Large Miner Loadouts?

[Minabirb]

Is it worth it to kit them out with all the best gear? Or just max out engine, mining drones, and crew and be done with it? Basically, are MK3 shields and thrusters worth it? The gains on things, especially the thrusters feel so disproportionate to it's cost...

Edit: I'm in Terran systems, doing an all Terran playthrough as my first playthrough. I just haven't really seen enough Kha'ak or Xenon to justify all the extra costs of these things...

Edit 2: I am already filling every slot with something, including shields and turrets. The question I'm really trying to ask is if it is worth it to have MK3 everything as opposed to just MK1. If so, which ones are worth upgrading to MK3?

Edit 3: Thank you everyone for your responses! I think the conclusion is I should stick to medium miners in terran space and maybe set up some patrols in asteroid belt.

[zpc]

Always full crew, some defense drones and good shielding / AA weaponary as well as some laser towers (both MK 1 & MK 2). MK 3 thrusters are not needed IMHO. But some survivability until the cavallery arrives is needed for those lone wolves - as they operate in potential dangerous area. In terms of engines I tend to give out the ones with the lowest travel drive init time (which is TER).

[Carlsberg]

Only thing i give extra is shields so they have some protection from attacks and corrosive environments like the void. If your in Terran Space go somewhere like Oort Cloud, you don't need to worry so much then because the space is good, lots of asteroids and no enemies, just steady income flow.

[Minabirb]

Originally posted by Carlsberg:

Only thing i give extra is shields so they have some protection from attacks and corrosive environments like the void. If your in Terran Space go somewhere like Oort Cloud, you don't need to worry so much then because the space is good, lots of asteroids and no enemies, just steady income flow.

I do give them shields, I'm just wondering between MK1 shields or MK3 shields. The MK3 shield is more than 13 times more expensive than the MK1 shields. while the regen is only increased by around 2.45 times.

I am currently only mining in Sol systems and the starting Pioneer Systems (Asteroid Belt, Saturn 2, Titan, Neptune, Oort Cloud, Maian's Prophecy, and Segaris. I just haven't seen them get attacked ever in my first 48 hours of gameplay.

[Minabirb]

Originally posted by zpc:

Always full crew, some defense drones and good shielding / AA weaponary as well as some laser towers (both MK 1 & MK 2). MK 3 thrusters are not needed IMHO. But some survivability until the cavallery arrives is needed for those lone wolves - as they operate in potential dangerous area. In terms of engines I tend to give out the ones with the lowest travel drive init time (which is TER).

I already do all of this. My question is about whether or not upgrading to MK3 is worth it on every component. I will add this to the post.

[zpc]

Terran MK3 shields are super expensive - it's better to equip those only if you have really a lot of surplus credits (lategame) or have your own equipment dock. Try shields from other factions - ARG are pretty balanced, TEL has a lot of shieldpoints, PAR & SPL have a good recharge rate.

[Minabirb]

Originally posted by zpc:

Terran MK3 shields are super expensive - it's better to equip those only if you have really a lot of surplus credits (lategame) or have your own equipment dock. Try shields from other factions - ARG are pretty balanced, TEL has a lot of shieldpoints, PAR & SPL have a good recharge rate.

I want to stay pure Terran for the purposes of this playthrough, but thanks for the insight for future playthroughs.

As for my credits, I just hit my first 100 mil, I've only been using medium ships (minimum preset + mk1 shields and turrets) so far and nothing has died yet, so I just have very little experience/data to go off of what I should be putting on the large ships.

[Minabirb]

So far what I'm getting from the conversation so far is that mk1 is fine for mining in Terran systems, but I should probably get better stuff as I expand outside the Terran bubble...

[Fel]

L ships cost quite a bit even without anything, if you lose some because you skimp on equipment, you will hate yourself.
What you want from L mining ships are ships sturdy enough to either flee or resist long enough for military ships to recue it when attacked by the khaak.

Of course, if you mine in places without khaak, you can get basic equipment since there is little to no risk involved, but in places like those you typically would go for medium mining ships anyway since their efficiency is much higher.

[Bearsfan]

Originally posted by Minabirb:

So far what I'm getting from the conversation so far is that mk1 is fine for mining in Terran systems, but I should probably get better stuff as I expand outside the Terran bubble...

That is a pretty good rule of thumb. Pirates are the biggest annoyance in other sectors out in the network.
Your investment kind of depends on your desired level or micro-management. I don't like to have to worry about the mining fleet and want to set it and let it go.
So I upgrade to L Crane Es or Boron Rorquals when I can afford it. I do put on Terran 2 or 3 shields on the Crane but both have a good enough shield regen that they can shrug off pirates. Even the occasional L pirate ship doesn't do enough damage fast enough. I do set all my miners to "flee" so that they drag the pirates into stations or patrols quicker so they can get back to work.

[mikemonger]

At the very least you want the best shields and flak turrets all around, unless you want to spend all your time killing Kha'ak.

Engines are secondary, but you'll eventually want to upgrade to speed up your production.

[mikemonger]

Originally posted by Minabirb:

Originally posted by Carlsberg:

Only thing i give extra is shields so they have some protection from attacks and corrosive environments like the void. If your in Terran Space go somewhere like Oort Cloud, you don't need to worry so much then because the space is good, lots of asteroids and no enemies, just steady income flow.

I do give them shields, I'm just wondering between MK1 shields or MK3 shields. The MK3 shield is more than 13 times more expensive than the MK1 shields. while the regen is only increased by around 2.45 times.

I am currently only mining in Sol systems and the starting Pioneer Systems (Asteroid Belt, Saturn 2, Titan, Neptune, Oort Cloud, Maian's Prophecy, and Segaris. I just haven't seen them get attacked ever in my first 48 hours of gameplay.

You WILL eventually have to start dealing with Kha'ak. It's going to happen.

Nothing's more aggravating than the "your L miner was just destroyed" message. Believe me.

[Killzad]

If you don't build your own ships use just the bare minimum Terran space is very safe and almost never has Kha in it or Xenon. You should worry in Getsu Fune and the Void the closest Kaha will come is Sigeris and after.

[Fel]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2420181460
This has a map where khaak can appear (hives in darker red, outposts in pink)

And yes, asteroid belt is among the systems where they can get an outpost, but that's the only system within terran territory where they can show up.

It is stated as version 6.2 though, not sure if khaak changed in 7.0 onwards.

[Minabirb]

Thanks everyone for the responses, this has given me a lot of insight, and I think my question has been answered.

I'm pretty new to using steam to ask questions... do I have to pick a topic answer? Can I pick multiple responses?

[Fel]

You can pick an answer (only one) if you want, it's not mandatory but it can help people that get this thread later by searching.