Autonomous Mining uses?

[mfrost]

I have been working on getting auto mining going on.....but damn, the auto mining is soooo slow. I can mine personally with the Terrain Manipulator so much faster even while clearing out the entire area of resources. The unit is just so slow, I just remove it and mined it myself. Am I missing something?

[Jaggid Edje]

Don't waste your time with them would be my advice. Get the extractors (gas and mineral) unlocked, which mine "hotspots", as soon as you can, if you want automated mining. They are 1000 times faster and 100 times more reliable than the autonomous mining units.

Until then, if you really want to automate some of your mining, you need to set up multiple autonomous mining units on the resource for it have any worthwhile output. You can shrink them down before placing them in order to fit pretty much as many as you want, then do 'other things' while they work. They don't deplete the resource they are on, at all.

[mfrost]

Yeah, thank you for the reply. I am learning.

[NZ.Zero]

They are about as useful as an antique chinese vase.
Ming unit is a good name.

[Edit: OP wrote 'ming' originally - has 'fixed' it now.]

[mfrost]

@NZ.Zer0 LOL I heard that!

[mfrost]

speaking of the units.......do they make the resource get smaller and eventually disappear? or... what happens?

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Very early game the auto miner might be okay if you are playing PD or Survival and your health drops quickly outside. It is slow and pretty useless even in that scenario. Usually easier to buy what you need or build a temp structure and mine a deposit quickly from the safety of inside.

It was introduced way back when having a base was brand new. It didn't even make a lot of sense back then. HG rarely goes back and updates an item if it is technically working.

[mfrost]

or after my mining unit is done, I can mine it with the manipulator and get more resources?

[Jaggid Edje]

After it is done you can mine it with the manipulator. The AMU's do not deplete the resource at all, not even just a little.

I sometimes use them in a new game, before I have the extractors unlocked. I usually will set up like 6-10 of them at once though. They are just way too slow to be worthwhile without using them in large quantities.
Then I will go do other things, like scan flora/fauna/minerals, work on building my base, gathering storm crystals...or whatever, while they work.

They are glitchy though and tend to just empty themselves out if you go too far away from them, so I'd recommend staying on the planet where you placed them until they are done.
They also empty themselves out entirely if I'm playing multiplayer and anyone else enters the same system, so fair warning if you have multiplayer on and aren't in an isolated place in the galaxy.

[mfrost]

Ok @Mr. Bufferlow your info is coming faster than my questions. I hope peeps look at your info because it has helped me a lot.

[mfrost]

Damn, lots of real players are chiming in. Jaggid Edje is here. Thank you all for showing up.

[Praxis-W]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

HG rarely goes back and updates an item if it is technically working.

Since it's basically a coin-flip to see if there's still resources in one of these things whenever I open it. I'd say there's a good argument for it NOT working properly.

It's essentially a slot machine miner. Put some carbon in and MAYBE you get some resources out.

[mfrost]

good to know

[knighttemplar1960]

I use them in permadeath. Set 5 of them up on a node. Put half a tank of fuel in each (press "C" to get 1/2 stack of fuel after picking it up) drop a save beacon so that you can find the node again, and go off and explore. Dig up some buried tech modules, buried caches, activate some knowledge stones.

After half an hour of real world time return to the AMUs, empty them out, and then disassemble them. Be aware that if you leave planet or cause a loading screen to occur the AMUs can spontaneously empty.

[Prescient Stones]

The feeling.. it's hard to explain... humm..
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2892142237


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2892142347

[mfrost]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

I use them in permadeath. Set 5 of them up on a node. Put half a tank of fuel in each (press "C" to get 1/2 stack of fuel after picking it up) drop a save beacon so that you can find the node again, and go off and explore. Dig up some buried tech modules, buried caches, activate some knowledge stones.

After half an hour of real world time return to the AMUs, empty them out, and then disassemble them. Be aware that if you leave planet or cause a loading screen to occur the AMUs can spontaneously empty.

I didnt think about putting more than 1 on a single node. good to know