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Are miners worth the investment?

realisticaltyrealisticalty Member Posts: 851 Arc User
edited March 2014 in The Academy
Are miners worth the investment?

What about if you only do the Dili Doff Assignments and not the actual mining assignments....
Post edited by realisticalty on

Comments

  • uryenserellonturyenserellont Member Posts: 858 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Been wondering this myself. There's three categories of miners you can buy and I don't know what each category is for. It looks like you can get two critical traits for both mining assignment but there's a third miner category that doesn't look like it has what you need for those assignments.

    They're also really expensive.
  • soidutssoiduts Member Posts: 55 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Yes the Purple miners are work the investment especially if you are setting those 2 Fleet Mine doff missions daily. Get 6 miners that have the 3 critical traits. (3 for each mission, then 2 other purple doffs). I often get Critical Success on the missions and the rewards are extremely good. On crit with tier 3 mine 160,000ec, 750dil, 4000+ EX. Don't have the exact info but you get the idea.
  • mandoknight89mandoknight89 Member Posts: 1,687 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    soiduts wrote: »
    Yes the Purple miners are work the investment especially if you are setting those 2 Fleet Mine doff missions daily. Get 6 miners that have the 3 critical traits. (3 for each mission, then 2 other purple doffs). I often get Critical Success on the missions and the rewards are extremely good. On crit with tier 3 mine 160,000ec, 750dil, 4000+ EX. Don't have the exact info but you get the idea.

    That would be a no, then:

    Miners are incredibly expensive for a means of getting a relatively trivial amount of EC and dilithium a day, particularly considering that other purple quality doffs can do the same thing, but cheaper (since they're good for more than just one particular mission and generally don't cost thousands of fleet credits) and only at a slightly lower probability.
  • dragonsbrethrendragonsbrethren Member Posts: 1,854 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Yeah, there's no way I'd buy the purple miners. Blue doesn't even seem worth it, considering I can get criticals on my Fehttp://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/images/buttons/submit_reply.gifd alt with two green miners and other random purple and blue DOFFs.
  • fraghul2000fraghul2000 Member Posts: 1,590 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Are miners worth the investment?

    No.

    They do have a horrendous cost for what little improvement they give over "conventional" Doffs with 2+ crit traits you can assign to that mission. The blue 3-crit trait Miners have the same crit rating on that mission as a purple 2-trait Doff from the exchange (cheap lockbox Voth Doffs, KDF-side for example).

    Their "Miner" profession only raises success over failure and keeps the crit rating the same, so it's practically useless.

    Besides the mining missions, they aren't of good use either. No space/ground skills and I can't think of a single, worthwhile mission where their traits were any good. Either there were better Doffs out there or they were disqualified by their "Miner" profession.

    Ironically they are complete fails on the other mining mission out there, too. (Dilithium Mining in an Unstable Asteroid Cluster). No Resolve, no crit traits, civilian instead of Ops (which means they can't be used in the first place) and if they were able to be slotted, they all come with 1-2 negative traits. ;)

    The only reason I bought them is because to me they're collectibles. Especially the purple ones aren't going to return the investment.
  • ceekayzeroceekayzero Member Posts: 411 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    No.



    Besides the mining missions, they aren't of good use either. No space/ground skills and I can't think of a single, worthwhile mission where their traits were any good. Either there were better Doffs out there or they were disqualified by their "Miner" profession.
    .

    I believe one of the Horta miners has support crit traits. That doesn't make it a worthwhile investment unless your fleet has hit T3 on the dil mine but still needs plenty of FM to recoup the investment, but they aren't totally useless.
  • edgecrysgeredgecrysger Member Posts: 2,740 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    That would be a no, then:

    Miners are incredibly expensive for a means of getting a relatively trivial amount of EC and dilithium a day, particularly considering that other purple quality doffs can do the same thing, but cheaper (since they're good for more than just one particular mission and generally don't cost thousands of fleet credits) and only at a slightly lower probability.
    I thought that way time ago, but yes, the purple miners are worthy the investment. But the problem with those missions is, you also need others doffs with other critical traits to complement.

    No, other purple doffs can get closer, but you will get always the higher critical success with the purple miners, i checked it tons of times. The miners are 1 time buy, so eventually, they are worthy. I just bought 1 miner per month or something like that lol. Of course if you want them asap, the 6, that is a no no xD.
  • mandoknight89mandoknight89 Member Posts: 1,687 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I thought that way time ago, but yes, the purple miners are worthy the investment. But the problem with those missions is, you also need others doffs with other critical traits to complement.

    No, other purple doffs can get closer, but you will get always the higher critical success with the purple miners, i checked it tons of times. The miners are 1 time buy, so eventually, they are worthy. I just bought 1 miner per month or something like that lol. Of course if you want them asap, the 6, that is a no no xD.

    The problem is that you're better off doing anything else with your fleet credits, since 160k EC/750 dil per day is a bad payout, particularly since that's only on a crit, with reduced payout on a non-crit (including no Fleet Marks, which are the real draw of the assignments).

    A better use of your fleet credits if you must use them on doffs would be to invest in Marauding, which gives contraband, which in turn can be turned into dilithium and energy credits at your leisure.
  • bendalekbendalek Member Posts: 1,781 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Thanks for this post! I was wondering the same thing, just hadn't yet gotten around to the point of buying them ...

    It seems they aren't worth it, unless your an unrepentant 'collector', so I'll stick with the 2000 Dil a day Contraband missions ...

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  • edgecrysgeredgecrysger Member Posts: 2,740 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    The problem is that you're better off doing anything else with your fleet credits, since 160k EC/750 dil per day is a bad payout, particularly since that's only on a crit, with reduced payout on a non-crit (including no Fleet Marks, which are the real draw of the assignments).

    A better use of your fleet credits if you must use them on doffs would be to invest in Marauding, which gives contraband, which in turn can be turned into dilithium and energy credits at your leisure.

    Depends. By the time i bought the miners, thats the only thing i was investing for. Nothing else, so yes, in that time i could buy em and it was no problem at all, i had a mountain of fleet credits.

    500 extra refined a day is not worthy? everyone is complaining about having more refined dilithium in the end of the day, and 500 more is not worthy? lol.

    The other mission , same , instead of dilithium, you get EC, but the other critical rewards are the same.

    And btw, you forget the dilithium mine provisions you get on crit, and YES, you can receive fleet marks on critical , not always but i did a few times already. Yesterday, for example.

    Y i should waste fleet credits on a way to get contraband?? i gather about 10-15 contraband every day with every klingon toon i have just doing marauding assignments. I dont need fleet credits or anything else.

    And people forget that miners can be used in other assignments of civilian doffs, and they are purple doffs with good traits. So i must repeat, yes, they are worthy.

    NOW, of course they are EXPENSIVE, but only a few things in STO are cheap. Other fleet purple doffs are as well that price. Go to the spire...
  • mandoknight89mandoknight89 Member Posts: 1,687 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    500 extra refined a day is not worthy? everyone is complaining about having more refined dilithium in the end of the day, and 500 more is not worthy? lol.
    The mining assignment doesn't give you refined dilithium, and the extra refined dilithium can't fail. Don't need special doffs for that.
    And btw, you forget the dilithium mine provisions you get on crit, and YES, you can receive fleet marks on critical , not always but i did a few times already. Yesterday, for example.
    Mine provisions are almost completely worthless by the time you get the motherlode mining missions.
    Y i should waste fleet credits on a way to get contraband?? i gather about 10-15 contraband every day with every klingon toon i have just doing marauding assignments. I dont need fleet credits or anything else.
    That's my point. You're getting 15 contraband a day with KDF characters? Turn in 5 for 2000 dil, sell the other 10 on the exchange for 400k EC.
    And people forget that miners can be used in other assignments of civilian doffs, and they are purple doffs with good traits. So i must repeat, yes, they are worthy.
    Civilian doffs are the least common valid doff category.
    NOW, of course they are EXPENSIVE, but only a few things in STO are cheap. Other fleet purple doffs are as well that price. Go to the spire...
    I never said that the other purple doffs were worth the cost, either. Just that if you need to waste fleet credits on doffs, Marauding is a better choice.

    Better sinks for fleet credits are consoles and those 6th active slots. If you have millions of FC to burn and extra doff space go ahead and pick some miners up. Otherwise, I'd save for things that give better returns.
  • badname834854badname834854 Member Posts: 1,186 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I would also agree with "no" - the mine missions are hard capped for their crit, much like confiscate contraband is at 22%.
  • mightybobcncmightybobcnc Member Posts: 3,354 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    The answer is simple.

    If you're pinching fleet credits to try and make ends meet, then absolutely not.

    If you're rolling in fleet credits and/or are a doff collector and/or already have all of the fleet gear that you want, then sure, go ahead.

    (I am all of the latter and I have 6 of the purple miners. It's nice to not fail the mining assignments as often but the payout isn't anything to write home about. I haven't found any other assignment that can't be done better by a non-miner doff though; the 2 mining assignments is about all they're good for.)

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  • letsrishletsrish Member Posts: 28 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I have found them to be worth the investment, for a few reasons.

    The missions have a side benefit I have not seen anyone mention yet. They pay out a generous amount of Trade and Development xp, which helps people (like me) who rely on reports for their fleet marks.

    They are good missions for those with several alts, as they are quick to set up on multiple characters a day, and the individually small rewards add up over time.

    Only the purple doffs are truly expensive. Rares cost much less, and you lose very little effectiveness using them instead of VR's. I even have a few alts that only use the uncommons.
  • kimmymkimmym Member Posts: 1,317 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    For my alts, no, not really.

    For my main? My main has over 4M lifetime fleet credits. More gear and fleet ships then I can use in a day. Spent tons of FC on consumeble fun garbage. Still making more FC every day.

    What else am I going to spend it on?

    I don't regret buying mine. That said, I only bought 3 of them.
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  • remianenremianen Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Depends. By the time i bought the miners, thats the only thing i was investing for. Nothing else, so yes, in that time i could buy em and it was no problem at all, i had a mountain of fleet credits.

    500 extra refined a day is not worthy? everyone is complaining about having more refined dilithium in the end of the day, and 500 more is not worthy? lol.

    The other mission , same , instead of dilithium, you get EC, but the other critical rewards are the same.

    And btw, you forget the dilithium mine provisions you get on crit, and YES, you can receive fleet marks on critical , not always but i did a few times already. Yesterday, for example.

    Y i should waste fleet credits on a way to get contraband?? i gather about 10-15 contraband every day with every klingon toon i have just doing marauding assignments. I dont need fleet credits or anything else.

    Never give investment advice in RL. People will hate you. :P

    What the OP is asking really is if the ROI (return on investment) for miners occurs quickly enough to stave off buyer's remorse. The people in your position are like billionaires who aren't sweating immediate returns. Here's the difference though: those people wouldn't even ask this question (they wouldn't care). People who ask this question are looking for Google type investments (buy at $85-95 a share, nine years later it's trading at $1200+) or at least something that provides returns that make them feel like what they spent was worth it. Miners don't pass the smell test in this regard. Like mandoknight said, if you're producing 15 contraband a day, you can have steady, high value returns that you can see (not guesstimate) every day. Since it's true that even a 2 cent quarterly profit will eventually pay off its $100,000 cost, the question is, will you live long enough to see it and/or do you want to wait that long for it to occur? If the answer to either of those questions is 'no', then miners aren't for you, in my opinion.
  • doffingcomradedoffingcomrade Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    In a word, No. Most of those miners are worthless, having only two-crit for the missions involved, which can be matched by random Sulibans from the Cellship. Yes, they add success...in SOME roles, but CRITS OR GTFO. Only one or two are 3-crit, and throwing in that one 3-crit miner MIGHT boost your odds by 1-2%. Woo.

    On top of that, you're not really gonna be doing that stuff that much. Give it a pass.
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  • centaurianalphacentaurianalpha Member Posts: 1,150 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Like many other options in STO, it depends on your play style. Miners not only produce dilithium, but when applied to the "Rich Mineral Deposits" mission, can also produce useful stuff like Dilithium Mine provisions (every fleet needs these), along with EC, ExP's, etc. I have not bought any purples yet, and have only a couple of blues, but they are sufficiently productive to justify themselves.

    An even more useful investment is Explosive Experts, which are not only used in conjunction with miners, but also can do space mining DOff missions; these also produce dilithium and other resources, together with Maintenence Engineers and Tractor Beam officers...
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