Other Tips & Tricks
Focus Lasers- All rocks, even those with high mass, resistance, and instability can be mined by a Mole with three Helix Mining Heads working together. As with the Double Team strategy above, this usually involves two of the laser operators focusing on a single rock and activating the lasers at minimum power(0.10%). The third operator will then be the one that raises the Rock Energy Level to and maintains the Green Zone. Very rarely will one of the other operators need to increase power in order for the Rock Energy Level to rise enough to cross into the Green Zone. At this point the third operator will continue to carefully maintain and adjust power as needed until fracture occurs. Repeat as necessary on all rocks.
The Consumable Sanction - As explained before about Quantanium it has a small green zone and high instability which only gets more difficult to mine the higher concentration the rock is. When an extremely valuable rock must absolutely without delay be mined perfectly then a Mole with three Helix Mining Heads and Consumables should be used. Slot two Helix heads with an Optimum Consumable and the third with a Stampede. Focus all lasers on the rock and after activating the lasers activate all Consumables simultaneously. This will be enough to widen the Green Zone to be almost 50% of the entire Rock Energy Level meter and fracture the rock within seconds without any risk of Overcharge. Repeat as necessary for all rocks.
Saving fuel while surface mining - To save some fuel while skimming the surface of a moon or planet simply go into VTOL mode(press ‘J’). This engages VTOL which uses less fuel than the main engines. This is especially important with a ship like the Mole which consumes fuel at an astonishing rate.
Avoiding accidental Overcharge with server lag- Due to server lag the Rock Energy level and Fracturing Sensor may sometimes appear to be static for a few seconds. Power is still being applied and calculated and when the server sends that data to the client it could mean the rock is now Overcharging. If this lag appears to happen either move the laser to a different part of the rock to force an update, turn the laser away from the rock, or turn the laser off until the server can catch up.
Maximizing Good Returns - Recall the General Scanner and what the numbers next to the minerals mean. The first number is the concentration of a specific mineral in the rock, the second number tells the player how much of the rock that concentration is in. For best returns, not only must the concentration of a specific element be high, the percentage of the overall mass must be as well. Furthermore the mass of the rock should also be significant, customarily in the 6000-8000 range For example, a rock contains a 30% gold concentration that is in 5% of the rock. This will yield less value compared to a 5% gold concentration in 50% of a rock provided that the mass of both is the same. Do not be deceived by a generous up front concentration. Looking deeper will allow for better decisions and yield even better rewards.
Repair and Refuel at Moon Outposts- Moon outposts with landing pads can be used to repair and refuel ships. This is especially useful for the Mole due to its high fuel consumption.
Countering Weather- Alpha 3.9 introduced weather for all moons and planets.
- Wind should be paid attention to first and foremost as this will rock a miner’s ship back and forth or blow it away from a valuable rock. The rocking effect can have detrimental effects on rocks with high instability as the player tried to keep the laser steady. Due to how the rock reacts when the mining laser hits a new area it could lead to the rock acquiring Overcharge. In these cases the ship can either be landed or positioned in such a way that the wind is directly behind or in front of the ship to minimize extraneous movement. Great pilots will usually be able to automatically compensate for most movement while keeping eyes on the prize.
- Dust/ice particles - At night these particles can obstruct vision if the ship is moving and it’s lights are turned on. Players encounting this can either turn the lights off and fly relatively blind, turn the gamma setting up in the graphics options or move outside of whatever dust/ice storm is currently present.
New Babbage Commons Area Landing - Quantum from Port Tressler down to New Babbage and find the Commons area domes. From here there is a small area outside the vehicle garage which can be used to land a ship on. This will register on the refinery console inside and can be used to quickly sell volatile ore.
