First of all, Assume for the rest of this suggestion that the final result should mine an equal amount of the current 5 Excavators, I am not suggesting more yield.
So the Idea is really simple, the Rorqual pilot would put 3 T1 Barges inside their Ship Hanger, and would then launch and use them as they do their normal drones, the key change here is that the rorqual pilot would be able to Fit each barge allowing them a new level of customization, fit more tank to survive attack, or more speed to go back and forth faster, or more cargo space letting them stay out longer before returning.
They could be controlled like a carrier controls his fighters, instead of guns they have mining lasors, instead of missiles they have drones, and the usual prop mod if they have one fit.
Again the goal would be giving the rorqual pilot flexability without dramatically changing the amount they mine, this would also be a boon for the general industry market as more barges would be getting bought and sold.
Im going to have to give this one a no, while i’m still catching up on all theyve changed since i last played in 2016 what i do know are rorquals are in the best place theyve been since then. and in fact already have been nerfed for being a little bit too good.
This and i dont believe any ship should be able to launch other ships that act autonomously, how can you tell a retriever with a pod in it from a retriever answering to its owner via space wifi if your hunting it?
Do they warp to station when you warp station?
If you warp or jump without them can someone else scoop/ board them?
And better yet why? Its practically no more flexible than what the rorqual already has, unless you wanted this because you need to deal with belt rats in which case you should leave that to the Exhumers and Barges which should have people in them and already be on grid with you.
Not to mention replacing a barge is far too cheap compared to an excavator, which would now be worthless again
Rorq would just become a carrier with configurable fighters/barges.
Aslo rorq’s suck just now, miners are opting to use Augmented and normal Miner 2’s instead of excavators of which the price has crashed from a bill to like 3 or 400 mill thats how few are being used the demand is gone because their so easily lost.
Rorquals having the ability to configure their drone/barge would be a cool thing I think
I would argue that be treated the same as fighters then with specialized classes that do specific things. However im confused as to what they would do differently, im not a miner by any means myself but what else would the drone need to do?
Faster with a smaller ORE hold?
More tank but less yield?
Ice Mining?
Gas?
I highly doubt CCP would go for launched Drone Barges, and what your talking about sounds like an into tactical mining Drones much like the tactical destroyers or T3’s
My initial thought was just to turn the rorqual into a carrier and make a selection of miner wings with different stats, like the things you suggest, like a wing that is tanky but moves slower , a wing thats got a bigger ore hold so can stay on the rock longer but has less tank, a wing thats really fast etc etc.
But as I thought about it, I thought it might be way more fun for the miner if he was able to fit the thing doing the mining like it was a player ship, this thought lead the idea of just putting barges that you fit and have the rorqual send them out to mine, you then have so many more options just with access to a fitting window.
Mining barges are not drones - they need a pilot. You would basically be going back to the days when the Rorqual was simply a fleet support ship. That might not be a bad thing but it is unlikely to happen. I think the current situation where excavators are highly vulnerable due to blackout may turn out to be a very effective way to balance the ships.
I could maybe see adding a little more variety in the mining drone lineup, but what you’re proposing is over the top.
Also, it sounds like you want to replace the drone bay on a Rorq with a fighter bay, which means it would lose access to all other mining drones. That seems rather counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve.
-1 Too far out of the box, not even beneficial for your stated goal.
You know, I’m actually cool with this idea but having those barges be under a limited AI control. You command them to do their thing and they are a little slow to respond to commands. Would generate targets for hunters, which WE REALLY NEED MORE TARGETS PLZ
no ones using excavators now, why do you think they went from over 1b to what they at now? like 400 mill or something insane. rorq’s are using T2’s and Augmenteds which are around 50mill.
Fitting a Barge to min max will have you putting more isk on field not less.
Fully fit T2 barges cost MAYBE 300m without faction miners/faction mining laser upgrades.
T1 barges cost about 20m
Unless these barges put like 400m worth of plex in the cargohold, they’re 100% not 400m. Maybe this would work if you needed to pay 500m isk in order to buy a rig that allows the barges to be launched from a rorq
