Is it just me or does everyone dislike the new mining beam effects
I'm mining ...I need to know who is in sector.... I need to watch my(crap) radar
I dont need pretty ........I need a clear screen and a better radar

Well, this says otherwise, but I can understand how they could be a bit much in some cases.

I'm pretty sure having all the steam and rocks and lights are intended to be easier to spot from a distance in order to help people attack your mining operation.

That's what you want right? That's the whole point of having a mining operation. If it's not dangerous it's not fun. Ask your boss, she knows what's up.

I tried them out tonight and liked them. The glowing dust cloud did seem a bit excessive, but then I was testing with five beams at once. When I tried with just a single beam, it was pretty good.

It would not be so bad if the beams had more range so you didn't have to be sitting right there next to the point of contact.

Dunno about other people, but I have no qualms about giving most beams a 300m range (maybe leave the most basic beams at 100m).

I don't have any issues with asking miners to sit in a glaring cloud of dust either though, so if that was the intention, I am fine with that.

I like them.

They just need to add some sort of scraping sound and get rid of that obnoxious flicker if you move while mining now.

Flicker? Do you mean the beam jumping around? Or something else?

Yeah.. the beams jumping around. Maybe it doesn't affect everyone or most people just don't move around as much while mining, but it looks pretty messed up.

Was that really.. different, previously? We didn't change the procedural mining laser thing at all.

Err no.. that has been around since the beginning. It's just something that has been bugging me. I should have probably posted it in that suggestions thread.

One new issue is that the star sprite at the start of the beams sometimes get's misaligned when I move. Like this: http://kitchen.nfshost.com/ven/dump0145.jpg .. it isn't as noticable ingame cause the junping beams kinda hide it.

CD wakes up from a 4-year trance.

The new mining effect broke my hypnosis. The glare of the cloud shatters the zen at-one-ness with the beams.

That's it. I quit mining. Prepare for me to vent the rage of 4 years of acting nice to people just because I was unarmed.

The cloud is a bit bright (3HD MM2), and should actually be a different color for each ore, and when you beam stretch the cloud should stay attached to the point of contact to the rock, not follow the ship. I opened with a joke, but seriously: the effect before was serenely addictive (like your trance-ambient music), and now it is harsh. I don't mind sitting in a cloud if it could be a mellower foggier multicolored mood-cloud.

As far as making miners easier to spot: if you can't see mining beams from 15km away you should not be hunting miners anyway, and probably require corrective lenses to drive legally.

I like the chunks of rock floating in :)

"I don't mind sitting in a cloud if it could be a mellower foggier multicolored mood-cloud."

+1. I like colors.

hehe CD time to just be a mining magnate that has all her minions do the hard yakka for her.

The mining effect did annoy me a little when I tried it from first person, perhaps the steam could be toned down or redirected elsewhere as to stay out of the pilot's face.

I like the idea of making it come out of the asteroid's point of contact instead of the front of the ship. It looks kinda goofy on the hive bots when they do their drift-off-and-mine-from-500m-away trick.

I think the large amounts of steam in your face fit pretty well actually. I mean you're violently drilling through rock with a laser, shouldn't it create giant steam clouds that sort of obscure your vision?

"shouldn't it create giant steam clouds that sort of obscure your vision?"

That's supposed to happen when you leave the bar after a good day of mining hun : )

/me gasps

CD? You quit mining???