I think there is great potential for mines and limpets in ED, but sadly these are pretty disappointing at the moment. I would like to see expanded limpet options, and a smart mine system that functions similarly to how limpets work:
- Smart mines would be programmable, like limpets, and would take cargo space like limpets do. Mine launchers would be hard points, as they are now, but vary in type of mine and speed of mine deployment. The mine launcher would program the mines like limpet controllers program limpets.
- The cargo item could actually be a "smart mine rack" which holds perhaps 8 mines, the mine launcher hard points would load ammo from these.
- A variety of new mine types would add variety and gameplay flexibility. Perhaps:
- Homing mine: drift towards targeted enemy, once that enemy is destroyed, migrate towards nearest hostile.
- Drag mines: magnetically lock on to enemy ship hull, doing no damage but greatly slowing enemy and lowering maneuvering.
- Shock mines: as in base game, but greatly push ships, so as to be combined for effective triggering of other nearby mine clusters.
- Pulse mines: EMP effect which greatly damages shields and maybe system modules, but not hull.
- Frag mines: standard high explosive, heavy kinetic damage
- Thermitic mines: corrosive damage to hull, weak vs shields.
- Gravity mines: exert a pull on all nearby vessels for a duration of time, obviously needs a promiing duration
- Shield mines: generate a short range shield bubble which dispels all incoming fire. Large clusters of these are needed to fully encompass a ship as a defensive area
- Nuclear mines: huge blast radius, but most damage filtered out by shields. Unshielded targets take massive system damage.
So much fun could be had with a new mine implementation.
- Smart mines would be programmable, like limpets, and would take cargo space like limpets do. Mine launchers would be hard points, as they are now, but vary in type of mine and speed of mine deployment. The mine launcher would program the mines like limpet controllers program limpets.
- The cargo item could actually be a "smart mine rack" which holds perhaps 8 mines, the mine launcher hard points would load ammo from these.
- A variety of new mine types would add variety and gameplay flexibility. Perhaps:
- Homing mine: drift towards targeted enemy, once that enemy is destroyed, migrate towards nearest hostile.
- Drag mines: magnetically lock on to enemy ship hull, doing no damage but greatly slowing enemy and lowering maneuvering.
- Shock mines: as in base game, but greatly push ships, so as to be combined for effective triggering of other nearby mine clusters.
- Pulse mines: EMP effect which greatly damages shields and maybe system modules, but not hull.
- Frag mines: standard high explosive, heavy kinetic damage
- Thermitic mines: corrosive damage to hull, weak vs shields.
- Gravity mines: exert a pull on all nearby vessels for a duration of time, obviously needs a promiing duration
- Shield mines: generate a short range shield bubble which dispels all incoming fire. Large clusters of these are needed to fully encompass a ship as a defensive area
- Nuclear mines: huge blast radius, but most damage filtered out by shields. Unshielded targets take massive system damage.
So much fun could be had with a new mine implementation.