I read there's gonna be an overhaul of mining sometime, hopefully I'm not too late with this feedback.
Anyway, as most people who ever tried making proper cash via mining will know, most of the time is not spent actually mining - you spend it prospecting. I think it's a little bit like looking for a legendary pokemon in the tall grass - each grass tile has a small chance to proc a desired encounter. Now imagine that taking a step to the next tile takes about 30-40 seconds. So my suggestions are for the - currently - slow, sluggish, delay-ridden PROSPECTOR LIMPET:
Yes, I do appreciate the zen-like aspect of mining. I love parking up at a nice rock, carving out a fat load of minerals from it and watching my collectors deliver them to my belly. But I really dislike using prospector drones.
Anyway, as most people who ever tried making proper cash via mining will know, most of the time is not spent actually mining - you spend it prospecting. I think it's a little bit like looking for a legendary pokemon in the tall grass - each grass tile has a small chance to proc a desired encounter. Now imagine that taking a step to the next tile takes about 30-40 seconds. So my suggestions are for the - currently - slow, sluggish, delay-ridden PROSPECTOR LIMPET:
- Massively increase range. I think it should be possible to map an entire asteroid cluster from one decent position
- Massively, and I mean massively increase speed, and improve "feel" (make them fire instantly, for one thing). Look at this, or this video, and imagine if prospector limpets had the same kick and THUNK-factor. Imagine zooming through a ring and popping rocks left and right with an equivalent of Half-Life's crossbow.
- Get rid of the "max active drones" limit. This would help against accidental backtracking and would enable looking through asteroids at a "glance"
- Possibly have them "paint" an asteroid (only on HUD), with color codes for dominant minerals. Reasoning is basically the same as above (looking through 'roids at a glance), but this would take out the step of having to target them, and truly give a prospecting player a "picture" of an asteroid field.
Yes, I do appreciate the zen-like aspect of mining. I love parking up at a nice rock, carving out a fat load of minerals from it and watching my collectors deliver them to my belly. But I really dislike using prospector drones.