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Oxbow

Added auto pull functionality (Kind of embarrassing that this was an afterthought)
Added Isy's Inventory Manager because I didn't like the choices auto pull was being forced to make like filling the docked Finch up with ore
Added info to the main cockpit center screen, most notably, stop distance
Fixed missing toolbar commands for the PAM controller station on the bridge

A while back I discovered the Cepheus M-250 Mole by Major Jon which was my first time messing around with the PAM script. I had so much fun with it I decided to create a ship to utilize the Mole and the script. The main focus of the Oxbow is the six, slightly modified, small miners created by Major Jon. The Oxbow also incorporates a slightly modified Cepheus X-1 Finch, also created by Major Jon, for use as a scout. What can I say, the guy makes cool stuff. With a large cargo capacity, eight jump drives, and full interior, it was designed with long range mining expeditions in mind. The Oxbow is moderately protected by six Gatling turrets and two missile turrets with a control station on the bridge for manual control of the turrets. The shape of the Oxbow came about from my thinking that it would be cool to watch the miners come and go while on the bridge of the ship. Scripts need to be enabled to take full advantage of the Oxbow’s set up but are not required. This ship was not designed for transiting atmospheres.

The PAM (Path Auto Miner) script that the Oxbow and its miners support provides, once set up, completely automated mining. You simply need to set up the path for each miner and define the area to be mined. You can then kick back and relax or monitor and even send commands to the miners from two stations on the Oxbow. This is an incredibly easy system to use. Kudos to Keks!

I had trouble getting this system to work perfectly some times when I first started messing with it so I’ll share a few things that helped me and may help you.

Before you start setting up a mining job convert the Oxbow to a station or place a merge block on a near by asteroid, this ensures very accurate re-docking for the miners, because moving the Oxbow during a mining job ensures the opposite and even a stationary ship seems to move a little.

Antennas need to be turned on for both the Oxbow and the miners to enable the ability of monitoring the miners from the Oxbow.

When setting a path for the miner undock by turning off the connector and give "C" a couple taps then go straight down from the hangar at a speed slow enough to set waypoints 2m apart (you'll see this on the left screen), 180 an "aileron roll" about half way down then just before you hit the lower deck move out and away from the main ship. This gives PAM plenty of waypoints and enough room to execute perfect re-docking every time.

When you’ve reached the mining spot, position the miner at least a ships length away from the surface and set the job up from that position. Open the info tab for the miner and check the box for "Show sensors field range" to get a visual of the parameters you're setting for the mining area. The miners are set up to auto eject rock by backing out of the hole, dumping the rock, then going back in.

The miners will occasionally get stuck (kind of rare). It seems relative to the depth set for the job? Be patient, they usually, if not always, work themselves free. To be honest I can only think of one time this went bad and it may have been before I set the stone ejection up correctly.

This system has worked perfectly for me using 4 to 6 miners the last few times I've set up jobs. I am, in no way, an expert on PAM or even SE, these are just observations that I felt made things go smoother.

You can turn off the Inventory Manager or toggle its control of the refinery que from the "Hanger Control" control seat.
Hangar Control Toolbar 2
[6] Turns "sort refinery que" ON
[7] Turns "sort refinery que" OFF
[9] Toggles the Inventory Manager programmable block ON/OFF

The PAM button set up for both PAM controller stations is the same as the MOLE.
Toolbar 1
[1] Up
[2] Down
[3] Apply

Have a plan for all the free time this set up provides, the automation is real

While the design of this ship was focused around the PAM script, its still optional.

The Oxbow has decent thrust in the rear but for moving any direction other than forward its thrust is very lackluster. But given it’s intended use I decided to live with it.

I started creating this with a lot of ideas in my head and frankly it got away from me, I never intended for it to get this big. I’ve already begun working on a smaller version of this ship type.

PCU 37,384
Blocks 5,825
4 Refineries w/Speed modules
2 large reactors
8 Batteries
12, yes 12, Large Cargo Containers
8 Jump drives
Ion/Hydrogen thrusters
6 Gatling turrets/ 2 Missile turrets

Automatic LCDs 2 by MMaster
Isy's Simple Doors by Isy
PAM by Keks
Ship Layout by 3zanders
Isy's Inventory Manager by Isy

Cepheus M-250 Mole by Major Jon
Cepheus X-1 Finch by Major Jon

Updated version of this ship can be found here .......
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2016471163