Salvage Beam Alternate Mode

[Nickizzy]

Because of how salvage beams are set up the best way to use them in large scale is just a checkereboard of 40 long rods, making most players build "Salvage Bricks", and then maybe cover them to make it look good. This limits the style of miners, and makes things like mining turrets extremely impractical, even if they could fire with AI.

What if there was a second mode of salvager that took the salvage health of the entire entity and drained that, when the health was drained the entire asteroid would be mined at once. This would make mining turrets possible, and free up miner designing, allowing many more options for builders. The normal way would still be avalible and by default on for early game mining.

Because it might be considered OP, as you would never waste damage going straight through, perhaps half damage or double power usage.

 

[Ezekial Alexander]

I would be ok with it if it was a kind of "salvage siege mode" where the miner has an uninterruptible timer and disables engines while in use.

 

[Nickizzy]

I'm thinking for turrets and stuff, because most asteroids are in clumps where you could park a ship with turrets and hit each roid with them at once.

 

[Cluwne]

Honestly I find the whole process of mining rather boring. You basically shoot the damage beam at asteroids, except it's different kind of damage and you get to keep the blocks you vaporize.
I wouldn't oppose a new "mode" or a whole new system that would "eat" the space rocks for you.
Consider it an evolution of sorts: from mining by hand to mining beams, to more sophisticated tools and all the way to gas giant/nebula/core "passive" mining.

One of the ways to do it would be infecting asteroids with grey goo-style disassembling sci-fi nano-thingamabob, somewhat in spirit of what OP said. You then just suck in all the resources like some sort of a space spider.
Could be weaponized too. In fact, combined with EMP and Stop effects the spider analogy becomes rather accurate.
But that's a hit-and-run approach, and disassembly could take a while, depending on the size of the entity. Though I imagine it'll get progressively faster once it reaches the 50% mark of structural hp or block count. What with exponential growth and such.

On the other hand, that could create plenty of calculations for the server to choke on.
I guess if you had to stay and supply the magic nanites... That could work too. Probably exactly the way OP wanted.
Though it would arguably make more sense to use some kind of atomizer beam that gradually destabilizes the matter until it breaks if someone even sneezes at it.
That could be weaponized too - used to soften and "harvest" bigger targets with no shields. Though I imagine "harvesting" stations like that would take a while, plus all the cargo and blueprints or designs would probably be lost in the process.
As usual, for balance, although the reason why on Earth would you want to gimp mining, of all things, continues to elude me the size of the system determines the salvage damage you deal.

The main drawback of both systems: you have to deal salvage damage equal to entity's current structural HP.
NB: this salvage damage is delivered to whole entity, not just a block.

 

[Nickizzy]

exactly

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Because of how salvage beams are set up the best way to use them in large scale is just a checkereboard of 40 long rods, making most players build "Salvage Bricks", and then maybe cover them to make it look good. This limits the style of miners, and makes things like mining turrets extremely impractical, even if they could fire with AI.

What if there was a second mode of salvager that took the salvage health of the entire entity and drained that, when the health was drained the entire asteroid would be mined at once. This would make mining turrets possible, and free up miner designing, allowing many more options for builders. The normal way would still be avalible and by default on for early game mining.

Because it might be considered OP, as you would never waste damage going straight through, perhaps half damage or double power usage.

We don't have to make a giant brick to salvage asteroids. People are just impatient; a common characteristic of today's generation. Whenever I make salvagers, I tend to work the design into an existing ship type. I use 8-10 meter long arrays with a double layer waffle pattern and rig them to a logic clock. This allows me to strafe an asteroid in a ship or flatten the terrain of a planet. This sweeping method allows me to drift by the target like an eraser and allows for very efficient (for a smaller ship) resource collection. I can even AFK mine to a limited degree.


I understand that mining isn't everyone's idea of a fun time in StarMade. After all, we're builders; not miners. I think if you want to make mining less boring but not make it too easy, the answer may be better AI. That way, you can have a mining convoy do the work for you while you fly escort.

Spoiler: Also, regarding AI salvage turrets; I'll just leave this here...

 

[Cluwne]

We don't have to make a giant brick to salvage asteroids.

Uh, no. If you want to gather lots of resources on short notice you pretty much have to have a big 'roid muncher handy.

People are just impatient

No, people just realize that you can't win wars with little rp dinghies and isanths, you need more and bigger.
The only way to get to that state is to gather lots of resources and do it efficiently, aka not wasting a year on a single asteroid cluster.
Or, you know, wait for Schema to spend another year developing passive resource acquisition system, redesign it three times and nerf into the ground because RP4ever_McFuckface is upset he doesn't have to mine anymore.

le bad millenials

Just die already you tremendous cunt. If you self-indulgent twits didn't fuck up the economy we would have better things to do than try to escape the shitty reality you left us with through a videogame.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Uh, no. If you want to gather lots of resources on short notice you pretty much have to have a big 'roid muncher handy.

No, people just realize that you can't win wars with little rp dinghies and isanths, you need more and bigger.
The only way to get to that state is to gather lots of resources and do it efficiently, aka not wasting a year on a single asteroid cluster.
Or, you know, wait for Schema to spend another year developing passive resource acquisition system, redesign it three times and nerf into the ground because RP4ever_McFuckface is upset he doesn't have to mine anymore.

Just die already you tremendous cunt. If you self-indulgent twits didn't fuck up the economy we would have better things to do than try to escape the shitty reality you left us with through a videogame.

A little cranky this evening? Are you an autistic wanna be tough guy or is it just that time of the month again?
[doublepost=1501635480,1501634821][/doublepost]Also, yes; reality does suck. There is a lot of deplorable shit going on in the world these days; due in part to the greed, corruption and mindlessness of both today's generation as well as that of our predecessors.

On the other hand, if you're too unmotivated and weak spirited to make a better life for yourself so that you have more than just a video game, then I suppose I can't be offended by you. Perhaps this really is the best you can do.

Peace be with you child.

 

[MossyStone48]

i think the good doctor was having a go but i doubt there's anything meant by it..
well at least until that second post came along the system merged to the previous post.
you're being trolled Cluwne. wait for better bait.

besides that

i don't see why your salvage arrays need to be so large. after 16 blocks long there's only high energy cost and diminishing returns. in fact my largest salvager eats planets in minutes and is merely 30 long (32 long had too great a power draw) in a 32 x 32 double staggered array. never mind planets tho... i mine asteroids by just passing by the field and flashing the array at them one by one. an entire spawn done in seconds. using a fleet of smaller salvagers (like 4) i've happily sat idle or exploring nearby sectors while i have them mine a field for me. those use a 12x16x16 dbl stagger array. they crank away as long as the sector remains active so i can enjoy the scenery. chase some npc pirates. do a light bit of block shopping. alt-tab out, watch a youtube vid, grab a soda and remind my wife why our desks are so close >:3


i wouldn't mind a change up on salvager efficiency. a buff there would be nice. a reduction in the power needed for a salvage+cannon couple would be nicer. that's all stuff you can tweak in the blockconfig. what i've always secretly wanted was a salvage missile! sounds ridiculous i know and i'd never wanna be ridiculous BUT it'd make salvage turrets a lot more fun! they could also pick up parts off dead ships near by which'd be a nice bonus if you've been picking on npc pirates. the explosive effect would even be a nice scare to anyone who tried to attack a salvage op. it wouldn't do as much damage as a normal missile and would pull more power but it'd be an interesting deterrent on a turret.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

i think the good doctor was having a go but i doubt there's anything meant by it..
well at least until that second post came along the system merged to the previous post.
you're being trolled Cluwne. wait for better bait.

besides that

i don't see why your salvage arrays need to be so large. after 16 blocks long there's only high energy cost and diminishing returns. in fact my largest salvager eats planets in minutes and is merely 30 long (32 long had too great a power draw) in a 32 x 32 double staggered array. never mind planets tho... i mine asteroids by just passing by the field and flashing the array at them one by one. an entire spawn done in seconds. using a fleet of smaller salvagers (like 4) i've happily sat idle or exploring nearby sectors while i have them mine a field for me. those use a 12x16x16 dbl stagger array. they crank away as long as the sector remains active so i can enjoy the scenery. chase some npc pirates. do a light bit of block shopping. alt-tab out, watch a youtube vid, grab a soda and remind my wife why our desks are so close >:3


i wouldn't mind a change up on salvager efficiency. a buff there would be nice. a reduction in the power needed for a salvage+cannon couple would be nicer. that's all stuff you can tweak in the blockconfig. what i've always secretly wanted was a salvage missile! sounds ridiculous i know and i'd never wanna be ridiculous BUT it'd make salvage turrets a lot more fun! they could also pick up parts off dead ships near by which'd be a nice bonus if you've been picking on npc pirates. the explosive effect would even be a nice scare to anyone who tried to attack a salvage op. it wouldn't do as much damage as a normal missile and would pull more power but it'd be an interesting deterrent on a turret.

30 meters long? Is that 15 and 15 for the stagger or a straight 30? I find the best power efficiency seems to be around 10-12 meters long.

I have to admit, I kinda like that salvage missile idea. It reminds me of collector limpet drones from Elite Dangerous.

For the record, (and not that it even matters) I only troll other trolls... I'm actually a nice guy otherwise...

 

[MossyStone48]

nah, straight 30, starmate doctor. that's two arrays in a staggered formation for a total of 60 long. well 61 end to end as i left a space between the odd and even arrays to make them easier to work with if needed. the sally pictured above isn't my planet eraser. that's my Magpie salvager with a 12x16x16, it's in the community content someplace. i might link it here inna bit.

nope, decided to be a proper sellout and link my entire collection from CC.
Resources from WarSong

the kabar mk1 (not the battleship) is my oldest complete salvager and had 7 major revisions meaning the original design predates Kupu textures and the yogswarm. it certainly predates cargo storage so if you add it to a fleet it'll fill up and idle before finishing the first 'roid.

 

[rocketman221]

I don't really like the idea of the object suddenly just disappearing when salvaging. It's about as bad as spawning ships in thin air.
I would rather have the salvager output a cone instead of beams and mine everything within it. That would avoid the need for an ugly waffle array.
There needs to be a way to adjust the angle and the aspect ratio of the cone to get the coverage you want, preferably with a gui, but something using blocks could work too.
The larger the cone is, the slower it would mine. More salvager blocks would speed it up.

 

[MossyStone48]

The larger the cone is, the slower it would mine. More salvager blocks would speed it up.

now that's an interesting take. maybe some sort of balancing system like the thrusters?

 

[jayman38]

For the Original Suggestion, it would be neat to have something like "Hostile Waters" (video clip below), where you'd spend your time "scanning" the entity that is to be mined, and then it was all mined at once, nanobotically. Whoosh!