Shipwright Archive
Thread: tractor beams the bane of the SW
RabidDoozer wrote:
took me 5 -6 hrs to grind 4 of those little puppies.
did you use one when you were trying to get the stuff for them?
Message Edited by Yalton on 06-12-2005 09:04 AM
Yalton wrote:
You just need practice. Make sure you are using a tractor beam to mine also. I can fill a 1550 crafted hold in about 10-15 minutes now. Takes me an hour to get the resources to be able to make 2 of them with 300 or each resource left over.
Message Edited by Yalton on 06-12-2005 09:04 AM
I can fill a cargo hold with a 1550 capacity in about 15 minutes with a ship armed with two Mark III Mining Lasers. I have determined that the following two factors allow one to increase their mining efficiency:
- Ship Statistics -- you want a ship with a good speed index and superior YPR acceleration.
- Engine - you want an engine with as much speed as you can muster. Of course, YPR speed factors in as well, but nearly as much as the acceleration, which is keyed to the chassis (not the engine).
There is another important reason why mining with lasers is more advantageous than a tractor beam--defense. Two mining lasers give you a superior advantage over opponents than a single mining laser.
One might argue that a ship with three weapon slots is a better bet: equip two with mining lasers and one with a tractor. This might be true; however, being an Imperial pilot, we do not have access to ship with three weapon slots, so I wouldn't know.
I use a TIE Oppressor witha Mark III mining laser and a tractor beam, and I do just fine for both mining and defensively (even in Kessel). The key to using a tractor beam is to toggle it on (bind a key to toggle the tractor beam...I use 7). Once you blast off a chunk, toggle the tractor beam on andaccelerate behind it and get close (not too close though, or you'll bounce off it), then hit the chunk with two blasts from your mining laser (use the appropriate number key on your keyboard, using a joystick trigger will turn your tractor beam off). Most of the time the small chuncks get sucked in by the tractor beam right away, and those that don't can usually be sucked up very quickly. It can take from 10 to 20 minutes to fill my large fighterhold, depending on how many asteroid bandits end up spawning.
Slim Vargo, Corbantis
3 slot ships are the best. I have a high end blaster for defense, which takes out tier 5's with no problem, a mark 3 mining laser to break down chunks really fast, and a tractor beam that pulls in more resource per small chunk than a mark 3 could ever produce.
Oh, the tractor beam also has a 1000m range, twice the range of a mark 3. The best way is to target the small chunk, hit follow and the tractor does the rest of the work. I got my mining down to three button presses and non are macros.
I have a toggle for the tractor, i hit my "3" key since the mark 3 is in the third slot, and i have f11 keyed with follow. makes mining a breeze for me.
EdOWar wrote:
I use a TIE Oppressor witha Mark III mining laser and a tractor beam, and I do just fine for both mining and defensively (even in Kessel). The key to using a tractor beam is to toggle it on (bind a key to toggle the tractor beam...I use 7). Once you blast off a chunk, toggle the tractor beam on andaccelerate behind it and get close (not too close though, or you'll bounce off it), then hit the chunk with two blasts from your mining laser (use the appropriate number key on your keyboard, using a joystick trigger will turn your tractor beam off). Most of the time the small chuncks get sucked in by the tractor beam right away, and those that don't can usually be sucked up very quickly. It can take from 10 to 20 minutes to fill my large fighterhold, depending on how many asteroid bandits end up spawning.Slim Vargo, Corbantis
Bingo! Following real close I pick almost all of the small pieces with out even chasing them. I never turn my tractor beam off while I mine.
I use a Rhy set up for mining. A mark 3 mining laser and a tractor beam and a level 10 gun for any thing that thinks it is going to make me space debris. Imperial Pilots do get the shaft on the number of guns and do have to compensate. Glad to know that two mark 3 mining lasers can be used to get the job done almost as fast.