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Oxbow Mk 2

I decided to make some updates to the Oxbow because, while I enjoy using it, I thought a couple of things could be better. Setting up a mining job then jet packing back to the Oxbow never felt quite right so I made a mining ship that can be controlled remotely while still using PAM. I also added a small drone for scouting out the ore deposits. Neither converting the ship to a station or constructing a merge block felt right either so I replaced the merge block with an auto locking landing gear to make anchoring the Oxbow easier. I wanted to be able to harvest an asteroid cluster without actually having to leave the ship and these changes make that possible. I also added a few solar panels for a small amount of passive battery regeneration. There are a couple minor cosmetic changes as well, like some additional exterior lighting.


The PAM (Path Auto Miner) script that the Oxbow and its miners support provides, once set up, completely automated mining. You simply need to set up the path for each miner and define the area to be mined. You can then kick back and relax or monitor and even send commands to the miners from two stations on the Oxbow. This is an incredibly easy system to use. Kudos to Keks!


Before you start setting up a mining job convert the Oxbow to a station or use the auto locking landing gear on the nose of the Oxbow to lock the ship to a nearby asteroid, this ensures very accurate re-docking for the miners, because moving the Oxbow during a mining job ensures the opposite and even a stationary ship seems to move a little.

When setting a path for the miner undock by turning off the connector and then go straight down from the hangar at a speed slow enough to set waypoints 2m apart (you'll see this on the left screen), 180 an "aileron roll" about half way down then just before you hit the lower deck move out and away from the main ship. This gives PAM plenty of waypoints and enough room to execute perfect re-docking every time. Also, turn the connector back on as you’re heading out of the hangar.

The M-49 has been set up with a camera pointing at a PAM screen so mining jobs can be set up while remotely controlling the miner so you never have to leave the ship.

When you’ve reached the mining spot, position the miner at least a ships length away from the surface and set the job up from that position. Open the info tab for the miner and check the box for "Show sensors field range" to get a visual of the parameters you're setting for the mining area. The miners are set up to auto eject rock by backing out of the hole, dumping the rock, then going back in.

Setting up a mining job remotely makes it difficult to view the parameters box when using the camera. I keep in mind that each width and height tick is roughly equivalent to the height and width of the miner. You could also position the Probe drone to give you a bird's eye view of the miner and its parameters box and switch back and forth between it and the miner.

When setting the depth of the mining job I like to set it so that it just barely extends into the asteroid. I then change the Depth Mode (second to last setting) from “default” to “Auto (Ore)”. The miner will continue digging till it’s about a ship's length of stone past the Ore. With the default setting the miner will dig to the depth set by you.

This system has worked perfectly for me using 4 to 6 miners the last few times I've set up jobs without having to leave the ship. I am, in no way, an expert on PAM or even SE, these are just observations that I felt made things go smoother.

I put some data pads in the locker behind the hangar control seat that contain a key guide for the less obvious hot bar items
You can turn off the Inventory Manager or toggle its control of the refinery que from the "Hanger Control" control seat.

Hangar Control Toolbar 2
[1] Attach Rotor (for drone docking)
[3] Detach Rotor (for drone undocking)
[6] Turns "sort refinery que" ON
[7] Turns "sort refinery que" OFF
[9] Toggles the Inventory Manager programmable block ON/OFF

The PAM button set up for both PAM controller stations is the same as the M-49.
Toolbar 1
[1] Up
[2] Down
[3] Apply

* Issy's door script is used, you only need to open one door when using the airlocks, the script does the rest

PCU 38,421
Blocks 5,865
4 Refineries w/Speed modules
2 large reactors
8 Batteries
12, yes 12, Large Cargo Containers
8 Jump drives
Ion/Hydrogen thrusters
6 Gatling turrets/ 2 Missile turrets

Automatic LCDs 2 by MMaster
Isy's Simple Doors by Isy
PAM by Keks
Ship Layout by 3zanders
Isy's Inventory Manager by Isy

M-49
Piper
Probe

UPDATES:
Added missing PAM controls to the Piper Toolbar 2
Added missing connector switch lock for the hangar connectors to the Hangar Control Seat,Toolbar 3, buttons 1-6 for hangar connectors 1-6 (makes taking remote control of the miners possible from the seat, I thought I had done that)
Fixed remote control hotbars for the M-49's
Added hydrogen stockpile on/off to the Piper Toolbar 2
Cryo chambers are now connected and properly numbered (Thanks Aldjeron!)