Self defense, of course.

Indeed, self-defence, it is the right of every serco civilian to possess nuclear ordinance.

If you outlaw nuclear weapons, only outlaws will have nuclear weapons.

Although I am a fan of that argument when it comes to conventional weaponry, I would normally not agree in the case of nukes due to the massive area of effect, making them exceedingly likely to negatively impact innocent bystanders.

The Serco, however, are an exception. They'd probably enjoy it.

Correction: we most assuredly do enjoy it.

Possible types of mines:

1. Energy Drain mines:
Prox fuse - 15m
Area of effect - 30m

2. Plasma Mine:
Prox fuse - 30m
Area of effect - 60m
Damage - 600

3. Ultra Conc:
Like a Conc Mine but 50 times as potent.

4. Implosion Mine:
Prox fuse - 45m
Area of effect - 300m
Damage 10 - sucks in passing ships (opposite of a conc mine)

These would work like an lmine in that they'd stick around for some duration, affecting anything that is within range. They would also have no IFF, as they are not actually targeting ships, but simply producing a constant field effect until they either run out of juice or are shot down.

Interdiction Mine: behaves like an asteroid, disabling jump drives on ships within proximity (not necessarily a full 3km though)

Lazy Mine: disables turbo on ships within proximity (1km?)

Another possibility is a mine that pulls people out of warp the way an ion storm does.

Ryan, have you ever played Descent3? There's a missile called the "Black Shark" that does what your implosion mine idea suggests and it's the cheapest most irritating weapon in the game.

If you outlaw nuclear weapons, only outlaws will have nuclear weapons.
Shape knows what's up. Bartender, get this man a beer.

Arf: As a mine, rather than a missile, I think this could be fine though. I mean, imagine if lmines could be fired as a missile...

SpaceTesla!

Another possibility is a mine that pulls people out of warp the way an ion storm does.

/want

Ya I like the implosion mine idea..

if any of the mines could be fired as missiles they would be a bit silly, imagine firing TU mines it would be rediculous.. theres a reason avalons have 10m prox as opposed to the 120m of TU.

"However, there needs to be some kind of absolute cap on the number per user, which may be problematically complex to enforce across multiple sectors. Mines slow things down on the server side. It can get kinda bad. That's part of why they've never persisted before."

Ok... a few questions.

1. How badly would a lot of mines affect the server? Are we talking minor lag or are we talking VO's servers go SkyNet and become self aware, launching a campaign to wipe out all of humanity?

2. A cap isn't bad I suppose but how much of a cap? I had between 500 to 1000 mines in a WH sector with multiple players engaging in combat as well as a few cappies and a fair amount of NPCs and at least on my end, the sector behaved pretty normal.

3. Not to push the issue but, could we get a simple, non-commitment,rough time frame for at least the first round of experiments with persistence?

4. As far as persistence goes... what would be good? I'd like to see several hours, personally.

You'd want to avoid clogging the servers, but I think a 2 hour lifetime should be sufficient.

Two hours would be fine. It would make them effective as blockade weapons and encourage player participation in upkeep/destruction as well as protecting the mine layers/destroying them.