M vs L miners.

[Valykry]

Generally speaking, it seems a lot of people prefer the M class miners over their L counterparts due to their speed and ability to make use of the highways. But in terms of "goods per hour" per credit spent on ships, are M class ships still more efficient?

Will 10,000,000 credits worth of M class miners outperform 10,000,000 credits worth of L class miners?

[Oddible]

There have been some really extensive studies done on this with massive spreadsheets - maybe check the Egosoft forums. IIRC the answer was that L miners only really shine when you have high star rating pilots because of contention at mining locations and having to move around a bit while mining. I could be wrong on that though. I think the recommendation was to build a mining station in a mining rich area, use M miners to fill the station, use L miners on repeat orders to distribute the raw materials.

[TwistedSeven]

L miners is safer from kha'ak attacks, so less need for protection.

[Wraith]

Actually I personally feel it the other way around.

To much people like L miners because they dislike the Kha'ak so much.

In my own experience M miners out perform L miners if we are talking about money to money equivalent.
Though it also depend where they are mining and how far they are going.

However I feel it best to mix S, M, and L miners for maximum efficiency.

[Valykry]

So it's probably best to stick with M class for gathering resources, but L class to transport from one station to another.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

M miners spend less time selling their wares in numerous small trades...
I use L occasionally for wares I need constantly

[Sumppi]

I almost exclusively use L class for mining, This is mainly due to Khaak and having my own mining stations for them to unload on so selling isn't an issue. Might be a bit less efficient but I can just build a few more and once I assign a ship to mine it will probably still be alive and working a day later. Most of my stations are in sectors where I wouldn't use the highways much anyway. Not optimal but it is more reliable.

I hate losing M class ships to random threats and then having to replace them.

[Pandorian]

I use L miners because of the reserve system. M miners are more susceptible to dying, not only to Kha'ak, but to Xenon and anyone else you may be hostile towards. L miners being able to survive against attack is an intended mechanic since they can fit turrets other than mining on them. So instead of having to build a large amount of docking for M ships and hoping I get the ratio correct; I'd rather just build piers and have standard L miners I can swap between trade and mining as needed.

[arrak]

Mostly M miners. Steady ballanced flow of resaurces.
Khaak can harass 2or3 out of 20, but can Not destroy my M´s.

The reason i use a few L´s are to test-fly those beauties myself ...

Sometimes 3 N´s spawns in a area where theres a few Khaak.

[Valykry]

Looks like I'll just stick with M miners. From what I'm hearing, it seems like the few areas that L does outshine the M's, it isn't by much, and just throwing a few more M's in the mix is enough to make up the difference.

Thanks guys.

[arrak]

Using M´s ... Just secure, or blacklist sectors frequinted by Xenon.
3 N´s can kill a lone Nemisys.

[Wraith]

Miners are also safe base on what you mine.

Ice miners, Gas miners have no problem being M size because Kha'ak don't actively aim for them.

The Kha'ak would need to run into them for a fight to engage.

[Inkarnus]

I noticed the more dry a system is the better it is to use smaller miners.
Asteroid belt was a prime exampel i added several hokaidos but it didnt improve turnover by much. Added Several M and especially S miners and the turnover exploded.
My conclusion was that either L miners need alot more Landing spaces or that the lower the yields get the better it is for smaller miners. On top i had like several M docks so alot more docking logistics.

[BEEP!]

I'm pretty new to the game but I found out if you doing minning and sell the ore and what not in the same location or right next to it the Lminers earned about 20%to30% more for me but if you are minning a location that requires your miners to jump more than a single time Medium miners are the way to go.

But I prefer Lminers because I don't really have to worry about protecting them from pirates so use a mix of the two Lminers for local auto mine then for you pilots that can do advanced auto mine put them on medium miners so they can sell at the best price I found this worked really well.

[Valykry]

Back when I started out, I heard you don't have to worry about L miners too. So I bought a L Teladi miner, and equipped it with the best stuff (think it cost about 20m?).
It had nowhere near paid for itself before it fell prey to... Something.
Probably Xenon stacked up by one of the gates.
Anyway, pirates may leave them alone, but they are by no means safe. I ended up reverting to a previous save over that.
Yea, it didn't last long enough for an auto save before purchase to get buried.

[Shenji]

I have some TEL L miners, from XR ship pack (I guess), with over 70k storage these miners are brilliant for filling massive factory complexs.