Large Mining Drones Not Working?

[skunkmonkey]

I bought a large Cthonios (Mineral) Sentinel, and I loaded it up with 4 cargo drones, 2 repair drones, and 4 mining drones.

When I go mine (either manually or with AI) the drones don't launch, and the ore won't go in my cargo hold. I've tried using the tractor beam as well to no avail.

How do I launch the mining drones? From what I've read it sounds like it should be automatic, but they don't launch even when there's ore floating in space.

On my ship info screen the Drones category shows:
Cargo Drone 4/10 (0 Unavailable)
Repair Drone 2/10 (0 Unavailable)
Mining Drone 4/10 (0 Unavailable)

[grapplehoeker]

The mining drones are used for mining gas.

[skunkmonkey]

After driving around a bunch and trying mining different resources I FINALLY got the mining drones to automatically launch, but only for the AI. If I'm in control the drones don't launch.

Also, the mining drones aren't for just gas. They are the ONLY way to get ore into a L miner. Tractor beam doesn't work, running into floating ore doesn't work.

Apparently the AI likes silicon, but not some other ores. I guess I'll just have to let the AI fly my ship *sigh*. I was looking forward to flying around in my capital mining vessel, but it appears to be busted as of this time.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by skunkmonkey:

After driving around a bunch and trying mining different resources I FINALLY got the mining drones to automatically launch, but only for the AI. If I'm in control the drones don't launch.

Also, the mining drones aren't for just gas. They are the ONLY way to get ore into a L miner. Tractor beam doesn't work, running into floating ore doesn't work.

Apparently the AI likes silicon, but not some other ores. I guess I'll just have to let the AI fly my ship *sigh*. I was looking forward to flying around in my capital mining vessel, but it appears to be busted as of this time.

I don't think I've ever piloted any of my miners myself.
I always set them to automine and designate what they should mine for, or assign them to mine for a station of mine and have the station manager determine what they mine.

[skunkmonkey]

I've always loved mining. I do everything else with AI, but I like to fly my miners around myself.

It's sad, I think the problem is that the AI only launches the mining drones when the ore that you're automining (aside from ice apparently as that appears to be bugged) is floating in space. I believe that it doesn't launch the drones for me because then it's not looking for a specific ore, so the AI doesn't know what to send the drones after. I would be happy if they just launched and pulled in everything.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by skunkmonkey:

I've always loved mining. I do everything else with AI, but I like to fly my miners around myself.

It's sad, I think the problem is that the AI only launches the mining drones when the ore that you're automining (aside from ice apparently as that appears to be bugged) is floating in space. I believe that it doesn't launch the drones for me because then it's not looking for a specific ore, so the AI doesn't know what to send the drones after. I would be happy if they just launched and pulled in everything.

Have you tried setting them to automine a sector but only one type of mineral?

[skunkmonkey]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Have you tried setting them to automine a sector but only one type of mineral?

Yeah, it works fine if the AI is in charge ,but if I am driving then the drones will never launch. I suspect that it's because when the AI is in charge then it knows what mineral it's after, so it's able to launch the drones, but when I'm in charge the game ignores the automine settings, and so it doesn't know what minerals to go after, so it doesn't launch drones

[eMYNOCK]

Originally posted by skunkmonkey:

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Have you tried setting them to automine a sector but only one type of mineral?

Yeah, it works fine if the AI is in charge ,but if I am driving then the drones will never launch. I suspect that it's because when the AI is in charge then it knows what mineral it's after, so it's able to launch the drones, but when I'm in charge the game ignores the automine settings, and so it doesn't know what minerals to go after, so it doesn't launch drones

100% correct.

sadly there is no way for players to utilize any L+ Ship Drones personally.

you can, however, utilise a small miner like the one thetys variant to personally mine smaller ammounts or Ore and unload that into a bigger Ship like the Cthonios.

Though, that would be very inefficient.. but if you really want to be into that RPG Style.. i thinks that would be a good solution.

[Strange Yogurt Juices]

Originally posted by eMYNOCK:

Originally posted by skunkmonkey:

Yeah, it works fine if the AI is in charge ,but if I am driving then the drones will never launch. I suspect that it's because when the AI is in charge then it knows what mineral it's after, so it's able to launch the drones, but when I'm in charge the game ignores the automine settings, and so it doesn't know what minerals to go after, so it doesn't launch drones

100% correct.

sadly there is no way for players to utilize any L+ Ship Drones personally.

you can, however, utilise a small miner like the one thetys variant to personally mine smaller ammounts or Ore and unload that into a bigger Ship like the Cthonios.

Though, that would be very inefficient.. but if you really want to be into that RPG Style.. i thinks that would be a good solution.

Are you kidding me? It's MY ship. I bought it. I should be able to use it.
That's like saying, "Oh, here you go players. A big ol' destroyer for you to buy and fly around in. Oh, but you can't use the guns. Yeah, sorry, you can't shoot anything. Just let the ai do that, we were banking on everyone using these babies RTS style. Who wants to fly their own ship nowadays?"
That's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ridiculous.

[Winderlook]

Of course it is ridiculous.
Two years after release and game's still having fatal bugs and lacks essential features. And that's all for AAA game price, for you.

Damn, I miss X3 Terran Conflict times.

[skunkmonkey]

The X series has always waited until development finishes completely before going into bugfix mode. That's why I stepped away for a while. I have complete faith that the game will be amazing (it already is.) I'm just going to be patient and wait until it leaves pre-release before I play again.