Question about mining.

[Markieyoyo]

Hi all!
I am new to the game and have a few questions and points of thought :o. First of all, it seems the resources to mine, like steel are very limited on the map. People have told me to start a new colony somewhere but the game tells me it's strongly advised to stick to 1 colony when i tried to increase max colonies. So what where the devs having in mind then when it comes getting your hands on more steel & components early to mid game? Another question is when there is so little to mine, why would i ever even consider the mining skill on pawns to be of any importance? I ran out in like 20 minutes? what am i missing here?

Thanks :D have a nice christmas ^^

[whatamidoing]

You should have enough steel, at least, on the map to last to deep drilling and long-range scanning, which are the main intended methods of getting more resources later. Components may be troublesome if you do a lot of crafting, but are obtainable in decent quantities through trade. Steel is also obtainable through trade if you need it.

[Yxklyx]

Each map is different. I'm in the mountains and there's steel everywhere and I'm over 5 years in. Also, you will sometimes find steel deposits inside mountains so you could pick a spot and just start digging a tunnel and you may get lucky and find some.

[Azunai]

The mining skill also affects the amount of steel you get per node. An unskilked worker at 0 skill only gets (i think) 60% of the steel. So a good miner can be useful especially if there is a limited amount of material on the map.

[brian_va]

You can also dig tunnels through hills and mountains if there are any as there will likely be some hidden

[boytype]

Gotta main line research to Ground Penetrating Radar and deep drilling, and then get to Advanced Fabrication asap, before you run out of components.

If you can do that, you will have basically unlimited steel and components on your map without having to travel to mine on other locations.

[whatamidoing]

Deep drilling sucks for components, since you can't find them with it and have to waste a bunch of steel and labor-time making them. The long-range scanner lets you find desposits of components directly in large quantities, yielding ~100-150 per.

[boytype]

I have honestly not had a component shortage in literal real world years, but I also buy almost every component that I see on a trader.

But it is true that you can be self-sustaining on a single base without ever leaving by making your own components with fabrication, even if it requires a dedicates crafter.

[Zane87]

Yeah I also rather prefer self-sustainability with with crafting your own components instead of long-range finding and mining them. The crafting time for a dedicated crafter in a well set-up workshop personally beats the time it needs to set up and set off a caravan for the mining process imo and you don't have to deal with ambushes and the like + your force rather is at home when a huge raid drops.

That being said, it's a very marginal win for me and ultimately it is preference however one wants to supply oneself with resources/components, be it mining/crafting, long range mining or buying/caravaning to outposts. The important part is that you actually plan to set up one of those ways ASAP so you don't run out cause then it can become ugly.

[whatamidoing]

Long-range scanning is self-sufficient. You can clean up a deposit easily in under a day with drop pods as well.

[Zane87]

Originally posted by whatamidoing:

Long-range scanning is self-sufficient. You can clean up a deposit easily in under a day with drop pods as well.

But you have to leave your home map. By that logic buying at outposts could also be considered the same. To specify: I prefer the safety of my home map ;)

[whatamidoing]

No, buying from other factions isn't self-sufficient. Mining long-range deposits is also safer than being on the home map. You have 10 days before any threats can happen out there, and you can easily clean up the deposit and drop-pod everything and everyone back well before then.

[boytype]

Ngl it sounds like a massive amount of resource dedication and time away from base to me, compared to having a dedicated crafter.

You gotta use fuel and pods to send all the stuff, to build pod launchers and the pods to send stuff back, with enough food and fuel for the trip, bedding, etc.

I am sure it must be worth it in the end if you have found it useful, but I think I would just raid a mining outpost instead if I was gonna do all of that lol

[biomike]

Originally posted by boytype:

Ngl it sounds like a massive amount of resource dedication and time away from base to me, compared to having a dedicated crafter.

You gotta use fuel and pods to send all the stuff, to build pod launchers and the pods to send stuff back, with enough food and fuel for the trip, bedding, etc.

I am sure it must be worth it in the end if you have found it useful, but I think I would just raid a mining outpost instead if I was gonna do all of that lol

I dont know why people use pods for that, i just send a caravan with like 3 people and my dromedaries and it only takes a day there and a day back
And if you are having problems making food that can last for that short amount of time you got bigger problems

[Steelfleece]

Grow corn in mass. Sell corn to traders for silver. Buy out the stock from passing spaceship traders who carry plasteel/steel/uranium/components. Grow more corn.

...At least, that's how I do it. Everyone has their own style.

[Limdood]

You can also request bulk good traders from allied factions to trade for steel.

Those resources are supposed to be scarce though. If you want to stretch them, then keep steel I use to a minimum, you can use non powered workbenches where applicable. A smelter also provides renewable steel from smelled weapons and slag chunks (from every drop/crashed pod or mechanoid ship or space ship chunk)