Help; How does mining work?

[Aphaia]

Right I am new to this genre of games and was having fun and even up to the havari section right now. But I keep being asked to mine or get minerals.

I drive over a prime mineral spot it tells me to hit a button to drill here. So i do that, but if i drive off after a bit nothing happens and nothing when i come back.

I am missing something with how this works. I have been able to get it off the planets or anomolies etc floating in space but not while driving around........

[Aachen]

When in a mineral-rich zone, have your mineral detector active (upper left). Each planet will have four types of minerals that appear on it. The detector will spike when it detects one or more of them. Launch a probe, and you will be credited with whatever minerals are in range.

[White Knight]

In case you are still confused, there's basically three ways to collect minerals, etc.

While on your ship, you can visit the planets in a solar system. If there is anything to find you will get an option to interact with it.

On a planet, while in your vehicle, you can approach a mining site (marked on your map) and SAM will inform you that you can mine for minerals. You open the mining console and watch for the meter to jump. Launch a probe and it begins to automatically collect the resources for you. The area around the map marker can be explored for other spots to launch a probe. The mining console gives you information about the available resources (from Rich to Depleted). As well, it tells you when you have left the area. The probes are free and never run out.

Then there are the deposits you can interact with manually (and scan).

You can also buy/sell these minerals at various merchants. There is a merchant you can eventually access on Aya who specializes in mined resources (great for bulk purchases).

[deluge71]

I'm still pretty new to this game, but it seems like the spikes on the mining radar are very subtle and difficult to see. I literally have to stare at the scanner while driving. It's a minor complaint, and I mostly enjoy every other aspect of the game. I just think the mining part is tedious and aggravating.

[sdack]

Originally posted by deluge71:

I'm still pretty new to this game, but it seems like the spikes on the mining radar are very subtle and difficult to see. I literally have to stare at the scanner while driving. It's a minor complaint, and I mostly enjoy every other aspect of the game. I just think the mining part is tedious and aggravating.

The spikes are not subtle. You might just not have found a rich vein.

Go by sound or by the graph. When you have found something, drive in a straight line and find the maximum along the line. Once you have found it, turn by 90 degrees on top of the maximum, and search along the 90-degree line for the absolute maximum of the vein. This is a form of triangulation, is easy to do in a vehicle, and will get you the highest yield for a mineral. Do this a few times within an area and you can deplete it (rich->good->...->depleted). Use your own tire tracks for orientation and for doing a 90-degree turn.

It is quite fun and easy with this method, and can sometimes lead to some acrobatics with the vehicle.