So I've been spending a lot of time on the server recently as a Junker. One of those things that, for some reason, I've been enjoying--is Scrap mining. During those mining sessions, I've been thinking a lot about how the activity of scrap mining can be further enhanced to be a more enjoyable, and lucrative, endeavor. When I think on this, I think of how the dev team created Gold Mining in Dublin and how this can be applied to Scrap mining. From there, a myraid of ideas ran through my head and here is what I've come up with:
Boneyards
Sirius is a dangerous place and there have been so many battles fought over the past 834 years that Humans have existed within Sirius. The 80-year war between GMG and Rheinland, the Colony Wars, the war between the Insurgency and Liberty, and the list goes on. Once those battles are fought and the victors decided, very rarely do those participants pick up the debris and move on. Many times that task falls to the Junkers who pick over the debris looking for valuables to further their craft. This is where my idea stims from.
Systems such as Vespucci, Sigma-13, Omega-5, Omicron Theta, Tau-23, etc. are where battles have been fought. A new type of field/nebula is created where, much like the solar models in Dublin that spawn with gold, derelict gunboat and larger ship solars spawn that have places that can be blown up to mine Scrap Metal from within. Now, I can hear you thinking, "Well, Scrap is already easy to get, why would this addition create a rush?" You're right, of course. Scrap is one of those ores that is extremely easy to get. However, what if you added a carrot to the activity? Many of these ships were fielded by major powers. Liberty, Rheinland, GMG, Corsairs, Core, etc. Don't you think that they would field prototype technology as well? Maybe lost plans for these super weapons that have been forgotten to time?
As you mine the scrap, you have a rare chance to find things such as Prototypes, Blueprints, Prototype Components, maybe you blast open a cargo hold and find a ton of Xeno Relics or Cardamine. Maybe a rare metal alloy can be created as a rare spawn from these Boneyards that can be processed at POB's as a needed component for new or existing advanced crafts. Possibly Premium Scrap makes a return to fit this niche?
From my perspective, this will generate activity wherein factions might hire Junkers to comb these fields to find technology related to their enemies. Maybe they go out and do it themselves attacking any who get close to the field to protect their own technology in these fields. Omega-5 is one such place I can see this creating a lot of activity between Hessians, Corsairs, and anyone else trying to exploit this resource.
As for the drop rate of these special drops, I leave that up to the balance team. It should be balanced in a way which doesn't make it too lucrative but isn't a huge grind to get anything. I'm not very well versed in balancing things, but it should be properly done in such a way that it isn't broken, but isn't a chore either.
Of course, this is just a suggestion and brainstorming session. I don't expect that this will ever be put into Discovery but it's a fun thought experiment to discuss. Is this something you might be interested in? Is it something that you think has merit or not? Why or why not? Be constructive, not unproductive.
Discuss!
Why are you reading this? Don't you have something else you'd rather be doing? Why are you still reading this? Go out and explore, trade, fight, pirate, or even die thanks to SLRC autopilot. You're still here? What do you want, a poem? Fine. Roses are red, violets are blue, I lose the game, and so did you.
This has already been discussed a few months ago as the way to rework scrap properly, at least as far as I remember, but as always with such things, it "won't happen" (at least not anytime soon) because there's nobody to properly model damaged wrecks for this, or at least something similar to existing wrecks but hybridized to work like Dublin Gold asteroids
