With the new and improved (slower and more vulnerable) Behemoths, the matter of mines for defense has become more important than ever. There are a few problems with the current selection of mines, the first of which is that the selection itself is so limited. The other, is that the proximity detonation radius of the prox and conc mines is small enough that they don't effectively throw pirates or NPCs that fan out to the sides or simply aren't directly behind you. Furthermore, if they're close enough, they'll pass the detonation radius of the mine before it goes live, rendering the mine useless.

I would propose the addition of the following mine systems to alleviate all of these issues:

1) Timed Mine
This mine would be just like the proximity mine, with two important differences: it will always go off within 5 seconds of dropping, and the splash radius would be slightly larger. The Timer of the mine counts down 5 seconds from activation before exploding. Activation begins when the player pressed down the fire button, and the mine is released when the player releases the fire button. This allows the player to 'cook' the mine as they would a grenade, causing it to go off sooner after release.
Advantages: The timed mine wouldn't be rendered completely useless if a ship didn't trigger its prox fuse, and the player could manually judge the detonation point for maximum effect.
Drawbacks: If the player waited too long before releasing, they coudl potentially do massive damage to their own ship, or they could misjudge distance and timing, causing the mine to go off harmlessly before or after the pirate passes it. Also, it would require a higher license level in heavy and trade before it could be purchased.

2) Fragmentation Mine
Think of it as a claymore mine with 360-degree coverage... in space.
The Fragmentation mine would have a minimal blast radius, but would shoot out high-velocity projectiles on random vectors when its wide proximity fuse is triggered. If a ship is unlucky and close enough to the mine to catch several of the projectiles, it would take massive damage, whereas ships further away (up to 400m) could be slightly to moderately damaged by the shrapnel, which would have about the same power as a higher-end railgun.
Advantages: The Fragmentation Mine would be great for dealing damage to and dispersing a large group of pirate ships clustered together in pursuit.
Drawbacks: It may miss altogether, would be relatively ineffective against solo pirates, could do damage to self, wouldn't provide a significant shockwave to disrupt the pirates' flight path. Limited ammo (on the order of 6) would make it unlikely that you'd shake/destroy a group of pirates with Frag mines alone. Higher level requirements.

3) Timed Fragmentation Mine
You do the math

4) Tracking Countermeasure Mine?
after a cluster (of 3) release, the (3) tracking mines spread out and slowly move toward the nearest oncoming target or missile before detonating.
Advantages: higher ammo than other mines, could be used to intercept incoming rockets/missiles as a countermeasure
Drawbacks: Very low payload and relatively ineffective against ships except as a deterrant for already damaged or low-armor PC pirates

With more variation in mines, different combinations could be used for different results.

Finally, I would propose that the concussion mines be increased in ammo, and that mines would set off the proximity fuses of other munitions (such as flares), triggering them both to explode. Flares could be used to negate mines, and mines to negate flares.

PS. I'm sure I've read this before somewhere on these forums, but I couldn't find the post to revive it, sorry.

Very good ideas. Lemme toss in one of my own:

"Flashbang" Mine - An EMP pulse of sorts. It short wires circuitry within 200 meters for a total of three seconds. Ships already moving lower back to their set speed if on turbo and drift wit the same velocity for the mine's effects.

Advantages: Non destructive and completely incapacitates a pirate if it hits.

Disadvantages: Very low ammo (maybe three per launcher). It could also paralyze you if you don't clear off of it fast enough.

I like all of these ideas, assuming they all have counters. Some of these mines (flashbang and shrapnel, for example) are too easy. Meaning, a trader flying with these would never get caught. If there were ways to counter these mines (shoot them, short curcuit them, etc) then I would like to see all of them in game.

Well, the way I understand it, you could 'run the gaintlet' with the shrapnel one, maybe take some damage, perhaps not serious, and still get the trader. Without a shockwave to divert your course, you cold run through it really fast, and as long as you weren't too close....

I think the 'flashbang' mine would work better if it were designed to disable other systems, like targeting, for a few seconds (you'd have to aim manually - no reticle) or if it simply sapped battery of all ships within a couple hundred meters, and took power from the trader's ship to fire it - mutual disadvantage, but in the trader's favor if they have infiniboost and the enemy is using energy (of the enemy was using rockets though, you'd still be proper fucked)

I like the timed mine idea a lot, especially the ability to cook it.

Here's one of my own:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/9281
Force-plane mines! :p

bump

VERY nice