Further, they only fire a mining beam via line of sight. These quests are given where he is stationed, just west of the outpost. Thing is, ancient essence (for me) was always kind of rare, the upgrades are pretty hefty. Erchius Mining Facility-Version 1.0, Illustrated. If you already have a Laser Diode, drop it on the floor, and pick it up, you should learn the recipe. The current Ore Drone III has been renamed to the Mining Drone, and currently-owned instances will be otherwise unaffected by this change.- Misc - This results in lower precision. By the third or fourth upgrade, it outpaces the Matter Manipulator by quite a bit. Starbound frackin universe mining laser upgrade General Discussions > Topic Details.