Mining has been fairly stagnant for a while. The problem is, once hotspots are discovered, there's no more to do, and by now, most places have been scanned for hotspots, so everyone goes to just a few places, mines just a few minerals, and that's it.
To make mining a bit more dynamic, what if there were a new BGS state?
Mining Rush is the discovery of a recent confluence of minerals. Rings and Asteroid Belts aren't stationary; as time passes, they move around, and every so often, they randomly move into unusually high densities of certain materials.
In the Mining Rush system, you can find a new set of additional mining hotspots and Resource Extraction sites, of a type stronger than typical hotspots and RESes, as well as including minerals that don't normally have hotspots.
For example, a system in Mining Rush might have tempoary Bauxite hotspots, allowing for the mining of enormous amounts of Bauxite, far beyond what can normally be mined. A normal Rocky ring caps out at around 50% maximum; these special bauxite hotspots might instead cap out at 500%, allowing a single rock to give 125 tons of Bauxite. Of course, Bauxite is only worth ~40k each, so even at 10x the normal mining speed, you're still looking at results slightly superior to mining Platinum.
Furthermore, these systems would have much larger asteroid belts; normal asteroid belts might have 3-5 rocks; these special asteroid belts would have 30-50 rocks, and would all be effected by special hotspot rules.
Lastly, these systems would have special 'deadly' Resource Extraction Sites, offering 200% mineral output, but with huge numbers of particularly deadly NPC enemies. These enemies wouldn't bother waiting to see what you're carrying; they'll just attack and begin firing hatchbreakers immediately.
With all these things combined, you would have strong incentive to bring dedicated groups of miners and defenders to take avantage of the significant profits before they disappear. Mining Rushes would be completely random, and the particular mineral boosted would be completely random, but always worth doing if you can find the right place to offload.
To make mining a bit more dynamic, what if there were a new BGS state?
Mining Rush is the discovery of a recent confluence of minerals. Rings and Asteroid Belts aren't stationary; as time passes, they move around, and every so often, they randomly move into unusually high densities of certain materials.
In the Mining Rush system, you can find a new set of additional mining hotspots and Resource Extraction sites, of a type stronger than typical hotspots and RESes, as well as including minerals that don't normally have hotspots.
For example, a system in Mining Rush might have tempoary Bauxite hotspots, allowing for the mining of enormous amounts of Bauxite, far beyond what can normally be mined. A normal Rocky ring caps out at around 50% maximum; these special bauxite hotspots might instead cap out at 500%, allowing a single rock to give 125 tons of Bauxite. Of course, Bauxite is only worth ~40k each, so even at 10x the normal mining speed, you're still looking at results slightly superior to mining Platinum.
Furthermore, these systems would have much larger asteroid belts; normal asteroid belts might have 3-5 rocks; these special asteroid belts would have 30-50 rocks, and would all be effected by special hotspot rules.
Lastly, these systems would have special 'deadly' Resource Extraction Sites, offering 200% mineral output, but with huge numbers of particularly deadly NPC enemies. These enemies wouldn't bother waiting to see what you're carrying; they'll just attack and begin firing hatchbreakers immediately.
With all these things combined, you would have strong incentive to bring dedicated groups of miners and defenders to take avantage of the significant profits before they disappear. Mining Rushes would be completely random, and the particular mineral boosted would be completely random, but always worth doing if you can find the right place to offload.
