This week's topic (August 2): Amp that b****!

Snice a few months back, I've begun to use these 'mining amps', tools that supposedly not only expand the search radius but collect bigger finds.  While I sommely buy them the results are usually fair enough to pay for the amp and the bombs, if not spark a rare large or global.  I use and only use the OA-101's, as decay is minimal and the results are decent if not profitable. 

Now, onto the main rant!

Amping is suppose to help, not hurt.  I say this 'cuz on three different occasions I have bought the almighty OA-103 or 104.  These carry an absurd price tag, along with 2-4 PED decay a drop.  However, bigger finds, right?  Ha!  My avatar's nights are still restless from the 200+ PED losses that occur from those runs.  The hit numbers actually suffers, as hits come about 1 in 10 drops, and at best a meager 'Medium'.  To simply cover the cost of the amp with market value you'd have to hit at least a 'small' every drop.  Yes, every drop. 

So...what have we learned in this mining lesson?  That higher level amps harm the miner in use (Running at 100% on the OA and MA-104)  But that's only me...

~Sir Odd

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This week's topic (April 12): CND Miners and their *&%@# claims!

Most of my in-game friends know me as a fairly quiet person who keeps to myself (unless Stackman in soc chat goes crazy or I get invited to a beacon run, then I let loose a little bit).  Yes, I'm the kind of guy that keeps to himself when in company of good people.

But out here, it's free range. 

Anyhow...onwards...ah yes, the claims...

Now I'm mining ematter for most of my time in-game, usually on TI or southwest of Sakura City.  Out there the hits are small but plentiful (assuming none have mined there recently.)  However, at CND the finds are rarer than a needle in a haystack.  However it also leads to bigger finds, which in the end cover for the losses should you be lucky to find one.

Ok, point is, I go into a dome with 100+ probes with the 105.  10-20 probes down with no hits, but skill gains and whatnot appear so maybe perhaps I can find one next time.  For those who don't mine at CND, 10-30+ probes in one dome with no hits is not uncommon.  I turn around to run the other side of the dome, when a blue light peaks out of the shrubbery.  A mining claim, and alias it's not mine.  Gratz to them, they found a claim.  Now extract the frekin' thing for crying out loud!!  My mining suffers enough already without having mindless idiots with amps litter the domes with claims that sit there for hours.  All the while, the finds just sit there, rendering the ground around them useless for any other miner to search. 

To be truthful, after spending 50+ probes or ped on a dome that is full of crap, I would be half tempted to create an event in the domes affected, for say, 4 hours.  Not only would the domes empty of the poor miner's undrilled claims (and I'd laugh at their cursing), but I could mine in PEACE.  Another peeve of mine is having 3-4 people mine the same dome within radar range.  The only time it's halfway quiet is midnight my time (~4:00 MA time).  So for the sake of CND miners everywhere, extract your claims before you leave the dome!

Alright, got that off my chest, see you next week.

~Sir Odd