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Author Topic: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?  (Read 21899 times)

SeaBee

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #15 on: May 24, 2011, 12:16:18 AM »

I like the idea of mining operations. Not so sure I'd like to do the actual mining, though. Depends on how it's done.

Maybe there could be valuable sites in space (rich asteroid belts) that we could fight to control, and once we control them we could invest in a mining operation that took place without us needing to do it ourselves. That way we could keep fighting, have an important resource to defend, and earn money/materials outside of combat.

Over time, given substantial investments, maybe that mining operation of ours could get seriously lucrative (and really draw attention).
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Alex

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2011, 08:24:36 AM »

I like the idea of mining operations. Not so sure I'd like to do the actual mining, though. Depends on how it's done.

Maybe there could be valuable sites in space (rich asteroid belts) that we could fight to control, and once we control them we could invest in a mining operation that took place without us needing to do it ourselves. That way we could keep fighting, have an important resource to defend, and earn money/materials outside of combat.

Over time, given substantial investments, maybe that mining operation of ours could get seriously lucrative (and really draw attention).

That's just right on. We'll do our best to make it work that way :)

I'm not a fan of having to actually do the mining myself. I'd much rather set something up and worry about the strategic aspects of it than steer asteroids into the hold over and over again.

Let me tell you a little story about playing Eve. Being totally new to the game, I set up a nice little mining operation - the idea sounded cool. Then I thought, hmm, this is kinda fun and I can even read while the mining is going on! Then having to interrupt reading to keep the mining going got annoying. Then I quit Eve.

Now, I know there's a lot more to Eve than that, and I'm not knocking it. But that type of scenario is one I'd like to avoid like the plague.


But I was thinking SF was trying to be more combat focused than the myriad of other games that have Mining.

Combat is a big part, of course - I'd say it's about half the game - but I think it seems more combat focused than it is just because that's all that you can do right now.
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baxmau

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2011, 11:21:15 AM »

Sounds awesome Alex, thats great. In starcraft terms, I'm more concerned with the Macro than the Micro :)
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Flare

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2011, 03:15:56 PM »

I'd much rather set something up and worry about the strategic aspects of it

How about the logistics part of it? Asteroids in belts are quite far apart. I think a very basic management of the supply lines from the mines to the refineries, factories, depots, and trade stations might be worth taking a look at.
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The battle station is not completely operational, shall we say.

"Now witness the firepower of this thoroughly buggy and unoperational batt... Oh, hell, you know what? Just ignore the battle station, okay?"

Alex

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2011, 04:23:13 PM »

How about the logistics part of it? Asteroids in belts are quite far apart. I think a very basic management of the supply lines from the mines to the refineries, factories, depots, and trade stations might be worth taking a look at.

Yep, to me that's part of "setting it up". I didn't say the setup would be mindless, in fact, it ought to require some thinking, so that you can do a good or bad job of it. The plans for the economy revolve around moving about resources extracted in different places - so logistics will play into it big time.
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Flare

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2011, 04:42:46 PM »

That;s awesome! From the sounds of it, what you described sounds a lot like the logistics system in Warrior Kings. The bad part of that specific system though, was that the villages you set up away from the main base wouldn't really specilize all that much in the resources they gathered. All villages brought in the same resources, The only thing that made this sort of system stand out was that you had to plan how the wagons bringing in the resources to the manor didn't over stock in one place , thus making the management of the wagons carting the resources around vital to the resources coming in.
This system was incredibly fun in multiplayer from my limited experience of it. Raiding carts full of scarce gold ore was a very real viable strategy.
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The battle station is not completely operational, shall we say.

"Now witness the firepower of this thoroughly buggy and unoperational batt... Oh, hell, you know what? Just ignore the battle station, okay?"

Alex

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #21 on: May 24, 2011, 05:14:17 PM »

Raiding gold carts for profit does sound like fun :)

The "gold" here would be Infernium, an extremely rare mineral that's the only source of starship fuel. It's rumored to originate in an alternate dimension populated by all manner of nightmarish beings. These occasionally spill over into humanity's domain through mediosolar openings known as "rifts" and spell doom for the unwary space traveler.

... but I've already said too much!
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Avan

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #22 on: May 24, 2011, 05:52:10 PM »

O_o
Can we capture their ships?

Alex

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #23 on: May 24, 2011, 06:14:09 PM »

... but I've already said too much!
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Avan

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #24 on: May 24, 2011, 06:29:43 PM »

***must capture ships from beyond this dimension***  :o :o :o :o :o :o

SeaBee

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #25 on: May 25, 2011, 03:45:00 AM »

I'm so excited to see all these different activities come together.

I had pretty much the same experience playing Eve. At first I thought it was great, very relaxing and all, but I got tired of and decided it was just a time sink. (I'm not much of an MMO player I guess.)

*Wanders off to ponder Infernium*
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Ivaylo

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #26 on: May 25, 2011, 04:44:13 AM »

Way to torpedo years of Hegemony denial efforts, Alex! This sorta news made public is sure to cause havoc with the general population in the Sector.
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Flare

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #27 on: May 25, 2011, 01:08:28 PM »

Raiding gold carts for profit does sound like fun :)

The "gold" here would be Infernium, an extremely rare mineral that's the only source of starship fuel. It's rumored to originate in an alternate dimension populated by all manner of nightmarish beings. These occasionally spill over into humanity's domain through mediosolar openings known as "rifts" and spell doom for the unwary space traveler.

... but I've already said too much!

The reason the raiding of those gold carts became so important was because it's appolication was so wide ranging. It may not have been  vital like food or wood, but most of the higher tiered techs needed it. As well as most of the better units above the basic spears and archers. As such, in some multiplayer games, the defensive lines weren't in the front between the two players, but near the transportation lines of these valuable resources.
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The battle station is not completely operational, shall we say.

"Now witness the firepower of this thoroughly buggy and unoperational batt... Oh, hell, you know what? Just ignore the battle station, okay?"

Trylobot

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #28 on: July 06, 2011, 08:45:10 AM »

I definitely like the idea of "setting & forgetting" mining operations. Once the player has discovered a potential mining site, either through exploration or forceful acquisition, I like the thought of setting up a train. So here's a potential scenario:

You pay a fee in standard units of currency, but not a flat fee. The calculation of the fee will be based on the perceived risk of the location, by the central mining agency/authority (hereafter known as the CMA). If the CMA deems that your location is very risky, it will be a tough ask for them to send hardware out to it. But assuming you can afford it, you must then choose a physical route for the shipping lane. Locations which have been attacked often, or which are remote/unknown, or very far away, will be perceived as high risk.

It is in your best interest to deliver the goods to the port of call who will pay the most for it, so at this point you would refer to a navigation map with economy information overlaid. If your profit margins fall later, you would want to redirect your lane to a new, more profitable location, but at a cost. The CMA would have to be involved, to make sure that your new lane is not any more risky than before.

The mining ships would come in the form of fighter squadrons equipped with miniature cargo bays. They would fly out to the asteroids, or other valuable objects in space such as derelict ship hulks or even alien technology and organics/unknowns. The mining drones would use their special lasers to collect mass until full, and return to the mining carrier. This ship would have flight decks for the drones to be repaired/refitted, and a massive cargo bay for resource collection. It would also have some decent point defense and armor/shields, as it would be the crux of the mining operation at that location.

To transport the goods from the mining carrier to the current shipping lane destination, you'd need some transports. These transports would have to physically path from point to point through the systems, all the while exposed to raids and other dangers, so they would require escorts. I would say this would be a good opportunity for player choice; you could set the convoy size and escort size/configuration to whatever you like, and they would truck with their convoy back and forth as they make deliveries.

If a convoy is attacked, the player would be notified immediately, and hopefully would be able to either A) redirect other convoy escorts to assist, B) call for additional help from the CMA, who doesn't really want to lose their hardware any more than you want to lose your cargo, but their help is not free, or lastly C) go there yourself, assuming you're not too far away. Assuming you defeat the pirates, you would get back anything they stole, but if they win, the risk of your mining operation increases, and the CMA gets angry with you and charges you a fee for being a dolt.

This is rapidly turning into a space fantasy. I love shipping lanes.
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Dibuk

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Re: Viability of trading and mining vs combat?
« Reply #29 on: July 06, 2011, 02:31:29 PM »

There will be mining helium in nebulas? ... It must be! Else it's not a real space game! ... All the crew gets squicky voices while mining, and suddenly some miner say "hey why do we have squicky voices? Isnt' the loadingbay air-tight?" and the other miner would go "Sure it is, Jenkins. Don't be such a scare, the loadingbay is just fine, look at the green light!" but then Jenkins would look over the controll panels and say "what about that red light then?" the other guy would say "Oh thats for corridor C5 just behind us, the red light indicates a leak to space, you silly." he would chuckle and then realise, just as Jenkins and him both sucks out in space through a 2mm breach, that the red light is bad. And they would scream... in squicky voices.

...

I'll go to bed now.
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