**UPDATE 08/11/2003**
I have been mining for some time on Lok, a desolate dry desert planet, and have been getting good results.
Currently, I stand with the lower tier of Weaponsmith nearly complete. I suffered a setback last week when the cloning system FAILED to give me back 7/8th of my resources I had gathered. I had 81,000 steel that I just took from my harvesters and when I was killed heading back to town I only recloned with 10,715. To say the least, I was pissed and I contacted customer service, which whom replied that they cannot replace lost items BUT they will look into it.
Anyhow, this week and I have nearly recovered all 80,000 steel and I will continue to allow the harvesters to work until this resource cycle is complete. Then I will macro crafting and make it, possibly, to the middle of the third tier of weaponsmithing. This brings me to another interesting topic in the game, the resource cycle. I have noticed that the game cycles them in a repeated pattern that isn't difficult to keep track of. First, it will start off with a 7 to 15 day stretch. At the end of that stretch it will cycle 3 to 4 times BEFORE it resets to that stretch again. The cycling usually takes about 3 to 4 days since they only reset the resources when the server goes down for maintanence. It took me some time and money to figure this out but its invaluable information for those with harvesters. I also want to add that you will know when the server is in a 7 to 15 day stretch because the resource list will be huge with 3 to 4 types in most areas.
BTW, Hado I might need some help in the credit department at the end of this week or the beginning of next. I am down to 60,000 credits from the 197,000 you gave me early. With the current harvesting going well and the cycles repeating as they are I believe I can attain Master Weaponsmith by the end of August. The earlier loss of resources to the cloning issue really fucked up my schedule