Mining asteroids is good as it is lately. I really like the weak point fracturing and scanning, it's a good improvement, but there could be more.
Drones: A greedy space faring species would learn to make droves of drones that don't let their owners spaceship splat them, and cut into their profits by even the tiniest extent. If they're shot, that's fine, just stop the expiration on all drones please, or rotate them to recharge and/or repair.
Mining: Have us control a mining drone. The ship can follow us auto scanning while we personally break the asteroids, and our looting drones pick up the pieces while we fly off to the next target. The mining drone would land on the asteroid and laser drill it to pieces using the weak points that are already built in the game. This puts us in the action seat directly, and relegates the looting material mechanic to the backburner. Think of the sentinels in The Matrix landing on the Nebuchadnezzar, and think of a cephalopods movement style after we landed on an asteroid.
Scanning asteroids: The heat map is a cool feature, but again, no species would rely on line of sight to guess which asteroid is the useful one. If you can scan something, you can work out which each signal means arithmetically. A bracket surrounding the asteroid on the UI with the potential material displayed in percentage chance on it's side would be perfect, and still allow for your grind mechanics. If mining was a subset like combat, trading and exploring, you could even tie it to the mining rank.
Drones: A greedy space faring species would learn to make droves of drones that don't let their owners spaceship splat them, and cut into their profits by even the tiniest extent. If they're shot, that's fine, just stop the expiration on all drones please, or rotate them to recharge and/or repair.
Mining: Have us control a mining drone. The ship can follow us auto scanning while we personally break the asteroids, and our looting drones pick up the pieces while we fly off to the next target. The mining drone would land on the asteroid and laser drill it to pieces using the weak points that are already built in the game. This puts us in the action seat directly, and relegates the looting material mechanic to the backburner. Think of the sentinels in The Matrix landing on the Nebuchadnezzar, and think of a cephalopods movement style after we landed on an asteroid.
Scanning asteroids: The heat map is a cool feature, but again, no species would rely on line of sight to guess which asteroid is the useful one. If you can scan something, you can work out which each signal means arithmetically. A bracket surrounding the asteroid on the UI with the potential material displayed in percentage chance on it's side would be perfect, and still allow for your grind mechanics. If mining was a subset like combat, trading and exploring, you could even tie it to the mining rank.