Please FD, do not forget about the ice rings! Use them!!!

Perhaps it is a bit presumptuous of me, and it already has been mentioned before, but please FD... create some sort of activities in the ice rings of planets.

These environments are so incredibly beautiful!
Please make use of them.
We need some game play reasons to go into them.
Create something to do there.
Perhaps there could be some sort of mining activities, combat zones, piracy stuff, whatever...
It would be awesome to do combat in these magical rings.

Just... use... these... incredible... environments.
 
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Braben I think it was talked about this. He hasn't forgot about ice rings, he wants to do something with them, but it probably won't be mining. But no plans for the moment.
 
Braben I think it was talked about this. He hasn't forgot about ice rings, he wants to do something with them, but it probably won't be mining. But no plans for the moment.

I think it should be a priority.
They are the best looking environments in the game.
They could add some combat zones in rings, or let some missions make use of them.
Perhaps we would have to meet some ship in there and then get attacked by agents of another power.
 
I completely agree with you, it's a shame they are going to waste.
you would think that sources of water and oxygen would be in demand. Presuming of course that they are water ice.
 
I completely agree with you, it's a shame they are going to waste.
you would think that sources of water and oxygen would be in demand. Presuming of course that they are water ice.

Even if they aren't exclusively water/ice, I can't think of a better place in the galaxy to begin harvesting gases. You'd need highly specialized equipment to withstand the pressure, wind, and gravity of a gas giant; all you'd need to harvest the frozen chemicals is a basic ship.

I can't really think of anything else you could do with ice rings, beyond possibly taking tourists on a fly-by for missions, or taking out some kind of pirate fortress in the rings. Possibly stranded passenger/pilot rescue from a debris field where they crashed into an asteroid.

Seriously why don't we have pirate bases to attack in space yet.
 
Also we can use them for hotels which are sightseeing. Imagine that; We have an Orca, carrying hundred tourists to Ice Ring Hotel. It is a mission.

Edit : Sorry, @highpsiturbo did mention that before.
 
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Perhaps it is a bit presumptuous of me, and it already has been mentioned before, but please FD... create some sort of activities in the ice rings of planets.

These environments are so incredibly beautiful!
Please make use of them.
We need some game play reasons to go into them.
Create something to do there.
Perhaps there could be some sort of mining activities, combat zones, piracy stuff, whatever...
It would be awesome to do combat in these magical rings.

Just... use... these... incredible... environments.
One of the best idea in 2016.
 
I hope we get pirate/mining/security outposts in metallic rings. Since we don't have anything interesting in ice rings they would be a perfect place for hidden outposts, maybe a secret military base or a crime lord. It would make sense to add conflict zones around these stations as well.

Question for the astronomy and science nerds: What would be the easiest way to get water and oxygen in space?
 
I think David said that ice mining doesn't make sense because of the abundance of water/hydrogen/oxygen on planets - or something along these lines. Which is pretty strange reasoning, imo - same can be said about pretty much all other ore types. What can be found in asteroid fields, should be present on planets as well, just in much larger quantities. In reality, huge ground based mining operations would probably make asteroid harvesting inefficient.

They should just add few more ice ring specific materials to mine, and get done with it. In EVE for example, ice mining produces: heavy water, liquid ozone, strontium clathrates, H, N, and O isotopes.
 
I think David said that ice mining doesn't make sense because of the abundance of water/hydrogen/oxygen on planets - or something along these lines. Which is pretty strange reasoning, imo - same can be said about pretty much all other ore types. What can be found in asteroid fields, should be present on planets as well, just in much larger quantities. In reality, huge ground based mining operations would probably make asteroid harvesting inefficient.

They should just add few more ice ring specific materials to mine, and get done with it. In EVE for example, ice mining produces: heavy water, liquid ozone, strontium clathrates, H, N, and O isotopes.

That's odd, since there are plenty of systems with rocky planets too close to the star to have liquid/solid water and/or nitrogen in any significant quantity, have no ice planets, but have gas giants with ring systems.

Not to mention, it is much easier to extract materials and ship them in-system than extract them from a planet surface. You could conceivably mine and transport your ore in the same vehicle for one, and that vehicle could also be larger. Not to mention ores/gases would be available in higher purities compared to terrestrial deposits. Especially Platinum Group metals like Iridium.
 
nah...FD like to add things just for taking screens. Placeholders are their specialty. They just refusing to add valuable fun content. I have collected some pics from ED early stage about rings. very sad.


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So, the question is would it be economically feasible in the Elite Universe to mine water ice?

There are a bunch of planetary bases that are on planets without liquid water. At least some of them will not have frozen water deposits either because of their temperature.
These bases will need water, and also Oxygen. Mining for Water and Oxygen sounds like it would make economic sense, even if it will probably be the lowest-priced thing in the game.

On the other hand, Hydrogen is easy to scoop from stars, so you really only need to mine for oxygen. Frontier has so far no mechanic for mining oxygen in the game because it will generate questions about life support. Now, I think it would be fantastic and not at all unbalanced to mine for oxygen and regenerate your emergency life support that way.

Edit: Whoops, turns out Zeta Legion said pretty much the same thing already. Sorry!
 
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The ice could be used to terraform of the planets
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Yes! Asteroid diversion missions using drive limpets, or even a community goal to do the same. Imagine watching them enter the atmosphere (if any) and impact on the surface. Unfortunately FD would have to implement a mechanic that would allow an asteroid fitted with drivers to be instanced and remotely controlled in ordinary flight and super cruise. Taken together with re-entry and impact effects this is not something that's likely to happen Real Soon Now imo.
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I suspect, also, that attempting to pot shot stations and surface bases with an asteroid might be deprecated by the devs ;)
 
Perhaps mining in ice rings could generate fragments we could collect for our Rock Collection, in our magic Horizons...

FPB-Y5723.JPG


...that allows us to carry everything from phosphorous to polonium, safely and conveniently! :)
 
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