Core Mining & Fire Groups

[Doctor Wu]

So it's a dizzying array if items to sort out in your fire groups. I found a guide that is confusing to say the least.

FG 1: Pulse Wave Analyser, Prospector Limpets. And it says to put the Analyser as "Button 1" and the Limpets as "Button 2" I have no idea how to do this.

FG2: Abrasion Blaster, Seismic Charge Launcher

FG3: Sub-surface Missile, Collector Limpets

FG4: Discovery Scanner (which is not listed as a module on INARA), Detailed Surface Scanner.

All are listed respectively as Buttons 1 & 2.

Any guidance here would be a relief!

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Look at your right screen, switch to a weapons tab (3rd tab). There you will be able to assign buttons to various weapons/modules, by cycling through "1", "2", and empty. When you create a fire group, a new empty one is added to its right. There you can add other weapons/modules.

[Doctor Wu]

Oh, I know where to set the groups but when this guide I'm referring to says, Button 1 & Button 2, it's confusing. Do you know what they refer to?

[BloodravenD]

Originally posted by King Friday:

Oh, I know where to set the groups but when this guide I'm referring to says, Button 1 & Button 2, it's confusing. Do you know what they refer to?

They're referring to your left and right mouse, or whatever you assign primary/secondary fire, in your keybinds.

[HughJardon]

Originally posted by King Friday:

Oh, I know where to set the groups but when this guide I'm referring to says, Button 1 & Button 2, it's confusing. Do you know what they refer to?

You have two fire buttons that are assigned in the keybindings. They are referred to as primary and secondary. They correspond to the 1 and 2 that appear in your firegroups. if you look in your keybindings, you can see which buttons or keys are assigned, or you can assign whatever key or button you want. when you press one of those buttons/keys, the weapon or device assigned in your selected firegroups will fire.

[Doctor Wu]

Thanks all for the help. Most of the YT videos for ED are crap. Thanks for the help!

[funkynutz]

Discovery Scanner isn't listed as a module on Inara, because it hasn't been a module for years... All ships have it as standard, and it can't be removed/replaced.

[𝕊𝕋𝕌ℝ𝕄-𝕂𝔸𝕋]

Space bar will set the number in the fire group slot. Hit it twice to designate it as '2'. Cycle through with continuous hits of space bar if you mess up, (which will return it to nothing again on the third hit).

Fire group 1
Ideally, you will start off the first vertical column with your pulse analyzer, (I set it as 1 = left mouse button). In the same vertical column, I will have the prospector limpet controller, set to '2' = right mouse button. So while I have set the Pulse wave as number 1, I stay in this column and just scroll down the module list to the Prospector and hit space bar twice now, to set it to secondary fire. Make sense?

This means; While piloting with hard points deployed, I will cycle through the first fire group with the 'N' key, (in the right fire mode, toggled by the 'M' key), so I can look for those 'popcorn 'roids' with the pulse analyzer, then when I find one, I don't need to cycle through another fire mode, because my Prospector Limpet controller is already set as right mouse, so I can scan, then prospect for cores, ready for the next step.

Fire group 2
Back to your right panel, under 'fire groups' again, you will get a second column appear as soon as you set the first column. You will notice that every time you set fire group columns, there's always another column that gets created next to it, ready for your next fire group assignment. (To remove fire groups, just set everything in that column to nothing by cycling through the space bar and you will then see that column disappear).

So, now you have the pulse wave analyzer and prospector both set in fire group 1, and you are hunting for asteroid cores, in the second fire group column, you can make the 'Seismic charge launcher' number '1' by scrolling down to the seismic launcher and hitting space bar to set it to '1' (which will be L Mouse Button in piloting fire mode), hit space bar again if you want it as number '2' which will obviously then be RMB. This won't trigger the pulse wave analyzer or prospector, because they are fixed in fire group 1, which is cycled through with the 'N' key, when flying around. It basically means that you can assign many different tools/weapons to left mouse button and cycle through them all by making these fire groups! Pretty neat.

- In this 2nd vertical column- (fire group 2), you can have just the Seismic launcher, (it saves any accidental discharge of other weapons/tools if you hit the right mouse button by mistake). But if you wanted, you could set something else as a secondary, although you typically don't need to.

Just be aware that this translates to each time you hit the 'N' key when piloting your ship, you are going to cycle through your weapons/tools from the fire groups that you have made. So you will see on the left and right of the HUD, the weapons/tools that you have set, corresponding to left or right mouse, respectively, each time you cycle through with the 'N' key.

Fire group 3
This column, which appears ready for assignment as soon as you made fire group 2, is where you could assign a 'Sub-surface missile launcher' (1), and 'Collector limpet controller' (2). So if you wish to collect sub-surface minerals, once you have found an asteroid you want with your prospector, you could hit 'N' key to go to your next fire group and proceed accordingly with fire group 3 and whatever you assigned within it. Just remember to make sure you have targeted the prospector limpet, so that it shows up in your left info panel what materials you have detected. If you don't target the Prospector Limpet, you cannot see in the info panels anything relating to the asteroids properties. (been there done that lol)

Fire Group 4
Depending on what you've brought with you as hard points and what you are intending on doing, here, in this next fire group, you could assign the abrasion blaster and a collector limpet controller. So your previous fire groups would have the Seismic charge launcher, so once you have detonated an asteroid successfully and finished with that, you would be ready to cycle fire modes with 'N' in order to use an Abrasion Blaster to scrape the core fragments off and collect them with your collector limpets! It's advisable, but not compulsory, to just stick with the one collector limpet module, the better the class, the more limpets you can have active at a time. I only say this because it means you can fire off your abrasion blaster whilst also deploying collector limpets as and when they expire, aka - decide to kamikaze into an asteroid

My favourite ship to mine cores (since that's my mining style) is a Python, because of its agility and small size - to cargo capacity ratio. But maybe you're already rocking a Corvette or Cutter or something. Perhaps an Asp or Krait? Whatever you mine in, you will need to assign the tools to fire groups so that you can use them in the respective order of use.

Phew! Best of luck and feel free to ask any other questions, no question is a stupid question, unless it's asking me for money :P

watch out for those rocks Cmdr o7

And remember... don't forget your Limpets! hehe

[Doctor Wu]

Thanks, Sturm-Kat o7