Mining rework thread

[Song]

I personally feel that Autodefensedevices have the potential to have some great bonuses to mining now that George has let them target asteroids....but they're limited in that turning them OFF is annoying.

[Wraithwynd]

I doubt that reworking mining in the near term will take place.

But I do see potential for it becoming a 'side mission' sort of thing like becoming a Shipping Pilot that protects cargo ships, where you earn higher ranks the more you do.

I can see you being able to start off in Eridani System by 'earning' a mining laser and mining cargo hold. Maybe not a large mining cargo-hold, say half the size of the games default one starting off working for the mining conglomerate that is usually stationed near the star/sun. The same people that send you out to 'help' their borer that has tangled with pirates could offer you a starting position as prospector or low level miner where you need to get X amount of Y ore.

You get your starting equipment (a minor mining cargohold and a minor mining laser). Mining X amount (some low tonnage) of low grade ore will earn you a few credits (more than what you would get by mining and selling ore).

After the mission you now have the right to use the stations ore processor to process that type of ore for a few credits. Processing the ore means for say 5 or 10 tons of ore you get 1 ton of mineral/metal. Processed minerals/metals should fetch a much higher price and take up a lot less room in your cargo hold so you can carry it a few systems down the line to sell it at a higher price than in the system you got.

Each mining missing 'unlocks' your ability/right to process a new type of ore. Different processed metals/minerals could require more or less ore. Say 10 tons of ore for a ton of gold, while 2 tons of Titanium ore gives you a ton of Processed Titanium.

As an aside, one could, as a member of the mining 'faction' sell raw, unprocessed ores for more than nonmembers at mining stations.

As you rank up you can open your right to purchase (perhaps even earn through missions) better mining cargo-holds and better mining lasers and other mining equipment.

I noticed on the mods site that someone devised a nice little asteroid scanner that makes mining much easier. Maybe this can be exclusive to those who are members of the 'miners guild'.

There are also mining autons and other mining mods that could be incorporated into the "Mining Missions Package' .

Perhaps when you are a high level ranking miner you can develop a working relationship with the Ferians who currently are 'neutral' being able to access their great store of knowledge about those rare minerals/metals and ores that they trade with the Ringers.

This gives you another reason to 'waste' all that time mining and ranking up so you can have a source of earning Rins later in the game through a working relationship with the Ferians.

[CFG]

From 1.05 on we can now create "autoDefenseDevices" which shoot at ships, projectiles, beams and asteroid. See ticket 474:

I added a targetCriteria attribute. You can use this to select the set of objects that will be considered by the AutoDefenseDevice?.

• Use "sAE" to select ship (s) that are active (A) and are enemies (E).
• Use "mE" to select enemy missiles/projectile.
• Use "bE" to select enemy beams.
• Use "msAE" to select enemy ships AND missiles.
• Use the 'N' modifier to select ships within a certain range (e.g., "sAE N:25;" to select enemy ships within 25 light-seconds). If not specified, we select objects within 10 light-seconds.
• Use "t +asteroid;" to select asteroids.

I used Prohet's auto mining devices to create a small test mod, which I added to my starting ship:

Code: Select all

<!---	Auto-miner device	--->

	<ItemType UNID="&itAutoMiner;"
			name=				"auto-miner"
			level=				"4"
			value=				"7000"
			mass=				"3500"
			frequency=			"rare"
			unknownType=		"&itUnknownEnhancer5;"
			modifiers=			"MajorItem"

			description=		"The auto-miner unit is a fully automated unit, detecting and extracting ore from asteroids."
			>

		<Image imageID="&rsItems1;" imageX="96" imageY="0" imageWidth="96" imageHeight="96"/>

		<AutoDefenseDevice
			targetCriteria=		"t +asteroid;"
			weapon=			"&itMiningLaser;"
			fireRate=		"25"
		/>

	</ItemType>

That makes a rather dumb device which fires at any asteroid in a 10ls range (default).
What I notice is, you get two beams, one fires straight ahead your ship - 12 o'clock and the other one is targetted at the asteroid.
It would probably better to use an omni- weapon for this.

[RPC]

What I notice is, you get two beams, one fires straight ahead your ship - 12 o'clock and the other one is targetted at the asteroid.

That may be related to this: LinkedFire and firearcs is not a good combo
I don't think changing what the ICX device should cause it to fire haphazardly. However, if since you used a weapon with a repeat, for some reason the game only sets the first shot to target, and the others just fire normally. It really should be fixed. This probably is a bug, please report on trac.

[CFG]

Ooops, seems I no longer/never had a trac account (yet) ... Ill create one and a ticket for the autoDefenseDevice.

[shanejfilomena]

Add a device that causes ore-bearing asteroids to light up (glow or have crosshairs appear) anytime the player flies within a short distance (say 10 to 20 ls) of it. Device needs to be low level and cheap. I mine only in the early game. Mining after St. K's is out of the question thanks to Ferian interference.

P.S. If the player knows exactly which rocks to shoot, he might be able to shoot just that one rock without hitting Ferians. It is when the player needs to shoot the entire asteroid belt to find ore that hitting Ferians becomes inevitable.

got those: missionframework : the weapon is a Thumper ( think it was a Dune Chronicles reference? )

but if mining was fun: don't you think Id be in the mountains with the bears instead of here playing on my computer?
it is not fun, it is adventurously relaxing to mindlessly shoot and drift ( if you got the fuel or solar armor , i got solar armor )
=============

I never observed any linkfire issues before:
we have had linkfire weapons in the game ( think ?) I believe the weapons upgrade kits did that?

but i think the issues would be the fire arc specs of a weapon to be the culprits or over expectation of a pilot to just push a button...
if the ships and weapons get too automated then the ships don't need the pilots.

[Schnobs]

Sorry for resurrecting that old thread. Then again, it was still on the first page...

The most important showstopper (to me) is the need to re-equip my ship.
I might well mine a few rocks here and there when I fell like it, however, I can't.
First I have to get to a station and give my ship a workover. Might as well install a
power-saving shield while I'm at it. Once I've put so much effort into transforming
my ship into a miner, I can't just leave it at a few rocks -- I mine until I'm totally,
utterly fed up with mining.

Result: I'm utterly fed up with mining and won't do it again until I absolutely have to.
It's sort of a pie-eating contest, making the pie more delicious won't really help.

That said, I'd certainly welcome a Omni Mining Laser (and the abillity to target
rocks, though that of course shouldn't get in the way when I'm *not* mining).
That, and being able to scoop up the stuff with a single keypress.

[PM]

The most important showstopper (to me) is the need to re-equip my ship.

Which ship do you use? The Wolfen does not need to reequip for mining (if you always equip it a cargo hold). Miner's hold is the best for a Wolfen unless the player wants to smuggle stuff, and it can easily spare a slot for a mining laser. Sapphire can manage as Wolfen-lite. The only ship really hurt is the EI500 because of the cursed two weapon limit.

My biggest problem with mining in an unmodified game is without a detector, mining is so mind-numbingly boring and akin to grinding. Worse, if the system is infested with Ferians, mining every asteroid is a recipe for disaster because it is too hard for the player to avoid shooting Ferians if he wants to shoot every asteroid. On the other hand, if detection is so easy that it can be done while flying on autopilot, you may as well skip the middleman and give the player his free money. Mining can easily yield the highest profits early in the game if the player is willing to grind each rock.

[Schnobs]

Miner's hold is the best [...] unless the player wants to smuggle stuff

But, but... I *always* want to smuggle stuff! Or at least don't want to see it confiscated.
Permanently (un)loading stuff is just plain silly, or would be, if I'd not forget about it.

[Atarlost]

Possibly Mining should be removed and made a side effect of WMD. The freighter is usually going to mount a high WMD ammoless weapon for basecracking, negating that slot tax. This would make the pseudo-WMD weapons less attractive for freighters, but apart from them the freighter would be free to mine.

[shanejfilomena]

Possibly Mining should be removed and made a side effect of WMD. The freighter is usually going to mount a high WMD ammoless weapon for basecracking, negating that slot tax. This would make the pseudo-WMD weapons less attractive for freighters, but apart from them the freighter would be free to mine.

I experimented with a weapon that had a " side effect " of mining ( re-done Kiloton Ammo ). While nice for the experiment, I did not think it would meet the Balance requirements in the end.

However, I think if you recall that I LOVE to go mining I could only suggest that the EM Thumper be pulled out of Mission framework and added into the Mining Colonies for sale with the mining Laser or maybe [IF George ever does his Free Ferians, they might offer the Thumper being as for their evolution it would be logical that they evolved into "Free Ferians" with the access to such technology]. I enjoy those Thumpers because they do not in the slightest feel like cheating or give you more of an advantage then if you drifted through firing off your laser ( or plasma Torch ) : but it does save fuel ( not extremely so but every little bit helps )

[WillyTheSquid]

Sorry for resurrecting that old thread. Then again, it was still on the first page...

The most important showstopper (to me) is the need to re-equip my ship.
I might well mine a few rocks here and there when I fell like it, however, I can't.
First I have to get to a station and give my ship a workover. Might as well install a
power-saving shield while I'm at it. Once I've put so much effort into transforming
my ship into a miner, I can't just leave it at a few rocks -- I mine until I'm totally,
utterly fed up with mining.

Result: I'm utterly fed up with mining and won't do it again until I absolutely have to.
It's sort of a pie-eating contest, making the pie more delicious won't really help.

That said, I'd certainly welcome a Omni Mining Laser (and the abillity to target
rocks, though that of course shouldn't get in the way when I'm *not* mining).
That, and being able to scoop up the stuff with a single keypress.

http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=1079

Here is your omni mining laser and a whole heck of a lot more. You're welcome

[CFG]

My current idea is an experience system: The more ore you extract, the more experience you get and the easier it gets to find ore. Eg. a bonus to scanners, mining laser, etc ... I also thought about building a reputation with the miners ("Commonwealth Mining Association" - "CMA") that allows you to get better equipment. This could be done by doing missions for a mining base or by selling ore to it - at a very low price.

However I need to beat 1.08 first, if I dont run into any more issues with the game

[Schnobs]

After finding out about mods, I got me a few of them and started over.

I very much like the prospector: the scanner doesn't even cover the whole screen, so you still need to fly in patterns and circles in order to scan the rocks. If you're seriously into mining, you've still got a lot of busywork. I didn't try any of the other mining mods and don't know if I will. That prospector thingy feels just right.

[shanejfilomena]

there is mining and then there is Mining : there are great things in the extensions and hidden goodies in Adventures too that relate to mining ( but they usually were done to enhance the adventures or a result of things in the adventures by the way the AI behaves).

There is a Mining Auton : Packer Auton : personally, I had to adjust the ones I have for better control but they are cool straight out of the box just the same.
The lander Auton is cool too, but I am impatient so I made mine a little faster going from rock to rock : seemed like forever for it to get to the next rock.
And Mission FrameWork : has some cool mining ideals with the EMthumper ( also available for sale I believe so you can stock up on them)