Part of the objective of the latest mining changes were to eliminate all of the extra fields that existed, keeping this in mind having a niobium field in Orkney will only serve to detract activity away from Tau-23 and puts the system as an activity hub at risk. I don’t see outcasts wanting to have to travel an extra system out to pirate IMG players.
Additionally O47 and O7 both having cobalt fields seems pointless. Why would anyone ever want to go all the way to O47 when O7 is a much better connector route?
Finally O3 with no mining commodity for IMG completely destroys any activity the faction has in the area, what with mining in O7 being essentially impossible. It also makes Aland feel somewhat pointless.
We appreciate getting the Omega 47 ore, however it seems we lose Omega 3 completely as mining area, while O7 is traditionally difficult (very much depending on where the fields will be located).
Omega 47 does not compete with O7. Long cruises, no lanes. It's likely impossible to balance the 2 points of origin to the selling points.
Also, losing all mining commodities in O3 (assuming IMG does not gain a Raw Hydrocarbon bonus), would marginalize O3 as mining area completely, whereas O7 keeps it's high status with 3 ore types. The distribution could be fairer. Bretonia needs love, too.
Solutions could be:
Omega 47 gets Diamonds, and IMG/Hessians go for the Diamonds. See @Wesker 's suggestion. I like it. O47 endeavour is only possible with closer IMG-Hessian cooperation, and Diamonds would be a nice way of portraying this irply.
Omega 3 keeps an ore that IMG can mine (could be Hyrdrocarbons or something else at the Comet). An ore that BMM and IMG can spar over would be nice, also for activity.
Omega 7 gets fields placed in a way so that IMG can also access at least one of them (with a decent bonus). As of now, all active fields are in Rheinland territory and after rounds and rounds of mainly oorp madness, O7 is basically completely DHC/Kruger mining, with IMG having moved away because of the past oorp trouble linked to playing there.
Omega 9... still useless and a system lacking function, but if Omega 3/7 fields ran out, and Omega 9 resources became a thing...
Anyway, I am looking forward to discussing the changes some more and I have high hopes in the mining rewrite.
(07-25-2017, 06:13 PM)Karst Wrote: What I notice from these changes is that they significantly diversify ore buyers in the houses. As an example, Liberty has Manhattan, Denver, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Detroit, and St. Albans, all buying various ores. This is highly problematic for piracy as there is no easily determinable standard route, and thus less of an opportunity to catch ore-bearing traffic. With the player numbers we have, I think that would be something to be desired.
I think it's preferable to have only two ore buyers per house to streamline traffic and facilitate piracy.
I have to say I really like this change–in principle at least–because it moves us away from the "routes on train tracks" feeling of ore trading that we currently have to a more open and more realistic universe that is less obviously restricted for gameplay reasons. A possible compromise would be to slightly buff the most direct and/or heavily bottlenecked routes for each ore to encourage traders to fly them at an increased risk of piracy.
On a different topic and as 2IC of ALG, I obviously share the concerns of @Karst about moving the Rheinland Iridium sellpoint away from Dortmund (post #29). We have a strong history in lore of using Iridium in bulk in our radiation shielding and other products due to its density as well as its resistance to corrosion and heat–it's mentioned in the infocard for HazMat Canisters, for example–and we have established roleplay regarding its extraction and transit, e.g. our involvement in this project.
(07-25-2017, 06:50 PM)Danny-boy Wrote: Part of the objective of the latest mining changes were to eliminate all of the extra fields that existed, keeping this in mind having a niobium field in Orkney will only serve to detract activity away from Tau-23 and puts the system as an activity hub at risk. I don’t see outcasts wanting to have to travel an extra system out to pirate IMG players.
Additionally O47 and O7 both having cobalt fields seems pointless. Why would anyone ever want to go all the way to O47 when O7 is a much better connector route?
Finally O3 with no mining commodity for IMG completely destroys any activity the faction has in the area, what with mining in O7 being essentially impossible. It also makes Aland feel somewhat pointless.
Well, you kind of give clues to the answers you're looking for.
Giving a reason for Outcasts to use their Orkney base. If IMG absolutely can't mine in O7, maybe that alternative site in O47 would be fine then?
Kirkwall Base
CLASS: Adensay
GRAVITY: Partial
DOCKING: Yes
AMENITIES: Yes
POPULATION: 120
Kirkwall is a small installation built by Outcasts in 805 A.S. inside a large asteroid field. While the once-remote Orkney system is not a part of any Cardamine routes, and is not within the scope of Outcasts' economical interests, Outcast leaders wanted to have a permanent base in the system to keep an eye on the mysterious mine field, not unlike the one located in the Omicron Tau system.
When the Council broke through the minefield and revealed the existance of Gallia, Kirkwall became that much more important. The potential for distributing Cardamine to Gallia was not lost on the Outcasts. However, as most of those shipments were soon routed through Genoa, Kirkwall's importance diminished considerably, to the point of a large part of the local garrison being transferred to Cali, which suddenly found itself locked between Royal Navy patrols, IMG operations, Council patrols, and Crayterian raiders.
Sensing the opportunity, the Gaians of Edinburgh and Tau-31 organised a small strike force, consisting of a number of fighters escorting a single troop transport. The force took a long and perilous route through deeper Tau systems and surprised Kirkwall's defenders by approaching from the direction of Tau-23 jumphole. The battle cost both sides heavily, as Outcast pilots stationed on the base fought the more numerous Gaian attackers to the last ship. The Gaian boarding party had more luck than their spacefaring brethen, but took a long time clearing the outpost's interior of resistance. Some of the Outcast personel surrendered, and were allowed to leave on one of the few intact ships left in the hangar. Once the base was fully under Gaian control, it underwent several thorough decontamination procedures.
The base is now used by the Gaians as a resupply platform for raiders operating in the upper region of the Tau systems. With Fort Albi locking down the Edinburgh jumphole, the base's inhabitants are forced to rely on smugglers from Freeport 6 to get by, as well as whatever stolen goods the local pilots manage to haul back from raids.
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I've read through the thread but do not have time to deal with feedback at this time, but will later.
In the meantime, I've made the following changes to the OP.
Changes:
Azurite - Kodiak switched to Willard
Additions:
Azurite - Ames Research, for Order, Corsair, & Outcast shipments
Added Military Salvage commodity
Generally speaking, I do agree that ore acquisition needs to be concentrated as tightly as possible, however there are certain lore considerations that come into play as well. However, it may be that game play balance must push lore aside.
With so many ores mined in the Omegas, I expect something can be done to make field assignments that don't marginalize or overly privilege certain mining factions.
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Few more changes today.
Updates to Premium Scrap.
Iridium: Changed Oder to Dortmund.
Added Valetta and Tripoli to standard loot points list at the bottom of the OP.
That completes my second pass through the scheme from a global perspective. I'll address posted feedback next.
Given Cryer's interest in Alien Organisms, would it be feasible to add a sell point of Cryo Organisms to Cambridge Research Station, or potentially change the sell point at Canterbury to CRS?