A lot less randomness in mining and scanners.

[Commandeur_Brin]

here is an idea:

As of now, the state of a ring's ressources (Pristine, rich, common...) decides the yield of the whole ring. I think that there should be more to it than that.

We could use some kind of scanner to get more precise readings on certain locations on the rings. They could be divided in quadrants and we would have to narrow down locations where the yield is really high or where the presence of certain minerals or metals is much higher !

You could still mine blindly anywhere in the ring and get the random yield we are used to today but a bit more preliminary work (maybe a lot more) and adequate equipment could make it a lot more interesting with fields of 50% Platinium or even Painite... (Ok maybe not fields...)

Regarding the equipment, with the scanner taking a slot, we would need to rethink our builds a bit as well.

Please let me know what you think !

Robin

 

[Terry Bruge-Hiplo]

That could look pretty sweet if there were a screen overlay and animations

I thought prior to 2.1 you could see the reserve levels of each belt, but it seems in 2.1 it applies across the board now.

 

[Commandeur_Brin]

That could look pretty sweet if there were a screen overlay and animations

I thought prior to 2.1 you could see the reserve levels of each belt, but it seems in 2.1 it applies across the board now.

I may be wrong but I don't remember ever seeing two rings of the same planet with different reserves... Not even different planet rings in the same system... I thought it was system wide reserve.

 

[Commandeur_Brin]

God the thread are going down fast ! Anyone else agrees ?

 

[Commandeur_Brin]

Another thing about the reserve state: It shouldn't be an absolute notion. There should be a date of survey and surveying rings could become a job on it's own down the line.

Going down that path you could have more variety in rings as it does not seem realistic that every metallic ring has every metallic ore...

- Initial scans with basic probing would give: Metallic, metal rich, Rocky, Icy
- Further scanning would give the basic composition. For instance: Painite, Gold and Indite only
- More advanced scans would give you percentages. Painite 23%, Indite 12%, Gold 7%
- best scan could give more precise locations on a certain ore you are searching.

Here is why this would be great:

1) This would make much more sens for the background simulation. The distribution of ressources would add lots of tension in the long run with factions and even empires actually fighting over rare ressources

2) RES would not be random points anymore. There would be logical explanation as to where they are implemented. (I'm fed up with those rocky High Res that never made much sens)

3) This would create new jobs for everyone:

- Surveyors (Exploration)
- independent miners (Actual mining)
- Industrial miners (for wings, guilds or much bigger ships when they are available)
- Hauling from miner depots to actual production centers (Trading)
- Defense of said freighters and RES

This would be so nice !!!

 

[Bobbydylan]

+1 agreed.

I think ED's largest problem is that the internal mechanics are not led-to internally. So, to get Meta-alloys, I had to come here, to the forums. I still don't know how to surface scanning works, and the whole system state thing is a mystery to me.

The game needs to do better of providing fluff-text leading you to the gameplay. The new mission system is a good start, but that needs to be applied to everything.

 

[Tinman]

God the thread are going down fast ! Anyone else agrees ?

Agree and I've mentioned similar things before.

I would basically want them to implement a "heat map" overlay that can be presented when far scanning a ring. Basically a "blurry noise texture" that shows concentrations of resources. The dominant hotspots would also be where the RES sites were spawned thus contextualize why they are in specific locations.

 

[Bacalao]

Agree and I've mentioned similar things before.

I would basically want them to implement a "heat map" overlay that can be presented when far scanning a ring. Basically a "blurry noise texture" that shows concentrations of resources. The dominant hotspots would also be where the RES sites were spawned thus contextualize why they are in specific locations.

Dynamic RES sites (and CZs) would be amazing, progress from Low to High and then as activity become unbearable for miners (not enough bounty hunters) it begins to dissipate and another rich area of the ring attracts attention, in low security and anarchy systems the possibility of a HazRES starting would exist as security forces just gave up. Of course the type and quantity of material being mined would need to justify the activity. Perhaps one day, it sounds like a lot of work.

 

[Goose4291]

I think (from my very limited experience of mining) we need some way to actually mark the 'roids we've scanned/tapped already.

I spent ages zipping around trying to find a new prospect in the few limited times I've tried this.

 

[Commandeur_Brin]

I think (from my very limited experience of mining) we need some way to actually mark the 'roids we've scanned/tapped already.

I spent ages zipping around trying to find a new prospect in the few limited times I've tried this.

I don't think tagging individual 'roids is either realistic nor necessary. I've been mining for a while now and there are easy ways not to stumble upon already mined asteroids.

 

[Goose4291]

I don't think tagging individual 'roids is either realistic nor necessary. I've been mining for a while now and there are easy ways not to stumble upon already mined asteroids.

Care to share?

I'm not asking for some new module, I'm just asking for something like the prospector limpett staying alive and attached to the 'roid, so you know you've checked it out already

 

[Commandeur_Brin]

I admit it would be cool !

The easiest way is to always going toward the planet when mining. Always. Of course you'll miss some but it's much more productive in the end.

 

[Tinman]

Dynamic RES sites (and CZs) would be amazing, progress from Low to High and then as activity become unbearable for miners (not enough bounty hunters) it begins to dissipate and another rich area of the ring attracts attention, in low security and anarchy systems the possibility of a HazRES starting would exist as security forces just gave up. Of course the type and quantity of material being mined would need to justify the activity. Perhaps one day, it sounds like a lot of work.

Another thing I would like to see is things like mobile mining bases. Small "motherships" that the miners use as their "base". These mobile mining rigs would belong to factions and if you were considered thrust worthy enough you would even be able to trade directly with these for a cheaper price than what you can get in the stations. Having missions to defend these from attacked would also be a possibility. Similar attack missions we have on planets could be another way to use them.

Oh! And let's not forget bigger asteroid bases !

 

[shadragon]

Stellar refineries in orbit around suns with massive heat shields pulling hydrogen fuel from the star would be impressive to see.

 

[Commandeur_Brin]

We do need much bigger ships as well... We need oversized freighters carrying very large amounts of cargo.

 

[NeilF]

Dynamic RES sites (and CZs) would be amazing, progress from Low to High and then as activity become unbearable for miners (not enough bounty hunters) it begins to dissipate and another rich area of the ring attracts attention, in low security and anarchy systems the possibility of a HazRES starting would exist as security forces just gave up. Of course the type and quantity of material being mined would need to justify the activity. Perhaps one day, it sounds like a lot of work.

Alot of what's being discussed here has just been addressed (IMHO) very nicely in a thread started by palazo... TBH, it's turned out to be one of the most interesting and logical suggestions I've seen for the game for a long time...

He made the suggestion that the Detailed Surface Scanner should simply also tell you what materials are on the surface to be found.

Next step:-

Procedurally generate a distribution map for those materials across the surface, so a HUD display can show you how/where they're distributed (eg: think heat map type affair).

And obviously depending where you are in the SRV, the dice used to dictate what minerals you find, are skewed accordingly...​

Next step:-

Apply exactly the same mechanic to planetary rings for the resources in asteroids... A distribution map is generated/displayed and where you mine in the rings affects the dice slightly.​

Next step:-

Introduce a "Rich Resource" (hot spot) mechanic such that on some surfaces/rings a high content of a particular resource is located. The "heat map" would show this etc. If you mine it, the dice will be skewed even more (in favour of that element), BUT as you collect those resources, the value of the hot spot will simply be reduced until it reaches zero, at which time it's considered gone.

eg: A resource rich "hot spot" of pollonium on a planet. Or a resource rich "hot spot" of palladium in a ring.​

IMHO it just seems such a beautifully simple set of mechanics which give some logic and depth, I'm quite excited by it. eg: It helps in simple things like with craftingso you can find planetary based materials more logically via a more interesting mechanic. But even does things like gives exploration more worth. eg: While exploring you may find a rich resource of Palladium, and choose to come and mine it, alone, or with friends, until its depleted of course. I'd even suggest discovering pristine (untouched/unmined) resource hot spots should give CR when the exploration data is sold.



Here's the initial post - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=258294

Here's my sort of explanation/story (as above) of it - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=258294&p=4007154&viewfull=1#post4007154​