Mining ships and simplifying resource harvesting

[scvn2812 (OP)]

My first question is perhaps a silly one but a search of the forum yielded no immediate answers: how do I get a ship equipped with a mining module to mine?

The second question is if there is a way to get it to do this without regular intervention from moi.

Finally, any tips on streamlining resource gathering operations would be very much appreciated.  I've tried setting up regular deliveries from Venus and other colonies to Earth via cargo ships using the repeat orders option, however I get the odd message saying that minerals could not be loaded when the cargo bays are practically empty and there are plenty of minerals stockpiled on the surface of the target.  Earth is out of neutronium and tritanium now so getting my head around logistics is becoming somewhat important.

[James Patten]

There's an Asteroid Mining Module (I think that's what it's called) that you can research.  These go on ships, or on space stations.

What I did was equip my asteroid mining ships with 1 hull space of cargo, then some Asteroid mining modules.  Then, as a fleet, they move from asteroid to asteroid, carrying 1 or 2 mass throwers.  When they arrive they unload the mass throwers and start mining automatically.  After a 5-day cycle I set up the mass throwers to throw minerals at one of my worlds.  Then you forget about them until the asteroid runs out of minerals.

[Dutchling]

Why don't you use mass drivers instead of freighters?

[scvn2812 (OP)]

There's an Asteroid Mining Module (I think that's what it's called) that you can research.   These go on ships, or on space stations.

What I did was equip my asteroid mining ships with 1 hull space of cargo, then some Asteroid mining modules.   Then, as a fleet, they move from asteroid to asteroid, carrying 1 or 2 mass throwers.   When they arrive they unload the mass throwers and start mining automatically.   After a 5-day cycle I set up the mass throwers to throw minerals at one of my worlds.   Then you forget about them until the asteroid runs out of minerals.

The problem I'm facing is that I have not yet figured out how to issue a mine order to a mining ship.  I have a ship design with cargo and a mining module but when I go into the orders menu for its task force and look at the various orders I can issue it: mining doesn't seem to be one of them.

Here's my miner design:

Juliet class Asteroid Miner    17250 tons     283 Crew     485. 4 BP      TCS 345  TH 62  EM 0
179 km/s     Armour 1-59     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/1     Damage Control 1     PPV 0
Maintenance Capacity 18 MSP
Cargo 5000   
Asteroid Miner: 2 module(s) producing 20 tons per mineral per annum

Nuclear Thermal Engine E0. 8 (1)    Power 62. 5    Fuel Use 8%    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 65. 0 billion km   (4200 days at full power)

Geological Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points

This ship is classed as a commercial vessel for maintenance purposes

As for freighters vs mass drivers, I hadn't gotten around to playing with mass drivers and the idea slipped my mind to be perfectly honest.  I may do that since there seems to be a glitch I'm having recur where an order such as "unload all minerals at Earth" keeps moving itself to the top of the queue no matter how many times I delete it unless I clear all the orders for the freighters.  The mass drivers might be just the ticket since I'm looking for just that sort of "fire and forget" resource management solution. 

[Jacob/Lee]

Park it on a rock with resources, it mines automatically.

[Beersatron]

Create a colony on an Asteroid that has minerals and then send the task group containing the mining ships to the colony, they work automajically after that

[scvn2812 (OP)]

Create a colony on an Asteroid that has minerals and then send the task group containing the mining ships to the colony, they work automajically after that

I've parked them at asteroids designated as colonies and they don't seem to be doing anything.  Is it really just that simple? There must be something obvious I'm missing here.

[Lucifer]

Park your ship at the asteroid.
Then you will notice in the mining tab that the stock of extracted mineral will increase at the surface of the asteroid.

[sloanjh]

I've parked them at asteroids designated as colonies and they don't seem to be doing anything.  Is it really just that simple? There must be something obvious I'm missing here.

Make sure you use a "move to" command to park it and not an "orbit" command.  "orbit" is almost always a bad idea to give as a command - you don't interact with the planet....

John

[scvn2812 (OP)]

Park your ship at the asteroid. 
Then you will notice in the mining tab that the stock of extracted mineral will increase at the surface of the asteroid. 

Aha, I was expecting it to be filling its cargo hold but I see its not quite that simple.  I was looking in the wrong place for signs of progress.  Not the first time I've made a mistake like that (the earlier issue with the cargo haulers was actually me misreading the mineral spread sheet and thinking a much larger number was the stockpile )