Ive been scanning XU for the last few days reading everything I could find on setting up mobile mining operations. (Never did this much studying to pass a single course in 4 years of college.. including economics) I get the impression Im spending more time reading than playing. And while I think thats actually pretty cool, it hasnt answered my question.
I started as Humble Merchant and Iv managed to stay Harmless rank for quite some time with the hopes of minimizing hostile presence until I can get my industrial base up and running.
I think I have a solid (but small) economic base already set up.
A few lvl 1+2 food production facilities in core sectors.
A rimes fac + wheatfarm (though it seems a little dysfunctional, because i always seem to need to SEND it money...)
Separate wheatfarms and teladianium foundries to fulfill some local sector desires.
And now in Argon Prime iv got a nice complex with lvl1+2 food with 2 1MJ shield, 2 IRE forges, and a PAC forge. All just for making money.
I tried setting up a small scale closed-loop in Antigone M because I saw the big numbers on my asteroid scans, but using the complex calculator it seems like Id have to go a lot bigger to make it work. An M spp just doesnt seem to be worth it at this point as it can hardly support a single L mine with food and 2 crystal M fabs.
What I have learned from this and from a lot of reading, is that perhaps mobile mining might be a far more efficient solution.
My goal in this thread is this: I would like to know how to set up a small scale silicon/ore mobile mining operation, with the intention of expansion later so that I might handle the seemingly monumental task of the HUB/PHQ later.
First i need to state a few assumptions that I am now working with (Please do correct me if Im mistaken):
1) Im not particularly interested in mining nividium. Yes, I know you can make incredible amounts of money with it very quickly but that is not my primary goal at the moment.
2) Automation is good. Im willing to step in from time to time to handle problems or drop off a TL load to a particular location like the HUB. But I would really like to see this operation run fairly smoothly without much intervention. Im fairly comfortable with CLS1&2 and I think I can use those to good effect.
3) From what ive been reading it seems that mobile mining is a better solution than setting up L mines all over the place. I saw a few ideas that sounded cool about setting up a mine on the wrong kind of asteroid and using that as a drop-off point for miners across a zone and then using CAG/CLS to distribute the minerals. Or using a TL for essentially the same purpose.
4) I like the idea of keeping the npc factories stocked with resources so that they produce constantly, but are a few (4-5) TSs running "mine and trade" command in a sector like Ore Belt or Herons going to be enough?
5) I like the idea of crystal farms, large complexes whose specific goal is to mass produce crystals, which I imagine is far more efficient to transport around the galaxy than energy cells. (would really like an example of one of these set up)
6) Id like to stay in core sectors for as long as possible for security reasons, even if they are imperfect.
7) Ive read that rocks and asteroids re-spawn? Does this mean I can set up in a sector and not be concerned about the resources drying up?
Ive seen 50+ miners and solid-state transportation threads, which look really awesome. Ive also tried the manual controlled starting version of mobile mining, which is pretty boring. What Id like to see are the steps in between. Preferably some step by step guides, or even good advice
Please feel free to direct me to other threads (Ive made a lot of bookmarks over the last week or two
). Im sure that Im not the first person to bring up this issue.
