My favorite mining race is ...

[Lars[IS]]

Hello everyone,

I haven't done a poll in awhile so I thought I would do one on a subject we were talking about in Team Speak and it would be nice if more players stop by now and then.

Each race has it's + & - so I would just like to hear from you guys & gals which one is your favorite. I like all 3 for 3 different reasons, but if I had to pick one it would problie be the __. I will fill in the blank later! TTYL :-)

Merlin

[Demitroy]

Hello Merlin,

If we're talking about ability as a miner (and not as an overall explorer) I think it's the Jen Explorer. I think it's three main things that make the JE better at mining.

1) Cloak. Being able to fly around and gather information on guard movement (and looking at the ores) without having to worry about fighting or running every 2-3 minutes is invaluable in my opinion.

2) Device Slots. Having all prospecting related buffs and also having other stuff installed (warp buffs, deflects, etc.) without having to clutter up your hold is nice.

3) Beams. This is similar to Device slots, but having a full weapons loadout without filling your hold with ammo means any guards/jackaroids (when they show up again) can be dealt with appropriately. I know that all three miners can use beams, but between racial bonuses and combat cloak Jen are better at it (and get level 9, to boot).

Anyway, those are my reasons for thinking JE are better miners than the others.

Just my 2 cents.

Grand Master Demitroy

[seekeronos]

Hard choice... but TS gets my vote.

I played a JE to nearly max levels in live, and a the time I would have never considered playing a PS (much less the non-available TS) for pretty much all the reasons Demitroy listed above.

But I've come to really enjoy the TS, who has a slightly easier time at the leveling grind due to Negotiate 5, to say nothing of Navigate 7 (makes the trade runs almost bearable, and at higher levels, very hard to beat in a race to the next 'roid or to get away from a MOB that just walked up behind you).

Wormholes of course, are the class defining trait of the JE (which is why I made a baby JE alt that will never reach her full potential as a miner. She'll be a wormhole shuttle and a reactor builder, eventually).

When it comes to racing to get to that hot new orefield that's making the noise through the Miner grapevine... few people can beat the JE using a WH to the field. But within the field, fewer still are they who can move between roids, or roid fields within the same sector with the same speed as the TS.

At L150, with a loadout of appropriate missiles, particularly bile, hellbore, caster, and L9 Zet ML, I can simply start a day of risky mining with just the weapon slots with a (near) full load (no additional ammo in hold) and manage comparable DPS without taking a hit.

Granted there are beams that can outrange most mobs, but if/when the 50% at 100% range beam nerf is re-introduced, I'll gladly out-DPS other miners at range so I can get back to mining.

PS are far and away the most versatile miner class, for their combat ability (or ability to avoid/mitigate combat with either Menace or Powerdown), durability (PS will be take a lot of punishment as well as dish it out) once Call Forward is fully operational, PS's will be in high demand to recalibrate skill points less carefully spent.

[bondct]

TS really has to be the best here... especially once all TS skills are in place... it better well damn be the fastest class with best acceleration with all the BS your pounding up our butt... and with devices it can get sig low enough ... although it is still disgustingly high as a base... and missles mean we can handle mobs better... they just need to really fix one thing on the TS and that is I cant get my build reactor skill working for some reason...

[r8rsfans75]

TS really has to be the best here... especially once all TS skills are in place... it better well damn be the fastest class with best acceleration with all the BS your pounding up our butt... and with devices it can get sig low enough ... although it is still disgustingly high as a base... and missles mean we can handle mobs better... they just need to really fix one thing on the TS and that is I cant get my build reactor skill working for some reason...

Wait a minute....Terrans can't build reactors?!?!? When did this happen?!?!?

My vote goes to the JE for a pretty useless reason, I haven't ever used any of the other 2 yet.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Grendwal

[Suricata79[IS]]

I love my JE, having navigate really helps when going from roid to roid, so to me, JE is the best pure miner. However, the TS is far more versitile, not having restrictions on the devices it can use, like the PS and JE, as well as having 4 weapon slots it can kite with, makes the TS the best versatile miner in my eyes. The PS has alot of similar pro's that the TS has, but the lack of been able to use both Jenquai and Progon devices knocks it down a notch in my eyes, plus Projectiles generally use ammo stacks up quicker than ML's. So I'd say JE -> TS -> PS.

[Terrell [BT]]

I have more expierence with the JE than the other two miners, but I think that ultimately JE vs Terran Scout is pretty close, and PE is third as a miner.

In Live I found that my PE had more difficulty mining due to energy issues than my JE had levelling up. I think that the Scout gets around that a little by being able to use both Jenquai devices and some Jenquai reactors.

The PE's biggest advantage in mining is that they can smack around the orefield guardians better than the other 2 explorers. PE however cannot use Jenquai devices/reactors, and has the smallest selection of devices among the miners.

The JE's advantages in mining are: Low sig, great selection of devices, cloak, biggest scan range (see that out of the way orefield from further away), L9 reactors, reactor upgrades 10 levels sooner than Scout or Sentinel. And argubably the 2nd fastest class in game, due to Navigate 7 and Jenquai engines being decent.

The Scout has the advantage of the larger cargo hold than the other 2 explorers, the ability to use equipment for all 3 races, the Negotiate skill for the cheapest refining, as well as the most $$ on ores sold to vendors, refined or not. If necessary the Scout can use the Pleiades 7 and 8 reactors for the activated sig reduce buff, though they might be adverse to using it for the same reason JEs usually don't use it, the debuff to shield recharge.

JE/TE > PE

[bondct]

I can recall poparoids on my PS... no running or movement required... just tab target and press f and a few seconds later dead mob...

i think you je voters are forgetting that ts has scan and navigate too, and really how far do u need to see and there are devices for that too... a TS with a L9 trifid will get sig down to 1.2 without any other buffs so while in group combat that may sux I think it will be more than enough for mining especially since ts can kite ml any mobs it comes across...

does anyone know how low the TS can self-sig down to just using whatever it can equip or do?

[Terrell [BT]]

I didn't forget that the Scout has Navigate 7, that's why I said that the JE is arguably the second fastest class, rather than the fastest class. Navigate 7 making the JE faster than the TT and TW (the navigate bonuses making up the difference in 1 level of engine). JE has Scan 7, to Scout's Scan 5. Also how does the equipment that a Scout can use to buff scan range compare to an Explorer's? PE has Scan 5 as does the Scout, but they have the fewest options on scan/sig buffs.

A JE with a SS8 and a Loony's Special Gizmoblatsit gets down to 0.1, and SS8 and a GoD down to 0.0 sig.

What equipment can the Scout use, other than L9 engines, that the JE cannot use and doesn't have an equivalent to, to increase proficency as a miner? I do think that the Scout should be faster overall than the JE, however, I don't think that it's going to be big enough to make the JE non-competitive with the Scout as a miner. (Not to mention, being the pure explorer, the JE should be the best class at the explorer role, while the Scout & Sentinel should be good)

JE doesn't have ammo costs on his primary racial weapon, however, a Grandmaster needs 6 beam weapons, while the Scout/Sentinel may only need 4 ML/PL respectively. Reason being is that Scout/Sentinel can usually switch ammo for different damage types, while a JE has to purchase 2 sets of beams, one in energy the other plasma.

While a Scout can kill from further away than a Sentinel, the Sentinel will kill the mob faster than the scout, due to critical targeting, and the ability to menace the mob. Sentinel also has much more shield. The JE might be able to avoid the fight altogether, and if you're fighting, you're not mining (you can't do both at the same time).

Ultimately the balancing phase has yet to be done, so I don't expect that the Scout will be a better miner than the Explorer when it's done.

Ultimately I think it will be JE>TE>PE (E=Explorer) when it comes to mining.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Terrell

[Vinzent Zeppelin[IS]]

The Sentinel would be more competitive if its combat skills were improved and/or had more options for signature reduction. I will abstain from this poll since I've never played a TS, and only got my JE in Live up to level 50 or so.

[bondct]

so my question remains as I dont know the answer... how low can a TS get its sig all by itself (if anyone knows)...

and what is the total difference in max scan range from je to ts? and keep in mind that if your strip mining then max scan range prob doenst make a diff

as for the combat I can recall being on my JE and while not gettin killed by poparoids... sometimes took a nice beating... where TS will warp 2 sec then fire kill mob and continue... and ammo is not an issue as even on my PS there were never that many poparoids in live where u ever went through all your ammo before you filled your cargo hold... on my je I used to bring my TT as a mule to transfer ores too so I could stay out longer

while enevitably and intentionally the devs may balance the je to be a better miner... until that balancing is over... I gotta go with the TS

and keep in mind that since the JE can build reactors and the TS cannot... maybe the TS being a better miner is sorta a balance thing

[Terrell [BT]]

JE has 0.5K better scan range, plus whatever equipment JE can use that Scout cannot. An example of a piece of equipment from Live that the JE (all Jenquai) can use that the Scout cannot use was the Ghost's Edge Energy laser (mordana drop), which at 200% quality added 5K to scan range. I'm not thinking in terms of mining the orefield, w/r/t scan range, but finding the one that's out of the way if you're looking for orefields you don't already know about. Not sure which equipment the devs have in store to add that's not in the database at this time.

This advantage would be more viable if there were at least some good orefields that didn't always show up in the same location. Perhaps some orefields that would appear at random locations in the game, that were off the beaten path, and stay until mined, then after a period of time reappear somewhere else.

Fighting jack-a-roid mobs in Live with a JE wasn't that hard and it was easier still to avoid them altogether (all miners), except for the ones that came from hulks, it was obvious which roids would explode and which ones wouldn't. They just take a little longer to kill than the other explorers. (don't remember them having resistances to energy)

[bondct]

question... do you have to clear the poparodis to get the field clearing bonus?

[Tienbau]

question... do you have to clear the poparodis to get the field clearing bonus?

good question ... when we actually add poproids in ... hmmm ... I can think of one way round this -

if you clear all the non-pop roids then the pop roid/s will self destruct, maybe adding to the bonus.

[Lars[IS]]

good question ... when we actually add poproids in ... hmmm ... I can think of one way round this -

if you clear all the non-pop roids then the pop roid/s will self destruct, maybe adding to the bonus.

Hello,

Well I want to say, and yes I know some players will not like this idea, but, I would like to make it where you did not know which roids where pop rocks! I would like to make all the roids look the same at each lvl and when a roid pops it will be a surprise. The whole idea behind pop rocks in the first place was to keep miners on their toes and to help with macro mining. I know that in live I was a macro miner as this was a practice that was excepted and many of us were. My views on this practice has changed and like an x-smoker I would like to see all macro mining gone. In live I had a macro that could tell which roids where poppers so the macro would just pass it by or I would just mine gas fields. By making all the roids popper/non-poppers the same it will get rid of anyone macro mining. I know, here comes all the reasons to make pop rocks different, but that is my 2 cents! TTYL :-)

Merlin

[Tyran]

Most effective miner: JE

Most useful in a Raid: PS

Best boobs: TS

[nimr0dbbow[IS]]

Think manes should start to compete with players mining.

...[NO BYAKHEE BAD IDEA]....

Ok, maybe not.

...[bAD BYAKHEE]....

Yes, I will behave master.

[Terrell [BT]]

Hello,

Well I want to say, and yes I know some players will not like this idea, but, I would like to make it where you did not know which roids where pop rocks! I would like to make all the roids look the same at each lvl and when a roid pops it will be a surprise. The whole idea behind pop rocks in the first place was to keep miners on their toes and to help with macro mining. I know that in live I was a macro miner as this was a practice that was excepted and many of us were. My views on this practice has changed and like an x-smoker I would like to see all macro mining gone. In live I had a macro that could tell which roids where poppers so the macro would just pass it by or I would just mine gas fields. By making all the roids popper/non-poppers the same it will get rid of anyone macro mining. I know, here comes all the reasons to make pop rocks different, but that is my 2 cents! TTYL :-)

Merlin

That would actually be more interesting. Hulks were already that way, at least I didn't see any obvous sign that a Hulk was going to blow. Maybe if the stuff seemed too good, but then again one still has to mine it just in case it isn't a pop-hulk. I'm not opposed to pop-rocks looking the exact same as non-poprocks of the same type & level.

[Demitroy]

Hello,

Well I want to say, and yes I know some players will not like this idea, but, I would like to make it where you did not know which roids where pop rocks! I would like to make all the roids look the same at each lvl and when a roid pops it will be a surprise. The whole idea behind pop rocks in the first place was to keep miners on their toes and to help with macro mining. I know that in live I was a macro miner as this was a practice that was excepted and many of us were. My views on this practice has changed and like an x-smoker I would like to see all macro mining gone. In live I had a macro that could tell which roids where poppers so the macro would just pass it by or I would just mine gas fields. By making all the roids popper/non-poppers the same it will get rid of anyone macro mining. I know, here comes all the reasons to make pop rocks different, but that is my 2 cents! TTYL :-)

Merlin

I'm all for poprocks having no give away signature. As someone who mined in live, and I'm back to mining now, I have to admit that I don't understand why you would play a game and then program a script to make it so you don't actually have to play. I'd be all for the game having a way to determine when a macro is being used to mine a roid and turning it into a poprock.

Edited June 26, 2010 by Demitroy

[Statyomota]

I mined every pop rock and pop hulk I could find in live a je has no problem getting away or fighting one mob hehe.

[Zinlu]

My Sentinel may not be the fastest/stealthiest there is. She can mine pretty well, though, and honestly, that ship (and skillset) is my favorite of all of em. Hesitation is Weakness!

Edited June 27, 2010 by Zinlu

[bolt212]

What was the difference between normal roids and pop roids? I never played a miner in live.

[Terrell [BT]]

What was the difference between normal roids and pop roids? I never played a miner in live.

Pop roids explode when you try an mine them. Out can come a hostile mob, a buff, a debuff, or just shield damage. In Live pop-rocks (except pop-hulks) looked different in color than nonpop-rocks in the same field of the same type and level. In Live Hydrocarbon deposits, regular asteroids and hulks had some chance of being pop-rocks. I don't recall ever seeing a glowing asteroid, crystalline asteroid, or gas cloud exploding when mined.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Terrell

[seekeronos]

I'd like for the pop-roids to be *slightly* different, and for any mobs that pop from them to be reasonably difficult but not overpoweringly hard for a level balanced miner to handle.

By level balanced, I mean CL = x and EL and TL = x+10 (many miners level combat behind trade and explore to have stronger shields and reactors relative to their weapons and hull strength).

By *slightly* different, I mean not glaringly obvious (as in no pink roids with a bit of fairy dust swirling about them with blinking text saying "POP ME!!" over them) but maybe being just slightly off-colour, and offering an item inside it that is not appropriate to that roid (such as a radioactive ore inside a normal metal roid, or a crystal inside a hydrocarbon: you get used to finding ores with atypical icons such as hadecite - a hydrocarbon - that has a crystalline item icon).

If you make pop roids utterly indistinguishable from normal roids, there's no need to even bother with separating them from the clear bonus: might as well pop them and deal with whatever nasty surprise (or not so nasty) that remains inside.

[Terrell [BT]]

I'd like for the pop-roids to be *slightly* different, and for any mobs that pop from them to be reasonably difficult but not overpoweringly hard for a level balanced miner to handle.

By level balanced, I mean CL = x and EL and TL = x+10 (many miners level combat behind trade and explore to have stronger shields and reactors relative to their weapons and hull strength).

By *slightly* different, I mean not glaringly obvious (as in no pink roids with a bit of fairy dust swirling about them with blinking text saying "POP ME!!" over them) but maybe being just slightly off-colour, and offering an item inside it that is not appropriate to that roid (such as a radioactive ore inside a normal metal roid, or a crystal inside a hydrocarbon: you get used to finding ores with atypical icons such as hadecite - a hydrocarbon - that has a crystalline item icon).

If you make pop roids utterly indistinguishable from normal roids, there's no need to even bother with separating them from the clear bonus: might as well pop them and deal with whatever nasty surprise (or not so nasty) that remains inside.

That was funny, makes me think of a JT trying to cast her reactor optimization skill on a roid. Or maybe Ariad decided to paint it (given her taste in clothing).

I'm okay with pop-roids and regular roids, looking exactly the same, or doing it the old way. I think looking the same would be more interesing.