Changes to Space Mining or the Y-8 Mining Ship

Changes to Space Mining or the Y-8 Mining Ship
This idea/suggestion is Open. You can respond to ask questions or discuss the idea and either vote it up or down if you believe it should or should not be implemented, respectively. Popular suggestions and ideas will be considered by the development team to become reality in-game.
Proposal
I'd like to propose 1 of 2 solutions to improve space mining be adopted:

  1. Enable a way for the Tractor Beam to work when toggled on a Y-8 like it does on a Starfighter. This wouldn't unbalance things, as the size of the holds would still require someone to spend a couple hours chasing and shooting rocks in space (I did this many times on Live, it's damned tedious and a 50K hold still takes some time to fill up), and still requires them to deal with Asteroid Bandits.
  2. Increase hold sizes on Starfighter Cargo Holds significantly so less time is spent unloading/travelling.
Justification
The Y-8 Mining Ship, introduced by SOE especially for mass asteroid mining, is widely considered to be the poorest choice of ships for mining asteroids. It is extremely inefficient. For Shipwrights, who need these resources for all POB ship parts as well as some addons, harvesting these resouces in a starfighter can be very tedious with repeated landings/unloadings/launching/travelling back to asteroid to build up stocks. The Y-8 was supposed to alleviate this by design, but does not in its current state. A simple change allowing the Tractor Beam to be toggled like a starfighter would fix this as it used to on Live.
Motivation
To make the Y-8 an efficient mining ship as was its intended purpose, or to improve the QOL for space mining by at least increasing the harvest in a starfighter.
I'm not looking for anything radical, but the only way to get asteroid materials is by hand mining it from a ship.

This is easy enough in a starfighter, although getting Diamond in Kessel or other space zones with higher tier ships can be challenging as, if Asteroid Bandits spawn then they will be the corresponding Tier (Tier 5 in Kessel as an example). If your ship is outfitted for mining, it can really leave you vulnerable to attack by these higher tier bandits. Also, with a highest hold capacity of about 1750 Units (5000 for a Huge hold but we don't have that yet), you spend a lot of time landing, unloading launching and flying back to the asteroid.

SOE introduced the Y-8 Mining Vessel with Rage of the Wookies. This was supposed to enable some serious mining, with a capacity of up to 50000 units (depending on size of the cargo hold you installed). But this ship was pretty much a failure in its role. Ironically, it is widely considered to be the poorest choice of ships for mining asteroids. Getting people to fill in the turrets to shoot rocks never happened. If you don't use a Tractor Beam, then you only get half the asteroid resources per rock.

Due to a glitch in its design, though, it was possible to solo mine in this ship. You could mount a Tractor Beam in the top weapon slot, and a person could go to that slot, "fire" the beam and then leave the turret and return to the pilot seat. Then toggle the beam on like in a starfighter. From then on, it would work like a starfighter, with the beam automatically drawing in asteroid pieces as the pilot shot them apart. No crew required, which wasn't realistically going to happen anyway and wasn't as efficient.

SOE "fixed" this glitch with the NGE and from then on the Y-8 was relegated to most pilot's dustbins at that point. You couldn't put together a mining crew, it was an ineficient ship to use solo, and due to turret placement and blind spots, it wasn't even a good "gunboat". Since Resto3 is based upon the NGE code, this glitch remains "fixed" and the Y-8 remains a pretty useless overall ship, totally inefficient for its intended purpose.
 
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I'm not looking for anything radical, but the only way to get asteroid materials is by hand mining it from a ship.

This is easy enough in a starfighter, although getting Diamond in Kessel or other space zones with higher tier ships can be challenging as, if Asteroid Bandits spawn then they will be the corresponding Tier (Tier 5 in Kessel as an example). If your ship is outfitted for mining, it can really leave you vulnerable to attack by these higher tier bandits. Also, with a highest hold capacity of about 1750 Units (5000 for a Huge hold but we don't have that yet), you spend a lot of time landing, unloading launching and flying back to the asteroid.

SOE introduced the Y-8 Mining Vessel with Rage of the Wookies. This was supposed to enable some serious mining, with a capacity of up to 50000 units (depending on size of the cargo hold you installed). But this ship was pretty much a failure in its role. Ironically, it is widely considered to be the poorest choice of ships for mining asteroids. Getting people to fill in the turrets to shoot rocks never happened. If you don't use a Tractor Beam, then you only get half the asteroid resources per rock.

Due to a glitch in its design, though, it was possible to solo mine in this ship. You could mount a Tractor Beam in the top weapon slot, and a person could go to that slot, "fire" the beam and then leave the turret and return to the pilot seat. Then toggle the beam on like in a starfighter. From then on, it would work like a starfighter, with the beam automatically drawing in asteroid pieces as the pilot shot them apart. No crew required, which wasn't realistically going to happen anyway and wasn't as efficient.

SOE "fixed" this glitch with the NGE and from then on the Y-8 was relegated to most pilot's dustbins at that point. You couldn't put together a mining crew, it was an ineficient ship to use solo, and due to turret placement and blind spots, it wasn't even a good "gunboat". Since Resto3 is based upon the NGE code, this glitch remains "fixed" and the Y-8 remains a pretty useless overall ship, totally inefficient for its intended purpose.
I currently space mine in my Y8, albeit slow, I have 3 tractors beams on it that seem to be "on" and mining laser i use in pilots chair. tractor beams work after i set them up. Now to fill a 49k cargo hold does take me a good few hours it does work. Now the question is what is faster. 3 hours in a Y8 or 28 trips at about 6-10 minutes per run in say my X or Belbullab?
Unless R3 team makes it so the tractor beams don't work it IS a viable miner here. At 3 hours or 3 hours + to fill a Y8 vs the fastest I could fill a belb or X 28 times is 2.75 hours. Granted at 6 minutes per to hit that speed in belb or X that isn't kessel or any asteroid over 4000M from a station.
 
I tried multiple times yesterday with tractor beams and while I could toggle them on, they didn't actually work. The only way I got asteroid was by shooting all of the broken pieces. If someone was manning the tractor beam by actually being in the turret and pointing it at the chucks, then it worked. But doing it solo did not work from any turret. I had someone else on the ship to verify it with me. If they were not in the turret and I toggled it on, you could see and hear it running but it did not work unless he then manned the turret himself.

On Live, I could fill a 50K hold solo in a Y-8 in about 2 - 2.5 hours. I could harvest the asteroid just as fast as I could in my starfighter (break off the piece, shoot it into chunks, suck up the chunks), without having to stop, land, unload, launch, and return to the asteroid in between.
 
I tried multiple times yesterday with tractor beams and while I could toggle them on, they didn't actually work. The only way I got asteroid was by shooting all of the broken pieces. If someone was manning the tractor beam by actually being in the turret and pointing it at the chucks, then it worked. But doing it solo did not work from any turret. I had someone else on the ship to verify it with me. If they were not in the turret and I toggled it on, you could see and hear it running but it did not work unless he then manned the turret himself.

On Live, I could fill a 50K hold solo in a Y-8 in about 2 - 2.5 hours. I could harvest the asteroid just as fast as I could in my starfighter (break off the piece, shoot it into chunks, suck up the chunks), without having to stop, land, unload, launch, and return to the asteroid in between.
I am saying I do it solo. I go into three turrets facing forward. Hold down fire button on tractors. While doing that hit L. Then next turret then next. Then sit in pilot chair with laser.
Then it’s a matter of aiming the ship. I was up in my Y8 only a couple days ago. It works and I had zero issues.
 
I am saying I do it solo. I go into three turrets facing forward. Hold down fire button on tractors. While doing that hit L. Then next turret then next. Then sit in pilot chair with laser.
Then it’s a matter of aiming the ship. I was up in my Y8 only a couple days ago. It works and I had zero issues.
The pressing L didn't have to be done previously. That's new for me, and yes, I tested it and worked, harvesting 5K Silicaceous just now in about 20 minutes. That's in line with my old skill level of 50K in about 2-2.5 hours once I'd determined proper positioning for sucking up all the chunks at once and not having to chase any down.

But I'd still maintain a change needs to be done. You should not have to jump through hoops of entering the turret, firing it and holding it while pressing L, then jumping into the pilot seat and going. And at one point in my run it simply stopped working. I had to leave the pilot seat and enter the turret to start it up again. It should be able to be turned on by the pilot just as it is with a starfighter.

If going through hoops is what we have, then at least that does work now. But I'd prefer it to just be something that simply works right from the pilot seat.
 
The pressing L didn't have to be done previously. That's new for me, and yes, I tested it and worked, harvesting 5K Silicaceous just now in about 20 minutes. That's in line with my old skill level of 50K in about 2-2.5 hours once I'd determined proper positioning for sucking up all the chunks at once and not having to chase any down.

But I'd still maintain a change needs to be done. You should not have to jump through hoops of entering the turret, firing it and holding it while pressing L, then jumping into the pilot seat and going. And at one point in my run it simply stopped working. I had to leave the pilot seat and enter the turret to start it up again. It should be able to be turned on by the pilot just as it is with a starfighter.

If going through hoops is what we have, then at least that does work now. But I'd prefer it to just be something that simply works right from the pilot seat.
It’s annoying. I’ll give you that. It works though. With the current bugs and 1.0 coming any space attention might be down the road. Especially when it comes to the Y8. I don’t really think space is on their to do list currently.
There are some of us that love it. I really enjoy space mining and combat, just thinking until they get 1.0 and Jedi out…. Is space cowboys may need to endure a bit.
 
I'm not looking for anything radical, but the only way to get asteroid materials is by hand mining it from a ship.

This is easy enough in a starfighter, although getting Diamond in Kessel or other space zones with higher tier ships can be challenging as, if Asteroid Bandits spawn then they will be the corresponding Tier (Tier 5 in Kessel as an example). If your ship is outfitted for mining, it can really leave you vulnerable to attack by these higher tier bandits. Also, with a highest hold capacity of about 1750 Units (5000 for a Huge hold but we don't have that yet), you spend a lot of time landing, unloading launching and flying back to the asteroid.

SOE introduced the Y-8 Mining Vessel with Rage of the Wookies. This was supposed to enable some serious mining, with a capacity of up to 50000 units (depending on size of the cargo hold you installed). But this ship was pretty much a failure in its role. Ironically, it is widely considered to be the poorest choice of ships for mining asteroids. Getting people to fill in the turrets to shoot rocks never happened. If you don't use a Tractor Beam, then you only get half the asteroid resources per rock.

Due to a glitch in its design, though, it was possible to solo mine in this ship. You could mount a Tractor Beam in the top weapon slot, and a person could go to that slot, "fire" the beam and then leave the turret and return to the pilot seat. Then toggle the beam on like in a starfighter. From then on, it would work like a starfighter, with the beam automatically drawing in asteroid pieces as the pilot shot them apart. No crew required, which wasn't realistically going to happen anyway and wasn't as efficient.

SOE "fixed" this glitch with the NGE and from then on the Y-8 was relegated to most pilot's dustbins at that point. You couldn't put together a mining crew, it was an ineficient ship to use solo, and due to turret placement and blind spots, it wasn't even a good "gunboat". Since Resto3 is based upon the NGE code, this glitch remains "fixed" and the Y-8 remains a pretty useless overall ship, totally inefficient for its intended purpose.
So, i found this work around that worked for me:

First, dual log;
Second, invite your second character to ur ship;
Third, place ur second character in the turret that is the tractor beam;

Now, go back to ur pilot character, now the toggle tractor beam will work normaly

PS: in order to properly invite my second character to the ship i had to enable the windows key function in fullscreen in the misc options.
 
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there is no need to dual log in a y8. setup of the ship is key then it’s just pew pew and win space asteroid internets.
 
I tried multiple times yesterday with tractor beams and while I could toggle them on, they didn't actually work. The only way I got asteroid was by shooting all of the broken pieces. If someone was manning the tractor beam by actually being in the turret and pointing it at the chucks, then it worked. But doing it solo did not work from any turret. I had someone else on the ship to verify it with me. If they were not in the turret and I toggled it on, you could see and hear it running but it did not work unless he then manned the turret himself.

On Live, I could fill a 50K hold solo in a Y-8 in about 2 - 2.5 hours. I could harvest the asteroid just as fast as I could in my starfighter (break off the piece, shoot it into chunks, suck up the chunks), without having to stop, land, unload, launch, and return to the asteroid in between.
Mining lasers have a shorter land than normal lasers and the Tractor beam has and even shorter range. You can use them on a Y-8, but the ship itself doesn't manuveur well to use them effectively.
 
Mining lasers have a shorter land than normal lasers and the Tractor beam has and even shorter range. You can use them on a Y-8, but the ship itself doesn't manuveur well to use them effectively.
y8 is the best mining ship there is. 48500 hold and one launch and 1.5 hours to fill the hold isn’t effective? vs a starfighter that is 2-3 times as fast.
 
y8 is the best mining ship there is. 48500 hold and one launch and 1.5 hours to fill the hold isn’t effective? vs a starfighter that is 2-3 times as fast.
I was commenting on the Tractor beams usage... not the time to fill the cargo hold... a Y-8 doesn't have the acceration/decelleration or YPR ratios to make using tractor beams effectively.
 
I was commenting on the Tractor beams usage... not the time to fill the cargo hold... a Y-8 doesn't have the acceration/decelleration or YPR ratios to make using tractor beams effectively.
but you are wrong. it uses 3 tractor beams and you can have a more ypr engine. Y8 is king for sure for space mining, it's all about distance from roids when you explode them and aiming of your ship. actually quite brilliant once you learn it.
 
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but you are wrong. it uses 3 tractor beams and you can have a more ypr engine. Y8 is king for sure for space mining, it's all about distance from roids when you explode them and aiming of your ship. actually quite brilliant once you learn it.
Ok Lrts talk numbers and leave emotions out of the debate, These are the Y-8 Stats...

CertificationAny Master Pilot skill
Mass5 millionRoleMultipassenger mining ship
CrewPilot, co-pilot/operations officer x2, gunner x4
Weapon MountsProjectile weapon x5 (1 Top Turret, 1 Bottom Turret, 2 Front turrets, 1 front stationary)
Astromech TechnologyFlight computer
Acceleration 5
Deceleration 5
Yaw Rate 73.2
Pitch Rate 73.2
Roll Rate 71.1
Speed Modifier 0.8

With a cargo hold of 48000 Take 2 hour to fill with a crew of 5(IAveraged the nubers given in the posts above).

These are the stats of a Tie Defender... Armed with 1 lvl 3 mining laser, 1 Experimental Borstal, 1 Tracer or beam.

Certification Imperial Pilot Ace
Mass ~180k
Role Fighter
Crew 1
Weapon Mounts 3x Weapons 1x Missle
Astromech Technology
Acceleration 250
Deceleration 300
Yaw Rate 200
Pitch Rate 300
Roll Rate 150
Speed Modifier 0.93

Cargo hold 1780 takes 6 minnutes to fill. in the same 2 hours 1 person can collect 35600.

Now you have 5 players in Tie Defenders and you collect 186000 inn athat same 2 hours.

Even if it took 10 minutes to fill the starfighter cargo hold, One person would collect 20040 resources in 2 hours and 5 people would collect over 100k.

No matter how your emotions feel about the Y-8... It statistically is NOT the best way to mine
 
y8 takes one person.
if you are using 10 minutes per starfighter trip that is at best 6 in an hour so that is 1750 x 6 = 10,500 per hour. so in 2 hours one person can collect 21,000 asteroids.
meanwhile in my y8 i can collect 48,500 asteroids in two hours.

so explain to me again how y8 is bad?

at your best timing 6 minutes. at best 10 x 1750 is 17500 per hour and 35000 in two hours. issue is i can still collect 48500 in two hours by myself in my y8.
 
I tried mining with Y-8 using mining gun and a few tractor beams, no matter how I tried with alt in an upper or bottom turret, without, switching gimball correction on/off, I never had a chunk attracted by it :(, its hard to hit a smaller chunk with a laser, let alone with the tractor beam I'm just failing to understand how you guys fill it at all.

Could somoene explain it?
 
I tried mining with Y-8 using mining gun and a few tractor beams, no matter how I tried with alt in an upper or bottom turret, without, switching gimball correction on/off, I never had a chunk attracted by it :(, its hard to hit a smaller chunk with a laser, let alone with the tractor beam I'm just failing to understand how you guys fill it at all.

Could somoene explain it?
send me a DM on discord. i can guide you through it. just might be a day before i have time as it’s my wedding anniversary today and not on. just get emails that someone posted here. haha
 
I been have same issue 1st Bottom turret if move to it's max right it will jump to far left. This make combat hard and this is old bug from SWGSOE. The 2nd the pilots gun fire for Y-8 and have no effect on target with mining or combat guns. This new with SWGR.

Side note: I did lot sole mining with Y-8 back in SWGSOE days, for it's big cargo hold but found I had keep speed low help with turn in combat or mining. I do miss be able use the pilot's gun with Y-8.
 
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I will echo Yarr's comments here. I work the Y8 just fine and can fill the entire hold in a matter of hours. You have have to learn to use it is all. I was taught by Yarr, so you would do well to listen.

Nothing needs to change with the Y8.
 
I been have same issue 1st Bottom turret if move to it's max right it will jump to far left. This make combat hard and this is old bug from SWGSOE. The 2nd the pilots gun fire for Y-8 and have no effect on target with mining or combat guns. This new with SWGR.

Side note: I did lot sole mining with Y-8 back in SWGSOE days, for it's big cargo hold but found I had keep speed low help with turn in combat or mining. I do miss be able use the pilot's gun with Y-8.

Didn't realize this was a necro lol. Reach out to myself or Yarr, we'll get you set up.