Asteroid field NPCs are trolls now

[SynapticBoomstick]

The random NPC ships that come to join you in mining asteroids have become a real pain since 4.0, they now seem to go out of their way to suddenly fly right in front of you from off-screen so you'll inevitably hit them by accident and get tagged as a pirate. I don't know if their AI was altered or what but it's made harvesting tritium crystals and anomaly detectors even more tedious than normal. Now I have to tiptoe around and really keep an ear out for how close to me they are and even then it's not guaranteed that I'll expect one to just barrel into my line of fire.

[manywhelps]

I fired my squadron for the same reason.

[Trumpette]

My work around for this is to mine asteroids in empty systems not claimed by either the three races or pirates. Once you find one, name it something you will remember and you can always return to it via waypoints etc.

[Galadhlinn]

Originally posted by SynapticBoomstick:

The random NPC ships that come to join you in mining asteroids have become a real pain since 4.0, they now seem to go out of their way to suddenly fly right in front of you from off-screen so you'll inevitably hit them by accident and get tagged as a pirate.

This made me laugh, as I have had this same experience a few times now. Today I decided to give then a taste of their own medicine. I flew around behind the mining ship and before he could mine the asteroid, I shot it out from underneath him. I only did this for a few minutes, but it seemed he didn't like it. I think it must have been a Gek miner!

[Jmonkey]

I agree, it gets really old having them around. I found it easy to just use your thrusters for about 5 seconds in whatever direction whenever you hear them lurking behind you.... seems to get them off your back for a while. I'm seriously considering becoming a pirate just to farm little mining ships though xD

[k1nqk0nq2015]

Is there a drawback to blowing the little suckers up? Ive been mining them right along with the astroids. Alot of them....I don't notice any negative effects from it but I've just started playing nms.

[Kirshak]

it must be their "look, look at me!" coding in action, have you noticed that your companions, Minotaur and Squadrons just love be in your line of fire ? I bet it is hard coded behaviour to show the player they are here. I can see what they are doing with that, but it is so annoying

[Mr. Bufferlow]

It is not much different than the sentinel ships showing up during a freighter rescue. I actually dislike that more because you are so preoccupied it is easy to not really see them until it is too late.

[+VLFBERHT+]

... they now seem to go out of their way to suddenly fly right in front of you from off-screen so you'll inevitably hit them by accident ...

Happens to me all the time, on the freeway ... seems like you need too get a Dash Cam ;)

[Guyver8]

Lol, Jaggid Edje disliked this feature so much they created a mod to remove them
JE's Asteroid Mining Flyby Begone
https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/2633

[Zak]

There is little reason to mine asteroid later in the game anyway. You can buy Tritium and even Di-Hydrogen from many normal space stations and from most pirate stations. Gold and Silver are plentiful on planets, just build a mine or two, and you can refine Platinum from Gold and Silver. Anomaly Locators maybe? Other than that, asteroid mining is an early game thing only.

Originally posted by k1nqk0nq2015:

Is there a drawback to blowing the little suckers up? Ive been mining them right along with the astroids. Alot of them....I don't notice any negative effects from it but I've just started playing nms.

Unless something has changed in the game recently, then opening fire on other ships in space will alert Sentinels and they will spawn and attack you. So unless you enjoy fighting waves of Sentinels, that's a drawback. Even if you know how to escape them, this will end your mining run.