Deep Space Mining idea

TheDayman · Jul 23, 2015

I'm not a miner but me and my co-worker both play Elite and we always talk about it while at work. He had a great idea:

Deep Space Mining missions
A mining class of capital ship is 100 LYs out from Human-Occupied space. They have the space and equipment to refine most of the materials, but not the manpower to mine the local belt. Supply the capital ship with (X) tonnes of ore chucks to complete your mission.

It would encourage a new type of capital ship - one that specializes in just mining and aids miners in deep space. The original thought we had was that the mining ship disappears (moves on to it's next target) after the instance, but it could be there for a month or so and displayed as a Galnet News item on it's progress (maybe an atrocity occurs where it blows up or never returns?). There could be multiple of these deep space mining operations going on at once as well.

I would imagine that it would attract pirates and bounty hunters of all kinds too. And given that we're not talking about the other side of the galaxy, it wouldn't be to far of a trip to get out there, and it would be risky too thus equaling more reward.

What do you think guys?

Scudmungus · Jul 23, 2015

Deep Space Mine?

Dat make fine sci-fi TV series. Truth

goemon · Jul 23, 2015

like the idea... mining, yes, and trading maybe? need to be one of those systems out there with pristine reserves and metallic rings...

Crazy Jedi · Jul 23, 2015

A fantastic idea many of us would love that very much

IronGremlin · Jul 23, 2015

If only it wasn't impossible to exchange credits amongst players, we could do this ourselves with a fleet of type 9s ferrying cargo back to the bubble.

TheDayman · Jul 23, 2015

IronGremlin said:
If only it wasn't impossible to exchange credits amongst players, we could do this ourselves with a fleet of type 9s ferrying cargo back to the bubble.

That's actually how we (he) came up with the idea. We were thinking of ways to do this and it occurred to us that an NPC could take the place of the player in that regard.

Cmdr Eran Mintor · Jul 23, 2015

Sounds good to me!

TomR · Jul 23, 2015

Sounds fun. I had this idea to outfit a Type-7 (because that's what I could afford at the time) for mining and exploring at the same time. Head off into the wild to find a truly untouched pristine metallic belt with no pirates. Idea wore thin when I realized I'd only make like 5 mil if I filled up with the best stuff and who knows how long the trip would have taken. Maybe the rewards would be better now.

MetroidSlayerP7 · Jul 23, 2015

Sounds like a good idea. ...Almost as good as the idea I came up with, and then told you in-person.

You're on my kill list, Dayman!

TheDayman · Jul 23, 2015

MetroidSlayerP7 said:
Sounds like a good idea. ...Almost as good as the idea I came up with, and then told you in-person.

You're on my kill list, Dayman!

Go back to work MetroidSlayer! Someone needs to do those TPS reports today

Io_Sys · Jul 23, 2015

Would be nice if we could locate profitable, rich mining belts and sell the data to some mining consortium instead of just the pilot's federation.

Then again, is demand really high enough that they'd send a mining barge to the reaches of known space?

TIVBS · Jul 23, 2015

Scudmungus said:
Deep Space Mine?

Dat make fine sci-fi TV series. Truth

I see what ya did there hehe

[VR] Bac Ho · Jul 24, 2015

I think that would be an excellent addition to the game, great idea.

Give the miner/explorer plays some interesting game play.

lysan · Jul 24, 2015

Love it, where can I buy that?

Iskariot · Jul 24, 2015

TheDayman said:
I'm not a miner but me and my co-worker both play Elite and we always talk about it while at work. He had a great idea:

Deep Space Mining missions
A mining class of capital ship is 100 LYs out from Human-Occupied space. They have the space and equipment to refine most of the materials, but not the manpower to mine the local belt. Supply the capital ship with (X) tonnes of ore chucks to complete your mission.

It would encourage a new type of capital ship - one that specializes in just mining and aids miners in deep space. The original thought we had was that the mining ship disappears (moves on to it's next target) after the instance, but it could be there for a month or so and displayed as a Galnet News item on it's progress (maybe an atrocity occurs where it blows up or never returns?). There could be multiple of these deep space mining operations going on at once as well.

I would imagine that it would attract pirates and bounty hunters of all kinds too. And given that we're not talking about the other side of the galaxy, it wouldn't be to far of a trip to get out there, and it would be risky too thus equaling more reward.

What do you think guys?

I like the idea.
It adds a new npc ship to the game, which I have been advocating for for a long time, and would create new gameplay and just simply add needed diversity to the mining profession.