Mole or not to mole,..That is my question.

[GPcustoms]

So I am kicking the tires on a mole.

I like the extra storage and size 2 laser etc... And it says it has 92 cargo?...
So back to my thought....It looks like a good option for large refinery jobs and transporting the finished product with the same ship.
I don't want to buy one just yet due to the new patch to sooner or later hit but would like some thought and input from you molie molie people out there who run them about.
Good? Bad?..Honestly I am not judging,...just looking for some opinions after using the orange wonder

 

[Vavrik]

The idea is good, you and 3 friends can mine their hearts out, and right now you can make a crap ton of money that way. However, you cannot put refined ore back into the Mole to sell after refining. That needs a cargo ship. If we get a refinery ship soon(tm) though, that would be able to transport the ore to sell.

Edit: and... if there is a refinery ship for sale, I'm buying one. Don't care when it is available.

 

[GPcustoms]

The idea is good, you and 3 friends can mine their hearts out, and right now you can make a crap ton of money that way. However, you cannot put refined ore back into the Mole to sell after refining. That needs a cargo ship. If we get a refinery ship soon(tm) though, that would be able to transport the ore to sell.

Well that explains more than I knew....But then again CIG's web site is not always as informative as reaching out to real life players.
Thank you for shedding more light on the subject my friend

 

[Vavrik]

I added a comment after, and I just remembered the Orion should also be able to refine ore.

 

[GPcustoms]

I added a comment after, and I just remembered the Orion should also be able to refine ore.

Here is a not so related subject....How many refinery jobs can you run at once? I started 4 but only 3 show at the refinery....Mind you I have not been mining for at least a few patches......
Now back to my regularly scheduled adult beverage

 

[Vavrik]

Here is a not so related subject....How many refinery jobs can you run at once? I started 4 but only 3 show at the refinery....Mind you I have not been mining for at least a few patches......
Now back to my regularly scheduled adult beverage

You should be able to drink mor... no wait. You should be able to run an almost unlimited number of refinery jobs. I generally only have time for 1 or 2 jobs at a time, and I store them until I have 5 or 6 that are done before transporting them to sell. In a MSR, that's about 50% of it's cargo capacity. The most I had at one time was 9 jobs before I started taking them to market. It was an especially work free Friday and Saturday. Upshot is I don't know beyond 9. That can be worth well over a million aUEC though, depending on what you are mining.

 

[Deroth]

If you have at least one other person (preferably 2-3) you have a similar enough schedule to that you can play together regularly, then the Mole is great. However, while feasible solo, it gets to be quite a chore and you may enjoy the Prospector more if you expect to be mostly mining solo.

 

[Bambooza]

If you have at least one other person (preferably 2-3) you have a similar enough schedule to that you can play together regularly, then the Mole is great. However, while feasible solo, it gets to be quite a chore and you may enjoy the Prospector more if you expect to be mostly mining solo.

Well until NPC's come online. But even still it might be a huge pita to run with NPC crew. But either way the Prospector, Mole, and Orion in theory serve different goals but so far with what they have implemented, it looks like the Prospector is great for looking for that unique rare mineral node in hard to get to locations while the Mole looks to be geared more towards small scale mining operations. Both are limited in how far away they can operate from a station or support craft but in their reduced operating costs it makes for a great solo graft.

Then you have the Orion which has the potential through its high volume mining and onboard refining to suck dry whole asteroid fields quickly that it doesn't need to be choosy in regards to the rocks it grabs as its more cost-effective to keep everything running full than to fly around picking the highest yield. But it also has huge operating costs and those costs will be felt in the time it takes to set up and tear down only offset over long mining sessions (IE being out mining for hours at a time vs being able to make a nice size paycheck on an hour or less play time). The added factor is while the Orion can easily operate far from services it still needs logistics like Hull E, Starefarer along with dedicated protection to operate, which will require a lot of coordination with many other players.

 

[GPcustoms]

Enjoyed using the Orange space whale today. What a blast!

 

[BUTUZ]

I used to have a mole and I would always solo it (as i have no friends) - was a bit of a potch getting up and down but when you find a good rock you can go downstairs and eat all of it ALL OF IT YUMMY ROCKS.