Please don't nerf the new mining

[NeilF]

Sub surface hard points seems pretty pretty useless though.

I personally don't take with me anymore, just seismic, abrasive and laser.

But indeed, motherlode mining is a great fun even without the void opal price tag.

TBH this is telling of the current poor balancing of the mechanics. It should not be designed so motherlodes are basically the be all and end of mining. All types should be rewarding (CR wise), all the way up from legacy mining to motherlodes, simply with motherlodes being a nice surprise (icing on the cake).

At the moment, the PWA, with its "here is the new gameplay" behaviour, and the entire payout balancing structures seems to almost be 180 degees out of wack. Legacy mining and surface deposits should give a nice income. Sub surface and especially motherlodes should then be a rewarding addition, not the goto game loop!

The PWA creates a needless break and balancing issue between legacy and new mining. With FD then over compensating with motherlodes to make new mining financially rewarding.

 

[NeilF]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to clarify. Asteroids containing motherlodes do replenish over a period of time, and due to the size of the hot spots, it would be extremely difficult for Commanders to deplete the ring entirely of motherlode asteroids before they begin to do so.

So as others have asked:-
1) What indication in the game is there of this depletion? eg: There should be a "Reserves" figure shown in the system information for example showing "Reserves: 75%", and this then gives the CMDR an indication of how compromised the Hotspot is.
2) Over what timescales will Hotspots replenish? Days, weeks, months? (I hope it's a significant time!)

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to clarify. Asteroids containing motherlodes do replenish over a period of time, and due to the size of the hot spots, it would be extremely difficult for Commanders to deplete the ring entirely of motherlode asteroids before they begin to do so.

Challenge accepted.

 

[rootsrat]

Aren't these 2 parts a little bit contradicting?

In addition to this, the more motherlodes (containing Void Opals) that Commanders encounter and mine from (in a ring), the rarer they will become, driving an emergent and natural rush that will force intrepid miners into new horizons, seeking lucrative mining hotspots before they deplete.

Just wanted to clarify. Asteroids containing motherlodes do replenish over a period of time, and due to the size of the hot spots, it would be extremely difficult for Commanders to deplete the ring entirely of motherlode asteroids before they begin to do so.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Aren't these 2 parts a little bit contradicting?

A tad, yes.

But Ed did say "entirely", So that could be taken as the frequency of cores does go down, it's just unlikely to ever go away before replenishment starts, which I also take as gradual.

 

[Jukelo]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to clarify. Asteroids containing motherlodes do replenish over a period of time, and due to the size of the hot spots, it would be extremely difficult for Commanders to deplete the ring entirely of motherlode asteroids before they begin to do so.

Hey Ed,

I'm afraid I find your clarification more confusing than anything.

 

[Alec Turner]

Aren't these 2 parts a little bit contradicting?

I like Will's clarification ... but I also like Ed's. But which is better?

There's only one way to find out ...

FIGHHHT!!!

 

[NeilF]

Aren't these 2 parts a little bit contradicting?

Yep, hence a little more information on the true behaviour being useful. Including on how the state (resource levels) of a hotspot (ring) are going to be given to CMDRs!

 

[Muetdhiver]

I'm confused:

Does that mean that while fissure asteroids get refilled, with time (depletion) the chance if them being refilled with high value stuff decreases. Aka more and more bromelite cores ?

 

[NeilF]

I'm confused:

Does that mean that while fissure asteroids get refilled, with time (depletion) the chance if them being refilled with high value stuff decreases. Aka more and more bromelite cores ?

My take on it is simply the dice roll for getting the motherlode asteroids is reduced.

 

[Hardcard]

In the instance at Viktorenko Holdings, these elements have lined up for a limited time in a way that allow the faction to be able to offer high prices on specific commodities.
To confirm, this does mean that, at this time, we are not planning to reduce the value of Void Opals.

Not that I don't appreciate the nice mining profits (it was about time! [money]), but demand quantity values are quite misleading-- > https://i.imgur.com/2EKR9gq.jpg

Single digit demand values (including 0) don't make much sense to me (are those numbers indicating billions/trillions or something?)

 

[TheSisko]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to clarify. Asteroids containing motherlodes do replenish over a period of time, and due to the size of the hot spots, it would be extremely difficult for Commanders to deplete the ring entirely of motherlode asteroids before they begin to do so.

Subsurface is useless at this point. Which is sad because the minigame is rather cool.

Maybe it'll get buffed in a year or two.

Challenge accepted.

Challenge joined.

 

[TheSisko]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to clarify. Asteroids containing motherlodes do replenish over a period of time, and due to the size of the hot spots, it would be extremely difficult for Commanders to deplete the ring entirely of motherlode asteroids before they begin to do so.

You know what would be great? The sizes of those hotspots decreasing in size to indicate the number of cores within them. That would be great visual feedback for players. No cores = no hotspot.

 

[Sterling MH]

You know what would be great? The sizes of those hotspots decreasing in size to indicate the number of cores within them. That would be great visual feedback for players. No cores = no hotspot.

Why must the hotspots be in the same place? If the ones "known" reduce in content, then a new best place to mine will appear as the hot spot.

No hotspot = low chance of getting a score. Not necessarily motherlodes, but lots of gold, palladium, copper, etc.

 

[Onikaji]

Just adding to the commentary - I've been a player since Beta, and have barely ever been able to afford any ship, mainly because the activities I found fun, weren't also a significant form of income without also a significant volume of labor.

The changes to mining (specifically that the activity is fun, relaxing, and profitable) have made me really feel more capable in the game, and ultimately are drawing me to play more. While tweaking the payout does feel reasonable, and alot of the enjoyment from mining I'm having is direct mechanical changes, having payout values in multiple career paths be "viable" is, in my opinion, the way to go.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Not that I don't appreciate the nice mining profits (it was about time! [money]), but demand quantity values are quite misleading-- > https://i.imgur.com/2EKR9gq.jpg

Single digit demand values (including 0) don't make much sense to me (are those numbers indicating billions/trillions or something?)

No, it's in tonnes.

It's just that while you can't buy from a station with 0 supply, you can still sell to a station with 0 demand, and it doesn't have that much of a price effect. (Whether it should is a different question - there are good arguments on both sides)

For this sort of precious gem, low tonnage values make sense. Total worldwide production of mined diamonds on present-day Earth is approximately 30 tonnes per year, for example. There's a lot of deliberate supply constraint there to try to keep the prices up, but even so we really wouldn't know what to do with a full T-9 of them showing up each week.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

No, it's in tonnes.

It's just that while you can't buy from a station with 0 supply, you can still sell to a station with 0 demand, and it doesn't have that much of a price effect. (Whether it should is a different question - there are good arguments on both sides)

For this sort of precious gem, low tonnage values make sense. Total worldwide production of mined diamonds on present-day Earth is approximately 30 tonnes per year, for example. There's a lot of deliberate supply constraint there to try to keep the prices up, but even so we really wouldn't know what to do with a full T-9 of them showing up each week.

I've always disliked the way markets work in this game, and would like them to get a major overhaul.

 

[Mengy]

So as others have asked:-
1) What indication in the game is there of this depletion? eg: There should be a "Reserves" figure shown in the system information for example showing "Reserves: 75%", and this then gives the CMDR an indication of how compromised the Hotspot is.
2) Over what timescales will Hotspots replenish? Days, weeks, months? (I hope it's a significant time!)

My hunch is that the hotspots aren't truly "stateful" like I know you would like them to be. We've seen that exploded asteroids remain exploded across all modes for a period of time, but these core asteroids reset in like a day or two. I'm betting the hotspot density lowers as these core asteroids are temporarily marked detonated but replenish as they reset to whole again. So my guess is the timeframe is that one to two days.

It's all using proc gen to place the hotspots, so it's likely the "stateful" is merely a temporary modifier stored on the server to downgrade that proc gen density, but it resets rather quickly to free up server traffic and memory. That would be my guess at least.

 

[pnellesen]

Challenge joined.

I too shall do my part to deplete the ring I'm mining of all the Void Opal and LTD hotpots.
EDIT: Purely for science, of course, just to see it we can do it. The insane profits will be used to fund further scientific activities.

 

[gushaines]

In addition to this, the more motherlodes (containing Void Opals) that Commanders encounter and mine from (in a ring), the rarer they will become, driving an emergent and natural rush that will force intrepid miners into new horizons, seeking lucrative mining hotspots before they deplete. Ultimately, with the new mining changes, this is something we want to celebrate!

As we've mentioned previously, the Background Simulation is continually being monitored and we may still need to apply some further fine tuning to ensure that the Simulation is as interesting and dynamic as we intended when making these changes.

In the meantime, go for gold! Happy holidays!

Now if you had just thought about linking this into capital ships..

Local mining to get the resources to build them.. Then, once built, using them as platform in deep space to run mining operations from... That would be awesome!

Maybe you could add new minables that are only used for making cap ships?

But being able to buy limpets etc from a player owned cap ship and then sell/dump the minerals to the ship for other members to take to station markets to sell on..

Just a thought/dream

Merry Christmas!