Four years have passed, but the same passions.

1. In the lower scale, Engine thrusts its more limited than space craft. Our ship can accelerate enough G's to kill the pilot, but for balance, there is a speed limit. Flying to the moon (1 Lightsecond) took 69hours to Apollo astronauts, for us, will be +250hours, our ship don't carry enough fuel for running the powerplant all this time (except some special builds with low power usage and full fuel tanks). Normal thrusters are limited to distances 100km or smaller (normal Maelstrom distance). Only closer binary planets/moons are reachable in a decent timeframe.

2. Supercruise enable Fasther Than Light, but again, limited up to 2000c, and only if far away enough form any star, with a higher limit if activate the new Supercruise Overcharged FSD (that use lot of fuel per second, and overheat). And now you can fly across the system, Lightseconds are closer. Some secondary stars like Proxima Centauri (Hutton Orbital outpost) exist at 0.22Ly from the main star, for a 90minutes trip, but reachable, 90minutes to move 80 Lightdays. And its the worst, 36 Opiuchi system have a 0.14Ly, and the rest never reach the 0.1Ly scale, 300K Lightsecond are more common. The current record for this 0.22Ly its 24m21s using the new Supercurise overcharged.

3. And finally, jump, that move players across the galaxy, doing around 5-10s animation to move up to 80-90Ly for the best explorer ship, 320-360Ly if supercharged in a neutron star. 500Ly for a Fleet Carrier with a 15minute charge and 5minutes cooldown per jump. And even with this, crossing the galaxy take DAYS. Our current record its 3h50m with carefuly picked stars. But players tried to fly long distances in supercruise, with the record 279Ly after weeks in supercruise, and support ships providing refuelling.

Each one of this 3 modes provide great movement in his own scale, and even with this, the game its big, and players will need 44000 years to discover the whole galaxy.

URSA MINOR series

A new release reaching homes in August/September 2024, the Ursa Minor Series in 3 flavors. its a clone of the reliable VKB Gladiator, both based in the real Suhkol Su-57 joystick, at 105€/115.5$ its the cheaper joy that use Hall Effect instead the old unreliable potenciometers, that end the life of every old Saitek-Thrustmaster joystick.

The joy include a bigger base, better suited for place in the desk, with his own throttle. Alone, work for any flight simulator, without needed a extra Throttle, but also have the "omnithrottle version", for players that wants a HOSAS. Or even the cheaper Airbus version.

You can't find a best joy for this price, and outshine old and new competitors like Turtle Beach, Thrusmaster, or old Saitek. Also have a extra Hat in the side, with VKB Gladfiator only have a button.

Stores

WinWing have local warehouse, to avoid the Customs Taxes into the buyer.

Choose your country: https://winwingsim.com/view/index.html

This joystick its the entry to the High-end level. There is no mid-range product. You pay for a basic joy using cheap potenciometers that will work some years, but once dust appear the potenciometer, prepare to do yearly cleanings. And this "low joystick" have cool design, lights, agressive style.... to hide the cheap design inside.

Or you buy one with Hall Effect sensors, no dust affect the invisible magnetic field, only breaking the joy will end his life.

Recommended Setup? HOSAM!!!!

Hey, you spelled wrong HOSAS

No, I did it correctly. This joystick enable HOSAM, Hands On Stick And Mouse. And I you are a AX Pilot, I can explain with a link from Antixeno Iniative guide.

Keyboard and mouse provides superior control to HOTAS...

At first, I can't argue with them. The mouse provide the best aim in the game for small targets like hearts. But the Keyboard have problems with the 6DOF movement. And thats when the URSA MINOR enter. The stick provide Pitch-Roll-Yaw, but 2 of the Hats have axis, I use the circle one for the lateral vertical thrust, all in a single hand, while blasting thargoids with the pleasure of a real trigger AND mouse button, because ED enable 2 buttons per function.

Another good point, Elite Dangerous have a exclusive section for MOUSE CONTROLS, that link Pitch-Yaw-Roll.... but you can bind them again the same axis to the Joy in FLIGHT ROTATION and FLIGHT THRUST, using the Joy for the normal movement, and the mouse for minor adjustment. You don't leave the mouse pad again doing hard turns, the joy will do this part.

You can do a search in youtube for "HOMAS Star Citizen", and find videos talking about this configuration.

I keep working in the binding file, but once upload, you can find a Combat-Left Hand and Mouse in https://edrefcard.info/ or the backup page https://edrefcard2.epaphus.uk/ , under the URSA MINOR.

Also include some app, this could change the backlights, and one of the Hats from 2Axis to 5 buttons, and even for some old games, separate the up to 128 buttons, into 4x32 buttons joy. But the app isnt needed to have the buttons in ED, and thanks to the new max number of buttons, you don't need the 4x32 buttons.

I DONT HAVE SPACE IN MY DESK

Me too, lets work on a cheap sujection.

https://www.amazon.com/Wolfcraft-3412099-Bench-Simplex-Width/dp/B001S2R5I4 To clamp into your desk.

Buy 2 wall brackets, one side need 2 holes at 8.5Cm to screw to the press, less its ok if you screw it with force, the other side need to be at least 20cm long. The joystick base isnt as big, but you don't want to hit the bracket when moving the joy forward. Pic with the Brackets and press already united, and the important holes from the next step. (The ones with screws, Ignore the holes from my old Saitek X45 and the ones already in the bracket, mug for scale).

The base have 2 holes, for 5mm screws. 0.4Cm long (plus the height of your bracket, 2cm in my Duna wall brackets), this size will be enough, one of the holes have a piece of plastic not far inside, that you don't want to break. With the press and brackets screwed, make a hole at 12CM from the press in the first one (see the base to find the correct bracket for that hole). Now from this hole, make another hole at 11.5Cm in the OTHERT bracket. This is the distance between the Ursa Minor threads. Put the screws, and thats all. You have a base, easy to put and remove only turning the press screw. Ursa Minor usb cable could enter from the place that have the main screw. Its ok if you have a minor angle in the base, the distance between brackets isnt perfect, but hard to notice once you put your hand on it.

In future Bounties. DIY pedals (show in pic), ED native Opentrack headtracking with webcam and AI face recognition, extra panels with ICarus terminals, and other cheap improvements for pilots on budget.

System permits: Visit the Megaships in nearby systems (<20Ly), sell 25M in exploration data, and accept the permit. Relog

Jamesom Memorial: Use Road2Riches or Billionaries Boulevard to fast Elite Rank

HIP 22460: Scan Synuefe GB-O c9-8 beacon

If you have a bad faction state, do other things and try again 1 week later.

CMDR Luriant, born in Lave, in 3270, 5 years after Lave Revolution and the death of the "Good Doctor Walden", the dictator that ruled over Lave for 91 years.

His mother was a teacher in the controlled Lave education, and his father was a maintenance worker for all the holovid panels that show the goverment propaganda.

Luriant grow in the new Lave without the goverment censorship, with his mother taking him to all the public libraries in the city 2 times per week, and his father teaching him electronics, but also nature and other activities. His father recommended finding a job in space, because "the space its too big to be controlled by a single man".

Luriant took some minor works in his planet, but finally in 3306 obtained the Pilot Federation License and move away, with theoretical knowledge of the universe.

This time, the Codex, and the pilot federation network become the new source of info about the reality of freelancer pilots, and later squadron knowledge like Remlok Industries, AXI Wiki and Canonn Codex. The first attempts of making profit with Rare Commodities become outdated and .... problematic, when Hutton Orbital with 2 rare items appear under the radar..... Also become alarmed by the alien presence in pleaides , as first alien interaction.

Two squadrons become interesting, AntiXeno Initative, and Canonn Research. The limited efficiency as AX Pilot, and the huge effect that Ram Tah job made over him, for the xenoarchelogy and download of all guardian data, make him join the Canonn Institute, when huge part of the Canonn Codex were already visited, already 6 months as pilot.

From here, exploring most of the jobs, taking part in the community goals, and sharing most of the knowledge in the Pilot network with another fresh pilots like him months ago, learning (and corrected) by veterans. He become a miner, and bought a Fleet Carrier.

Witchhead war was the first active AX contact, and worked as second line fighter against scouts, and barely survived the first encounter against a cyclops. For the Coalsack war, he obtained his first Cyclops, moving form interceptors to this new target.

During the 9 Martyrs attack, He reached King and Admiral rank with both superpowers for the rescue efforts.

Luriant continued to climb the official ranks in the pilot federation, and later the unnoficial ranks on Inara system, reaching all awards and Top30, but lossing ground so at the moment have Top45 place. During this race, he reached Hero status in Caleano for the Elite combat rank, billions on credits in trade profit during Golconda's Tritium ressuply CG, 11B in 6 days for exobiology, and using the advice from Captain Scrotium (1 place over him). Also reached a good rank helping Hutton Truckers to update all the settlements and won a special mug. Also the discoverer for Tussock Virgam - Teal on Izanami sector, and a ignored interaction with the old Amphora plants

Canonn recognized him as Professor for his efforts in the pilot network, validating his hours in social networks as scientific divulgation. And without more goals, he joined Canonn efforts more active that in the past. Joined the Aegis Reforged Coalition for the human pods rescue, working against Cocijo in preparation for the final week.

During his work, Luriant had problems with his equipment, limited to second hand parts and handmade replacements, but thanks to his father teachings, was very resourceful with the broken parts that other pilots discarded, prizes from the Pilot Federation admins, pilot donations , and finally official open request from the Pilot Federation, managed by a special committee.

Historical reference: The Spanish Dictator died 4 years before Lave dictator, using 3010 as current year, giving a similar time frame for this events.

Top ships in his size:

Cutter have the cargo and distro for surface mining, the most profitable one. The best money maker for mining, but also some content like rescue of Human Pods. Not recommended for subsurface or even core miner.

Python is the best in his size, without downsides, and great multipurpose ship for passengers and trade, but outclassed by the Type-8 except for the best mining without compromise.

CobraMk4, the preorder bonus, its great with lot of modules, but only a bunch of players have this, and once you moved to medium ship, the ship lack a good niche.

Close, use as step for moving forward:

Type-8 have limited distro, a problem that will reduce mining speed,or increase your heat attracting RES pirates. Its good enough to use as step before going for the Cutter, without the problems of Type-9 low distro. Also not enough hardpoints for all form of mining in the same build. Close to be a great mining ship, but you always have some compromise.

All the other big ships have the distro but lack the cargo (Anaconda, Corvette), have the cargo but lack distro and/or convergence (Type-10 and Type-9), or are a downgrade over other ship (KraitMk2 loss a size6 slot from Python).

From here, CobraMk3 and AspX work great for his value, and can do lot of things. Even if other ship become better, you will enjoy the time with this ship when learning the game. Dolphin is a new addition with more cargo, Viper4 is close to Cobra, and Keelback is even better at 2x cobra price and fix the Type-6 lack of distro, but you are really close to AspX for a more rounded ship.

1 Useful stat... don't save a ship

Hauler, Type 6, Type 7 lack distro and hardpoints, pure cargo for LONG mining session with small lasers.

Orca and Krait Phantom are a downside over the KraitMk2, already under Python stats.

Viper3, Adder and the more expensive DBX are worse then Cobra3, the distro don't save the lack of cargo and other bad stats.

What are you doing?

This ones are starter or combat ships, that lack big modules for cargo, or have some of the optional slots restricted to military equipment. Anything else will be superior.

Manufactured Mats: High Grade Emissions can be found in space in some systems, the faction and state decide the content, Inara will search all the factions instead the main one like the galaxy map. Only fly here (SCO recommended, because always spawn far form trade lines), drop and launch limpet controller, with Size 3 Operation/Mining multilimpet having 4 limpets, you only need cargo to bring extra limpets.

Raw Mats: Except for some minimal mats in asteroids, you will find this on surface…. But this don’t prevent the use of ships. Crashed Anacondas have cargo racks that can be destroyed by flaks, and collected with limpets. Brain Trees spawn lots of mats including some G4, break the fungus with flaks, retreat +750m to despawn the trees (low graphics), and launch limpet (B-rated and maybe big size, for more than 750 range). This avoid collision. Crystalline shards are a valid method that always spawn G4 mats, but are far away.

Data mats: You could scan jameson’s crash site beacons with your ship, or in a SRV, a good place will put your SRV in range of 5 beacons without moving, turret mode is a valid method and the exception to the “Use ship” advice. Go to Diaguandri to trade mats in what you really need.

Alien Salvage

Guardian item: Low G guardian worlds will provide lots of items, with guardian relic the rarest one because his place buried in the ground. The only reason to farm relic is some Community Goal, or the creation of Green Relics, use a SRV for this. For the rest of items, put the ship upside down in a Low G guardian planet, like and only relog to respawn the zone.

Guardian mats: Time to drive. You need to kill sentinels for some, or to break the panels. This pic show a good route for the desired guardian Tech Componentes, without fighting sentinels, planet Synuefe NL-N C23-4 B 3 , the guardian structure. And for the obelisk data, this place have 3 obelisk close in the Group F, beware the old legacy coords, bring your own DSS probes: https://ruins.canonn.tech/#GR43

Thargoid items: Anything that weight 1 ton (except meta alloys and human pods) its caustic, bring a corrosion resistant cargo rack, size 4 unlocked in Human Tech Broker, size 1 available in Palin Base ( the engineer workshop, no unlock needed).

Metaalloys, like guardian items, HIP 16171 C 1 its my desired spot with Low G. But install some lasers in your ship because you need to break the spires. Auto-deploy hardpoints when you shoot help me to save 1 key, and a good position could hit 2 spires at the same time, 2 small limpet controllers in the same firegroup of your weapon also save a key, and only cargo hatch need his own key. Relog to respawn in the same place and position.

Thargoid mats: This is harder, you need to kill scouts, use this guide and find a good signal with only scouts in Pleiades, far from any thargoid war, attack with Enhaced AX MC, and collect the parts. For Thargoid heart, needed for the Thargoid bobblehead, kill a Cyclops with 6x Shards in the anaconda, retreat and pick from the remain using big size B-rated collectors, beware the caustic cloud, range is important.

Thargoid scans: Only use the enhanced xeno scanner, distress signals in Pleiades or the bubble spawn peaceful thargoids from old events, wait for their approach and scan. Relog and repeat.

Thargoid Tissues: If scouts, leave one alive, tank the damage with good shields, and launch research limpets, the universal limpet collector launch 8 at the same time, but some size 1 research limpet also help. For thargoids, they will detect you when you drop, so store any previous tissue before going for more. Low heat under 20% and around 1-2 Km distance work, if possible low emission power plant, but use of heat sinks is valid, or even silent running. Second Ram Tah mission need one of each interceptor, except the hydra.

Maelstrom items: Caustic sinks, thargoid pulse neutralizer and pulse wave xeno scan if you want to approach the titan, and low heat. After a successful pulse scan, you have great places to shoot with the Abrasion Blaster, to drop more mats, other need a Research limpet to obtain the 1-ton item. For Human pods, shoot the subsurface extraction missiles (AX version of mining equipment), and release the trigger when in the blue zone, the above graph show resistance and how slow will be the slider below.

Tactical Chips: Enhanced AX Missiles, and limpet. Go to active titan and the closer Thargoid spire to him, find the revenants and shot missiles. Optional kill the banshee but it’s a hard target. Tactical chips are a rare drop, but like other mats, you obtain 3 units per collection. For horizons players without spires, Odyssey military settlements in barren worlds and inside the controlled zone, are reachable by you without having the DLC. Revenants exist here and your limpets could pick the item, but be fast because daddy interceptor will come to help.

Thargoid sensor and probe: Sensors have some place with one that respawn, with Canonn and Fandom systems and the easiest to obtain. The ones in the void, when gas giant with ammonia life are present, are broken and can be collected, but can be shoot and the sensor parts can be collected. Thargoid probe are harder. Back to the NHSS guide, try the ones with the scavenger symbol, target the item, launch the collector and be fast, because you are stealing in forn of the thargoid interceptor.

Thargoid structure mats: The scavengers can be killed while flying the ship, like tactical chips without retaliation. The data point need to be scanned with SRV. The items inside the structure need some thargoid sensors/probe/link to open the door, or crouching when on foot in some part of the door to trigger the detection movement in the other side. Inside, you can pick the link, and make the green relics if you drop the relic inside the pads. Leave the room ASAP if you don’t want to be cooked by the heat, and defend yourself from the scavengers. Once the room return to normal, pick the item.

SPACE LIFEFORMS:

If you find a lagrange cloud with life, the mollusk can be probed with research limpets, and maybe have some interaction like launching spires. It’s a low value item that weight 1 ton. Rock/crystals formation, even if made by some bacteria, can’t be probed.

ESCAPE PODS and other:

Menee system, above Ram Tah base, have 2 permanent distress signal that spawn escape pods, only enter and collect, relog to repeat, no need to suprecruise like HGE. The other option is megaships, scan the megaship (datalink scanner, hardpoints deployed), find the cargo hatch or escape zone, target sub-component and launch recon limpets. The operation multilimpet provide recon and collection. Sometimes the items become stuck in the megaship interior, relog and try again.

OTHER ITEMS:

Lots of hidden items in the game with zero use.

Trinkets of hidden fortune: A crashed ship in Mitterand Hollow

Hafnium 178: In LHS 2429 1 , (HIGH G planet, beware).

And other from old storyline or events, long forgotten. Or that spawn as target for some missions, like Rare Artwork, but if inside some ship cargo, will become stolen and need to be sold in black markets.

Reward, unobtainable size 5 (32tons) and size 6 (64tons) Corrosion Resistance cargo rack, the only available in the game is a size 4 with 16 units. No other module like this (Size 6 only) until Rhea earthquake 2 years later. Also 1.5M/ton

As Xenoresearcher, and for all the thargoid items I collect, having one is very helpful in my work.

THE PLANNING

Using the Canonn Barnacles Sheet for finding Barnacle forest, and EDSM.net to find the one with the smaller gravity.

I design a Imperial Cutter, full cargo, no shields, except 2 small collector limpets, and some beam lasers.

I move my Fleet Carrier over the planet, to help my cutter without fuel scoop and mediocre jumprange, I approach the barnacle forest and proceed to shoot the spires, and launch collectors to pick the metaalloys without landing or driving. Relog and repeat this for 5 days, until not enough limpets.

THE MISTAKES

In the night, with less visibility, once my cargo its maxed, and the cargo hatch closed, I press the BOOST button by accident, ramming the ground at fast speed. Remaining Health: 2%

I survived a certain death, the ship wasnt high enough to reach max speed. I proceed, slowly, to turn the ship toward the sky....... and my tail hit the ground again, ending my run. Around 500tons of Meta-Alloys = 750Millions + rebuy ship + only chance to obtain this unique modules.

Took me 10 seconds to take a deep breath, accept what happened, and do other things. Too late to work the last 2 days, without chance to reach the Top10% or even Top50%. I have a ZEN moment of clarity. Because at the end was only a game.

1 year later, the Meta of the Thargoid war include mass farming thargoid tissues, and the player with size 5 or size 6 cargo racks can stockpile 2x and 4x more per trip (6x if used more). The memories of that lost opportunity return.

For Cores, try to find yellow asteroids (under the PWA scan), with this shapes. The ice one is called Popcorn, and the metallich and metal-rich are paleolithic axes, identify the cores save a lot of time.

Here, you need to launch the limpet, and if the correct Core ores, launch HIGH Yield bombs (press the trigger a lot), in the LOW resistance fissures. Yep, its correct, we need the maximum damage, don't try to match High with High, Low with Low, like a baby with shapes and holes, we are here to break the rock. Once the yield bar is near the blue zone, launch some LOW Yield bombs to the remain fissure until you reach the sweet spot.

Move away 1.2Km, 4 Pips shield if not sure, and wait or target one of the bombs in contacts menu to force the detonation. Once the asteroid is broken, approach it, target the deposit and shoot it with the abrassion blaster. Medium ship like python are better for this spaces. A minor bug could give excessive yield and loss ores even in the perfect blue zone, ignore it, you are doing great.

Cores respawn 6 days later. Once a player mine a core, dissapear for everybody, so miner don't share his core mining spots, and the popular ones are filled with ice or rocky dust.

OTHER FORMS OF MINING

Other rocks highlighted with the pulse wave analyzer, but the incorrect shape, have this features.

Surface deposit: The same as cores, but without need to breach it. Launch limpet to scan the asteroid, target the deposit and shoot the abrassion blaster.

SubSurface deposit: You need a Subsurface missile, a mix of rocket, drill and bomb. Target the subsurface zone, and launch the missile, mantain the trigger pressed. Once hit, the missile will start digging, pay attention to the lower bar in the bottom left corner, when a blue zone appear over the line that determine your missile position, release the trigger. The explosion will launch a bunch of rocks outside the hole. Repeat the work until no more blue lines. This is a rarely used method, but rescue of human pods in the thargoid titans reuse a variation called Sub-Surface Extraction missile, that do the same work for the titan storage chamber, with only a single blue zone to eject all the abducted human pods. Miners are very valuable in the current war.

ZONES TO MINE

Disclaimer: Pirates arent problematic, if you are near populated space, they could spawn right after you drop into the zone, scan your cargo full of limpets, blame you, and leave. Time to start mining. Also don't bother mining in the void, even for tritium that is 6x less valuable than platinum, and produce less fragments.

Asteroids cluster: Only a bunch of rocks, no hotspots, mostly ignored except for Cores, some cluster have 1 big core, if the correct one, a good place to milk every 6 days. Make a list of asteroid cluster with good cores across the bubble ;) .

Rings: The best place, hotspots improve yield, or chance to spawn the correct core. If a overlapped hotspots, you have a little better chance. The borders have less bonus than the center of the hotspot.

• RES zones in rings: Bonus to fragments, reaching 200% in Haz RES, also pirates don't stop spawning in the center, but police help (except HazRES, no police and engineered pirates). A good place if you stay in the 20Km border, or as close as 15-10Km, that have the full bonus but is far from the dangerous drop point in the center.

BONUS: Mapped mining

Asteroids arent random, if you make a slideshow of every good asteroids, you can repeat the same path again and again, avoiding lost time launching prospectors. Use this guide for the best mining maps, after some runs you will have the asteroids memorized, and could reach the best profit hour.

SELLING

Use Inara , if you pledge to Edmund Mahon powerplay at rank 2 (200 merits is enough for 2 weeks), you will have +20% trade profit in his stationsm exchange the voucher in the contacts-administration menu. Try to find good station near Alioth, or pick a system toward the exterior of his PP zone for inara reference, so most stations are under his control.

The problem is the Bulk Tax Trade, you need a station buying at least 4x your cargo. For a 750tons cutter you need a station that demand 3000tons. Less, and the price drop. 0 Demand its like infinite demand, so don't worry. Selling less numbers don't avoid this, the station put the price for your TOTAL cargo of ores, not how many you sell.

Cores have less demand than surface ores, this limit core mining for big ships.

If you have full cargo, after selling the ore, wait some seconds until the refinery unload any excess bins, and sell again. You don't want to enter a ring, with leftover ores, and pirates nearby.

And thats all without going deep into builds. I reached 200M/hour, and bought my Fleet Carrier in 2 weeks. Now exobiology pay more with the correct tools, Spansh search for HMC worlds, and that first discovery Startum Tectonicas, but thats for another JustAboutElite. But mining is one of the great experiences of Elite, the billions of asteroids, the sound effect of breaking cores, the feeling that you are doing some space hard work. Its part of the relaxing experience in the game, put some music and start making billions.