SpaceCraft Mining Laser Comparison: Cooling Laser, Hi-Pi and Mining Tier (2026)

The best SpaceCraft mining laser depends on what's holding you back: the Simple Mining Laser is fine to start, the Overclocked Mining Laser brings mining tier 3, and the Hi-Pi Laser more than doubles mining power. The Cooling Laser plays a special role as the only mining tool with negative heat generation.

This guide compares all seven lasers in the SpaceCraft game data by mining tier, mining power, power draw, heat and System Requirements, lists the Workshop recipes and explains what Community Update #1 and Major Update #1 changed about laser patches.

⛏️ Every SpaceCraft mining laser at a glance

The table shows the stats as the community database spacecraft.tools reads them from the game data. Mining Tier and Mining Power are the two values that decide speed and which deposits you can reach.

Two rows stand out. The Giant Laser was long just an entry in the data. Since Major Update #1, the Heavy Beam permit (60,000 credits) unlocks it together with the Overclocked Giant Laser. Only these two take the new Laser Patch: Increased Output IV (+200 %). And only the overclocked versions have a durability value: 1,000 on the Overclocked Mining Laser, 2,000 on the Overclocked Hi-Pi Laser.

📊 Reading mining tier, mining power and heat

Mining Tier decides which deposits your laser can work at all. Deposits carry a tier from 1 to 5 in the game data: Iron Spherule and Basalt Shell sit at 1, Aquamarine at 4, Wolframite at 5. The rule "your tier has to reach the deposit's tier" is the common community reading; Shiro Games hasn't published an official formula.

Mining Power in megajoules decides speed. This is where most people get it wrong: the Overclocked Mining Laser is not faster than the Simple one, both sit at 15 MJ. It adds one tier, two extra patch slots and more than double the heat. Only the Hi-Pi Laser jumps to 40 MJ.

Heat counts toward your ship's heat budget. If you run several hot modules and add an Overclocked Hi-Pi Laser with 7,500 MW on top, you'll notice quickly. How heat, cold and your surroundings interact is covered in the guide to environmental hazards.

🧊 The Cooling Laser: a special case that needs a blueprint

The Cooling Laser isn't really a laser. The item description calls it a high-pressure jet of liquefied gas that works as an alternative to laser beams and has the opposite effect on the target's temperature. In the data it's the only mining tool with negative heat generation: −2,500 MW.

With mining tier 2 and 20 MJ, it sits between the starter lasers and the Hi-Pi Laser. The catch is System Requirements: 500 SP is more than the Hi-Pi Laser's 400 SP. On a hull with tight System Support, the Cooling Laser costs you room for other modules.

The second catch is the unlock. Unlike the other lasers, it doesn't come from a permit but from a blueprint that spacecraft.tools lists at loot level 9. You have to find it in wreck crates or buy it from other players. According to spacecraft.tools, the drop chance is around 3.6 to 5.4 % per wreck depending on the sector. More in our blueprints guide.

When it pays off: when heat is your bottleneck and your hull can carry the 500 SP. For pure mining speed, the Hi-Pi Laser with double the mining power is the better pick.

🧾 Recipes: every laser in the Workshop

In SpaceCraft, every craftable laser is made in the Workshop. The recipes come from our German item database and match spacecraft.tools:

The Electromagnetism permit costs 100 credits, Modular Systems 2 costs 2,000. The Giant Laser and Overclocked Giant Laser come with the Heavy Beam permit for 60,000 credits. The Crude Mining Laser has no recipe. It's the starter module and can't be rebuilt.

The intermediate parts

• Crystalline Focuser: made in the Workshop from 1 Quartz and 5 Wire. Quartz comes from Gray Quartz.
• Hyper Lens: made in the Workshop from 3 Crystalline Focusers, 6 Silicon Ingots, 12 h-Crystal Matrix, 4 m-Crystal Matrix and 3 c-Crystal Matrix.
• Aquamarine: made in the Crystallizer from 32 Silicon Ingots, 16 Aluminum Ingots and 1 h-Crystal Matrix, yielding 40.

The h-Crystal Matrix is the bottleneck of the Hi-Pi chain. How to make it in near-unlimited amounts from hematite is shown in the hematite guide. Aluminum Ingots for the Aquamarine come from bauxite, see the bauxite guide.

🔧 SpaceCraft laser patches after Community Update #1

Every craftable SpaceCraft mining laser except the simplest one has two to four patch slots. Five laser patch families fit them: Increased Output, Last Yield, Mining Power, Mining Tier and Rare Find. On top of that come the general module patches Heat Absorber, Power Efficiency and System.

Community Update #1 (v0.4.24444, September 16, 2026) changed two things that older guides don't know about yet:

• No more infinite stacking: according to the official patch notes, Increased Output and Rare Find used to stack without limit. Now they have diminishing returns, so the third identical patch adds less than the first.
• Last Yield is now a chance: the patch no longer triggers on every deposit but with a probability. It was 30 % with Community Update #1, and patch v0.4.24600 on September 22, 2026 lowered the chance for Last Yield I to 20 %.

New with Major Update #1

• Patches without removal: you add patches without taking the module out of the ship, including at your base's Shipyard. You can remove a patch at any time, but it breaks 80 % of the time.
• Module tiers: every module now has a tier and only accepts patches of the same or a lower tier.
• New patches: Last Yield II with +40 % and Increased Output IV with +200 %, the latter only for Giant Lasers.

Since Community Update #1 the Workshop also works 1.5 times slower, while Smelters run twice and Factories six times as fast. Single lasers take a bit longer to build. What the individual patch families cost is covered in the patches guide.

Tip: since identical patches stack worse now, a mixed set pays off. The Overclocked Hi-Pi Laser with four slots can hold a Mining Tier patch for tough deposits next to Increased Output, Mining Power and a Heat Absorber.

🗺️ Which SpaceCraft mining laser for which stage?

• Start: Simple Mining Laser. Cheap, 100 SP, mining tier 2, covers tier 1 and tier 2 deposits.
• Early midgame: Overclocked Mining Laser once you need tier 3 deposits like Bauxite Rock. It's not faster, but it opens the next tier and has three slots.
• Heat problems: Cooling Laser, if you've found the blueprint and your hull can spare 500 SP.
• Midgame: Hi-Pi Laser. More than double the mining power at a moderate 400 SP.
• Late game: Overclocked Hi-Pi Laser for mining tier 4 and four patch slots, but only with enough System Support and cooling.
• Endgame: Giant Laser through the Heavy Beam permit. 150 MJ mining power, but 3,500 SP and 27,000 MW heat call for a big ship.

Don't sell retired starter lasers too quickly: according to the database, the Advanced Extractor needs three of them as ingredients. How to prioritize your gear overall is in the upgrades guide, and how hull and System Support connect in the modules guide.

❓ FAQ: SpaceCraft mining laser

Which mining laser is the best in SpaceCraft?

Since Major Update #1, the Giant Laser has the most mining power with 150 MJ, but it needs 3,500 SP and the Heavy Beam permit for 60,000 credits. Below it sits the Overclocked Hi-Pi Laser with mining tier 4, 40 MJ and four patch slots at 800 SP. For most players, the regular Hi-Pi Laser is the better deal.

Is the Overclocked Mining Laser faster than the Simple one?

No. Both have 15 MJ mining power. The overclocked one brings mining tier 3 instead of 2 and three patch slots instead of one, in exchange for more power draw, heat and System Requirements.

How do I get the Cooling Laser?

Through a blueprint from wreck crates (loot level 9), not a permit. After that you craft it in the Workshop from a Small Module Kit, two Crystalline Focusers and five Aquamarine.

Can you get the Giant Laser?

Yes, since Major Update #1 on October 8, 2026. The Heavy Beam permit for 60,000 credits unlocks the Giant Laser and its overclocked version. Only they accept Laser Patch: Increased Output IV.

What did Community Update #1 change about laser patches?

Increased Output and Rare Find no longer stack without limit but with diminishing returns. Last Yield only triggers by chance, at 20 % for Last Yield I since patch v0.4.24600. Major Update #1 then added Last Yield II with +40 %.

Why does my ship overheat while mining?

Every laser except the Cooling Laser generates heat, the Overclocked Hi-Pi Laser alone 7,500 MW. A Heat Absorber patch, fewer hot modules or the Cooling Laser help.

As of October 2026, SpaceCraft Early Access v0.5.25674. Stats and recipes checked against our German item database and the spacecraft.tools game database, patch changes against the official Shiro Games patch notes for Community Update #1 (v0.4.24444), v0.4.24600 (Last Yield I from 30 to 20 %) and Major Update #1 (Heavy Beam, patch handling, new patches). The mining tier reading is a community interpretation. Values can change with any patch.