Mining isn't Broken Just Watch Out For Depletion

[JessyJams]

You can't see the minerals in the Galaxy Map commodity list any more which means you can no longer see which systems are buying or selling minerals of a particular type. You also can't see which of the buyers is paying most.

Furthermore, hotspots don't seem to have ANY of the material specified. I've tried 3 hotspots, each on separate rings of separate planets. Not one had a single asteroid with the specified material after 120+ prospected asteroids. I used the pulse scanner and only tested bright yellow/red.



Edit!

If you are following mining guides and turning up empty handed, It's because of a new mechanic called Depletion.

You can't see it. It's invisible to you, but the more a hotspot is mined, whether by you or someone in solo elsewhere in the world, the fewer good asteroids the hotspot will contain. This effect, while invisible is HUGE. It means the difference between making 20 million credits/hour or not even being able to cover your limpets.

Don't mine the same hotspots as everyone else. If you suspect your hotspot has gone dry move on. THere's no way in game, far as I can tell, to see this mechanic.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Cause you can only get them by mining asteroids. They are never for sale, only for buy.

[JessyJams]

Thanks, but why wouldn't it atleast show the import pricing?

How do I tell what station will buy them? I used to be able to see import pricing on things like Painite. Now I can't?

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Originally posted by McKE:

Thanks, but why wouldn't it atleast show the import pricing?

How do I tell what station will buy them? I used to be able to see import pricing on things like Painite. Now I can't?

I think it only shows the import prices if they are actively looking to import that commodity, and offer a good price. Otherwise they don't list it. You can still sell it there, but the price will be below the average.

[JessyJams]

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

Originally posted by McKE:

Thanks, but why wouldn't it atleast show the import pricing?

How do I tell what station will buy them? I used to be able to see import pricing on things like Painite. Now I can't?

I think it only shows the import prices if they are actively looking to import that commodity, and offer a good price. Otherwise they don't list it. You can still sell it there, but the price will be below the average.

What I mean is how do I use the galaxy map to figure out where to sell now? If the mineral can't even be seen on the galaxy map, I would justy have to randomly travel around to sell it.

Beforee I could filter the galaxy map by mineral type> import to see who would buy it. Since I can't filter it now, I have no idea where to take the minerals to sell.

[JessyJams]

I like 3.3 but mining seems broken atm.

Is there really no way to now see who will buy your minerals? We used to be able to filter star systems by import of minerals, now we can't. So this means there's no way to find a buying system, and no way to see which of the buying systems is paying most.

Secondly, hotspots aren't giving any of the mineral specified. I tried 3 hotspots, spent 120+ prospector limpets targeting the bright yellow/red pulse asteroids. Not a single mineral of the hotspot type.

Is someone able to confirm or deny the above? I'm trying to make sense of the new mining system. So far it's nearly impossible to use.

[DuDun]

Dunno About working properly or not. Some people have reported to find those rare materials. But my experience was the same as OP's. Not once did I find the Void Opal as it was suggested on another thread, and I did use surface scan to find void opals and pulse wave across the asteroids.

[JessyJams]

Originally posted by DuDun:

Dunno About working properly or not. Some people have reported to find those rare materials. But my experience was the same as OP's. Not once did I find the Void Opal as it was suggested on another thread, and I did use surface scan to find void opals and pulse wave across the asteroids.

I'm curious to hear how others experiences could be so different.

The pulsewave scanner doesn't appear to tell you anything about the asteroid whatsoever. It's entirely random. Neither the content, quanitty of minerals, or quality of minerals is consistent. I've tested over 100 asteroids with no correlation.

Assuming I got a full cargo of Alexandrite, or Painite etc. How do I figure out where to sell it now?

I'd really like a mining expert to explain what's going on because quite frankly, I'm surprised every other thread isn't about this very issue. Mining is completely broken right now unless I'm missing everything about it.

For the record. I mined tons before 3.3. Now I'm totally 100% lost on how it's supposed to work. I'm not talking about using the modules, I'm talking about the process of finding the minerals> choosing a place to sell them. There seems to be almost zero means of doing so.

[van Leeuwenhoek's mustache]

Originally posted by McKE:

Is there really no way to now see who will buy your minerals?

Yes, there is --> https://inara.cz/galaxy-commodities/
(select the commodity you're interested in selling, then click on the "BEST SELL" tab.

Originally posted by McKE:

Secondly, hotspots aren't giving any of the mineral specified. I tried 3 hotspots, spent 120+ prospector limpets targeting the bright yellow/red pulse asteroids. Not a single mineral of the hotspot type.
Is someone able to confirm or deny the above? I'm trying to make sense of the new mining system. So far it's nearly impossible to use.

I can deny your conclusion.
Hotspots do contain fissure asteroids loaded with the specified rare minerals BUT they also contain other kinds of fissure asteroids.

If you can't find the specified minerals, it's likely because you're mining "dry" rings.
What star system are you mining in?

Always check recent traffic in candidate star systems, that way you'll have a better chance of avoiding "dry" rings.

Star system traffic can be obtained using --> https://www.edsm.net/


Btw, I wrote a guide for deep core mining (where I explained all this stuff), check it out, you might find it quite useful:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1593415736

[JessyJams]

Originally posted by Gramer Natzi:

Originally posted by McKE:

Is there really no way to now see who will buy your minerals?

Yes, there is --> https://inara.cz/galaxy-commodities/
(select the commodity you're interested in selling, then click on the "BEST SELL" tab.

I'm expected to do out of game what I used to be able to do in game? Is that really the answer here?

let me rephrase.

Can I no longer find a buyer for my minerals in game? I haven't gotten a straight answer on this yet. I could do this very easily pre 3.3

Originally posted by McKE:

Secondly, hotspots aren't giving any of the mineral specified. I tried 3 hotspots, spent 120+ prospector limpets targeting the bright yellow/red pulse asteroids. Not a single mineral of the hotspot type.
Is someone able to confirm or deny the above? I'm trying to make sense of the new mining system. So far it's nearly impossible to use.

I can deny your conclusion.
Hotspots do contain fissure asteroids loaded with the specified rare minerals BUT they also contain other kinds of fissure asteroids.

If you can't find the specified minerals, it's likely because you're mining "dry" rings.
What star system are you mining in?

I mine pristine metallic/icy rings as I always have in more than one solar system. I have never had the dearth of minerals like I do now. Specifically the ones the hotspot is supposed to have. I can get painite like it's going out of style in Rez sites, but it's non existent in multiple painite hotspots.

Always check recent traffic in candidate star systems, that way you'll have a better chance of avoiding "dry" rings.

Star system traffic can be obtained using --> https://www.edsm.net/

Why am I now forced to use out of game resources? What about people who want to play the game? Didn't have to do any of this pre 3.3

Btw, I wrote a guide for deep core mining (where I explained all this stuff), check it out, you might find it quite useful:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1593415736

SO where's the actual technical information answering my questions?

I know how to use the modules.I know how to select good mining locations. I am not new to mining.

What does the Pulse Analyzer actually measure? I literally can't tell after over 100 asteroids tested with it. THere is essentially no difference between it and pre 3.3 random selection.

What do hotspots represent in actual statistical terms.? How do they work with or affect ring quality (pristine metallic etc.)?

I appreciate your response, but it doesn't address my very real results. The pulse analyzer actually doesn't seem to measure anything tangible. Hotspots are eerily devoid of the minerals they specify.

Your guide is well put together, but it's not actually rigorous enough for what I'm trying to determine. I don't mean that as offense, it's perfectly good at what it does.

The problem, though, is that fundamentally the cycle of mining seems broken.

1) I can't find an in game pricing on many minerals. This means I can't determine what I should mine. Strangely, it's only the minerals/metals worth mining in the first place...

2) I can't determine who will buy it. Among buyers I can no longer see who will pay most.

3) When mining, the Pulse analyzer doesn't seem to even tell me anything about the asteroid. At best it's rolling dice and doing the guess work for me.

4) Hotspots seem to contain LESS of the specified mineral than general rez site mining sites.

The above issues, especially 1 and 2, make mining significantly worse than pre 3.3. If there is indeed an in game way to do it, I'd love to know. Can't profitably mine without it. Using a third party program to do what used to be standard is not an acceptable solution.

I mined a pristine Icy ring for Grandidierite in a Grandidierite hostpot. 60 asteroids tested. SIXTY, that were all hot according to the Pulse wave analyzer. Not one grandidierite. That is an incredibly significant statistical anomaly. I tried to stay in the 20 km radius, but ran out of hot asteroids so branched out.

I repeated the above for a Painite hotspot 3 systems over. Same deal. Didn't do 60 limpets this time though. It was more like 25 + whatever my friend tested in the same hotspot. Zero Painite. Never had zero painite in such a large sample doing pre 3.3 mining.


Does anybody have any numerical analysis yet? The likes of which we've had for pre 3.3 mining? I encourage people who are serious about mining to just sit and ponder what's going on under the hood. We all get how to use the modules. We know what to look for, but under the hoold something isn't right. Furthermore, the removal of in game market data for minerals is utterly jaw droppingly out of tune.

Am I really expected to use a third party site to do waht used to be standard? Or am I supposed to randomly dock at stations until I find a seller worth selling to?

[van Leeuwenhoek's mustache]

I'll try to answer in a way that (hopefully) won't force you to reply with another wall of text missing my fundamental points.

-You are indeed new to mining, same as everyone else, since mining mechanics just got
overhauled. (Unless you're a time traveler from the future, that is. ^^)

- Mining is crazy profitable right now.
There's no need to gather statistical data in order to make 100+ million / hr.
In fact, doing so will likely drive you nuts at this point (since FDevs are still tweaking
things).

- If you want specific technical data, you won't find it here, I'm afraid.
Either raise a ticket or create a new thread on the official forums:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/forumdisplay.php/30-Dangerous-Discussion


- The pulse wave analyser does tell you where fissure asteroids are.
It won't tell you anything about asteroid composition, just the "density" of deposits on/in
it.

No glow = surface deposits

Dim - somewhat intense glow = subsurface deposits + surface deposits (maybe)

Very intense glow = deep core deposits (ALWAYS) + surface/subsurface deposits
(maybe)

(Your mileage may vary, but this is the general rule as far as I can tell)

Just so you know, my first mining foray in 3.3 was a 9 hour disaster, pretty much.
The guide I linked is the product of all the stuff I've learned about the new mining system
since.

Not trying to sound pretentious here... but it freaking works! ^^

Before applying the methods described in the guide --> 4 million/hr
After applying the methods described in the guide --> 100+ million/hr

From what you say, it seems like you've been mining in "dry" hotspots, where most fissure asteroids have already been mined.

- I can find the specified hotspot minerals without much trouble, as long as I'm not in "dry"
hotspots.
Again, some fissure asteroids in your path will contain different rare minerals, but they'll
be highly profitable all the same.


- You don't have to use online tools, of course, it's up to you.
However, keep in mind that you're having a hard time mining ALSO because you refuse
to use them.
To a certain extent, you're kind of complaining about the consequences of your choices
(when confronted with a problem).

Sure, I agree that there should be ways of obtaining rare mineral demand data in-game.
However, new rare minerals just got here, it'll likely take some time for FDevs to fully
implement everything and fix issues.

You can either be patient, use online tools temporarily or keep having a hard time finding
certain rare minerals and venting your frustration here ^^.

[whitevalfore]

Only the redest of red of roids will be loaded with cores to blow open, and u must set ur siesmic charges just right (be at blue lvl, NOT RED in the siesmic guage) WITHIN the countdown and be at least 1km from it before it goes off, MINE everything else before starting the boom phase or ull miss out on the other mines as they will get destroyed.

[whitevalfore]

The hotspots are the general area of the proposed asteroids, ive found a few of em but requires a bit of exploring the hotspot to sniff em out with the pulse wave.

[whitevalfore]

And dont forget prospector limpets as they are a must.

[van Leeuwenhoek's mustache]

Originally posted by whitevalfore:

Only the redest of red of roids will be loaded with cores to blow open

That's actually not true. Fissure asteroids can have a deep yellow glow as well.
What matters is the intensity of the glow, rather than the color.

Check fissure asteroid pics from my guide, you'll see.

[d[-_-]b]

Originally posted by McKE:

Originally posted by DuDun:

Dunno About working properly or not. Some people have reported to find those rare materials. But my experience was the same as OP's. Not once did I find the Void Opal as it was suggested on another thread, and I did use surface scan to find void opals and pulse wave across the asteroids.

I'm curious to hear how others experiences could be so different.

The pulsewave scanner doesn't appear to tell you anything about the asteroid whatsoever. It's entirely random. Neither the content, quanitty of minerals, or quality of minerals is consistent. I've tested over 100 asteroids with no correlation.



I'd really like a mining expert to explain what's going on because quite frankly, I'm surprised every other thread isn't about this very issue. Mining is completely broken right now unless I'm missing everything about it.

For the record. I mined tons before 3.3. Now I'm totally 100% lost on how it's supposed to work. I'm not talking about using the modules, I'm talking about the process of finding the minerals> choosing a place to sell them. There seems to be almost zero means of doing so.

>>Pulsewave

It could use a lot of improvement. For core mining the target rocks you want to waste a prospector drone on are the brightest ones, and usually they will also show black lines and/or green highlights on them.
Ignore the small ones you see like this too, it's only the medium'large ones worth core mining (blowing up)

>>Assuming I got a full cargo of Alexandrite, or Painite etc. How do I figure out where to sell it now?

Select cargo on the right, enter your system, and use the Best Sell tab to find where to go
https://inara.cz/galaxy-commodity/