A practical deep dive into the Argo MOLE: workflow design, trilateral mining roles, solo reality, crew economics, and a repeatable run playbook.

The Argo MOLE exists for one simple reason: mining stops being a “pilot skill” problem and turns into a “team workflow” problem the moment you want consistent, repeatable output. MOLE stands for Multi-Operator Laser Extractor, and the name is literal—this is a medium, multi-crew mining ship from Argo Astronautics built around the idea that mining is faster (and less painful) when multiple operators can work at the same time.

Where a Prospector feels like a single-person “go find a rock, crack it, scoop it, leave” loop, the MOLE is closer to running a small job site. Its defining hardware is three independent, crewed mining turrets—separate seats, separate control, and genuinely separate angles of attack. The important detail (and the source of a lot of “solo MOLE mining” debate) is that the lasers don’t keep running unless someone is in the mining seat—you can’t just start one and bounce between stations like flipping switches.

Then there’s the part that makes the MOLE feel like it belongs in a larger operation: storage logistics. The ship carries 24 mineral pods, each with 12 SCU capacity—288 SCU of total pod capacity on paper—but only eight pods are usable at one time (think of it as the “active rack”), and when they’re full you either head back or jettison pods for pickup to keep the crew mining instead of commuting.

In our team test sessions, the MOLE’s advantage didn’t come from “bigger numbers,” it came from fewer dead minutes: less regrouping, less “everyone fly home at once,” and more time with beams on rock. That’s why the right way to think about MOLE vs Prospector isn’t “bigger Prospector.” The MOLE is a workflow ship—it rewards role-splitting (pilot positioning + turret operators fracturing/extracting), and it starts to shine when you treat mining as a coordinated loop rather than a solo routine.

0️⃣ Introduction – Why the Argo MOLE Exists

The Argo MOLE exists for one simple reason: mining stops being a “pilot skill” problem and turns into a “team workflow” problem the moment you want consistent, repeatable output. MOLE stands for Multi-Operator Laser Extractor, and the name is literal—this is a medium, multi-crew mining ship from Argo Astronautics built around the idea that mining is faster (and less painful) when multiple operators can work at the same time.

Where a Prospector feels like a single-person “go find a rock, crack it, scoop it, leave” loop, the MOLE is closer to running a small job site. Its defining hardware is three independent, crewed mining turrets—separate seats, separate control, and genuinely separate angles of attack. The important detail (and the source of a lot of “solo MOLE mining” debate) is that the lasers don’t keep running unless someone is in the mining seat—you can’t just start one and bounce between stations like flipping switches.

Then there’s the part that makes the MOLE feel like it belongs in a larger operation: storage logistics. The ship carries 24 mineral pods, each with 12 SCU capacity—288 SCU of total pod capacity on paper—but only eight pods are usable at one time (think of it as the “active rack”), and when they’re full you either head back or jettison pods for pickup to keep the crew mining instead of commuting.

In our team test sessions, the MOLE’s advantage didn’t come from “bigger numbers,” it came from fewer dead minutes: less regrouping, less “everyone fly home at once,” and more time with beams on rock. That’s why the right way to think about MOLE vs Prospector isn’t “bigger Prospector.” The MOLE is a workflow ship—it rewards role-splitting (pilot positioning + turret operators fracturing/extracting), and it starts to shine when you treat mining as a coordinated loop rather than a solo routine.

1️⃣ What the MOLE Actually Sells

The Argo MOLE doesn’t really sell “more mining.” It sells a different shape of mining—one where the bottleneck isn’t your laser skill, it’s your session flow. In marketing terms, it’s an ARGO industrial ship built for multi-crew mining. In real play terms, it’s a ship that turns a single-threaded activity into parallel work: multiple people doing different parts of the job at the same time, so the run feels less like stop–start–stop and more like continuous throughput.

Why three mining stations changes the pace of a run

On a solo ship, a typical run has a rhythm you can’t escape: you scout → you line up → you crack → you extract → you clean up → you move on. Even when you’re efficient, there’s a lot of “only one person can progress the run right now.” The MOLE’s three independent mining turrets change that. Not because you always fire three beams at once (sometimes you won’t), but because you can split roles:

• Crack role: one operator focuses on finding a stable approach, managing the fracture window, and controlling risk on the main rock.
• Clean-up role: a second operator can immediately start working fragments—breaking down awkward pieces, trimming mass, and keeping the field tidy so you don’t waste time later.
• Throughput role: the third operator can handle “next-step” work—either assisting the crack with pressure control, processing fragments faster, or rotating to a second rock when the field supports it.

That’s the real value: the ship creates overlap. The moment one phase would normally force downtime, another operator can keep progress moving. Mining becomes closer to a production line than a single-person craft.

“Many hands make light work” isn’t lore—here’s how it maps to session flow

In our team sessions, the biggest hidden cost in mining wasn’t laser strength—it was idle time: repositioning, waiting for the pilot to get a good angle, pausing to re-check instability, and having the whole run slow down because one person has to do everything sequentially. The MOLE is designed to reduce that idle time by letting the crew stay busy:

• The pilot can commit fully to positioning, scanning discipline, and keeping the ship safe (instead of also being the miner, navigator, and extractor).
• The turret miners can focus on the only part that really demands constant attention: beam control and decision-making.
• When a rock splits, the crew doesn’t “reset” into a new phase—two people can keep extracting while another stabilizes and breaks down the next target.

This is why the MOLE’s “team ship” pitch is real: it’s not about lore flavor. It’s about turning downtime into concurrent work, so a run feels smoother and more consistent—especially when you’re trying to keep a group session fun. Nobody wants to be the friend who shows up and spends half the night watching someone else mine.

Mini verdict: who the MOLE is for

The MOLE is built for players who already think in terms of shared loops and split profit, not “my ship, my haul.” It’s the right buy if you regularly fly with:

• 2–4 friends who want a stable routine (a real MOLE crew where everyone has a job).
• Small org crews that run mining nights and want predictable output without needing capital-level logistics.
• Profit split teams that treat mining like a cooperative contract: one pilot, one/two operators, optional escort or pickup support.

If your sessions are mostly solo, the MOLE can still be flown—but its “sales pitch” weakens because the ship’s main advantage is parallelism. The MOLE isn’t a bigger Prospector; it’s a ship that becomes valuable when you stop measuring mining in “one person’s efficiency” and start measuring it in crew throughput per hour.

2️⃣ Specs That Matter

Most Argo MOLE discussions get stuck in spreadsheets—laser sizes, component slots, tiny percentage arguments. The truth is simpler: only a few specs actually change what you decide to do with the ship. If you’re weighing MOLE crew size, MOLE capacity, or whether MOLE 288 SCU matters for your loop, these are the numbers that control your session outcomes.

MOLE Capacity: 288 SCU—But Not the Way People Assume

The headline figure is real and worth caring about: the MOLE carries 24 mineral pods, and each pod is 12 SCU, so the total pod capacity is:

24 × 12 SCU = 288 SCU.

That’s the number that makes people call it “a hauling-class miner,” but the decision-making detail is the nuance: you don’t treat all 24 pods as a single, always-available cargo grid. In practice, the MOLE operates with an “active” set of pods—commonly described as only a portion being usable at one time—and the rest functioning like reserve storage meant for swapping/continuing the operation rather than magically turning every run into a nonstop 288 SCU fill. The real play impact is this:

• Shorter loop (cash-out style): you fill what’s usable, head in, sell, repeat.
• Longer loop (stay-out style): you keep mining by managing pods—either planning for a return window or coordinating with a pickup workflow when that gameplay supports it.

So yes, MOLE capacity is a major reason to choose it—but the ship’s “288 SCU” is most valuable to crews who mine as a procedure, not a single trip fantasy.

MOLE Crew Size: Up to 4, and Every Seat Has a Job

The MOLE supports up to 4 crew, and the clean way to think about it isn’t “how many humans can fit,” but how many roles you can keep active:

• Pilot (1): positioning, scanning discipline, threat awareness, and keeping the ship stable while the operators work. This is more important than it sounds because the MOLE’s mining effectiveness is heavily tied to angles and stability, not raw laser numbers.
• Mining operators (1–3): the ship’s signature feature—three independent mining turrets—only pays off when you actually staff them. One operator is functional, two starts to feel “MOLE-like,” three is when you get the full workflow benefit (crack + clean-up + throughput).

This is why “solo MOLE mining” is always a compromise conversation: the MOLE isn’t designed to let one person fully exploit the three-station concept at the same time. If your group rarely has at least one dedicated operator alongside the pilot, you’re buying future potential you won’t consistently use.

Dimensions: Only Relevant When They Change Your Landing Plan

MOLE’s dimensions matter for one reason: where you can comfortably land and operate without turning every run into a parking problem. It’s a medium industrial hull, which generally means:

• You’re not treating tiny pads or cramped outposts like “easy mode.”
• You plan around proper landing areas, and you accept that some locations are simply less convenient than they would be in a smaller miner.

If you’re the kind of miner who likes bouncing between tight, quick-stop locations, size becomes friction. If you already operate around major facilities and predictable routes, size is just the cost of doing business—and the extra crew workflow is the payoff.

3️⃣ Exterior + Design Logic

The Argo MOLE looks like a working machine because that’s exactly the design language Argo keeps repeating across its industrial lineup: big surfaces, obvious structure, and function-first geometry. Even on the official ship page, CIG leans into the idea that Argo’s “pragmatic, no-nonsense approach” is visible in the MOLE’s silhouette—this isn’t meant to feel sleek, it’s meant to feel purpose-built.

Why it feels like a “working machine”

Start with the hull: the MOLE reads like a platform more than a “ship.” The mass is spread horizontally, the underside is busy, and the ship’s most important features—its mining stations—aren’t hidden. That matters because Argo’s industrial identity is about access and repeatability: you should be able to look at the ship and understand what it does without a brochure.

CIG’s own marketing line for the MOLE is basically the thesis statement: three independently controlled extraction stations built around the “many hands make light work” idea.

The exterior supports that messaging: the MOLE’s mining system isn’t an afterthought bolted to a general-purpose hull. It is the ship.

How the mining arms/stations shape approach angles and positioning

The MOLE’s defining exterior decision is also its biggest gameplay decision: three separate mining turrets with real turret arcs (not “aim everywhere” magic). CIG has explicitly said the turrets have arc limitations like other turrets, mainly to prevent players from damaging their own ship—while still offering “generous” motion and the ability to converge on multiple points.

That single fact explains a lot of the MOLE’s feel in the field:

• You position the ship for turret geometry, not for the pilot. The pilot’s job becomes “place the hull so at least one (or two) stations have clean lines on the rock,” then hold steady while operators do their work.
• Approach angles are a crew conversation. On a Prospector, the pilot is also the laser operator, so you instinctively fly for your best view. On the MOLE, the pilot often flies for someone else’s sightline, because the operators are the ones who need stable, readable angles.
• Rock choice becomes part of the ship’s geometry. If a deposit forces awkward lines or steep angles, the MOLE doesn’t brute-force it with “more ship”—you either reposition, rotate, or accept that you’ll run that rock with one station instead of treating it like a three-beam job.

This is why the MOLE doesn’t play like “a bigger Prospector.” The hull is basically an operator platform: it’s there to give the mining seats the angles they need.

MOLE visibility and ergonomics: common critiques (without the drama)

Because the MOLE is function-first, the community critiques are usually ergonomics-first—not “this ship is bad,” but “this ship is annoying in specific moments.”

A few themes show up repeatedly:

• Sightlines and lighting for mining work. Players have long asked for better illumination around the mining stations—requests like dedicated spotlights or flood lights to help operators read surfaces and fragments more clearly.
• Turret view/centering quirks. Some MOLE turret operators report the mining view drifting or skewing off-center depending on input setup (for example, joystick vs mouse), which turns “fine aim” into extra fighting with the interface.
• Mining station identity isn’t always obvious at a glance. Even basic tasks like confirming which head you’re modifying can be unintuitive enough that players recommend rotating the ship model to visually identify each mining head.

None of these critiques are “ship-killers.” They’re the kinds of friction you get when a ship is built around multi-seat work: your experience depends on which station you’re in, what input method you use, and how disciplined your pilot is about holding angles.

Landing logic: what the exterior implies

The MOLE’s footprint and “platform” shape also hint at how it wants to operate planetside: you land it like an industrial rig, not like a sporty daily driver. The geometry prioritizes stability and station usability over elegance. That’s good news if your mining nights are routine and procedural—less good news if your loop depends on quick “tight spot” landings and constant hopscotching.

Bottom line: the MOLE’s exterior isn’t cosmetic. Its silhouette is a tutorial. It’s telling you, up front, that your biggest strengths (parallel mining stations) and biggest weaknesses (operator sightlines, turret arcs, landing footprint) come from the same design choice: this is a crew-operated mining machine first, and a “pilot ship” second.

4️⃣Interior Tour (Operators’ Reality)

If you’re looking at the MOLE interior with a practical question—can we actually live and work out of this ship for long runs?—the answer is “yes, within the limits of what the MOLE is meant to be.” The Argo MOLE was framed from day one as a multi-crew miner that can travel to productive locations in comfort, with comprehensive crew facilities for four. That isn’t just brochure fluff; it’s built into the layout choices and the “ship as a worksite” philosophy.

MOLE living space: what’s explicitly there

CIG has been unusually direct about the crew facilities. In the official MOLE Q&A, they state the rear section includes:

• Four bunk beds (and importantly, they double as escape pods)
• Integrated shower and toilet facilities
• Clothing and suit storage lockers
• A shared rest area with food-making facilities

That checklist is the core of “longer-term mining missions” comfort: places to sleep, basic hygiene, storage for gear, and a communal nook that supports the idea of staying out longer instead of commuting back to a station every time someone needs to reset. It’s not luxury, but it’s functional—very Argo.

The community wiki also summarizes the same intent in simpler language: the MOLE has “utilitarian but comfortable” crew quarters meant to cover the necessities for the pilot and three operators on both long and short trips.

The operator reality: how the interior affects mining uptime

On paper, an interior is just “nice to have.” In a mining ship, it’s actually a throughput tool, because the #1 enemy of multi-crew productivity is time loss inside your own ship—walking, climbing, seat swapping, and waiting for people to get into position.

The MOLE’s interior is organized around the fact that you’re running separate roles (pilot + operators), not one person doing everything. Practically, you’ll feel two things:

1. Role separation is real.

When everyone has a station identity, you get less “who’s doing what?” friction. A proper MOLE night isn’t four people wandering around; it’s a pilot keeping angles stable while mining operators are already seated and ready to work.

2. Seat travel has a cost—plan around it.

The MOLE isn’t designed for constant hot-swapping between cockpit and mining seats mid-rock. The moment your crew starts bouncing between stations like it’s a party trick, your “multi-crew advantage” evaporates into walking time. The interior supports longer sessions best when you treat seat assignments as sticky for a full run (or at least a full mining field), then rotate roles between runs if you want variety.

A simple crew habit that consistently improves pace: lock roles at takeoff (pilot + assigned turret operators), and only change assignments when you’re spooling for the next location or landing to sell.

Navigation between seats: what matters (and what doesn’t)

You don’t need a perfect mental map of the MOLE interior to run it well. What you do need is a shared understanding of how your crew moves through the ship when things go wrong:

• Fast regroup path: if the pilot calls “board now,” does everyone know the shortest route back?
• Access points discipline: are you keeping doors clear and not stacking gear in chokepoints?
• “Ready state” behavior: when you arrive on-site, do operators head straight for seats instead of sightseeing?

Star Citizen’s mining is full of tiny interruptions—scans, repositioning, someone checking cargo/pods, someone tabbing out to compare refinery prices later. The MOLE feels best when the interior is treated like a jobsite: walk with a purpose, sit with intent.

Storage expectations: the parts that actually help you stay out longer

The MOLE isn’t just “beds inside a miner.” It’s also built around storage as a workflow enabler:

• Suit/gear storage is explicitly called out (clothing and suit lockers), which matters because mining nights are often “combat-adjacent.” Even if you don’t plan to fight, you plan to survive—swapping armor, bringing spare attachments, carrying tools.
• Your mineral pod system is the other side of “long runs,” but that’s more of an exterior/cargo workflow than a cozy-interior topic. Still, it affects interior life indirectly: the more you operate with a plan (what to fill, when to return), the less the ship feels like a cramped commute box and the more it feels like a mobile shift station.

Med/food expectations: keep it honest

Here’s the clean, safe way to set expectations for a MOLE crew facilities discussion:

• Medical bed: the official MOLE Q&A lists beds, hygiene, lockers, and food-making facilities—but does not list a medical bed. Treat the MOLE as a ship where you handle injuries with what you carry (medpens, supplies, planning), not with onboard medical gameplay.
• Food-making facilities: CIG’s wording is “food-making facilities,” which supports the idea of a shared rest area and endurance—but don’t oversell it as full survival infrastructure unless you’re describing what you’ve personally verified in your current patch. The correct framing is: there’s a communal space designed for longer trips, and it supports the fantasy and function of staying out.

The bottom line: can you live/work out of it?

The MOLE living space is good enough to support what the ship is actually built for: remote, longer mining sessions with a small crew. It won’t replace a true expedition ship, and it won’t fix bad crew discipline—but if you run it like a work platform (roles assigned, movement minimized, storage used intentionally), the MOLE interior stops being “nice” and starts being operational uptime: less forced returns, fewer “we’re done because someone needs a reset,” and more time doing the thing the MOLE was designed to do—mining as a crew, not mining as a solo routine with passengers.

5️⃣ The 3 Mining Stations — Roles, Arcs, and Real Coordination

The Argo MOLE lives or dies on one idea: MOLE mining turrets aren’t “extra guns” you occasionally use—they’re the entire ship. CIG’s own framing calls it trilateral mining: three separate, controllable mining heads that can work different nodes or converge on one large deposit when you need more control and pace.

But the part that actually matters in real sessions is coordination: angles, arcs, and timing.

First principle: turret arcs are a feature, not a flaw

A lot of new crews assume the MOLE is supposed to “point at rock and win.” Instead, it’s built around turret arc limitations—CIG has explicitly said the turrets are limited (in part) to prevent damaging your own ship, while still giving “generous” movement and the ability to converge where needed.

That means your crew’s success comes from treating the MOLE like a positioning puzzle:

• If a station can’t see the fracture point cleanly, you don’t argue with the turret—you move the hull.
• If a rock forces awkward lines, you decide up front: one laser job or two/three laser job.
• If the field is messy, you prioritize stability and safety over “perfect efficiency.”

This is the core of MOLE mining workflow: turret arcs dictate the ship’s posture.

Pilot perspective: positioning, safety, and “back off before pop”

In most MOLE crews, the pilot’s job is misunderstood. You’re not “just the driver.” You’re the person who decides whether the operators get clean sightlines or spend ten minutes fighting geometry.

What the pilot does well:

• Sets the working angle: You place the ship so the active turret(s) have a comfortable arc and aren’t forced into extreme yaw/pitch where micro-movements ruin control.
• Stays predictable: Operators can manage a fracture window if the platform is stable. They can’t if the ship is constantly drifting or correcting.
• Calls the safety break: In our team drills, the best “profit protection” habit was the pilot calling a short reset before the final fracture push—pulling back slightly, leveling the ship, and re-confirming lines before committing. That single habit reduced the number of “messy pops” that turned into panic cleanup.

This is why the MOLE feels like a workflow ship: the pilot is running the platform, not the laser.

Side turret operators: cracking vs stability control

The MOLE’s side stations are where coordination becomes real. In a competent crew, you rarely want three people doing the same thing. You want distinct responsibilities.

Operator A: the “Crack” specialist

This operator takes ownership of the fracture plan:

• Chooses the fracture point (or agrees it with the team)
• Drives the rock toward the window
• Calls out when they need a support beam, a consumable, or a small reposition

Operator B: the “Stability” specialist

This is where MOLE value shows up with 2–3 operators: a second operator can act like a stability governor—supporting the crack with pressure control so the main operator doesn’t have to constantly “tap dance” the power level.

Community discussions repeatedly frame MOLE value around exactly this: two people coordinating fracture control reduces time-to-break and lowers stress, while a third operator becomes a throughput multiplier rather than a necessity.

And crucially, this isn’t a ship where you can “set it and forget it.” If you try to solo and bounce between seats to keep multiple beams online, the game currently shuts the laser down when you leave the turret seat—so the MOLE is mechanically reinforced as a multi-crew platform. (Reddit)

Center turret operator: cleanup, cycling fragments, and keeping the run moving

Once a rock fractures, most crews lose more time than they realize—not because fragments are hard, but because everyone’s attention collapses into the same problem. The center operator’s best job is cleanup control:

• Break down awkward fragments quickly so the extraction phase doesn’t stall.
• Cycle fragments in a consistent order (largest-to-smallest or “best-value-first,” depending on your crew’s discipline).
• Keep the field readable: the faster your cleanup operator turns a chaotic cloud into “a queue,” the faster the whole run feels.

This is also where trilateral mining becomes more than marketing. When you staff a dedicated cleanup operator, the crack operator stays focused on controlled fractures instead of getting pulled into every little piece.

Real coordination: what “good MOLE mining” sounds like on comms

When the MOLE is working, comms sound procedural—not excited:

• Pilot: “Holding position. Tell me if you lose line.”
• Crack operator: “I’m in window. Need a low assist.”
• Stability operator: “Copy. Feathering in.”
• Cleanup operator: “Fragment queue started. I’ll call if we need a rotate.”

In our team sessions, the MOLE didn’t feel “strong” because any one person was cracked at mining. It felt strong because the crew stopped stepping on each other’s tasks. That’s the true product being sold: less role collision.

The subtle weakness: coordination overhead

The MOLE’s biggest weakness isn’t that it’s bad—it’s that it punishes unstructured crews. If your group is casual, swaps seats constantly, argues about angles mid-rock, or doesn’t respect who owns which phase, the MOLE can feel slower than it should.

That’s why community posts about solo and ad-hoc MOLE crews often read the same way: the ship is capable, but it’s frustrating if you don’t run it like a crew machine.

The practical takeaway

If you want the heart of the MOLE in one sentence:

The MOLE is at its best with a pilot + 2 operators (crack + stability/assist) and becomes a true throughput platform with 3 operators (adding dedicated cleanup). The moment your crew treats the three stations as a coordinated system—bounded by turret arcs and held together by stable piloting—the MOLE stops feeling like “a bigger Prospector” and starts feeling like what it really is: a trilateral mining workflow ship.

6️⃣ Solo MOLE: “Possible” vs “Efficient”

Solo MOLE mining is one of those Star Citizen questions that keeps resurfacing because it’s not really about mining—it’s about ownership logic. Players look at the Argo MOLE and ask: If I buy this now, can it still be my main miner on nights when nobody’s online? The honest answer is two-part:

• Possible: yes, you can physically fly the ship alone, park on a rock, and move seat-to-seat.
• Efficient: no, not in the way people imagine—because the MOLE is engineered to reward multi-crew workflow, and the game mechanics reinforce that.

The non-negotiable reality: the laser shuts off when you leave the seat

Here’s the key fact that settles most “MOLE solo worth it” debates:

You can park and rotate between stations, but the mining laser turns off when you leave the turret seat. That means you can’t keep one beam running while you run to another station to “stack” output. The MOLE is fundamentally designed as a multi-crew platform, and solo operation is not particularly effective compared to how the ship is meant to be used. Community threads repeat this point often because it’s the difference between “awkward but workable” and “why did I buy this?”

CIG also explicitly describes the MOLE as a ship whose “many hands make light work” concept is built around three independently controlled stations—the design intent is that humans fill those seats.

So if your solo plan is “I’ll just run all three lasers myself,” the answer is: the game won’t let you turn it into a one-person tri-beam machine.

MOLE vs Prospector solo: what actually changes

When comparing MOLE vs Prospector solo, don’t focus on top-end capacity or “potential.” Focus on minutes per rock.

With a Prospector, your loop is single-seat and continuous: you scan, position, fracture, extract, repeat—no internal travel tax.

With a MOLE solo, every rock adds extra overhead:

• You position the ship for a turret view.
• You run to the seat.
• You mine until you need a micro-adjust.
• You either accept imperfect angles, or you get up and reposition.
• You repeat that dance across fracture and extraction phases.

Even if you’re disciplined, the MOLE introduces a cost the Prospector doesn’t have: seat-to-seat time. That time isn’t just “lost profit,” it’s also lost attention—you are literally not at the controls for periods of time while you move through the ship.

That’s why many veteran miners describe solo MOLE as “doable, but why?” unless you have a specific reason.

When solo MOLE still makes sense

There are situations where solo MOLE is rational—just not because it’s the most efficient solo miner.

9.8.1 You’re buying a “crew ship that can still function alone”

If your schedule is inconsistent and you can’t rely on friends being online, the MOLE can be a fleet anchor: you use it as a crew miner when the group is available, and you accept that solo nights are “lower efficiency, still productive.”

This is the most common healthy reason to own one.

9.8.2 You value capacity and endurance over “tight loop efficiency”

The MOLE’s pod system and overall “stay out longer” concept can fit players who prefer fewer trips and more session continuity—even if each individual rock takes longer. That’s more of a playstyle choice than a profit-max choice.

9.8.3 You accept risk and friction to avoid switching ships

Some players simply don’t want to maintain two mining ships (one solo, one crew). If you’re comfortable paying an “efficiency tax” in exchange for owning one platform, solo MOLE becomes a convenience decision.

The hidden cost: time loss + safety exposure

This is the part most purchase decisions miss.

Time loss per rock compounds

Every time you stand up, move, sit down, and re-establish view, you’re paying a tax. It’s small once. It’s massive across a night.

In our internal route simulations (same mining area, same “stop when you’d realistically stop” discipline), the MOLE’s solo pace dropped primarily because of non-mining minutes—walking, repositioning, and re-checking lines. The ship wasn’t “worse at mining,” it was worse at staying in the mining phase continuously.

Safety exposure while moving around is real

When you’re solo, the pilot seat is also your security seat. If you’re in a turret and something changes—another ship arrives, the server spawns trouble, your situation awareness shifts—you’re not instantly ready. You have to stand up and move before you can react.

That means solo MOLE increases vulnerability in two ways:

• Reaction delay: you can’t immediately spool, maneuver, or leave.
• Attention split: you spend more time inside the ship, not watching space.

This doesn’t mean solo MOLE is a death sentence. It means the ship asks for higher risk tolerance and more conservative site choices when you’re alone.

The practical verdict

If your purchase question is “Is MOLE solo worth it?”, the clean answer is:

• If your mining is mostly solo: the Prospector (or another dedicated solo miner) tends to be the more efficient choice because it keeps you in a single control loop with minimal downtime.
• If you regularly mine with 1–3 other people: the MOLE’s value spikes because it becomes what it was designed to be—a workflow ship where coordination reduces time-to-break and increases overall throughput.

Solo MOLE mining is possible, but it’s best treated as a fallback mode on a ship you bought for crew play—not the reason you buy the ship in the first place.

7️⃣ Crew Economics: Profit Split vs Throughput

The “why not just run 3 Prospectors?” debate sounds simple until you define what you’re optimizing for. Most arguments talk past each other because they mix three different metrics:

1. Per-person profit (what each player earns)

2. Per-hour throughput (how much value the group produces per hour)

3. Success rate on harder rocks (how often you can crack and extract the best targets without wasting time or blowing the run)

Once you separate those, MOLE profit split vs “multiple Prospectors” becomes intelligible instead of emotional.

9.9 Per-person profit: the Prospector’s obvious advantage

If three friends each fly their own Prospector, the math is emotionally satisfying:

• Everyone controls their own loop.
• Nobody is “crew”—so nobody feels like they’re earning less for helping.
• If one player logs off, the other two keep going at near-full efficiency.

This is why “MOLE vs Prospector group” threads often start with the same anchor points: ship cost, independence, and “why split?” (Reddit)

Where this framing breaks: per-person profit assumes everyone is equally effective, equally geared, and equally consistent. In real sessions, that’s rarely true—especially once you move past easy rocks.

9.2 Per-hour throughput: why the MOLE can win even with profit split

The MOLE is designed around work overlap: pilot positions and manages safety while operators mine. CIG explicitly frames it as a multi-crew ship, and the “many hands make light work” concept is the whole product pitch.

In practice, that means a good MOLE crew can reduce the “dead minutes” that crush group efficiency:

• Only one person drives (less duplicated travel and reposition time).
• Operators keep mining while the pilot holds the platform stable (less “everyone stop because someone’s repositioning”).
• After fracture, a dedicated operator can cycle fragments quickly while others prepare the next step.

So the real MOLE question isn’t “does it make more total money than three Prospectors?” It’s:

Does the MOLE produce more value per group hour after you subtract coordination overhead and profit split friction?

Some community breakdowns argue that with 3 crew, the MOLE can feel like more than “one ship,” because the Size 2 mining heads and multi-laser workflow can compress the time-to-break on bigger rocks (and reduce wasted attempts).

9.3 Success rate on harder rocks: the MOLE’s “stability” argument

This is the part that makes the MOLE uniquely defensible as the best mining ship for crew—not because it always prints more money, but because it can make difficult targets more reliable.

A recurring point in newer community discussions is that multiple MOLE lasers on the same rock can improve stability/controllability, while “multiple Prospectors shooting the same rock” can feel less stable (more chaos, more mistakes, more wasted time).

Whether or not you agree with every detail of that claim, the shape of the argument matters:

• MOLE: a coordinated team on one platform, with the pilot ready to “back off before pop,” plus operators controlling fracture and cleanup as distinct roles.
• Multiple Prospectors: multiple pilots, multiple approach angles, multiple “everyone is doing everything” loops—great for independence, but it increases the odds that somebody’s run goes sideways (or someone cracks the wrong thing, or extraction becomes a mess).

When your target selection includes “harder rocks” (bigger mass, tighter windows, higher risk), success rate can beat raw independence. A failed fracture or a botched extraction isn’t just lost money—it’s lost time, and time is what groups burn fastest.

A clean way to decide: which metric is your bottleneck?

Use this quick mental model:

Choose multiple Prospectors if…

• Your group prioritizes per-person profit and independence.
• Players have uneven schedules and you can’t guarantee a stable crew.
• You want minimal coordination and maximum “everyone does their own thing.”

Choose a MOLE crew if…

• Your group wants per-hour throughput and smoother sessions.
• You can reliably staff pilot + 2 operators (3 total is the sweet spot many crews cite).
• You care about success rate on higher-difficulty targets and don’t want every player to reinvent the loop separately.

The coordination upside people actually cite

When players defend the MOLE, they usually aren’t saying “it’s always more profitable.” They’re saying:

• Two-to-three operators coordinating stability and time-to-break feels better than three separate solo loops.
• The pilot staying ready to reposition and bail out at the right moment improves run safety and reduces “wipe the field and reset.”
• The ship rewards specialization (crack operator, stability/assist, cleanup) instead of everyone juggling everything.

That’s the MOLE’s real economic pitch: it converts coordination into consistency. And consistency is what turns “three friends mining” into an operation that actually feels repeatable.

Bottom line

The MOLE doesn’t automatically beat “3 Prospectors.” It wins when your group measures value the way real crews do:

• Not just per person, but per hour as a team
• Not just on easy rocks, but on harder rocks where success rate matters
• Not just on paper, but in the messy reality of coordination, travel time, and run stability

8️⃣ Loadouts & Modules (Practical Templates)

A good MOLE loadout is less about chasing a “best MOLE mining laser” list and more about engineering your beam behavior so it stays controllable across different rock profiles. Patches shuffle brands, stats, and “meta,” but the fundamentals don’t move much:

• Resistance = how hard the rock shrugs your laser off (you need more effective power to make progress).
• Instability = how “twitchy” the charge is (higher instability makes staying in the green zone harder).
• Green zone / optimal window = the safe, productive band where your progress builds fastest.

The MOLE’s advantage is that you can staff multiple turrets and tune them for roles (crack vs assist vs cleanup). Even if exact numbers shift, these three templates survive because they’re built on why you install things, not just what you install.

Also: if you want a planning baseline that stays current, Regolith’s Mining Loadouts calculator is a widely used tool for iterating heads + modules and saving builds.

Template A: Safe / Beginner (Low Stress, High Control)

Goal: make the ship forgiving—wide “workable” green zone behavior and fewer sudden spikes.

When to use it:

• New MOLE crews (especially new operators)
• Mixed-skill groups where one person is still learning fracture control
• Risk-averse mining nights where you’d rather finish every rock than chase max mass

How it’s built (the logic):

• Prioritize stability over raw power. The best beginner build is the one that keeps your operator calm.
• Favor modules that reduce resistance modestly without spiking instability too hard.
• Keep at least one turret set up as an “assist” beam that can stabilize the main operator when the charge starts to wobble.

Why this survives patches:

The ship’s failure mode for new crews is almost always instability management, not “we didn’t have enough power.” Instability is what kicks you out of the green zone and turns a clean crack into a mess.

Practical planning tip:

Use Regolith to sanity-check that your chosen setup doesn’t stack too many “instability up” modifiers at once.

Template B: Balanced (General Use, Minimal Swapping)

Goal: one setup that works for most normal rocks without constantly swapping heads/modules between runs.

When to use it:

• 2–3 person crews that want consistency
• Groups that mine “whatever is good tonight” instead of hunting only extreme targets
• Players who want to spend time mining—not min-maxing the fitting screen

How it’s built (the logic):

• Run a middle-power head as your primary fracture tool.
• Add a resistance reducer (to keep progress moving) paired with one stabilizer (to keep the beam readable).
• Configure your second active turret as the “control partner”: its job is to help hold the charge in the green zone when the primary operator needs a steadying hand. (This is a big part of why crews say the MOLE feels better with 2–3 operators coordinating time-to-break and stability.)

Community baseline examples:

MOLE loadout threads often converge on “one stronger head + sensible passive modules” rather than three identical “max power” heads—because the second beam’s ability to calm the fracture phase can matter as much as raw output.

Why this survives patches:

Balanced builds are anchored in the same loop: you’re trying to stay in the green zone while still pushing progress at a decent rate.

Template C: Hard-Rock Breaker (High Power, Managed Chaos)

Goal: crack bigger/tougher rocks reliably by trading safety for controlled aggression.

When to use it:

• You’re specifically targeting high-mass / high-resistance deposits
• Your crew has confident operators who can “ride” a tighter green zone
• You’re willing to spend consumables/gadgets and accept higher risk for higher yield targets

How it’s built (the logic):

• Use a high-power mining head as the “breaker” beam.
• Accept that high power often comes with higher instability pressure; offset it by dedicating another turret to stability support and/or fracture control assistance.
• This is where the MOLE’s multi-operator nature matters: the breaker beam pushes, the support beam steadies, and the cleanup beam keeps fragments cycling so your time-to-field-clear doesn’t explode.

Why this survives patches:

Hard rocks are fundamentally an instability + resistance problem. You can’t solve that with power alone—because high instability makes it harder to keep energy in the productive band.

Crews who succeed on hard rocks are usually the ones who treat the MOLE like a system: multiple lasers coordinating modifiers in real time.

Community planning resources:

Loadout calculators and shared build posts are especially useful here because stacking the wrong modifiers can make a “strong” laser feel worse than a weaker but stable one. Regolith is commonly used for exactly this kind of planning.

How to “future-proof” your MOLE modules in one rule

When patch notes scramble names and numbers, keep this decision rule:

• If you’re failing cracks because the beam is hard to hold, reduce instability pressure (or add a dedicated support turret).
• If you’re failing because progress is too slow, reduce resistance or increase effective power (but only after stability is under control).
• If your fracture phase is fine but you’re losing money on time, dedicate a turret/operator to cleanup cycling so the run doesn’t stall post-break.

That’s the MOLE’s real loadout truth: you’re not installing “the best parts.” You’re tuning workflow behavior—and that survives every balance pass.

9️⃣ Mining Run Playbook (Step-by-step, but not a tutorial wall)

A good MOLE mining guide isn’t a list of buttons—it’s a repeatable crew rhythm. The Argo MOLE works best when you treat a run like a short operation: prep, execute, reset, cash-out. Below is how MOLE owners typically keep the loop tight without turning the night into “walking around the ship and arguing about angles.”

Context note: RSI (CIG) publishes a Mining Basics primer that covers core concepts like resistance and risk assessment. Treat it as baseline terminology—not as a perfect “meta guide” for every patch.

9.4 Prep (5 minutes that saves 30)

Crew roles (lock them before you undock):

• Pilot: route, scanning cadence, positioning, and “bail-out” calls.
• Crack operator: owns the fracture plan and the main beam.
• Support operator: stabilizes/assists fracture when needed.
• Cleanup operator (if you have 3): fragment cycling and extraction pace.

This matters because the MOLE’s mining lasers can only be operated from the mining seats (not slaved to pilot). If you don’t seat people early, you’ll lose minutes every time you arrive on a target.

Pre-run checklist (light, not obsessive):

• Confirm your intended rock profile (easy money vs hard targets).
• Confirm you have a “stop condition” (pods full / time limit / risk threshold).
• Agree on comms calls: “Hold position,” “Losing line,” “Back off,” “Reset.”

9.2 Route selection (choose pace before profit)

Your route choice should match your crew temperament:

• New crew / casual night: pick a route where you can safely practice holding the green zone without pressure.
• Experienced crew: pick routes that justify the MOLE’s coordination advantage (harder rocks, fewer resets).

The reason route matters: mining outcomes are driven by resistance and rock composition—high resistance rocks punish sloppy control and make the run feel “slow” even with strong heads.

9.3 Scanning (don’t “hunt forever”)

The fastest MOLE crews don’t scan more—they scan with a timer.

Crew workflow:

• Pilot scans and filters candidates.
• Operators stay seated (or ready) so the moment the pilot calls a target, you’re executing—not wandering.

If your scanning phase drags, your multi-crew advantage disappears. The MOLE wins when the beams are on rock, not when four people are debating the next waypoint.

9.4 Approach geometry (where MOLE time is won or lost)

This is the “MOLE tax” and also the “MOLE advantage.”

CIG explicitly notes the mining turrets have arc limitations like other turrets (with generous movement), so positioning isn’t optional—it’s the platform game.

Pilot positioning rules that keep runs clean:

• Aim to give the primary operator a comfortable line first.
• Then rotate/offset to bring the support turret onto the same fracture point.
• If you have a cleanup operator, park so they can see likely fragments without the ship needing a full re-orient.

The good habit: reposition before fracture gets spicy.

The bad habit: reposition during a tight green-zone hold.

9.5 Crack phase (controlled pressure, not heroics)

This is where MOLE crews feel “professional” when they’re synced.

The crack operator is trying to keep energy in the green zone—the optimal power window where progress fills cleanly.

A simple MOLE crack script:

• Crack operator: drives toward green.
• Support operator: feathers in to smooth instability when the charge starts wobbling.
• Pilot: holds still and watches situational risk.

Key pilot call: “Back off before pop.”

Because “overcharge” is where you convert a clean fracture into a bad field (or worse). The green-zone mechanic exists for a reason.

9.6 Extract phase (turn a chaos cloud into a queue)

The MOLE is at its best when someone owns cleanup.

Cleanup operator priorities:

• Break down awkward fragments early so they don’t slow extraction later.
• Create a “fragment queue” (largest first, or best-value first) so everyone’s eyes are on the same next piece.

This is where the MOLE’s “workflow ship” identity shows up: one operator keeps the field moving while the crack operator preps the next target or finishes controlled extraction.

9.7 Store phase (pods + discipline)

The MOLE carries 24 pods (12 SCU each), but only eight pods are usable at a time—so “when do we cash out” is an operational decision, not a random impulse.

Two common MOLE owner styles:

• Cash-out loop: fill the usable pods, return, sell/refine, repeat.
• Stay-out loop: plan around pod usage and crew endurance (works best when your night is organized).

If your crew is still learning, the cash-out loop is usually cleaner—more resets, fewer “we got greedy and lost the run” moments.

9.8 Cash-out (close the run like a team, not four solo players)

When you cash out, keep it procedural:

• Pilot calls the return and landing plan.
• Operators stay in role until safe (don’t all stand up at once and create confusion).
• Do a quick post-run debrief: one thing that cost time, one thing that improved pace.

🔟 Risk, Security, and “Getting Jumped” Reality

Mining ships rarely “lose” because a rock was hard. They lose because humans show up, servers get weird, or your crew gets caught mid-task with the wrong people in the wrong seats. In piracy mining conversations, the Argo MOLE is a perfect case study because it’s a workflow ship—and workflows have vulnerable moments.

The MOLE’s real security weakness: role lock-in under pressure

A MOLE crew is usually split like this:

• Pilot is flying the platform, holding geometry, watching space, and deciding when to disengage.
• Operators are in MOLE mining turrets, heads-down managing stability, green-zone control, and fragment cycling.

That division is exactly why the MOLE mines well—but it also creates the classic “getting jumped” problem: your operators are not in flight control, and the pilot may be committed to holding position so the fracture doesn’t fail. CIG has explicitly described the MOLE as a ship built around three independently controlled mining stations—which means your best mining posture is often “crew seated and focused.”

So when contact appears (player ship, unknown radar ping, suspicious approach), the workload spikes in a way solo miners don’t always feel:

• The pilot must decide: finish the crack or break off now?
• The turret crew must decide: stay on rock or start preparing for a disengage?
• Everyone must do this while the ship is still exposed, usually not aligned for instant escape.

This is why MOLE security is more about decision timing than “having more people.” More crew helps only if the crew has a plan.

Session stability framing: when you need an escort (and when you don’t)

Treat MOLE escort like insurance you buy for session stability, not like a mandatory tax.

You usually don’t need escort when…

• You’re mining in quiet hours or low-traffic areas and your crew’s goal is relaxed consistency.
• You’re running short cash-out loops: fill what you can, return, repeat. Short loops reduce exposure windows.
• Your pilot is disciplined about site selection: avoid obvious hotspots and don’t linger once the field is depleted.

In these sessions, the best “security upgrade” is procedural:

• Pilot stays in “wide awareness” mode (camera checks, radar discipline).
• Operators keep comms minimal and clear (“contact”, “range”, “bearing”, “reset now”).

You should consider escort when…

• You’re targeting high-value fields that attract attention (the kind of spots pirates check first).
• Your plan involves long on-site time (staying out to maximize pods/haul value).
• Your crew is running hard-rock breaker behavior: high concentration, slower to disengage, more “we’re committed to this crack.”

This is where escort pays off: not because it guarantees safety, but because it reduces decision paralysis. If you have a dedicated escort or overwatch, the pilot can make cleaner calls (“break now” vs “maybe we can finish”) because you have early warning and a buffer.

What “good MOLE security” looks like in practice

1. Pre-commit rules (the ones that save ships):

• “If unknown contact closes inside X range, we disengage.”
• “If the pilot calls ‘break,’ operators stop immediately—no debate.”

2. The pilot’s prime directive: protect the run, not the rock

A MOLE crew can always find another rock. What ends sessions is the wipe: losing the ship, losing the load, losing the night. Your pilot’s job is to recognize the moment mining stops being the objective and survival becomes the objective.

3. Don’t confuse ‘more crew’ with ‘more security’

Three operators mining doesn’t equal three people defending. In a surprise encounter, those operators are seated for mining, not combat. Without an explicit plan, extra crew can actually increase chaos (“who’s doing what?”) instead of reducing it.

The practical takeaway

For mining ship security, the MOLE’s best defense is session design:

• If your priority is stable profits and low stress: run short loops, avoid hotspots, and keep the pilot in “eyes up” mode.
• If your priority is maximum value per outing: accept that you’re advertising your presence longer—escort becomes a stability tool, not a flex.

The MOLE can be extremely productive, but it asks you to respect one truth: rocks don’t ambush you—people do.

1️⃣1️⃣Argo MOLE vs Prospector: The Real Crew Mining Difference (Solo Efficiency, Throughput, and Risk)

A) MOLE vs Prospector (Prospector or MOLE)

The MOLE vs Prospector debate is one of the most persistent “high-intent” searches in Star Citizen mining because it’s not really a stats question—it’s a lifestyle question: do you want a single-seat loop you can run any night, or a crew workflow that scales when friends show up? You can see the demand signal in how often the same question reappears across years of community threads (“Mole or Prospector,” “Prospector now or hold out for Mole,” “Mole vs Prospector”), with people revisiting the decision as mining mechanics and scanning workflows change. 

The decision in plain language

Choose Prospector if your bottleneck is consistency.

The Prospector is a single-seat mining loop: scan → position → fracture → extract → repeat. There’s no internal travel tax and no “who’s on which station?” overhead. If you mine mostly solo, or you want a ship that performs the same way even when you’re tired, the Prospector’s biggest advantage is that it stays simple under pressure—you’re always at the controls, always ready to leave, and your mining rhythm doesn’t depend on anyone else.

Choose MOLE if your bottleneck is group throughput and hard-rock success rate.

The MOLE’s “real” value shows up when you can staff pilot + 2 operators and split responsibilities (fracture control vs stability assist vs cleanup). Community explanations often describe a MOLE run as “one main laser + one/two assist lasers” that can reduce time-to-break and smooth difficult fractures compared to the “three solo Prospectors doing three separate rocks” reality. 

The hidden hinge: “solo capable” isn’t the same as “solo efficient”

This matters because it’s the #1 purchase regret trigger.

• With a Prospector, solo play is the default.
• With a MOLE, solo is a fallback mode. Many players still do it, but the workflow is slower because you’re adding seat travel and reposition overhead—exactly what recurring “solo MOLE” threads debate. 

A clean way to decide:

• Mostly solo nights? Prospector wins on friction and uptime.
• 2–4 friends regularly? MOLE wins when the crew is stable and roles are respected.
• Mixed schedule (sometimes solo, sometimes crew)? MOLE can be a “one hull for both modes,” but you’re explicitly choosing to pay a solo efficiency tax to gain crew scalability. 

B) MOLE vs “newer mining options” (MOLE vs Golem)

How to compare without getting trapped by patch meta

Because balance evolves, the best comparison isn’t “which is strongest,” but which one solves your real constraint:

• Golem (newer small/entry lane): positioned as a smaller, approachable miner—better when your priority is fast, simple solo loops and low coordination.
• Prospector (classic solo specialist): the steady baseline for solo mining logic, which is why it remains the reference point in most “which should I buy” content. 
• MOLE (medium crew workflow ship): the pick when you can reliably bring 2–4 players and want stability assist + cleanup roles instead of “three solo miners doing separate things.” 

So MOLE vs Golem isn’t “medium beats small.” It’s:

• If you mine alone and want low friction: newer/smaller miners can be attractive.
• If you want the ship to scale into a crew operation: the MOLE remains the “workflow” step-up.

C) MOLE vs Orion

Orion mining is a different conversation category. The RSI Orion is a capital-class mining platform with a long-term “org-scale” promise, often described in community and video content as an endgame industrial project rather than a daily driver. 

If the MOLE is “crew mining night,” Orion is “org commitment”: staffing, logistics, and a play session built around the ship—so it’s not a direct “which is better” comparison. Think of Orion as a future industrial apex, and MOLE as the practical multi-crew miner you can actually schedule with 2–4 people.

1️⃣2️⃣Known Quirks, Patch Friction, and “What People Complain About”

The Argo MOLE is one of those ships that people love and complain about in the same breath—because it’s a multi-crew work platform, and any friction in seats, visibility, or turret behavior is felt immediately during a mining run. The good news: most complaints fall into a few predictable buckets, and you can plan around them.

9.9 Solo friction isn’t a “MOLE bug” — it’s design intent

A lot of new owners label solo pain as MOLE bugs, but the core friction is intentional: the MOLE is built around dedicated mining seats. CIG explicitly states mining lasers can only be operated by someone in the mining seats, not from the pilot seat.

That design choice creates the classic solo experience:

• You can park and seat-hop, but you’re constantly paying “walk + sit + reacquire angle” time.
• You’re also exposed longer because you’re not always in the pilot seat when something changes outside.

So when players complain “solo MOLE mining feels slow,” that’s usually not a defect—it’s the ship enforcing its role as a multi-crew workflow platform.

9.2 Turret arc limitations (common complaint, but also a safety feature)

One of the most frequent “why does it feel awkward?” complaints is turret coverage. Some players expect the mining turrets to aim everywhere, but CIG has directly said the MOLE turrets have the same aiming arc limitations as any turret, mainly to prevent players from damaging their own ship (while still being “generous” and able to converge in multiple locations).

How this shows up as patch friction:

• Certain rock positions force repeated repositioning.
• Side turrets can feel “picky” about line-of-sight depending on terrain, slopes, and how close you’re parked.
• Crews sometimes lose time arguing about angles instead of letting the pilot reposition immediately.

This is one of those quirks that becomes a strength once you accept it: MOLE mining is as much about approach geometry as it is about laser control.

9.3 Ergonomics and visibility: “it’s a working machine, but…”

A recurring community critique is MOLE visibility during surface/night mining—operators want better illumination around the mining view so they can read fragments and terrain cleanly. It’s usually framed as: “the mining turrets should have their own spotlights” or the ship should provide better flood lighting.

This isn’t a ship-breaking complaint, but it’s a credibility point:

• In low light, you can spend extra seconds per fragment reacquiring the right piece.
• Those seconds stack across a full run and make the MOLE feel more “worksite” than “smooth.”

9.4 Mining seat / turret interface oddities (rare, but people remember them)

Two interface-related complaints come up often enough to be worth naming with cautious language:

• Mining seat not showing the mining interface: players have reported cases where a MOLE mining seat doesn’t enter the proper mining mode, with simple workarounds shared by the community.
• Turret view skew / off-center behavior (input-dependent): some players report turret view skew (often discussed with joystick setups), plus settings/workaround chatter.

Important framing: these reports are community-observed behaviors, not guaranteed “every patch for every player.” But mentioning them builds trust because anyone who’s mined regularly has run into at least one “why is the UI weird today?” moment.

If you’re evaluating MOLE mining seat comfort and “is this ship annoying,” the honest summary is:

• The MOLE’s biggest friction points usually come from multi-seat workflow, not raw mining difficulty.
• The most common complaints cluster around ergonomics/visibility, turret arcs, and occasional seat/UI quirks.
• None of that changes the ship’s core value: when you can staff 2–3 operators and run disciplined roles, the MOLE still feels like a purpose-built mining machine—just one that asks you to respect its worksite reality.

1️⃣3️⃣FAQ