While mining crystals in my Elite Sentinel, I was trying to think of ideas to make crystals more interesting. Sure early game they're great for some
quick Cr but mid to late game they're not as economical. Here is an outline of an idea I came up with:
1. As ammunition for a new turret
The "Energized Crystal Launcher" (ECL) is a turret that holds "Crystaline Energy Focus" (CEF) that are created in the following manner:
1. First, the crystal is harvested using the C.O.R.E drill (see #2 below) or manually by the player
2. Next, it would be processed into crystaline powder (named after the crystal) in some kind of pulverizing unit. 1 crystal would yield 0.25 m/3 powder
3. Then it is combined with nvidium in a reactor to provide stability. OPTIONAL: You can combine two types of crystaline powder for combination effect
4. Finally it is compressed under pressure with hydrogen gas into a "Crystaline Energy Focus" which is a small projectile with varying properties.
This "Energy Focus" becomes the ammunition for the turret. It would have varying effects based on what type of crystal was used:
* Bandannite crystalline powder could be for a Microwave burst that disrupts engines and slows the target
* Menelaene crystalline poweder could be for an EM burst that disrupts shields
* Bandannite crystaline powder and Menelane crystaline powder could be combined for both engine / shield disruption but at less power than the individual versions
* etc.
I would suggest that 2 m/3 of powder + 3 m/3 of nvidium + 1 m/3 of hydrogen could make 3 to 5 Mk1 energy focus. Larger focus for MK3 would require additional resources.
A turret can only hold one type of focus at a time and the turret's capacity, range, rate of fire and rotation vary depending on Mk1, Mk2, Mk3 (eg: MK3 is slower
roation because of larger capacity but has further range).
2. The "Crystal Object Revealer and Excavator" (C.O.R.E) drill
So of course, in order to make harvesting crystals more convenient, a crystal miner would be necessary. This is where the C.O.R.E drill comes in. This drill would allow
NPC pilots to see crystals and harvest them without destroying the asteroid (similar to how players can).
The C.O.R.E drill would have the following limitations:
1. Can only fit on size S ships
2. Can only have 1 drill per ship
3. Requires a minimum 2-star pilot with 15% loss in harvest, 3-star pilot would be 10% , 4-star pilot would be 5% and 5-star pilot would be no loss. So for example if your drill harvests
100 m/3 of Bandannite but your pilot is only 2-star, you actually get 85 m/3 in your cargohold. The rest are destroyed.
4. NPC corporations will also use these miners
[Feature Request] A Crystal Miner and crystal weapon / crafting
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Re: [Feature Request] A Crystal Miner and crystal weapon / crafting
Good thought, but I wouldn’t imagine Egosoft will bother to implement in this over-complicated way.
It would be much easier to just integrate them with existing ship modification mechanics, in the form of mineable crafting parts.
It would be much easier to just integrate them with existing ship modification mechanics, in the form of mineable crafting parts.
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Re: [Feature Request] A Crystal Miner and crystal weapon / crafting
Being able to automate crystal mining and having them used to help create generic ship mod parts could be a decent gameplay feature. Might need to nerf their value though or limit automated crystal mining to only the most skilled pilots.
Re: [Feature Request] A Crystal Miner and crystal weapon / crafting
I agree with this.Imperial Good wrote: ↑Thu, 15. Sep 22, 18:46Being able to automate crystal mining and having them used to help create generic ship mod parts could be a decent gameplay feature. Might need to nerf their value though or limit automated crystal mining to only the most skilled pilots.
Credence follow stars.
Re: [Feature Request] A Crystal Miner and crystal weapon / crafting
Agree, giving them a use other than selling could be a fun game mechanic. In my OP I had mentioned limiting them to S ships to help decrease the amount per run to make them less valuable. I wouldn't want nerf their value too much, perhaps to bring them in line with ore / gas, so players who don't want to manufacture could still end up with some credits for the raw materials.Imperial Good wrote: ↑Thu, 15. Sep 22, 18:46Being able to automate crystal mining and having them used to help create generic ship mod parts could be a decent gameplay feature. Might need to nerf their value though or limit automated crystal mining to only the most skilled pilots.
This could also open up a new expansion idea of a new mercenary faction formed out of outlaws from the exisitng factions but with the goal to dominate the crystal trade. They would be heavily militaristic and aggressive toward anyone mining, producing or selling crystal wares. Oh, and they would also eat spacefly eggs.
Re: [Feature Request] A Crystal Miner and crystal weapon / crafting
Was idea with capacity be that it have similar projectile quantity like for example missiles?
If so then resupply ships would be needed in warzones and frequent monitoring & visiting in ED/SY/W. And this for sure would somehow reduce how useful the weapon in AI hands would be (when know how fast they empty missile stock to the space).
Idea itself about using crystals in ship mods (not only for weapons but other things too) would be nice as otherwise them are just decoration in inventory and their role in the game in overall is very small (which is pity).
If so then resupply ships would be needed in warzones and frequent monitoring & visiting in ED/SY/W. And this for sure would somehow reduce how useful the weapon in AI hands would be (when know how fast they empty missile stock to the space).
Idea itself about using crystals in ship mods (not only for weapons but other things too) would be nice as otherwise them are just decoration in inventory and their role in the game in overall is very small (which is pity).