So even with three or more abrasion blasters (more than three would be pointless), with some simple balancing it could return for example something like:-
80% of the time: One fragment
10% of the time: Two fragments
10% of the time: Three fragments
Not the guy you were responding, not disagreeing, just weighing in with a slightly different POV.
First off, there already is an aspect of partial reward to this. As far as I can tell, you can really only get full 5x multiple fragments in one of two ways:
1 - at about 800m, stand perfectly still, let all fixed points "mini-gimbal" to single convergence, fire
2 - point blank (optionally deselect target, this helps on the 3s challenger/chief smalls, not sure on asp)
Neither of these actually guarantee 5 fragments, although #1 is close if you are slow and conscientious about it and always fire oriented 90 degree perpendicular to the face of the deposit from ~800m
2 is definitely hit or miss, often yielding 1,2,3 or 4 instead of 5.
A very good pilot might have option #3, which is get mini-gimbal convergence from variable ranges while in motion, although I feel this would be a modest portion of CMDRs, especially running a low shield asp which faces real danger from rock collision.
Anyway, my
completely-unjustified-by-data guess is that for inexperienced CMDRs who just jump on the opal bandwagon... they probably shoot while in slight random motion without the fixed points converged, and usually just get 1 or 2 fragments. And they don't even realize it because even single frag yield is 1000% more credits than they've ever had, and few would take the bother to deactivate collectors, look at contacts and count floating fragments before and after their shot, and then subtract (this is one way to be sure how much your shot yielded).
Moderately experienced CMDRs and above who've used railed or fixed lasers, probably averaging 4 or 5.
What I'd like to see is something more like a bullseye effect, and the broken asteroid pieces are spinning faster. So if you could fly like an ace, and match your motion to the spin of the asteroid to get a good center shot, that would be rewarded. Or (easier but less fun/challenging/whatever), you could anticipate where the spin will lead to, and aim at a spot ahead of time, standing still and waiting for right moment to fire. A dead center hit could yield 2 fragments, a glancing blow just one. Something like that.
To me this would be more fun and reward skilled play. Even with current mechanic I usually just run one blaster anwyay. This is not because I believe in this whole "unfair" or "exploit" or whatever, but just because by forcing myself to remain moving, in blue zone, avoiding collisions and primarily using verts and lats to control motion while aiming the blaster - is good piloting practice and more fun for me. It's also a way to step up ones fa-off skills.
I also think the bullseye mechanic would be a bit more palatable to folks who object the current mechanic is "unrealistic/obvious bug/whatever". It's quite common that skilled aim and use of firearms gives better results, so why not here. Bad shots cook away portions of the mineral, or push them further into the rock. [Insert needless hand waving explanation here]
o7 and I do like your thinking of alternate behaviors. I just don't like tying it to RNG instead of skill - there's enough RNG in the game, and if it's RNG based then someone will likely min max a build for it 10 minutes after the mechanic is released (and it will probably still be asp5X.)
