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Discovery Mining Guide - Part I


Introduction


Welcome to the wonderful world of mining within the Discovery Mod. This guide serves as the latest version of the tutorial designed to inform new and existing players about the changes made by Cannon’s Mining Mod implemented in March of 2011. Many changes were made from 4.8.77 to 4.88.1 and then, even more, changes were made to where we are now - 4.91.0 Patch 8

This tutorial was made to help newer or even older players. If something seems off post a message here or below.


- - Content

• Part I: Introduction & Setup
Part II: Mining Plugin Details


For those who are new to mining in Discovery, keep this in mind

- You will need a specialized mining ship to harvest ores. More on this in a moment.
- Mining requires mining turrets in addition to a mining ship.
- Finally, you require a mining company ID (for example, DHC) with a matching IFF, or alternatively, an independent Freelancer ID, available for sale on most stations.
- Ore is automatically transferred into your cargo bay. You don’t have to tractor in ore as per vanilla / other previous mods.
- Only mining turrets are effective for mining. Other weapons are practically useless for mining operations.


Setup

To make sure of the mining bonus you will need specialized equipment: A mining ID, a compatible mining ship and mining turrets.

Mining IDs are specific IDs that allow you to mine. Some companies specialize in mining, as well as independent Miners. Finally, some quasi-lawful and unlawful groups have the limited ability to mine select ores. All IDs must be used in tandem with their matching IFF, except in the case of the Freelancer ID, which may use any IFF (or none at all). Here is a run-down of all the factions available:


Mining Turrets are sold on most planets, corporate bases, and Freeports, as well as Junker bases. They come in three varieties: "Small Mineral Extractors" are for use on light fighters, “Light Mining Arrays”, for heavy fighters/freighter turrets, and “Heavy Mining Arrays”, which fit on the heavier transports. They do virtually no damage in combat but are the only turrets capable of mining ore effectively.

Mining lasers operate by adding ore to your cargo hold when they strike and destroy a floating chunk of ore. Because of this, there is a chance you can gain increased ore through careful placement of your mining lasers. For example, on the Annapurna IMG freighter, placing mining lasers on every slot except slots one and two will result in a decent increase in ore drop rate. Slots vary between the different vessels, BUT if you use the numbers listed above you should get optimum results.


Mining Ships when used with a compatible ID can provide extra droprate from mining fields. Not all mining ships can get a bonus on every mining ID, so check Part II of the guide for a detailed list of which IDs provide a bonus with which ships and for which ores.

Please note that the values for gun hardpoints may be incorrect.
They were done in single player with a visual test and have not been tested against the server side drop rate.
If you notice an issue please report it in this thread.



Mining and Transportation


Follow the above instructions? Great! You’re on track to becoming the next richest person in Sirius! Now, you’ll need to know where to mine, and where to bring it to once you’ve mined it.

Mining fields can be found by checking your map - open your map by hitting the F7 key (by default) or the map icon in the top right. There will often be large exclusion zones that when hovering over will read "Mining Zone" or something similar. When entering a zone, there will also be text that is displayed that will read "Entering Mining Zone" or something similar.

You can only gain ore while inside these fields, and ore will only drop from the small floating rocks, not the larger stationary ones. If you are not gaining any ore from the field, it is possible that:

- You’re not in a mining field: most mining fields are spheres, and it is possible that you’re above or below the field by a small amount. Set a waypoint if you’re worried this is the case.
- You are not capable of mining the ore effectively. Make sure your ID, IFF, ship, and turret all match what is required to mine that specific type of ore. For example, the “Sabre” VHF with Flashpoints is not going to be an effective mining craft.
- The field isn’t active. This is a rarity, but some fields in Discovery are turned off, either for balance purposes or due to their superfluousness.
- You have another ship selected, and are filling it, instead of your own hold. CTRL+T, by default, will de-select the current target.

If all else fails, contact other players in the field, players of any of the official mining factions, or post a reply in this thread. There will always be people willing to help you out.


Beginner Mining


The Helium field in Pennsylvania (sector C6) is specifically tuned for newer players who're just starting out and don't yet have access to larger transports that'd make longer routes worthwhile. Unlike regular Ores that need specialized mining ships to make use of the mining bonus, Helium can be mined on any freighter and transport up to 3.6k cargo with Freelancer ID, IFF and mining turrets.

There are various sellpoints for it at different distances, all providing a decent profit. Short-range sellpoints are ideal for running on freighters and smaller transports but are only one-way profit as they don't tie into any return commodities, while the medium-sized transports can start heading out to farther sellpoints and add the option of return commodities to make the trip worthwhile. Farthest sellpoints from Pennsylvania are set up more or less on par with standard ore routes, but only return a decent profit if done in larger transports.



Have Problems or Questions?


Ask a nearby miner or an online [Staff] member for help. If neither of those options are available, feel free to leave a post in this thread and someone will be more than happy to get back to you with assistance.


This tutorial was made to help newer or even older players. If something seems off post a message here or below.

Updated: 9/6/22
Discovery Mining Guide - Part II
Updated for 4.95.4


Standard Ore Mining


Active Mining Routes:


PRIMARY sell points offer the best profit for time investment and are typically lawful corporate bases. UNLAWFUL sell points are bases belonging to illegal organisations that have an interest in acquiring certain ores for their own uses. These sell points comprise the core of the black market and are bulk delivery points for unlawful characters and smugglers who have mined the materials or have 'acquired' them through more sinister means. Finally FENCES are cash-in-hand in sell points for pirates looking to move their plunder quickly. They are widely accessible and convenient depots for pirates watching nearby routes, freelancers beginning their business interests, and the occasional lawful seller looking to keep some skimmed profit off the books. However, the convenience offered to a wide variety of customers comes with a below-average market price.



Active Mining Bonuses:


Low-Tier Mining


Unlike normal ores, low-tier mining fields have much faster droprates, shorter travel distance to their main sellpoint, but also lower overall profit. These fields are more suited for a side-activity and a change of pace, or ships with smaller cargosize that can't maximize their profit from proper ore runs yet. Routes with these commodities usually stay in the same region and can be a good midrange option between trading normal cargo and hauling actual ores.



Have Problems or Questions?


Ask a nearby miner or an online [Staff] member for help. If neither of those options are available, feel free to leave a post in this thread and someone will be more than happy to get back to you with assistance.



This tutorial was originally made by and updated by . Additions and edits made by with help from and ’s ore calculation spreadsheet and the in-game files, as well as feedback from . Further edits and updates done by , , , , , ,

Updated: 2/4/22
(12-06-2017, 01:32 PM)Mixis Wrote: [ -> ]Where are the stats on "Series DL Border Worlds Transport". I would like to know what I can mine with it.

You can only mine in freighters and corresponding ID of the mining faction to gain their bonuses. The only transport-miner combo ships are Kamome, Hegemon and Rockbadger, but these also need proper ID otherwise you'll receive no mining bonus at all. Obviously freighters mine ores faster than these three for balance reasons.

That said, transports do not mine because mining as activity is destined to be a cooperative business, directly through filling other transports or indirectly by selling cargo on POBs (Player Owned Bases) from where transports buy out the mined out ores.
Some points:

The Anki and Garanchou are non-house miners, as the Anki is a civilian ship and the Garanchou is a GMG ship.

The Garanchou gets bonuses on alien organisms (if they're even worth mentioning) and cryo organisms, I don't recall for sure if the Kamome gets the same but if I had to guess, I'd imagine it does. Perhaps someone else knows off the top of their head.

The mention of the Okinawa field is redundant as it has been deactivated in favour of Sigma-19.
Humboldt no longer exists. The Silver field that existed within it is now in Vespucci 1/2B.
- Copper Ore can be mined with the DHC ID and the DSE ID. DHC can mine with any of the generic civilian miners as well as the Ragnar, while DSE can mine with any of the generic civilian miners and the Rino. Ore is best mined with a freighter or light fighter as this will be the fastest way, but you cannot transport it elsewhere due to the low hold size. If you want to both transport and mine, you'll have to use the Hegemon Miner.

- Ahh thanks. I've only been in Liberty about 5 or 6 times since I returned so I sorta forgot about all those changes. Will fix.

- Does it look that bad? I personally think it looks a lot more organised.
(12-07-2017, 06:49 PM)Erulad Wrote: [ -> ]Hello, can you advice me best combinations for mining Copper Ore? Which ship with what ID mine it fastest? And what ship out of all good for copper mining, has most capacious cargo hold? Thanks, in advance!

If you wish to mine Copper ore in Kansas the best way to do it is in a Rhino with DSE ID. You put the Light Mining Arrays on slots 4-5-6-7 if I'm not mistaken ( 4 turrets should be parallel ). You can also mine it with a Hegemon.

If you wish to mine in Omega-7 I would suggest taking Ragnar, but you can also use Hegemon if you want a big ship.
D'oh! It seems I have been ninja'd, but here is the long answer to your question,

According to the OP, it depends. If you go for Deep Space Engineering (DSE - Liberty), the Hegemon and Rhino are really the only two recommended ships if you're looking for something with decent cargo space. DSE has a mining bonus of 4.0 for Copper. If you go for Daumann Heavy Construction (DHC - Rheinland)

If you want pure mining speed, go for a Surveyor and fill all weapon hardpoint slots with Light Mining Arrays. Usable by both recommended IDs.

The Rhino has a Hold size of 560. Placement of turreted Light Mining Arrays goes in hardpoint slots 4-5-6-7. Cruises at 400m/s and does well in third person view; best in first person. DSE ID.

The Hegemon has a Hold size of 2,750. Placement of Heavy Mining Arrays goes in hardpoint slots 1-2-3-4. Cruises at 350m/s and is really only usable in first person. The Hegemon has a terrible REEEEERRR-grind-grind-grind sound you have to deal with, so playing with sound off is recommended. The Hegemon also tends to get stuck on asteroids frequently. I also recommend mapping roll left or right to your tilde key for first-person rolling, which helps more than having to un-cruise to get un-stuck from a rock. Usable by both recommended IDs.

The Ragnar has a hold size of 850. Placement of Mining Arrays goes in hardpoint slots 4-5-6-7. I'm actually not sure on how fast it cruises, but it does get a transport shield. DHC ID.
Two pokes in regard of Iridium Ore again. Or rather - three.

- Xenos do not have any sellpoint for captured Iridium Ore.
- Zoners, except of Valetta and Tripoli, have no other place to push that commodity in their 5kers.
- Iridium Ore mining zone has (rare, but still) spawning NPC Gunboat patrols.
I should probably point something out here. I have no say in what things are like so it's pointless pointing out issues that are not directly related to the guide's content.

About Xeno's sellpoint: Post Here
About Zoners: Post Here
About NPCs: Post Here
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