Aestroid Collision (Miners version of raid)

[lastcrusade]

Due to the recent, raid updates i thought of an idea to create something like a raid which requires many player's collaboration to destroy , except its for miners.

Random asteroid from nearby asteroid filed is on a collision course towards a planet. Within a fix amount of time (maybe at least 1 week?), the asteroid will collide with a planet and damage the NPC settlement (Players will rage it this happens on them). For a temporary period the settlement will become UN-accessible for repairs to take place. Therefore, players need to destroy the asteroid (have a certain rating) by slowly mining on it (reducing rating) before it collides with the planet. As for the loot from mining, i think a selection of a few mixture of ores and fragment from all existing asteroid field will be nice. Maybe an add on of the expensive extractorables like those gas and minerals then require more then 200 survey. Lastly, maybe some of the new combat loot can be found there like the processed minerals and new gases.

[aRJay]

Interesting, I would like this except I have a settlement in a system with an asteroid field in one of the less favoured galaxies.

[lastcrusade]

Well, i mention NPC settlement hahas!

[jcheung]

huh, that sounds interesting
and i don't think i'd mind if my sett was hit, tbh... as long as my defs stay online

[Akkamaddi]

I like the idea, even if it doesn't damage a settlement. Perhaps the comet could affect NPC settlements rather than players.

Even so, the idea of randomly appearing "rare loot" mining spots is cool.

[Sparky]

I think that Akkamaddi's mining is brilliant! I would be well up for that. WHY SHOULD COMBAT HAVE ALL THE DIVERSITY?

[lastcrusade]

I think that Akkamaddi's mining is brilliant! I would be well up for that. WHY SHOULD COMBAT HAVE ALL THE DIVERSITY?

YEA! Something new for the miners! Also maybe crashing into player's settlement is good for the game's economy! they owners (high level rich players) can pay other player (potentially poor players) to help them mine and destroy the asteroids!

[Akkamaddi]

YEA! Something new for the miners! Also maybe crashing into player's settlement is good for the game's economy! they owners (high level rich players) can pay other player (potentially poor players) to help them mine and destroy the asteroids!

To be clear, the original idea is not mine. I really don't want to take someone else's credit.

This could also tie nicely into the new Settlement Events that will start next week. One of the events can be "Holy Crap! We're DOOMED!".

And, it need not always be something for the miners. The same principle could work for salvagers. Just replace "temporary asteroid field" with "temporary wreck". Perhaps an ancient starbase or capital ship wreck. Allow any salvage shot to have a percent chance equal to double the area level to use a special combat loot table.

For either the asteroid or giant wreck, say an amount between 10K and 50K of resources must be cumulatively and collectively removed to render the item harmless. (So, players who leave common Ore or other cheap material behind are not helping the cause.) On impact day, have a translation so settlement weapons get one or two salvos to "damage" the remainder. If not neutralized by miners/salvagers or the final weapon salvo, then the remaining "weight" determines the remaining damage to the settlement.

With lastcrusade's reference to surveying, a third option is to make the asteroid a temporary floating survey field. It would essentially be a temporary "planet" with only the resource field, and you destroy the asteroid by dropping extractors. As above, a certain number of goods must be collectively extracted to "kill" the asteroid. (The same could be done for nebula harvesters, but I think those are too uncommon to be a good choice.) Personally, I would say for this option, tweak the rules for surveying. Have the survey fields have a starting lifespan of one to six days, weighted by item rarity. (I think the asteroid should only exist for about 7 days.) This will require the player to stay near the asteroid and move extractors. For existing items, like iron or ore, double the survey skill required (you're dropping on an asteroid rather than a regulated industrial zone) but increase output by 50%. You can also add zones for rare goods. If you add Flux gas, Rhodenon, or Terovite Gas, this will be an instant hit, but those could require survey skills of 400+. There is also the fact that, since you are trying to hit a collective limit within one week, extracting nine units of Dylithium Ore or three units of Terovite Gas per hour doesn't really help the endangered settlement. You have to balance your greed for the fact that you can do the most good to help the doomed settlement by extracting Ore, Turbocite, and common ores. In the end, when the asteroid "dies" or hits, any left extractors should be recoverable (at the target, probably), but you could loose half or all your extracted goods (so you will want to frequently empty your rare goods extractors, keeping you near the asteroid).

EDIT: Oh, and if there is a special "asteroid rules" field, drop flora. It doesn't make sense to have an asteroid covered with fields of corn or rice paddies. Although, a forest-covered asteroid is pretty cool. Also, thee would be the issue of commercial storage and extraction.

EDIT 2: For the extracting version, a quick note about collecting resources. The easiest solution is to have the only two extractor options "remove extractor and forfeit resources" and have ORSA purchase the resources at Joe's prices (an excellent option for low level players extracting Ore), and use the orbital refinery's "transport to CS". Have a notice that "due to extreme danger, ORSA field rules and galactic law only allows transport of resources by trained and licensed individuals using special cargo drones". The only option to collect is to have ORSA transport the extracted goods to a specified commercial storage, and you get the goods there. Guild extractors would also be a good option here.


So, that would be three different ideas. All three could work together.

[Coops]

I 'normally' keep my oar out of discussions, but in this case I just wanted to add a few points of my own.

We (the staff) have been discussing in the last few months the issue of creating 'Settlement affecting' RAID's and other systems. The main issue we came up with is that settlement owners on the whole are not going to be impressed. They will not want to have to constantly worry that an Asteroid, Raid Wreck is about to plunge into their settlement and cause havok and mayhem.

Sure we can add counter systems and yes players could ask other players to 'help' avoid the problem, but we rarely see players in CE do anything for free that costs fuel (Human Nature).

I 'actually' Like the idea of Rogue Asteroids and Wrecks don't get me wrong. I'm all in favour. Unfortunately the mechanics of adding these and allowing time for them to be 'removed' vs the balancing of risk vs rewards is far from a simple few hours work.

I suspect if we ramp up the rewards players will remain silent when they find one and simply attempt to get as much for themselves as they can. As opposed to the general idea of sounding the alarm and everyone rushing to said settlements aid

So - Yes I'd be in favour of such ideas, but the mechanics and looting changes are far from easy or short to produce without making the whole thing a miner / wreck specialist 'all you can eat buffet'

Just my input at this stage.

[lastcrusade]

Hi everyone! thanks for the supporting and adding on to this idea!

@coops, well ideas are always easy to think about, but coding them is a whole different issue! Had my fair share of programming pain.

with regards to what coops said about players keeping the entire wreck or asteroid to them self, if the wreck/asteroid is in fact crashing into a planet, the settlement owner will likely inform other players since they dont want their settlements to get runined! Unless he or she intends to solo destroy the wreck! which should take an incredible amount of time!

I liked Akkamaddi idea of using surveying to find different region of loot! good incentive to up surveying skills!