Large and Small port beams, with very low extraction and very high heat rates. Something other than the classic quad-free beam hornet for 'roid heating. Once an enemy ore deposit has been identified, pilots will use these beams to superheat the rocks in question, rendering them useless for an extended period of time.

A new focus on rare ores as a key part of crafting has been announced, along with a total reshuffle of what resources can be found where: Denial of resource attacks will become far more devastating to an enemy than anti-pilot/capship attacks.

Several checks to ensure these are actively used by dedicated pilots sitting at the keyboard, rather than as free account, AFK spam:

1. A very short (10-25m) range;

2. A slow but definite energy drain (0.5-0.2 per L/S port beam per second);

3. High level requirements to buy and to equip (mining 8 alone should do it, but throwing in some combat standing, maybe level 6, couldn't hurt);

4. Possibly a very distinctive beam color (white, maybe) should be used for Mk I models, to make it apparent that the "miner" at work is up to no good. Upgraded versions might mimic regular mining beams in color.

Haha, nice idea Lecter. This should prove interesting...

Worst. Idea. Ever.

Oh come on Surb.

Everyone knows TGFT needs some fire up their asses. Might as well put some of their key roids out of commission...

Plus once all the other stuff gets finished, I'm sure TGFT won't be the only guild with goals like theirs. Mining competitiveness might become a daily reality.

Yeah, as a miner I hate this idea.

But it would make gameplay more interesting.

Yea man, see.

Anything that makes this game more interesting is definately a plus...

<3

This isn't about guilds. It's about adding a new item that can ruin mining in VO. Plus this item can be used for a new form of 'griefing'.

EDIT: Besides, you can do this already. You don't need an item designed for it.

Indeed surb , but it would be an awesome device if it scorched roids ingame from under a bridge in the forums......

It shouldn't ruin mining, it should however bring serious need for Cooling beams, which I suggested a while back already...

Heating a roid up to such temperatures should be a quick thing time wise, however with the damaging effects related, (that currently aren't implemented, see my "Heated Roids" thread) it should be quite dangerous and risky.

Cooling the roids should take much longer. Everything in this world is easier to destroy than create, for the most part, other than replicators in Star Gate... but that's not in this world then again...

I second this suggestion.
[STAMP OF APPROVAL]

Let me see if I have this right, Surb: [1] this item could ruin mining in VO, even though [2] you can do this already.

Sure, that makes perfect sense. The real issue is that it would make your life harder, not that it would ruin anything. Boo fuckin' hoo.

This isn't really a new type of item. It's just a mining beam (or several) that happen to have high heat rates--something that is supposedly hard to avoid, not hard to do.

The item you suggested is designed to do what is sometimes a side-effect of extreme mining.

The current beams cannot match the amount of damage you want to do.

EDIT: You want it for the exact purpose of heating roids and trying to pass it off as just a mining beam (or several) that happen to have high heat rates is asinine.

(1) It's late, I'm tired, and I haven't provided stats. But let's compare some stuff.

Four of the current n00b beams have a heat of 1.5 and a rate of heat of 0.67 (I'd swear that the free beam you get on the mining intro is even worse). Slapped on a hornet, these make for a rather rapid climb in heat. What I want is something of similar heating ability per beam (think of it as 4 in 1) that requires active pilot participation (short range, energy drain) to use.

I admit that, slapped on a hornet, four of what I propose would make for a really, really hot roid. Tough noogies--as you pointed out, that's already doable. And this would--unlike the current roid broiling approaches--require high level characters actively roasting stuff.

What really interests me, however, isn't making it easier to broil roids--I'd be fine with limiting how many can be equipped per ship somehow. What I want is to see true denial of resource attacks on enemy resource fields. These are behind enemy lines. A raider will probably encounter miners to attack, and defenders to engage. The raider wants to effectively attack mineral sites to interfere with crafting, but also wants to mount a weapon or two. This, unlike the quadbeam hornet, would allow that.

Your panties unbunched any?

Asinine.

Well, with fixed borders, this makes sense. If you cannot invade and occupy enemy territory, make it useless to them.

I don't like the underlying thought process, but it's a valid tactic. Like running from fights, swarming and other stuff frowned upon as being lame.

So, since I use lame tactics myself (I run/try to run when pressed in an unwanted fight), I am for this idea.

Burning the fields is usually preceded by pillaging those same fields first as well taking all the livestock and looting the farmstead. The strategy of undermining the enemy's resources is sound but not when it risks crippling your own economy. Unless the ore in question is unique to your enemy's production capacity or your own supply of said ore is completely secure, the best strategy would be to actually mine the enemy's ore (as efficiently as possible within tactical time constraints) and thus enhancing your own supply while simultaneously denying the enemy the same ore through your mining.

I'm not against this as a strategy, per se, but if the only rationale for this beam is to make it easier and less risky to do what can already be done than I don't think it necessary especially when current options provide greater strategic flexibility.

While I think this idea is a waste of time, I think it quite adequately illustrates a fundamental problem with this game: too many players with too much money and too much time on their hands. The fact that "cooking roids" is either a pastime, or a viable strategy (although I wholeheartedly agree with Daare's previous comment), is... well... it's just... stupid!

You don't pillage the fields if they're so far inside enemy territory that you could never hope to get the cargo out. You raid them and burn them.

The fact that "cooking roids" is . . . a viable strategy . . . is... well... it's just... stupid!

Burning oil wells much, Gav? Sherman's March to the Sea?

As to thinking this way being the result of "too much money or time," I'd agree with you at the moment--currently, roasting roids is a minor annoyance at most. And this is reflected in the half-assed approach taken: nobody actively does it; they AFK the rock in question with a free bus or a mining hornet.

Let's see what it is once people (1) don't have the ores in every sector plotted out, (2) have new, much rarer ores to work with, and most importantly (3) must have all types of ores available to support the economy.

When (1)-(3) happen, you'll see a lot of people spending time, making money, and creating weapons by mining. It would be . . . well . . . asinine to not counter them.

Burning oil wells is a military tactic for the most part, and hardly a good analogy. In fact, if anything it's more of an analogy for why afk mining/heating should stay (as it's pretty much light-and-forget).

If you want to proposes a military tactic for reducing the opponents means of crafting (or whatever), I think it would be better to suggest a weapon that uses some sort of pulse energy to push your chosen roids out of their orbit, or simply to get them moving relatively quickly in one direction or another. All would lead to the same end result: No roid when the prospector returns to mine it.

As far as it being an economic strategy, well again, it's only a viable strategy because of the infinite quantity of ores in a given roid. Otherwise as Daare said, the better strategy would be to actually mine said ores, therefore killing two birds with one beam (they don't get, you do get).

I'm well aware that the possibility of roids moving to that extent is problematic, and finite roids that run out won't be coming until the ability to search out infite new sectors comes into play.

I also don't know why I'm even involved with this thread! I loathe mining and miners! Must have just been the fact that Lecter posted it.