Seismic Stan (@Freebooted) commented on my previous ring mining post, stating that CCP Soundwave outlined some of his high falootin' ideas about the proposed new mining mechanic in the latest EON issue. Stan didn't go into much detail other than to mention that Soundwave really likes The Deadliest Catch (a show about Alaskan crab fishing trawlers.) One of his ideas on ring mining being an extension of fishing, actually cooperative net trawling through a planetary ring, scooping up rocks.
Net trawling sounds like a really cool idea. My previous ring mining post isn't very cool. But then it wasn't supposed to be. It was mainly a thought process on creating a new option for gameplay using only existing game mechanics.
Anyhow, completely new mechanics are always preferable to simply reworking a bunch of current mechanics into something sort of new.
So how might this cooperative net trawling work? I picture two mining vessels with a net (some sort of electro-force net) extended between them. They both fly in the same direction, manually piloting to keep an optimal distance between them, which keeps the net in a configuration that has the largest area, which then scoops up the most possible ring rocks.
I've drawn some pictures to illustrate (the glowy green thing is the net):
 |
| The ships are at their optimal distance, the net has the largest area, scooping up the most rocks. |
 |
| The ships are too far apart, the net too taut. The scooping area is reduced, fewer rocks collected. |
 |
| The ships are too close together, the net too loose. Fewer rocks collected. |
This seems reasonably bot-proof. This method of mining requires two accounts, minimum. Bots aren't very cooperative.
Net trawling through a planetary ring has that collaborative aspect CCP Soundwave wants in his ring mining. Since there is no way to set two ships flying in exactly the same direction automatically, this method of mining requires constant attention and constant manual course corrections. Speed corrections might also be necessary.
If CCP were to do something like this, get all the 3D aspects right, the many many ring rocks, the netting, the scooping into the net, the path of empty space behind the trawlers, then this could actually be a fun little way to mine.
Mining that isn't entirely boring, who would have thought it possible?
Really neat idea. Perhaps there could be some new HUD/UI overlay elements to go along with the 'net'.
ReplyDeleteThere were plenty more juicy nuggets of refined futurium from the mind of the Touborg in that article too. It was surprisingly inspiring and exciting given the conversation was about mining of all things. The trawler net was just the tip of the iceberg.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show, EON is worth reading. They do a digital version too y'know.
One possibility for automating the system, is to find a celestial in the general direction that you want to mine. If CCP's alignment code uses vectors with a lot of significant digits, then two ships aligning to a very far away celestial will remain equidistant (for all intents and purposes) for very long distances, thousands of kilometers.
ReplyDeleteWell I think you're a little too excited about the fishnets not being bottable.
ReplyDelete2 bots in fleet:
1: warp to mining field
2: warp to bot1 at *insert optimal distance for net*
1&2: activate net
1&2: Align to *insert furthest celestial while passing floating rocks*
Automated profit!
imo the only way to make mining interesting (as unboring as possible) and profitable is to create a system where there is a lot of (collaborated) preparation work to start up the mining process, but to make the income very big yet quickly reducing once your preparation is established.
Imagine having to set up a temporary plant to extract minerals from a rock, drag rocks towards the plant for processing, but the more rocks processed, the slower the plant processes rocks, until you have to replace parts/repair stuff/tear it down for recycling into a new plant. You can also add something like diminished income per rock, so you would have to decide if you are going to keep processing the almost depleted rock, or if you're going to bring a fresh new rock to the plant.
See my comment above yours. I already came to the same sad conclusion yesterday.
DeleteI noticed after posting. I guess I need to read more before I write ;)
DeleteLOL
ReplyDeletebest post evar!
he didn't speak to the danger which would have to be present to make this less than a boring activity eventually. If this is actually going to be a very profitable activity there must be danger.
ReplyDelete