Player Features and Ideas Discussion

A few ideas to add a little diversity and capability to mining ships. Note that none of these match the hulk for bringing in ore, so as not to disturb the delicate balance that exists between mining hulls.

Mining BS
This is a pretty simple change, actually, since the Procurer/Skiff already have BS-sized hitpoints. Further embrace the concept of the armoured barge by;

• Increasing it's signature to 400.
• Increasing its drone bandwidth and bay to 125/150
• Add a new skill for its use, requiring mining barge level 3 to train.
• Give it a new, bigger model.

That should satisfy the needs of miners for something heavier for use in dangerous space!

T2 Venture
There's a need for specialised gas miners, and this would fit the bill nicely.

• Bigger bonuses for gas harvesting and none for regular mining at all.
• Better resists so as to survive the harsh environment of gas mining.
• A larger ore hold; 7,500m3 seems appropriate for gas. Sure, it could still be used with regular mining lasers to take advantage of the larger bay, but without bonuses the yield would be much much lower.

Cruiser-sized Venture
A new ship to fill the gap left by the procurer, this vessel uses the barge skill and is a larger, more capable version of the venture.

• Space for one extra mining laser, so as to provide 50% better yield than the Venture.
• Drone bay on the order of 25/50, so it can carry defence and mining drones.
• 10k m3 ore bay - big but not too big.
• Limited powergrid and CPU so it cannot be effectively fitted with medium sized weapons, so as to limit its combat ability.
• Keeps mid and low slot arrangement of venture, and +2 warp strength, but is substantially less agile.

Finally, a pointer to my idea to revise the mining system entirely, just 'cause:
Prospecting idea

cruiser sized venture has no purpose, that's exactly what a mining barge/exhumer is.

the skiff/procurer see practically no use, and you want to add yet another tanked mining barge that as such, will see no use?

the only idea you have that isn't terrible is the t2 venture, since there is a gap for a t2 gas harvesting ship.

Mining BS---key word, BATTLEship. Guess this means we need 1400 strip miners that are capable of dealing massive damage to a ships structure as it mines it for any valuable minerals.
T2 Venture--has possibility, but it would be better if there were various versions of the Venture. 2 would be enough, one for production, and one with the 7500m3 ore hold. This is because with the current 5k ore hold, a venture cannot solo a gas site in 1 trip without the need for someone to haul it in.
Cruiser Venture--See Mining Barges/Exhumers

An interesting spin on mining barges would be the introduction of some sort of barge that concentrates on the use of drones instead of lasers. Or maybe a drone that increases the efficiency of the strip miners by helping regulate the frequency of the laser used to harvest the ore, instead of hauling in it's own tiny ore supply.