Mobile drilling system ?

Klord · Post by **Klord** » Wed, 1. Feb 12, 20:40

I bought a mercury tanker & installed mobile drilling system to it.
But I have no idea about how to use it.
The weapon fitted as a turret & I can control (move) it via turret control [F1], but cant fire it !
Am I missing something here ?
(lack of energy or something)

Thank you...

Nazardo · Post by **Nazardo** » Wed, 1. Feb 12, 20:54

The Mercury laser generator supports Mobile Drilling Systems, so no problem on that.

I'm wandering if you have actually mounted the weapon... Have you pressed 'G' and installed the laser on your back turret?

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Wed, 1. Feb 12, 20:58

Saying which game you are playing would be helpful. Anyway I think that all the common TSs have enough energy to fire the MDS in all the relevant games.

If you used F1 to get into the turret, had the MDS installed (usually in yellow Weapon Group 1) and have the relevant weapon group selected then it is just a matter of pressing the fire key.

To be fair the MDS is pretty irrelevant anyway. Only the Player can break full-sized sector asteroids by laser fire (the AI will never do it) and you can use a high-yield missile (eg Hornet, Spectre or bigger) for that purpose too. For mobile mining a PAC in the turret is better than an MDS.

Klord · Post by **Klord** » Thu, 2. Feb 12, 10:01

Its X3 Terrain conflict...
Yes its properly installed in the back turret. I can even move it, but cant fire.
So..if this isn't going to work, what should I do to automatic mobile drilling. Should I bough some missiles ? what kind of ?

Thank you for answers...

Smart_Bomb · Post by **Smart_Bomb** » Thu, 2. Feb 12, 10:27

Did you buy trade command software Mk2 and special command software as well?

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Thu, 2. Feb 12, 12:37

I think your game installation is incomplete or corrupt. If Steam use the verify gamefiles cache tool and restart the Client, if DVD I would do a complete repatch from 1.01 to 3.2.

I even mentioned some missiles to use instead of the MDS in my post above.

Klord · Post by **Klord** » Fri, 3. Feb 12, 01:35

Yes..all trading & special software are installed.

About using missiles...will they automatically use missiles to mine asteroids ?

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Fri, 3. Feb 12, 12:34

No. The Player must break a full size asteroid with the MDS or a high yield missile as the AI will not do that. Thereafter the remote miners will happily do their work in breaking the larger rocks with say just a PAC in the turret.

Did you check your game install to find out why you cannot fire installed turret weapons?

Klord · Post by **Klord** » Fri, 3. Feb 12, 15:24

Its ok...I gave up the mining idea. Now my mercury is a universe trader...
Thank you for your help.

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Fri, 3. Feb 12, 15:39

OK, that's a pity though. I hope you did check your game install or find out the other reasons for your issue because even just one thing seeming to be broken always leads to other problems later on.

xTemon · Post by **xTemon** » Sat, 4. Feb 12, 02:23

Mobile Drilling system is kinda spotty in my game too. Fire it at an asteroid, and sometimes it will, sometimes it won't. Just keep clicking until it does. Unfortunately, this is a sad way to do business. 100% Energy at the time too.

Also, the Mine.Trade Command just has the ship going around smashing rocks with it's shields. It doesn't fire guns or MDS.

Collect Rocks functions, but also crashes a lot.

Break up asteroids command uses the PACs instead of the MDS, and only fires on one turret. Basically, the ship flies around a lot, and eventually positions itself to shoot 3 or more rocks, then flies around some more to re-position for shooting more rocks.

Discovered that you can set AP to Collect rocks, (No SETA), and F1 to turret and cursor fire the PACs to break up rocks while the Autopilot is collecting them.

Best method In-Sector that I found, and you can pulse SETA when the ship is moving to run at another rock, then go back to shooting. Front Turret on the Argon Military Transport works for this, and with 400MJ of Shields, you don't have to worry too much.

Basically, it's not a bad idea to buy an M5, have it dock on your MT, and drop the MT off at the gate to a sector you want to mine, (Advanced Satellites are a good idea in that system), while you change ships to the M5, then tell it to Mine and Trade in that sector while you SETA on the other side of the gate.

Out-of-Sector disables collisions, so it smashing asteroids with its face won't matter too much. In Sector this is risky even with 400MJ of shields.

xTemon · Post by **xTemon** » Sat, 4. Feb 12, 04:13

Well.. cancel that last. Even with SETA 10x sitting OOS, it takes forever for that thing to make credits.

Maybe when you have a Caiman Miner with the front cockpit guns on it. Drop it somewhere, and leave it for days without looking. If it dies, it dies; just replace it. Maybe get a few of them, and leave them here and there.

Kingdoms End used to be a good system, and Nathans Voyage isn't bad. Interworlds has lots of loose asteroids too.

Sitting there waiting for it to actually turn a nice profit on SETA though...

Klord · Post by **Klord** » Sat, 4. Feb 12, 14:17

@xTemon - Thanks for the insight. But I am a complete newbie to x universe. So I cant 100% understand what you are telling. Specially using those short forms.

Please make it clear...what I wanna know is,

Can I run an automatic mining project (without my interference, like in universe trading) ?
I chOosed the terran defender & like to hit xenons & pirates than running a mining course.
But heard that mobile mining can earn a lot of profits, thats why I want to establish an automatic mining project.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sat, 4. Feb 12, 14:56

Klord wrote:Can I run an automatic mining project (without my interference, like in universe trading) ?

Yup. For a mini-scale project (one ship, or a few individual ships each working separately), you can use the "Mine and Trade Minerals" command, which shows up in the trade options if your ship had an ore collector and mineral scanner.

"Mine and Trade" ships will mine minerals from local rubble then sell their load for the best price they can find in the area.

Larger scale operations tend to involve multiple ships working an area with a tranporter equipped, CLS 2 piloted ship running around between them unloading he minerals from their cargo bays, then unloading it at a local reservoir (often a TL class ship or a mine). Transporters then carry the mineral to your station to use or sell.

I chOosed the terran defender & like to hit xenons & pirates than running a mining course.
But heard that mobile mining can earn a lot of profits, thats why I want to establish an automatic mining project.

To make big money off mobile mining takes a lot of ships and time to set up.

A few ships just running Mine and Trade don't make a whole lot, but they're the fastest and cheapest thing to set up in the early game and will get you some extra cash while you're off doing other stuff.

Making more requires investing in more expensive options -- sector traders, stations, or larger scale mining operations.

Klord · Post by **Klord** » Sat, 4. Feb 12, 16:26

A little more explanation will be greatly appreciated...

Which ships should I use ? How should I upgrade them ?
What are the best/safest sectors ?

& I have few other questions....

My universe traders are not equipped with jump drives. Will they buy them on their own ?
I cant find a station with a jump drive...

Thank you.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sat, 4. Feb 12, 16:57

Klord wrote:Which ships should I use ? How should I upgrade them ?

For small scale stuff in the early game, basic freighters work fine. Just give them an Ore Collector, a Mineral Scanner, and a PAC, IRE, or EMPC to break up rocks. Ship variants named "miner" come with the the Ore Collector, Mineral Collector, and Special Command Software pre-installed.

For larger scale stuff, check out this guide.

What are the best/safest sectors ?

Most of your buyers (areas with high concentrations of weapon/shield fabs) tend to be in pretty well defended regions, so any sector nearby with rubble in it should be good.

My universe traders are not equipped with jump drives. Will they buy them on their own ?

Yes, they'll get them special-delivered -- though it'll cost you an extra 10%, I think. As for where to buy, that depends on exactly which game you're playing, and what part of the universe you want to buy in.

xTemon · Post by **xTemon** » Sat, 4. Feb 12, 20:07

I was thinking the Mobile Drilling system might be experiencing a conflict with turret commands.

I know I had my turret set to Protect Ship when I was using it. Of course, I was in the turret when attempting to fire it, but it might explain why the ship never used it.

Also, it was the only laser in a 2 laser turret, though I'm not sure that matters.

So maybe a bug; I'll have to try it on another ship.

------------

Ships you want for mining:

Pick whatever is cost effective really. I recommend the Caimans, because they have a main cockpit, excellent cargo, and good speed as I recall. Also, I used them in X3R, and they did a fantastic job of generating revenue for me there, as well as cleaning up the sectors.

I never really thought about the sector defense, as in X3R it wasn't really present. The only sectors I recall being defended in X3R were the Core Sectors like Kingdom End. I did notice TC has a lot of defense on Interworlds though. Crazy amount of military ships passing through there when I was running SETA watching my miner.

Mostly, i just used UTs to make credits in X3R, and I haven't gottent far enough in TC to really do a lot yet. Just started over actually, and suspended my Terran plot at the Heretics End station after the patrol. Hopefully, it doesn't cancel the plot, like it does if you don't immediately do the patrol.

More or less 5 minutes with Patrol before it closes the mission and says, sorry, you missed out..

Now I'm just exploring. Finding stations that sell the software I need, shooting Dukes' Bio Transporters that I see to gain kudos, and finding free ships.

X3TC map v2, (I think), in resources section stickied here is awesome. Nice map, downloadable PnG, and shows locations for various things to a limited degree.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

Mobile drilling system ?

Mobile drilling system ?