Mining question

[MasterFurbz]

So I'm still pretty new at the game. I just hit lvl 16 and I recently upgraded from the lvl 1 ship. I bought a corvette class ship that claims to have 2 mining lasers attached to the sides. I did a bit of forum searching and what I found was that I could unmount all of my weapons and then re-mount mining lasers onto them. (which becomes cost prohibitive pretty quickly with the mount/unmount fees)

My questions is why do I need to do this if my ship has 2 mining lasers already on them? How do I use these lasers while I have weapons attached to my primary hardpoints? I couldn't find a hotkey or anything of the sort to toggle the usage of them. Also, does using the mining lasers grant any benefits other than faster mining? (heigher yield/quality etc)

I normally wouldn't even bother with mining on this class of ship; However, I'm strapped for cash on this playthrough (it seems that it's much easier to level than to make money on your first time playing.) I used to make great cash from salvaging, however it wasn't enough to purchase the ships I wanted, and now the enemy vessles I encounter (destroyers, battleships, beefcake freightliners) signifigantly outclass my measly gunship/corvette.

[Audacity]

Would also like to know how to do this as I just purchased the Philadelphia.

[Cheesecake]

I have unmounted weapon systems and mounted new ones but I only recently noticed where mining lasers are, after like 30 hours ingame. So for light weapon systems when you UNMOUNT a light weapon system it will say Mining laser in that hardpoint, its the default and is free. So you don't pay for mining lasers as ALL ships come with them, least that i have seen, and once you mount a regualr weapon system in that slow you can NOT switch between the regular weapons and mining laser. You can still mine with regular weapons fire but I do not know if or how that affects the mining yield.

[SpiralRazor]

just unmount your weapon and you have the mining lasers again......mining with normal weapons is possible but not nearly as fast.

[ronniejw2002]

I'm going to have to test the mining lasers again. In beta I didn't use them because rail guns were way faster to mine with.

[Lich Lord]

mining lasers do the job ona frieghter for mining just fine and as stated above the are the default weapon when you unmount your purchased guns.

[Enter Name]

I've noticed that mining lasers also seem to break asteroids instantly on my Bohemian Freighter. Mining laser also have the supposed drop bonus, so just sit on the Union Claim area, mine up some easy shards and make money out your ears. Don't forget to buy the license from those guys too, it gives better prices on ore-type commodities.

[ronniejw2002]

I've tried to mine in the Union Claim area and I've gotten blown up over and over. I've been selling the ore at the Salem Station (where I purchased the license) but that area is camped by deadly enemies.

[LoveCake]

Mining laser are basicly "free", however they do 100x times damge to asteroids.... which means you can mine with them a bit faster then normal weapons..... but it is not something you can shoot with really so just mine with normal weapons or if you want very good mining just buy torpedoes for mining its 5x loot from asteroid.