Forums » Suggestions

Mining beams do damage

Feb 24, 2019 Roda Slane link
Make mining beams use energy, and do some minimal damage to ships.

perhaps a simple formula:
energy usage equals heat rate ( per second )
damage equals extraction rate ( per second )
damage rate decreased when used on a damaged target. ( if target is at %10, beam does 10% of normal damage)

Although the damage would be very slow, it would use very little energy, and never miss when in range.
Feb 25, 2019 Kriv380 link
-1
I dont see how usfull this would be... You would have to be flying directly beside them in order to keep the other ship within range of the mimimg beam.
Feb 26, 2019 Roda Slane link
Right!

A miner that has only mining beams with a pirate on his tail would then be able to do at least something. Fire his mining beams at the pirate on his tail. Would not be much, but would be more than nothing.
Feb 26, 2019 Captain Spry link
I could see this being useful when an "observer" bot shows up in an empty sector that you're mining and you need to blast it before it calls its buddies.
Feb 26, 2019 We all float link
Would the mining beams trigger the self defense flag and/or a nfz violation? If so, I don't know if I could be for this suggestion. I mean pirate WAF would be for it because reasons but Miner/trader WAF is definitely against it. So +0 until the idea is farther expanded on.
Feb 26, 2019 Roda Slane link
yes. it would do damage, so if you used it first, it would trigger flags. if the pirate shoots you first, you have nothing left to lose.
Feb 26, 2019 We all float link
The issue with that is, a pirate could just swoop in front of someone mining peacefully in the NFZ, and boom, the strike force is on them. Which i guess would make mining a whole lot more interesting and entertaining. Can you imagine the "fun" we'll have sending brand new miners in Dau G-11 to corvus by just running in front of their beams?

My suggestion would be: these don't cause a self defense flag or nfz violation BUT like the /explode command, a pk is still counted and loss of faction is still possible. There is still a chance of issues with those modifications though (someone sanding their ship down to 1% damage and floating in front of a beam), but it would take a lot more work.
Feb 26, 2019 Roda Slane link
The mining beam will only damage what it is specifically targeted on. You using the mining beam like you are mining an asteroid, but you target a player. As a bonus, for every 1000 points of armor you damage, you could get a scrap metal in your cargo hold. ( if this works, I might just go around mining scrap metal. )
Feb 26, 2019 We all float link
In that case +1
Feb 26, 2019 Remen link
Lol. +1 to mining "away miners."
Feb 27, 2019 starblazzz link
Always wanted this feature. Damn lasers break apart ores we use for ships why not ships?
Make ships have a heat reading.
When mining a ship heat will slowly go up as if ship is a large roid.
At 50k ship starts taking damage
Mining rate of 1 = 50 damage

+1
Feb 27, 2019 Remen link
I'm not changing my +1. I still like the idea, but I wanna answer the "we can tear apart 'roids, why not ships..."

The backstory has mention of a special technique or formula for xithricite armor, "the Itani would turn over documentation detailing the construction of high-efficiency reactor cores and advanced armor plating (Xithricite)."

Remember, the Serco had already attempted, and failed, to produce highly armored ships, "despite their best attempts at ingenious design and progressively thicker layers of armor."

Which means a lot of different things to avid fans of sci-fi; perhaps the new armor is collapsed matter? Crystalline realignment (think diamond lattice, Bucky-ball, carbon nanotubes, xithricite nanotubes?) Special alloys? Composite/metallic ceramics?

Regardless of the technique used to produce the hull plating, the ship's armor is more durable than an asteroid that would have naturally forming fractures, pockets of non-xith specific minerals, etc. Asteroid material is loosely formed ("asteroids that are mostly stone sometimes are more like loose piles of rubble" -space.com) and when subjected to special fields could be easily broken into nanoparticles, manipulated, and sorted in much the same way a centrifuge works.

One could argue that a mining beam simply won't work on armor due to the composition and internal structure of the plating. Also, there would have to be chemical, electrical, and artificial shielding
/anti-ablation methods in place which would (in theory) counter any non-catastrophic (blaster/explosive) attempt to violate the integrity of the hull.
Mar 02, 2019 vskye link
-1. It's a mining beam. Besides, if I caught you sleeping while mining I'd just blast you to hell and back Roda.