Vendetta Online Wiki

Mining

Revision as of 02:54, 4 March 2005 by Lemming (talk | contribs) (→‎List of Mining Beams)

Mining

Mining involves grabbing a ship and a mining beam and extracting valuable ores from asteroids.

You generally use a scanner to identify which ores are in asteroids, get <100m away from the asteroid, and then fire a beam to start mining. When you mine the lower-level ores, you get 'premium' versions of that ore, as opposed to the regular version of the ore that is sold at stations.

The more you mine an asteroid, the hotter it gets. The hotter an asteroid gets, the slower it mines. All asteroids start at 10 degrees Kelvin. Efficiency drops off significantly after 20 or 30 Kelvin. Some miners can go to 200 or 400 Kelvin in certain circumstances and still feel that it was worth it for the profit. After you stop mining, the asteroid cools. Small asteroids heat and cool more quickly than large ones.

As you gain mining licenses, you will have access to better mining beams. Some beams will extract ores with a higher probability, which translates into higher efficiency in terms of time, heat, and money.

As you gain experience, you will learn which ores are valuable, where to find them, and where to sell them. You might even get involved with group mining, involving escorts, scouts, and transports.

List of Mining Scanners

There are only 2 scanners right now.

The Mineral Scanner has a range of 500m, and will activate whenever you 'target' an asteroid. There is no need to 'fire' it, flash the green light, etc. If you are going very fast, it will 'lag', as it only updates itself once every 5 seconds or so.

The Advanced Mineral Scanner is exactly the same as the Mineral Scanner except that it has improved range of 750. It is available only after completing 120 prospecting missions.

Energy Weapons

Weapon Damage Velocity Energy Delay Mass Level Targeting DPE
Small port energy weapons.
Axia Accelerated Positron Blaster 800 200 17/blast 0.21s 500kg ?/?/-/-/- Good 47.06
Charged Cannon 400-3400 140 ? 60/s 400kg 2/3/-/-/- Okay ?
Flechette Cannon 250 190 8/blast 0.09s 600kg -/5/-/-/- Little 31.25
Flechette Cannon MkII 280 200 7.5/blast 0.088s 600kg 4/5/-/-/- Little 37.33
Gauss Cannon 1200 180 40/blast 0.5s 1000kg 5/4/4/-/- Very Good 30
Gauss Cannon MkII 1100 190 30/blast 0.4s 1000kg 6/6/5/-/- Very Good 36.67
Ion Blaster 350 140 10/blast 0.15s 100kg -/1/-/-/- Okay 35
Ion Blaster MkII 370 145 9.8/blast 0.14s 100kg 1/1/-/-/- Okay 37.76
Ion Blaster MkIII 380 150 9.8/blast 0.14s 100kg 1/2/-/-/- Okay 38.78
Neutron Blaster 600 180 12/blast 0.15s 600kg 3/3/-/-/- Good 50
Neutron Blaster MkII 600 185 11/blast 0.14s 600kg 4/4/-/-/- Good 54.55
Neutron Blaster MkIII 600 215 14/blast 0.14s 400kg ?/?/?/?/? Good 42.86
Orion Phase Blaster XGX 400 170 7.2/blast 0.2s 150kg ?/?/?/?/? Okay 55.56
Phase Blaster 350 160 8/blast 0.2s 100kg 1/2/-/-/- Okay 43.75
Phase Blaster MkII 380 165 7.5/blast 0.2s 100kg -/2/-/-/- Okay 50.67
Plasma Cannon MkII 540 130 12/blast 0.26s 100kg -/-/-/-/- Okay 45
Plasma Cannon MkIII 550 130 12/blast 0.25s 300kg -/1/-/-/- Okay 45.83
Plasma Cannon HX 400 150 8/blast 0.2 300kg 1/1/-/-/- Okay 50
Positron Blaster 800 180 18/blast 0.25s 500kg 5/4/-/-/- Okay 44.44
TPG Sparrow Phase Blaster 420 162 7.3/blast 0.2s 150kg ?/?/?/?/? Okay 57.53
Large port energy weapons.
Mega Positron Blaster 1200 200 18/blast 0.25s 500kg ?/?/?/?/? Good 66.67
Gatling Cannon 300 180 8/blast 0.075s 800kg 1/-/5/-/- Little 37.5
Gatling Turret 400 180 12/blast 0.1s 1400kg 5/-/5/-/- Excellent 33.33
Plasma Devastator 1450 180 50/blast 0.4s 1200kg -/-/3/-/- Good 29
Plasma Devastator MkII 1600 200 60/blast 0.4s 1200kg -/-/4/-/- Good 26.67

Notes:

  • DPE: Damage Per Energy, how much damage is done for every 1 energy used, to hundredths place. Efficiency of the weapon.
  • Charged Cannon: Delay is the charge time until full power
  • Gatling Turret: At close range, you can hit targets with hardly any aiming.

List of Ores

(Note: Information on this list will become incorrect as sectors are explored more thoroughly)

Ore Name Mining Experience Points Mass per cargo (kg) Known Asteroid Appearance Description in Station Rough price range (credits/crate)
Common, found in almost every sector
Premium Aquean 4 70 White Ice, Blue Ice Dirty ice, mostly H2O with trace chemicals. low
Premium Ferric 6 200 Rock, Blue Ice Ore composed mostly of iron. 70-200
Premium Carbonic 5 150 Rock Ore which is heavy in carbon compounds. 30-60
Premium Silicate 5 150 Rock, White Ice Unrefined silicate material. 20-70
Semi-common: (certain sectors of almost every system)
Premium Ishik 7 150 White Ice, Blue Ice A common asteroid composition containing lighter elements and chemical compounds. 100-500
Premium VanAzek 7 250 Rock A common asteroid composition containing heavy and radioactive metals. 100-400
Rare: (certain sectors of a few systems )
Premium Xithricite 8 300 Green glowing rock Ore containing the precious mineral Xithricite 200-900
Denic 15 150 White Ice Rare ore found often in young solar systems 300-1800
Lanthanic 10 200 Sharp Rock, Blue Ice Ore containing heavy and radioactive metals. 700-1000
Extremely Rare: (often only a few asteroids in a sector)
Heliocene 20 100 Light Round Rock, Dark Round Rock, Dark sharp rock Rare ore formed under intense heat and tidal forces 400-2400
Pentric 18 150 Medium Tan Rock A rare asteroid composition of complex chemical material 400-2200
Pyronic 12 250 White Ice, Light Round Rock, and Dark Round Rock Rare ore formed in the residue of a star’s collapse 200-1200
Apicene 14 200 Sharp Dark Rock A rare asteroid composition formed only at very high temperatures 500-1500

Prospecting Missions

These are missions in which you find 30 asteroids of a certain ore. There are 4 missions per system, and with 30 systems in the game that makes 120 possible missions total. After you finish 120 you get access to an improved mineral scanner and an improved mining beam which are sold at certain stations.

The missions generally ask you to search for Carbonic, Ferric, or Silicate. Sometimes they will ask you to search for Ishik or VanAzek. VanAzek is generally agreed to be the biggest pain because it is generally spread out over a wide area. There are a handful of missions to find Xithricite.

These missions are generally thought to be very boring, so don't expect excitement or glory. But the reward, the advanced mineral scanner, can significantly speed up searching for rare ores.

Trade Guild Mineral Missions

The Trade Guild offers, among many other mission types, "mineral" missions. Mineral Missions are most abundent at mining stations. They are offered elsewhere but not at the same volume you can get at a mining specific station. Most of the time these missoins are oriented around getting the station that you've accepted the mission from the ores that is most needed. A majority of the time the station will ask for either aqueaus or silicate ore to be collected. If you spend a while doing these missions you will get other types ranging from Ferric, Carbonic, VanAzek, and Ishik. On very rare occasions though, they may ask for you to bring them back some Pentric, Xithricite, or Pyronic ore. I have yet to take a mission that has asked for the more extremely rare ores, though it's certainly possible.

The pay for these missions vary but for the majority they are around 1000cr a mission and around 800-1400 trade xp. The mining xp you get for mining the ores is negligable but on a massive scale can get you the lower levels fairly quick. I've also found that the mining missions are a great way to build faction standing with a particular faction. Search out a specific faction and see if they also have a mining station.

Profitability

Ore prices range from pennies to about 2300c/crate, depending on the ore, the station you sell it, and maybe your nationality. Players can drive the price of ore down when they repeatedly sell the same ore at a certain station. This especially happens if there is rare ore right next to the station.

Rumors have it that the price of other items can be brought down too, since items manufacture depends on ore.

Group Mining

Group mining is mining involving more than one player. The point is generally to improve efficiency, or enable mining in dangerous sectors. There are many different tactics of group mining. Here is a basic list of some group activities that are known to exist.

  1. Unarmed Miner, Transporter:
    One person mines, another transports. This improves efficiency over single person mining, since the beam is 'always on' and time is not wasted transporting. Works in safer places. Broma-ba Slick showed me this.
  2. Unarmed Miners / Bot-dragging Escorts:
    This takes advantage of the fact that bots will 'swarm' after you if you shoot them even once. The escort thus drags the bots away from the mining area. bsp showed me this. Works with high-level bots.
  3. Unarmed Miners / Scout / Escorts:
    A scout can scout for the valuable asteroids, while escorts take care of the low-level bots. Solra Bizna showed me this.
  4. Unarmed miner / Armed scout-escort:
    One player does both scouting and escorting. Miner follows closely behind. Works with low-level bots.
  5. Armed miners:
    Miners who carry their own weapons. Works against low-level bots.

Geological Features

Vendetta asteroids fields have certain patterns to them. They are sometimes in long 'strings'. Sometimes there are large 'clusters' of a certain type of rock or ice. A few asteroids rotate. There will be 'groups' of types of asteroids, with a sort of 'border' between the groups. On a system wide level, the asteroids are often arranged into belts around stars, with each sector of the belt having asteroids of similar mineral composition.

Noticing these features can help you. They can act as 'landmarks', so once you find a rare asteroid, you can use them to find it again. The features may also act as 'guide posts', with rare ore being concentrated around certain features or types of rock.

Mineral Maps

Once you find a nice rare ore, it might be helpful to write down where you found it. Here are some maps from those who have done exactly that:

Mining Maps

Sources

Information was gathered from the following sources:

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