Mining Overhaul: Actively Engaging

[slobo_slobovitch]

Hey OP

After reading your post and replies here I started to wonder if you know the curent spawn mechanics for ore and ice anomalies in null. As I understood it, you are now sugesting a major buff to asteroid availability by greatly reducing the time they stay despawned. I’ m not sure if that is your intention or a mistake.

[Xuixien]

Regardless of specifics here, fields in Null should take longer to respawn and have less total upgrade levels

[slobo_slobovitch]

If that is your intention you should update your OP numbers from 1-4h to somewhere around 5-10h.

Altho that kind of update could potentialy ■■■■ over AU time players more than others as its much more likely to get really bad spawn times for the belts. (Compared to EU tz, where you get to cherrypick right after downtime)

[Xuixien]

It’s easy to change the range, 1-4 in High, some other value in Null with the ability to upgrade to reduce the range a bit.

[Valiran_Teleros]

I agree with other posters that these ideas seem more like something that would make mining more aggravating to do instead of more fun to do, but there are some parts that I think could be good for the game.

@Xuixien

• Put asteroid belts on the same mechanic as ice fields. Systems with available sites would contain X number of fields, each a different size (small, medium, large, enormous), and each would have it’s own random 1-4 hour timer. When the field is depleted, an RNG of 1-4 is generated and the timer begins. No predictability. LORE: The Probe Scanner actually receives this information from the fluid router net as the Empires/SOV holders continually survey their systems for appropriate gravimetric nodes to be mined. Due to the distances involved and the navigational hazards most asteroid fields present, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort for a suitable location to be scanned.

I think giving new belts a timer as the empires scan down new pockets of valuable ores would make sense since most of the asteroids in space would probably be regular nickel-iron that no one has any real use for, but navigational hazards are another matter. Asteroid belts don’t have the density to make navigation difficult, especially for ships as tough as the ones in EvE.

@Xuixien

• The fields would also be mobile - asteroids in the field would move in roughly the same direction at varying speeds, away from the initial warp in, with a max range of 2,000km before individual despawning (once the last rock is despawned, timer for respawn begins). Higher yield asteroids would be smaller and move faster than the larger, lower yield asteroids. The framework exists for this to be possible - asteroids already move when a moon chunk is detonated and can despawn right in your face.
• The direction of the field would be indicated by the asteroid environment effect extending behind and in front of the field - like the rings of gas giants, but straight.
• Asteroid belts (at least some) replaced with “depleted asteroid belts” which would still have some small rocks that can be mined. LORE: ■■■■ just got mined out over 20 years of non-stop capsuleer harvesting, not to mention the hundreds of years of faction development.
• Add environmental effects to asteroid fields, randomly generated from a list of possible effects when the field spawns. Some effects could be: Changes to ship velocity/agility, changes to mining laser (yield, range, cycle time, chance for crystal damage), continuous or random damage done to ships, effects on ship capacitor, effects on fleet assistance modules, etcetc. A different effect each time the field spawns (sometimes no effect) that applies to all ships/drones on field out to 200km.

No offense, but this sounds a little contrived. Why not have belts in high-security space be continually mined by NPC ships like what you can find now, only make them appear in every belt in high-security space, and in greater numbers the higher the system’s security rating? They’d be scarcer in low and null-security space, obviously, but if the system is owned by NPCs then they should still be present.

@Xuixien

Beef up the NPCs that spawn at asteroids. Diamond pirates, Triglavians, and diamond rogue drones are possibilities. Make them more dangerous as you approach 0.5, add scramblers/jamming and response fleets the lower in sec rating you go.

Yes, this is a good idea and I like it! You could also beef up the NPC miners by parking an Orca or Rorqual between the arms of the belt’s crescent for them to deliver their ore to. If someone wants to get the most valuable ores before the NPCs then they have to work for it, though going pirate and attacking the NPCs for their ore would also be an option.

@Xuixien

Moon fields would still behave the way they do now, with stationary asteroids held in place by a stasis field generated by the refinery. NPCs would make AFKing practically suicide.

I wonder, why not have the empires send ships to mine materials from moon fields that get popped in their space? It is their territory.

@Xuixien

• Why does every moon have resources? Most moons should have garbage.

I don’t know enough about astrogeology to agree or disagree with this.

@Xuixien

“Ore Site” anomalies in NullSec should function the same way. Upgrading SOV would simply increase the number of fields per system, but not their size or duration.

I think it would also make sense to require players to scan down ore anomalies in null-security space since the empires aren’t providing that service for you. If you and your corporation have good standing with a nullsec NPC faction then you would gain that service in their territory, but you’d have to work for it.

@Xuixien

• Rorquals bonused for mining moongoo ores.

Why not give the Primae that bonus? It would make the ship useful for something.

@Xuixien

Consolidate reprocessing skills for normal ore the same way ice is one skill and moon ores fall into categories.

That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

[Xuixien]

Thank you for thoughtful input that indicates you actually read my post and not just trolling. I appreciate it.

[Valiran_Teleros]

You’re welcome. I may not agree with everything you propose, but I appreciate a good discussion on how to improve the game.

[Valiran_Teleros]

More responses to other participants.

@Tipa_Riot

Somebody proposed a method similar to X3 (Breaking big chunks into smaller first), this would be more interesting, and can be used to create a minigame around.

Yeah, making mining an interactive activity by adding a minigame like what we do with hacking would certainly cut down on AFK playing.

@Xavier_Liche

Or we could just focus on things that we know are broken in mining like industrial command ship mining drones. Nerfing the ability for command ships to profitably mine solo, returning them to their real role would be a huge start.

I actually had some ideas for how Orcas, Porpoises, and Rorquals might be changed and I’d appreciate any feedback you might have for me, though I ask you to remember that I’m just spitballing at this point. I don’t understand the mechanics enough to tell if they’re good or bad ideas, and some might be mutually exclusive or impossible to implement, but the only way I’ll learn that is if I put the ideas out there for others to see. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

• Since industrial command ships are supposed to, you know, command mining operations, have their mining bonuses apply to the squad or wing they’re leading. Only Rorquals would be able to serve as wing leaders.
• Either give tractor beams the ability to push things around instead of just pulling them, or add a repulsor beam module that can do it. This would allow industrial command ships to move sentry drones around the belt and give better coverage to the mining ships they’re grouped with.
• Have the command ship assign drones from its bays to follow and aid the mining ships in its squad or wing, so if someone finds a rich ball of Mercoxit or something equally valuable they can call for assistance.
• Turn mining command bursts into a system that applies to all ships in the squadron or wing, with the player flying the command ship regulating which particular ships get how much of a bonus.

@Salt_Foambreaker

This could be a good path for the command ships. Require that (some?) asteroids be broken before being mined and give that ability to the command ships, meanwhile removing the ability to mine profitably.

Not a huge fan of mini games tho.

I think that it would be a good thing if asteroids needed to be cracked open and unwanted material scoured away to get at the valuable ore within, but how CCP would implement this system and what it would entail is the hard part. Hacking is basically minesweeper, so what would they make mining?

Some kind of puzzle? Something like Bethesda’s lockpicking minigame cosmetically changed to fit the context? Tetris?

[elitatwo]

If you want “engaging” and “not easy to bot”, CCP should put all asteroid belts into tier 45 abyssal sites with a 1 minute timer that will remove all your gear you bring and you have to fighte 83579569256987465912465975692756524 remote repping starving leshaks to get to the one unit of arconor at the end of room 25.

Hurry up, clock is ticking.

[IS_LAH_RAVIN]

Oh dear lord, you people are out of your mind. With a declining user base, the last thing you want to do is make the already tedious task of mining, even more so. This is what happens when people have nothing left to do in a game… Mining drives the economy, and cheap ships help drive conflict. Making things more expensive while only drive people into smaller areas, and cripple movement.

[Solecist_Project]

Any and all suggestions around mining are fruitless as long as you don’t try to get rid of those who destroy the mining profession, which is the single most important profession in this game.

As long as the worthless losers are around, there is no way of fixing it.

There needs to be room for real miners FIRST.