hey all, based on some of the questions, I thought I would share some quick info on mining.
This does not yet go into looking for rocks in the first place, but it may be added later.
First off, let's take a look at the mining interface
As you can see, there is a lot of info here, but since this is a 101 course, let's stick to the big items.
Top right hand corner shows the mass of the rock you have in your scanner's sights. The more mass, the more power you need to break it.
Just below that is what makes up the rock. In this instance, Laranite and Tungsten, both at good percentages. This is a nice rock that will yield a good amount of aUEC when sold.
Below that is cargo capacity. This is how much of your system you currently have filled. At 0 percent, this person has not recovered any material for sale.
Now, to the important bits.
There are FOUR meters.
The first is the "Laser Throttle" meter (left side under the graph). This is showing what power percentage your laser is currently putting out. You change it up and down using your mouse wheel or whatever you bound to that control. This is the only system you have direct control over. You can turn it on, off, and raise/lower the power being emitted. For a control system, I prefer binging a secondary HOTAS or other throttle for control, but if you do, make sure it has a large range of motion for fine control. Otherwise, your mouse wheel can be good, but takes getting used to.
The second is the "Rock Energy Level" on the left hand just below the Laser Throttle Meter. This is the graph with the Blue, green, and red bands, and it effectively shows how much heat is in the rock. At 0, there is no energy in the rock. However, that does not mean there are no internal stresses from previous mining attempts. For that, you need to check the Fracture and Overcharge meters
The third is the "fracture sensor" meter on the right hand side which is what you need to get to 100 percent to fracture the rock. This is done by keeping the Rock Energy level in the green band for an extended period of time. Below the green band, you do not gain fracture power and will lose somewhat quickly any fracture power you have gained. Above the green band and you generate overcharge, not fracture stress.
The fourth is the "overcharge sensor" meter, also on the right hand side right under the Fracture sensor. This is what starts filling when you get into the red band. It goes down when you are out of the red band, but only slowly. If this meter is anything but 0 when the fracture meter hits 100 percent, the rock blows up and you lose a percentage of your rock (10 overchange when fracture occurs means 10 percent loss of ore). This explosion can be violent and can damage or destroy your ship depending on how much overcharge there is. Overcharge also means the fragments go flying, which means chasing them down..especially in space and on low gravity moons.
To mine, find a mine-able rock using your sensors (another thread). Once you have gotten near it, extend your mining laser by pressing the m button on your keyboard. The rock will have an off white or purple outline. If white, it needs to be fractured before you can harvest it. If purple, it's ready to be harvested.
Most of the time, the outline will be white, so with your laser throttle at 0 percent and at rest relative to your rock, turn on the laser and slowly increase the laser throttle until the Rock Energy Level meter starts to increase. The more power your laser is putting out, the faster this will climb. However, rocks will not start to heat up until you put in more energy than it dissipates. For large rocks, you may need 30-90 percent throttle to get it to start heating up, for smaller rocks, you may only need as little as 3-6 percent power. One thing to be aware of is carryover. Similar to the way the center of a roast will continue to heat up after you take it out of the oven, the energy of the rock can still increase for a few seconds after you back down or turn off your laser. So patience is key, especially as you are learning how to mine.
Keep the Laser throttle in a position where you are gaining energy in the rock until it gets close to the green portion When it gets to the green band, back down your laser throttle to keep the rock's energy level in the green portion. With practice, this will get easier. If it gets into the red, either turn off you laser, throttle it way back, or move the laser off the rock. You accumulate overcharge very quickly, so depending how far into the red you get and how fast you can chip the power, it might be better to turn the laser off or move the laser off the rock. There should be a sweet spot where the laser is just replacing the energy lost and the levels will remain constant. However, instability can mean that you will see jumps in energy level even through you did not increase your throttle. Be prepared to decrease or increase your throttle to keep it in the green band as necessary.
If it gets into the red, back down the throttle by a lot. If you only clipped the edge of the band, you are probably ok to continue mining. If you got a huge jump into the red, you might need to wait for the rock's overcharge to dissipate before trying again.
If the overcharge hits 100 percent, it blows up very violently, no matter what the fracture percentage is at. Lots of damage and high likelihood of ship destruction depending on how close you are. If the fracture meter reaches 100 percent and the overcharge meter is something other than 0, you lose a percentage of the rock and you might take damage to your ship depending on how much overcharge there way.
Once a rock is split, there may be some pieces that are purple. Check to see they have good mineral rates as different chunks will have different composition in 3.3 vs 3.2. If it's a good percentage, switch to extraction mode and hit the purple rock with your trio of extraction lasers. Since the lasers don't line up with your target icon, make sure you are vacuuming the right rock.
The will probably be other rocks with white outlines. Re-scan them and fracture them again using the above process. Note, these are much smaller rocks, so they will take less throttle to get their energy levels up into the green band. It may take a number of splits to be able to hoover up all the pieces. Again, look for the best pieces to mine. Some rocks may be "empty" meaning there is no valuable ore in that rock. Ignore it.
Tips:
If the power goes into the red part of the band, red, you need to let the overcharge meter go to 0 before it can be safely cracked. In other words, you have to let the rock cool completely down before you try again. In many cases, it’s better to find a different rock.
In some rare cases, certain rocks can’t be initially split by one prospector. In that case, it’s better to have one hold steady at a certain output, 50 to 75 percent if possible, and let the other person chase the fracture zone. Some rocks may require 3 or more people as well, but they are very rare.
New for 3.3, rocks can split so that some chunks will have a much higher percentage of ores. Pay attention to the high value chunks and let the smaller percentage ones go for best returns.
Edit: if you have a rock with a really small green band and have had a long hard fight getting it to fracture, it might be better to let it fracture with 10 percent overcharge than put yourself in another 5-10 minute battle for the initial split. I would not do that for any OC percentage over 10 and I really want it to be 0 overcharge 99 percent of the time
This does not yet go into looking for rocks in the first place, but it may be added later.
First off, let's take a look at the mining interface
As you can see, there is a lot of info here, but since this is a 101 course, let's stick to the big items.
Top right hand corner shows the mass of the rock you have in your scanner's sights. The more mass, the more power you need to break it.
Just below that is what makes up the rock. In this instance, Laranite and Tungsten, both at good percentages. This is a nice rock that will yield a good amount of aUEC when sold.
Below that is cargo capacity. This is how much of your system you currently have filled. At 0 percent, this person has not recovered any material for sale.
Now, to the important bits.
There are FOUR meters.
The first is the "Laser Throttle" meter (left side under the graph). This is showing what power percentage your laser is currently putting out. You change it up and down using your mouse wheel or whatever you bound to that control. This is the only system you have direct control over. You can turn it on, off, and raise/lower the power being emitted. For a control system, I prefer binging a secondary HOTAS or other throttle for control, but if you do, make sure it has a large range of motion for fine control. Otherwise, your mouse wheel can be good, but takes getting used to.
The second is the "Rock Energy Level" on the left hand just below the Laser Throttle Meter. This is the graph with the Blue, green, and red bands, and it effectively shows how much heat is in the rock. At 0, there is no energy in the rock. However, that does not mean there are no internal stresses from previous mining attempts. For that, you need to check the Fracture and Overcharge meters
The third is the "fracture sensor" meter on the right hand side which is what you need to get to 100 percent to fracture the rock. This is done by keeping the Rock Energy level in the green band for an extended period of time. Below the green band, you do not gain fracture power and will lose somewhat quickly any fracture power you have gained. Above the green band and you generate overcharge, not fracture stress.
The fourth is the "overcharge sensor" meter, also on the right hand side right under the Fracture sensor. This is what starts filling when you get into the red band. It goes down when you are out of the red band, but only slowly. If this meter is anything but 0 when the fracture meter hits 100 percent, the rock blows up and you lose a percentage of your rock (10 overchange when fracture occurs means 10 percent loss of ore). This explosion can be violent and can damage or destroy your ship depending on how much overcharge there is. Overcharge also means the fragments go flying, which means chasing them down..especially in space and on low gravity moons.
To mine, find a mine-able rock using your sensors (another thread). Once you have gotten near it, extend your mining laser by pressing the m button on your keyboard. The rock will have an off white or purple outline. If white, it needs to be fractured before you can harvest it. If purple, it's ready to be harvested.
Most of the time, the outline will be white, so with your laser throttle at 0 percent and at rest relative to your rock, turn on the laser and slowly increase the laser throttle until the Rock Energy Level meter starts to increase. The more power your laser is putting out, the faster this will climb. However, rocks will not start to heat up until you put in more energy than it dissipates. For large rocks, you may need 30-90 percent throttle to get it to start heating up, for smaller rocks, you may only need as little as 3-6 percent power. One thing to be aware of is carryover. Similar to the way the center of a roast will continue to heat up after you take it out of the oven, the energy of the rock can still increase for a few seconds after you back down or turn off your laser. So patience is key, especially as you are learning how to mine.
Keep the Laser throttle in a position where you are gaining energy in the rock until it gets close to the green portion When it gets to the green band, back down your laser throttle to keep the rock's energy level in the green portion. With practice, this will get easier. If it gets into the red, either turn off you laser, throttle it way back, or move the laser off the rock. You accumulate overcharge very quickly, so depending how far into the red you get and how fast you can chip the power, it might be better to turn the laser off or move the laser off the rock. There should be a sweet spot where the laser is just replacing the energy lost and the levels will remain constant. However, instability can mean that you will see jumps in energy level even through you did not increase your throttle. Be prepared to decrease or increase your throttle to keep it in the green band as necessary.
If it gets into the red, back down the throttle by a lot. If you only clipped the edge of the band, you are probably ok to continue mining. If you got a huge jump into the red, you might need to wait for the rock's overcharge to dissipate before trying again.
If the overcharge hits 100 percent, it blows up very violently, no matter what the fracture percentage is at. Lots of damage and high likelihood of ship destruction depending on how close you are. If the fracture meter reaches 100 percent and the overcharge meter is something other than 0, you lose a percentage of the rock and you might take damage to your ship depending on how much overcharge there way.
Once a rock is split, there may be some pieces that are purple. Check to see they have good mineral rates as different chunks will have different composition in 3.3 vs 3.2. If it's a good percentage, switch to extraction mode and hit the purple rock with your trio of extraction lasers. Since the lasers don't line up with your target icon, make sure you are vacuuming the right rock.
The will probably be other rocks with white outlines. Re-scan them and fracture them again using the above process. Note, these are much smaller rocks, so they will take less throttle to get their energy levels up into the green band. It may take a number of splits to be able to hoover up all the pieces. Again, look for the best pieces to mine. Some rocks may be "empty" meaning there is no valuable ore in that rock. Ignore it.
Tips:
If the power goes into the red part of the band, red, you need to let the overcharge meter go to 0 before it can be safely cracked. In other words, you have to let the rock cool completely down before you try again. In many cases, it’s better to find a different rock.
In some rare cases, certain rocks can’t be initially split by one prospector. In that case, it’s better to have one hold steady at a certain output, 50 to 75 percent if possible, and let the other person chase the fracture zone. Some rocks may require 3 or more people as well, but they are very rare.
New for 3.3, rocks can split so that some chunks will have a much higher percentage of ores. Pay attention to the high value chunks and let the smaller percentage ones go for best returns.
Edit: if you have a rock with a really small green band and have had a long hard fight getting it to fracture, it might be better to let it fracture with 10 percent overcharge than put yourself in another 5-10 minute battle for the initial split. I would not do that for any OC percentage over 10 and I really want it to be 0 overcharge 99 percent of the time
