Mining repair with non deminishing supplys.. it doesnt have to be good, just work.

[kenwshmt]

I've not seen a station in 2 months.

I have a mining laser, a class 3a refinery, and an 8 cargo hold.

Give me the ability to mine for hull repairs, and maybe morsels for the other modules.
I don't care, maybe 100 tons to make 100 units for the auto-repair, as many things take several hundred that isn't much. but its something.
Maybe an 'explorer grade' hull, made of plate steel that necessitates reconstruction every 10,000 ly.
I would be OK with that, at least it doesn't 'end' and require I come back to human space,which is now 2 months distant.

 

[SirAdelaide]

I can see the attraction of being self sufficient, and many people have asked for a crafting aspect.

I think one valid reason for not having it is that there are so many industrial processes required to turn ore into products, and so many different resources required, that any one ship wouldn't be able to carry the required machinery. Refining ore into metal bars is one thing, combining metals and plastics into computer parts requires an orbital station (and where would you get the plastics in deep space?)

 

[mossfoot]

I can see the attraction of being self sufficient, and many people have asked for a crafting aspect.

I think one valid reason for not having it is that there are so many industrial processes required to turn ore into products, and so many different resources required, that any one ship wouldn't be able to carry the required machinery. Refining ore into metal bars is one thing, combining metals and plastics into computer parts requires an orbital station (and where would you get the plastics in deep space?)

Yeah, but what does the auto repair unit use? Isn't it just raw material the repair unit uses to fix whatever is needed?

 

[Wullail]

Yeah, but what does the auto repair unit use? Isn't it just raw material the repair unit uses to fix whatever is needed?

Nanites....

nanites that carry enough processed materials in a form that they can transform into other elements along with themseleves to replace damaged areas of components.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

-- Deleted --

 

[excalibus]

as long as I have to carry a refinery and auto repair module and cargo bay for holding the ores, then perhaps its possible with different ores required for different components maybe Bauxite for normal lightweight hull, titanium and bauxite for reinforced, titanium for military grade, silver and/or gold for reflective, uranium for reactive? as for modules perhaps you would need a combination of ores for the different items and your mining laser would be unrepairable as it contains a precious gemstone unless you happen to have a failed gemstone delivery mission because you kept the stones in your cabin

nice idea tho

 

[Lodorenos]

Considering we have 3D printers in 2015 that can print (basic) circuits, it shouldn't be an issue at all in 1000+ years. I really dislike having to return all the way home because of some canopy cracks. I would LOVE to be self sufficient out there.

-Silicates from gas giants molten down to repair glass canopy.
-Metallic rings mined for hull repair.
-Same metals/silicates used for AFMU ammunition.
-etc.

Many who don't explore argue that exploration carries little risk because "you only worry about heat damage which is 'easily' avoided". Hah. Try flying into a binary system and cooking to 200% heat and 60% hull 20,000 LY from a station. Try flying into an invisible ring and hearing the lovely "Canopy integrity compromised" message. Traders are at risk of losing a few hours of work much like pewpew, yet explorers can lose weeks or MONTHS of gametime from one mistake. MONTHS! I have never played a game where you can lose that much without willingly dropping/destroying everything you've gained.

The AFMU and reboot/repair function was great for non-explorers, but for us explorers it's still a matter of hull and canopy integrity.

Please give us a way to stay self sufficient out there.

 

[mossfoot]

Considering we have 3D printers in 2015 that can print (basic) circuits, it shouldn't be an issue at all in 1000+ years.

I just want to address this issue in a way other than the usual "it's a game" approach.

Technology comes and goes, and not everything that is proven to exist is made practical in the long run. To grossly oversimplify, the basis of the steam engine was devised in ancient Greece by Hero of Alexandria, but didn't get put to practical use until much much later. Great achievements in science were forgotten during the so-called dark ages (which weren't but that's another issue). Where our 3D printer technology takes is is not a foregone conclusion, only a map of where we'd like it to go.

People complaining about having to do so much manually (see the Supercruise and autopilot discussions elsewhere) could, for example, see this as a reaction to the disastrous AI experiments in Elite's history. No longer trusting A.I., the common convention has become to put more and more basic input into the pilot's hands--even if an autopilot isn't A.I, the mistrust is there. The desire to be hands-on. It becomes cultural.

So how much we trust nanotechnology to repair things could fall into a similar condition.

I'm just saying this for those who feel they need in-game reasoning why X or Y isn't in the game when our clearly we have a similar analogous thing in the real world or near future...



As an explorer myself I understand what you're saying, but it's early days. I expect something will be done in the future, and if not? Well, I personally see it as part of exploring. There's little enough risk as it is right now for those in the long dark, and your examples are the kind of thing that keep my on my toes. How many people have actually died exploring due to those kind of things? Not many, I assure you. I bet you it's on par with fatal car crashes on a per-capita basis.

 

[Lodorenos]

So how much we trust nanotechnology to repair things could fall into a similar condition.

I understand your point. However, in the same sense it would be silly to trust the AFMU to repair a hyperdrive (an incredibly complex module I'm sure) but not something that could repair a metal hull or glass canopy.