by @Jaye ~ July 7, 2169, transmitted from Ipos, Home Sector
Don’t Panic!
Huh, you look new. Like, just off the transport and completely lost, am I right? I bet you haven’t even seen your new shuttle yet. You still have that new-miner smell. No offense intended! Humans have lots of interesting smells, and you can’t really offend me.
Me? Yeah, I’m an android, but don’t worry. I’m not here to pester you with entertainment offers or shill the latest new asteroid reports to the newbies. I’m a free-android, and a miner like you, so I know the ropes and can get you started quickly, if you don’t mind advice from an android.
You have a small shuttle. Pathetically small, and slow, but still, it’s all yours, now. Work hard, and you might see much larger ships in your future! You also have 2000 plats (Space Ex’s currency), and a few choices to make. It’s the new Mining Rush of our era, and vast fortunes will be made, but let’s not get too literal, here. There’s no need to rush right out and rent a plot just yet. Let’s go get you into your new shuttle, and get you started.
Start Mining
For a limited time, warping is free, so feel free to explore. You can just start mining immediately, also. There is no need to rent or purchase a plot, yet, and it is best to do so with an informed decision rather than renting a plot on the first planet that you land on. Did you exclusive-contract to the first person you… yeah, you probably did. That’s why you’re out here, now, isn’t it?
Mining, at this point, can only occur on the five free-to-mine planets or in the Asteroid Belts. The free-to-mine planets are Almirna, Gitu, Samigra, Farindea, and Esteronia. These are planets that have already been developed and require miners to come and assist, so you can make plat and get ore through this work! There are no plots there to rent or buy, but you can mine on them and get a wide selection of different resources from each.
The Warp menu takes you to the space station (Main Hub), the Asteroid Belts (1, 2, and 3), and each of the planets. You can go mine immediately for resources on the five free-to-mine planets, or fly to one of the planets that allows renting, and rent a plot for 1200 plats. But even after you have rented, you can’t do anything there, yet. The one advantage to renting a lease-plot early is that you can begin depositing resources there, rather than on the Main Hub. However, storage is very limited at first. The disadvantage is that you don’t know which planet might have the best resources, and once you rent, you’ll be committed to it for at least 30 days.
To mine on your own rented plot, first build the Power Plant, and then the Mini-Miner, or the Mining Platform. Until you have obtained enough resources to build these, you must mine on one of the five free planets, or an asteroid. You may also purchase a plot with Ethereum. This includes an incentive: A free Auto-Miner included on the plot. It will mine at the same rate as the Mining Platform, and unlike the Mini-Miner, it stacks with a Mining Platform built on the same plot. That’s double what a lease-plot can provide.
While you are mining for your first building, you can begin to develop your own strategy by studying the information available on the Space Ex discord. Seriously, you need to do some reading, rookie. How did you ever get your hands on a shuttle, human?
So, you’ll need to build a Power Plant on your plot. But you don’t even have one, yet. That is fine for now, since you can store your mined resources on the Main Hub, and that is also where you would sell any excess resources for more Planetary Security tokens (plats or ps), as well as try to buy resources that you need.
Why wait to rent? You must build on your plot or the lease expires in 30 days. From the point the Power Plant is built, you’ll have 60 days of power until your fuel runs out, after which you’ll need a Refinery in place to make more fuel. From the moment you rent, you’ll have 180 days to finish your buildings and build your interstellar ship. It’s best to rent after you have most of the resources collected for the Power Plant and the Mining Platform. You may buy a plot to speed things up. You can rent a plot in addition to the plot or plots that you buy. Oh, and you may lease or sell the purchased plot or plots out to other miners in the future!
So, the official asteroid reports have started coming in, and I have to go make a mining run, rookie. But I’ll catch up with you again, soon, and I’ll ease you slowly into the joys of asteroid mining. It’s going to be a large part of your future, and critical to your success.
Good luck and fair stars, you poor miner. Don’t panic. An empire awaits.
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