Mining Operation - Materials

[neo.corricon]

I have a mining ship fitted with Titanium mining lasters, but when I go to execute a Mining Operation Naonite is not listed. There is plenty of Naonite in the area. Is it the level of the mining captian? Is it a bug?

[Rillruin]

You need Naonite mining lasers or higher for Naonite ore. Optionally I believe theirs a subsystem that allows the mining lasers to mine ore +1 material level above the turret material level. Haven't tried those yet. So with one of those subsystems installed a Titanium mining turret could mine Naonite ore. Don't think they are particularly rare, I have a bunch but the servers not up so I can't check.

[neo.corricon]

Originally posted by Rillruin:

You need Naonite mining lasers or higher for Naonite ore. Optionally I believe theirs a subsystem that allows the mining lasers to mine ore +1 material level above the turret material level. Haven't tried those yet. So with one of those subsystems installed a Titanium mining turret could mine Naonite ore. Don't think they are particularly rare, I have a bunch but the servers not up so I can't check.

So I can mine one level higher, but the NPC pilots can not (without any mods)?

[rickcarson]

So I can mine one level higher, but the NPC pilots can not (without any mods)?

No that's 100% not true. Previous commenter is wrong.

Can you post the sector coordinates (i.e. corner to corner of the mining map operation)?

If you, or any of your captains, are mining in the naonite region (approx 375 radial distance or closer to the center) you absolutely can collect naonite with titanium lasers.

---------

Other things which might have gone wrong:

(1) maybe they're (accidentally) actually iron mining lasers
(2) maybe you accidentally equipped a titanium salvaging lasers (the icons are very similar)
(3) maybe (really scrapping the bottom of the barrel here) you accidentally unticked naonite somehow???
(4) is the ship crew okay? Missions won't let you go on them if the crew is stroppy (i.e. haven't been paid, don't have enough gunners etc.)

Other than that ... maybe a mod you have installed is messing it up???? Seems unlikely though.

[rickcarson]

Originally posted by Rillruin:

You need Naonite mining lasers or higher for Naonite ore. Optionally I believe theirs a subsystem that allows the mining lasers to mine ore +1 material level above the turret material level. Haven't tried those yet. So with one of those subsystems installed a Titanium mining turret could mine Naonite ore. Don't think they are particularly rare, I have a bunch but the servers not up so I can't check.

Not even close.

What a mining subsystem does (when you're piloting the ship) is it lets the captain view asteroids with hidden ore, and also tells you the maximum yield of each asteroid.

For mining missions what the mining subsystem does is it improves the % score for the area. Exploring (with a scout mission) the area _in advance_ will also improve the area score.

(NB: you can (and should) do both)

(NB: there's a little icon next to the % in the mission dialog which indicates the _rarity_ of the mining subsystem, which (I think) is all it cares about for that part of the equation (e.g. I assume all yellow mining subsystems are the same, and any yellow is better than any blue, which is better than green (etc.)))

Areas inside the core territory of a faction have a _low_ area score which means lower yields, but also they are much safer. Whereas mining in no-man's-land has much higher yields (as reflected in the area % score) ... but is commensurately more dangerous.

My recommendation is to farm swoks for his subsystem and shove lots of machine guns on the mining vessel. (I reserve longer range weapons for ships of the line)

Also (if you're using an older workshop design) use the selection tool to grab ALL the smart hull and turn it into armour. The ship will be a lot slower, and steer like a brick refrigerator full of bricks, but the missions don't care about how 'elegant' and refined the NPC captain's flying is, it just cares about DPS and HP, so if you crank both of them up you should be able to mine in secluded areas.

Failing that, get a second mining vessel, have it do all of the same things and have it 'escort' the first one. Mining output is the same as if they were flying separate missions on the same area, but the ambush chances will drop precipitously.

[rickcarson]

Also, pay attention to the last % item in the list. I think it's ... cargo efficiency???

If it's below 90 it can be easily improved by adding more cargo space.* If it's below 80 then your ship will spend a lot of time having filled up quickly flying to and from the refinery. If it's 80 or below you should notice a significant increase in yields by getting it to 90 or higher.

*For r-mining only. (Obviously) Also, if you're not r-mining for the mission _you should be_ (and do not mix r-mining and refining lasers on the same ship). The mining mission code _loves_ r-mining and hates refining lasers with a blazing passion.

Also, allegedly, do NOT mix salvaging and mining lasers. Now I've looked at the code and I don't see a problem, but there might be something I missed and anecdotal accounts indicate it drastically reduces yields.

Also, IIRC, two r-mining lasers with 90% efficiency give better yields than those same lasers with a crappy little 60% efficiency laser tacked on. So leave your trash mining lasers at home. Other than that, more DPS is good, but DPS at the cost of efficiency is space-arse.

[neo.corricon]

Originally posted by rickcarson:

So I can mine one level higher, but the NPC pilots can not (without any mods)?

No that's 100% not true. Previous commenter is wrong.

Can you post the sector coordinates (i.e. corner to corner of the mining map operation)?

If you, or any of your captains, are mining in the naonite region (approx 375 radial distance or closer to the center) you absolutely can collect naonite with titanium lasers.

---------

Other things which might have gone wrong:

(1) maybe they're (accidentally) actually iron mining lasers
(2) maybe you accidentally equipped a titanium salvaging lasers (the icons are very similar)
(3) maybe (really scrapping the bottom of the barrel here) you accidentally unticked naonite somehow???
(4) is the ship crew okay? Missions won't let you go on them if the crew is stroppy (i.e. haven't been paid, don't have enough gunners etc.)

Other than that ... maybe a mod you have installed is messing it up???? Seems unlikely though.

- Double checked the mining laser. It was titanium. I gave him a Naonite and same result. I think it is his location. See below.
- Crew is good.
- The center of the mining area is a distance of 301, so we are deep in Green/Naonite (well inside 360).
- I am only using 2 mods. They are both QoL. One that shows resources in the upper left always on, and one that shows resource circles on the map. The mining area is right up against the Trinium.

Since giving him Naonite miners did not fix the issue, I am guessing this is because he is currently in the starting area and does not know how to get to the new area (-173,257 (dist 309)). I gave him a move order and will report back when he gets here. I also purchased a new miner, hired another mining captain, gave him Naonite miners and he is good to go. Got me 10k Naonite already.

[neo.corricon]

Travel was the issue. I guess he did not know how to get to the mining area. Once I moved him, he was able to mine Naonite.