The Mining discussion thread.
I saw NPCs using a blue coloured laser on asteroids in a belt at an extraction site about a week ago. Perhaps it is being rolled out to PCs :smilie:
I guess not 
What do you mean no population, there will be another 31 pilots in your instance
If you can buy a mining laser then possibly for mining. If you can buy a scanner then exploration otherwise a sort of pvp place where you may get a pirate station (Radio Caroline
).To mix it all together, you may have to take a mission to steal cargo from a ship, use the scanner that they give you to map the system and locate a pirate base where you can buy a mining laser!
I will guess we will stick with this for a month (closure date for premium beta sell is 15th June), have several subreleases (tweak and improve new network things) and then normal beta will start around middle of August. Expect lot of new stuff including missions and mining then.
Mining, or Looking for a balance of complexity vs fun
In reading through the several discussion threads on mining, I'm excited as many are to see how it will seem to be a definite career path of its own, something that will take some work to master but be much more involving than the stereotypical game mining of the past, where you bring a book with you.
So, that being said, as I read the many points and suggestions by people wanting to add this and that, make various levels of complexity and requirements of equipment and investment of time, one thing crept into the back of my mind. While the game right now is certainly by no means the finished product in terms of gameplay and rules, it's just about a given that miners will be targets of other people who want the fruits of their labor. And while this is of course expected, piracy by any degree that you accept it is about stealing someone else's property, and is a part of the game, imagine the reaction of even a regular player who has time to spend when he loses his cargo that he had to spend game time processing, his ship, and al the necessary equipment and supplies (like empty cannisters) because some other player camped out and waited for him to finish and head back to station.
Now, I'm not saying we should make mining simpler to prevent such a huge loss, I find the discussion of how to make it seem like you're actually turning stuff into potential profit a fascinating one. I also don't want to give miners some artificial protection against the natural sandbox feel of the game. And yes, the standard line of "well, they should have friends/hire protection" is all well and good, but that could be even more out of the bottom line of the mining profit. Even if it's made really fun, who is going to go through all the work of equipping, exploring, mining, processing, transporting if they end up not making enough to really cover the risk of potential loss.
I don't really have a good answer, it's just a big concern that I got in reading how mining can be so complex and involved, and knowing how the player environment is right now with just simple trade runs and loss. And yes, it's a limited play field now, but out in the wild where mining will be, it won't be a lot different.
In reading through the several discussion threads on mining, I'm excited as many are to see how it will seem to be a definite career path of its own, something that will take some work to master but be much more involving than the stereotypical game mining of the past, where you bring a book with you.
So, that being said, as I read the many points and suggestions by people wanting to add this and that, make various levels of complexity and requirements of equipment and investment of time, one thing crept into the back of my mind. While the game right now is certainly by no means the finished product in terms of gameplay and rules, it's just about a given that miners will be targets of other people who want the fruits of their labor. And while this is of course expected, piracy by any degree that you accept it is about stealing someone else's property, and is a part of the game, imagine the reaction of even a regular player who has time to spend when he loses his cargo that he had to spend game time processing, his ship, and al the necessary equipment and supplies (like empty cannisters) because some other player camped out and waited for him to finish and head back to station.
Now, I'm not saying we should make mining simpler to prevent such a huge loss, I find the discussion of how to make it seem like you're actually turning stuff into potential profit a fascinating one. I also don't want to give miners some artificial protection against the natural sandbox feel of the game. And yes, the standard line of "well, they should have friends/hire protection" is all well and good, but that could be even more out of the bottom line of the mining profit. Even if it's made really fun, who is going to go through all the work of equipping, exploring, mining, processing, transporting if they end up not making enough to really cover the risk of potential loss.
I don't really have a good answer, it's just a big concern that I got in reading how mining can be so complex and involved, and knowing how the player environment is right now with just simple trade runs and loss. And yes, it's a limited play field now, but out in the wild where mining will be, it won't be a lot different.
Where can I buy a mining laser?
I Have decided to stop my trading and start mining.
I have gone to some mineral extraction sites but nothing seems to be happening there.
On scanning some ships, I see that they have mining lasers. Where do I buy mining lasers form so I can start making some money mining?
I Have decided to stop my trading and start mining.
I have gone to some mineral extraction sites but nothing seems to be happening there.
On scanning some ships, I see that they have mining lasers. Where do I buy mining lasers form so I can start making some money mining?
Not in game yet for players.
You are exactly correct. And the mining that's been portrayed by the NPCs since alpha isn't how mining is going to be anyway.
http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7007
http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7196
I believe the official reasoning is Frontier like to torment by making NPC mining a part of every single phase so far but still not implementing it for players.
Nice one Sab! Actually, looking at the links above I would say that the whole mining thing is actually quite complex and so will require quite a lot of coding effort. This is a "good thing" in my view. It will mean mining is a career choice (for a while anyway) rather than just an incidental "earn money quickly" mechanic.