I've published a new version for testing (still very incomplete).
http://sourceforge.net/projects/solarex/files/Solarex%200.33/This version allows some thing which will be illegal in the final game, but make testing easier.
To test the new mining feature try this:
- Start the game running the solarex-v0_33.jar
- After starting the game, go to the "Equipment Shop"
- Buy a "Drilldown Dynamos" or "Super Scooper" mining drone (don't worry about the money, this version does not check your balance)
- Open the "Navigation map"
- Zoom in to the planet "Rater", click it to mark it as flight destination (be careful not to make "Structure Catrmt" your destination)
- When arrived in orbit, the game will switch to the planet view panel.
- Select your mining drone in this panel, and click "Deploy Drone".
- Now you'll be presented with the a mining panel for the planet.
- Click map grids to inspect them.
- If you found a grid with interesting metals, click "Mine Quadrant".
- You'll get a drone report how much metal could be extracted.
- You can repeat mining in a different grid, but eachg grid can only be mined once.
- Now go back to the "Navigation Map"
- Click "Structure Catrmt" to make it your next destination.
- Once arrived at the spaceport, the game will open the spaceport panel.
- Click "Commodity Exchange"
- Sell your mined metals.
- Repeat
- Become rich

if you have some spare time, please try and let me know about your experiences. This is an alpha version, so there are a lot of omissions and bugs, but it'll be good to know where you run into problems and what think works well and what doesn't. Looking forward to your feedback
