Material energy synthysis - An alternative to mining

[Sunkin351]

My Idea goes as follows:

A material synthesizer block... Make matter from pure energy... E=MC^2. Simple equation, can be used to make matter from energy and vis versa. However, the equation would make the energy cost very expensive, seeing as "C" is the variable for the speed of light. You would need a station dedicated to making energy to power it. But it would be useful for making the rare materials such as rammet and sertise, needed in shield capacitor construction.

This Idea is open to improvement.

 

[Monchoman45]

Neither mass nor energy in starmade are given real units. E=MC^2 has real units though: joule, kilogram, and meters/second.

c^2 = 8.98755179 × 10^16. If we want to create 1kg of stuff (which isn't much), we would need 8.98755179 × 10^16 joules.

10^16 is 10,000,000,000,000,000, or 10 million billion. No matter how you cut this, we're immediately talking about power consumption on the order of titans - just to make at best one ore/sec.

So, you should probably stick to mining.

 

[Sunkin351]

Thank you for making the calculations more clear... However, No matter what the equation is on starmade, There should be a synthisis system of some kind... Make the energy requirement still in the billions... But much less than those figures above. I want this to be practical...

EDIT: And by the way, 10^16 = 10 quadrillion.

 

[Sunkin351]

Another thought has come to my mind, If you want the energy requirement to be exponentially less, you use alloy mesh for ore, and crystal composite for shards...

 

[Winterhome]

Let's stick with the old idea of a factory block you can put on each planet plate that slowly, automatically, and indefinitely extracts ores without damaging the planet at all regardless of whether or not the chunk is loaded.

Since energy->matter requires almost as much power as we could realistically harvest from an entire star with a Dyson Sphere, it's easier to just extract minerals the "normal" way.

Of course, it'd still be slower than mining asteroids and far, far slower than mining planets by hand - but it'd be steady income without needing to mine by hand.

 

[Monchoman45]

Another thought has come to my mind, If you want the energy requirement to be exponentially less, you use alloy mesh for ore, and crystal composite for shards...

This solves your physics problem but introduces an economics problem - in StarMade, energy is free. If you can convert alloyed metal mesh and crystal circuits (which you can get from anything) into capsules (which are specific resources), you can effectively camp one small asteroid field, regardless of composition, and mine it dry over and over again. Or, alternatively, eat a whole bunch of derelict stations.

Resource distribution is a hot topic. If your goal is, as you stated,

But it would be useful for making the rare materials such as rammet and sertise

Then I tend to lean toward uneven resource distribution as the best solution.

 

[Sunkin351]

well, uneven resource distribution has already been made a reality... And one of the only reasons I want something like this is because the only place I have been able to find the two rare resources mentioned above is on planets, and my fav server has outlawed the destruction of planets for the moment. I have not been able to find even one blue asteroid. I cannot make shield capacitors, which i desperately need.

 

[Lecic]

well, uneven resource distribution has already been made a reality...

Uh, no. It really, really has not. Larimar asteroids are rare, but that's a bug, not a step to uneven resource distribution. You can find every resource you need in one or two systems.

 

[Sunkin351]

Its a bug? A bug that, conveniently, cuts most people off from resources they need to make shield caps? That cant be a coincidence. I think it IS a step toward uneven resource distribution, maybe a baby step, but a step nonetheless.

 

[Winterhome]

Its a bug? A bug that, conveniently, cuts most people off from resources they need to make shield caps? That cant be a coincidence. I think it IS a step toward uneven resource distribution, maybe a baby step, but a step nonetheless.

It's not uneven if it's an even distribution of rarity.

Particularly since most weapons don't discriminate between block and shield damage.

 

[Sunkin351]

Particularly since most weapons don't discriminate between block and shield damage.

Um... Wrong place to post this? I don't see how that is relevant.

 

[Bench]

we've moved away from blocks being created out of nothing to move us towards a more practical economy, hence why ship blueprints are loaded in using blocks, not the old credits system. As such this probably won't become a part of the game.

 

[Megacrafter127]

I can see why synthesizing blocks out of thin energy shouldn't work, but what about tearing the matter of blocks apart for a quick energy boost?

 

[Sunkin351]

My idea was not to create blocks out of energy, just the materials to make said blocks. And if uneven resource distribution gets put into effect, could you make a way to inefficiently create a resource you need?

 

[LeifRoss]

Completely agree with OP, adds another dimension of gameplay for those who are not big fans of mining.

A factory block that takes energy and produces small amounts of ore would be amazing.
In my personal and biased opinion, mining feels like grinding, it is simply too repetitive to be any fun past the first hour.
The ability to make automated mining drones would be a viable alternative too, like a Mining version of the Bobby AI.

 

[jayman38]

Broken Record Mode: I still think the game needs a lossy recycler block. Basically, a factory block in reverse, with significant material loss. So that instead of getting 10 crystals and 10 meshes from a given block, you only get one or two of each.

 

[Sunkin351]

Both of the above Very good ideas for alternatives to mining. There should be a way to rename the title of this thread. I would rename it to "Alternatives to mining"... And to refine your idea LeifRoss, This mining version of the Bobby AI should have a setting to set what crystal, ore or mineral it is looking for, a setting of how far away it should search, and maybe a setting for a search pattern, or how it searches the area around it for this specific material.

 

[Valiant70]

My Idea goes as follows:

A material synthesizer block... Make matter from pure energy... E=MC^2. Simple equation, can be used to make matter from energy and vis versa. However, the equation would make the energy cost very expensive, seeing as "C" is the variable for the speed of light. You would need a station dedicated to making energy to power it. But it would be useful for making the rare materials such as rammet and sertise, needed in shield capacitor construction.

This Idea is open to improvement.

Blocks from nothing = bad. Sources of free stuff that people can fight over (automated planet mining) = interesting/fun/productive.

we've moved away from blocks being created out of nothing to move us towards a more practical economy, hence why ship blueprints are loaded in using blocks, not the old credits system. As such this probably won't become a part of the game.

Yep. Without scarcity there can be no economics.

 

[Sunkin351]

Might I remind you to read the entire thread before you post? Because it does not sound to me like you did.

 

[Valiant70]

Might I remind you to read the entire thread before you post? Because it does not sound to me like you did.

If you're talking to me, I did read the entire thread and this may sound harsh, but it's just not a helpful idea. Your device:
1. Can be constructed on any station, anywhere.
2. Creates something from nothing.
3. Is not limited.
This combination makes it imbalanced and detrimental to any sort of player-driven economy. If you want an alternative to mining, something like the "deep core miner" in this thread might work better because planets are limited in number and people are likely to fight over good/large ones. Besides, that also encourages planet bases, solving two things in one go. If you're wanting to come up with a good idea like that, you might want to read through that entire post first to learn more about faction/political/economic dynamics.