whats the math on mining bases?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Nothing odd about a mining drone; the're just expendable ships. A mining fighter would be odd.

[Alneyan]

Note that resource aptitudes are NOT used while remote-mining, and so Nomads should scrap their resource aptitudes (unless they plan to capture a lot of planets or the like). A miner with 25% mineral aptitude will be just as effective as a miner with 150% mineral aptitude.

I would much rather put a single, specialised mining base rather than "one of each", as you will only deplete one of your basic resources this way. Once (or if) your mineral value gets too low, you will then be able to make a retrofit to the Organic or Radioactive variant. (Or vice versa if you started with Radioactives)

Gandalph, if you do want to do a retrofit, you should start with two miners then. It will add a single turn of construction (assuming you have 120% construction rate, which is more than advised if you plan on using mobile SYs), but will allow you to reach four miners through a single retrofit, giving you perhaps a few more resources and allowing you to gain one turn over the regular construction rate.

Alternatively, build your first base with one miner, the basics and a few components slightly increasing the price of the base (armour for example). The point is to have a base costing 4,800 resources in total, allowing you to add two more miners (1,200 resources each) with the first retrofit. Make sure to remove the armour components you have added previously though. Your spaceyard will have to remain at that sector while making the retrofits and the repairs though.

A Last way would be to build a basic base spaceyard at the asteroid spot. This base will be completed in a few turns, and will then build your remote-mining base, allowing your mobile spaceyard to repeat the process elsewhere. The base spaceyard will be able to handle the retrofit process, and will be useful to make the switch to Battle station/Starbase later on.