What does the Mobile Mining Base-ship actually do?

[IanFitzJo]

I bought one with the idea I could mine the ice asteroid in Rhonkar's Clouds. Either I can't figure out what command to use or this ship is not capable of doing it. I presume it can do something more than just collect rocks like a TS, but what?

[Patholos]

It's a fancy name for TL.

It does not perform otherwise from a orca,elephant etc.

[Nanook]

It's main claim to fame is it comes with the ore collector, special command software and mineral scanner built in. Otherwise, it's just a normal TL as Patholos said.

[bizbag]

I'd generally recommend against using that ship, as it is highly likely to crash into things thanks to the Terrans' propensity to build obscenely large ships. The Mammoth is functionally identical, mostly.

[TTD]

The only thing I do not like about it is it seems as if it is off-center,because the nose-point is to the left of the cross-hairs.

If you want a TL with maximum room for station buils, and complex making,cap yourself an Atmospheric Lifter.
That's the one that looks like a giant HardDrive

[brucewarren]

Always thought it was a letter H myself.

You'll find them (Atmospheric lifters) hiding near the gas giants - or at least running between the surface and a processing fab, They appear to land on the planet (don't really land)

Board only I'm afraid but a nice sized cargo bay.

There used to be shield behaviour issues involved when boarding them. Does anyone know if that was patched?

EDIT: Clarity. Just in case people get confused as to which of the two Terran TLs I was talking about.

[bizbag]

Always thought it was a letter H myself.

You'll find them hiding in the gas giants - or at least running between the surface and a processing fab, They appear to land on the planet (don't really land)

Board only I'm afraid but a nice sized cargo bay.

That's the Atmospheric Lifter. The Terrans actually have two different TLs.

[Stryke11]

As a Terran, if I wanted a Lifter - good practice for my marines anyway - would I lose too much rep capping one? Will they summon reinforcements or turn all Terran ships hostile in the sector? I am currently a hero of Earth and Sol and have about 6 MMBs but would like an AL to add atmosphere (HA!) to my personal sector.

[brucewarren]

If you're Hero of Sol, I'm guessing 2 -4 levels, although I usually cap stuff in unknown space and clearly this has to be done in Terran space.

The hardest part may be actually finding it. Back in TC they could be almost to the planet surface. You actually needed your video enhancement goggles to spot it sometimes.

I suggest you save, cap and if the rep hit is too horrendous reload.

You only need to board one anyway since you can re it and build as many as you like. IIRC back in TC I had three of them. Very handy for

[willyshop]

The MMBS actually does have some advantages mining; it's large size makes it easy to crash into and collect rocks. I would imagine the Atmos. Lifter would do even better, though I haven't tried it. If you're going that route you might as well get a kyoto filled with sturgeons.

[Triaxx2]

The rep loss for Jacking Atmos isn't too bad. It's a little worse than your average commonwealth TL, but the distance out from the center and the sheer size of Terran sectors means you'll be able to escape long before the 'fuzz' can arrive and spoil the fun.

Just remember that if it's running away, it's probably too fast for most M7M's to catch.

[brucewarren]

If you trust your marines not to trash it afterwards you could always as Khan says in TWOK "explain it to them"

If you damage it just enough it'll have to slow down. Dangerous because you might destroy it. Or you could fit the M7m with a mkII turbo.

[Nanook]

I'd generally recommend against using that ship, as it is highly likely to crash into things thanks to the Terrans' propensity to build obscenely large ships. The Mammoth is functionally identical, mostly.

It's a very thin ship, lengthwise, making it less likely to run into other, smaller ships when entering or exiting a gate. The Mammoth is a bit 'chunkier'. For really narrow, the Elephant can't be beat, though.

[bizbag]

If you trust your marines not to trash it afterwards you could always as Khan says in TWOK "explain it to them"

If you damage it just enough it'll have to slow down. Dangerous because you might destroy it. Or you could fit the M7m with a mkII turbo.

Eh, don't worry about that, just use the Tractor Beam to take it to the shipyard after you jack it and jump it out.

[Stryke11]

Just wanted to say that I got one!

I used my Boron Hydra (the M6 just in case I got the wrong sea creature) with Ion Bolt Launchers to reduce the shields and slow the engine. Then my sloooooow Sirokos took forever and finally launched the pods. By the time they hit the AL it was down to 85% hull, so you can see I was at it for a long time, because the Ions do hardly any damage to the hull at all.

I lost a ton of marines though, as I had about 16 ish and ended up with 7. I'm thinking it's best to let them fight first and then only train the ones with high fight skill because I lost a ton of guys I put millions into who were excellent at hacking, mechanics, etc but sucked at fighting. Love the little "status updates" you get tho in Paranid and Split voices. I thought TL's were supposed to be cake but I guess not.

I'm reverse engineering it as we speak. I did lose about 4 Terran Ranks but no one attacked me or any of my many merchant ships running around and a few taxi missions and I'm back to being their favorite person ever.

Kind of hijacked the thread along with the AL, but thanks for the advice all.

[TTD]

Once you have used one for complexes,you'll want more

[brucewarren]

@Stryke11

That seems an unusually high loss rate for a non-Xenon and unarmed target. Unless they changed it that ship carries no guns.

TLs generally and Atmo lifters in particular are like a well cooked chip (US:- French fries). Rock hard crispy shell, but soft on the inside. You need extra mechanical to get in, but once you are in it should be plain sailing. I tend to use TLs as fight training ships, but then I will have sent all the guys to mech school before I begin ops. Also I never buy any marine with fight skill < 50

Unless the guys had weak fight skills, the target had internal sentry lasers or marines of it's own I really wouldn't expect to loose that many guys on the op. So I have to ask -

Were you still firing the IODs when you launched the pods? IODs have their uses but they are an indiscriminate weapon. There have been numerous reports in the past of deep fried marines. I don't use IOD on boarding ops for that reason.

[Stryke11]

Edit: Sorry I think I'm being unclear. I was using the Ion Pulse Generator, the one that fires ion "bullets" and slows the engines. Not the Ion Disruptor, which looks like a lightning bolt and destroys weapons.

Yup I kept firing until they told me they were in, because I couldn't let the shields go up to past 10%.

My ship also had the ion fighter weapon (?) the one that looks like a lightning bolt that hits multiple targets. I didn't use it because again, I needed to slow the beast down so my Sirokos could get there, but should I have? I did see the two pods (looked like missiles) hit the ship in what appeared a successful manner.

I'm going to get a couple more. I see them everywhere now. Getting to them is a pain, but as long as my other unarmed ships are safe I can handle the rep loss/repair. If I get turbo software for the Sirokos will it use it even if I am not piloting?

[Infekted]

As bruce mentioned, if you use the Ion Disruptor (the lightning one) anywhere near marines/pods you have a very real chance of having deep friend marines...

[Snafu_X3]

If I get turbo software for the Sirokos will it use it even if I am not piloting?

No