Miner

Miner
Name	Miner
Hull	400
Power	4 GW
Mass	60
Abilities	Mine Asteroid, Turbo Jump, Accelerate Mining Beam, Scanner Sweep
Cost	75 75

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 unammend probe. The minerals can be picked up at the Hangar after the reachy the Battle Cruiser.

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.

• 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.

• 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.