Miner

Miner
Name	Miner
Hull	400
Power	4 GW
Mass	60
Abilities	Mine Asteroid, Turbo Jump, Accelerate Mining Beam, Scanner Sweep
Cost	60 60

Basics

The miner is arguably the most important small ship of all, especially early on in the game. However, more than three or four miners are usually not needed. Losing even just one miner in the first minutes of the game can partially cripple your economy! Miners are very fast ships (amongst the fastest, rivaling the Minelayer) and are very small, therefore quite hard to hit. They turn extremely fast and are relatively tough... For a miner.

Abilities

~ Every miner is equipped with a state-of-the-art mining laser. This is a constant laser beam that heats up, slices and extracts unprocessed minerals from asteroids. It doesn't cost any energy to use. The laser can also be used on enemy ships, though it won't extract any resource from it.

~ A miner doesn't have any kind of defensive equipment. As such it is equipped with strong engines that can be overloaded to generate a delayed yet powerful boost. This will jump the miner a long distance away from its original position in less than a second. It is used to escape dangerous situations and, rarely, to quickly move across the map (though this is often considered a waste of energy). The jump, however, costs a vast amount of energy.

~ The mining laser can also be overloaded by drawing a high amount of energy. This triples its mining efficiency for 10 seconds. This ability is very useful and can be used quite often. Note: This also increases the damaging potential of the laser.

~ The miner is equipped with a special set of sensors and probes that, when powered, can reveal an asteroid's contents. These sensors do not cost any energy, and require a little bit of time before they can be used again. However, they require the Scanner Sweep upgrade.

~ A miner can return all of its minerals to the Battle Cruiser every 45 seconds by using the Return Minerals ability. They will travel to the Battle Cruiser in an unmanned probe. The minerals can be picked up at the Hangar after the drones reach the Battlecruiser.

Tips and hints

• Several miners "mining" one single enemy ship can do a lot of damage, especially if the laser beam is accelerated.

• The miner has a relatively large amount of health, especially compared to a wraith. A ramming battle can be won by the miner as long as the wraith doesn't cause too much damage from its plasma cannon. A miners job is to mine, avoid combat unless you can kill an enemy who would have otherwise escaped, avoid chasing an enemy. Your job is to provide income, always be thinking about how time efficient you are being

• Your miner will collide with asteroids or ships while turbo jumping (I learned this the hard way).

• When using sensor, the asteroid's colour is visible by anybody within its sight radius, friend or foe.

• Return minerals often, especially if you are in danger. It's better to lose an empty miner rather than a miner full of resources.

• Returning minerals frequently will usually leave one or two free inventory spaces. Use them for Ship Items such as a Small Shield Generator or a Frequency Nullifier. Both improve your chances of survival. ALWAYS ask for permission before buying such equipment, minerals have more important places to be. You should be fine surviving without such items. Miners are important but a good miner never dies, these items are not needed for survival.

• Always request hull upgrades before buying shield generators, they are more cost efficient and apply to all small ships on your team

• Frequency Nullifier is essential late-game (or early-game if you're getting harassed) to prevent harassment and wraith sniping. A wraith can't shoot what he can't see, so nullifiers are a good investment. However the enemy wraith can spot your mineral packages and follow their trajectory back onto your location, do not think you are safe with just a nullifier.

• Always position your miner at a safe place within an asteroid field. The further inside the field you are, the more difficult launching an attack on you will be. If you are experienced enough to follow the mini map traffic, watch enemy pings and position your miner on the far side of any field that incoming enemy ships are near.

• Pay attention to the fields you are mining, the exact same fields are located on the exact opposite of the map. This can help you with late game scouting, or if you want to steal a field from the enemies grasp early game. For example; If a large field is located on the top right of the map, the exact same sized field (not always the same mineral types) is going to be located on the bottom left of the map also.

• If you wish to take mining to its most difficult degree, Watch kerm asteroids as they fly on the mini map, they do not change course unless they hit something. You can use this to predict its next rotation on your side of the map, being there early will allow for more kerm gathered as it passes.