Currently mines are late game cpu laggers and are easily circumvented and hellaciously expensive for what they deliver. They can be cleared by simply plowing through them or sacrificing a few scouts and are often just used for target practice. they are simply boring.
As far as strategy goes--not a lot there. Dump them in a big pile to augment defenses briefly. Sure, versus AI you can abuse them well but they are so disjointed that in player vs player they are considered anathema.
It is simply an insult to mines and a waste of a good concept.
So I'm working on alternatives (with no help of course 'cause everyone considers it a lost cause). There is room for as many as 18-21 differing mine types (6-7 per faction) and that gives room for innovation (I don't think I'll need that many). Mines just need to be handled differently and with more realistic and strategic effects.
Instead of mine fields that are easily spotted and require a near physical impact to hit (like a pilot would have to want to hit them for them to work like that in space) mines should be designed for the space environment and not used like WWII and Vietnam area ground munitions. They also need to be a genuine part of game strategy and not the flawed "tack-on" they currently are.
So here's the ones I'm working on (I had many more variants than these but these are the ones I think will make mines interesting). The concepts are based on current warfare, the American Civil War, Reagan's Star Wars program and science fiction ideas we all know and love.
The Faction-Specific Mines
[Phase] Singularity--spawns a mini black hole for a set duration. Friend and foe alike affected.
[Tech] Area-Effect--simply makes a big, dirty, energetic bang of HEAP antimatter shrapnel hurting friend and foe alike. Close range, heavy damage. The mother of all explosive munitions.
[Psi] Domination--a large psychic amplifier that captures all enemy frigates within range.
The Generic Mines
Grazer--fusion explosion powered ranged mine that fires a single gamma ray laser beam at a single target. High damage and long range at targeted enemy capital ship.
Xaser--fission explosion powered ranged mine that fires a single high energy X-ray laser beam at a single target. Medium damage and long range at a targeted enemy frigate.
Anti-Strike--cluster munition that fires explosively propelled antimatter pellets at all strike craft in range. High damage, medium range.
Dummy--low cost decoy mines that do no damage and deploy as multiple mines.
Notes
All mines will be deployed by mine-laying vessels and I am exploring rather than hard limits on numbers instead making them count as fleet logistics slots. These could all be created as "frigates" but that's a waste of good ship slots and a waste of the already present mine slots. Best to get the value of all of them.
It remains to be seen which abilities mines can have and can do. Feel free to contribute anyone.
That's easy to do. Though you would have to settle for the mines being particles...
That would also make several problems, for example, explosions won't look very good, as the origins of the explosions would appear out of nowhere...
OR,
Have one mesh of multiple mines, this would be repetitive, but it would allow explosions to originate on the surface of each or on specified meshpoints(much more consistent). This would also allow you to cause explosions one at a time, though your mine meshes won't vanish until you tell them to, and they would vanish together, not one at a time. Damage could be applied in bursts, through a periodic action of damage application to all targets in the area.
This idea is probably the best one.^
I nominate KrdaxDrkrun for the project =D make some invisible mines that seethe more than pop >=D
also, the multi mine mesh is greatly welcomed though the out of nowhere is probably the easiest on the memory tax.
Maybe the "explosions" could be a burst of flaming shards that explode individually and make the mine itself a particle or special effect, making it appear once, shatter, and vanish like expensive fireworks ought to
Really don't need a full field anyway--just a single mine. The whole point is NOT to know what sort or how dangerous it is until you get into range.
True... I'd like their activation range and blast radius extended a bit though once they become tiny =3 it would make them worth wild to use in actual defensive positions instead of spamming a jump area that may or may not be triggered
Good idea. Posted for self reference.
ohh, and also, an activation threshold like "ability use when ____ number of ships in range" this would make them even more deadly, ignore one passing ship say a scout or so, but the fleet jumps in unknowingly and WHAM! lots of pretty es-plodings
Perhaps don't do that for some mines, but for more expensive and boomy ones, that would be a good ability that would ensure that it did high damage.
The mines go from decoy to uber. Only the largest mine has the greatest effects. So ti isn't four classes of uber mines. They do have differing ranges and activations as well as being manually toggable to on or off settings..
I'd just like to at least have the current ones made effective and invisible for the most part lol
a small blinking light at BEST for their locations
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