A few months ago I made a thread to talk about a mining rework I was working on, I got some feedback and a lot of it was valid and useful so I have decided to make a second thread to re-think my re-work and approach it from a new angle.
The old thread can be found here: https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23346
Some of the issues that I want to rectify
- There was too much emphasis on finding and transporting the boulders
- Exploring and generating caverns would take up a lot of memory but in the end probably not look/play very interestingly
- Lack of late-game content
Some of the things I want to keep
- The effects materials have on the refinement process, and the refinement process itself
- The boulders instead of simply dropping ore.
So what's my plan?
Keep some status quo
Mining is currently not mining but exploration. This isn't bad but mining is only 5% of the workload in lavaland. I would remove a large fraction of the mining gameplay from lavaland and instead move it to this new system, seperating what we currently know as a miner to a new role, explorer. This allows us to keep Lavaland in for the people I know very much enjoy the current content. It's up to oranges discretion what is done with Lavaland after that.
Move mining to the station
I think Lavaland is interesting as a PvE area, but is very disconnected from the station and oranges has indicated that he no longer wants to cater to Lavaland content. Instead I think adding a goon-esque "asteroid magnet" to the station will help us create a workplace for miners that is still interesting. You have a console which can find asteroids and pull them in. Based on tech progression you can find different kinds of asteroids with different possible compositions. These asteroids are then partially generated to fit a specific theme/biome. For example at the start you might just find simple meteors, but later on you could find meatyores (partially made out of meat), lavaland asteroids, ice asteroids, maybe even ruins. The asteroids would be about 30x30 in size so theres some room to explore.
This would allow us to populate different asteroids with different themes to allow for a lot of variation, and could still fill up the interest in PvE that is enjoyed in Lavaland. (Focusing on keeping the PvE in there in line with the station's balance, rather than creating a new balance like Lavaland).
Processing
The mining itself would be similar as my proposed previous re-make. Each asteroid would have a general composition, and a vein composition. Each rock has a % based composition, lets say 80% sand, 10% gold and 10% plasma. But the vein might be much richer with 40% sand, 20% diamonds and 40% uranium. Mining one of these rocks would give you a boulder which you can drag to a close-by conveyor belt (As the asteroid is on station). This boulder is then turned into some rocks which can then be processed through a bunch of machines. These machines have effects based on the material datum that go through them. For example plasma is flammable, so a rock with 80% sand 10% gold and 10% plasma would be a bad fit for a rock burner machine, as it would explode. However, putting the rock into a machine that raises the amount of plasma material but removes some sand, would be something very beneficial.
This means you would have to attune your factory by turning on and off machines depending on the composition of your asteroid. And if you dislike an asteroid you can try find a new one instead.
Below you can find a spreadsheet I made to showcase how different machines could affect different materials
Progression
Now, the next issue is what we could do for late-game content, as Mining right now is basically 5 minutes of mining and 50 minutes of monster hunting. I propose the following:
- Use the proposed experiment system BobbahBrown is working on to allow miners to do specific assignments to allow them to get new tech, making them more involved with the RnD system
- Create new opportunities revolving around material datums for miners so they can get new items
- Create variety in the asteroids so that there is enough challenge each round instead of mining being overly braindead.
One big disclaimer though; the idea here is not to re-create factorio, as that's far better suited for a job like cargo.
I plan to work on this after vatgrowing is merged. I just want to post this already so I can get feedback from both oranges and the playerbase.
