5.2.1 - patch notes

[Synts]

Come show me how you beam ore directly into a container or a transport ship, then we'll talk further. And that the transport will not die of radiation before the load is received.

As far as I know the radiation was turned down.

The way I do it in a group is a transport constantly comes into and out of the field. The miner drops ore, the trader tractors it without even breaking cruise, turns around, and goes to sell.

Does this not work?

A single hegemon can keep up with 1.5 5kers doing this, at least in Dublin.

Okay, by some miracle it's doable, but time? Previously, one miner could fill a 5-ker in 3-5 minutes, in your version- a 5-ker has to fly 100 k from the mining zone to the base and back, if you mean Bretonia base, it's like 15-20 min? And with the new system you can only fill 1.5 ships in that time? I have understood that you praise here that this new system is faster and better? And not to mention that you have to watch all the time so that you don't break the jettisoned ore. Mining shouldn't be a more painful activity than it was before, at least one miner with the old system could fill a barge in 25-30 minutes. Now even 5-k can't be completed in that time. With the old system you needed 2 miners and four 5-k and in about an hour you had 150 k ore in the base, now you only need a hegemon and a lot of time.

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I am not a native English Speaker, so i make grammar errors.
But it annoys me when people make silly comments about that... especially brits who for the most part can't speak their own language let alone anyone elses!

[Ramke]

Okay, by some miracle it's doable, but time? Previously, one miner could fill a 5-ker in 3-5 minutes, in your version- a 5-ker has to fly 100 k from the mining zone to the base and back, if you mean Bretonia base, it's like 15-20 min? And with the new system you can only fill 1.5 ships in that time? I have understood that you praise here that this new system is faster and better? And not to mention that you have to watch all the time so that you don't break the jettisoned ore. Mining shouldn't be a more painful activity than it was before, at least one miner with the old system could fill a barge in 25-30 minutes. Now even 5-k can't be completed in that time. With the old system you needed 2 miners and four 5-k and in about an hour you had 150 k ore in the base, now you only need a hegemon and a lot of time.

I would say we could fill up a trader with just a hegemon within 3-5 minutes. I also wouldn't say you have to watch that you don't break the ore. You tractor it, and then drop it when the transport says it's near, then tractor what left back up, and carry on. It's a 3 second interruption in your work. We gathered 65k ore with 3 players in less than an hour last time. We sell to a POB ~40k away.

We also filled a barge in about 8 minutes with 3 players (miner drops ore -> trader picks up -> trader delivers to barge outside of field)

I would honestly invite you to our next mining session just to see how we do it, because I really don't agree with the numbers implied. Happy to arrange a time with you to prove it. Or would you like a video? I'm not praising one or the other, but I just don't agree with the conclusion you've made so I was curious why your experience is so significantly different from mine.

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[Haste]

And not to mention that you have to watch all the time so that you don't break the jettisoned ore.

This is valid criticism. I may well have forgotten to bump up the HP on Platinum Ore & Heavy Water. Gold Ore has more HP than normal commodities so you can accidentally hit it and not destroy it. Plus it could take a little more.

Other than that, it's fully intended that mining time is a little longer than before. With a standard-issue 3.0 bonus mining time itself (ignoring travel time) -- for a solo Hegemon -- is still around the 7-8 minute mark. Platinum in my experience is actually a little faster as you can get a full Hegemon hold in one single radiation pocket. The base price on refined Gold, Platinum and Deuterium is higher, and so is the yield from PoB recipes, to offset the increased mining time.

I've been part of a good few Galway mining ops and I'd say one of the most successful and enjoyable combinations is a Hegemon with a single fighter, bomber or freighter (bombers don't have mining lasers which makes it a little clunkier, admittedly, as the Hegemon has to "deshield" the rocks) and two 5ks or Serenity-tier transports (since they'll be cruising, Serenities are technically very good at this, and a little better than 5ks). This both saves the Hegemon a lot of the pain involved in strafing around rocks to get all the nodes and speeds up mining in general, as small ships have a higher bonus on nodes than the Hegemon itself. The Hegemon then finishes the rock off as it has a large bonus on that step of the mining process. You can comfortably keep both transports going this way (assuming a ~40k distance to the PoB you're delivering to), and I think there were times we nearly managed three.

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[Synts]

Okay, by some miracle it's doable, but time? Previously, one miner could fill a 5-ker in 3-5 minutes, in your version- a 5-ker has to fly 100 k from the mining zone to the base and back, if you mean Bretonia base, it's like 15-20 min? And with the new system you can only fill 1.5 ships in that time? I have understood that you praise here that this new system is faster and better? And not to mention that you have to watch all the time so that you don't break the jettisoned ore. Mining shouldn't be a more painful activity than it was before, at least one miner with the old system could fill a barge in 25-30 minutes. Now even 5-k can't be completed in that time. With the old system you needed 2 miners and four 5-k and in about an hour you had 150 k ore in the base, now you only need a hegemon and a lot of time.

I would say we could fill up a trader with just a hegemon within 3-5 minutes. I also wouldn't say you have to watch that you don't break the ore. You tractor it, and then drop it when the transport says it's near, then tractor what left back up, and carry on. It's a 3 second interruption in your work. We gathered 65k ore with 3 players in less than an hour last time. We sell to a POB ~40k away.

We also filled a barge in about 8 minutes with 3 players (miner drops ore -> trader picks up -> trader delivers to barge outside of field)

I would honestly invite you to our next mining session just to see how we do it, because I really don't agree with the numbers implied. Happy to arrange a time with you to prove it. Or would you like a video? I'm not praising one or the other, but I just don't agree with the conclusion you've made so I was curious why your experience is so significantly different from mine.

I'd be happy to come and see what this new mining looks like, as I've completely given up on it at the moment.

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I am not a native English Speaker, so i make grammar errors.
But it annoys me when people make silly comments about that... especially brits who for the most part can't speak their own language let alone anyone elses!

[Greylock]

So now, as someone who's been working towards a bustard, I have to ask - who in the [Expletive] do I go to for one, and how much do I have to pay now?

I've got a spare that I don't have any use for; shoot me an offer. Got a JD3 for it as well if you're interested.

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[Busy Miner]

Come show me how you beam ore directly into a container or a transport ship, then we'll talk further. And that the transport will not die of radiation before the load is received.

As far as I know the radiation was turned down.

The way I do it in a group is a transport constantly comes into and out of the field. The miner drops ore, the trader tractors it without even breaking cruise, turns around, and goes to sell.

Does this not work?

A single hegemon can keep up with 1.5 5kers doing this, at least in Dublin.

An Arrastra could feed 2-3 5kers in comparison depending on the skill of the miner.

ceterum censeo: Please keep both versions of mining in all fields or reduce the asteroid density for easier flying (not the ore-asteroids, though, these could be a lot denser).

[Ramke]

An Arrastra could feed 2-3 5kers in comparison depending on the skill of the miner.

ceterum censeo: Please keep both versions of mining in all fields or reduce the asteroid density for easier flying (not the ore-asteroids, though, these could be a lot denser).

Correct, you mine slower overall compared to the old mining if you really try hard. Arrastras can't hold the gold so they'd have to wait for the 5kers to come and wait which is a bit of a pain.

But prices are higher so does that really matter? You still earn the same if not more:

The base price on refined Gold, Platinum and Deuterium is higher, and so is the yield from PoB recipes, to offset the increased mining time.

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[Busy Miner]

Bloody hell, just tried mining in Dublin again. That you could crack open these asteroids with Flaks and surgically remove the gold with Basic Battlecruiser turrets was the only redeeming quality of this type of mining. This has been removed now, or nerfed (looking at you, not-accurate, slow but formerly precise and quick Basic Battlecruiser turret), Sunwreath doesn't help much either. Can't you just add special mining weapons with area of effect? Or why not inventing some sort of mining beam, like in other sci fi games, that slowly but steadily sucks the ore out of these asteroids (would last as long as the asteroid mining now, but less tedious)? Scripting shouldn't be more complicated than the mining laser now, that magically puts ore into the hold.

[Chronicron]

To be frank, having some volley-fire explosives for mining purposes would've been quite immersive, but I don't expect @Haste would appreciate additional headache.

For now, I suggest using a Sunwreath to pop fragments and Tachyon Lance for ore deposits. Gonna have to memorise every fragment's location (not too much of an effort, there's only three asteroid types and you can see the fragments through their sharp angles) but at least you won't be mindlessly hoarding ore.

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This is a feature as most Discovery players would not receive a response from women.

[Nika]

Freighter with Cannonbals/Daisychains would work, no?