asteroid mining

[quarague (OP)]

so I did search the forum and found an answer to my first problem and lots of complaints that this topic comes up over and over again :-)

I did build a ship with an asteroid mining module but without a cargo hold.  When I send it to an asteroid with a colony on it, it started to mine :-) After a few days I had 4t of various materials in the stockpile of the colony.  But then the ship left the asteroid and headed out for another one (without a colony on it).  I send it back but it immediately leaves again heading out to another asteroid.  The asteroid still has a few hundred tons of mineral in it.

Even if there is nothing else on the colony I can store as many minerals there as I want, right? I thought I can just pick them up with a freighter at some later point.  Do I have to scrap the ship and build a new one because I forgot the cargo hold?

[Thiosk]

No need to put cargo holds on your asteroid miners.

Did you have some sort of conditional order set on this asteroid miner?  Clear its conditional and default orders and it should stay put.  I don't understand why he keeps moving...

the colony can stockpile any amount of resources.  Swing in with a freighter, or install a mass driver, at your leisure.

[Marthnn]

If a Task Group does stuff by itself, it should be because of queued moves. If you've set Default and/or Conditional orders, those add a new move to queue. My guess is you've set the Default order "Move to Mineral Source" to your miner, which can be logical. I've never used that, so I don't know its decision mechanics. I tend to simply micromanage my miners, since they stay at an asteroid or comet colony of my choosing for years.

[dgibso29]

I would build a miner with the cargo space to haul around a couple of mass drivers. Cuts out any need to micro your freighters for mineral pickup.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

the problem with that is that then civilians build the miner design and use it as a freighter

In any case, you so rarely need to move miners around that its easy to assign a freighter or two to move the MDs. And if you are using extrasolar asteroids I just use freighters as minerals transports anyway.

[Thiosk]

make sure you obsolete the design as soon as you tool a shipyard for it though, or the civ industry will start buying them as freight-- not using the mining at all.

woah, ninja'd by 9 seconds

[GhostOfGod]

I've been experimenting with my mining techniques and one thing that has been bugging me in the stat-up efficiency of automated mining colonies on hostile worlds.  Barring a hefty freighter fleet to carry 10+ mines per run getting properly setup for mining can take the better part of a decade, depending of course on distances.  My question is can I bring in my already sizable (read as 6) fleet of asteroid miners to go and work a planet over until I have more mines? If not I may suggest that, or a separate planetary mining module. . . unless there is one?

[Hawkeye]

Asteroid Mining Modules can only work on Asteroids (Duh!) and Comets(?)

For this reason, I prefere Autmated Mines. Yes, it takes time to set up a large mining colony - as it should be. Those are some massive structures, you are moving around.

I routinely have at least 2 fleets of 10 freighters each on standby for that kind of jobs.
You can also use the comercial contract system to let the civies move your automines (provided they have to go to a planetary body inside your home system or to a system no further than 4 jumps out, which is connected by jump gates.