I didn't find anything else discussing mines since the update so I'm making a thread.
I had never used mines before 1.3 so I can't point out changes, just current values.
Since I'd seen so many people bashing the mine launcher before the update I decided to try it out, maybe it had been buffed with the update.
I tested it with my Diamondback Explorer with no armor improvements. Since damage to shields was negligible and difficult to actually gauge the numerical value I didn't record any tests against shields.
Testing led to these results:
1 Class 1 Proximity Mine does ~45 damage to hull.
1 Class 2 Homing Mine does ~42 damage to hull.
The damage when testing was also dependent upon speed and where the mines impacted the ship. Location of impact only led to a change of 1-3 damage, while moving at ~30m/s compared to ~200m/s got a highest change of +~20 damage.
I was not able to damage any modules using them.
Given the small difference in estimated damage values we can assume they both do the same damage and the difference is from location and speed variables.
So the only difference when using them is that the class 2 is homing instead of proximity (I haven't seen any actual difference in combat) and the class 2 having 3 mines per magazine as opposed to 1.
Below is a list estimating how many mines it would take to kill some ship hulls without any upgrades. (I'm pretty poor so I haven't intentionally blown up any of my own ships just to check, and getting kill with just mines in PVE against a 100% hull with 0% shields is pretty difficult.)
I'll list any problems I find when testing below:
Some feedback:
Having the mines appear on radar makes it ridiculously easy to avoid them, or even shoot them down if you have a gimballed beam laser. I'd think removing them from radar, or at least making them more difficult to detect would be a step in the right direction for making them viable. Maybe remove them from radar completely but string some blinky lights on them so an observant commander would still see them head on. (still visible on the radar of the pilot who deployed them though)
Improving the homing and proximity detonation on the mines would lead to less narrow misses. I went out to a high intensity RES and dropped a load of homing mines right next to a 0% shields Imperial Clipper and didn't get a single hit (though some just hit my ship, so there weren't as many out there as there could have been). Right now it seems like you actually need to impact against a mine to detonate it.
Increase the amount of time Mines remain active before self destructing, given the time it takes to deploy them, and the small area they defend, having them active for only one minute limits uses drastically. I'd suggest giving them a timer of two to three minutes to maximize effectiveness without leaving them in space too long.
When I originally found Mine Launchers in outfitting I had assumed they launched a stream of small mines covering a sizable area with each trigger-pull, similar to the mines in WipEout HD (it's the only video I could find showing them) and Strike Vector (I couldn't find a video showing theirs, but it was an aerial combat game that handled player deployed mine-fields in a three dimensional environment great), but now spreading out to the sides a small amount. Something like that might lead to an increase in use since they'd be harder to avoid, even if it is just a small amount of damage per mine, if they also affected ship speed and direction they'd be used more by haulers wary of interdiction too.
I had never used mines before 1.3 so I can't point out changes, just current values.
Since I'd seen so many people bashing the mine launcher before the update I decided to try it out, maybe it had been buffed with the update.
I tested it with my Diamondback Explorer with no armor improvements. Since damage to shields was negligible and difficult to actually gauge the numerical value I didn't record any tests against shields.
Testing led to these results:
1 Class 1 Proximity Mine does ~45 damage to hull.
1 Class 2 Homing Mine does ~42 damage to hull.
The damage when testing was also dependent upon speed and where the mines impacted the ship. Location of impact only led to a change of 1-3 damage, while moving at ~30m/s compared to ~200m/s got a highest change of +~20 damage.
I was not able to damage any modules using them.
Given the small difference in estimated damage values we can assume they both do the same damage and the difference is from location and speed variables.
So the only difference when using them is that the class 2 is homing instead of proximity (I haven't seen any actual difference in combat) and the class 2 having 3 mines per magazine as opposed to 1.
Below is a list estimating how many mines it would take to kill some ship hulls without any upgrades. (I'm pretty poor so I haven't intentionally blown up any of my own ships just to check, and getting kill with just mines in PVE against a 100% hull with 0% shields is pretty difficult.)
- Eagle = 1-2
- Cobra = ~5
- Viper = ~3
- Asp = ~9
- Anaconda = ~12
I'll list any problems I find when testing below:
- Depending on ship hull, speed, and direction, mines can sometimes hit part of the ship as they're deploying. (prevalent with class 2 Mine Launcher fit to the class 2 hardpoints on the side of the Diamondback Explorer)
- Mines will sometimes teleport 4km in the direction you are moving in when you deploy them.
- They can be very finicky and teleport short distances as they are being deployed, I noticed this when moving back and to starboard with the mine launcher on my left side. I avoided the mines completely but some teleported back to me and hit the cockpit.
Some feedback:
Having the mines appear on radar makes it ridiculously easy to avoid them, or even shoot them down if you have a gimballed beam laser. I'd think removing them from radar, or at least making them more difficult to detect would be a step in the right direction for making them viable. Maybe remove them from radar completely but string some blinky lights on them so an observant commander would still see them head on. (still visible on the radar of the pilot who deployed them though)
Improving the homing and proximity detonation on the mines would lead to less narrow misses. I went out to a high intensity RES and dropped a load of homing mines right next to a 0% shields Imperial Clipper and didn't get a single hit (though some just hit my ship, so there weren't as many out there as there could have been). Right now it seems like you actually need to impact against a mine to detonate it.
Increase the amount of time Mines remain active before self destructing, given the time it takes to deploy them, and the small area they defend, having them active for only one minute limits uses drastically. I'd suggest giving them a timer of two to three minutes to maximize effectiveness without leaving them in space too long.
When I originally found Mine Launchers in outfitting I had assumed they launched a stream of small mines covering a sizable area with each trigger-pull, similar to the mines in WipEout HD (it's the only video I could find showing them) and Strike Vector (I couldn't find a video showing theirs, but it was an aerial combat game that handled player deployed mine-fields in a three dimensional environment great), but now spreading out to the sides a small amount. Something like that might lead to an increase in use since they'd be harder to avoid, even if it is just a small amount of damage per mine, if they also affected ship speed and direction they'd be used more by haulers wary of interdiction too.
