mining question

[Dex]

So I've been getting into mining. I have my starter ship and I've been collecting little crystals I see around the mine fields. Great money. I made like 2 million in 30 minutes or so of gathering. I look up a mining video and see a dedicated mining ship (2 million or so credits) getting 70k credits per run of silicon.

Am I missing something? Why the hell would I get into "proper" mining if I can make so much money just scavenging crystals? Do mining ships gather crystals while they mine the asteroids as well or something?

[mmmcheesywaffles]

The crystals seem to run out fast. Although I'm not sure I do think the crystals only appear on otherwise empty asteroids.

Miners do not mine the crystals

[eMYNOCK]

Heya Dex,

there is a huge difference between "proper" Mining what is needed for the Economy and Crystal Mining what is much more like good old, cliche Wild Western Gold Prospecting.

The first is needed to get Raw Minerals, Ore, Silicon & Ice into Refineries to process it further for the other Industry branches.

The Crystal mining is, like mentioned, like that what those old, grumpy Prospectors in the Movies do...

@mmmcheesywaffles

Crystals will always Spawn totally random, in some Asteroid Fields more in some less.
Just keep in mind that you will have to change Sector from time to time or you won't get new Crystals.

[Dex]

Originally posted by eMYNOCK:

Heya Dex,

there is a huge difference between "proper" Mining what is needed for the Economy and Crystal Mining what is much more like good old, cliche Wild Western Gold Prospecting.

The first is needed to get Raw Minerals, Ore, Silicon & Ice into Refineries to process it further for the other Industry branches.

The Crystal mining is, like mentioned, like that what those old, grumpy Prospectors in the Movies do...

Ok, so basically, when I get into actual factory building and dealing with the economy on a bigger scale, I might want to mine for actual resources, not just for the profit of selling the ores?

That actually makes ..some sense I guess.

thanks for the response (you too mmmcheesywaffles!)

[Alith-Ahnar]

Originally posted by mmmcheesywaffles:

The crystals seem to run out fast. Although I'm not sure I do think the crystals only appear on otherwise empty asteroids.

Miners do not mine the crystals

You right about they not only show up on empty rocks they can also stick to any regular resource rock including even ice.

So grab em as fast as possible might be a local miner swoop in and blow up your mother load of a Crystal Rock ... and i do not imply that something so horrible could have happend to me no sir never to me. *grumble*

[mmmcheesywaffles]

Originally posted by eMYNOCK:

...
@mmmcheesywaffles

Crystals will always Spawn totally random, in some Asteroid Fields more in some less.
Just keep in mind that you will have to change Sector from time to time or you won't get new Crystals.

That's good to know :) I just haven't noticed any more crystal fields in my travels. I was looking for easy funds and tried a few asteroid belts to no avail. Thankfully a few Xenon decided to pester my in my Odysseus :) Lots of collected drops for those Pirate traders :)

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by mmmcheesywaffles:

Originally posted by eMYNOCK:

...
@mmmcheesywaffles

Crystals will always Spawn totally random, in some Asteroid Fields more in some less.
Just keep in mind that you will have to change Sector from time to time or you won't get new Crystals.

That's good to know :) I just haven't noticed any more crystal fields in my travels. I was looking for easy funds and tried a few asteroid belts to no avail. Thankfully a few Xenon decided to pester my in my Odysseus :) Lots of collected drops for those Pirate traders :)

The easiest and most popular crystal mining is at the asteroid serpentine ring in Argon Prime. It is good harvesting and you can make 5-10 million per 1-2 hour session. That's very handy in the early game, but you won't be doing much of that later, because your traders and stations will be making millions by the minute ;)
There are other locations in X4 space, but you'll just have to go find them ;)
The best part about crystal mining in the early game though, is that it's a great way to train your piloting and shooting skills!
As for proper mining ships, they're mining for silicone, ore, ice, nividium, teladium... all of which are the basic resources required for production of components that go into food, meds, weapons, ships and station parts. I try not to sell those basic resources, because the real profitsss are in the finished products ;)
In any case, I get plenty of crystals just by logging in to the game. The Ventures rewards give them to you, so if you set it for an 8 hour Venture expedition and you log in every 8 hours, then you'll get plenty with no work required ;)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1857945288

[Dex]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Originally posted by mmmcheesywaffles:

That's good to know :) I just haven't noticed any more crystal fields in my travels. I was looking for easy funds and tried a few asteroid belts to no avail. Thankfully a few Xenon decided to pester my in my Odysseus :) Lots of collected drops for those Pirate traders :)

The easiest and most popular crystal mining is at the asteroid serpentine ring in Argon Prime. It is good harvesting and you can make 5-10 million per 1-2 hour session. That's very handy in the early game, but you won't be doing much of that later, because your traders and stations will be making millions by the minute ;)
As for proper mining ships, they're mining for silicone, ore, ice, nividium, teladium... all of which are the basic resources required for production of components that go into food, meds, weapons, ships and station parts. I try not to sell those basic resources, because the real profitsss are in the finished products ;)
In any case, I get plenty of crystals just by logging in to the game. The Ventures rewards give them to you, so if you set it for an 8 hour Venture expedition and you log in every 8 hours, then you'll get plenty with no work required ;)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1857945288

Man, I don't even know what ventures are lol. I have a lot of learn in this game

[mmmcheesywaffles]

I'm looking forward to using Ventures too. But I just spent a good 2 hours looking for crystals in Argon Prime and only collected 2x Menelaen and 1 common one! I thought since I stayed away from crystal mining for a week I might have a larger haul :(

Perhaps the 30M I earned earlier in the game has cleared them out :(

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by Dex:

Man, I don't even know what ventures are lol. I have a lot of learn in this game

The Ventures system is why I don't use any mods. It's that good. (it cannot be used in a modded game)
Basically you build a Ventures platform, from which to manage your expeditions (see image) and a Ventures Dock, from which your chosen ship departs your universe and enters a parallel universe (another player's game). The ship will wander around exploring and return with goodies for you. You may set the duration for different lengths of time from 1 hour up to 64 hours and the rewards vary a little per type of mission. So just send them away hourly during a play session and then send them away for however long between sessions.
This is great for the beginner and veteran player alike. The beginner will appreciate the cash and crystals, while the mid game player can use the crafting components and late game player will appreciate the ship modification components.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

How much does it costs to set up the Ventures facility? Also, how cheap a ship can Venture without losing it?

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by mmmcheesywaffles:

How much does it costs to set up the Ventures facility? Also, how cheap a ship can Venture without losing it?

It costs nothing but base building parts. It may be built as part of any of your stations, but may only build it once.
So, if you get started building your player HQ station (The Experiment Quest), you could/should make that the first thing you build onto it after the regular docking bay. Then you'll be able to reap the rewards and get your tech research done straight away ;)
You cannot lose a ship sent out on a Venture expedition. They are safe. You may send any type of ship you like as there are expeditions for combat vessels and transporters.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

I keep putting off the PHQ for some reason. But now I think you have given me the incentive.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by mmmcheesywaffles:

I keep putting off the PHQ for some reason. But now I think you have given me the incentive.

Oh you gotta do it.
I don't know if I could play without Teleportation. It's an essential tech you have to research.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

It's been hard. A few times I got stranded on a station despite carefully laying orders to wait for me. The only boring moments in my game LOL

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by mmmcheesywaffles:

It's been hard. A few times I got stranded on a station despite carefully laying orders to wait for me. The only boring moments in my game LOL

Heh ;)
For me, there are three memorable/pivotal moments in the game:
1. Watching your new PHQ materialise.
2. Learning Teleportation
3. Realising how much money ship sales makes
Have fun ;)