Elite: Dangerous. I broke down.

[jomni]

Can miners arm them selves?  With all the money you can potentially generate, there should be an option to hire guards.
Of course you can bring a buddy (player) along.  Would be nice to have an AI guard as well.

[MikeGER]

It seems it was Reilly Dock that didn't have any Mining Lasers...went to Binet and I can buy one

you are in LTT 15499 too?   
... i can cover your back with my  Eagle when you go mining with your Hauler O0
(replace the one hardpoint with the mining laser) ...but i think its better to trade coffee, animal meat, fruits  between Röntgenport and Bose Station and some other goods back...  sometimes there are rewarding messages  like get 2-4  minerals or metals  (form nearby 774 Herculi system for example, there is a mine-outpost ) for a start 

[undercovergeek]

Can miners arm them selves?  With all the money you can potentially generate, there should be an option to hire guards.
Of course you can bring a buddy (player) along.  Would be nice to have an AI guard as well.

escorts are planned for the future

[JudgeDredd]

It seems it was Reilly Dock that didn't have any Mining Lasers...went to Binet and I can buy one

you are in LTT 15499 too?   
... i can cover your back with my  Eagle when you go mining with your Hauler O0
(replace the one hardpoint with the mining laser) ...but i think its better to trade coffee, animal meat, fruits  between Röntgenport and Bose Station and some other goods back...  sometimes there are rewarding messages  like get 2-4  minerals or metals  (form nearby 774 Herculi system for example, there is a mine-outpost ) for a start

lol - cool.

I'm actually quite good at evading interception...I've only failed once.

[JudgeDredd]

Is there anyway to know what asteroids are giving off what metals? Or do you have to mine and refine to find out

ive got to admit, you lasted about as long as i did before this cropped up!  ;D

not yet - FD are the first to admit mining is in its infancy, at the minute its very much 'we promised mining, lets put mining stuff in' and its very basic. Its crying out for 3 things - the ability to scan an asteroid first, the ability to mark an asteroid as mined already, and some kind of rock recovery mechanism - in my last epic about elite i mentioned the kids who think its COD - they all want a tractor beam - shoot at asteroid, press tractor beam button, voila done, and really only just under that thin skin is 'jump to asteroid belt, click on 'mine all Palladium' button' and go for a cuppa.

I admit its a ball ache but i wouldnt want tractor beams, the promised drones are a good idea, release these to fetch your rocks but i think theyll be very costly. But there is nothing finer than touching down with pure profit on board and cashing in 180k

good luck

Well I never came across any Platinum, Palladium or Gold...only Silver and some other minerals (Cobalt was one). But yeah - landing and selling for pure profit was nice. Mad 10k credits on my last mining mission and I only had 2 silver and some other metal.

It is time consuming and a pain...like you said, not knowing that an asteroid has been mined. Also, when you stop mining to collect the section, going back to the same asteroid can be difficult...there are so many. Also some of those big buggers spin a fair bit and you often have to get close to pick up the chunk you broke off...I've had to pay probably in the region of 1 - 2k in credits juts for repairs.

Scanning a rock would be very handy.

[undercovergeek]

are you digging in a metallic ring or a metal ring - AFAIK palladium and gold are in metallic, pristine/metallic is the best one youll find

shoot off four or 5 and then you can scoop them all in a row

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

How does the game determine how much fuel is required to make a jump?  I often find that I'm told I can't directly jump to the location I want.  Initially, I'd just stop at each system along the way and refuel but I found that as long as I stopped at each system, I could just jump ahead to the next without buying any more fuel and still make it to my destination.

It's kind of confusing.

[undercovergeek]

your jump distance is based on the reservoir in the tanks not the capacity of the tanks - youll eventually get a feel for how far you can jump in one go, if not check on the galaxy map there is a sliding rule you can use that shows how far you can jump with 0 to capacity cargo on board, itll also tell you in the outfitting screen what your max jump range is

[Jarhead0331]

What are your opinions on the hauler? I have enough cash to pick one up if I sell my eagle. I'd love to eventually get a viper or a cobra and I'm thinking the hauler may be the fastest way to earn that kind of cash.

[undercovergeek]

youve only got one 'weapon' mount be it weapon or mining laser and 2 utility mounts - a lot of people are raving about the adder - ive seen it mentioned as a combo of SW and Hauler, so enough room to carry cargo but with more mounts to take care of itself - id passed it by release but its good by all accounts

[Jarhead0331]

I've been playing Elite almost exclusively over the last 2 weeks and while I absolutely love the game, I think I have put my finger on its biggest problem. Despite the fact that the universe is vast and diverse, the objects that exist within it are not.  There is no diversity of spacecraft, stations or other man made objects. Where are the huge freighters, bulk haulers, transports, cruise ships, etc.? Where is the Navy? It's just e same 10 ship types and they are all overwhelmingly small. There are no aliens. Is humanity truly the only species to inhabit the galaxy? It's hard to believe that space will be so generic and sparsely populated once we manage to conquer the stars. I hope his is an aspect of the game that Fromtier will continue to develop and refine. Otherwise, it's the best authentic space flight experience in the history of gaming.

[republic]

I've been playing Elite almost exclusively over the last 2 weeks and while I absolutely love the game, I think I have put my finger on its biggest problem. Despite the fact that the universe is vast and diverse, the objects that exist within it are not.  There is no diversity of spacecraft, stations or other man made objects. Where are the huge freighters, bulk haulers, transports, cruise ships, etc.? Where is the Navy? It's just e same 10 ship types and they are all overwhelmingly small. There are no aliens. Is humanity truly the only species to inhabit the galaxy? It's hard to believe that space will be so generic and sparsely populated once we manage to conquer the stars. I hope his is an aspect of the game that Fromtier will continue to develop and refine. Otherwise, it's the best authentic space flight experience in the history of gaming.

My thoughts exactly!  I really hope the first 'expansion' is to add more ships and gear to the universe.  Be neat to have a ship market of some sort, old ships, different brands and such.  The outfitting has an almost Gran Turismo/Forza feel to it and I think it might be neat to expand on that with brands and more models.

Exploration also needs some attention, it should be more than super cruising around and sensor pinging.

[undercovergeek]

Second hand ship market and thargoids are on their way soon

[SirAndrewD]

How does the game determine how much fuel is required to make a jump?  I often find that I'm told I can't directly jump to the location I want.  Initially, I'd just stop at each system along the way and refuel but I found that as long as I stopped at each system, I could just jump ahead to the next without buying any more fuel and still make it to my destination.

It's kind of confusing.

Undercovergeek explained it well.  I should add that investing in a good fuel scoop absolutely is invaluable and pays for itself very quickly. 

A decent mid level scoop will refill a small to medium fuel tank in less than a minute and saves you lots and lots of stops along the way.  It's absolutely required for deep space exploration.

[JudgeDredd]

I'm kind of underwhelmed with how you can kit your ship out. All the slots (especially internal) are taken by what I regard as essential pieces of equipment, leaving you absolutely zero for putting any kit on.

As well as what JH mentioned - which I have also now noticed (and I believe someone mentioned previously) - there seems to be a shit load of kit you can put on your ship...with varying degrees of class...but there's absolutely nowhere to put it. I had to get rid of my weapon in order to put a mining laser on my Hauler and I had to remove my shield generator to put on a refining kit. Fair enough if I'm mining, I likely wouldn't be fighting...and I probably couldn't in a hauler anyway - but still...nowhere to put kit is disappointing for me.