Hmmm, wouldn't they all aim straight? Like, wouldn't you be better off just having it all on the same ship since it'd essentially do the same thing but better?
If only fleets could target neutral entities (like, just turning towards them without shooting) then it'd work. I really want working mining drones!!!
[Disclaimer, the following statements have been made without any knowledge of coding]
However, would it be hard for the devs to include in the next patch the option for the AI to also target neutral entities?
Just an addition to the target current target in turret AI and fleet AI if current target is neutral, also point towards it
I'm not sure that should be so hard to do, and would open up a world of possibilities for us to step up our mining game in the active sectors while we wait on the unloaded sector missions.
Basically, had a small discussion on another thread, and I would like to collate the suggestion to bring it up properly. I think that if we added the ability for turrets/Bobby AI/Fleet AI to target "neutral" entities (asteroids and planets) that could open up a lot of interesting things for us to be able to do with ships and mining.The AI already targets system blocks in combat, so I don't see why "target any on this asteroid/station/etc" would be too much. Biggest issue I can see is the AIs habit of nose diving into planets.
As well something to bare in mind is just because something isn't that large of a task doesn't mean it isn't a task at all. It would still be devoting time and effort away from something else, so I wouldn't be too sure about holding out for mining AI next update.
Just the an update to the targeting system (And perhaps the ability for AI to fire a salvaging beam too) is all that's suggested.