Finally tried Mining in Elite: Dangerous

[Kenadian]

Finally after all this time I got a chance to try mining in Elite: Dangerous and man is it ever tough. I mined for over 3 hours tonight only to make 20,000 credits but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Unfortunately I didn't buy a large enough refinery (only 3 slots) so it was one horrible compromise after another.

Right now I'm mining Indite, Bertrandite and Gallite but have seen Silver now and then. The idea is to mine metals instead of minerals to make it really pay off.

It really is tricky though because the fragments fly off in all directions unless you can mine the exact same spot for long enough.

Fun though, definitely going to spend more time trying to perfect it.

 

[Daunt]

Nice. I'd be interested to know how much you can make per hour once you have everything perfected and all. Not that it matters to me, I hope to go back and forth between everything. I just want to see how it compares to other professions... see how well it is balanced.

 

[tmtm]

Did NPC pirates leave you alone?

 

[Shilka]

Personally I think how much you -can- make is not a good measure for balance. So often when I mention that I am a trader I immediately get the reply, oh but then you make millions an hour. I can yeah, but I am not.

As an example, I've seen a bountyhunter post about how he picked up a 3 million credit bounty in a 20 minute fight. But that does not translate into: 'Bountyhunters make 9 million an hour'. Just like a possible 1500 credits a ton profit does not translate to 'Traders make 3 million an hour'. And me dropping 20 tons of gold in a 2 minute encounter with a pirate does not translate to: 'Pirates earn 4.8 million an hour'.
Just wanting to say, Duke could mine millions of ore an hour, if he has the right equipment, if he doesn't get attacked by pirates all the time, if he finds the right veins in the right system, if you don't count the week it took him to find it, if he sells it at the right place that will take him time to find too. The same goes for any 'profession'. I could make millions an hour, but it took me months to get the right ship for it and it might take me weeks to find that perfect trade route, that will halve in profit after me doing half an evening of running trades on it.

omg I'm ranting, ignore me, lol

 

[tmtm]

I fought an NPC Python last night while I was out bounty hunting in my Viper. It was like chopping down a tree. I probably put 1,000cr of ammo into her. My reward? A 200cr bounty. So yeah, exactly what Shilka said.

 

[Daunt]

Bah. Sheesh everything I say seems to be picked to pieces...

Of course it doesn't mean he's going to make that all the time. Just like the trader isn't going to make a set amount every single run.

 

[tmtm]

I get what you were saying Daunt. I think a better way to say it would be "How much more could a competent player (not Duke) actually make?"

 

[Daunt]

Hahaha. Well I was going to add two million to any figure Duke made, yes. hahaha.

 

[tmtm]

Heh. I would suspect Duke is hauling gravel back to the station to sell.

 

[Kenadian]

I fought an NPC Python last night while I was out bounty hunting in my Viper. It was like chopping down a tree. I probably put 1,000cr of ammo into her. My reward? A 200cr bounty. So yeah, exactly what Shilka said.

lol the exact same thing happen the other night. It took me under a minute to earn 10,000 credits on one pirate and then well over 5 minutes to make 200 credits on another.

Personally I think how much you -can- make is not a good measure for balance. So often when I mention that I am a trader I immediately get the reply, oh but then you make millions an hour. I can yeah, but I am not.

As an example, I've seen a bountyhunter post about how he picked up a 3 million credit bounty in a 20 minute fight. But that does not translate into: 'Bountyhunters make 9 million an hour'. Just like a possible 1500 credits a ton profit does not translate to 'Traders make 3 million an hour'. And me dropping 20 tons of gold in a 2 minute encounter with a pirate does not translate to: 'Pirates earn 4.8 million an hour'.
Just wanting to say, Duke could mine millions of ore an hour, if he has the right equipment, if he doesn't get attacked by pirates all the time, if he finds the right veins in the right system, if you don't count the week it took him to find it, if he sells it at the right place that will take him time to find too. The same goes for any 'profession'. I could make millions an hour, but it took me months to get the right ship for it and it might take me weeks to find that perfect trade route, that will halve in profit after me doing half an evening of running trades on it.

omg I'm ranting, ignore me, lol

You're absolutely correct, it will likely take me forever to find a good area to mine and make a decent profit.

I can say though that the first 2 hours were spent in making mistakes and I only had 2000 credits to show for that time.

I decided to upgrade to a 5 slot refinery and that yielded much better results as I didn't have to dispose of resources as heavily as before.

After another 60 - 90 minutes I brought in 18,000 credits which is still horrid but a big improvement in one night.

One thing for sure, it can be very time consuming just to find a decent asteroid to mine. Oftentimes they'll have low level minerals that are just a waste of your time.

Then when you finally find one you have to deal with it's mass, rotation and the fact that no matter how careful you are the resources still fall away at differing trajectories. I must have had half my booty in the beginning bounce off my hull as I was trying to scoop it up

Did NPC pirates leave you alone?

No, I was only scanned once and it was by a space cop so no worries there.

I wasn't at a resource extraction site, I stayed a good distance away from it mining the inner metallic rings on the bright side of the planet.

I'll try a resource extraction site tonight for comparison but I've heard there not as lucrative, we'll see.

 

[Kenadian]

...oh and to respond to everything else, fuk yoooze!

 

[tmtm]

I think I've read that mining in an RES is more profitable because the asteroids have a higher percentage of whateverium in them to mine. Keep mining, when Wings is out I'll be your security in the RES.

 

[Kenadian]

I think I've read that mining in an RES is more profitable because the asteroids have a higher percentage of whateverium in them to mine. Keep mining, when Wings is out I'll be your security in the RES.

The reason I stayed out of RES' is because I came across a YouTube Video that suggested just that.

I always intended to try both for comparison so tonight I'll try both a Resource Extraction Site and on my own but much closer proximity to the planet.

I can say though that this is certainly different, a bit grindy so far but still a lot of fun. Honestly, I could see it being as it is ingame in real life which is what I love so much about Elite.

 

[Daunt]

I would love for mining to be made more than just money grinding. Maybe it is destined to, someone will probably inform me. But if you could use minerals, etc to make / improve armor, components, weapons, ammo, etc that would be awesome.

 

[Shilka]

Bah. Sheesh everything I say seems to be picked to pieces...

Of course it doesn't mean he's going to make that all the time. Just like the trader isn't going to make a set amount every single run.

Sorry didn't mean to come across as that

Just was growing tired of some 'other forums' where being a trader means; no right of speech, you earn millions. While at the same time I'm basicly flying a brick with a bullseye painted on it which no-one seems to take into acount, eventhough it has lost me up to 10 million in one evening, and so often brought me on the brink of; 'if I don't make this traderun now, I won't have insurance money and will have to start from scratch.'

Just noticed how much moneymaking is only compared to other money making, while not taking the risks and all the work leading up to it into account, especially when it comes to trading. Certainly wasn't ment personally!

 

[Daunt]

Its ok. I'll likely do everything possible in game just because I'll enjoy it. Especially exploring. I'm a astronomy nerd so I will certainly embark on a journey just to do it, not necessarily for the money. Still nice to get an idea of what to expect. Or to know what to expect... so if what I'm making when I try it is MUCH less I know I'm not doing something right.

Most people's "I make this much" boasts though aren't very helpful.

 

[Shilka]

Yeah, especially with mining. Of course bigger equipment is better, but as far as I've read the main thing of influence in mining earnings, is finding the right spot to do it. And if you do find it, you'd better be equipped to take lots, as finding it back will be even harder...

 

[little P]

lol don't take it personally Daunt I don't think Shilka's rant was aimed at you

I think everything is perfectly balanced. The way I see it is trading will make you the most per hour once you have found the good route, and got the ship/module combo to take advantage of it. Even then profits will diminish so you cannot just stay grinding one route anymore. Well, you can but the profits will dwindle to the point where it'll barely be worth it. Bounty hunting - equip a kill warrant scanner for extra profit, along with a decent interdictor and frame shift scanner etc. to maximise the profit made. Pirates will need a hatch limpet breaker, cargo scanner etc.

All professions can make good money, I'll net a decent profit when I head back from this exploration trip no doubt.

It's about what a CMDR is feeling like at any given time, relaxation, combat etc. it's all there, and from my experience it all balances out eventually on the fun/CR per hour scale

EDIT: Ninja'd by Shilka

 

[Kenadian]

Sorry didn't mean to come across as that

Just was growing tired of some 'other forums' where being a trader means; no right of speech, you earn millions. While at the same time I'm basicly flying a brick with a bullseye painted on it which no-one seems to take into acount, eventhough it has lost me up to 10 million in one evening, and so often brought me on the brink of; 'if I don't make this traderun now, I won't have insurance money and will have to start from scratch.'

Just noticed how much moneymaking is only compared to other money making, while not taking the risks and all the work leading up to it into account, especially when it comes to trading. Certainly wasn't ment personally!

You're in good company because I get a bit touchy myself in this area.

Too often I've found myself running trade missions where I don't have enough money to replace my ship. Even if I do it does me no good because I won't have enough money to fill a new ships cargo hold.

My new savings threshold is now 750,000 credits because anything less even with a kitted cobra isn't enough. I can't imagine what your minimum savings is in a larger ship with more cargo holds :icon_eek:

...and it takes a long time to get there.

There is so much risk in trade in general but it's compounded in mining as oftentimes your ships capacity to defend itself is greatly reduced. I had to lose one of my cannons just so I could equip a mining laser and had to lose cargo slots so I could have a refinery.

It is hard grinding work and if I'm to be honest I wish it was a lot easier lol but I guess that wouldn't be entirely realistic.

 

[Daunt]

I wish I could set a mimumum / have a savings account with the Federal Galactic Reserve. I myself almost went below my minimum when I wasn't paying attention and splurging on some upgrades.