[DarkCommand]

ok, makeing money was a big issue when I first started and it took me way to long to figue out that Shuttles each carried mining drones.

Go to TacOps
click on a planet
(then observe), then just click anyware on the planet and click again till you can use the arrow keys to look around.
now go to the waypoint button at the bottom
chick it and set it for a shuttle(1-4 it dose not matter)and then the order defalt will say "proceed to next", click that and click the "Deploy Drone"
now look at the bottom of the screen and find the button that says "steops" (or some thing close) and pick location on the planet(just click some were)
now go over to your command pallette at the right side of the screen and go to orders, shuttle (1-4) and order it to resume way point
At this point the shuttle will launch and slowly make its way down and deploy the done, then automaticly return to your ship.


(I know that most people know better ways of mining or faster ways, but this is some thing that no one explaned to me. So for other newbs they might find this useful.)

yeah if any one else has any thing to add that would be nice....

[Psirat]

I would add 2 things:
1. When picking a spot via Tacops, zoom in all the way. Then zoom out a bit, right click and drag on the surface. This will change the angle your viewing from. The point of this is to make sure the terrain is not too rough (this will save you much frustration and damaged shutles).
2. you should create 2 waypoints. The first should be a "Proceed to next" and should be abot 16 KM out from the final landing site. The reason is that this gives the AI time to establish a good approach for the landing.

[Darkling]

And don't forget not to pick something too close to an enemy base, I've lost a few good shuttles this way.

[Freyar]

I generally land right in the area as well during my mining missions at night.