Subscribe to download
The Strain - Automated mining ship [no mods]

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION HERE

Hey guys !

This is my third attempt at making a powerful mining ship.
This one is based on an extensible arm with a rotating head where some drills have been placed. The ship is fully automated. You only have 2 commands to control the whole beast. The complex work is done by a few timer blocks.
Most of the parts that are likely to takes damages are repaired by many carefully placed welders.

Usage :
1) Locate a reasonably flat surface on any asteroid ;
2) Approach that asteroid within a distance of 5 large blocks, approximatly ;
3) Push key 1 ;
4) Go take a shower or anything that takes several minutes ;
5) The work is done and the ship is reassembled and ready to fly out.

Commands :
Key 1 : Start mining procedure ;
Key 2 : Stop mining procedure before its normal end.

The mining procedure is automated and does the following things :
- Unlocks the arm and the anchors ;
- Deploys anchors ;
- Stops each anchor's pistons when that anchor is locked on the asteroid ;
- Unlocks the rotating head and turns the rotor on ;
- Starts the drills, the stabilizers and the rotating lights ;
- Deploys the arm ;
- Periodically reverses the head's rotor to avoid getting stuck ;
- Pushes the arm when the sensor placed on the head no longer detects an asteroid ;
- Stops the arm's pistons when an asteroid is detected to avoid forcing on the drills ;
- Stops the drills and the stabilizers when the arm has reached its limit ;
- Stops the rotor, the rotating lights and retracts the arm ;
- Locks the head, the arm and the anchors. The ship is now ready to fly out.

But you, you just have to push 1.

WARNING :
- Do not move the ship while in mining mode. This would cause critical damags to the whole ship ;
- The rotors displacement doesn't seem to be saved properly in blueprints. I suggest you set the drill'head rotor displacement to the maximum value, just in case ;
- High CPU loads can cause glitches that can cause the ship to get damages or even entirely explode. This is not supposed to happen in normal circumstances.

If you like this ship you'll probably also like this one too.

This ship was inspired from two other ships that i saw on youtube :
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkr5psyL3Qo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6YIgCiIZCY

I hope you like it ! Your comments are always appreciated ! :)