How to not be a redditor at Elite Dangerous

Most anons fall for the Void Opal mining, because Deep Core mining is the new hot shit plus at a good station you can sell it for 1.6M a ton. However, Void Opal mining is only really good if you are using a ship with fuckall cargo capacity, and even then still takes time to learn how to spot and detonate Void Opal cores. It's very good money, but if you have a bad streak of luck you'll be wandering around collecting jack shit in terms of resources. Additionally, Void Opals and Deep Core mining has to wait around a week before it refreshes, and cannot be shared between players.

That is why Laser mining is arguably better than Deep Core, because the entire load can be shared between players equally, and respawns each two hours. In addition, you can carry less hardpoints and less utility points as a result. If you get a double or triple overlapping hotspot, you can find very high value minerals like Low Temp Diamonds or Painite at almost every asteroid, meaning it's consistent paydirt and can be easily found at your system of choice.

Want to get started with Laser Mining?

>Decide how much money you want to invest in a miner ship. More money invested means slightly more risk/insurance, but also more time out in the asteroid field and thus higher profits. If you are looking for a progression, Adder > Asp Explorer > Python > Anaconda/Type 9 for the typical setup.
>If you're starting off and really concerned about outfitting costs, pledge yourself to Li Yong-Rui and travel to one of his systems. You'll get a 15% discount on purchasing a ship and modules when in it.
>Buy your ship and outfitting. You will need the following:
<Detailed Surface Scanner (size 1 slot)
<Prospector Controller (smallest size you can fit, A rated)
<Collector Limpet Controller (either D or A rated, add as many so you can have 3 active collectors limpets per 1 size 3 mining laser)
<Refinery (any size A will do, but don't go above size 4)
<Cargo Racks (as big/many as you can fit)
<Power Distributor (the biggest A rated one you can fit)
<Every other module other than Power Plant/Thrusters/FSD/Distributor changed to D rated
<Mining Lasers (Always pick size ~~3~~ 2 when you can, a 7A Distributor can power two size 3 lasers indefinitely)
>Not required, but worth to add if you've got spare slots:
<Fuel scoop
<Guardian FSD Booster

Once you got the ship, find yourself a hotspot.
>Find a system with double Painite or Low Temp Diamond ring hotspot
>Set up shop at the local station, move your ship you use to hop around the bubble there (if applicable) and grab limpets from the resupply tab
>Fly to the hotspot ring of choice, switch to Analyze HUD mode and use the Detailed Surface Scanner to shoot a probe at the ring to reveal the hotspots
>Fly into the ring hotspot, push down your throttle so you smash the hotspot at less than 1Mm/s which will safely eject you
>Let the pirates that might be nearby scan you and leave in a hissy fit
>Once they left, you'll have the hotspot for yourself and carry on mining.

If you don't know how to laser mine:
>Fly to asteroid
>Switch to Prospector Limpet, shoot at asteroid to see composition
>If it has Painite/LTD then mine it, if not then move on and continue firing Prospectors until you find one
>Once you found one, put 4 pip to WPN, switch to your mining lasers, and aim at the asteroid until it is depleted
>Switch to Collector Limpets, shoot Collector Limpets (but not while targeting the minerals) in order for them to auto collect the minerals
>Lower cargo scoop and wait for the notification of "No Valid Collection Targets"
>Move to next asteroid and prospect, mine, etc.
>Repeat until full

Once your hold is full of valuable cargo, find a system that has it in high demand, and fly over there to sell it. You'll get great profits and a massive trade rank bump as well. Just remember to avoid the interdictions along the way.