asteroid mining and automatization.

[Lurker (OP)]

Hello, I have some questions.
1)What i need to mining asteroid? I surveyed asteroid with minerals and
enough small size, moved ship with mining module to it, but I cant see mined minerals.  I do something wrong? Or where i can see count mined minerals?
2)Can i make auto order to my ship with tractor beam to support move slow ships(mining ships fore example)?

[Black]

You need to have colony on the asteroid, minerals are then stored at the colony.

[Lurker (OP)]

what about second question?

And If i need colony for mining asteroid:
a)can I make auto colonization for mining?
b)can i make auto mining order? go to asteroid not work, because mb no colony at asteroid.
c)Have mining ships any advantage against auto mine?

[SpaceMarine]

Hello, I have some questions.
1)What i need to mining asteroid? I surveyed asteroid with minerals and
enough small size, moved ship with mining module to it, but I cant see mined minerals.  I do something wrong? Or where i can see count mined minerals?
2)Can i make auto order to my ship with tractor beam to support move slow ships(mining ships fore example)?

1A - You need a orbital mining module on a station or craft and then you need to bring it to the asteroid with resources on it and make sure the asteroid is a colony, you will then need to transport the minerals from the world using a mass driver or freighter, also only certain diameter bodies can be orbit-ally mined, in system view check OM eligible and you can increase the diameter that can be orbit-ally mined through tech.

2A - You can by using the movement command "tractor any ship in fleet", this will allow you to do cycle orders, essentially allowing you to set up auto moving.

[Black]

what about second question?

And If i need colony for mining asteroid:
a)can I make auto colonization for mining?
b)can i make auto mining order? go to asteroid not work, because mb no colony at asteroid.
c)Have mining ships any advantage against auto mine?

You need to create colony manually.

There is standing order - Move to asteroid Mineral Source. So if you set up colonies, mining ships with this standing order should move to new mining site when they deplete the current one.

Ships are build by shipyards so you can use construction factories to build something else. Mining ship moves by its own engines so you do not need freighters to transfer them between mining sites.

[Lurker (OP)]

in system view check OM eligible

I don't understand where in system view i can check it?

2A - You can by using the movement command "tractor any ship in fleet", this will allow you to do cycle orders, essentially allowing you to set up auto moving.

It's simple.
But how can I make next order? As a "pull" tractored ship to his destination? Not manual selected asteroid, but tractored ship destination.

[Black]

In System Generation and Display window there is OM Eligible checkbox (right upper part of the window). If you use it, bodies that can by mined with orbital module will have letter E between Name column and Type column.

[Jorgen_CAB]

Hello, I have some questions.
1)What i need to mining asteroid? I surveyed asteroid with minerals and
enough small size, moved ship with mining module to it, but I cant see mined minerals.  I do something wrong? Or where i can see count mined minerals?
2)Can i make auto order to my ship with tractor beam to support move slow ships(mining ships fore example)?

Here is a small guide for you...



1. Select this box and the list will show which bodies you currently can mine with an Asteroid Mining ship or station.

2. This is how it looks in the list, "ME" stands for a body that is eligible to be mined with an Orbital mining ship/station, if it just says "M" the body is too big and you might need to invest more into the orbital mining technology. You can also see how big each body is and then look at the technology you have to know how much you need to expand the technology to be able to mine said body.

3. Select the body above and press this button to create a colony there. It will just be an empty colony.


Now... you need to put the Orbital Miner in place at the body and when you do it will automatically start mining it. All minerals will be left on the body itself so you either send a mass-driver to that colony or you send a freighter there once in a while and pick it up.

If you build a station you need a Tug (A ship with a tractor-beam to drag it in to place). In order to do this you select the tug and detach to to form its own fleet. You then select the fleet containing the orbital mining station and use the order "Tractor Specified Ship" and the select the station. You then select the colony and select the order "Release Tractored Ships".

Now you have the station in place mining that body.

[Lurker (OP)]

You then select the fleet containing the orbital mining station and use the order "Tractor Specified Ship" and the select the station.

So I can't order to my tractor ship auto tow many my mining stations? Each fleet\ship I must tow manualy?

[Black]

If you have fleet of only mining stations that will all go to same destination you can use command Tractor Any Ship in Fleet.

[Lurker (OP)]

If you have fleet

I can have fleetS.

[Jorgen_CAB]

If you have fleet

I can have fleetS.

Put all mining stations in the same "fleet" and then use the order mentioned above. The tug will then select a station in that fleet and move it to the destination. The use the repeat order and it will do this until there is no more ship and it will simply tell there are no more ship to tow and you can give a new order.

I suggest that you experiment a bit to learn how the game works.

[skoormit]

c)Have mining ships any advantage against auto mine?

Mining ships are much more efficient to build, and much easier to move around.
One orbital mining module does the same amount of work as one auto mine.

One auto mine costs 240 wealth and 240 corundium.
One orbital mining module costs 120 wealth and 120 corundium.

To move one auto mine requires one cargo hold, which weighs 25kt.
One orbital mining module weighs only 5 kt.


Of course, there is the cost of building a ship with the modules, and moving the ship to a colony.
But this cost is small compared to the cost of the modules themselves.
And you can use the "no armor" checkbox to make the ship cheaper, and to build it with construction factories (instead of needing a shipyard).
My early mining stations are these:

Code: [Select]

Digger class Mining Platform      254,775 tons       2,516 Crew       6,793.9 BP       TCS 5,095    TH 0    EM 0
1 km/s      No Armour       Shields 0-0     HTK 327      Sensors 5/5/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 16    Max Repair 120 MSP
Squire    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   
Orbital Miner: 50 modules producing 800 tons per mineral per annum


ASS AS18-R100 Anti-Ship (1)     GPS 1000     Range 18.5m km    Resolution 100
EM Sensor EM1.0-5.0 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-5.0 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
This station has 50 modules on it (plus some scanners, which I put only for fun). For the same cost, you can build only 28 auto mines.

But auto mines do have an advantage: they can be used on any colony. Orbital mining modules can only be used on very small bodies.

[Lurker (OP)]

Put all mining stations in the same "fleet" and then use the order mentioned above.

One fleet can't mining all resources.
One fleet need more often move then many smaller fleets.

I suggest that you experiment a bit to learn how the game works.

Mb you right.  But i'm confused: why so deep 4x game don't have some advanced tools for automatization.
At first i think i don't understand something.
But now i think game don't have advanced tools for automatization.
Yes, you can use some hints, but its don't looks good at me.

My early mining stations are these

now i understand how i can order to automine for ship.
But I don't' understand how i can order to AUTOmove station to next asteroid when it finished mining.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

Yes, the game is lacking when it comes to automation. It is a hobby project that was then released early, with many "nice to have" features unimplemented.

That said, even commercial 4Xs have sad levels of automation (glares at Stellaris).

What you want to do is sort of possible. If you have a fleet of mining stations that cannot move on their own, the only way to move them to another mining site is to make a fleet of tugs. Then, have those tugs use the "tractor any ship in fleet" command on the mining fleet. You will need to issue that command 1 time for every tug in the tug fleet. Then, have the tug fleet "release tractored ships" at the new mining site. If there are more stations than tugs in your fleet, you can use cycle orders or repeat orders to have the tugs do multiple trips.

You will need to manually choose the new mining location. You will need to manually create a colony at the new mining location. And you will need to decide when it is time to move the stations.