New player question

[Neverborn]

Hello, new player trying to figure out this new game.

After watching some youtube videos about the game, the first thing i did in game was undock and head to the nearest small asteroid field to start mining. But when i jumped into the field, there were no visible asteroids in the area. I jumped around and searched, but never found a rock. I did check the nav map, both top down and side view, to make sure I was in the small asteroid field, i was in the correct location.

This was the only belt in the starting area, so i eventually used a gate and went one system over to another small arctoid field. But this one had the same issue, no rocks.

My next attempt was to go to a large asteroid field one sector over in this new system. The large asteroid field did have rocks and I was able to start mining.

So my question is, is it normal for the small fields to have no visible rocks? Are they just really hard to find?

Another issue I had, I was given the impression in some videos that a cargo scanner could be used to determine the contents of the asteroids, but they don't seem to be working. Is it possible to scan asteroids with a cargo scanner to find out the materials you will gain from mining them?

[Vice]

Hello and welcome.

It will depend on location. Asteroid fields can be spread out in clusters, which may not provide an even pattern of distribution and instead, will have collections of asteroids that can require a little searching. If you find yourself in such an environment, simply look above and below as much as you do around you at the same level. In 3D space, these clusters can be pretty far above and below you as well as to each side. A few angled rotations should reveal some out in the distance. In other locations, they'll be more confined and easier to pin down. Also be sure to right click on any asteroid icon on the nav map to lock the jump point to the middle of any field. Some fields can be significantly higher or lower, which you can observe by rotating the nav map. Right clicking will set the X, Y, and Z coordinate to the location to include the elevation value in 3D space.

Cargo scanners (as the name implies) scan cargo, things that are contained within ships and containers out in space. If you want to scan the contents of asteroids, look for a 'Target Scanner'.

[Neverborn]

Thanks for the info. I will replace the cargo scanner with a target scanner and try that.

More about the small asteroid fields, I did doublecheck i was at the correct XYZ for the field, but i am wondering, is there a way in game to scan for local objects other than ships. I noticed my targeting automatically listed ships within 25k of my ship, is there a way to make it show other stuff, like asteroids?

[Vice]

You can target objects with the ship tracking system using the object targeting key/button options, but the radar will only display waypoint, nav point, station, city, cargo, unknown (wreckage, data drivers, etc), and ship contacts. The radar would likely be too cluttered if it displayed every asteroid in range, so asteroid tracking is kept to direction indicators and object entity tracking.

If you provide the sector location of the asteroids you couldn't find, we can probably offer some advice on how to locate them.

[Marvin]

Once you have right-clicked on an "asteroid field" icon (from the map) and jumped to that point, look for a cluster of brackets (like this: [ ] ). Most likely, you won't see them directly in front of you. As Vice said, look above, below and to your right or left. Then head in that direction. Eventually the brackets will reveal the asteroids. As a side note, the Target Scanner also works on planets, as you fly along near ground level.

[Marvin]

Correction. They aren't brackets. They're circles, similar to targeting circles. But, that aside, today I've jumped into a number of sectors and then hyper-jumped to four or five asteroid fields and came out of hyperjump in the middle of the field. Admittedly, I remember having to search for the asteroids at one time but I figure one of the later updates might've changed that. Anyway, if you use the Nav Map, zoom in on the sector with an asteroid icon, and right-click on the asteroid icon, then jump to that location, you should find yourself facing a group of asteroids. If not, then it might be a random bug and, as Vice said, you might want to let him know which sector has the problem.