[TL;DR] Mining
[TL;DR] Mining
I would have thought about it, but I prefer to wait until production and research ships are ready. Or better yet, consider repair. It's a bit disappointing knowing there'll be a long stretch of temptation before making a decision.
The most important roles seem to be beam operator, cargo operator, scanner, refinery, pilot, and drone operator. You have nine days left to make a purchase, so you can wait until next week. You might even consider buying one now and giving it as a gift later to someone who gave you money by accident. What kind of people are you avoiding?
I was searching for Mercs and Miners, but now I have plenty of Mercs at my disposal. I haven't encountered any dedicated miners yet.
I envision the drones being versatile, offering different models suited for various tasks. Some might focus on rock retrieval, while others could carry compact scanners to locate specific materials before instructing the Scan Operator to target a particular rock. Maintenance units would also be essential for servicing the refinery and fixing hull damage. They emphasize asteroid disasters as catastrophic events, which raises questions about the necessity of shields—especially if the smaller ship is comparable in size to the one being mined.
CIG mentioned drones only briefly on the concept sale page for the Orion, not in the design post itself. I added it here because it made sense. It seems they’re still considering this topic, so we might see a dedicated design later. Drones could become much more practical overall. If I understand correctly, rough mineral density will appear via ship scanners (explorers or mining units), and possibly a RAMP drone too—options are wide open. Debris is already extremely dangerous in AC. Large parts of your ship could cause serious harm, but the real damage depends on speed and impact location.