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Naz Farooq
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Posted - 2003.09.09 17:32:00 -
[1]
Well, I trained up 'Drones' and 'Mining Drones' and purchased a basic mining drone and loaded him in the drone hold of my Probe frigate. But when I go out to the 'roid (in Hulm, if that matters at all) the drone really doesn't do anything. I lock onto a nice rock, stop about 600m from it and then launch him and hit 'Mine' and he flies around and doesn't do much of anything at all. I tried hitting 'Mine Repeatedly' and he just flies around and I can't get him to dock for a bit longer than when I hit 'Mine'. I think he may have actually mined a bit this morning, but it was only 33 ore in 10 minutes of zooming around. Needless to say, I expected more of a return on my drone than 198 ore/hour. ;) Anyway, after researching a bit I came across the possibility that my Probe frigate is to blame. Any truth to that? Is it a bug or am I doing something wrong?
Sure, everyone supports saving Einstein's brain, but when you put it in the body of a Great White Shark, suddenly you've "gone too far". |
Miranda
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Posted - 2003.09.09 18:52:00 -
[2]
There are a number of differnt factors involved with drones.
1. They mine like miners BUT they have travel time.
2.They mine less than miners.
3.Range limited.
For best results park 2km from the roid u want to mine, launch the drone select the rock and then select the drone,drones so they are highlighted and tell em to mine repatably. Now they should mine away till :-
1 You collect them,
2 Tell em to stop,
3 They get blown up by a passing pirate
4 The roid pops.
Little hint its normally number 3.
on a side note remember to pick up ur drones before u leave the roid belt.
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Veruna Caseti
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Posted - 2003.09.09 20:28:00 -
[3]
I once thought my mining drones were broken as well, but fact is they are incredibly SLOW.
Select 'Mine Repeatedly' and you should see them fly toward the asteroid and buzz around, but don't expect immediate results. They take a lot of time to do their job, in addition to the time it takes them flying to/from your ship and the rock.
Two ways to test them is to mine with ONLY drones, or have your drones mine a different ore than your lasers, this will confirm that they are indeed bringing ore back to your ship.
Veruna Caseti
Ishukone |
Naz Farooq
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Posted - 2003.09.09 21:01:00 -
[4]
 Quote:
I once thought my mining drones were broken as well, but fact is they are incredibly SLOW.
<snip>
Two ways to test them is to mine with ONLY drones, or have your drones mine a different ore than your lasers, this will confirm that they are indeed bringing ore back to your ship.
Yes, I tried just using the drone and I got the aforementioned 33 ore/10 minutes. I assume that bigger and better drones are faster, correct? I find it hard to believe that anyone would use mining drones if a Miner I laser is approximately 50 times faster. Are mining drones just there for that little something extra while mining in large groups? 
Sure, everyone supports saving Einstein's brain, but when you put it in the body of a Great White Shark, suddenly you've "gone too far". |
Veruna Caseti
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Posted - 2003.09.09 21:21:00 -
[5]
Larger mining drones are indeed much more effective - but in the end, yes, the lasers do the brunt of the work and drones just provide "icing on the cake" as it were.
But when it comes to isk, every little bit counts - especially when you're mining for hours and hours - even a few extra ore each minute tends to add up over the course of a few hours.
Veruna Caseti
Ishukone |
Indira Firebrand
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Posted - 2003.09.10 08:11:00 -
[6]
I'm not sure about now but mining drones were always broken for me in my Probe.
I would tell them to "mine repeatedly" and they would mine once. Maybe it was once every 10 minutes but I never waited that long to find out. I always hit 'mine repeatedly" to send them off again.
My drones only took a minute to mine but then they would just stop till I commanded them again.
I always sat as close to the asteroid as possible so I could watch the little buggers land, mine, and take off so I knew they were doing their thing. They just wouldnt mine again till I told them to. I basically had to micromanage them.
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Tim Maser
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Posted - 2003.09.10 10:09:00 -
[7]
I had three drones on my Probe and they worked. I don't tend not to worry about distance, since they move very fast.
They do take time, they have to load up, then when they fly back it looks like they need a minute or less to unload to the ship. So it looks like they are not doing anything, but in reality any sec you cargo will gain some and it will go back to the roid.
Also, when it unloads, you'll see the ore for a split second seperate in your cargo just before it adds it to the main stack.
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FaTBaStArD
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Posted - 2003.09.10 15:06:00 -
[8]
Naz - only thing that I can think of is this:
Are you using a Mining Laser ALONG with your drone(s)or are you simmply using the drone(s)??
If not, try it.
I have always had success with my 'lil doods' when I use a Mining Laser (Miner I)
They do what they are told and I never have to worry about em until the NPC's show up. Then I scoop em and unleash my Hammerheads.
Keep in mind that 1 BASIC mining drone will fetch 10 Ton of Ore per minute - depending on the ROCK. For Rare roids - they are grabbing much less than like Veldspar.
Just a thought. 
I am a Traveller of both Time and Space....... |
Naz Farooq
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Posted - 2003.09.10 17:20:00 -
[9]
Edited by: Naz Farooq on 10/09/2003 17:20:16
Quote:
Keep in mind that 1 BASIC mining drone will fetch 10 Ton of Ore per minute - depending on the ROCK. For Rare roids - they are grabbing much less than like Veldspar.
Ah, it's nice to have some hard numbers. Once I start up my training for Refining V I'll go and see if I can get some data on basic mining drone rates for different types of starting ores. I'm rather disappointed tho, it seems that Drones are much more useful for mid- and high-level characters for that 'little bit extra' and starting characters should avoid investing the isk and time in training up Drones and Mining Drones. Quite honestly I'd rather not bother with the Drones if they add so little, it's much easier to just cruise up, start the lasers and read while the ship does all the work. Of course mining in more interesting space (ie, mining with mid- and high-level characters) is a different story I would imagine.
Sure, everyone supports saving Einstein's brain, but when you put it in the body of a Great White Shark, suddenly you've "gone too far". |
Vordicae
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Posted - 2003.09.10 17:46:00 -
[10]
My 'Lil DooDs' have the afore mentioned mine repeatedly problem.
foe axample.. I send them out toward a roid and hit mine repeatedly .. they mine for a bit and return then don't move .. I'm wondering if :
1) the upload times are crap in game ie. the time it takes to tell the game server that they have fetched 33 ton of Scordite and drop it in my cargo
2) they are just plain broken
3) I'm doing something wrong
4) there is a process I am not seeing .. although I doubt it as I have zoomed in to watch them land on a rock and mine then take off and return to orbit me then not move at all
do these have a range to be within of the mining target before they activate on their own ?
-----------------------------------------------------
In space .. no-one can hear you munching crisps
in the back seat of your Hauler !
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Show me the money |
SadjacK
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Posted - 2003.09.10 21:00:00 -
[11]
Drones are broken for me also.
Most of the time (on mine repeatedly) they will do one mining trip and then stop approx 600m from my ship and never deposit the ore. They will wait here indefinitely util i give them another command. At this point they will start again.. and my work for a trip if i'm lucky.
There is definitely something wrong with them. I'm starting to think it may be with the probes themselves ( a fellow corp member said he had the same trouble when he used a probe).
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Thunor
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Posted - 2003.09.11 00:59:00 -
[12]
I had the same problem when flying the Probe, sometimes it worked for a while but most of the time I had to constantly "remind" the drones to mine for me... At the moment Im flying a stabber can't mangage as many drones but works fine, I hit "mine repeatedly" and the drone/drones beggins to bring in the ore. Could be that the probe is bugged.
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Draka
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Posted - 2003.09.11 13:51:00 -
[13]
Edited by: Draka on 11/09/2003 14:01:27
Just for some perspective: Both a Mining Laser and a Drone have a 60 sec cycle (activate time). You can see this in the "Get Info" for the model you are using.
A Mining Laser 1 in that time will mine 40 m3 plus any skill/ship modifiers directly in yer Cargo Hold. Each level of Mining will add 5%, each level of some ship's skill will add another 5% (Minmatar Probe Frigate, for instance) and the "new" skill Astrogeology will also add to this. Better Mining Lasers will have a higher basic rate.
A Basic Mining Drone has to fly to the rock, then activate. After 60 sec, it will mine 10 m3 and that is it. At this time the Mining Drone Operations skill that is supposed to add 5% per level appears to be broken. There are NO other modifiers. The Drone then has to fly to yer ship, unload and then fly back to "Mine Repeatedly". So at the best, it will take 4 Basic Mining Drones to almost equal 1 Mining Laser 1 at a mining range of 1 KM or so - speed of the Drone comes into play here and can also be found in the "Get Info" for the Drone in question. Use of better Mining Drones will modify this - the popular Harvester will mine 30 m3 during its cycle, but also takes up twice as much room in yer Drone Bay.
Hope this puts it into perspective - Drones are a supplement to Mining Lasers, not a substitute or something to use as a primary mining tool in most circumstances. The only time I have ever used Drones as a primary means was fairly early in my career when I would set up my Probe as a combat ship versus the rats and use the Drones to mine - but ever since joining a Corporation it is a lot better to use the standard mining ship covered by a CAP.
p.s. Websites like Porksoda will give the m3 each ore takes per unit, and some sites have ore calculators that will allow ya to input yer ship's Cargo Hold and will then tell ya exactly how much of any ore ya kin load in it.
CEO
The Cinnaban Order
"Dedicated to a Free Minmatar Republic" |
Lady Jaxx
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Posted - 2003.09.11 15:09:00 -
[14]
Naz:
Your ship and the system won't cause the drones to go slower.
I think there are two factors why you aren't getting much ore:
1. The drone code is usable but flaky, eg. the mining drones skill gives you no benefit, sometimes drones get stuck and do nothing (although not often).
2. Basic mining drones are very poor miners- 10m3 per minute and that does not include travel time. Advanced/elite/harvesters are much better.
Although it looks like the drones are just circling, in fact they are mining. To test, look at your cargo hold. Every so often you should see a little ore appear for a fraction of a second next to your main pile, before it merges in. Only drones deliver ore like this, your lasers dump ore staight to the main pile.
Try parking your ship within 1500m of the roid your drones are mining. Then they won't travel back and forth, but dump ore straight into the hold.
To those who say drones make an insignificant contribution:
I currently mine with 5 miners IIs and 8 harvester drones. The drones contribute 34% of my total ore per cycle, assuming 0 travel time.
"University of Caille 0wnz 4ll j00 l4m3rz" |
Zoson
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Posted - 2003.09.11 18:28:00 -
[15]
I don't mean to critisize, but how many of you replying have used mining drones in a Probe? The issue is not whether mining lasers work better than drones, or that drones work too slow, the issue is that there's possibly a problem using drones in a Probe. Now if you do use a Probe, and your'e drones are working fine, please speak up. I haven't tried lately, but I know a couple months back it drove me crazy trying to get my drones to work properly when everybody else said there was no problem. I was in a Probe.
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Rizmordan Hillgotlieb
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Posted - 2003.09.11 19:48:00 -
[16]
A Probe or any other ship will NOT (better not) have an effect on any drones.... Is that a fact? I can't say that. I've never seen my drones affected and I've used 6 different ships in EVE. Too many factors that you haven't listed here for me to make a judgement... like what ore are you mining? That definitely has an affect... I bet you were mining Pyro.. If you hit "Mine" you will only get back 33 units of Pyro with a basic mining drone since basic miners only have a rate of 10. My harvester has a rate of 30 and on one mining cycle pulls in 100 Pyro. The "Mine" drone command is one mining cycle after that the drone stops mining and orbits your ship awaiting new orders.
The drones always fly around the 'roid... the drone launches a miner to the 'roids surface and when it is done the miner flys back to the drone and the drone flys back to your ship and deposits the ore... rinse and repeat... "mine repeatedly" is continuous mining cycles until the 'roid is depleated or your cargo hold is full. I use 8 Harvester Mining drones at a time and they kick ass... 100 pyroxeres each mining cycle (85 plagio, 50 omber, 25 kernite etc) for 800 total each cycle.
Posting for Numbnutz |
Zoson
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Posted - 2003.09.12 17:19:00 -
[17]
Waiting for the Probe driver without drone problems. Step up and be heard.
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Vordicae
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Posted - 2003.09.13 12:24:00 -
[18]
Ship : Probe
Drones 2 x Basic miners
System : Hulm
Ore : Scordite
distance to target : 1km - 8km
skills : Drone operation 2, mining drones 2( orsimilar.. I can use em anyway)
method :
1) approach roid to reasonable distance and stop
2) launch drones
3) select all drones
4) hit 'mine repeatedly'
5) watch them head towards rock (zoom in and see the drones deploy to rock surface, mine for 60 secs, and finally evac back to space
6) Drones return to ship stopping approx 600M from me
7) NO ore is deposited at any time and the drones DO NOT redeploy within any timescale
8) hit 'MINE'
9) goto 5)
10) swear at monitor
11) play game to increase skills till I can fly a cruiser or BS and get Corp to Haul.
12) start a different race character who doesn't use a Probe !
if anyone else has a Probe with the Drones that work please post. If I'm doing something wrong I need to know
cheers
-----------------------------------------------------
In space .. no-one can hear you munching crisps
in the back seat of your Hauler !
-----------------------------------------------------
Show me the money |
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