Elite: Dangerous PvE - Mobius

http://imgur.com/a/vEqgv#8 just a few mining systems.
http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteMiners/com ... metallics/ another list I found.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/type_9_heavy/ ... bn=t9miner t9 costs as much as a python miner but hey lots of cargo space

i think my final amount used was 22 drones to mine 40t, so i'll carry 25 from now on but adjust the number as my technique improves

unfortunately all the missions i've seen for miners were gone on my return, so my profit wasn't great, merely ok. still for a first trip i call it a success, i managed to make everything work as it should.

i chose a random point in some metal-rich rings (not in a RES) so there was no pirates to worry about. i'll keep my eyes open for a pristine source nearby and try again

The more I think about it the more ridiculous and annoying these collector drones become. Who would design a complex mechanical device like this that only lasts about 5 minutes in use and is then just abandoned? They should cost a lot more and last a hell of a lot longer. Then you'd just buy the number you need to collect chunks as fast as you want. The drones should refuel themselves from the ship. It would be OK if they occasionally malfunctioned or died. If you had a repair module, it should work on the drones if you scooped them up.

Haven't they ever heard of sustainability in the future? Or recycling? You should at least be able to scoop up your dead drones and get a core charge deposit back (I assume you don't actually do that now).

Roger Wilco Jr wrote:The more I think about it the more ridiculous and annoying these collector drones become.

Couldn't agree more!

What I'm really wondering is: is there a "pattern" in the asteroids ring? I mean...is it RNG that decide the kind of metals we are getting from a single asteroid, starting in the moment when laser hit it?

Or there are...mmmhhh..."layers" of similar content asteroids floating close? Sometimes I have this kind of impression, but perhaps is just my imagination.

As a side note: I fill up my cargo hold with drones because I'm very choosy. Ignoring osmium, silver etc...even gold is just a "target of opportunity". So very often my first collecting drone has expired before I reach a new satisfactory asteroid to mine.

Prospectors should have a LARGE activity range (5 km? maybe less?) and somehow mark the asteroids with the kind of stuff you are looking for.

mine last 12min if I only use 1 at a time with a a1 or a3 module.
try using 1 collector at a time.
the prospector drones are not worth using imo.

I was out tooling around the core edge and found this system, thought I'd share it here and not with dem steenky open players. HIP 26050, zero pop, 4 brown dwarf stars all with rings. 1 icy, 2 metal rich, 1 metallic, all pristine. No res zones and I've seen 1 pirate while mining. 23 ly's away is an Industrial empire system HIP 25359 with a large starport, 4 pristine metal rich rings. 3 res, 3 lo res, and 3 hi res zones.

On a side note. I ran out to that metallic ring in the last post, dropped about 100 prospector drones. No metal, osmium or painite, only cheap minerals. The metal rich ones tho in the empire system drop good metal, osmium and painite. Maybe because it's an unpopulated system? or because the rings are around brown dwarf stars instead of gas giants.

Yeah, they "look" like icy rings with a purple tinge.
I'd expect metallic rings to be more tan/brown (darker purple).
Of course, I haven't really checked in months.

Anyway, I don't think system population has anything to do with it.
You may be on to something about the system sun type though.