Background...

After chatting with Luau, I have now whipped up 3 fleets to go on expeditions constantly. I use up to 70 BCs
or 70 Battleships (I never thought I would build them, but they are good for exploration having no deut cost to them) and 70 LCs for each mission.
I often find between 100k and 350k, or a crowd of good ships each mission!!! 3 at a time - you can see why I veered slightly off my mine growth plan!!

I use 3/4 hour hold times in the day, and the full 11 hour hold time at night. I do expect to meet the pirates sometime and make a huge loss.

Luau has approached this like a scientist, and proved that it pays off well despite the odd attack or lost fleet. It made him 30th in the fleet rankings as well as many tens of millions of res!!!