I currently can't justify spending any time at all collecting surface and subsurface deposits.
They're the worst of both worlds:
-Extra time spent flying after the pulse scanner, and collecting, like with core hunting.
-Same low value materials as gathered with mining lasers.
There is no reason to pursue this gameplay at all.
Suggestions:
Option 1:
Make these deposits match the core materials on only core containing asteroids. This way, when finding a 'motherlode' asteroid, a ship that has multiple different ways to mine can reap more rewards. You can even add a small amount of this material to laser mined contents to reward a full mining loadout. Also un-nerf the number of laser chunks released by motherlode asteroids.
This way, a 'complete' mining ship could 'milk' a motherlode for everything it's got. It would provide a nice crescendo of gameplay, working yourself through the asteroid and finally blow it up.
Option 2:
Also add some subsurface deposits on the inside of asteroid cores, after they've been blown up.
Option 3:
Introduce a third set of mineable resources just for subsurface and surface deposits, and introduce mining missions that require simultaneous delivery of materials from multiple groups.
Ergo; some core materials + some subsurface/surface materials + some lasered materials. Make Cr/h gained 20% higher than a benchmark that uses just core mining.
Option 4:
For a quick and lazy solution, you can always just let these deposits yield engineering raw materials instead.
Option 5:
Do nothing and watch those great elements collect dust.
They're the worst of both worlds:
-Extra time spent flying after the pulse scanner, and collecting, like with core hunting.
-Same low value materials as gathered with mining lasers.
There is no reason to pursue this gameplay at all.
Suggestions:
Option 1:
Make these deposits match the core materials on only core containing asteroids. This way, when finding a 'motherlode' asteroid, a ship that has multiple different ways to mine can reap more rewards. You can even add a small amount of this material to laser mined contents to reward a full mining loadout. Also un-nerf the number of laser chunks released by motherlode asteroids.
This way, a 'complete' mining ship could 'milk' a motherlode for everything it's got. It would provide a nice crescendo of gameplay, working yourself through the asteroid and finally blow it up.
Option 2:
Also add some subsurface deposits on the inside of asteroid cores, after they've been blown up.
Option 3:
Introduce a third set of mineable resources just for subsurface and surface deposits, and introduce mining missions that require simultaneous delivery of materials from multiple groups.
Ergo; some core materials + some subsurface/surface materials + some lasered materials. Make Cr/h gained 20% higher than a benchmark that uses just core mining.
Option 4:
For a quick and lazy solution, you can always just let these deposits yield engineering raw materials instead.
Option 5:
Do nothing and watch those great elements collect dust.
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