Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Pages: [1] 2

Author Topic: Asteroid Mining  (Read 11398 times)

DeMatt

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 109
    • View Profile
Asteroid Mining
« on: November 04, 2014, 01:38:01 PM »

(because the latest thread I found on the subject was over two years old)
Now that we have ores and metals and all sorts of exciting new industries to sell them to... I'd like to suggest the introduction of a basic "asteroid mining" mechanic.  Get comfy, this is a multi-part suggestion.

1.  "Mineral" Damage Type
Add a new damage type to the game, I'm calling it "Mineral" because that's what it's for.  Mineral damage would be like EMP damage, in that it doesn't add to the rated DPS of the weapon, and in fact has no combat use (unless you wanted to make it better at blowing up asteroids in combat).  Mining Lasers and Mining Blasters would obviously have it in spades, there might be a couple other weapons which have a little... otherwise, no change.

2.  "Mining Scoop" Preinstalled Hull Mod
This would be a hull mod like "Shielded Cargo Holds", in that the player can't install it.  What it does, is it doubles (or triples or somesuch) the effectiveness of the ship in the mining calculation (see part 4).  It'd just be present on some hulls and some variations.  I'm thinking Mining Pods, Shepherd, and Venture are guaranteed;  Tarsus is a possibility... maybe the Hegemony puts it on their Buffalo variant?

3.  De- and Re-spawning Asteroids
Just a means of despawning the asteroid after the player's mined it, and then respawning it somewhere else randomly in the same belt.  I have to ask, does Starsector actually retain asteroids when you leave the star system?  Because I think that's a waste of memory.

4.  "Mine Asteroid" Conversation Event
Essentially, this would take the Customs Inspection conversation and have the player trigger it on an asteroid.  I figure it'd go like this:
  • Player clicks on asteroid and fleet flies onto it.
  • The fleet's mining capability is determined.  The thought I had was that each ship would add up the sustained DPS of all its weapons (firing at Armor, so Kinetic and Frag are both penalized), plus bonus Mineral damage, then multiplied by the existence of a Mining Scoop hullmod on that ship.  These are added together, then adjusted to make "given X composition and Y capability, get Z resources" easier to calculate.
  • Conversation window opens, giving a rough idea as to the asteroid's composition and listing the fleet's mining capability.  I assume composition would be determined by the belt - I'd put Ore, Rare Ore, and Volatiles as possible results.
  • The player can decline and try finding a new asteroid;  the first one despawns and respawns somewhere else.
  • Or the player can accept, in which case his fleet lingers around the asteroid while a timer-bar ticks up.  Once it finishes, he gets his resources and the asteroid spawns elsewhere.
  • Getting attacked aborts the process.  Don't try this with hostiles nearby!

...And that's the lot.  Thoughts?
Logged

XMod

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 8
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2014, 01:52:38 PM »

I am already working on a similar mod. http://www.mediafire.com/download/oor30bvicpc7xvo/XMod.rar

to work, you need to upgrade JANINO
« Last Edit: November 04, 2014, 02:03:26 PM by XMod »
Logged

Debido

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1183
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2014, 03:19:29 PM »

Any time you start suggesting that you need to upgrade a core Starsector library to run your mod, you have a problem with your mod. You need to compile your mod before distribution.
Logged

Debido

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1183
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2014, 03:23:38 PM »

Sorry DeMatt. Have you tried Vacuum's 'mining'? system. You can get random events where you get under attack.

I'm not sure how I feel about grindy mining in a game where you actually shot up asteroids. I'd rather setup a automated mining facility or some such thing, leave it with some crew, then come back from time to pick up ore. Or maybe even let other generated traders pick up ore, and I automatically get credited the overall profit.
Logged

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2014, 05:23:13 PM »

I like mining quite a bit, as a side activity players can do, especially if it actually eats up finite resources and may result in encounters (time simulation).  I'm not sure I'd be happy with a "set up a mine and forget about it" model; while that's realistic (a huge asteroid worth mining in the first place is a long-term activity) it doesn't really fit with SS's "lots of teeny asteroids" look and feel.  It'd make more sense if there were a few really big ones and a few really small ones, with custom graphics... which, huh, we can do now, I think.
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

Gothars

  • Global Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 4403
  • Eschewing obfuscatory verbosity.
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2014, 07:21:02 AM »

Alex was pretty clear that's he's not a fan of the personal, grindy style of mining. Instead we'll probably get to set up, supervise and protect our own mining operations at some point. Which I'd much prefer.
Logged
The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

SCC

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 4112
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2014, 08:04:26 AM »

It would be nice to see a scenario where pirate are attacking mining fleet and player need to fend them off until objective is completed (like mining enough ore or getting something valuable. You know, space Indiana Jones and all).

DeMatt

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 109
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2014, 05:21:14 PM »

Alex was pretty clear that's he's not a fan of the personal, grindy style of mining. Instead we'll probably get to set up, supervise and protect our own mining operations at some point. Which I'd much prefer.
I feel that, just as with the X-series, there's room for both "shoot up an asteroid" and "stick a mine on an asteroid"-style operations.  The former you'd do early on, when you only have a couple ships;  the latter you'd do late in the game, when you can actually afford to hire the hundreds of miners and run the freighters necessary to carry the mine.

Another part of making this system act like the customs inspections is that we could have NPC fleets doing the same thing.
Logged

Debido

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1183
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2014, 05:29:50 PM »

Well, I don't think I'd mind the first few hours of game including a *little* bit of 'grindy' mining, but as a mini game it is really only an early game aspect for gaining money.

In later to end game, I could occasionally do mining style activities IF it actually had increasingly significant risk/reward options available to me. I wouldn't care to do mining myself, I'd rather pay others to do it for me!
Logged

Cromodus

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 44
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2014, 06:22:06 AM »

What about this:

When you're mining, you may be attacked by pirates, it's then up to you to decide if you want to mine manualy and join the battle when pirates show up or leave everything to the autopilot and let it resolve battles while you're away.

I wouldn't setup a mining operation without some sort of escort fleet anyway.

I could see myself taking over a quick mining operation if I was in a hostile system with lots of enemies flying around, stealing some very rare metals from protected asteroids. On the flip side I could purchase some space real estate where I can legally perform mining in a safe star system and setup an automated mining op there because I wouldn't be worried about pirates. Meanwhile I would be running the Trade Fleet to transport all the good stuff.

It seems like a best of both worlds. Manual mining for the ones who want it and automated mining for the rest, with a good lore reason.
Logged

Darloth

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 592
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #10 on: November 06, 2014, 07:12:28 AM »

Elite: Frontier had these rather cool automated mining crawlers you could buy and then deploy.  It would drive over the asteroid/moon/whatever, find a good spot, and start mining for you.

Eventually it would send you a message saying it was full, unless someone else detected and destroyed it but that was quite rare.

I like that sort of idea, personally.  Maybe I'll give it a go if it's not too hard.
Logged

obo

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 12
  • Since 2012
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #11 on: November 09, 2014, 06:20:20 AM »

Just a quick question: is there mining in the game already? There are mining lasers and asteroids and materials on the market. With the newest Vanilla Version can i do this?
Logged

SafariJohn

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3010
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #12 on: November 09, 2014, 07:18:33 AM »

No, asteroids and mining lasers have been in the game for quite some time, but there is still no mining.
Logged

Plasmatic

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 500
  • Curious no?
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #13 on: November 09, 2014, 11:57:39 AM »

Just a quick question: is there mining in the game already? There are mining lasers and asteroids and materials on the market. With the newest Vanilla Version can i do this?

I believe Uomoz mod has mining, but so far it's incompatible with 0.65.1
Logged
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt"
- Maurice Switzer

Linnis

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1009
    • View Profile
Re: Asteroid Mining
« Reply #14 on: November 11, 2014, 03:47:18 AM »

Alex was pretty clear that's he's not a fan of the personal, grindy style of mining. Instead we'll probably get to set up, supervise and protect our own mining operations at some point. Which I'd much prefer.

yes.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2