involves managing all three steps at once to maximize efficiency.

'''Fragmenting'''

Make sure to bind a Mining Laser (preferably in its own firing group) just like you would do with any other weapon in game. Fly within range (being 500m) of the asteroid and blast away with the Mining Laser. You have to hold down the trigger for a while (depending on the quality of Mining Laser you have bought) before a fragment chips off.

Select the fragment of rock as a target. They are quite small and hard to detect visually but do show up as white contacts on your radar. When selected, you get details of the contents of the fragment, e.g. Bauxite (9.7%) Coltan (21.2%). Note that the mineral name which shows up first in the HUD doesn't necessarily represent the most valuable mineral! The mineral content is how much of a ton of cargo can be extracted from the fragment. E.g. if you scoop and process three 35% Indite shards you end up with 1 ton of Indite. Fragments range in mineral content from ~5% to ~65%. Asteroids contain 1 to 3 different minerals while fragments from the asteroids contain up to 2 of those minerals.

Now select the fragment of rock as a target. They are quite small so not always easy to detect visually but they do show up as white contacts on your radar. When selected, you get details of the contents of the fragment, e.g. Bauxite (9.7%) Coltan (21.2%). Note that the first mineral named shows up in the HUD, but doesn'~~t necessarily represent the most valuable mineral!~~

'''Collecting'''

~~The mineral content is how much of~~ a ~~ton of~~ cargo ~~can be extracted from the fragment. E.g. if you~~ scoop ~~and process three 35% Indite shards you end up with 1 ton of Indite. Fragments range in mineral content from ~5% to ~65% and all fragments from the same asteroid are similar~~.

Collecting fragments can be done with a cargo scoop or a collector limpet drone.

~~Having chipped off~~ a ~~piece of rock you now have to scoop it up with your~~ cargo scoop~~. To do so you have to~~ engage your scoop (just like you would with your landing gear or hardpoints), then fly slowly towards the target. Upon engaging the Cargo Scoop you will find that a blue box will have appeared on the lower left of you HUD. On there you should, if pointing at the rock, see an icon in the crosshairs (the box). Continue to fly slowly towards the rock while holding the rock in the middle of the cargo scoop's crosshairs until you have successfully acquired it.

To collect with a cargo scoop, first engage your scoop (just like you would with your landing gear or hardpoints), then fly slowly towards the target. Upon engaging the Cargo Scoop you will find that a blue box will have appeared on the lower left of you HUD. On there you should, if pointing at the rock, see an icon in the crosshairs (the box). Continue to fly slowly towards the rock while holding the rock in the middle of the cargo scoop's crosshairs until you have successfully acquired it.

Asteroid fragments are more difficult to scoop than regular cargo, as their movement is more complex (not to mention the fact that you want to avoid hitting an asteroid while you're focused on scooping!) For this reason, it's advisable to use very slow speeds of 15 m/s while scooping. What's more, fragments will "decay" over time, meaning they slowly lose integrity until they disappear.

~~Now that~~ you ~~have the rock~~ in ~~your hold you will find that, if going to~~ the ~~right hand menu under the tab Cargo,~~ you have ~~some names of minerals in there~~. ~~Press~~ the ~~minerals you want~~ to ~~refine~~. ~~Maybe you have picked up 15% gold and 10% Indium~~. ~~Then you can press~~ the ~~Gold and~~ the ~~Indium so that when~~ you ~~next time pick up some Indium~~ and ~~Gold they will "stack" on top~~ of ~~what you have already. The % stands for~~ the ~~amount of percent it is of a full "stack"~~. ~~One full "stack" gives~~ you ~~1 ton of cargo (one unit of whatever mineral you have collected)~~.

To collect with a collector limpet controller you must purchase limpets ahead of time in any munitions store (the place you buy your ammo). Collector limpets have 2 modes: quick single-collection and autonomous area-collection. For mining, the area-collection mode is recommended. Limpets must bound to a fire group like a weapon.

To activate a limpet in area mode, be sure that no cargo or fragment is targeted. This is important as activating a limpet with a collectible item targeted will activate the limpet in single-collection mode. Once in area mode, the limpet will automatically collect any fragments a specific distance from you based on the class and rating of the controller. While this happens you can continue with other actions such as fragmenting, refining, and monitoring your surroundings.

'''Refining'''

You also have the option to "vent" the contents of your refinery. This is useful if you have a nearly-full refinery of bauxite and you find an asteroid with gold.

Once a fragment enters your cargo hold, it will be deposited in the [[refinery]]. It can be accessed on the left panel of the cargo screen. The first bin is the depositing bin, where you will find your fragment. Select the minerals you want to refine. They will drop into the refinery bins below. Depending on class your refinery will have between 1 and 10 of these bins. You also have the option to "vent" the contents of your refinery. This is useful if you have a nearly-full refinery of bauxite and you find an asteroid with gold (or whatever else you prioritize).

In the ~~upcoming update, 1~~.~~3 Powerplay, there is~~ the ~~introduction of drones~~ which ~~can~~ be ~~used to collect~~ the ~~ore pieces and this~~ will ~~drastically speed up~~ the ~~mining process~~. ~~More details of how this will work will be released when the patch goes live~~.

Items that appear in the depositing bin will automatically "stack" into the refinery bins below if a refinery bin that already contains that mineral exists. This will happen until the bin reached 100% at which point it will be emptied, the leftover mineral will remain in the depositing bin, and 1 ton of cargo (one unit of whatever mineral you have collected) appears in your cargo hold. Once your cargo hold is full, you can return to a station and sell your goods.

== Values ==

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* Mining in planetary rings is more effective as there are always plenty of nearby asteroids to choose from (unlike belts).

* Focus on mining highly valued metals or minerals (like Platinum, Palladium or Gold).

* Use collector drones to speed up efficiency.

* If the asteroid's fragments have low concentration (below ±15%), don't waste your precious time and try different one.

* Even if your cargo is full, you can still fill up the refinery to 100% per slot. When you return to a starport to sell your cargo, this frees up space and each full refinery slot will go into your cargo hold. Treat it as extra cargo space.

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 | suggestedupgrades = [[Mining Laser]]; [[Refinery]]; [[Cargo Rack]]s; [[Collector Drone]]
 }}
-Mining in Elite Dangerous is a very manual process; the player must use a mining laser to chip off pieces of an asteroid, which are then scooped up to be refined on-board. As time consuming as it can be, a miner with the right technique can make just as much money as they would in other professions.
+Mining in Elite Dangerous is a very manual process; the player must use a mining laser to chip off pieces of an asteroid, which are then scooped up or collected with a drone to be refined on-board. As time consuming as it can be, a miner with the right technique can make just as much money as they would in other professions.
-To mine, the player must have a ship equipped with a Mining Laser and a Refinery. The player will need to use the mining laser on an asteroid until a chip breaks off, at which point the player will need to fly close enough to the chip that they can guide it into their cargo scoop which will then allow them to refine the chip by using the Refinery module which can be accessed through the ship's right control panel. It is recommended that players obtain system data from the Universal Cartographics in order to determine what asteroids are mineral rich and as close to "pristine" as possible which will ensure that the player gets the most 'bang for their buck'.
+To mine, the player must have a ship equipped with a Mining Laser and a Refinery. Cargo Racks are important to store the refined minerals and metals. Drones are recommended to improve efficiency. A detailed guide of the process can be found below.
+It is recommended that players obtain system data from the Universal Cartographics in order to determine what asteroids are mineral rich and as close to "pristine" as possible which will ensure that the player gets the most 'bang for their buck'.
 ==Equipment==
-* A [[ships|ship]]
+* [[ships|Ship]]
 ** A great choice for starting miners is the [[Cobra Mk. III]], due to the size of its cargo hold, internal compartments, and its manoeuvrability. It can also fit the Class 2 mining laser.
 * [[Mining Laser]]
 ** Required to extract the ore fragments from an asteroid.
 ** Higher quality lasers may extract ore fragments faster.
+** Multiple lasers may also be equipped, but will draw more power in total.
 * [[Refinery]]
 ** Required to process the collected ore.
@@ Line 21: / Line 24: @@
 * [[Collector Drone]]
 ** Automated collection massively improves profit per hour by collecting fragments automatically.
+** These require limpets to work (Purchase limpets at any munitions store)
+* [[Limpet Controller/Prospector|Prospector Drone]]
+** Prospecting allows miners to view the mineral content of an asteroid even from a distance.
+** These require limpets to work (Purchase limpets at any munitions store)
 ==Locations==
@@ Line 37: / Line 44: @@
 Locations of planets with pristine metallic rings can be found [http://imgur.com/a/vEqgv#0 here] .<nowiki/>
 ==Guide==
-Make sure to bind a Mining Laser (preferably in its own firing group) just like you would do with any other weapon in game. Fly within range (being 500m) of the asteroid and blast away with the Mining Lasers. You have to hold down the trigger for a while (depending on the quality of Mining Laser you have bought) before a piece of rock chips off.
+Mining involves three main steps:
+# Fragmenting
+# Collecting
+# Refining
+It is important to note that these steps will generally be happening all at the same time. Technique involves managing all three steps at once to maximize efficiency.
+'''Fragmenting'''
+Make sure to bind a Mining Laser (preferably in its own firing group) just like you would do with any other weapon in game. Fly within range (being 500m) of the asteroid and blast away with the Mining Laser. You have to hold down the trigger for a while (depending on the quality of Mining Laser you have bought) before a fragment chips off.
+Select the fragment of rock as a target. They are quite small and hard to detect visually but do show up as white contacts on your radar. When selected, you get details of the contents of the fragment, e.g. Bauxite (9.7%) Coltan (21.2%). Note that the mineral name which shows up first in the HUD doesn't necessarily represent the most valuable mineral! The mineral content is how much of a ton of cargo can be extracted from the fragment. E.g. if you scoop and process three 35% Indite shards you end up with 1 ton of Indite. Fragments range in mineral content from ~5% to ~65%.  Asteroids contain 1 to 3 different minerals while fragments from the asteroids contain up to 2 of those minerals.
-Now select the fragment of rock as a target. They are quite small so not always easy to detect visually but they do show up as white contacts on your radar. When selected, you get details of the contents of the fragment, e.g. Bauxite (9.7%) Coltan (21.2%). Note that the first mineral named shows up in the HUD, but doesn't necessarily represent the most valuable mineral!
+'''Collecting'''
-The mineral content is how much of a ton of cargo can be extracted from the fragment. E.g. if you scoop and process three 35% Indite shards you end up with 1 ton of Indite. Fragments range in mineral content from ~5% to ~65% and all fragments from the same asteroid are similar.
+Collecting fragments can be done with a cargo scoop or a collector limpet drone.
-Having chipped off a piece of rock you now have to scoop it up with your cargo scoop. To do so you have to engage your scoop (just like you would with your landing gear or hardpoints), then fly slowly towards the target. Upon engaging the Cargo Scoop you will find that a blue box will have appeared on the lower left of you HUD. On there you should, if pointing at the rock, see an icon in the crosshairs (the box). Continue to fly slowly towards the rock while holding the rock in the middle of the cargo scoop's crosshairs until you have successfully acquired it.
+To collect with a cargo scoop, first engage your scoop (just like you would with your landing gear or hardpoints), then fly slowly towards the target. Upon engaging the Cargo Scoop you will find that a blue box will have appeared on the lower left of you HUD. On there you should, if pointing at the rock, see an icon in the crosshairs (the box). Continue to fly slowly towards the rock while holding the rock in the middle of the cargo scoop's crosshairs until you have successfully acquired it.
 Asteroid fragments are more difficult to scoop than regular cargo, as their movement is more complex (not to mention the fact that you want to avoid hitting an asteroid while you're focused on scooping!) For this reason, it's advisable to use very slow speeds of 15 m/s while scooping. What's more, fragments will "decay" over time, meaning they slowly lose integrity until they disappear.
-Now that you have the rock in your hold you will find that, if going to the right hand menu under the tab Cargo, you have some names of minerals in there. Press the minerals you want to refine. Maybe you have picked up 15% gold and 10% Indium. Then you can press the Gold and the Indium so that when you next time pick up some Indium and Gold they will "stack" on top of what you have already. The % stands for the amount of percent it is of a full "stack". One full "stack" gives you 1 ton of cargo (one unit of whatever mineral you have collected).
+To collect with a collector limpet controller you must purchase limpets ahead of time in any munitions store (the place you buy your ammo). Collector limpets have 2 modes: quick single-collection and autonomous area-collection. For mining, the area-collection mode is recommended. Limpets must bound to a fire group like a weapon.
+To activate a limpet in area mode, be sure that no cargo or fragment is targeted. This is important as activating a limpet with a collectible item targeted will activate the limpet in single-collection mode. Once in area mode, the limpet will automatically collect any fragments a specific distance from you based on the class and rating of the controller. While this happens you can continue with other actions such as fragmenting, refining, and monitoring your surroundings.
+'''Refining'''
-You also have the option to "vent" the contents of your refinery. This is useful if you have a nearly-full refinery of bauxite and you find an asteroid with gold.
+Once a fragment enters your cargo hold, it will be deposited in the [[refinery]].  It can be accessed on the left panel of the cargo screen. The first bin is the depositing bin, where you will find your fragment. Select the minerals you want to refine. They will drop into the refinery bins below. Depending on class your refinery will have between 1 and 10 of these bins. You also have the option to "vent" the contents of your refinery. This is useful if you have a nearly-full refinery of bauxite and you find an asteroid with gold (or whatever else you prioritize).
-In the upcoming update, 1.3 Powerplay, there is the introduction of drones which can be used to collect the ore pieces and this will drastically speed up the mining process. More details of how this will work will be released when the patch goes live.
+Items that appear in the depositing bin will automatically "stack" into the refinery bins below if a refinery bin that already contains that mineral exists. This will happen until the bin reached 100% at which point it will be emptied, the leftover mineral will remain in the depositing bin, and 1 ton of cargo (one unit of whatever mineral you have collected) appears in your cargo hold. Once your cargo hold is full, you can return to a station and sell your goods.
 == Values ==
@@ Line 162: / Line 183: @@
 * Mining in planetary rings is more effective as there are always plenty of nearby asteroids to choose from (unlike belts).
 * Focus on mining highly valued metals or minerals (like Platinum, Palladium or Gold).
+* Use collector drones to speed up efficiency.
 * If the asteroid's fragments have low concentration (below ±15%), don't waste your precious time and try different one.
 * Even if your cargo is full, you can still fill up the refinery to 100% per slot. When you return to a starport to sell your cargo, this frees up space and each full refinery slot will go into your cargo hold. Treat it as extra cargo space.

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