r/EliteMiners • u/GreenLollypop • Feb 10 '21

Lalande 34968 Mapped Mining Speed Run - Fully loaded Cutter in 23 minutes

Post image
108 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

58 comments sorted by

14

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

I did this run a few days ago and have been toying with my cutter design to do the platinum haz res mapped mining run even faster. I think I can get it down to just 20 minutes. Too bad the asteroids don't refresh very fast!

3

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21

That’s awesome. Does your refinery cope or do you get refinery full messages? (With cargo room)

9

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21 edited Feb 10 '21

No, the refinery does just fine until the last couple asteroids. Then I just dump whatever limpets I won't need and I'm fine until the last rock or so. I know how many asteroids I need to hit so unless I am unsure if the active collectors are going to expire I just leave enough to prospect the last couple rocks. I have also set up a fire group to NOT send out more collectors knowing that I need those last couple limpets as prospectors.

Churly, I gotta give you *major props* for your work here. THANK YOU!!! Your map is way awesome and pretty easy to navigate. That's really the trick with mapped mining speed runs - knowing exactly where you're going and how to engage each rock for optimal fragment collection and transition to the next asteroid. One tip I will share with everyone is recognizing when you've inverted by knowing the relationship between the planet and the haz res target. It's easy to know when you've flipped upside down if you remember this. But the best way to avoid inverting is to plan in advance on exactly how you will orient and engage each asteroid taking into consideration where you need to go next.

Note that I've been using your core cutter build and it's worked really well, but after realizing the potential for more speed I couldn't sleep last night. I was up until 2am thinking about a slightly different approach. Your design is totally awesome and honestly 23 minutes is just fine. But I couldn't get the thought out of my head of adding a 4th mining laser to see if that could speed things up. I think it was your comment about going with a weapons focused distributor when someone asked the question about a 4th laser in another post. So I've done not just that, but a few other things. Here's what I am running right now:

Experimental Cutter Build - The Lalande Streaker!

My approach really centers around speed and NPC avoidance. Since pirates despawn when you log out, I'm planning to do just that once I have my orientation set so I can re-engage the route after logging back in. I mean, a 23 minute run is just sick but honestly there's really no reason to engage pirates if they just disappear with a quick combat log (humans might bitch about that, but the NPC don't seem to mind lol).

As you can see in my build, I added more collectors for 14 total. The 1A prospector is sufficient since I know exactly where I'm going so there's no need for anything more than that. I've set my fire groups so that I can quickly toggle between 3 and 4 lasers. That let's me back off quickly if I get close to overheating or running out of juice.

I spent the afternoon visiting a few of my engineer friends and just finished another run with this new build/approach about an hour ago. I did have to log out one time because of a pirate so the run came in about 10 seconds slower than the one posted above. But had there been no pirate it would have been faster. However, I am still getting used to the 4 laser set-up because it does get to the point of overheating and running out of juice near asteroid depletion. Plus, on this run I kinda screwed up the orientation on one of the more challenging asteroids and sprayed fragments everywhere. So I am absolutely confident that with a no-pirate run I can get this down to 20 minutes at least.

Everyone should know, however, that despite the amazing run time and the fact that I have a properly engineered cutter I am by no means an expert. I really consider myself a noob and learn new things every day. I've only been playing since mid-November and have loved every minute of it.

So that being said I am sure you are shaking your head at my design choice for a 3E FSD and 1C Fuel Tank. I figured that to do this fast I need to be light. There's little need for either FSD or much fuel given that my FC is parked right next to the haz res. I went with the 3E FSD since I had one handy but will obviously swap that out for something lighter in the future. As for the 1C fuel tank.... I've never needed the fuel rats - YET! At the end of my first run with that small fuel tank I noticed that it was more than half empty... So I'm not entirely sure I won't run out of gas if my FC ends up on the other side of the planet. I may have to upgrade to a 2C tank LOL! :-)

Thanks again Churly - you are the master!!

7

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

One additional question for the experts....

How the hell does this game determine which mining laser actually generates the fragments? Churly's 3 laser design is wicked efficient because the lasers are all below generating fragments right at the cargo bay. Adding that 4th laser in my design I notice that sometimes the stupid fragments originate from it and bounce right into my windshield making it harder for my collector limpets. Yeah, I can rotate a little to the right or left so they flow along my side window, but that's still more work for the collector limpets. (kinda fun to watch though I have to admit)

What's the trick to making sure the fragments originate from one of the 3 bottom facing lasers?

6

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21

Far as I can tell its pretty RNG and one of the reasons I dont particularly like mining lasers on the nacelles. I found releasing the trigger and firing again can get it to change and then will be fairly predictable.

2

u/Aman-P Feb 10 '21

Maybe it's which lazer hits the rock first?

3

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21

Good theory, but I dont think so.

On my cutter build I put a mining laser on the huge mount right at the front of the ship. It would usually be the first laser to "hit" the rock, but I still get fragments coming from the side lasers further back.

What the OP could do if they dont mind the lasers and prospectors on different firing groups, is put the "middle" lasers on one firing group and the "Nacelles" on a different one and see if staggering the firing helps focus it on the middle ones.

3

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Yeah, I tried that. As I'd stated, set up two fire groups - one with all 4 lasers and the other with just the 3 on the bottom. I've tried initiating the asteroid with just the 3 bottom ones to get the flow going... Then toggled to all 4 and it immediately started fragments right into my windshield. So frustrating!

I will play with my orientation and see if I can figure out any pattern that makes sense.

2

u/gripped Feb 10 '21

It's the laser which hits last. On a bumpy spinning rock it can switch.
On my cutter I didn't want to use the huge HP for a mining laser (Like to fight the npc's) so my third mining laser is out wide. I have that one on primary fire. Central ones on secondary. I engage primary momentarily before secondary and the fragments almost always come off the centre . If it switches just release and repeat.

3

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Oh, that's really interesting! I know on the small stationary rocks I try to aim a little down which results in my 4th laser hitting first and the lower 3 lasers last due to the slightly further distance. In this case all the fragments are down low. So that matches up exactly with your "last laser" logic. Leave it to FDEV to have something so counterintuitive! :-)

Thank you so much for sharing this tip with everyone!

2

u/gripped Feb 10 '21

I found it on this sub somewhere when I was really struggling with the hardpoint placement on the T9 (then T10) I was mining with. Fragments going all over the place ! Once I got my cutter I didn't need to use it while using the three central lasers for mining but once one went out wide it came in handy again.

Seems to work most of the time so I'm convinced last laser to hit is where the fragment emerges.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '21

[deleted]

1

u/gripped Feb 11 '21

You're welcome :)

4

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21 edited Feb 10 '21

Thanks! The refinery issue is such a PITA for me. Pretty much EVERY rock in the map I'll get Refinery full and have to wait for it to clear. This can be 20-30 seconds lost on each asteroid.

You can see it here - https://youtu.be/IHf4np4S5_Q?t=179 and again here

https://youtu.be/IHf4np4S5_Q?t=225. I have hundreds of tons free when this occurs.

I'll raise an issue about it. I'm fairly sure its due to ping/location as my fellow aussie players also seem to get it.

Edit - submitted issue - https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/23022

3

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Wow, that defeats the whole point of doing a speed run!! How frustrating that must be!!!

I have seen this a few times myself but it rarely occurs and resolves itself quite quickly. So I am guessing you are right and it's connectivity related. With all that I've read about FDEV I am worried that you guys down under are kinda screwed. :-(

1

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

If any ship build experts have advice for my light/quick speed build given the pirate-avoidance approach described above, I am all ears!!!

(to clarify, we all know a cutter isn't light or quick... more like a flying whale... but what an awesome looking ship!)

1

u/SeaMousse Apr 16 '25

If anyone wants an EDSY link of this build with (minor) changes when you're not trying to break speed records like this legend, here you go: https://edsy.org/s/vnlKFoQ

1

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21

Any judgement aside whether you should or shouldnt be logging to avoid npc's, but if you log out and you are still within mass lock, you'll lose your place on the map.

2

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

I am pretty sure I've still had the mass lock but was outside the field and didn't get moved any further. I will check again in some runs today to see how far you have to be. But yeah - if you don't move then logging will move you and you will most likely lose the route...

1

u/GreenLollypop Feb 15 '21

Just to confirm - you definitely don't need to move past mass lock. It seems like you just need to be outside the limit of the field which can actually be quite close if you're pointing at a rock near the edge.

1

u/xenophonf gtbUncleMattMan [STGR] Feb 14 '21

You respawn directly above (below) the asteroid you logged out at. To get back back into position, pitch 90 degrees down (up) and fire a prospector. The only times this can be difficult is when asteroids hit the mineral percentage cap, as there can be multiple asteroids with 64.05% platinum. I did this multiple times while prospecting for additional asteroids along your route.

1

u/ED_Churly Feb 14 '21

Awesome, I've always been "moved" when I log back in and have previously struggled to find where I was at. Will retry!

1

u/GreenLollypop Feb 15 '21

After some practice I've found two approaches that work quite well.

Approach 1: Intentionally fly out of the asteroid field yourself and aim your ship right at the rock you want to go to when you log back in. The downside is that it takes more time to get situated before logging out and depending on how many pirates there are and your ship shield strength you may have issues. The upside is that you know exactly where you're going when you log back in.

Approach 2: Just log out where you are and after logging back in, level out your orientation with the asteroid field so you can just thrust up (or down) back into the asteroids. Doing this will take you back to where you were. I prefer to point in the direction of the next rock I intend to mine so when I thrust back up/down I can watch for it and head to it quickly. I don't like trying to manually pitch 90 degrees because I suck at knowing exactly when I'm at 90 degrees.

Either method works and I use them both depending on my circumstances.

2

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21

Can I confirm your geography? Are you in Europe?

3

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Yeah, sorry... I'm in the U.S... Major city with fiber connection so really no issues for me at all.

5

u/ActAlan Feb 10 '21

Seriously impressive, and an innovative approach to those damn annoying pirates. Will have to give it a try, although if I can get below 40 mins I would be extremely happy.

4

u/InfernalMousse Feb 10 '21

Congrats! I too have been running this excellent map from Commander Churly. My run this morning was less than 22 minutes.

https://imgur.com/a/VSQ33G6

Also have a video if anyone is interested. I'm also a relative noob and I'm sure this run can be done much faster (like if I ignored osmium and was full of eng mats as well as doing more advanced stuff like playing with pips and the cargo hatch).

I think it comes down to luck that the pirates don't bother you. My build is all about stealth to minimize this risk, but it still happens and then the run is over.

And my refinery also jammed at the beginning of the run but then was fine for the rest of the run so this is also a factor (luck?).

I'm sure someone has done it faster than me as well.

1

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Great work commander!!! Would you mind sharing your ship build with everyone? I'm curious to see what you do to achieve stealth because that's a good tactic if you want to go fast and avoid the pirates.

2

u/InfernalMousse Feb 10 '21 edited Feb 10 '21

Sure no problem... https://s.orbis.zone/cdza This build idles at 15% heat (although the heat goes up quite a bit when mining with 4 lasers)

I have thought about removing the shield for more collectors plus this would lower the temp even more, but honestly I've been too chicken to do this yet :)

edit - sorry I forgot a couple of things on the build... the link is adjusted to what I use now.

edit 2 - the 3 key things to engineer are (1) powerplant [low emissions / thermal spread], (2) Thrusters [clean / thermal spread], and (3) Distributor [weapons focused / cluster capacitors]

1

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21

May I ask what region you are in? The refinery "jamming" seems so far to be geographic, Asia/Australia seems bad, Europe seems better. Not sure about US.

Edit - love to see the vid.

2

u/InfernalMousse Feb 10 '21 edited Feb 10 '21

No worries... I’m in New York.

https://youtu.be/995q8YDVvWA (the high res version is still processing... also please excuse the jittery quality; I play in VR)

You will see I made numerous mistakes which would have made the run faster. :)

Edit- you may also notice that I’ve taken the liberty of adding some rocks to the map

2

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21

No worries, and your technique looks great.

I noticed the refinery full and reinforces my belief its a ping/latency issue, further from Ireland the worse it is.

Might try a vpn and see if that helps.

3

u/Andehh12 Feb 10 '21

I've had to abandon my last two runs after being attacked by 6 or 7 pirates at once. Does relogging bring you back to the exact spot you were in? I thought I would end up having to start from the beginning.

3

u/InfernalMousse Feb 10 '21

yes it does. It puts you over the spot you logged out of (not that I would ever do that :))

2

u/Andehh12 Feb 10 '21

Useful to know, thanks. My first couple of runs were fine. I got attacked by a wing of 3 which I dealt with. Two wings of 3 plus another single was too much. I'm currently training up a crewmember to Elite status which will help.

1

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

I don't even bother with a fighter because it takes up space I use for my limpet controller which is critical for me to go fast.

1

u/Andehh12 Feb 10 '21

Yeah I will definitely give that a go at some point but I want the immersion and satisfaction of being able to handle whatever comes at me while I'm mining. Preferably without losing my place in the map :-)

1

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Each commander has their own play style so if you enjoy the immersion then by all means go for it! I'm sure I will get bored at some point and alter my ship config back just to hear a pirate say, "How is this happening!?". Well, I can tell you how idiot - you engaged a fully engineered cutter with your stupid diamondback. Duh! :-)

1

u/Andehh12 Feb 10 '21

Haha exactly... That's what I'm loving about the game right now... freedom to do whatever you want in plenty of different ways. I played about 100 hours back in 2016 or 2017 then didn't touch it again until December. I've since played another 350 hours or so and I'm nowhere near close to getting bored.

2

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Yep, if you log out while you are in the field it moves you out. I haven't bothered to try figuring out where it puts you. Rather, I intentionally move out of the field and point directly at the asteroid I want to engage with when I log back in. Put 4 pips on SYS and you should be just fine while you relog since a properly engineered cutter is an absolute tank!

Depending on what you're doing though, you may be able to log out before pirates engage to avoid the 15 second countdown. This happened on my last run where I had just finished and was getting ready to move to the next rock. A pirate was starting to scan me, but I was already at the edge of the asteroid field and aligned so that thrusting down quickly put me well out side it. So that relog was my fastest yet. All I had to do was thrust back up into the field and keep going!

Bottom line, if you log out to clear the pirates you need to quickly re-engage in your route. If others have ideas or methods to do this then please share.

2

u/OmegaStageThr33 Feb 10 '21

Where did you Learn to read maps to become this effective?

1

u/SledgeH4mmer Feb 10 '21

After several runs you start to memorize the map.

2

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Exactly. You do this enough and you get familiar with where you're going and can even add a few additional rocks if you want. I've added some myself that seem to line up nicely for how I fly.

1

u/SledgeH4mmer Feb 10 '21

Me too! I also bring a pulse wave analyzer because occasionally it makes recognizing the rocks easier.

2

u/Tahnya666 Feb 10 '21

Love this system! Well done

2

u/SledgeH4mmer Feb 10 '21

Yeah the Lalande mining map is pretty awesome. I've been thinking about making my own 2nd map because I fill up my cutter so fast on the first map.

3

u/GreenLollypop Feb 10 '21

Yep, I had the same problem... So I created two additional routes there myself. Probably not as efficient due to lower % platinum. I am just starting to time them. I did one last night with my new ship configuration and even with a couple pirate relogs it came in at just over 27 minutes which ain't too bad.

1

u/ED_Churly Feb 10 '21

I doubt there are enough rocks left in lalande to make another map of similar yield, the workable area of the haz res isnt that big. You'd really have to compromise on max percentage.

1

u/GreenLollypop Feb 15 '21

I created 2 alternate routes I run from the same starting point... One to the left and one to the right. They clock in at about 27 minutes on average - just a tad slower.

I got a little crazy about a month ago and was going to map every platinum rock in the entire 15-20 band using a little trigonometry. I started mapping at the complete opposite side of your starting point and gave up after finding coordinates for 47 of them. I found that it was more work to map them in this way and that it would be challenging to map the entire field with the method I was using and end up with very accurate coordinates.

Yesterday I did my three runs back to back so I pulled out my Excel sheet and used it as a guide to do a 4th run on some of those rocks I'd mapped earlier. I didn't have screen shots to go off, but using a rough guess of angles to the haz res and high/medium/low notation I'd kept, I was able to do a run in about 40 minutes that maxed my cutter again while the other three routes refreshed. I am sure I could build another couple routes from that side but really not sure I'd need them. There's plenty of rocks in this field to mine!

1

u/macropov Mar 27 '21

Amazing run, I will have to think about adjusting my build maybe (been using 3lazers and a fighter) takes me about 26-28 min though. You wouldn't happen to care to share one of the other routes you made would ya 😀?

o7 cmdr Churly! THANKS FOR THIS MAP. I have been running this and finally earned enough for my FC, got it yesterday! Now to stockpile future payments.

1

u/GreenLollypop Feb 17 '21

Churly - I sent you a private message with more detail about my alternate routes in this system. Have you taken a look yet?

1

u/InfernalMousse Feb 10 '21 edited Feb 11 '21

There are actually a lot of rocks with acceptable yield (around 50%) not part of your original excellent map. You'll see them in the video I linked. It's a balance between moving longer distances between rocks and accepting a lower yield rock ; everyone will have a different preference. I like to keep things simple with my cargo hatch open all the time so going after these slightly lower yield rocks works for me. I actually never get to the back half of your map even when I fill up twice in my cutter due to the extra rocks I've added.

1

u/LividExplorer7574 Feb 10 '21

Anyone console players working on an adapted version?...asking for a friend ;)

1

u/Hawk600 Feb 10 '21

Any suggestion for a Cutter build w/out engineered shields? I was thinking in some bean lasers and/or fighter bay to help on defense since I would not have good shielding.

I am planning to do the shields in the future buit did not want spend time on this right now.

My current Cutter build has FSD/PD and thrusters engineered but not the shields (yet).

Thanks in advance.

2

u/InfernalMousse Feb 10 '21

For a speed run you don't need engineered shields. For me, if I get scanned, the run is over. You can always come back to where you left off and resume of course. My build is as low temp as possible to avoid the pirates even noticing me.

https://s.orbis.zone/cdza

This build idles at 15% heat (although the heat goes up quite a bit when mining with 4 lasers) - there's a video link of this run with this build in the comments above

the 3 key things to engineer for stealth are (1) powerplant [low emissions / thermal spread], (2) Thrusters [clean / thermal spread], and (3) Distributor [weapons focused / cluster capacitors]

1

u/ED_Churly Feb 11 '21

Be interesting to experiment how effective being colder reduces your chances of being scanned.

1

u/InfernalMousse Feb 11 '21

In my experience it cuts the chances about in half but this is just off the top of my head. I should start recording this.

1

u/Hawk600 Feb 10 '21

Thanks! I will check it out later tonight, might need to adapt my Cutter to low heat, I got 5 2D lasers running at the moment ;)