Pilot Archive

I don't know if I'm just plain blind, or dumb, or maybe both, but..
For the life of me, I don't see how an imp is supposed to do spacemining without help.

What I mean is, I've been told you need three components for a good mining run:
Weapon for defense
Mining laser
Tractor beam

(and hold of course)
No imperial ship has 3 weapon slots, that I know of.. so clearly, they have to ditch something. Which means, they can never mine at the rate a privateer or rebel can?

This seems kinda out of whack to me.

all you need is 1 mining laser. no tactor beam no secondary weapon.

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Metroid wrote:
I don't know if I'm just plain blind, or dumb, or maybe both, but..
For the life of me, I don't see how an imp is supposed to do spacemining without help.

What I mean is, I've been told you need three components for a good mining run:
Weapon for defense
Mining laser
Tractor beam

(and hold of course)
No imperial ship has 3 weapon slots, that I know of.. so clearly, they have to ditch something. Which means, they can never mine at the rate a privateer or rebel can?

This seems kinda out of whack to me.

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You can defend yourself pretty well with a couple class 3 mining lasers. The tractor beam isn't necessary. I'd recommend using the TIE Bomber.

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R9D14 wrote:
all you need is 1 mining laser. no tactor beam no secondary weapon.

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I'm not talking bare minimum.
I'm talking optimum.

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Metroid wrote:

What I mean is, I've been told you need three components for a good mining run:
Weapon for defense
Mining laser
Tractor beam

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Depends how you mine.

Using a tractor means you can macro most of the mining process. If you're a good shot, a single mining laser will work fine. Tractor is just easier for most people, but you don't strictly need it.

My Heavy TIE works fine as a mining ship.

getting all those parts isn't cheap a class 3 mining laser and any sized cargo hold is good enough

Are you an ace pilot? I've tried all of the imperial ships and the best one I've found to use is the oppressor. You can equip the following:

Two Class III mining lasers
Three Mark IV Proton Missile Launchers
Mark IV Reactor
Mark IV Engine
Mark III Armor
RE'd Capacitor (mine's 9k mass)
RE'd Booster (mine's 8.5k)
RE'd Droid Interface (mine's 13.5k)
Crafted Large Cargo Hold

I use Mark IV Proton Missile launchers for defense. Using the mining lasers frees up some mass for the heavy launchers. Your mining profits will more than pay for your missile ammo. Macro a button for:

/target ast;

Also make another one for:

/target "diamond"

You can sub "diamond" for whatever asteroid you're mining. This will keep you centered on the asteroid you're working on. I dunno about you, but I find myself accidentally shooting off some acid asteroids sometimes when I'm mining the methane asteroid that's right next to it.

Some like to use a tractor beam and add a /follow to their targeting macro. This works, but if you're a good shot, you can do it faster without the tractor beam.

Hope this helps! Good luck.

It depends on where you chose to mine too.

A class 3 mining laser is fine for t3 bandits, t4 with WO 3.

Though I thought the T-beam was supposed to pull in more minerals per chunk than a laser ?

all the t-beam does is pull the chunks towards you so you can shoot em easier

Screw the T-beam, its a waste of time.

Two Type II or Type III mining lasers. Use a flight computer and load your normal combat set of Droid Commands. You will DEFINITELY want capacitor overload of some form, because Mining Lasers have very high energy/shot costs. Set up the following macro:

/tar Asteroid;
/pause .25;
/follow;

Fire as needed from the keyboard and tap the macro hotkey when a chunk breaks up or is destroyed. The damage output of Type II and Type III mining lasers is sufficient that Tier 3 (and probably 4s)Asteroid bandits are no threat. Haven't gone up against 4's or 5's yet, personally. Against Tier 1 or 2, you can pretty much ignore them until the asteroid chunks are collected, then you can swat them like flies.

Gotta question for all you guys and gals recommending Tractor Beams. You are pilots, yes? The idea of actually chasing down a target really so difficult you need a tractor beam to do the hard work?

Yeesh. Standard X-Wing, 1 Type III, 2 Type II, 1000 unit Large hold, 15 minutes with Asteroid bandit interference. Its dull work, but not THAT dull...

Um, the tractor beam is a lot faster and pulls in more units per rock than lasers. Sure you COULD run around chasing asteroids, or you could suck them all in instantly when the medium rock explodes then go back for more.

If you like to play shooting gallery that's fine, but if you are trying to make a business out of mining stick with the tractor beam. I used to think the tractor beam was not important too, but after I learned the real secret to using one I laugh at that notion.


EDIT: In regards to the topic I've also thought the imps are unfairly penalized in regard to mining without a 3-gun ship. I haven't heard a good solution yet.

Message Edited by Phizuol on 07-13-2005 02:14 PM

Unless its a 200% increase in the number of resources per rock, its not worth my time. I'm efficient enough to pull in a full hold in reasonableamount oftime, and enough for a special order component or heavy chassis in under an hour, including crafting time.

I don't bulk resources from asteroids.