More hanger advice - ARGO Mole for a solo player? Good endgame for solo miner? No?

[SoloPlayerZA]

Hi all

With such awesome feedback on my "fighter" ship questions, I thought I would ask the rock haters on the viability of the ARGO Mole as a ship for a solo player?

I own a prospector and considering the upgrade... but I do understand and realise all the "inefficiencies" as a solo player in there. I don't mind inefficiency IF it is more fun and profit in the end. My big thing is that I don't really see people joining me on my endeavours, but I surely will on others (such as Orions and the other beeeeeg ships). My time makes it tricky to commit to something, so that's why the solo thing will be the majority of my gameplay - need to have flexibility. I looked at the Orion and am in awe as an endgame ship, but looking at the crew requirement and how I perceive how vulnerable it will be, particularly as a solo player (it will need people to help scout and defend, as I predict large "whaling" fleets will be looking to destroy them - as with Eve with Rorqs. The small and single ships do nothing, but numbers is the game), I don't think I will ever have this - I would rather just join someone in org on their trip for this.

My concern is more about how vulnerable such a ship is as a solo player? How much fun is it now and in the perceived future? Sure the crew requirement might not be a problem when we can hire NPCs (tm). I like the idea of bigger ships that can do more because of equipment (travel further, mine better, mine more, be out longer, better defence, etc), and I believe in the philosophy that its easier to get smaller ships in game when you have bigger ones, than what it is to get bigger ships with smaller ones (e.g. getting a Titan by using a Cat is "easier" than getting a Cat by using a Titan). But the reality is I'm a solo player with limited and unpredictable time to play, so that limits my larger ship choice and chance to join groups.

I would love to hear if there is anyone with the same thoughts / gameplay as I have. Some questions that could help the discussion:

• Do you think the Mole is a ship that is viable for a Solo player?
• Do you yourself currently mine in the Mole as a solo player? If so, what is your experience?
• Do you think the Mole will be more viable for solo players when the game launches (tm) - especially hiring NPC's?
• If money was not an issue and you had to choose 1 (Prospector or Mole) for a solo player, what would you choose and why? (also considering speculation for it at game launch, end game potential / content, NPCs for hire, splitting profits, etc)
• What would you consider the "end-game" ship / role for a solo player interested in mining / industry?

Am open to any thoughts as I am in the middle.

Looking forward to the awesome opinions!

Cheers and have a great weekend! o7

 

[Thraesh]

• Do you think the Mole is a ship that is viable for a Solo player?

Currently no. It's extremely clunky to use as solo. It can be done sure but you waste fuel and have less time using it by going solo compared to using it with a crew to handle all stations. You have to find a node (more efficient with multiple people scanning), park and hover over it close enough, get out of your seat, go to a mining laser, mine the rock and then repeat to go back to the drivers seat. It's even worse when you find a cluster of rocks because you potentially have to do this process multiple times.

• Do you yourself currently mine in the Mole as a solo player? If so, what is your experience?

No, and see previous comment

• Do you think the Mole will be more viable for solo players when the game launches (tm) - especially hiring NPC's?

With an NPC crew it should be more viable but no one can predict how that will work without testing. It is expected to help at least

• If money was not an issue and you had to choose 1 (Prospector or Mole) for a solo player, what would you choose and why? (also considering speculation for it at game launch, end game potential / content, NPCs for hire, etc)

Without testing, you can't give a solid answer until NPC crew's are in game and have been tested thoroughly. Prospector is fine and can do jobs much quicker solo for now

• What would you consider the "end-game" ship / role for a solo player interested in mining / industry?

Depends what way you wanted to go and what you wanted to do and why.

 

[Thalstan]

I have two comps that can run SC and I use a second account to put a miner in the seat. With that, the MOLE is very”soloable”. I imagine most ships with two split jobs with very little overlap will be similar

 

[Patrick Spaceman]

I have two comps that can run SC and I use a second account to put a miner in the seat. With that, the MOLE is very”soloable”. I imagine most ships with two split jobs with very little overlap will be similar

Capitalist....I love it.

 

[BUTUZ]

Yes!! mole is awesome - I've melted my prospector as it's just not needed.

OK the mole is a bit of a potch to use as you gotta get out the chair to mine but it's fine once you gety used it it you;ll be parking up right smack bang perfect in between 3 rocks and and mining them all in no time. The 3 x the cargo makes a massive difference. The time you spend extra getting in and out of seats is waaaaaaaaay less than the time spent in prospector going back to olisar and handing in every 10 minutes......

Also if you have a few mates the prospector is useless - if you have a few mates and a mole - whoa it's a mine fest the likes of which have not been seen since the dwarves delved too deep in moria!

 

[Firebrand]

It is viable, but highly inefficient. The miner in the lower cockpit has to do quite a bit of communication with the pilot in the upper cockpit to get the ship in range... there will be a lot of running back and forth between the cockpits on seperate decks otherwise. And if a pirate arrives, the solo player in the lower cockpit happily mining away will never know until they have been turned into space dust.

However, with an NPC crew, this may be much much easier, but that is some time away and even when this feature does arrive, development will still be a slow process before they can do all the different things we want them to do.

Maybe ask someone who has a Mole to spend some time on it, get the feel of the requirements of operating it and make a decision from there. But I think think you'd have be be VERY patient and forgiving for this to work. Personally, I've been having similar thoughts for the Vulcan, but I have no intention of getting one until the officially launch where I earn it in-game and ALL the features are present.

 

[AntiSqueaker]

I think the endgame solo miner ship is a Prospector with all the hiterto unforseen higher end mining equipment. Remember this is still v1-2 of Mining, not even finalized.

Mole is specifically designed for co-op and multiboxing shenanigans aside it would be more trouble than it's worth imo.

Only upside for solo mining is the Prospector has 3x the cargo space.

Mole is a great ship, but for solo mining the only real choice is the Prospector. Mole is a sweet spot between solo and "holy shit I need to have a dedicated escort wing because I'm so chonky and thicc" Orion.

 

[Firebrand]

I think the endgame solo miner ship is a Prospector with all the hiterto unforseen higher end mining equipment. Remember this is still v1-2 of Mining, not even finalized.

Mole is specifically designed for co-op and multiboxing shenanigans aside it would be more trouble than it's worth imo.

Only upside for solo mining is the Prospector has 3x the cargo space.

Mole is a great ship, but for solo mining the only real choice is the Prospector. Mole is a sweet spot between solo and "holy shit I need to have a dedicated escort wing because I'm so chonky and thicc" Orion.

That's a great point, once all the bits'n'bobs on the Prospector has been upgraded (when those higher end components are available), I'm sure it will be much more pofitable with better scanners and mining lasers etc.

 

[Bambooza]

That's a great point, once all the bits'n'bobs on the Prospector has been upgraded (when those higher end components are available), I'm sure it will be much more pofitable with better scanners and mining lasers etc.

Not only that but they have said their will be rare ore pockets the prospector would be well suited for finding and taking advantaged of. As you move from the Prospector to the Mole to the Orion there is profit to be made form efficiency of scale but they also will require a lot more logistical support to operate. As for the Prospector its small, it has a small signature and it will be far harder to located in an ore field then the other ships so it could easily be overlooked by pirates. Where the Mole really doesn't have the weapons to do much in the way of defense and so will start requiring an escort wing to protect it. Then when you step up to the Orion its easy to see just how much time will be required to get it along with all of the support craft into position and so would require a larger time commitment to operate as well as a group of friendly's to provide hauling, scanning and security, fuel, rearm, food and drinks. I will be interesting to see how scanning is flushed out but it had always been hinted that the even with the Orion you are going to want to have prospectors around to go out and scan ore fields and find the ones worth gobbling up and there might even by resources in the field that the prospector will want to harvest before the Orion's crunch it all up like crystals.

One thing that seems to be constant is that there is no really since of linear progression when it comes to ships. That each ship has strengths and weaknesses and nitch roles it excels at. That there might be times when 20 Prospectors will be far more profitable then those 20 players supporting 4 or 5 Orion's.

 

[AntiSqueaker]

Not only that but they have said their will be rare ore pockets the prospector would be well suited for finding and taking advantaged of. As you move from the Prospector to the Mole to the Orion there is profit to be made form efficiency of scale but they also will require a lot more logistical support to operate. As for the Prospector its small, it has a small signature and it will be far harder to located in an ore field then the other ships so it could easily be overlooked by pirates. Where the Mole really doesn't have the weapons to do much in the way of defense and so will start requiring an escort wing to protect it. Then when you step up to the Orion its easy to see just how much time will be required to get it along with all of the support craft into position and so would require a larger time commitment to operate as well as a group of friendly's to provide hauling, scanning and security, fuel, rearm, food and drinks. I will be interesting to see how scanning is flushed out but it had always been hinted that the even with the Orion you are going to want to have prospectors around to go out and scan ore fields and find the ones worth gobbling up and there might even by resources in the field that the prospector will want to harvest before the Orion's crunch it all up like crystals.

One thing that seems to be constant is that there is no really since of linear progression when it comes to ships. That each ship has strengths and weaknesses and nitch roles it excels at. That there might be times when 20 Prospectors will be far more profitable then those 20 players supporting 4 or 5 Orion's.

A rough comparison could be to EVE Online- while their mining is vastly different (i.e. boring as hell and easily automated) they have ships that have bonuses towards overall mining buffs (larger holds, more efficient mining lasers, better mining drones, etc) and more specialized mining ships that are designed for mining ice + gas rather than asteroids.

You can already make more money quicker in a Prospector mining quantanium than you do normal bulk mining in a Mole for instance. I would hope that when the mining systems are more fleshed out you can have the Prospector be both an entryway (although I still support mining lasers being able to be added to ships a la carte so that brand new players don't have to buy a fairly expensive ship to get a taste) and able to be specialized with "end game" equipment to go after more lucrative/harder to find deposits.

 

[Vavrik]

• Do you think the Mole is a ship that is viable for a Solo player?
• Do you yourself currently mine in the Mole as a solo player? If so, what is your experience?
• Do you think the Mole will be more viable for solo players when the game launches (tm) - especially hiring NPC's?
• If money was not an issue and you had to choose 1 (Prospector or Mole) for a solo player, what would you choose and why? (also considering speculation for it at game launch, end game potential / content, NPCs for hire, splitting profits, etc)
• What would you consider the "end-game" ship / role for a solo player interested in mining / industry?

I have both a Prospector and a Mole. I normally prefer flying the Prospector when mining alone, which is most of the time. You can fly the Mole solo but it makes it awkward and time consuming to mine. Something else I discovered, quite accidentally a few patches ago. You can blow up a ship attacking you with a mining laser if you can bring it to bear fast enough. It's range is limited, but nobody wants to be hit by it a second time.

I see the Mole as a ship that can provide a small group of players a chance to mine together, while the Prospector is a solo pilot/miner that can compliment an Orion. But keep a fighter escorts around the Orion. It's going to be a big juicy target. Also hopefully we'll be able to use ships like the Freelancer to collect full mining bags and bring them to someplace that needs the raw materials. A mining operation fleet is high interest for me.

 

[Mich Angel]

 

[SoloPlayerZA]

Ok Awesome, thanks for the feedback. Here is where I am currently at:

I have researched some more and there are way more solo Mole miners than expected. Many enjoy it. And I get why. I'm looking at the effort vs reward vs the cost... and I feel like it's not worth it (well at this moment). Things might change, but right now I think I want to hold onto my Prospector. The points on it having a niche place with potential niche rocks to mine, makes me almost consider having both - but eventually rather grind to get the Mole in game.

There are rumours that a ship type is missing from the game - a refiner... I think keeping the money to purchase a small / mid refiner instead of upgrading to a Mole will give me more gameplay loops / opportunity than just having a Mole. And sure this might never come, but for the game right now I don't need a Mole.

I saw an interesting fleet video yesterday that came from a very different perspective of: "dont buy ships for the game in the future, buy ships for now, you can always melt those ships later and get the ships you want when the game releases - so that you can have fun now" - with some exceptions. But the idea of that resonates with me. I want to have a balance of ships I want to use NOW, and have ships that could maybe one day be awesome and get it at a good price now as when it launch it could be 2x the cost (i.e. Merchantman). The Mole fits in that category where it's a ship for the future, not for now. The prospector is useful as a solo ship right now. I can always CCU when game launches, or buy in game as mentioned.

Cheers!

 

[Firebrand]

A wise conclusion me thinks... with the game still in development and changing all the time, unless people are 'testing' over wanting to just have fun, it's probably best to stick to tried and tested stuff. But each to their own and no opinion or approach is really wrong, unless you're trying to do cargo missions in a Greycat Buggy

 

[Mich Angel]

I solo my Mole a lot and see no problem with it what so ever I treat it as a prospector with larger cargo.
Sure there is a bit a trickery and planning for each rock you want to mine but hey I'm enjoying this and I'm in no hurry.

Mining is not a speed run it take planning and patience, have beer relax and enjoy it.. that's what I do.
If I get a crew to tag along great then we can harvest larger rocks and then we need to split the profit after refueling and any repair is done..

I mean if you chose to solo it and the largest rock you can mine are same as prospector but much larger cargo and with some quirk.
Moving back and forth in the ship for me is relaxing and make it feel much more immersive..

And I to do focus more on ship you can actually use now and have fun with, your final fleet you can fix later on with some exception .. as having Orion now isn't a bad thing.. etc..
As in being prepared having ship that you really want is okay.. but don't be too obsessed with it now.

But that's me how I see it, CHEERS!

 

[Bambooza]

A mining operation fleet is high interest for me.

Same. I cannot wait to pull my Orion out of dry dock meet up with a @Black Sunder lead group and mine for hours to provide raw resources for the pioneers to create testocalypse towns all over the verse.

 

[Black Sunder]

Same. I cannot wait to pull my Orion out of dry dock meet up with a @Black Sunder lead group and mine for hours to provide raw resources for the pioneers to create testocalypse towns all over the verse.

When the servers are stable as fuck, its gonna be a thing of beauty.

 

[Chip Hazzard]

Same. I cannot wait to pull my Orion out of dry dock meet up with a @Black Sunder lead group and mine for hours to provide raw resources for the pioneers to create testocalypse towns all over the verse.

I'll come with my... Non-existing mining ship and do flybys while drinking beer , I mean, watching your backs, and keeping you safe...

 

[BUTUZ]

I solo my Mole a lot and see no problem with it what so ever I treat it as a prospector with larger cargo.
Sure there is a bit a trickery and planning for each rock you want to mine but hey I'm enjoying this and I'm in no hurry.

Mining is not a speed run it take planning and patience, have beer relax and enjoy it.. that's what I do.
If I get a crew to tag along great then we can harvest larger rocks and then we need to split the profit after refueling and any repair is done..

I mean if you chose to solo it and the largest rock you can mine are same as prospector but much larger cargo and with some quirk.
Moving back and forth in the ship for me is relaxing and make it feel much more immersive..

And I to do focus more on ship you can actually use now and have fun with, your final fleet you can fix later on with some exception .. as having Orion now isn't a bad thing.. etc..
As in being prepared having ship that you really want is okay.. but don't be too obsessed with it now.

But that's me how I see it, CHEERS!

Exactly!! Really surprised not more peeps see it like we do!!!

 

[Mich Angel]

Exactly!! Really surprised not more peeps see it like we do!!!

Indeed.. ha ha ha