Tuesday 25 November 2014

Mining


Lots of changes to mining and asteroids.

There is now just one "metal" resource that is mined from asteroids rather than the previous Common, Reactive, Radioactive and Rare metals that have been in the game until now. This is to reduce the orders micromanagement for mining ships. Now there is no need to constantly keep track of what they are mining and balance the amounts of each resource you need.

To keep some complexity there are now a lot more asteroid minerals, each having a different maximum yield and mining multiplier (accessibility). Yield is the maximum amount you can mine from the asteroid and the mining multiplier affects mining laser module speed.

Rare asteroid minerals will be faster to mine and take longer until they become depleted, but every mineral type still provides the same "metal" resource used for building stuff.

During galaxy generation there will be an option to re-spawn asteroids some time after they have been mined completely. When an asteroid re-spawns it will return as the next smaller size (Large becomes a Medium etc.)

Larger asteroids have much higher yield and mining multipliers. This is to discourage mining in the same asteroid belt forever if you are going to use the re-spawn option. It will still be better to look for larger asteroids.

Asteroid stats example:

Large: Yield = 2400, Multiplier = 140%
Medium: Yield = 1200, Multiplier = 120%
Small: Yield = 600, Multiplier = 100%
Depleted: Yield = 300, Multiplier = 80%

Asteroid Minerals

Listed below are the asteroid minerals currently in the game. I decided to use real mineral names found on Earth rather than made up ones. Not sure if this would be realistic as I expect there are some minerals below that wouldn't be found on asteroids. (let me know of any)

The element composition of each mineral shown on the tool-tips have no effect on gameplay, just something interesting I wanted to add.

Common Minerals: Sphalerite, Chalcopyrite, Pyromorphite, Cuprite, Stibnite, Kamacite, Acuminite and Pyrolusite.

Uncommon Minerals: Chromite, Boehmite, Wolframite, Cobaltite, Faustite, Rutile and Barite

 Semi-Rare Minerals: Ruthenium, Molybdenite, Polarite, Thorite, Rhodium, Iridium and Gold


 Rare Minerals: Rhenium, Bromellite, Palladium, Osmium, Gadolinite, Monazite, Churchite and Sylvanite.

Planet Tooltips

Asteroid details will be shown on discovered planet tooltips.

Bonus Screenshot

(One of the new mining ships)

16 comments:

  1. Looks great can't wait for the game ......been waiting forever for a update

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  2. GAHHHHHHHH GIMMEE TEH ALPHA ACCESSSSSSSS!!! MUST HAVEZ000RZXX!!!!11!1

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  3. I thought this might have been abandoned, but I subscribed to the RSS anyway... Great to hear you're still going! I look forward to buying it one day!

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  4. Loving the way the game is developing. Also loving the design of the new Mining Ship. :) Look forward to the next Update and the release! :D

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  5. Looks great. I've been watching the project since 2012 and its really coming along well! Any ETA on a beta or test version?

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  6. Oh! Mining ^^ Shiny! :D I have questions about asteroids mining. Or to be more precise - about running out of asteroids to mine.


    So You say that we will be able to make asteroids to respawn - that would indicate infinit amount of resourdces to be mined. However You also mention that each time an asteroid is going to be respawned it will be of smaller size (and You are giving proper argumentation why this mechanic should be in place in Your opinion). And here comes my first question.


    And what happenes with small/tiny (smalles possible asteroid size in game) asteroids than? Does those simply stop to respawn? Does each respawn makes those to have even less metal despite being all the time categorised as "small"? Or do they keep respawning as small all the time, so after reaching smallest possible size they don't lose any more value as they reached minimal possible value for asteroids? (I think that last option makes most sense. Why? Because that will make each asteroid source always good place to control and exploit, will still provide better and more lucrative asteroid sources - those less exploited - to fight for, and lastly if somebody want them to respawn, than he is doing so with infinit source of metal in mind - not just bigger source and those who simply want it to be vast but finite will not use that option).


    And my second question is:


    Are asteroids only way to obtain resources? Or are planets also source of resources, but asteroid mining is simply great way to boost economy?


    Anyway - awesome update! :)

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  7. Yes, that's exactly how it works. The smallest size of asteroid will re-spawn the same.

    Asteroid mining and wreckage salvaging are the only way to get metal resources. The planets have a "Natural Resources" stat which you can see on the planet tooltip screenshot but this only adds to their economy to generate credits.

    I perhaps need to rename this to avoid confusion. "Commercial Resources" perhaps...

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  8. There wont be early access. Maybe a release candidate beta shortly before release, but that's still a while away.

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  9. I must admit that my second question was caused purely by that "Natural Resources" stat. Without it I would not even think about such possibility. Changing it into "Commercial Resources" seems like a much better way.


    Hmm... So that means that if one is playing really long game it is possible for every planet to simply run out of metal sources (asteroids)? If so - how will fight go on? Do we get 100% resources out of salvaging wreckages? That would guarantee that it is not possible to run out of resources as long as You are able to set succesfull defence line and defend from enemy assault... However having it possible for resources to simply run out completly (at least in theory) would also create diffrent interesting possibility - it would allow "galactic post apocaliptic" scenario where resource situation is slowly, but surely worsening and by that forcing every faction to fight for what is left...

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  10. Hi I just wanted to ask, the glow around planets and gates etc, is just amazing, it adds nice color to the entire system.
    Did u do it right in Adobe Illustrator or added with code?

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  11. Yes, most graphics in the game is made using Illustrator. The larger glowing areas such as behind the asteroids are done procedurally by code.

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  12. Great update, i agree that simplifying the resources is a good move and makes the game more accessible while not overtly reducing the complexity of the setting. Really looking forward to this one.

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  13. Really nice screenshot at the top! Really want to play Galaxial...

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  14. There's a slightly larger version of that screenshot here:
    https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-5g3z704_czI/VHS0S6XYUxI/AAAAAAAABEk/npDtVc4s1Gs/w1024-h512-no/AsteroidBelts2.png

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  15. Stuart one question, all the solar sistems gonna have the same size? This question is not related with this entry but I dont remember

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  16. Solar systems containing multiple planets were removed a long time ago. Each planet on the galaxy map now connect directly to other planets using jumpgate's.

    The size of the area surrounding a planet, where the ships can travel depends on how big a planet is, number of asteroids and the amount of jumpgate routes there are.

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