Hi guys
I posted this elsewhere but thought this would be the best place to post it (given its frequented by the actual devs). There are so many posts asking for the mining part of ED to be improved compared to the drudgery that it is now. So, here are my suggested changes:
1. Use of collection drones or some sort of short range tractor beam or some sort of magnet to pick up rock fragments - anything but cargo scooping.
2. Development of some sort of mineral scanner (short range if you have to) which tells you:
A. what is in the asteroid; and
B. how much is in the asteroid. eg. 50% Gold, 130% Indium (ie. % of Ton)
Then you can decide whether to mine or not eg. if an asteroid has 130% Indium and 75% Silver...may not be worth it.
3. You can go further to a longer range mineral scanner ie. something that you can scan a whole asteroid belt with (possibly similar to the exploration scanner?). This would be an upgrade.
4. Ability to 'mark' asteroids so you're not constantly sampling the same one
5. Online or older version of the price of minerals - very important. You need to know the value of what you're mining. What happens if there's suddenly a demand for say Indium close by? Mining is primary industry which is about meeting demand.
6. Ability to acquire and install mining droids or something that will mine asteroids for you ie. you set up and leave. (risk is that someone else finds/raids what is produced).
7. (in the future) Ability to create some sort of mining colony on a planet or even an asteroid belt
2. creating a mining specific class of ship (eg. think that big Romulan sucker from Star Trek) ie. either an actual miner or cargo vessel with inbuilt bins + refinery. Doesn't have to be fast but big and strong.
3. Ability to send out probes into 'deep space' (hey it IS the year 3300 right?) that do system mineral scans and report back with data (may take weeks, some may not report at all)
4. Introduction of rare but highly priced minerals that you can only get via mining
5. The ability to actually create jobs yourself eg. need escort of mining ship from x to y. I'd happily pay 20k in credits for an escort back to a major station if I was carrying 100T of paladium.
I do like the idea of little automated mining colonies that you have to set up (eg. like transporting cargo to the planet say) and provide security for on a planet. Yes I know, planetary landings aren't here yet, but something to think of.
Mining can be a lot of fun and SHOULD be lucrative - why do you think we have miners IRL? it should be dirty and hard work..but the payoffs should more than compensate, compared to something as 'clean' as trading (which should be the lowest of profits). Mining can also be risky which it currently is (getting interdicted, etc).
I posted this elsewhere but thought this would be the best place to post it (given its frequented by the actual devs). There are so many posts asking for the mining part of ED to be improved compared to the drudgery that it is now. So, here are my suggested changes:
1. Use of collection drones or some sort of short range tractor beam or some sort of magnet to pick up rock fragments - anything but cargo scooping.
2. Development of some sort of mineral scanner (short range if you have to) which tells you:
A. what is in the asteroid; and
B. how much is in the asteroid. eg. 50% Gold, 130% Indium (ie. % of Ton)
Then you can decide whether to mine or not eg. if an asteroid has 130% Indium and 75% Silver...may not be worth it.
3. You can go further to a longer range mineral scanner ie. something that you can scan a whole asteroid belt with (possibly similar to the exploration scanner?). This would be an upgrade.
4. Ability to 'mark' asteroids so you're not constantly sampling the same one
5. Online or older version of the price of minerals - very important. You need to know the value of what you're mining. What happens if there's suddenly a demand for say Indium close by? Mining is primary industry which is about meeting demand.
6. Ability to acquire and install mining droids or something that will mine asteroids for you ie. you set up and leave. (risk is that someone else finds/raids what is produced).
7. (in the future) Ability to create some sort of mining colony on a planet or even an asteroid belt
2. creating a mining specific class of ship (eg. think that big Romulan sucker from Star Trek) ie. either an actual miner or cargo vessel with inbuilt bins + refinery. Doesn't have to be fast but big and strong.
3. Ability to send out probes into 'deep space' (hey it IS the year 3300 right?) that do system mineral scans and report back with data (may take weeks, some may not report at all)
4. Introduction of rare but highly priced minerals that you can only get via mining
5. The ability to actually create jobs yourself eg. need escort of mining ship from x to y. I'd happily pay 20k in credits for an escort back to a major station if I was carrying 100T of paladium.
I do like the idea of little automated mining colonies that you have to set up (eg. like transporting cargo to the planet say) and provide security for on a planet. Yes I know, planetary landings aren't here yet, but something to think of.
Mining can be a lot of fun and SHOULD be lucrative - why do you think we have miners IRL? it should be dirty and hard work..but the payoffs should more than compensate, compared to something as 'clean' as trading (which should be the lowest of profits). Mining can also be risky which it currently is (getting interdicted, etc).
