Mining

Mining is one of the ways players can make money in Discovery Freelancer. This is done by shooting asteroids with a Mining Array to obtain Ore commodities. These Ores can then be sold to nearby NPC bases for a moderate profit, or taken to a Player Owned Base (POB) with an Industrial Refinery module, and transformed into a valuable Refined product. Discovery's mining system relies on serverside functionality, meaning it will only work as intended in online Multiplayer.

Setup - Equipment and Factions

To receive dropped commodities from mined asteroids, you must be properly equipped. This means:

1. You must have a ship with a Mining Array equipment slot.
2. You must have a Mining Array mounted.
3. You should have a mining faction's ID to receive bonuses.

We will explore these in more detail below.

Mining Ships

Ships that are capable of mining have a specific Mining Array equipment slot. Some ships provide an additional bonus to the amount of goods you receive when mining.

Mining Arrays are mounted in a dedicated equipment slot and share a space with Cruise Disruptors.

Name	Class	Tech Type	Bonus
Gitano	Light Fighter	Junkers	1.2
Tournez	Light Fighter	Gallic Civilian	1.2
Bull Dog	Heavy Fighter	Junkers	1.2
Courbe	Heavy Fighter	Gallic Civilian	1.2
Surveyor	Heavy Fighter	Sirius Civilian	1.2
Collector	Very Heavy Fighter	Junkers	1.2
CSV	Very Heavy Fighter	Junkers	1.2
Plier	Very Heavy Fighter	Gallic Civilian	1.2
Scraper	Very Heavy Fighter	Sirius Civilian	1.2
Arrastra	Fighter-Bomber	Sirius Civilian	1.2
Recycler	Fighter-Bomber	Junker	1.2
Annapurna	Freighter	IMG	1.2
Aurochs	Freighter	Gallic Civilian	1.2
Camara	Freighter	Sirius Civilian	1.2
Celestra	Freighter	Crayter Republic	1.2
Clydesdale	Freighter	Bretonia Civilian	1.2
Correo	Freighter	Corsairs	1.2
Courier	Freighter	Gallic Unlawful	1.2
CSF	Freighter	Junkers	1.2
Draugr	Freighter	Edge World	1.2
Dromedary	Freighter	Border Worlds	1.2
Drone	Freighter	Kusari Civilian	1.2
Garanchou	Freighter	GMG	1.2
Grizzly	Freighter	Liberty Civilian	1.2
Humpback	Freighter	Rheinland Civilian	1.2
Kestrel	Freighter	Sirius Civilian	1.2
Kin	Freighter	Sirius Civilian	1.2
Leatherback	Freighter	Gaian	1.2
Mule	Freighter	Black Market	1.2
Ferry	Freighter	OS&C	1.2
Rhino	Freighter	Liberty Civilian	1.2
Sunburst	Freighter	Generic Civilian	1.2
Tarvos	Freighter	Gallic Unlawful	1.2
Voyager	Freighter	Sirius Civilian	1.2
Yari	Freighter	Blood Dragons	1.2
Armored Transport	Transport	Sirius Civilian	1.0
Asteroid Miner	Transport	Sirius Civilian	1.2
Civilian Armored Transport	Transport	Sirius Civilian	1.0
Civilian Ferry	Transport	Sirius Civilian	1.0
Gallic Mining Ship	Transport	Gallic Civilian	1.0
IMG Transport	Transport	IMG	1.0
Kusari Mining Ship	Transport	Kusari Civilian	1.0
Kusari Transport	Transport	Kusari Civilian	1.0
Large Transport	Transport	Sirius Civilian	1.0
Liberty Transport	Transport	Liberty Civilian	1.0
Retrofit Explorer	Transport	Sirius Civilian	1.0
Rheinland Armored Transport	Transport	Rheinland Civilian	1.0
Rheinland Mining Ship	Transport	Rheinland Civilian	1.0
Transport	Transport	Sirius Civilian	1.0
Salvager	Frigate	Junkers	1.0

Mining Factions and IDs

Press F7 to view your inventory, then go to the external inventory tab to find your currently equipped ID. Remember that as per server rules you can only carry one at a time!

In addition to needing a Mining Array and a ship that can mount one, you must belong to an appropriate faction to get a mining bonus. The below table will list which Ores each faction has a bonus on, with the size of the bonus in brackets next to the Ore.

Name	Type	Ore 1	Ore 2	Ore 3	Ore 4	Ore 5
BMM	Bretonia Corporate	Copper Ore (3.0)	Gold Ore (3.0)	Niobium Ore (3.0)	Silver Ore (3.0)
Bristol	Independent Corporate	Heavy Water (3.0)	Platinum Ore (3.0)
Core	Independent Corporate	Azurite Gas (3.0)	Iridium Ore (3.0)	Xeno Excavations (3.0)
Corsairs	Independent Unlawful	Gold Ore (3.0)	Xeno Excavations (3.0)
Daumann	Rheinland Corporate	Aluminium Ore (3.0)	Silver Ore (3.0)	Uncut Diamonds (3.0)
DSE	Liberty Corporate	Copper Ore (3.0)	Platinum Ore (3.0)
Freelancers	Independent	Heavy Water (3.0)
GMG	Independent Corporate	Helium-3 (3.0)
GMS	Gallic Corporate	Molybdenum Ore (3.0)	Niobium Ore (3.0)
IMG	Independent Corporate	Copper Ore (3.0)	Gold Ore (2.0)	Niobium Ore (3.0)	Silver Ore (3.0)	Uncut Diamonds (2.0)
Kishiro	Kusari Corporate	Aluminium Ore (3.0)	Helium-3 (3.0)	Platinum (3.0)
Kruger	Rheinland Corporate	Aluminium Ore (3.0)	Helium-3 (2.0)	Silver Ore (3.0)	Uncut Diamonds (3.0)
Mollys	Bretonian Unlawful	Gold (3.0)
Order	Independent Intelligence	Azurite Gas (3.0)	Iridium Ore (3.0)	Xeno Excavations (3.0)
Outcasts	Independent Unlawful	Niobium Ore (2.0)	Xeno Excavations (3.0)
Red Hessians	Rheinland Unlawful	Uncut Diamonds (2.0)
Samura	Kusari Corporate	Helium-3 (3.0)	Niobium Ore (3.0)	Platinum Ore (3.0)
Technocracy	Independent Intelligence	Azurite Gas (3.0)	Xeno Excavations (3.0)
Xenos	Liberty Unlawful	Copper Ore (3.0)
Zoners	Independent	Iridium Ore (3.0)

Official Factions are player groups who have received their own personalised ID. Official Factions that represent mining factions usually have their own improved Ore bonuses. You can only use these IDs by being a member of that Official Faction.

Faction Tag	Parent Faction	Ore 1	Ore 2	Ore 3	Ore 4	Ore 5
BMF-	BMM	Copper Ore (3.0)	Gold Ore (4.0)	Niobium Ore (2.0)	Silver Ore (4.0)
B|-	Bristol	Platinum (4.0)	Heavy Water(4.0)
Core|	Core	Azurite Gas (4.0)	Iridium Ore (3.0)	Xeno Excavations (4.0)
[TBH]	Corsairs	Gold Ore (3.0)	Xeno Excavations (4.0)
DTR-	Corsairs	Gold Ore (3.0)	Xeno Excavations (4.0)
{DHC}	Daumann	Aluminium Ore (4.0)	Silver Ore (3.0)	Uncut Diamonds (4.0)
GMG|	GMG	Helium-3 (4.0)
IMG|	IMG	Copper Ore (3.0)	Gold Ore (3.0)	Niobium Ore (4.0)	Silver Ore (3.0)	Uncut Diamonds (3.0)
Kruger|	Kruger	Aluminium Ore (4.0)	Helium-3 (2.0)	Silver Ore (3.0)	Uncut Diamonds (4.0)
RPA|	Mollys	Gold (4.0)
Order|	The Order	Azurite Gas (4.0)	Iridium Ore (4.0)	Xeno Excavations (4.0)
HS>	Outcasts	Niobium Ore (2.0)	Xeno Excavations (4.0)
Samura|-	Samura	Helium-3 (3.0)	Niobium Ore (3.0)	Platinum Ore (4.0)
A/)	Technocracy	Azurite Gas (4.0)	Xeno Excavations (4.0)
XA-	Xenos	Copper Ore (3.0)
OSI-	Zoners	Iridium Ore (3.0)
(\^/)	Zoners	Iridium Ore (4.0)

Ores and Mining Zones

To check for mining zones, click F6 to open your NavMap, and toggle on the Mining Zone filter. Areas containing minable Ores will be highlighted. You can hover over the Mining Buoy icon for a tooltip telling you what Ore is available there.

Dynamic (moving) rocks spawn around Mining Buoys. Shooting these asteroids with your Mining Array will harvest Ore.

To mine Ores, you must be in a designated mining zone. These are small zones inside asteroid or gas fields that are marked with a Mining Buoy and Asteroid Miners. When entering a mining zone, you will receive an on-screen area message confirming you are in the right place.

Inside a mining zone, large amounts of small, moving asteroids will spawn. These can be easily spotted compared to normal dynamic asteroids because they have a highly visible 'tail'.

These asteroids contain Ores - to mine them, shoot them with your Mining Array. You can activate or deactivate individual weapons by left-clicking on them on the weapons panel (bottom right).

Hint: It can be helpful to enter cockpit view when mining (CTRL + V). This is because dynamic asteroids spawn in front of your camera. Especially with some larger ships, this can result in rocks spawning behind your Mining Array where you can't shoot them. Cockpit view puts your camera at the very front of your ship, ensuring that if you can see the rock, you can hit it!

Ore	System	Location	Mining Factions (bonuses)
Aluminium Ore	Sigma-15	7D	DHC (3.0), Kishiro (3.0), Kruger (3.0),
Azurite Gas	Omicron Minor	4F	Core (3.0), Order (3.0), Technocracy (3.0)
Copper Ore	Coronado	1H	BMM (3.0), DSE (3.0), IMG (2.0), Xenos (3.0)
Gold Ore	Dublin	6F	BMM (3.0), Corsairs (3.0), IMG (2.0), Mollys (3.0)
Heavy Water	Pennsylvania	4G	Bristol (3.0) Freelancers (3.0)
Helium-3	Sigma-13	5G	GMG (3.0), Kishiro (3.0), Kruger (2.0), Samura (3.0)
Iridium Ore	Omicron Delta	3E	Core (3.0), Order (3.0), Zoners (3.0)
Molybdenum Ore	Zurich	4E	DHC (3.0), GMS (3.0)
Niobium Ore	Tau-23	6D	BMM (3.0), GMS (3.0), IMG (3.0), Outcasts (2.0), Samura (3.0)
Platinum Ore	Galileo	4G	Bristol (3.0), DSE (3.0), Kishiro (3.0), Samura (3.0)
Silver Ore	Omega-7	2C	BMM (3.0), DHC (3.0), IMG (3.0), Kruger (3.0),
Uncut Diamonds	Omega-11	6D	DHC (3.0), IMG (3.0), Kruger (3.0), Red Hessians (2.0)
Xeno Excavations	Planet Knossos	5D	Core (3.0), Corsairs (3.0), Order (3.0), Outcasts (3.0), Technocracy (3.0)

In addition to these valuable Ore commodities, there are other commodities that can also be acquired from fields using your Mining Array. While these are not as valuable as Ores, they frequently serve other roles - for example, providing utilities to Player Owned Bases. Factions do not receive bonuses for these commodities because they are extremely fast to mine by default. Examples include:

• Hydrocarbons
• Oxygen
• Scrap Metal
• Uranium
• Water

NOTE: Up-to-date locations of mining fields can be found on darkstat within the "Ores" tab. This includes minor minable commodities like Water, Scrap Metal, etc. when the "Show All" button is active.

The tool also shows possible refined products that can be produced on PoBs and calculates routes from the location of the field.

Mining For Beginners

Mining can be a great way to get started and earn money for your first ships. Whenever you create a new character on the Discovery Freelancer RP 24/7 server, you will begin on Planet Erie in Pennsylvania. Your default starting ship is a Kestrel freighter with a Freelancer ID and a Mining Array pre-installed.

A Heavy Water mining zone can be found at sector G4 in the nearby Ralston Ice Field. Freelancers receive a x3 bonus to the amount of Heavy Water harvested when shooting asteroids.

Heavy Water can be mined and then shipped directly to NPC bases like Planet Erie for a good profit. Alternately, it can be sold locally to a Player Owned Base like Cleveland Station for a typically much higher price. Although prices and inventory space may vary from base to base.

Whichever route you take, check the list of mining ships above, and you will be able to increase your cargo hold (and earning potential) while retaining your Freelancer mining bonuses. The Asteroid Miner is a large transport that can be used with the Freelancer ID, and is sold nearby on Philadelphia Station.

Advanced Mining

Most Ores (other than Helium) take up 2 units of cargo space and are only purchased locally by NPC stations. Due to this, selling Ores to NPCs is only moderately profitable. Additionally, the largest transports that are capable of mounting a Mining Array have 2,750 units of cargo space - well below the 5,000 maximum for large Corporate heavy transports. An exception to that is the Hegemon - Asteroid Miner which has 5,000 cargo but moves very slowly and cannot use trade lanes. The unique trait of the Hegemon is that mined goods 'weigh' half. So it can carry 5,000 Heavy Water or Gold Ore, for example.

An example Player Owned Base, using a core (level) 5 model.

To maximise your mining profits, you will need to cooperate with other players. Ores are intended to be processed into more valuable refined goods through Player Owned Bases (for example, Gold Ore is refined into Gold, Heavy Water is refined into Deuterium). Where players can deploy their own stations, they also set their own stock levels and prices for different goods. Due to this, these POBs can frequently be found near mining zones to encourage miners to sell Ore to them.

Once mined ore is converted into a refined product, these High Risk Commodities can be traded long distances to other regions for significantly greater profits. Responsible POB owners will pay miners more than NPCs for Ore, while also undercutting NPC vendors for the sale price of refined goods.

If you cannot find a POB offering reasonable compensation for your mining, it may well be that there is a commercial opportunity for a new station administrator to exploit!

Efficient mining is a group activity. An organised mining operation will typically involve a mining freighter (to benefit from the x1.2 ship mining bonus), mining for several other large transports.

How many transports a single miner can consistently supply will depend on how far they must travel to drop off the Ore. A good rule of thumb is that one miner can supply 2 heavy transports that are flying to a base 30k away.

Most mining operations settle on a 50/50 profit share between the miner and the transports shipping the Ore to a refinery. Before you start mining, make sure to confirm payment details to avoid misunderstandings later!

Hint: If you mine with nothing selected in space, any Ore you harvest will be moved directly into your cargo hold. If you select another player, so long as you are within 500m of them, any mined Ore will be deposited directly into their cargo bay instead.

Mining Containers

On most stations, you can purchase a "Mining Container" commodity for $50,000. This commodity is designed to assist you during organised mining operations. It is most useful when you are mining for other people.

A Mining Container will take the name of any commodities that can be mined in the zone it is deployed in.

After buying the Mining Container, fly to the mining zone. Open your inventory (F6), click the Container, and press the Jettison button. You will drop the Container commodity, and it will deploy in space in front of you.

Mining Containers provide a small buff to your mining yield bonus, combining with your ship and ID bonuses. Selecting the Container while mining will deposit up to 1,000 volume of Ore inside (effectively 500 units) before it is ejected into space.

This is especially helpful for mining fighters or freighters taking part in a mining operation for other transports, as it means you do not need to repeatedly jettison cargo when your cargo bay fills up.

Note: You can only deploy one Container at a time. Other people can also mine into your Container if they are close enough, however it is linked to you specifically. If you disconnect or leave the area, it will despawn.

When you are finished, you can retrieve your Mining Container by shooting it until it explodes. This will eject any remaining Ore inside it, and drop another Mining Container commodity. You can then tractor this and either hold onto it for future use, or sell it back to the station you got it from.

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