Mining

Mining is a profitable profession for any Citizen, however a Prospector owner will see significantly higher profits. Mining involves searching for materials, fracturing the mine-able rocks into fragments, and extracting the valuable resources. These resources can then be sold.

Mining was introduced in Alpha 3.2 in the form of Ship Mining with the Prospector. Its scope was later broadened in Alpha 3.7 to include FPS Mining using a Pyro RYT Multitool. There is significant gameplay overlap between the two mechanics, however they involve the collection of two different types of Harvestable node. A player engaged in Ship Mining will also turn a greater profit if they keep an eye out for FPS Rocks too.

FPS Mining
Anyone can engage in this form of Mining, regardless of their ship.

Setup
Before you head off to mine, there are a few things you'll need to take into consideration. At a bare minimum, you'll need a Pyro RYT Multitool and its OreBit Mining Attachment, both sold together at the following locations:
 * Conscientious Objects, Levski - Recommended if combining with Ship Mining
 * Tammany and Sons, Lorville - Recommended if just doing FPS Mining
 * Cubby Blast, Area18

Next, you'll want a way to store your precious ore. Unfortunately, at current the civilian backpack that comes with the Ranger CV cannot be used for FPS Mining. The obvious choice then is to buy the MacFlex Rucksack Core, available at all major landing zones except GrimHEX. This armor has the largest storage volume for the job. However, if you're more concerned about the threat of PVP, Heavy armors still have a small amount of storage space. And of course, bring a gun.

Finally, it's best to be flying a ship with at least a small amount of Cargo space in case your Personal Inventory over-flows. This is quite likely to happen if not using the Rucksack.

Finding Rocks
The first of your three potential sources for rocks is inside Caves. This is by far your best bet if you don't have a Prospector, as scanning is not required or even useful, however PVP encounters are likely. You can also collect other Harvestables there. Caves can be found on Daymar, Hurston and Aberdeen. You can go straight to the caves visible on the Skyline app, but chances of PVP encounters can be lowered by following an Investigation Mission's cave marker.

The second potential source is on the surface. This is mainly viable to Prospector owners looking to supplement their Ship Mining haul, as the FPS Nodes spawn alongside the Prospector-scannable Large Nodes, however there's no reason you couldn't stumble on these rocks otherwise. There's also a small chance of finding Harvestables if at a relevant location.

The third potential source is on asteroids. This is pretty much only viable to those engaging in Ship Mining, and adds an extra layer of complexity to the process. Again, like surface rocks, FPS Nodes spawn alongside Large Nodes, but having to find them in EVA in 3D space is much more tricky.

Assessment of Rocks
A quick note before you begin - If mining in a cave, don't forget where the entrance was. If mining on an asteroid, don't forget that the ore fragments will go flying off when the rock breaks.

The first step when out mining is to find the ores and materials you want to extract. The type of ore can be identified by eye from its color, but you can figure this out in the next step. Make sure the Mining attachment is affixed or this won't work.

Next, equip your MultiTool with the relevant keybind (4). Use the ADS keybind (RMB) to begin scanning the rock. It can be useful to turn off your flashlight for the sake of visibility.

The Multitool will analyze the now-outlined rock and provide the following information about it:


 * Composition: The minerals contained within the rock.
 * Resistance: The resistance of the rock to the mining laser. On a scale from 0 to 1, a larger number will take longer and more power to fracture
 * Instability: The instability of the rock will make it more challenging to maintain a balanced power level without exploding the rock (and likely dying as a result).

At this point the value of the rock can be determined, and the miner can decide to either leave and find a more valuable rock, or to mine this particular node of minerals.

Fracture
Once the best rock is chosen, it is time to fracture the rock with the multitool. The mining laser can be toggled using the Fire keybind (1).

Adjust the Laser Throttle using the relevant keybind (Mouse Wheel) to increase or decrease the power applied to the rock. This is the bar displayed on the right of the screen with a value from 0 to 100. The objective is to raise the Rock Energy Level (far left of the screen) from the white build-up zone to the green fracturing zone while avoiding the red overcharge zone


 *  Fracturing Zone : While the energy level is in the fracturing zone, a green horizontal bar will fill. Once it completes, the rock will fracture into individual physicalised pieces of ore.
 *  Overcharge Zone : If the Rock Energy Level exceeds the safe zone and reaches the overcharge zone, the overcharge sensor will begin to fill and you'll hear a warning noise. If this sensor fills, the rock will explode, fatally damaging nearby players.

Collection & Sale
Once a rock has fractured, the player may collect the pieces of ore from the ground / surrounding space using Interaction Mode's "Stow" option. Some pieces can be hard/impossible to collect, particularly in cave geometry. Accessing the Personal Inventory with the Interaction dot or keybind (i) allows you to check your haul. When out of space you will be informed of this if attempting to pick up further Harvestables. When this happens, you have the option to drop individual items, or to store the inventory into a carry-able 0.25 SCU mixed Commodity crate that will fall to your feet.

If you wish to store Harvestables either in your ship's Cargo Grid or Hab, it is recommended to do so in crate form, as the individual items do not persist between sessions.

Harvestables still in your inventory can be sold by selecting the relevant option on a Trading Console, such as at Port Olisar. Those in crates must be sold from the Cargo Grid of a legally parked ship, like any other Commodity.

Ship Mining
As of Alpha 3.7, Ship Mining is limited to the Prospector, with other ships capable of mining anticipated in future updates.

Scanning
The first step for mining is to find the ores and materials you want to extract. These can be found on planetoids (like Yela) or in asteroid belts surrounding the planets of the system.

Next, the miner must open the scan UI by pressing TAB. This will allow the miner to hold the Left Mouse Button to charge and release a ping to discover nearby mine-able rocks.

Warning: The radar ping will make you more visible to nearby ships. Be wary of any potentially dangerous ships nearby!

Once you are near the rocks of interest, the mining HUD may be opened by pressing M. Hovering in front of the now-outlined rocks will analyze those rocks and provide the following information about it:


 * Composition: The minerals contained within the rock. The Prospector cannot "filter out" inert rock, so higher percentages of minerals will provide a more valuable cargo.
 * Resistance: The resistance of the rock to the mining laser. On a scale from 0 to 1, a larger number will take longer and more power to fracture
 * Instability: The instability of the rock will make it more challenging to maintain a balanced power level without exploding the rock and damaging the ship

At this point the value of the rock can be determined, and the miner can decide to either leave and find a more valuable rock, or to mine this particular node of minerals.

Fracture
Once the best rock is chosen, it is time to fracture the rock into smaller pieces that may be stored in the ship's hold. This is done using the Fracturing Laser.

Adjust the Laser Throttle using the Mouse Wheel to increase or decrease the power applied to the rock. The objective is to raise the Rock Energy Level from the white Build-up zone to the green Fracturing zone while avoiding the red Overcharge zone


 *  Fracturing Zone : While the energy level is in the Fracturing zone, the Fracturing Sensor bar on the right will fill. Once it reaches 100%, the rock will fracture and extraction of minerals can begin.
 *  Overcharge Zone : If the Rock Energy Level exceeds the safe zone and reaches the Overcharge zone, the Overcharge Sensor will begin to fill. If this reaches 100%, the rock will explode, damaging nearby ships and players.

Extraction
Once a rock has fractured, some of the pieces may be extracted into the cargo hold. Press the Right Mouse Button to switch to extraction mode and begin using the tractor beam to target the purple-outlined fragments and extract them into the cargo hold.

Some rocks may not have fully fractured and will require another dose of the Mining Beam to break them apart further.

Selling the Ore
With a full cargo hold, the ore may be sold at a mining kiosk near the Administration NPC at one of these major trade hubs in Stanton:


 * Port Olisar - The admin panel on the wall adjacent to the trade terminals.
 * Admin, GrimHex
 * Admin, Levski
 * L19 Residences Admin, Lorville

=Future Plans for Mining=

Mining will be one of the primary occupations of the game. Running a successful mining operation will require skill and creative thinking, not repetitive button pressing. Elements of this include paying attention to the commodity marketplace to determine what to mine, and then locating a suitable asteroid field that contains the mineral, and finally selling your cargo after you have mined it.

All of the following specialist positions may be helmed by either a player or an NPC, with more experienced NPCs performing their duties in superior fashion, but usually at the expense of demanding a higher monthly salary.

Pilot
The pilot will be in charge of rotating around the asteroids, finding optimal locations, and keeping the ship safe as you are flying in a challenging area with environmental hazards.

Scanning Operator
The scanning operator will help you figure out which asteroids have the composition of minerals you want to extract, and are most attractive to mine. The scan operator does this using remote material analysis packages (RMAPs), which must be guided into the asteroid precisely to receive intel. The operator must balance the time demands of guidance calculations vs their skill in inserting the RMAP

Mining Beam Operator
Mining beam operators are the guys directing the mining lasers, injecting the energy into the asteroid to extract the fragments of minerals. They have to monitor the asteroid stability, using tools like an exothermic reaction detector, while watching out for volatile compounds that may explode from the energy injected, or seismic micro-tremors using the Laser Seismometer. The Analytical Materials Processor will give the operator feedback on the materials in the beam path.

Cargo Loading Operator
The Cargo Operator sifts through the blasted off fragments, and maneuvers the desired ones into the ship cargo hold by applying forces to it via repulsor and attractor beams from the cargo hold.

Refinery Operator
Specifically used on ships that have a refinery on board, such as the Orion.

The refinery operator is in charge of the mechanics that allow unrefined ore to be converted into pure materials via multiple processing units. "It's not flip-a-switch and all of a sudden your ore is processed, you're going to have what I call a minigame, you're going to have a lot of mechanics you need to manipulate in the game". Some mechanics require dexterity, some require intelligence, some require a mixture.