Please make the systems that Ice Belts spawn in random, the way it is now it just encourages botting.
7 Likes
No brainer
+1
1 Like
Random spawn 0.4 or below excluding WHS
1 Like
I would say just the opposite, high sec most of all because there is no risk.
2 Likes
I agree ice belts need to become anoms and not daily 4 hour respawns in High Sec.
3 Likes
…
I want the opposite and the old system to come back. No one mining wants the active gameplay and the culture/human environment of those belts was amazing.
Similarly with the current system botting is just a part of mining and the communities that have formed around ice are absolutely fascinating anthropological/sociologicaly speaking. Particularly ones in hs pockets. These are worth more than the belt balance to the sandbox.
But adding wandering ice signs or anoms would be a good way to go about it.
5 Likes
lol, mostly this!
1 Like
I’d make the changes to ice belts be two-pronged:
-
Change the current ice belt anoms back into static belts, but remove make them standard faction ice only. No enriched ice and none of the “special” ice. They would respawn at downtime just like regular asteroid belts do so if they get mined out, you have to wait until DT, not just 4 hours.
-
Add ice anoms just like the current ones but have them respawn a certain time after depletion in random systems using the same mechanics that current asteroid mining anoms do.
(The total amount of ice that would spawn per belt/anom would have to be tweaked to make sure that more ice overall isn’t spawning.)
This would put ice mining more on par with asteroid mining in that there would be some fixed belts that yield lower-grade resources, but if you want the better ice you have to go looking for it.
I don’t think this will necessarily reduce botting, but it would be nice to have the two types of mining be more consistent with each other.
3 Likes
The thing that sucks about the fixed belts is later time zones can’t participate. West coast US, forget about it.
4 Likes
Between players and these new-ish mining NPCs, west coast US players are already pretty much out of luck for mining fixed asteroid belts, except in systems with huge numbers of belts. The same would apply to folks in that time zone mining the fixed ice belts too.
But remember that bit where I said the total ice being spawned would have to be tweaked? Implied in that, and I should have been more explicit in stating this, is that the amount of ice available in the now-no-longer-confied-to-one-system anoms would be sufficient to ride out the lows in the daily cycle.
2 Likes
Not everything should be change: “because bots”! Terrible idea.
+1 to the OP.
Actually I think all Ore, Ice and Gas sites should be Cosmic Signature sites.
It would change the start of the game and how new pilots become better at scanning if standard Ore is within cosmic signature sites only.
The amount of active belts though would reduce and npcs that currently mine ore current belts might not be required which sort of removes them from the game outside of strongbox hunters.
After 0.6 systems perhaps but please not all belts and I like how the rare ore spawn, maybe that could be tweaked only? Maybe?
1 Like
Yeah, I’m not talking about removing the regular Ore and Gas fields.
When the big exploration expansion Apocrypha was first implemented (mid 2009) Ore and Gas sites were actually Cosmic Signatures that needed to be scanned down, I don’t think Ice fields were included.
Back then as an explorer, I had a nice little business happening on the side for a few yrs, selling bookmarks of Ore and Gas sites to various Industrial groups. They actually preferred mining in those sites compared to regular belts because it actually gave them a bit more safety and D-scan give them an early warning of any active probes and types of ships within range. Hulkageddon was pretty much in it’s prime around that time.
Anyway, in Odyssey expansion (mid 2013) CCP changed those Cosmic Signatures into Cosmic Anomalies. I don’t remember the exact reason they gave for doing that, probably something sorta like making it easier for players to access that content. Personally I think it was done to allow easy ganks. After the Signature / Anomaly change, no scanning would be required to actually find Mining ships in those sites.
I think Anomalies should only consist of the current un-named / un-rated Combat sites and low level Hacking sites. All other sites - Named / DED Rated Combat sites, high level Hacking sites, Ore, Gas (and Ice?) should be Cosmic Signatures requiring the use of probes to find.
2 Likes
oh nice like how we can contract bookmarks.
1 Like
Just make them signatures. They spawn in a random system in the … constellation ?
One ice belt per constellation. Plus two region-wide belts, to avoid people knowing which one is which.
The ice inside it depends solely on the truesec of the system it spawns in. Same system for HS, NS, LS.
Also add a two region-wide WH ice belt per WH region…
1 Like
Thats too many ice belts overall, imo.
| region | constellations | icebelts |
|---|---|---|
| Aridia | 11 | 11 |
| Black Rise | 6 | 7 |
| Branch | 14 | 20 |
| Cache | 7 | 7 |
| Catch | 15 | 17 |
| Cloud Ring | 6 | 9 |
| Cobalt Edge | 10 | 24 |
| Curse | 7 | 10 |
| Deklein | 9 | 16 |
| Delve | 15 | 18 |
| Derelik | 16 | 13 |
| Detorid | 14 | 17 |
| Devoid | 8 | 6 |
| Domain | 26 | 12 |
| Esoteria | 12 | 20 |
| Essence | 9 | 11 |
| Etherium Reach | 15 | 5 |
| Everyshore | 7 | 14 |
| Fade | 4 | 5 |
| Feythabolis | 12 | 17 |
| Fountain | 17 | 24 |
| Geminate | 11 | 18 |
| Genesis | 15 | 15 |
| Great Wildlands | 15 | 16 |
| Heimatar | 12 | 5 |
| Immensea | 12 | 20 |
| Impass | 7 | 8 |
| Insmother | 16 | 18 |
| Kador | 13 | 8 |
| Khanid | 12 | 8 |
| Lonetrek | 15 | 12 |
| Malpais | 15 | 14 |
| Metropolis | 23 | 20 |
| Molden Heath | 6 | 8 |
| Oasa | 13 | 24 |
| Omist | 6 | 8 |
| Outer Passage | 13 | 22 |
| Outer Ring | 9 | 14 |
| Paragon Soul | 6 | 13 |
| Period Basis | 6 | 5 |
| Perrigen Falls | 15 | 22 |
| Placid | 11 | 13 |
| Providence | 13 | 19 |
| Pure Blind | 13 | 13 |
| Querious | 14 | 21 |
| Scalding Pass | 12 | 14 |
| Sinq Laison | 15 | 11 |
| Solitude | 6 | 4 |
| Stain | 18 | 30 |
| Syndicate | 14 | 22 |
| Tenal | 10 | 14 |
| Tenerifis | 12 | 19 |
| The Bleak Lands | 5 | 4 |
| The Citadel | 13 | 6 |
| The Forge | 13 | 19 |
| The Kalevala Expanse | 10 | 9 |
| The Spire | 11 | 14 |
| Tribute | 8 | 15 |
| Vale of the Silent | 17 | 21 |
| Venal | 14 | 17 |
| Verge Vendor | 6 | 1 |
| Wicked Creek | 12 | 11 |
total : regions=62 constels=727 belts=858
With 1 belt per constel + 2 belts per regions => total 851 ice belts, so that’s 7 less.
Regions are listed from ESI.
ice data are taken from dotlan region page, eg
with a dom selection span[style=“font-weight: bold; color: blue;”] , which text was translated in the integer value of ice belts in that system.
Constellation are taken from ESI regions path.
3 Likes
The fact that they can be mapped out shows just how wrong the design is.
3 Likes
An idea in the player features & ideas sub-section of the forum that’s actually good?! This is a rare find. I’m not a miner, never was, never will be, but I like this idea.
1 Like