Do asteroids respawn ever?

[Chromework]

I was thinking about looking for a good system and colonizing one that has several asteroid fields for creating my station.

But do asteroids respawn ever, and how often?

 

[Criss]

There is no need to post multiple times with the same content/question. Please try not to do so in the future.

 

[Top 4ce]

I was thinking about looking for a good system and colonizing one that has several asteroid fields for creating my station.

But do asteroids respawn ever, and how often?

To answer your question: Yes they do. They re-spawn when the asteroid is mined completely and they'll have the mass of the last server save. This means that you should always mine an asteroid completely and finishing mining the asteroid you're on before the server auto save, otherwise you'll have the asteroid re-spawned half eaten. This also means that you should note the time between auto saves, so you know how much time you have to work with.

 

[tyroney]

So I've ruined all the asteroids I partially/selectively mined during my first week of play?

 

[Mike the Reaper 86]

They re-spawn when the asteroid is mined completely and they'll have the mass of the last server save. This means that you should always mine an asteroid completely and finish mining the asteroid you're on before the server auto save, otherwise you'll have the asteroid re-spawned half eaten. This also means that you should note the time between auto saves, so you know how much time you have to work with.

Wow, seriously? That is incredibly stupid.
Not to mention that having to plan around server auto saves totally breaks your immersion in the game.
I do hope they're planning on changing this further down the line.

 

[Shadar]

I'm personally hoping that they allow for functioning factories and capsule modules on spaceships, which would negate the need to build a space station or planetary base, unless you really wanted one.

 

[aRottenKomquat]

Honestly it sounds like a bug to me. I wouldn't expect asteroids to ever respawn. We have a practically-infinite universe so there's no need for it, mine them up and move on.

 

[JimmyJamba]

It is planned to be able to use faction points to replenish asteroids in a system.

said here in the new universe news post under the section Future Uses for Faction Points:

"Faction points will also be usable to replenish asteroids in a system."

 

[jayman38]

Honestly it sounds like a bug to me. I wouldn't expect asteroids to ever respawn. We have a practically-infinite universe so there's no need for it, mine them up and move on.

On the contrary, I would think that it would be valuable to respawn asteroids, especially near a homebase. Without respawning, transportation time takes longer and longer and longer, until you finally have to move your base to get anything substantial built.

 

[Jananton]

To answer your question: Yes they do. They re-spawn when the asteroid is mined completely and they'll have the mass of the last server save.

Hmm, I would consider that a bug. At least now I know why I always find half eaten ones when I'm sure I cleaned a field out.

I hope this will be addressed, since the speed at which one mines is highly dependable on the type of salvage beams used and the auto save time the server is on. That last condition, server save interval, can't be the right way to get a 'random' spawned new one. It should be regenerated somehow and not be a copy of some last saved state.

Greets,

Jan

 

[PizzaPress]

When do they respawn? When the server saves?

 

[Top 4ce]

When do they respawn? When the server saves?

When the sector is unloaded e.i. when no one is nearby.

 

[EtherEel]

Well, I guess I'll weigh-in on this one...

Asteroids should not respawn; however, there should be tons more of them to begin with (4 per sector, seriously??!), and some should come in bigger sizes.

On the contrary, I would think that it would be valuable to respawn asteroids, especially near a homebase. Without respawning, transportation time takes longer and longer and longer, until you finally have to move your base to get anything substantial built.

Limited resources are a fact of life. Think of all those fictional/non-fictional empires that went extinct, or teeter on the brink, because their resources ran out (the Klingon Empire, Krypton... the Vikings, Japan... really you don't want the complete list.) And how exactly do you explain a respawned asteroid? Defies logic at the most basic level.

Of course for an asteroid-belt to be an asteroid-belt it needs A LOT of asteroids, not a measly sprinkling of them (lag inducing, of course...)

If the above as I've described (and I'm surely not the 1st to do so) was implemented, you'd probably die of old age before needing to move your base. But, being forced to move your empire due to lack of resources would certainly make for an interesting (if inconvenient) game dynamic.

~

 

[jayman38]

Limited resources are a fact of life. Think of all those fictional/non-fictional empires that went extinct, or teeter on the brink, because their resources ran out (the Klingon Empire, Krypton... the Vikings, Japan... really you don't want the complete list.) And how exactly do you explain a respawned asteroid? Defies logic at the most basic level.

Of course for an asteroid-belt to be an asteroid-belt it needs A LOT of asteroids, not a measly sprinkling of them (lag inducing, of course...)

Good ideas. I'd like to see a version of the game with tons more asteroids. My idea above would simulate having huge numbers of asteroids without having to actually render them. Still not a great way to simulate what is ultimately a limited supply of resources, but might be more friendly to the game than having many times more asteroids in-universe. It's one of those things where I'd like to see the two asteroid methods (many, many more versus infinite regeneration), side-by-side.

Broken Record Mode: And I would still like to see a server config option to replace planets with random (large-ish) asteroids.

 

[CyberTao]

Asteroids should not respawn; however, there should be tons more of them to begin with (4 per sector, seriously??!), and some should come in bigger sizes.

The reason asteroids respawn is because newcomers to servers need resources to get out there. One of my least favorite parts of MC servers was having to walk for an hour before you could really set up a base. That might get fixed some when we can set starting ships, and maybe Quests or Public Gate Networks.

Whats more, this is Alpha. You could chalk up the respawning to "testing", easy supply of lots of resources to test the game to it's extremes. Asteroid spawning could be a server config though, and maybe some slow way to gather resources from planets over time (SM is a game at the end of the day afterall, Mechanics overrule Realism), would be more interesting in my opinion, prompt newcomers to ally with major factions for a bit before going independent.

 

[EtherEel]

Those are all valid points.

One major caution, though: Even the most fantastical of fantasies IS based on realism, veer too far and we might as well be playing "Hello Kitty Sings Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."