Best way to Farm Ardonian Components?

[CenturionsofRome]

So I need a lot to make the End Game Dreadnoughts (25) and was wondering if anyone knew the best way to farm for Ardonian Components since mining for Iridium (3 units is needed to make 1 component) isn't viable because the drop rate for Iridium is so low. I find Indium more often that I find Iridium.

[WeaverSong]

Mining isn't bad at all; 3-5 hours of mining is enough to get 25 ardonian components. Assuming that you're mining in a level 50+ Very Right asteroid rush, have refineries to process ore, and mine asteroids at a decent speed. You can also get them from scavenging and hunter fleets, although (at least in my experience) these will take significantly longer than 5 hours to get enough.

[ZeroDivide]

Important thing if you are using refineries.. Only refined Green ore has a chance to drop Iridium so it may pay to just leave the gray/red ore sit in a station or destroy it.

Mining gets my vote for the top way to get mats

[CenturionsofRome]

Was mining in a Level 55 area for 4 hours. Only got 6 Iridium. Which is why I'm asking if anyone else has any ideas.

[WeaverSong]

Originally posted by CenturionsofRome:

Was mining in a Level 55 area for 4 hours. Only got 6 Iridium. Which is why I'm asking if anyone else has any ideas.

Was it a Very Rich level 50+ asteroid rush? Did you have any bonuses to chance to find rare metals? Only 6 iridium in 4 hours is extremely low.

[Jaasrg]

Get some specialized supervisors with +rare mineral chance.
Had couple of those and whatever I get from perks and find iridium even in very poor asteroid rushes.

[CenturionsofRome]

Originally posted by WeaverSong:

Originally posted by CenturionsofRome:

Was mining in a Level 55 area for 4 hours. Only got 6 Iridium. Which is why I'm asking if anyone else has any ideas.

Was it a Very Rich level 50+ asteroid rush? Did you have any bonuses to chance to find rare metals? Only 6 iridium in 4 hours is extremely low.

Yes, it was very rich, also heavily populated, and had 2 mining stations and a civilian station. There were 4 asteroid fields.

[WeaverSong]

Oh, asteroid fields. By endgame, unless you've got a quantum pulse nonsense to one-shot the entire field they're probably not worth your time at all. Asteroid rushes are just so much better, giving you limitless rocks for no effort.

[Gottchar]

Originally posted by WeaverSong:

Oh, asteroid fields. By endgame, unless you've got a quantum pulse nonsense to one-shot the entire field they're probably not worth your time at all. Asteroid rushes are just so much better, giving you limitless rocks for no effort.

I beg to differ, I dont like asteroid rush farming as it feels a little lame (personal preference). Two miners laser (the space 3 PMC special ones) or equivalent custom mining lasers will keep your 5 refineries busy. No need for any weird of fancy stuff to get a lot of ore.

For both asteroid rushes and normal asteroid fields you want
-strong mining lasers (in my case, purple and 6 space worth of)
-lots of cargo space
-special crew sure helps
-talents
-enough refineries to keep up and which have 48 geology range, in my case 5 purple PMC
-talents make all that easier

for normal asteroid fields please have strong warp ability (ardonian or even optronic drive, lots of energy available), you can, if you want, use fleet and drones in normal fields, but not rushes. Drones are especially nice for people who want to have a ship of war, as you can just swap your shields for drones and refineries at any station quick and easy and do an hour of mining, without needing too much other stuff.

[Spud the Spud]

Is there any benefit to refining range beyond 48?

[Zarinthal]

I take a cruiser out into asteroid rushes with a cargo expansion, a stack of refineries and the strongest green core lasers i can run on the front mounts. Then I destroy anything and everything I don't want so I can make fewer trips for the things I do want. Otherwise, farming hunter fleets is a decent alternative if you have any enemies with low enough reputation

[Gottchar]

Originally posted by Spud the Spud:

Is there any benefit to refining range beyond 48?

nothing at all, you cant even get it on a refinery (a PMC refinery with upgrades should be above 48, but stops at 48). Your own range can go higher, with no effect. Range only "unlocks" items anyway. I think 47 has no benefit over 46 as there is nothing unlocked at 47 either and so on.

[AnotherBoris]

1) Surveying skill.

2) Mining ship.
Donkey.
Enchanted with +4% Crew Efficiency and Weapon Range +20.
4-space and 12-space Heavy Mining Laser Beam. With damage modifiers, range and heatsink on 12-space. Specialized gunner, reducing Weapon Heat Generated in 12-space turrets. Purple Heatsink. Specialized Supervisor +Mining Speed. Two Specialized Supervisor +Chance to mine Special metals. A Good First Officer. Mynor Miner or at least Bogan 'ET' Bandit. Purple Asteroud Analizer 3.0. 2 or 3 purple Collector Beamor PMC Collector Beam.

3) Refining ship.
Donkey or more (more equipment space).
15+ purple PMC Moblie Refinery. Some Gyroscope and Drive to the ship could fly 20 meters if someone moved it away from station. Some kind of shield.

4) Transfer to the Mining ship. Jump into the Very Rich Asteroid Rush. Break everything that flies. Destroy everything below Green Ore in the cargo and unnecessary metals are higher. In three minutes we collect 4-8 Iridium and 400+ Green Ore.

5) Jump to the station, unload everything to the station, transfer to Refining ship. Uploading Green Ore. 15 Refineries process 3 Ore per sec, so it will take us a little more than two minutes for 400+. At the same time, we get about 1 Iridium per 50 Ore.


In total, we get an average of 14 Iridium in six minutes. Well, let it be 15. This is the 5 Ardonian Component. Thus, we will need half an hour for 25 :) Tested! :)

[MrQun]

Is there away to instruct gunners to target asteroids while flying solo?

[AnotherBoris]

Originally posted by TheQunRules:

Is there away to instruct gunners to target asteroids while flying solo?

IDK. But it's just not necessary. In Asteroid Rush, you still can't kill all the asteroids, you manage to shoot only those that fly directly at you. But this is enough for three Collector Beams not to have time to collect loot :)

[Porked!]

I prefer using Hephaestus to mine since its broadsides are superb for custom long range mining lasers. The extra 3.2x damage is also very good.
Load it with 3 mining augments and 1 range augment and all the Geo 48+ refineries and you are bound to swim in every single crafting material available in this game.