Oolite Bulletins

I had a question. Is it possible to buy a mining laser, and change up my loadout? Or does buying one, have to replace the combat laser? I'd like to be both a cargo runner, and miner when possible. Any oxp/oxz for this?

bacontube wrote:

I had a question. Is it possible to buy a mining laser, and change up my loadout? Or does buying one, have to replace the combat laser? I'd like to be both a cargo runner, and miner when possible. Any oxp/oxz for this?

Buying a mining laser occupies one of your weapon positions. Cobra3 has four: forward, starboard, board and aft. Other ships might have fewer. A common solution is to put the mining laser to the side or aft weapon position.

spara wrote:

bacontube wrote:

I had a question. Is it possible to buy a mining laser, and change up my loadout? Or does buying one, have to replace the combat laser? I'd like to be both a cargo runner, and miner when possible. Any oxp/oxz for this?

Buying a mining laser occupies one of your weapon positions. Cobra3 has four: forward, starboard, board and aft. Other ships might have fewer. A common solution is to put the mining laser to the side or aft weapon position.

Now that is a great idea. Now, I do that, then fly into the blown up asteroid with my fuel scoops, yes?

bacontube wrote:

spara wrote:

bacontube wrote:

I had a question. Is it possible to buy a mining laser, and change up my loadout? Or does buying one, have to replace the combat laser? I'd like to be both a cargo runner, and miner when possible. Any oxp/oxz for this?

Buying a mining laser occupies one of your weapon positions. Cobra3 has four: forward, starboard, board and aft. Other ships might have fewer. A common solution is to put the mining laser to the side or aft weapon position.

Now that is a great idea. Now, I do that, then fly into the blown up asteroid with my fuel scoops, yes?

Shoot the asteroids to produce boulders. Shoot the boulders to produce splinters. Scoop the splinters. If you find asteroid mining to be satisfactory, then you will most positively want to make it more interesting and profitable with the [wiki]Ore Processor[/wiki].

spara wrote:

bacontube wrote:

spara wrote:

]Buying a mining laser occupies one of your weapon positions. Cobra3 has four: forward, starboard, board and aft. Other ships might have fewer. A common solution is to put the mining laser to the side or aft weapon position.

Now that is a great idea. Now, I do that, then fly into the blown up asteroid with my fuel scoops, yes?

Shoot the asteroids to produce boulders. Shoot the boulders to produce splinters. Scoop the splinters. If you find asteroid mining to be satisfactory, then you will most positively want to make it more interesting and profitable with the [wiki]Ore Processor[/wiki].

Mind you, you need to show a lot of profit before you've covered the cost of the Ore Processor.

It's perfectly possible to install the mining laser as your front armament and a fighting laser in the rear mount. You're a useless dogfighter but can run away from pirates and blow them up as they follow.

I've noticed one problem with the new option to begin as a miner with a slow ship and mining laser: it's perfectly possible for splinters to have a drift velocity higher than your ship can match. :doh: People wanting to campaign as a miner would, IMHO, be better advised to start with a Cobra III then trade it for a Cobra I and some mining gear. It's not wildly exciting but it's at least playable.

Malacandra wrote:

Mind you, you need to show a lot of profit before you've covered the cost of the Ore Processor.

It's perfectly possible to install the mining laser as your front armament and a fighting laser in the rear mount. You're a useless dogfighter but can run away from pirates and blow them up as they follow.

I've noticed one problem with the new option to begin as a miner with a slow ship and mining laser: it's perfectly possible for splinters to have a drift velocity higher than your ship can match. :doh: People wanting to campaign as a miner would, IMHO, be better advised to start with a Cobra III then trade it for a Cobra I and some mining gear. It's not wildly exciting but it's at least playable.

Well, it is an advanced starting option . I've been happily playing with the Mining Transporter for a while now. Granted, the ship is slow, but with injectors it's playable. To make it more viable as a start option, I've been seriously considering a couple of changes to it.

1. Give injectors right from the start.
2. Start from a hermit at Tionisla.
3. If Ore Processor is installed, grant it to the player.

spara wrote:

Well, it is an advanced starting option . I've been happily playing with the Mining Transporter for a while now. Granted, the ship is slow, but with injectors it's playable. To make it more viable as a start option, I've been seriously considering a couple of changes to it.

I also like the start level of the ship as it is. I don't think it should be made too easy. Perhaps introduce an easy and a hard mining start?

spara wrote:

2. Start from a hermit at Tionisla.

Like this idea a lot, adds a touch of realism

Malacandra wrote:

I've noticed one problem with the new option to begin as a miner with a slow ship and mining laser: it's perfectly possible for splinters to have a drift velocity higher than your ship can match. :doh:

Torus drive is the answer as long as you aren't mass locked. You still go fairly slow, but can catch them

Venator Dha wrote:

spara wrote:

Well, it is an advanced starting option . I've been happily playing with the Mining Transporter for a while now. Granted, the ship is slow, but with injectors it's playable. To make it more viable as a start option, I've been seriously considering a couple of changes to it.

I also like the start level of the ship as it is. I don't think it should be made too easy. Perhaps introduce an easy and a hard mining start?

spara wrote:

2. Start from a hermit at Tionisla.

Like this idea a lot, adds a touch of realism

I must admit that I also enjoy that extremely slow start. Injectors really feel earned. I also like to have New Cargoes OXP as it sometimes replaces your just mined minerals with special minerals. And if you're real lucky, those just might be worth more than pure minerals. I also find it quite essential to have a couple of extra stations in system so that I can jump between stations and maybe even make a little profit from trading.

spara wrote:

Malacandra wrote:

Mind you, you need to show a lot of profit before you've covered the cost of the Ore Processor.

It's perfectly possible to install the mining laser as your front armament and a fighting laser in the rear mount. You're a useless dogfighter but can run away from pirates and blow them up as they follow.

I've noticed one problem with the new option to begin as a miner with a slow ship and mining laser: it's perfectly possible for splinters to have a drift velocity higher than your ship can match. :doh: People wanting to campaign as a miner would, IMHO, be better advised to start with a Cobra III then trade it for a Cobra I and some mining gear. It's not wildly exciting but it's at least playable.

Well, it is an advanced starting option . I've been happily playing with the Mining Transporter for a while now. Granted, the ship is slow, but with injectors it's playable. To make it more viable as a start option, I've been seriously considering a couple of changes to it.

1. Give injectors right from the start.
2. Start from a hermit at Tionisla.
3. If Ore Processor is installed, grant it to the player.

Mmf. I think if you need to start the ship with injectors, or muck about with Torus jump, it's an admission that the ship itself is a failure as a miner - and to be honest when I tried out this start I was having excessive difficulty catching any splinters at all, which is no way to design a mining ship. You certainly shouldn't have to use Torus jump from a realism PoV; a typical belt, especially if it can attract a Rock Hermit, should have a number of miners about the place.

Ore Processor's a fun item but the facility to scan asteroids in advance is almost a complete waste given its failure chance; you're as well off to just go ahead and scoop a splinter, then dump the cargo if you don't like it.

Malacandra wrote:

Mmf. I think if you need to start the ship with injectors, or muck about with Torus jump, it's an admission that the ship itself is a failure as a miner - and to be honest when I tried out this start I was having excessive difficulty catching any splinters at all, which is no way to design a mining ship. You certainly shouldn't have to use Torus jump from a realism PoV; a typical belt, especially if it can attract a Rock Hermit, should have a number of miners about the place.

Sure. Mining Transporter is not to everyone's taste. Realism in Oolite? Really? Seriously, I think that the Torus is a game mechanic and I have no hard feelings in using it to my advantage.

Malacandra wrote:

Ore Processor's a fun item but the facility to scan asteroids in advance is almost a complete waste given its failure chance; you're as well off to just go ahead and scoop a splinter, then dump the cargo if you don't like it.

With a slow ship like Mining Transporter that has only two slowly regenerating energy banks I've found the scanning function quite useful. I scan a splinter 2-3 times and if nothing shows up, I blow it to pieces and move on to the next one.

The point of the mining start is that it _forces_ you to mine. You can do a little in-system trading, but in practice nothing else. Some like it, some don't. The good thing is that it's optional, you can always select some other start, if it's not to your liking.

For those who are interested, the start originates from here: https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11384

Malacandra wrote:

I've noticed one problem with the new option to begin as a miner with a slow ship and mining laser: it's perfectly possible for splinters to have a drift velocity higher than your ship can match.

I've heard tell of miners who find a tweaked Cargo Shepherd invaluable, in this regard..

All very interesting. But scooping in Torus Drive is not really practical, it is perfectly possible for there to be other miners about the place so you don't even have the option, and if the solution to a problem is "use an exploit, download another OXP, or both" then the basic idea is broken. The main point still stands: if a splinter's drift velocity often/usually/invariably exceeds the maximum speed of a mining ship, then it's a bad mining ship. That's a shame, because the idea of starting the game as a miner who dreams of actually mining enough to afford a hyperspace-capable ship is a good one.

bacontube wrote:

I had a question. Is it possible to buy a mining laser, and change up my loadout? Or does buying one, have to replace the combat laser? I'd like to be both a cargo runner, and miner when possible. Any oxp/oxz for this?

Sorry just looking at your avatar and looking at question, Monty python squirts into my mind.......

I'll do it for 350, if you want him alive it's going to cost you double.
I'll need his last known location, star system and Oh sod it!
I don't want to be here,
I don't want to go flying around dragging people back from the edge of beyond kicking and screaming.
Murdering anyone who gets in my way or just looks at me a bit funny.
I didn't want to be a bounty hunter...... I wanted to be......... a space miner!
Flitting from rock to rock finding rare and precious metals.
Digging for ore and shoveling into my schoop!
Gold! Silver! Lead! a naughty bit of tin, a cheeky chunk of platinum!
With me favorite trimble by my side, I'd sing sing, sing!

I'm a space miner and I'm OK! I laser all night and I laser all day!
He's a space miner and he's OK! He laser all night and He laser all day!

Malacandra wrote:

The main point still stands: if a splinter's drift velocity often/usually/invariably exceeds the maximum speed of a mining ship, then it's a bad mining ship. That's a shame, because the idea of starting the game as a miner who dreams of actually mining enough to afford a hyperspace-capable ship is a good one.

I disagree with the premiss that the start ship should be optimum for the role. This is a ship that is the lowest rung on the ladder with faults & all.

I also find that most splinters don't exceed the speed of the transport and are scoopable.