Hover miner

[Salty Slothy]

Ok so I'm clearly doing something wrong cuz I can't mine worth ♥♥♥♥ with these things. I'm fighting the auto correcting angle and getting hung up on everything without actually being very productive. When I do manage to smash my face into the Ore it bites off a fat chunk usually in the 30s each time but that's after minutes of fighting this thing. I'm using the first mining drill still because the turret is way out for me at the moment.
What do I need to do to git gud with these things?

[QuackerJack]

I can feel you. After the update HV are even worse to control. The auto correcting angle is non stop searching for a flat surface in a inverted globe (ore hole).
Really annoying.
Before that you could manuel set the new horizon with shift/space and manually adjust with Q and E - but it seems also that is gone for now.

[Salty Slothy]

Originally posted by QuackerJack:

I can feel you. After the update HV are even worse to control. The auto correcting angle is non stop searching for a flat surface in a inverted globe (ore hole).
Really annoying.
Before that you could manuel set the new horizon with shift/space and manually adjust with Q and E - but it seems also that is gone for now.

Why would they get rid of that instead of adding a toggle? I like the repulsorlift feel to it but for mining it's awful. And they limit mining equipment to hovercraft only so you're up ♥♥♥♥ creek on this.

[tinsmith33]

Just add the new T2 mining lazer for HV . problem solved , only way.

[Haildodger]

Three things:

-Holding down O will level your HV.
-Holding down shift will flip you over, if you end up upside down.
-Pressing shift while holding O will lock your HV in it's current position, which can be very useful for mining. You must press shift+O again to unlock it. You cannot land, or exit while shift+O is locked on.

Hope that helps.

[El Presidente]

Much prefer to mine the stones with harvester up until auto miners are available.

[Winterfalke]

Are you using a prefab or a HV you built yourself? And do you just have a single drill? HV miners work best with 4-6 drills, clustered together they clear a small area very rapidly, spread apart they drill a large area at low spead. At just the right spread they can clear a good sized area at a good pace, finding the right overlap is difficult. The Ladybug and DrillSergeant seem to be very popular. Having the right balance in your HV is important, as is having the hover engines in the right locations, and having enough thrust and turning acceleration.

And technique does matter, with some HV miners I clear out layer by layer, others I find work better going around the outside edge then coming back and clearing out the middle.

[Hondo]

Yes, using the HV's to mine is a bit of a chanllenge, but once you get the hang of it, it can be very useful. One thing I find helpful is making the hole I'm working in bigger/wider (like what Winterfalke was saying) so I can move around. Plus, don't dig to deep all at once. I dig for a bit and then I work on the path to the surface, then go back down, dig some more, then back to the path etc. Nothing worse than getting your HV stuck in a hole and then spending the next day digging it out - LOL

[Salty Slothy]

Originally posted by tinsmith33:

Just add the new T2 mining lazer for HV . problem solved , only way.

Problem isn't solved cuz that's almost 10 levels away.

I'm using the first prefab with a drill on the front. Didn't know about the leveling bit will try that.

[Winterfalke]

Here are two of my HV miners, the Falcon is a bit cheaper, but is more difficult to handle. The Thunderbolt pattern is my go-to early miner, until I can afford a heavy unit.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=830606652
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=859678500

[Salty Slothy]

I started using the ladybug and I found a really good tactic. Carve out a nice little ramp first so I hit the ore dead on, go full throttle at it with the drills on and just dig straight down until I hit stone. Works like a charm!

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by 10TH ACB TheOSB:

I started using the ladybug and I found a really good tactic. Carve out a nice little ramp first so I hit the ore dead on, go full throttle at it with the drills on and just dig straight down until I hit stone. Works like a charm!

Now that you've used the Ladybug, compare it with this... you'll be pleasantly surprised and never go back ;)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=822525565

[AbsynthMinded]

Using a HV for mining is a nightmare so far. I do not enjoy the experience at all. The attitude and auto level is comepletely broken and useless. When I finnaly get the rare resources Ill try a more advanced Miner.

It really sucks at the moment tho.

[_Xan_]

To be honest I found both ladybug and drill sergeant to not be that good.

You just need lots of thrust and rcs and all your problems go away. Try out my miner(s) I made after I learned about this and now mining will be easy. I have both a T1 drill and T2 drill variant.

Darklady is pretty good too but i always like to use my own ships so I kinda learned how others did theirs and made my own. I'm probably too biased to say whether mine is better or worse so it's up to you to decide. In any case these Hv work great for me.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1185881196

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1186368226

[ggfirestorm]

This is the one I use below.
I was frustrated at first but with practise HV miners are very fast.
The trick is small and powerful HV miner, keep changing views to orient yourself, back up and wiggle and hit the 'O' often. I have a mouse button for this, made a huge difference.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1183441322

[AbsynthMinded]

I need a tracked miner that maintains proper orietntation and gravity. You know the mechanics are broken when in a bore hole chamber you give up and just turn off the thrusters and hope gravity will sort you out.. Ha, wasn't I suprised when I bounced and jiggles around worse with thrusters off. WTF is that all about?