Can't mine asteroids

thepav · Post by **thepav** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:21 pm

Everthing about the game is great except that I cannot mine asteroids. I can mine planet atmospheres etc but when I try on an asteroid, nothing happens. It doesn't even show the little red cutting animation. I have tried at various distances too. I'm running on Windows 7. Any ideas?

thepav · Post by **thepav** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:29 pm

I'm running version 1.228.

Post by **Vice** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:32 pm

You're probably just too far away. Move closer until you do see the beam cutting into the rock.

thepav · Post by **thepav** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:35 pm

I've gone to distances less than 200 and still nothing.

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:38 pm

You must get closer about 125 to 150 !

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:29 am

Hello thepav, you are not close enough until your beam bounces off the asteroid. Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you out there sometime.

etarm · Post by **etarm** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:24 am

I usually mine at < 100!

Galaxian · Post by **Galaxian** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:38 am

Once you get within mining beam range (<150 by my experience), keeping the beam moving to pick up fresh ore makes the operation go a little quicker as well.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:01 pm

Hi Thepav, welcome to the game and forum. Hope to see you out there some time.....

Brycesv1 · Post by **Brycesv1** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:51 pm

what are the mining mechanics? the tutorial spent a lot of time talking about how to fly and jump but nothing on much else

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:03 am

To mine either asteroids or planets you need a tractor beam and at least one empty cargo hold. For planets, you need to be hovering over the planet and then engage the tractor beam (Alt B for continuous activation). For asteroids, you need to get really close ... IIRC it's inside 50km. You'll know you're close enough because the tip of your tractor beam will start to sparkle.

Each cargo hold accepts only one type of mineral. When it reaches 25 units, it's full.

Brycesv1 · Post by **Brycesv1** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:25 am

aah thank you very much. are astroid fields a viable use to make combat more tactical. causing missiles to strike rocks instead of the target or getting in the way of ur firing arc

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 1:25 am

Yes roids will block missile & gunfire and may cause ships to crash as well.

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 6:49 am

I've actually had Rebels fire missiles at me and blow up asteroids instead ... helps a lot when you've contracted to clear the asteroid field.

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 6:56 am

And you may want to discard materials (cheap ones for example) sometime, it is available too.

And some infos on mining (taken from EM futures):

There are 5 mining and tractor beam types (4 new specialized models). The 'classic' general purpose device, one optimized for metal ore, one for diamonds, one for platinum, one for gold. Specialized devices are designed and built exclusively in systems with the right technological economy.

Constructor stations can fabricate new items from raw materials. In more technologically advanced economies, they can now also build weapons from metal ore and electronics.

Good flying...

[Edited on 4-9-2011 by warsign]

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:55 pm

Hi Brycesv1, welcome to the game and forum. Hope to see you out there some time....

Brycesv1 · Post by **Brycesv1** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 7:15 pm

i hope i can get the game sometime. stupid unforeseen financial annoyances