Mining annoyances: Refinery and targeting improvements

[norcus]

Agree with your suggestions, though I do target the mineral bits with the contact list when they are in a perfect line, and that works out pretty well. Utilizing the headlook to activate the UI while still seeing the cargo scoop HUD.

I like that the mining requires effort. Seems like without the high end metals, that it isn't worth the effort though, sometimes even compared to the most common contracts to ferry goods back and forth.

Early on, I was hoping they were going to make a method of mining that used drones (since I feel that is actually the most practical way I could see it developing as an industry.). They could even make the auto-drone method a reasonable percentage less efficient than picking up the goods manually.

Ultimately though, mining gave me a better understanding and skill with piloting the ships that I used for it. I like it as a pilot skill honing mechanic as well.

Never considered the contact list. Good tip! And yes I agree, mining does help finetune piloting skills, as you get to know turnrate and acceleration/decceleration pretty well.

 

[Rhonda]

- Non-target item scooping. The chunks of ore are sometimes too close together and it almost impossible to scoop one without bumping another chunk or two spinning away. However if you aim your mining laser skillfully you can get the chunks to line up perfectly. Problem is that the next one or two chunks will be outside your field of view so you cant target them without stopping and pitching your ship - further risking bumping them away. Is it really necessary to have an item targeted in order to scoop it? I suggest we can scoop stuff without targeting them.

- Target next/previous/closest similar. If the above cannot be done, at least allow us to cycle through targets of the same type so we can target chunks that are out of view like we can do with ships.

This! So much this!