Mining has been described as one of the most tedious ways to make money in this game ATM, and it could use some attention.
The prime reasons I can see for the tedium are the inability to see where has been mined already, combined with clunky mechanics for collecting ores and refining them into metals.
My solution: Redefine the tech used to mine the asteroids!
Imagine having the mining laser works by scanning over the visible surface of the asteroid thousands of times each second, looking like a faint cone of heat haze or faint light, but flash-heats the surface, heating it until the surface begins to boil away as hot-metal-plasma.
Then, magnetic coils in the cargo scoop, the refinery, or even the mining laser draw in the plasma, drawing it into the appearance of a white-hot tornado as it is brought onboard, processed in it's hot, workable state, and impurities vented overboard.
The limiting factor in funnelling hot, high-density plasma like this, is heat build-up. The higher the rating on the equipment, the higher the throughput, and the lower the heat.
Working the asteroids at high temperatures like this would, of course, make the entire asteroid glow red-hot for minutes afterwards, and would likely take on a blackened and shivelled look after, leaving a visible indication of where you've mined already.
If this sounds familiar, that's because this is how asteroid mining was depicted in the original Homeworld game!
The prime reasons I can see for the tedium are the inability to see where has been mined already, combined with clunky mechanics for collecting ores and refining them into metals.
My solution: Redefine the tech used to mine the asteroids!
Imagine having the mining laser works by scanning over the visible surface of the asteroid thousands of times each second, looking like a faint cone of heat haze or faint light, but flash-heats the surface, heating it until the surface begins to boil away as hot-metal-plasma.
Then, magnetic coils in the cargo scoop, the refinery, or even the mining laser draw in the plasma, drawing it into the appearance of a white-hot tornado as it is brought onboard, processed in it's hot, workable state, and impurities vented overboard.
The limiting factor in funnelling hot, high-density plasma like this, is heat build-up. The higher the rating on the equipment, the higher the throughput, and the lower the heat.
Working the asteroids at high temperatures like this would, of course, make the entire asteroid glow red-hot for minutes afterwards, and would likely take on a blackened and shivelled look after, leaving a visible indication of where you've mined already.
If this sounds familiar, that's because this is how asteroid mining was depicted in the original Homeworld game!
