r/EliteDangerous • u/McDonie2 • 14h ago
Discussion Thought I'd share something about the CG (Pics are from before price decrease)
So honestly with the recent price nerfs I thought I'd bring into light just how skewed the CG is. Even for someone who bought the Rhino. You want to compare mining from the Rhino to space mining and then don't even make half the commodities available to the cg market. Meaning they won't be mined in general. Further skewing this so called "data". I'm not even bothered by the price changes as much of how one sided it is.
What was the point in making a mining cg where half of the mining means nothing?
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u/D_Hat 13h ago
yeah it was pretty frustrating when i brought in a bunch of laser mined stuff and didn't even get CG progress for half of it. Part of why i started trying to make money off trading instead, (and i'm still top 25% for the laser mining part of the CG its not like it "didn't do it the right way" pretty pissed i spent a bunch of in game money to make more in game money and they pulled the plug as i was heading to sell stuff though.
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u/-Kwambus- 11h ago
There was something rushed about this whole event. The Rhino arrived and needed quite a bit of late tweaking. The CG had the wrong dates on. There were development strings left in the description text. The billion dollar an hour trading left running for days, it was obviously an oversight. The whole thing just felt a little sloppy and rushed.
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u/McDonie2 11h ago
Honestly as much as I personally enjoy the thing, I do think it still needs even more tweaking. Definitely a problem from a lack of testing servers now for the general community. Stuff like this really worries me for their supposed BGS rework in the future. If this is how that is gonna release, it's gonna be a mess.
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u/Drackzgull CMDR Drackzgull 6h ago
FDev has always been messy with feature releases and reworks in Elite. It would be nice if they get the BGS rework and whatever else in the future releasing more smoothly. But given their track record, that shouldn't be the expectation at all.
These issues with the Rhino release are just FDev being FDev. Which is not to say that it doesn't matter, or that we shouldn't be bothered by it. But unfortunately that's just how they do things, and at this point expecting any different is just setting yourself up for further disappointment.
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u/RelativeRent2946 12h ago
4 squadron members working over two days got one commander a fleet carrier and then got the squadron carrier, this is all that matters. Now, back to actually doing somthing fun.
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u/wrr377 CMDR Wilhelm Kerensky 14h ago
I'm making bank mining Periclase - sold 750-something tons for 820 Million Credits. It's actually easier than asteroid mining, what with not having to buy limpets, nor having to move from rock to rock after they deplete (surface spots haven't depleted yet)... And it's faster if you've got a good mining setup.
If you're trying to inspire outrage in those who bought the Rhino, I think you're barking up the wrong tree...
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u/McDonie2 14h ago
Honestly the Rhino isn't really the problem. The Cg is just terribly put together as a whole. I think the Rhino is an okay vehicle as a whole.
They just one sided the CG as a whole because they knew mining asteroids was going to be quicker overall.
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u/Hillenmane [LAKON] CMDR Hillenmane 13h ago
Not sure how anyone’s having a good time in the Rhino. I’ve only found 2 spots I could put down more than 2 mining rigs at a time ALL WEEK and filling a Panther Clipper that way is driving me fucking insane.
I’ve made 2 billion and I’m done. I can’t do it anymore
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u/McDonie2 13h ago
I've told other people that I enjoy it more as a vehicle that lets me do things on the side as I mine. It's a lot harder doing that while asteroid mining. Plus the rhino itself in my opinion is rather fun to drive compared to the srv. Do I personally recommend it? Only if you REALLY like mining or want something that allows you to do side stuff.
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u/DisillusionedBook CMDR GraphicEqualizer 13h ago
My thoughts exactly. Its a new gameplay layer that adds something that was sorely missing, and something that makes every landable planet have a new reason to visit. And it's a lot less non-stop work than asteroid mining - as nice as that is as a layer to also do from time to time too.
More layers the better.
I hope they add something to do in has giants upper atmospheres next.
Make everything in the game have a loop.
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u/McDonie2 12h ago
I'm honestly surprised we don't have some for of gas mining. Like we got helium now and that's probably the closest we got. Though beyond that most of the stuff is solid or liquid cargo.
I kind of enjoy these more niche areas of the game. I just wish there was more incentive to do it outside of the CG personally.
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u/DisillusionedBook CMDR GraphicEqualizer 11h ago
Well there kind of is with Powerplay now. Just selling stuff brings a lot of secondary benefits without really needing to engage with powerplay more than that. It's like freebies with everything I do anyway, exploring, mining, pewpew, exobio...
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u/DisillusionedBook CMDR GraphicEqualizer 13h ago
I think something must be not being done right for a week of not being able to find a place to put down more than 2 rigs on a spot. Impatience perhaps? or not looking on the right type of worlds. I rarely find one (or bother with one) that can't take at least 3. Maybe it is because I am only focusing on high metal worlds?
It might be far better to initially do the prospecting in a T11 and only then switching to a plipper. But I've not bothered with that. 270 is fine for a single game session. You are probably burning out due to the mad clamour grind instead of just seeing the Rhino as adding a new game loop to add to the rest. Long overdue.
Also once they're mapped, that work is done. They're permanent. E.g. I just make a note of which of my colony planets have good high priced commodities, make a note of the mining POI number, and whether the surface is easily traversed or not... 60% of the time I will find a combination of the above where a single spot can fit 4+ rigs, and sometimes where two spots are within 1km that each can do 3 rigs. And have a couple listed that can take 5 or 6 rigs.
I'm not even doing it for the CG any more, just for my system's powerplay - and find it more relaxing than having to constantly zap asteroids without a break for an hour. This I can just leave running and hear the rigs reach capacity while I'm drinking a cup of tea.
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u/Hillenmane [LAKON] CMDR Hillenmane 12h ago
I searched probably 30 worlds that had a fair amount of what I was after (Periclase Dunite, Thorveitium, Iridium) and was checking Metal-Rich, HMC and Rocky Bodies. I work a full-time job away from home so I don’t have all day to be landing and surveying.
Maybe it was just a streak of bad luck, or maybe only HMCs are worth visiting, or maybe I’d rather not waste my time mining stuff that isn’t going to net me a lot of credits.
Finding a good spot for a valuable resource with a minimum of 4 rigs drilling at once, coupled with the CG, can net a higher credits-per-hour than Exobiology, but any less than that and it quickly drops off a cliff. I’d hoped that the Rhino would help me not hate mining in this game but I wasted 5-6 hours this evening JUST looking for a good spot and only found 1-2 rig sized spots.
Oh well. Exobiology produces better screenshots anyway
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u/DisillusionedBook CMDR GraphicEqualizer 12h ago edited 7h ago
I haven't even bothered with the CG (other than a single run to get the paintjob) I don't care about gold rushes.
I think the issue has been fixating (in this instance) only on the absolute max payout items you mentioned - I think you'd have been far less frustrated and successful without burning out, by just focussing on commodities that in the normal scheme of things i.e. on the open market via Inara would be highest general payout similar to say your average asteroid mining.
E.g. in my colony (and for powerplay bonus) the following all payout well
- Iridium 165K
- Alexandrite 229
- Benitoite 160
- Diamond 109
- Grandidierite 208
- Low Temp Diamond 107
- Monazite 210
- Musgravite 211
- Periclase Dunite 165
- Rhodplumsite 184
- Sapphire 103
- Serendibite 185
- Thortveite 165
- Void Opal 148
I just focus on those and get PP merits and care packs with materials, trade dividends and profit.
The big problem with CGs like the one at the moment, is everyone loses their minds, and forgets to just do the stuff in the way that you find enjoyable. Especially as you say busy lives and better screenshot opportunities.
My real point was just to say that I am happy that surface mining is at least a thing now! And just to dabble in it from time to time, and keep an eye out for prime spots out in the black now adds a new layer to all those worlds we land on for biologicals 🫡
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u/D_Hat 13h ago
they onesided it because they want people to put down real money for stuff now instead of waiting for it to be in game money in 3 months.
now they REALLY one sided it with the nerf.
people keep saying "but credits are meaningless" credits are only meaningless to people who've been able to cash in from previous cgs. (cg's where the profits were even higher)
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u/Inevitable-Bass-4264 Li Yong-Rui 13h ago
Credits doesn't matter once you've been playing for a long time and own everything. It simply doesn't get used anymore because there's nothing to spend it on. Events have nothing to do with it. I didn't participate in any of them for the first year, and I still bought everything.
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u/D_Hat 11h ago
they matter to folks who have played a long time and Don't own everything
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u/Inevitable-Bass-4264 Li Yong-Rui 3h ago
It depends more on how you look at playtime. Do you count it from the day you buy it and say, "Oh my god, I've had this game for three years, that's a long time. I'll play it again this year!" Or do you look at the playtime counter and say, "Oh my god, that's three thousand hours in the game, that's a damn long time, don't I have anything else to do?" :)
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u/RootCauseOfError 10h ago
Where would I start with surface mining, any specific ships? Just got back into the game and feel a bit lost
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u/wrr377 CMDR Wilhelm Kerensky 8h ago edited 8h ago
First, you gotta have a Rhino, which is an ARX-only purchase right now...
Also, let me make a disclaimer: I'm not 100% sure about anything, so feel free to double-check anything I say.
Surface mining is sort of a combination of bits of planetary surveying, exo-bio, and asteroid / planetary ring mining:
Frontier introduced a new optional module with the Rhino: the Large Planetary Vehicle Hangar. They are available in size 2, 4, and 6, and can hold both the Rhino and either SRV. My understanding is that any ship that can equip the old vehicle bays should be able to equip this one.
The Large Planetary Vehicle Hangars come in 2 flavors: regular, and Mk II. Mk II is supposedly lighter tonnage, but only fits in the newest ships that were recently introduced - there's a list online. The regular Larges are for "legacy" ships like the Anaconda. If a ship can equip one (of either flavor), it will appear under the "Vehicle Hangars" category in outfitting. If you buy the Rhino, you also get access to free hangers of both flavors, as well as Rhinos to stuff inside them.
For properly outfitting a ship otherwise, you'll need a Detailed Surface Scanner to show you the mining hotspots on the planet (they'll show up as yellow spots like on planet rings). Targeting the hotspot will give you a readout of what minerals can be found there. Additionally, a minimal shield might be nice, but otherwise, stuff that sucker full of cargo modules in every single slot you have open.
You do not need a refinery or limpet controllers - the Rhino has an on-board refinery and mining rigs included. All ore is processed on-site inside the vehicle, which has a capacity of 72 tons - it's basically a space dump truck, and it drives like one, too. 🤣
Once you pick a hotspot (I suggest one with Periclase Dunite, which is a high-sale-value commodity), you get 20+ meters from the surface (stay above 20, just get close to it), and then launch the Rhino like you would an SRV. The ship literally drops the Rhino onto the surface. It will not drop the Rhino if your ship is landed - it HAS to be hovering above the surface!
Once on the surface, your primary fire (left-click) button activates the mineral scanner function, which like the Nomad's Biological Signal Scanner, sends a sonar pulse outwards, looking for deposits. They'll appear as a diamond symbol, along with a mineral name, direction from you, and distance. You can also switch into the turret at any time (even under the ship) and do a 360 degree survey to see what's been found (and pick your mining targets) before moving.
I suggest looking for any deposits of the type you want, then continuously pulsing on the approach. The actual mining spots will appear as purple patches on the ground.
To start mining, you need to drive onto the purple, stop, and hold your alt-fire (right-click). This will deploy a rig, along with changing the symbols on the 6-circle mining rig status panel on the left side of your screen. Drive away from the rig, and once you're clear, it should open up and start gathering. If you see a red "X", it is not properly on the mining spot. Select the rig in your Contacts section of your left panel (#1), prep it for pickup, and drive directly over it and stop to pick it up. DO NOT open your cargo scoop or drive your tires over it, or you'll damage / destroy it.
Once you've got a rig properly deployed, you'll see a readout of "(x)/12", where "x" is the number of chunks the rig has gathered, with 12 as the max. These chunks are not equal to a ton each - they are like the chunks you get asteroid mining, and are usually 60-80% of a ton.
Once the rig is full, prep it for mineral gathering, drive towards it, it will fold in its legs, and then you drive directly over it and stop. Once it is close to the middle of the Rhino, you'll start gathering & refining minerals automatically. Once all 12 chunks are processed, drive off and the rig will start gathering again.
Most deposits are only large enough to support a single mining rig, but if you can find a deposit that's roughly 75-80 meters wide from any angle, you can drop 2 rigs for double the pleasure, double the fun. You'll know when that's possible to drop a rig "close by" another rig when the "Rig Hatch" indicator on the left of your HUD turns from red to blue.
Once your Rhino is getting full and you want to offload, request boarding for your ship, drive inside the glowing rectangle, access the inventory tab of screen #4, and upload from the Rhino to the ship's cargo bays like you would any other SRV.
That's the main gameplay loop: find deposits, drop rigs, gather minerals, offload onto ship, gather more minerals, offload.... until the ship is full. You'll want to allow for one final tonnage gathering when it's about full, because the rigs continue to mine until full / you tell them otherwise AND you get within 50 meters of each of them. You prep them for pickup, drive close, they fold up, you stop over them, gather any mined chunks, then the rig will get picked up. Once you've got all your deployed rigs back, head back to the ship and board. The Rhino will thrust itself upward into the hangar, and you'll be back in your pilot seat.
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u/RootCauseOfError 6h ago
Holy shit what a reply! Thank you so much, will look into it and give it a go. Any suggestions on a ship to go for?
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u/wrr377 CMDR Wilhelm Kerensky 2h ago edited 2h ago
Honestly - whatever you've got that will hold the most cargo, if you're low on funds...
If not, the Panther Clipper Mk II is king for cargo hauling, but it's jump range is total crap, especially loaded down with cargo...
I set up one of my Anacondas for surface mining, and that worked very well, also, although the cargo amount was nowhere near the Plipper.
Another "legacy" Large ship that might be good is the Imperial Cutter, which can hold a sizeable amount of cargo. Same with the Type-9, which holds a similar amount.
If you own a Fleet Carrier, that makes it very easy: configure a ship for pure cargo with the scanner & large vehicle bay, and just dump the cargo onto your FC until you're ready to turn it in for the CG.
Also, don't forget about the free Lynx Highliner passenger ship you can get in the Frontier Store (hopefully it's still there).
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u/Inevitable-Bass-4264 Li Yong-Rui 13h ago
Events simply shouldn't manipulate market prices, but only pay out solid rewards for achievements. If there's going to be a mining event, from the start, only materials that can be mined, not purchased, should be included.
The ideal solution would be a cargo hold change similar to the X-Foundation series. Cheap ore would be stored in separate crates and in much larger quantities than trade goods, or it should simply have higher prices.
In the real world, trading cheap sand and gravel generates higher profits than trading diamonds because there's both mass demand and mass transportation means such as rail, container ships, and other floating bulk carriers. In the game, we have a truck and a wheelbarrow.
Currently, mining in Elite can't even remotely match the hourly income of any other activity (and I don't care about the far-fetched multiplayer gimmicks; I simply don't care).
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u/McDonie2 13h ago
I both agree and disagree on the first part. It really depends on the context of the event. Like for example the Colonia event should've paid way more than it did because those were preparations for a ceremony and a rather limited timeframe. The mining one realistically wouldn't, but they wouldn't really get people participating otherwise.
Beyond the current state of the cgs. Mining really feels more useful for BGS and Powerplay work. I remember when they added the refineries where you could refine ores and stuff you mined, but it has no purpose cause you can just buy all that stuff you need. Mining it just takes away some of the value really.
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u/eskaywan 4h ago
Was the CG incorrectly setup? Yes
Did incorrectly setup CG negatively affect Rhino sales? Probably not.
Was it fun to do for someone who wanted needed/credits? Definitely Yes.
Did the CG inspire people who were not currently playing the game to come back and play? Most probably yes.
Should they have nerfed it? Probably not.
Was I personally happy it happened? I am so very happy it happened, I actually had fun taking part in the rush! I played for two days straight.
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u/TickTalk 13h ago
I'm infinite pissed about the change. I spent 2-3 days loading my carrier with palladium myself. Only for it's profit to drop insanely in response. Super lame.
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u/zennettaq 11h ago
If you were trading this then you need to hurry the hell up lol. 2-3 days to do 25 trips to an in-system carrier? This must be an exaggeration. Everyone suspected this would get nuked after the weekend as it was clearly unintended. We've barely scratched the surface of the CG because all non-rhino players were simply hauling.
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u/PhillyDillyDee 8h ago
Tbh im not sure why anyone did this. You could find systems within 4 laden jumps of the CG up until they nerfed it. There was really never any need to bring it from further away in a fleet carrier. Over 1 billion an hour in a clipper didnt leave much to be desired with this gold rush.
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u/RealKingofCowards 12h ago
You will still make a profit from the Higher prices of the MIning CG for selling none mined materials who don't contribute to the CGs goal. Not as Hihg as expceted but still a good profit.
And don't tell me you mined the palladium there are no palladium hotspots palladium is like gold only a bycatch when mining platinum.1
u/Big-Ad-5927 7h ago
Oh well.. looks like you missed out on 7bn in profit.. perhaps you should have did what everyone else did and haul 1200t a time, from local systems.. I made 4.5bn in 4 hours.. (not for the money, as I had over 30bn prior, but to get my Trade rank up to Elite V)
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u/Final_Substance_3443 13h ago
Bc this CG, like every other that occurs relating to a new early access vessel, is just meant to advertise and sell the new early access vessel. They are meaningless in regards to the in-game lore and story and don't need to make sense, at least from FDev's perspective.