id rather have non-weapon 'equipment' ports than this other stuff.

@Dark_Phoenix: Brilliant, I love it. Could be done like, once you have anything in your inventory, each row would have a checkbox to continiously jettison. Then that row would show 0 units and keep jettisoning any cargo of that type you load.

@Jakob LeMort: "One question about the specialty mining beam. What's to keep me (or you, you rascal) from equipping it into a large port on ANY ship?"

In a1k0n's post, he mentioned making the integrated mining beam/scanner have a large mass. This wouldn't actually prevent anyone from equipping it in any ship with a L port, but would greatly reduce the maneuverability of most ships, but because the Behemoth has such a huge mass to begin with, it would have a smaller impact on its maneuverability.

Personally, though, I'm not opposed to just letting any ship with an L port use them. The only possible problem I would see with this, is that it could basically obsolete the actual S port scanners, so that no one would use them. So as to keep the S port scanner's usefulness, the integrated mining beam/scanner should be less effective. My suggestion of limiting the ores that the integrated scanner could identify is one way of doing this, a smaller scanning range like mr_spuck mentions is another, that I agree with (although I think 250m is a bit too low, I'd say 350m would be better). And @johnhawl218, just because it's integrated, doesn't mean it's more advanced in scanning technology, only that they're more advanced in minaturization. Think of laptops today: they obviously use more advanced minaturization techniques than regular desktop computers, but that comes at a price: laptops generally perform worse than desktops.

Personally, I like mining for one and only one reason: it's a very fast way to make LARGE amounts of money. When I'm in the mood, exploring for ores can also be fun, but at this point I already know enough good mining spots that I don't do much exploring.

How about the super beam with the integrated scanner look like this.....

First off its HUGE. I mean absolutely gigantic. So big in fact that few ships would even be able to carry it. How does 25K+ sound(pounds or tons or whatever the weight unit is) Second make it take up both L ports. Since all youre gonna be doin is minin anyway. Third since it does take up both ports make sure that it has a really nice extraction rate. Say like anywhere from 4.5-6. Also give it a fairly decent heat rate. say maybe 1-2 tops. 2 would be pushin it tho. I know the small beam heats at 1 but its extraction rate is so low. With this huge extraction rate you should only expect a higher heat rate as well.

With this set up there are only like 2 other ships period that could even think about carrying it but then they would be massively over loaded before they even started to mine. With the behemoth it kind of starts that way so its really not that big a deal lol.

So what you guys think?

Re: paedric

Creating a large variant of the mineral scanner would probably be preferable to adding a small port to the Behemoth, because the latter option would simply change the Behemoth into a super-large Centaur. This would be boring, IMHO.

Also, I would prefer a large variant of the mineral scanner to an integrated mineral scanner/mining beam, because I might want to defend myself on a prospecting mission that required no mining. I shouldn't be forced to carry mining tools when all I want is to prospect for minerals.

Since the large variant of the mineral scanner would occupy a larger port than the current version, IMHO, it should also have greater range, say, 750 m or so.

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

There have been several possible solutions here put forth. I'll iterate on them, evaluate some of their pros and cons, and place my opinion on the table.

1) Give the Beemer a small port.
Pro: It would add to its capabilities as a miner, allowing one to scan asteroids in the same pass as one mines them.
Con: It would become a very large Centaur, detracting from the variety of the game.
Opinion: I think the Behemoth should be left with only large ports. It adds an interesting dynamic to the game.
2) Create a special massive mining beam with a built-in equal/superior scanner or integrate an equal/superior scanner with the special mining beams.
Pro: It would deal with the problem of the lack of a scanner on the Behemoth without changing its dynamics.
Con: It eliminates the need for an S port scanner.
Opinion: If this were implemented, no one would need to carry a scanner in the first place.
3) As 2, but with a greatly inferior (100-300m) scanner.
Pro: It would also deal with the problem of the lack of a scanner on the Behemoth.
Con: I can't think of any con. I know it's there.
Opinion: This is a good solution IMO, if the Behemoth is to be given scanning capabilities at all.
4) Create an L port mineral scanner
Pro: The Behemoth would be able to get a scanner at the cost of one mining beam.
Con: This forces a miner to choose between greater extraction capability and foraging power. (which I don't think is that bad, but others will disagree.)
Opinion: This is also a good solution, though 3 is most preferable (again IMO).

Gah. That post doesn't look like one of mine. I should get more sleep.
-:sigma.SB

give the behemoth a XL port and a normal large one. It is a version between the frigate and the heavy ships now isn't it?

Give the scanner + increased efficiency mining-extractor-ray the characteristics of the XL porttype. Which on one hand would also stop rags or centaurs using it and tieing in with the ubermass.

So in the end you'll have a behemoth with 1 XL port and 1 large one. Or for all I care 2 XL ports, but in my opinion that would take away from the specialness of the Frigate, since I expect to see them with a lot of XL ports (dockingbays for x light weaponships, capitalclass weapon'beam',...).

cheers

I like and agree what Solra Bizna has posted, good job.

Syberfly out

I live for the One, I die for the One

It's almost fun having to fine one CU out of a roid just to see what's in it.

I spent about 20 minutes looking for an Helio rock and finally found it. Second time around was faster, cause I used a specific jump and star alignment.

If only I had a sextant!

I can tell you that bringing in 3 behemoth mouthfulls of Helio is fun, even if it's boring.

Give it an S port. Making a special mining laser just makes the current scanners and High-Density Mining Beams worthless. Don't fix what isn't broke.

As far as it "just being a bigger Centaur", so what? It takes a higher license to use, and costs more credits. It's a goal for up and coming trader/miner Centaur pilots to aspire to. It's also slower and less agile, an not appropriate for all situations. I don't see anyone complaining that the buses are obsolete because of every other ship in the game. I also don't see complaints about how the Mineral Marauder was just one-uped by a ship twice as capable and requiring far less effort to obtain.

Not everyone cares for group play either, so stop using that as an excuse to try and dictate how other people are supposed to play. A ship the size of the behemoth should have the capability of independence in regards to its intended usage. It's not really fair to the solo player to have to need a tag along just to tell him if he's wasting his time or not by sucking on a specific rock. And it's not fair to the tag alongs to have to bring an inferior ship to the party just because everyone else can't figure out what they are looking at.

If you want a suggestion on how to balance the Behemoth, give it one S and one L port. Then it can have a scanner, and a mining beam. It will hold way more than any other ship, but take twice as long to fill. Then Mineral Maruder and Centaur would both have a distinct advantages of extraction speed and ship maneuverability. This makes usage of which ship a matter of preference and "which ship is best?" open for debate.