Shaft Miner
SUPPLY STAFF | |
Shaft Miner |
Access: Mining Station, Mining Station EVA, Cargo Office, Mineral Storage Additional Access: Maintenance, Cargo Bay, MULEbot access, Quartermaster's Office Difficulty: Medium Supervisors: Quartermaster and Head of Personnel Duties: Mine ores and process them into useful materials. Kill hostile wildlife. Guides: No external guide. |
Welcome Miner, to the wonderful caverns of this Nanotrasen Claimed Asteroid.
Workin' In The Coal Mine
Being a miner can be somewhat boring, unless you go out and fight monsters. Just follow a few guidelines here to keep yourself from becoming dead in the mines. ALSO, it is important to note that you are able to click more than ONE square of asteroid at a time when mining or digging for sand! As long as it's accessible, you don't have to wait to finish digging before you start digging again, so you can have several dig jobs running in parallel. Just don't change hands or move until all dig jobs are done and save yourself some time!
Take your Mining Pick in one hand and your Satchel in your active hand. Run into a rock. You're now automatically digging in it. Use this to mine using only your keyboard, for a quicker done job.
Working With Your Boss
Who is your boss? The answer is the Quartermaster. Don't expect to interact with this guy much, though, as he'll often be too busy directing his cargo tech slaves or sleeping in his office to ever regard your existence.
The Objective
You're here to mine, so get digging! Once you're full to bursting with ores, drag your crate or ore box back to the station and head to cargo where the ore redemption machine sits. Insert your ID, and empty the box next to the machine to offload your ores and have them instantly processed into sheets. You gain points for doing this, so be sure to claim them and then retrieve your ID. Now take your crate and it's back to the mines!
How to Do This
- Gear up! From the mining equipment locker, take a pickaxe and a lantern, wear fingerless gloves, wear mesons and put a scanner into your pocket. A shovel can be placed in your backpack. Use the shuttle to enter the mining outpost, if you have spawned on the station. You might need to have internals ready if the round has gone for some time.
- Use your voucher on a mining vending machine to select your choice of mining tool. A kinetic accelerator or mining drone can help when fighting mobs.
- Take and wear a mining hardsuit, helmet and breath mask from EVA. Go to west side of the station and take one bruise pack and ointment from the medkit. Fill your emergency O2 fully up at the big oxygen canister in the maintenance room and embark to mining outside the south airlocks. You need to have internals and your hardsuit on to survive outside! Drag an ore box with you to store minerals.
- Find dem minerals. There are more minerals on the west side of the asteroid, but the east side has no mobs to worry about. Use the scanner to be able to see valuable minerals. Try to get a mixture of:
- Gold
- Silver
- Uranium
- Plasma
- Diamond
- Sand can be digged up with a shovel or drill and iron can be seen without a scanner, but they do not redeem as many points as the other minerals.
- Go to the ore redeemer and get points for the plasma and diamonds, deliver some materials to R&D (10-15 sheets each material except iron) and everything else to Robotics. Ask R&D for a diamond mining drill if they have diamonds.
- At the mining equipment vendor you can get sonic jackhammers, jetpacks or MediPens with the points you've gained.
- Assuming you didn't fuck off into space with the jetpack, use your new found speed to find materials quickly. You are now either artifact hunting, or mob hunting till shuttle call (or still collecting materials for science, why you'd need to I don't know).
- Repeat until bored or shuttle arrives. You are now offically a miner who can be useful and make yourself stronger.
The Gear
The following is a list of default mining equipment:
- Mining Hardsuit and Helmet - Used so you don't freeze to death in the airless tunnels of the
resource-richbarren planetoid. - Breath Mask and Oxygen Tank - So you can have oxygen when mining. Oxygen tanks are available from the tank storage unit, and they can be worn on your back. You can also use your emergency oxygen tank which can be placed on your suit. Running out of oxygen is unlikely with the full sized tank.
- File:MiningScanner.png Meson Scanners and Mining Scanner - When used together will briefly flash any non-iron ore on screen.
- Global Positioning System, GPS - The crew monitoring console back on the station won't catch your suit sensor signal from all the way at the asteroid. Having one of these on you will help others track down your body if you happen to develop a case of the dead.
- Pickaxe - For tunneling through everything. Place this on your belt, it saves room. You also can get various drills and other tools from science and your mining vendor. These will dig faster, and may have other advantages!
- Shovel - Gathering sand. You can stick this in your backpack.
- Lantern - For seeing in the dark. Put one in your pocket. Or three.
- Ore Satchel - For carrying ore without using a mining cart, holds 50 ore nuggets. Get at least one of these, make sure to set the bag to "all on tile". Use in conjunction with an ore crate. (Newbie tip: This does not work like a typical backpack. Hold it in your hand and click the ore with that hand to pick it up.)
- File:OreCrate.png Ore box - Used for carrying huge amounts of ore. While a satchel can only hold 50 nuggets, this can hold an unlimited sum. Use your satchel on the box to empty it into the box, place the box in the unloading machine's input slot to unload it. You cannot carry it but you can drag or push it with you.
- Crowbar - Just in case when coming back from the mines there is a blackout. Spawns in your backpack.
- Mining Voucher - Found in your backpack, exchange this at the mining equipment locker for your choice of one of...
- Proto-kinetic Accelerator - A gun. The good part is that it packs a punch in a vacuum and has infinite shots. The bad part is that it tickles in pressurized environments, needs to be reloaded after each shot, and has a range of three steps. Each blast can clear a rock wall if you feel like digging using this.
- Resonator - Another deadly tool. This will instantly clear a rock wall when clicked on, and when used in hand or swung at empty space, will create a field on that spot that lasts for about five seconds before rupturing, causing serious damage to anything standing on it. Just like the kinetic accelerator, it does reduced damage in pressurized environments.
Notice: Resonator is no longer available for free with voucher redemption.
- Mining Drone - This helpful little guy goes around collecting loose ore so you don't have to. Will drop its haul when you hit it with the mining scanner. Clicking on it with an empty hand will toggle it between ore collection and wildlife fighting mode, where it will attack xenos with its built-in kinetic accelerator and drill. Will not pick up sand with no nearby ore around, for some reason. Comes with an upgraded welding tool if redeemed via voucher. It cannot be repaired while it is fighting.
- Mining Drill - This drill can be used to pick through rock and dig up sand, so you can use this instead of a pickaxe or shovel.
The Wildlife
While the eastern half of the asteroid is free of harmful things (save for the occasional murderous traitor, rogue cyborg, and gibtonite deposit), it's quite sparse in any ore more precious than plain iron. The western half has much richer bounty of minerals to harvest... but there's a bit of a problem in the form of a variety of bloodthirsty alien lifeforms populating the caverns. Fortunately, you can fight them if you know how, and useful items can be harvested from their corpses when you triumph. Many sporting miners even come to the west asteroid just for the sake of monster hunting.
Hivelords
Considered annoying at worst, and a free medkit at best. These strange creatures will unleash hivelord brood one after another at you whilst trying to keep distant. Fortunately, each of its spawn dies in a single hit, and deal tickle damage to you. It's best to go on the aggressive against these with pickaxe in hand, advancing constantly whilst picking away each of its brood. Once you've closed the gap or have it stuck in a corner, it's toast. Drops its core when killed, which when eaten will instantly restore your health to its maximum, and even cure diseases or any other ailment on your body. Has the side effect of purging any beneficial chemicals from your system, so don't munch one just after injecting a stimulant.
Attack with your pickaxe. Just pickaxe the host body, the resonator isn't recommended because you could bubble yourself.
File:Goliath.png Goliaths
The bane of many careless miners. These monsters carry a hefty health pool, a mean wallop, and can even knock you down from a distance with a ground-bursting tentacle attack while they advance toward you, crushing through walls with ease. However, they're incredibly slow and mindless, leaving them extremely vulnerable to being lured into resonator fields or simply being hit and ran with a kinetic accelerator. The main issue is their tentacle attack, which can be dodged with the right know-how. Each time it attempts to trip you, four tentacles appear on and around you, always leaving one spot open, simply move there to avoid it. If a wall is blocking your safe spot, you'll need to be quick to clear it with your resonator or kinetic accelerator. Once dodged, you have some time to deal damage while the tentacles are on cooldown. When felled, these beasts leave behind their hide plates, which can be used on your hardsuit or helmet to reinforce them against melee damage. Up to four plates may be used on each to cap them at a hefty 80%(!) damage resistance.
Fighting a Goliath is easy as pie but it can sometimes kill even the most experienced miner if it gets the drop on them. If using a resonator, stay 2 tiles away from it, and hit the ground where it WILL move and use bubbles to kill it. If using the Proto-Kinetic Accelerator, same idea but shoot Goliath directly. The resonator will always be faster.
Every 2 steps the goliath takes make sure you have your resonator or gun off cooldown and are 2 additional steps away from goliath so when it tentacles, you can dig a wall if it's blocking you from escaping it's tentacles. If there are no walls blocking your escape, just walk out of where the tentacles are and then rush back to the 1 tile away and keep bombarding it till it succumbs.
Goliath plates add 10% melee resist each time when applied to a rig, ideally if you're just mining you'd want to solely apply that to your chest piece. When maxed out you'll be able to fight a goliath without kiting and take minor damage. It is recommended to apply plates to the head instead if you plan to antag as players more often target your head. The plates will stack until they reach 80%. That makes your suit a space worthy riot suit.
Tip: Be careful about fighting goliaths in a group, as the more it is attacked, the angrier it gets, and the more often it will lash out with its tentacles. Don't pick a fight with them near Gibtonite, or you or it could accidentally activate it while you're in the middle of the fight!
Edit: Goliaths have been made into kittens. Assuming you're not slowed or insane enough to stand on their tentacles for the full duration, just walk away and nothing bad ever happens. Free 10% armor upgrade!
Basilisks
Fierce, territorial beasts capable of firing freezing beams, cold enough to inflict serious freeze burns while the basilisk closes in and attacks its immobilized target. Fortunately, they don't attack unless someone comes very close to them, so one can easily just leave them be until prepared with Leporazine Medipens to reduce the cold and slowdown or a few goliath hide upgrades to go toe-to-toe with them. Drops two diamond ores when taken down.
If using resonator, rush up to it before it freezes you and bash it's fucking face in with the resonator, it'll stay put and get popped by the bubbles and take the additional 10 damage from the resonator itself when you bash it. If using the Proto-Kinetic Accelerator, swap to your pickaxe. Kiting this thing with a gun is how you kill yourself.
Tip: Basilisks are notably weak to explosions due to the nature of their bodies, taking over half their health in damage from even the weakest of explosions.
Goldgrubs
Mostly harmless and quite rare. These creatures swallow up any loose, valuable ore they can find and flee when approached by a human, smashing through even solid rock on their path of escape before burrowing into the ground. A tactic toward killing one is to throw an ore towards it, and quickly charging in to kill it while it's busy eating, it's worth noting that kinetic accelerator shots do nothing against these.
Tip: When killed, they spit up multiple pieces of ore, based on what they ate. Feed them many different types of ore before killing them, and they'll spit out more of each type than you gave it! Just don't let it get away after spooking it.
The Rewards
So, you've taken your crate of ores to the ore redemption machine and claimed a boatload of points tied to your id. Head on over to the mining equipment vendors and stick your id in to claim fabulous prizes!
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- Stimpack MediPen - 50 pts - A cheap stimpack that stimulates your body's adrenaline but can be fatal if abused. Use 3 at a time at most. Addiction without anti tox will be lethal over time.
- Leporazine MediPen - 50 pts - A MediPen that can be used to rapidly stabilize your body's temperature if your hardsuit malfunctions or you run in to local wildlife.
- MediPen Bundle - 200 pts - An addiction kit! Comes with 5 stimpacks and for some god awful reason, enough epi pens to to overdose someone and get them addicted.
- Premium Havanian Cigar - 100 pts - Inject with
drugsmedicine for a good time. I don't even. - Bottle of whiskey - 150 pts - Half the components for Beepsky Smash, and has various other uses.
- Soap - 200 pts - For cleaning up those blood trails made from
assistants who the HoP let indragging downed miners from asteroid beasts. A tile based stun that is amazingly robust for it's cost. Also cleans up evidence. Can piss off gang members. - Advanced Scanner - 300 pts - An advanced mining that automatically scans nearby asteroid walls for mineral deposits. You need one if you're mining in a mech.
- Alien Toy - 450 pts - A toy facehugger with REAL face-clinging action! Scare your friends! Tear off your enemy's breath mask in a N2O flood. Laugh as the captain and head of personnel uselessly unload their energy guns on it! Really robust little toy. Strips gas masks off people's faces and blinds them. Can cause a large issue for wizards. Unsure how to properly weaponize it else-wise.
- Laser Pointer - 400 pts - Go for the eyes! Borg stunner. Amazing during malf, or when you need to stop a borg in it's tracks and don't want to invest in EMP or trying to flash it.
- Point Card - 500 pts - A card with 500 mining points stored, for trading amongst your coworkers. Simply use an id over it to claim the points stored on.
- Lazarus Injector - 1000 pts - A miracle injection capable of reviving simple living beings from death, making them friendly to you and the crew. useless on humans, monkeys, and other complex living beings. Resurrect Ian for all access from a thankful Head of Personnel! Or make yourself a pet Goliath. The lazarus injector can be EMP'd to make revived mobs hostile to everyone but you. Practical uses are reviving a Goliath and killing it for additional plates, or reviving a basilisk for more diamonds. Alternatively useful for bartering with the HoP or any staff with a pet. Flood the AI core with goliaths! EMAG FOR INTENSE TRAITOR ACTIONS (Don't use goliaths for this purpose, you can't drag them.)
- Wormhole Jaunter - 200 pts - A single use device that creates a wormhole set to a random teleport beacon, creates a quick way of getting out of a sticky situation. Just try not to lose your lunch.
- Mining Drone - 500 pts - Just like what the voucher can get you. Comes with a welding tool. Useful if you want to amass resources and are lazy. Might also help kill a mob.
- Resonator - 650 pts - A handheld device that creates small fields of energy that resonate until they detonate, crushing rock. It can also be activated without a target to create a field at the user's location, to act as a delayed time trap. It's more effective in a vacuum. Inferior to the Kinetic Accelerator, but better for newbies or people who just want to mine faster.
- Kinetic Accelerator - 650 pts - A deadly short-range kinetic shotgun that puts internal organs on the outside when in vacuums. Or, you know, you can crush rocks with it too I guess. Most Robust.
- Diamond Mining Drill - 800 pts - For when you want something slightly better than your default pickaxe and the scientists are either too lazy or too dead to Sonic Drills. Requires batteries.
- Jetpack - 1500 pts - Has a special miner paint job so security won't beat you for stealing from EVA. Best bang for buck, can fit into your backpack if needed, but at the cost of some capacity.
- 1000 Space Cash - 2000 pts - DOSH! Bribe the gods!
- Gar Mesons - 500 pts - Stylish new Mesons, that are functionally the same as regular ones. Except the fact they are extremely pointy, can be used to stab people to death (10 brute) and have a tendency to get embedded into people like a throwing star.
The Ores
Wall | Raw Ore | Point Value | Processed Ore | Coin | Door | Name | Uses |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | File:Ironcoin.png | Iron | For just about everything. | ||||
N/A | Plasteel | An alloy of iron and plasma, for AI cores and reinforced walls. Can now be produced via the ore redemption machine. | |||||
1 | File:Sanddoor.gif | Sand | For making glass, which has a plethora of station applications. Activate sand in your hand to make sandstone bricks. These can be used to make dirt which can be used to grow plants. | ||||
N/A | Reinforced Glass | For reinforced glass, which is tougher than normal glass. | |||||
20 | File:Goldcoin.png | Gold | For making various electronics or pimping out Beepsky. | ||||
20 | File:Silvercoin.png | File:Silverdoor.gif | Silver | Making dosh, mechs, and researching Bluespace. | |||
40 | File:Plasmacoin.png | File:Plasmadoor.gif | Plasma | Ship sheets back to Centcom for bonus supply points. | |||
20 | File:Uraniumcoin.png | File:Uraniumdoor.gif | Uranium | For making you radioactive (notice: no joke, this shit is deadly as a wall or a door). Delicious cocktails. | |||
40 | File:Diamondcoin.png | File:DiamondDoor.gif | Diamond | For making mech parts, among other industrial uses. | |||
N/A | Gibtonite | For How to obtain Gibtonite: Hit ore, count to 8 flashes of the ore then hit it with your scanner. Gibtonite varies in the number of reactions it has, so you may get lower quality ore. Use 2 of the 0 reaction ores (the most potent) to blow open the AI core and make it cry at it's malf failure! | |||||
30 | File:Bananimumcoin.png | Bananium | A rare and unusual mineral found exclusively in clown-controlled space. Used only for the H.O.N.K. mech. |
Additionally, bluespace crystals have started to form on mining. These crystals can be used in various ways. Give it to science to increase bluespace science, or hold onto it to use as a risk free jaunter, or throw it at people to make them teleport randomly (often into space.)
Who Needs What
Miners don't have to deliver ores directly to departments -- they can if they want, or if those bastards are too lazy to leave their fortress of autism science -- but it never hurts to know what to aim fir.
- Scientists just want a little (10-15 of each is enough to last them the entire round) uranium, plasma, diamond and gold. In exchange, they may give you a bomb or more advanced mining tools like a Sonic Jackhammer or a Diamond Drill, both for even faster digging!
- Roboticists need diamond, uranium, silver and gold for building mech parts. Give them enough and you've indirectly helped out most of the departments on the station if the Roboticists are competent enough to build helpful stompy mechs for everybody! Too bad the Ripley is the only
goodmech for mining. - The Quartermaster may want plasma sheets to trade them in for bonus supply points.
- Everybody could always use more iron, glass and plasteel, but especially Roboticists and Station Engineers.
- The Virologist, Chemist and Xenobiologist will all appreciate having extra plasma.
- A Clown with Bananium is a grateful and dangerous ally.
- The Bartender can use a few sheets of uranium or iron to craft some of his rarest cocktails.
Secrets of the Asteroid
While on the asteroid, you may come upon small boxed structures, usually made of plasma or reinforced walls. Dig in through openings, or use the blue toolbox in the hardsuit room to break down that wall and discover your prize! They could have items ranging from magical artifacts to alien facehuggers. A plasma wall doesn't necessarily mean an alien, always check. If you are at all unsure, always let your mining buddies know using :u before you tear down that wall.
You may randomly find a face hugger while mining. Infecting yourself can be an enjoyable change in the round type, however excessively hunting them down several games in a row and doing the same thing to keep unleashing aliums may anger admins. Do not infect other players with the face hugger unless they volunteer, DO NOT PROTECT THE LARVA FROM BEING KILLED FROM OTHER CREWMEN, or build it a home.
Some super useful Treasures you might find while mining include:
- A mysterious medibot. It is black , and heals significantly better than other types.
- A Grinder. The limits depend on your ability to use it yourself.
- Cultist Spacesuit, Faster than the mining one but can't be upgraded. Also can get you arrested.
- Various spellbooks. Ranging smoke, knock and blind. In the hands of a good miner, can make a huge difference.
- An E-cutlass. Considered one of the rarest and most desired items from mining, An e-sword in all regards.
- Creature : The creature comes from the Cultist room, if you are a traitor , emagging the laz injector gives you a potent ally that's fast and lethal.
- Soul Stone : Useful for slaving people as a traitor, less useful to non antags.
- Sonic Jackhammer : Breaks walls. ALL OF THEM. Requires power though.
Tips
- Always go with at least 2 other people when mining. Not only can you mine faster together, the chance that they could both be 'lings/traitors is rather low. Pickaxe to the skull tends to put down most people.
- If you have a pickaxe in your non-active hand you can walk into ores and walls to automine them. What's even better, if you are holding a mining satchel in your active hand clicking the ores you just mined will NOT disrupt any more mining you are doing, meaning you can walk in a wall, start mining automatically, and then keep walking and pick the ore up as you go, AND unloading into an ore box you may (should) be dragging. Heck, you don't even need to click on the ore sprite, you just need to click the tile! Mining borgs can choke on it!
- If you have access, there are two first-aid kits and a sleeper on the mining station.
- You can view the contents of a mining satchel as if it were a backpack.
- Durands only require uranium and silver, which are abundant. Gygaxes require diamond, which is very rare in most cases. So if you find just 5 diamond, to get yourself a diamond drill, and mine out shit tons of metal, uranium and silver, you can make it Durand station 13!
- Wish soup is made of 20 units of water and nothing else, but sometimes (~25% of the time) will actually be generated with nutriment you can actually get full on. Meaning it's one of the only things you can make with the non-kitchen microwaves once the donk pockets run out. It's also the only thing you can make on the DJ station at all without importing ingredients (provided you bring something to hold the water in).
- From the Questions thread: Ctrl-Z (with no hotkey-mode) or just Z (with hotkey-mode on) apparently cocks the combat/mining shotgun. No more clicking in between shots!
- When mining alone, it's better to take the resonator. The gun doesn't do as much damage, is harder to use, and requires that you be right next to your target constantly, increasing the risk that you'll be stunned, pulverized, and your body guarded so you won't get back into the game. With the resonator, you can stand four or five tiles away at all times, wait for the tentacle attack, dodge it, move in, place a field(or two, if you feel robust), and move back out with a low risk of harm, and no risk of being stunned.
- Minebots are great at distracting targets. You just walk near and bash them with your drill (targets, not bots). They can take quite a beating, but goliaths can take them down pretty quickly if you're not quick enough. Plus they collect all the crap gibtonite left.
- The Proto-kinetic Accelerator can destroy electrified grilles without needing a pair of insulated gloves.
- The Proto-kinetic Accelerator will obliterate a space carp in one hit while in space.
- Hivelords drop remains which heals all damage and can be eaten without taking off your mask/helmet, but becomes useless fast and will remove stimulants from your body!
- Lazarus Injectors no longer make resurrected mobs hostile to other players, only other NPC mobs, and goliaths can't be dragged around once resurrected.
- The Head of Personnel will probably reward you with all access if you resurrect Ian. Also, sometimes the Research Director will reward you for a pet gold grub.
- If you're expecting trouble on the station, consider taking out a window on the mining shuttle before you return to make a quick getaway so you're not trapped like a rat in a cage.
- Taking stimulants before delivering materials to science will help keep you alive.
- The mining drone can be repaired with a welding tool, but not in the middle of a fight. A goliath will always win in a one on one fight with a mining drone.
- There are microwaves and a box of donks in every mining station that you can use for healing.
- Life improving things:
- Mining rig upgrade : Goliath plates add +10% melee resist each time when applied to a rig, ideally if you're just mining you'd want to solely apply that to your chest piece. When maxed out you'll be able to fight a goliath without kiting and take minor damage. It is recommended to apply plates to the head instead if you plan to antag as players more often target your head. The plates will stack until they reach 80%. That makes your suit a space worthy riot suit.
- Security Jumpsuit : This gives a +10% melee resist to everywhere but your head. Nag the QM or HoP to give you one.
- Augmentations : Augs are VERY useful for miners, as healing with a welder is ultimately easier. Plus they work differently than armor when it comes to protection, instead reducing all brute damage taken by an augmented body part by 5 (4 for burn). Downside : EMP vulnerability.
- If these all 3 are combined you become close to immune to melee, only a ninja's energy blade is robust enough to even so much as scratch you, and blobs are utterly hopeless. However, guns are still a threat, and anybody can still surprise you with a stunprod and strip away your precious +4 rig. And be wary, the gods may not take kindly to your hubris.
- Proto Accelerators can be used as infinite tools to navigate space , since every time you fire, it'll throw you in the opposite direction.
Tips for Traitoring
- If you're a miner and you have to kill another miner; there's a really easy way to block communications one way so he can't call for help.
- Grab a multitool, go to the mining communications room.
- Use the multi tool on the relay and make sure the relay isn't sending, meaning your headset won't go to people on the station.
- Kill your target with their shouts for help unheard.
- You can get plasma at exactly the heat you need for canister bombs by welding a plasma door in vacuum. Use an air pump to take it, then put [REDACTED] KPa into an empty large tank (the size of plasma, emergency O2, etc). You can then ignite it with a can of pure O2 set to release at 1013.25 KPa. This is the Shaft Miner's canister bomb. It's easy to set up on the asteroid.
- More than one uranium wall is hilariously deadly. IIRC they give off a "pulse"of radiation every couple of seconds. This pulse makes other uranium walls in range pulse as well, and they all run on their own timer.
- Tiers 0-1-2-3 can gib bodies, remember mining suits take 50% of damage away from bombs, so strip miners you want to make disappear forever first.
- Beg admins for Death Ripley, if no admins or non responsive, give it to cargo tech so they can drill open lockers and crates they shouldn't be able to. DO NOT BRING TO MINING.
Dead Space
A traitorous miner has a lot of advantages. You have a space suit for free right away, a pair of gloves and a robust pickaxe. Certain minerals you'll find have more "specialized" uses -- uranium structures will irradiate people, plasma can start fires, gibtonite goes boom. You can also buy very dangerous "mining" tools and possibly even revive those monsters you've been fighting. As long as you have some mineral wealth or an ore box with you, no one will suspect your presence around the station, even in highly restricted areas like robotics or toxins, and if you are smart enough, you could get a big stompy mech to drill people to death! In addition, the asteroid is isolated, hard to get to, dangerous, and as expansive as you're willing to dig out. Plenty of room for somebody to get lost in... Forever!