This is a suggestion for an overhaul of mines. Currently, these weapons are interesting and can be fun to use, but have no real value in combat and only truly serve as toys. Some players are skilled enough to lob mines into ships, and traders occasionally use mines, but these are rare occurrences. I think they can be balanced in such a way that they are made useful in combat without being overpowered
Mines
All mines have tracking properties. This means that they will automatically home in on ships within range. A stock mine will home within 200m and will ignore the mothership. Damage-wise, they are the same if not weaker than the current mines. Mines can travel 100 meters per second, and will “lead” ships (travel to where the enemy will be, rather than where they currently are). By holding down the fire group button, all mines assigned to that fire group can be remotely detonated. Mines can be countered with point defense and will not track targets that are below 20% heat
<Modifications>
Long Range: Increases homing range up to 500 meters, and mass by up to 15%. An overall improvement that is useful in a variety of situations
Enhanced: Increases speed and damage by up to %50, but also increases mass and power draw. Good for combat-oriented ships looking to maximize damage, this variant is ideal for dealing with faster, smarter targets
Efficient: Decreases mass and power draw. Good for non-combat oriented ships looking to pack defenses
High-Capacity: Increases ammo up to 300%, and increases mass by up to 30%. Useful for fighting in a HazRES for a long time
<Experimentals>
Smart Mines: When within range of a non-hostile ship, the mines will move to avoid them. Important in areas with security presence
Force Shell: Mines sacrifice shell fragmentation for pure kinetic energy. Reduces damage by 50% but causes a powerful blast that throws the target off course. Useful when used with Efficient to arm an otherwise defenseless trading ship
Proximity Fuse: Mines detonate within 75 meters and deal reduced damage. Perfect for dealing with smaller ships
Reverberating Cascade: Mines deal damage directly to the shield generator. Ammo capacity and speed is halved
Corrosive: Mines that damage the hull will cause a corrosive effect, reducing hardness and increasing all damage to the target. Ammo capacity and speed is halved
<Unique variants>
Anti-Xeno mine: Mine that deals 90% less damage (remaining damage is AX) and is pre-fitted with proximity fuse. This mine variant homes in on Thargoid swarms. Compared to the flak cannon, it is less useful in an Interceptor 1v1, but very useful when fighting multiple interceptors at once. The chaotic nature of this mine allows it to shred through groups of swarms, while it has difficulty tracking a lone swarm
<Additional Notes>
-Any NPC miners will have the smart mine experimental installed for balancing reasons
“I dropped into an instance, and 2 anacondas spammed long range force shell mines. I could not even straighten my ship out to try and escape. There were so many mines that my point defense couldn’t even help. What was I supposed to do?”
The new mines are, without a doubt, much stronger than their normal counterparts. One could boost away from the mines and use railguns to kill the enemies, but this is a very specific solution. To counteract this, they have a rare and easily exploitable weakness: heat seeking
Maintaining your heat below 20%, either by sacrificing a SB for a heatsink, building a stealth build, or using Thermal Vent will render the mines fairly useless in encounters with other players. Not only will this help balance these mines, but it will make stealth builds more relevant
Mines
All mines have tracking properties. This means that they will automatically home in on ships within range. A stock mine will home within 200m and will ignore the mothership. Damage-wise, they are the same if not weaker than the current mines. Mines can travel 100 meters per second, and will “lead” ships (travel to where the enemy will be, rather than where they currently are). By holding down the fire group button, all mines assigned to that fire group can be remotely detonated. Mines can be countered with point defense and will not track targets that are below 20% heat
<Modifications>
Long Range: Increases homing range up to 500 meters, and mass by up to 15%. An overall improvement that is useful in a variety of situations
Enhanced: Increases speed and damage by up to %50, but also increases mass and power draw. Good for combat-oriented ships looking to maximize damage, this variant is ideal for dealing with faster, smarter targets
Efficient: Decreases mass and power draw. Good for non-combat oriented ships looking to pack defenses
High-Capacity: Increases ammo up to 300%, and increases mass by up to 30%. Useful for fighting in a HazRES for a long time
<Experimentals>
Smart Mines: When within range of a non-hostile ship, the mines will move to avoid them. Important in areas with security presence
Force Shell: Mines sacrifice shell fragmentation for pure kinetic energy. Reduces damage by 50% but causes a powerful blast that throws the target off course. Useful when used with Efficient to arm an otherwise defenseless trading ship
Proximity Fuse: Mines detonate within 75 meters and deal reduced damage. Perfect for dealing with smaller ships
Reverberating Cascade: Mines deal damage directly to the shield generator. Ammo capacity and speed is halved
Corrosive: Mines that damage the hull will cause a corrosive effect, reducing hardness and increasing all damage to the target. Ammo capacity and speed is halved
<Unique variants>
Anti-Xeno mine: Mine that deals 90% less damage (remaining damage is AX) and is pre-fitted with proximity fuse. This mine variant homes in on Thargoid swarms. Compared to the flak cannon, it is less useful in an Interceptor 1v1, but very useful when fighting multiple interceptors at once. The chaotic nature of this mine allows it to shred through groups of swarms, while it has difficulty tracking a lone swarm
<Additional Notes>
-Any NPC miners will have the smart mine experimental installed for balancing reasons
“I dropped into an instance, and 2 anacondas spammed long range force shell mines. I could not even straighten my ship out to try and escape. There were so many mines that my point defense couldn’t even help. What was I supposed to do?”
The new mines are, without a doubt, much stronger than their normal counterparts. One could boost away from the mines and use railguns to kill the enemies, but this is a very specific solution. To counteract this, they have a rare and easily exploitable weakness: heat seeking
Maintaining your heat below 20%, either by sacrificing a SB for a heatsink, building a stealth build, or using Thermal Vent will render the mines fairly useless in encounters with other players. Not only will this help balance these mines, but it will make stealth builds more relevant
