Mining/automining guide

[Regent]

Hi all, just starting with the game. I googled the topic before coming here, unfortunately almost every post with answers is random and quite fragmented. The information is sometimes contradictory.
Is there a complete guide to automining anywhere? I would greatly appreciate it.

My main problem is that my single mining ship with 1* captain is just sitting there in space 90% of the time. First I couldn't get it to mine anything at all. After literally scouting every pixel of a sector (Second contact) and dropping 10 resource probes I managed to get it to mine ore and then it just sat there with a hold full of ore.
I have read that it meant that there were "no offers to buy" in the sector, but it isn't so I managed to get it to sell it's ore in a nearby station manually but it sort of defeats the whole point of "auto mining". Also, is there a way to get it to sell the ore in other sectors? Not just where it mined it?

I would also appreciate tips on where to start auto-mining operations. Please suggest a sector where its easiest to start (not necessarily most profitable).

Thanks in advance!

[Dunkler Messias]

First, discover several discovers and drop resource probes if resources are found. (red/blue/purple hexagons in the map)

Explore the whole sector to find resources and stations so you (and your ships) know where stuff can be bought and sold.

After that choose a sector which has both, station/s with buy ore or silicone and also a high density of ore/silicone. Resource probe should show at least one star, better more.

Set the miner to automine and that's it. If you see the miner is idling, just give it some time.

Some sectors: Second Contact VII or XI. Trinity Sanctum VII (PAR sector). Morning Star IV.

Regent lähetti viestin:

Also, is there a way to get it to sell the ore in other sectors? Not just where it mined it?

Sure. As default behavior use advanced autominer. But for that the pilot needs 3 stars in the pilot skill.
You could also build some kind of mining trade station, where you only place solid storage (for ore and silicone), set miners to mine for commander, and again miners to trade for commander. Because only miners have the solid storage which is used for ore and silicone. So normal traders can't trade since they have a container storage.

[shietinghd]

Weird if you set to automine 0 star it should go mine stuff and sell to highest offer.

[Regent]

Dunkler Messias, thanks. Could you please clarify just a few points?

1. discover several discovers - what exactly did you mean here? Discover new sectors?
2. high density of ore/silicone - how to determine that? When I flew around myself I saw a lot of asteroids with ore but the automated miner seemed to pass them by looking for resources.
3. But for that the pilot needs 3 stars in the pilot skill - how to level them up? Or where to find 3* captains?

"You could also build some kind of mining trade station" - thanks for the suggestion but I am just starting, so no money. Was hoping to get some with miners. No luck yet )

[Venerable_Sin]

Example 1:
Get yourself a small miner and find yourself a TEL Teladianium Foundry near a big red patch on the map. (Usually silicon/ore the red patches). Teladianium requires ore to process into Teladianium. After you've found the factory near the red patch set your small miner to repeat order then right click the red patch, mine ore, then right click the factory sell ore. You now have an autominer. :)

Here is a screenshot for reference. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2490011247849525018/94CCA7D7FD0658E11EA06CB641761750BC8A2A7E/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Example 2: Figure out what resources require ore or silicon. If you're encyclopedia is missing information then you will have to go around the map exploring sectors by jumping through gates and scanning station modules. From there you should be able to figure it out.

If you're unwilling to invest the time figuring it out for yourself, there are sector maps available on the internet. Alternatively you can search Egosoft Forums. There you will find the link to the official X4 wiki, which should give you additional/supportive information.

Good Luck and safe travels!

[Dunkler Messias]

Regent lähetti viestin:

Dunkler Messias, thanks. Could you please clarify just a few points?

1. discover several discovers - what exactly did you mean here? Discover new sectors?
2. high density of ore/silicone - how to determine that? When I flew around myself I saw a lot of asteroids with ore but the automated miner seemed to pass them by looking for resources.
3. But for that the pilot needs 3 stars in the pilot skill - how to level them up? Or where to find 3* captains?

1. Well, I don't know how many sectors you already discovered. Maybe there are still sectors which you didn't found yet. And some sectors might be resource rich and have stations which would buy the resources you could mine in the sector.

So, buy a scout ship with resource probes and some satellites, if the ship is built open the map, select the ship, right click into a sector (if there is "fog of war") and order it to explore the sector. If it's done and you found a gate or highway which leads to a sector you didn't discover yet, select the scout ship, right click on the gate or highway and choose explore sector. The ship will fly through the gate/highway and explore the new sector.
If there are resources, drop resource probes. You may want to drop some satellites directly on gates and highways and some important stations like wharves and shipyards.

2. Open the map and take a look to the top right. Left from the search bar are three symbols. Click on the second one (Mining) and it will show you details about density if you dropped a resource probe before. Some sectors may have lots of ore but the density is pretty low, so mining will take longer. Please ignore the asteroids you see personally. These are only rendered if you are nearby. And miners actually have to fly to asteroids and collect resources. But if you are out of sector, there are no asteroids anymore and the miners will work based on a script. Important are pilot skill, service crew skill and resource density. And probably the stats of a miner like drift, yaw, base speed. (but don't give them too much attention)

3. That's the neat part: You don't. Leveling pilots in normal ways will take a looooooooooooong time. Maybe if you let some ships fight against some enemies for several hours you'll get some three star pilots. But are nowhere there, so this is something for later.

For now you can buy seminars (basic seminar and 1 star seminars) from station vendors. (dock at a station and use the elevator)
You get better seminars from some missions. Not story missions. Just have the mission offer tab open and maybe one will reward you with either a pilot or management seminar. Can go up to five stars, which is pretty rare, though.