(Mining stations!)| EDIT: Stations!

[Shade]

Now being kinda new and all I sort of waited to post this but oh well.

So here's my idea: add larger asteroids to the map, about the size of the battlecruiser, these asteroids would be very hard to move with the possibility of pulling them around with a tractor beam and beefed up engines, these asteroids would contain a random amount of minerals set in "layers", the outer layers having less yield due to lesser mineral density, but faster mine rate. the inner layers would have higher mineral density and thus higher yield.

These larger asteroids would spawn randomly on the map having 1-2 simultaneously, when the asteroid is depleted none more would spawn (unless you add an event or something). This would add a sort of positioning battle between the two battlecruisers (if the game mode isn't overall approved you could just make it like the rainbow asteroids one) this would make them like flags in classic game modes, the "rush for kerm" effect would be duplicated but on a more permanent scale.

Now for the actual stations, the station would be deployable from a ship and have a certain build time, then a mining station would appear on the side of the larger asteroids, this station would be upgradeable with a bunch of upgrades (detailed below) and essentially would be an "outpost",The mined minerals would come back to bc using the same mechanic as the miner's (cargo pod) the build time will have to be adjusted as-well as adding a certain balancing mechanic to prevent the stations from getting owned by a solitary wraith (defenses).

Different possible upgrades:

-Chomper Cargo transfer, gives the possibility of a chomper to transfer it's minerals to the station, which would then be sent back in a cargo drone. the range would be pretty low (2-3) and the ability would be usable while chomper is moving.

-Drill bits, an incrementally tier like upgrade which would allow the station to access lower layers of the asteroid. essentially increasing yield

-Structure upgrades, increase in armor and life (maybe shields with a couple sheild generators?)

-Small turret upgrades, add small guns firing similarly to the BC, preventing the trolly miner from taking it out when no one is looking

This would add a certain dynamism to the game forcing BCs to engage with each other before the usual "avoid each other until the 20min mark when everything is maxed, go fight and end the game under 20 seconds". Might solve Dread's complaint on BC battles being too short. It would also add a new role to minelayers, mostly to play as a sort of defensive ship.

Any thoughts on the suggestion would be greatly appreciated, And I do know it's going to take a massive amount of work to implement but i think it can be done, if not be implemented in the standalone

[slapshot]

I kinda like this, but how would it be upgraded? from a small ship nearby? (seems like a bad idea) - or from the BC (again, bad idea) - I would just not have upgrades for it

and the defenses should be weak, such that a single wraith can kill it - that adds an aspect of defending them from wraiths/etc. (like you would defend a miner/chomper)

[Shade]

but how would it be upgraded?

Fair point but I think that the mining station should be something you are really inclined to "leave behind" and defend it and without upgrades late game the whole idea of it would be useless, any enemy ship (miner included) would be able to destroy it without surveillance, I suggest adding a docking mechanism without modeling the interior, (sort of like an open menu action) to upgrade it.

[WhyteDragon]

Dreadnought suggested something like this a while back. I'll explain my thoughts on why it's a dangerous idea again...

A majority of real time strategy games rely on a relatively immobile starting place which creates a sense of 'territory.' What this does is it creates a sense that, by example, if you send your army into enemy territory you are inherently disadvantaged because of the travel time spent and the assets that are relatively more available for the person whose territory you're invading.

Cruiser Command ditches any sense of this concept.

You have no territory. You have a bunch of completely mobile ships that fly around the map. There are no buildings, there are no defensive towers, there are no farms... 'the sky is free.' Asteroids are everywhere, so you aren't disabled from resource production since they're so common. One of the main exceptions to this rule is kermiculite spawns, but since those are delayed they act as a 'momentary stimuli.'

What you are suggesting is basically the rough equivalent of having a kermiculite spawn at timer 0, except nobody knows where it is. And here the issues begin to stream in.

Lets just assume that these super asteroids are 'mirror spawns.' The moment they aren't, the whole concept becomes just outright unfair and completely unreasonable since it becomes immediately favorable to one team 'on a whim.' Whether a team wins or not becomes almost entirely at the mercy of RNG, since the team that has their battlecruiser spawn closer to the asteroids has a blatant advantage, which isn't very much fun.

Lets also assume that you want to make these a really big deal since you are putting in a 'lot of hype' towards it. As such, lets just say it is priority #1 to get these asteroids secured ASAP.

So each side ends up securing their respective asteroid. So, naturally, each side has a 'place to freely mine resources.' It's relatively fair to assume both sides will find their respective asteroid due to mirror ping detection, so they'll both establish a little mining area for themselves.

... so what does this really change about anything?

Case 1) The big asteroids end up being absurdly close to one another. Whichever side secures them both will pretty much inevitably win since they have a huge source of superbly stable income. Moving them with tractor beam is a concept that will take an astonishing degree of time -- the same idea goes for chomper pulling and such. People do not have those kinds of assets immediately available. And one side will secure them both as a battlecruiser is your main method of securing such a stable income, and if your battlecruiser dies you lose.
Case 2) They end up being split apart. Both teams shift towards the asteroid and start farming. This is ultimately not very different from the current meta in which you find a nice big field of asteroids and mine it.

What you're suggesting does prompt for a little more exploration, which is always nice, but that's only for the first couple of minutes and I don't feel as if it does much for the game. Moreover, it creates a prompt that goes against the mobile concept cruiser command seems to want to promote since it requires 'protecting your big rock with the battlecruiser.'

The issue primarily lies in that 'you want this to be too big a thing.' It doesn't fit with all of the spread of fields and mining schemes of the current cruiser command. I feel as if the sort of economic additions you would want are concepts that would further something like Battlecruiser Chomper roam.

By example;

• Rather than having 'two large rocks' that are blatant game changers, you would probably want to focus more upon 'asteroid clusters' that are more common and cohesive to the current cruiser command design. Things like how they spawn, where they spawn, their density, the distance between them...
• You would want to make distant miner sending discouraged -- I.E. further mineral packet sniping as a strategy by slowing down the mineral packets, but maybe giving them a little more bulk to survive a few stray shots.

... something like that would fulfill the same general purpose without having to introduce giant additions for relatively minor tweaks.

[Shade]

Again as you pointed out the larger asteroids don't need to be that big, and resource wise it shouldn't be anything op, (maybe 300-800) minerals max for that asteroid, it should be considered more as a defensive outpost and as a mining "hub", not necessarily a steady income source (if this poses problem you can replace the asteroid with a wreckage), and there is the possibility to removed the terrain snap point altogether and make it a space station that serves as a relay hub for the chomper and as a minor defensive structure (like a turret really)

[WhyteDragon]

... I think you completely misunderstood what I was trying to get across. You're still suggesting something that makes cruiser command not cruiser command.

... oh well...

Also, 300-800 is absurdly high.

[slapshot]

Also, 300-800 is absurdly high.

what would it cost to build a mining station? how long to mine 800?