I have not done any extensive attempts at mining due to the frustration and nuisance of trying to manually collect shards for processing from the scoop, and I see an easy way to help improve that. Limpets do help, but the annoyance of the one-use aspect and the need for restock long before you actually fill the hold with ore is quite discouraging, to say nothing of the annoyance of needing to travel repeatedly to fill them. It largely restricts their use to massive cargo holds and limits the entry of an easier mining for most.
I would like to take a trick I see in the current Horizons variation with the Planetary Vehicle Hangars.
Currently the SRV rovers are virtually infinite reuse with a bit of work, making them great additions for the ground exploration and their use of resource collection for explorers. They are stored in bays that allow their recovery and re-use - and their constant use on the field is dependent only on the acquisition of materials. While once returned they are refueled for use again.
Since we have such tools already, why not mimic them with the Limpets?
The idea in mind is to convert the Limpet Controllers into a kind of Limpet Bay, where each bay would store a number of Limpets depending on the size.
Limpets would then function on a normal basis as they do now - but allow Collector Limpets to return with cargo, allowing them to act as collectors of other Limpets like Prospectors or Hatch-Breakers - so long as those Limpets have not run dry on fuel and or self-destructed. The other half of the idea with the Bay change is to make it so the Limpets don't consume cargo space. You still need to pay the tonnage weight - but you could return to dock with a full bay and not need to restock the limpets this way.
This would allow the re-use of Limpets, make the collection and gathering of data easier as well as promote an easier access for collecting and refining ore. It would help a great deal towards making mining seen and feel like an easier job to get into for ore and profits, than just a token appearance that ends up as far more frustration than it rewards.
I would like to take a trick I see in the current Horizons variation with the Planetary Vehicle Hangars.
Currently the SRV rovers are virtually infinite reuse with a bit of work, making them great additions for the ground exploration and their use of resource collection for explorers. They are stored in bays that allow their recovery and re-use - and their constant use on the field is dependent only on the acquisition of materials. While once returned they are refueled for use again.
Since we have such tools already, why not mimic them with the Limpets?
The idea in mind is to convert the Limpet Controllers into a kind of Limpet Bay, where each bay would store a number of Limpets depending on the size.
Limpets would then function on a normal basis as they do now - but allow Collector Limpets to return with cargo, allowing them to act as collectors of other Limpets like Prospectors or Hatch-Breakers - so long as those Limpets have not run dry on fuel and or self-destructed. The other half of the idea with the Bay change is to make it so the Limpets don't consume cargo space. You still need to pay the tonnage weight - but you could return to dock with a full bay and not need to restock the limpets this way.
This would allow the re-use of Limpets, make the collection and gathering of data easier as well as promote an easier access for collecting and refining ore. It would help a great deal towards making mining seen and feel like an easier job to get into for ore and profits, than just a token appearance that ends up as far more frustration than it rewards.
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