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Make mining like minecraft.
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Smarcus Smokus
Donkey Punch Pioneers
Sticky Green Acres
#1 - 2012-08-09 20:11:34 UTC  |  Edited by: Smarcus Smokus
I'm sitting around the other day pondering the age old conundrum of "how do you make mining fun"?

Is mining an activity that can never be fun? Like a game called "Honey Dipper Simulator" that has a hard upper limit on the amount of joy one can experience upon completion?

I would say it is not.

I came up with all sorts of wacky ideas, some of which have already been mentioned many times on the forums. The one idea, and quite frankly the simplest idea, I can't say I've seen suggested recently: "Copy Minecraft".

Specifically, I'm talking about the foraging aspect of the game where you blindly feel about looking for valuable stuff (remove the blocks you can see to expose the hidden ones to see if they are worth anything).

For example, picture this:

An Example wrote:
Asteroids are no longer arranged in belts, they are "asteroid clouds". The asteroids would be arranged such that you could not fly into the center of the cloud without cutting a path (mining till they pop) through the outer asteroids. The asteroids are packed tightly enough that your ship will bounce off them when trying to fly to the center of an "unbeaten path".

The outside of the cloud would be something very inexpensive, like plain old veldspar. Maybe after a roid or two, you see concentrated veld. Another 1 or 2 deeper you will start getting into the better stuff. At the center would be the most valuable materials. To reach the valuable stuff in the center, you would have to mine a path through the outer sections, fly through it, mine the stuff in the center, then fly back out.


I think this is an idea that could be implemented relatively simply and would require few changes to the game. Essentially, the only thing that is changed is the code that determines how to spawn asteroid belts.

Furthermore, this would add a great deal of depth to mining and provide more opportunities for players to make choices that effect the outcome. What path do a take? Where are the most valuable roids in the cloud? How to I get back in to it after I've left? Do I fit a prop mod because I will actually have to move somewhere now?

I think there are some details that need be worked out, so I've come here looking for some feedback. I would like to put together a somewhat more thought-out plan, but need some feel as to how this idea would float among miners.

Thoughts?
Rainbow Moose
Perkone
Caldari State
#2 - 2012-08-09 20:24:23 UTC
It would be hilarious seeing all the harassment from frigates bumping the mining barges in hi-sec.
Smarcus Smokus
Donkey Punch Pioneers
Sticky Green Acres
#3 - 2012-08-09 20:26:19 UTC
Rainbow Moose wrote:
It would be hilarious seeing all the harassment from frigates bumping the mining barges in hi-sec.



That's called "emergent game play" Twisted
Aud Actori
Ciomach Oibriche
#4 - 2012-08-09 21:01:57 UTC
Heaven save us, NO!

Mining is bad enough without making it a nightmare by adding blind chance to it.
Dave stark
#5 - 2012-08-09 21:22:46 UTC
Smarcus Smokus wrote:
I'm sitting around the other day pondering the age old conundrum of "how do you make mining fun"?


you don't. mining is a slower paced activity people [read; me] do to chill out when they don't want to be fully focused on the game but just want to relax and take it easy.

leave my space rocks alone.
Barbara Nichole
Royal Amarr Institute
Amarr Empire
#6 - 2012-08-09 22:26:21 UTC
I hope this is not a serious suggestion.. it is pretty funny to think about.

  - remove the cloaked from local; free intel is the real problem, not  "afk" cloaking -

[IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a208/DawnFrostbringer/consultsig.jpg[/IMG]
Zyella Stormborn
Green Seekers
#7 - 2012-08-10 00:47:15 UTC
Dave stark wrote:
Smarcus Smokus wrote:
I'm sitting around the other day pondering the age old conundrum of "how do you make mining fun"?


you don't. mining is a slower paced activity people [read; me] do to chill out when they don't want to be fully focused on the game but just want to relax and take it easy.

leave my space rocks alone.


^ This. Could not have said it better. +1

There is a special Hell for people like that, Right next to child molestors, and people that talk in the theater. ~Firefly
Victor Bastion
Danger Management
#8 - 2012-08-10 02:23:17 UTC
We do have Foraging already. It's called scanning for Grav sites.

I could not see this as a solution for regular belts but I could see something similar in exploration sites where to get to the really decent ore you have to accomplish some task first that requires more effort then just pushing a button every so often. Perhaps what you suggest or possibly something similar would work in that situation. Like mine all the crappy ore away from a gate so you can bring it online and use it to get into another room with much better ore but dangerous ship spawns.

The value of the ore would dictate the difficulty of the site. For example if Anknor were to show up in a High Sec exploration site expect nasty battleship spawns to show up rather regularly.

Only thing is there's no point to these in Null and some parts of Low Sec where these ore's already exist so perhaps that's where they could place the Moon Materials they were planning on allowing people to belt mine. Allow regular Hulks to mine Tech (ore other moon material) just like they would rocks, but to do so would require great risk and a team effort. And there would be no way in hell a Bot fleet could do it.
Kaivar Lancer
Doomheim
#9 - 2012-08-10 03:34:38 UTC
This sounds reasonable. I especially like the foraging aspect. +1.
Dasola
New Edens Freeports
#10 - 2012-08-10 05:15:27 UTC
Lol, all we need then is minecraft style npc that can actually kill you and add those in missions, gatecamps, etc... to make pvpers life more interesting too ;)

Infact im suprised that ccp havent run some AI tests ingame, genetics algorithms, etc.. should provide more smart AI with ability to adapt player actions. So they dont always fit those damn ships sameway, tank same resists, and be vulnerable to same damagetype...

We are Minmatar, Our ship are made of scraps, but look what our scraps can do...
Smarcus Smokus
Donkey Punch Pioneers
Sticky Green Acres
#11 - 2012-08-10 13:04:26 UTC
Dasola wrote:
Lol, all we need then is minecraft style npc that can actually kill you and add those in missions, gatecamps, etc... to make pvpers life more interesting too ;)




Just had vision that had me doubled over laughing.

An EvE creeper!



sssssssssss BBOOOOOOMMMM!!!






Also, I have a suggestion to satisfy both the "leave my belts alone" guy and "we already have foraging, it's called grav sites" guy. Have the minecraft belts be part of the exploration system. Then everyone is happy because you have not changed something that already exists and the feature that was added (asteroid cloud sites) doesn't have a significant advantage over existing sites.