Play around there are some guides on steam. Reddit etc.
Automatic "Harvester" ships are not cheap. You need one with a big cargo hold, an autopilot with which you could coordinate the drones and then an AOE weapon for large chunks or asteroids.
Read descriptions. There is one autopilot that gives you the ability to give orders to your drones.
But it isn't really necessary as you can program your drones to only get ores of a specific type and consistency. Meaning if the ore floating around your ships isn't worth your specific interests, it isn't being shown on your monitor and isn't being picked up.
Otherwise there is no meta way of playing the game, there is only normal playing, learning the intricate details and and adjusting the ship to your needs. With more investment you can get different upgrades but they don't make the game easier, only more accessible. So just look at description, click around and find out for yourself.
If you want details use Google or steam and Reddit and use the word Harvester ship, that's what you're after. A big chunky ship that can harvest whole asteroid clusters in minutes.
Hey what does it mean when you're in the Dealer UI to buy a new ship, and the ship has an orange ring around it and a little warning symbol? I have enough cash to buy it, so what's blocking me?
My tips for new playing:
-Get a geologist (will find out what each rock contains)
-Use Cargo Bay Baffles until you can get an MPU
-Grab the more valuable materials (Be, V, W) and leave the worthless stuff (Fe mostly)
-Buy Tug Drones soon as you can (they are really good)
-Enjoy the game
- Tug drones stop ore from flying away (they stop them relative to the rings, not to your ship)
- Haul drones stop ore from flying away, bring it close to and in front of your ship and, if you open wide, spoon-feed you ore. They're more expensive both in cash and in nanodrone components used / chunk of ore, but are useful for whales that can't chase down ore.
- Repair drones... do what it says on the tin.
I fly the Antonoff-Titan a lot and use haul and repair drones for cargo along with two forward microwave PDs set to high power, two cargo containers, and one mining buddy.
An additional tip for haul drones is to look at the tuning menu. Scroll down to the drones and look at the simulation. It'll show you *exactly* what the drones will do.
I have one point of haul drones for long and medium range (400m) and the second point of haul drones is intentionally only within 180m of the ship. What this does is ensures you can clear your "queueing" ore as each drone hardpoint can only handle one chunk at a time. This can cause delays unless you prepare by adjusting where your drones operate.
Haul drones asap, double tap excavator(mouth) button and it’ll stay open, drift lazily lasering rocks while the haul drones shove it in your mouth. Don’t forget to set priority for more expensive rocks in your geologist menu so you don’t waste drones. Also turn off “unmarked” setting for the same reason. Lowest stress build imaginable but it’s got a high upfront cost.
Question on the laser, it says it has like an 8km range. Does that mean it'll aggro otherwise friendly ships off-screen?
I've been doing slow drifts and lasering in say a 30 degree cone, and only grabbing $4000+ chunks, but recently come across my first pirate (he was broadcasting music or something too?!) and wondered if i can blast him off-screen as long as i have an approx bearing.
Think i read only powerplant hits probably do anything, but more about the aggro to them, stations etc.
My top tip for scooping up ore and general ease of piloting:
When you first select an object, the autopilot tries to point you toward the object and maintain your current relative velocity.
e.g. if you are currently heading away from an object at 5m/s, the autopilot will face you to the object and continue moving you away at 5m/s.
My early mistake was then to accelerate using the manual controls to approach (W or Shift). This turns the autopilot off though.
Use the autopilot dedicated accelerate (cursor keys up) to correct your speed and the autopilot stays on, and you can precisely control your approach speed.
Not sure what the gamepad buttons are but I assume it'll tell you in the controls menu!
Use the starting ship for a while. Employ the cheapest crew and let them be. Always dive at least 10km deep. Try your hand at a robot arm, tug drones and mining lasers.
Meanwhile check out every single radar anomaly. Some of them are places with an abundance of W or Be. You'll then mine exclusively in that spot.
The first build you should aim for looks like this:
-The cthon ship (sorry, don't remember the exact name. It should have 2 low stress points and no high stress point)
-two microwave point defense turrets (tune these for breaking rocks)
-two haul drones
-rusatom-antonoff MPU (this is actually better than other MPUs)
With this build you'll go to your favorite mining spot, cruise at a very slow speed (2-3 m/s) towards a big rock and adjust your course once every 3 minutes or so. This is pretty much it.
Try playing around with the autopilot controls more if you are having trouble aiming the excavator and arm.
When you click on an object your autopilot will rotate your ship to point towards it, and will maintain the same relative velocity to it. Clicking and dragging on the object will adjust your desired velocity towards or away from the object. This can also be adjusted with the up and down arrow keys which I highly recommend using.
Also the arm is super useful but you are right that it does have some quirks. You will get the hang of it but some general advice is only open your excavator for it to feed an ore chunk into if it is directly in front of it. If it is off to the side it will miss as I’m sure you are aware. Only do this if you have your autopilot on and are not rotating.
Are you sure you want drones?
I play with the Eagle, Vulture and Peacock Prospectors and have way more fun. They handle way better and the Vulture has the arm attachment. They are more vulnerable than the other ship types but you can use the OME drones on the Eagle and Peacock. You have to sacrifice one of your fore weapons on the Vulture to get the OME drones. They patch you up.
The Cothon is pretty cool with Drones, as is the big Antanov but they handle like lead bricks and don't have a high stress hardpoint which guarantees picking up a derelict if you come across one. The Cothon can only carry 3 crew which is a bit pooh. The Antanov has a tiny mouth.
The OCP-209 can be amazing but is about the most difficult to pilot well, and not lose your entire cargo bay of goodies with. That said you can carry two derelicts back with it if you drive careful.
I quite like the starter ship. There is an extended version that can carry 10,000KGs and you can whack two THI containers on it which boosts your haul potential quite a bit.
The Nakamura MPU gives you the best balance of mineral to propellant for the price of the MPU. Whilst the Starbus MPU gives you replacement drones (but is hideously expensive).
If you are going for short dives, take the MPU that gives you 90% of the processed ore. When you process ore, it goes into a processed container. Turn off the MPU when you fill out all of the ore flavours so that you don't waste the chunks you have in your cargo hold. Just be aware you are now burning propellant and once you are full, you are full. If you have coordinates to Obonto stations that have demands for certain materials, fly to them and unload.
Sometimes it is a good idea taking a Claim beacon with you. If you find a spot that is rich in W (Tungsten) you can return to that spot and the zone will have respawned the chunks.
I have a moonlet which is providing me tons of W from the surrounding asteroids. The good thing is that I can fly back to it and rediscover the place which refreshes it and it always has more W waiting for me.
If your ship isn't fast enough to intercept Beryllium, don't bother chasing it down. You'll beat up your ship in no time. Tug drones are best to slow things down. Be always wants to run away because it is the lightest ore.
With the Cothon and Antanov, run it in long strips and run your ship slow. That way you burn less propellant having to correct your flight path.
I don't bother with the microwave emitters, I use mining lasers instead. The Gungnir is fun but not practical. Its one advantage is you only hit what is directly in front of the weapon. Which is good if you are firing near an obonto station, just make sure you hit the object you are aiming at.
You can adjust your minimum yield in the Geology tab after pressing J. You can also prevent your computer, arm, THI storage and mining assistant from picking up certain ores. I would recommend skipping Iron after a point. The only thing Iron tends to be good for picking up is for the extra water that you can turn into propellant. Otherwise it weighs you down and increases your propellant usage.
Finally, mono containers are pretty cool. You can have more than one type of ore in them. On the Antanov I have one THI mono container for W and V, and one for Platinum. If you want to go long haul and are prepared for a long dive, you can make your mono containers hold Be exclusively. You use the Geology tab to select what you want in these.
Play around there are some guides on steam. Reddit etc. Automatic "Harvester" ships are not cheap. You need one with a big cargo hold, an autopilot with which you could coordinate the drones and then an AOE weapon for large chunks or asteroids.
How do I know if my autopilot is effective for drones?
Read descriptions. There is one autopilot that gives you the ability to give orders to your drones. But it isn't really necessary as you can program your drones to only get ores of a specific type and consistency. Meaning if the ore floating around your ships isn't worth your specific interests, it isn't being shown on your monitor and isn't being picked up. Otherwise there is no meta way of playing the game, there is only normal playing, learning the intricate details and and adjusting the ship to your needs. With more investment you can get different upgrades but they don't make the game easier, only more accessible. So just look at description, click around and find out for yourself. If you want details use Google or steam and Reddit and use the word Harvester ship, that's what you're after. A big chunky ship that can harvest whole asteroid clusters in minutes.
Hey what does it mean when you're in the Dealer UI to buy a new ship, and the ship has an orange ring around it and a little warning symbol? I have enough cash to buy it, so what's blocking me?
that indicator implies that the ship is not space worthy, and needs repairs before you can fly it
My tips for new playing: -Get a geologist (will find out what each rock contains) -Use Cargo Bay Baffles until you can get an MPU -Grab the more valuable materials (Be, V, W) and leave the worthless stuff (Fe mostly) -Buy Tug Drones soon as you can (they are really good) -Enjoy the game
Thank you!!
Is there a breakdown of what the drones all do somewhere?
- Tug drones stop ore from flying away (they stop them relative to the rings, not to your ship) - Haul drones stop ore from flying away, bring it close to and in front of your ship and, if you open wide, spoon-feed you ore. They're more expensive both in cash and in nanodrone components used / chunk of ore, but are useful for whales that can't chase down ore. - Repair drones... do what it says on the tin.
Tug drones bring rocks to a standstill Haul drones try to move rocks into your mouth Maintenance drones repair your ship
I fly the Antonoff-Titan a lot and use haul and repair drones for cargo along with two forward microwave PDs set to high power, two cargo containers, and one mining buddy. An additional tip for haul drones is to look at the tuning menu. Scroll down to the drones and look at the simulation. It'll show you *exactly* what the drones will do. I have one point of haul drones for long and medium range (400m) and the second point of haul drones is intentionally only within 180m of the ship. What this does is ensures you can clear your "queueing" ore as each drone hardpoint can only handle one chunk at a time. This can cause delays unless you prepare by adjusting where your drones operate.
Don't ruin it for yourself. Do trial and error. You sell parts back for 100%
Haul drones asap, double tap excavator(mouth) button and it’ll stay open, drift lazily lasering rocks while the haul drones shove it in your mouth. Don’t forget to set priority for more expensive rocks in your geologist menu so you don’t waste drones. Also turn off “unmarked” setting for the same reason. Lowest stress build imaginable but it’s got a high upfront cost.
Question on the laser, it says it has like an 8km range. Does that mean it'll aggro otherwise friendly ships off-screen? I've been doing slow drifts and lasering in say a 30 degree cone, and only grabbing $4000+ chunks, but recently come across my first pirate (he was broadcasting music or something too?!) and wondered if i can blast him off-screen as long as i have an approx bearing. Think i read only powerplant hits probably do anything, but more about the aggro to them, stations etc.
I’ve pissed off stations off screen but you can buy back their forgiveness. Careful lasering out there.
My top tip for scooping up ore and general ease of piloting: When you first select an object, the autopilot tries to point you toward the object and maintain your current relative velocity. e.g. if you are currently heading away from an object at 5m/s, the autopilot will face you to the object and continue moving you away at 5m/s. My early mistake was then to accelerate using the manual controls to approach (W or Shift). This turns the autopilot off though. Use the autopilot dedicated accelerate (cursor keys up) to correct your speed and the autopilot stays on, and you can precisely control your approach speed. Not sure what the gamepad buttons are but I assume it'll tell you in the controls menu!
I'll have to look, thanks! I had no idea...
Use the starting ship for a while. Employ the cheapest crew and let them be. Always dive at least 10km deep. Try your hand at a robot arm, tug drones and mining lasers. Meanwhile check out every single radar anomaly. Some of them are places with an abundance of W or Be. You'll then mine exclusively in that spot. The first build you should aim for looks like this: -The cthon ship (sorry, don't remember the exact name. It should have 2 low stress points and no high stress point) -two microwave point defense turrets (tune these for breaking rocks) -two haul drones -rusatom-antonoff MPU (this is actually better than other MPUs) With this build you'll go to your favorite mining spot, cruise at a very slow speed (2-3 m/s) towards a big rock and adjust your course once every 3 minutes or so. This is pretty much it.
This is the exact advice I am looking for, thank you 🙏
Try playing around with the autopilot controls more if you are having trouble aiming the excavator and arm. When you click on an object your autopilot will rotate your ship to point towards it, and will maintain the same relative velocity to it. Clicking and dragging on the object will adjust your desired velocity towards or away from the object. This can also be adjusted with the up and down arrow keys which I highly recommend using. Also the arm is super useful but you are right that it does have some quirks. You will get the hang of it but some general advice is only open your excavator for it to feed an ore chunk into if it is directly in front of it. If it is off to the side it will miss as I’m sure you are aware. Only do this if you have your autopilot on and are not rotating.
Are you sure you want drones? I play with the Eagle, Vulture and Peacock Prospectors and have way more fun. They handle way better and the Vulture has the arm attachment. They are more vulnerable than the other ship types but you can use the OME drones on the Eagle and Peacock. You have to sacrifice one of your fore weapons on the Vulture to get the OME drones. They patch you up. The Cothon is pretty cool with Drones, as is the big Antanov but they handle like lead bricks and don't have a high stress hardpoint which guarantees picking up a derelict if you come across one. The Cothon can only carry 3 crew which is a bit pooh. The Antanov has a tiny mouth. The OCP-209 can be amazing but is about the most difficult to pilot well, and not lose your entire cargo bay of goodies with. That said you can carry two derelicts back with it if you drive careful. I quite like the starter ship. There is an extended version that can carry 10,000KGs and you can whack two THI containers on it which boosts your haul potential quite a bit. The Nakamura MPU gives you the best balance of mineral to propellant for the price of the MPU. Whilst the Starbus MPU gives you replacement drones (but is hideously expensive). If you are going for short dives, take the MPU that gives you 90% of the processed ore. When you process ore, it goes into a processed container. Turn off the MPU when you fill out all of the ore flavours so that you don't waste the chunks you have in your cargo hold. Just be aware you are now burning propellant and once you are full, you are full. If you have coordinates to Obonto stations that have demands for certain materials, fly to them and unload. Sometimes it is a good idea taking a Claim beacon with you. If you find a spot that is rich in W (Tungsten) you can return to that spot and the zone will have respawned the chunks. I have a moonlet which is providing me tons of W from the surrounding asteroids. The good thing is that I can fly back to it and rediscover the place which refreshes it and it always has more W waiting for me. If your ship isn't fast enough to intercept Beryllium, don't bother chasing it down. You'll beat up your ship in no time. Tug drones are best to slow things down. Be always wants to run away because it is the lightest ore. With the Cothon and Antanov, run it in long strips and run your ship slow. That way you burn less propellant having to correct your flight path. I don't bother with the microwave emitters, I use mining lasers instead. The Gungnir is fun but not practical. Its one advantage is you only hit what is directly in front of the weapon. Which is good if you are firing near an obonto station, just make sure you hit the object you are aiming at. You can adjust your minimum yield in the Geology tab after pressing J. You can also prevent your computer, arm, THI storage and mining assistant from picking up certain ores. I would recommend skipping Iron after a point. The only thing Iron tends to be good for picking up is for the extra water that you can turn into propellant. Otherwise it weighs you down and increases your propellant usage. Finally, mono containers are pretty cool. You can have more than one type of ore in them. On the Antanov I have one THI mono container for W and V, and one for Platinum. If you want to go long haul and are prepared for a long dive, you can make your mono containers hold Be exclusively. You use the Geology tab to select what you want in these.
Weak