Mining Revamp

[Biggles]

What I notice from these changes is that they significantly diversify ore buyers in the houses. As an example, Liberty has Manhattan, Denver, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Detroit, and St. Albans, all buying various ores. This is highly problematic for piracy as there is no easily determinable standard route, and thus less of an opportunity to catch ore-bearing traffic. With the player numbers we have, I think that would be something to be desired.
I think it's preferable to have only two ore buyers per house to streamline traffic and facilitate piracy.

I have to say I really like this change–in principle at least–because it moves us away from the "routes on train tracks" feeling of ore trading that we currently have to a more open and more realistic universe that is less obviously restricted for gameplay reasons. A possible compromise would be to slightly buff the most direct and/or heavily bottlenecked routes for each ore to encourage traders to fly them at an increased risk of piracy.

On a different topic and as 2IC of ALG, I obviously share the concerns of @Karst about moving the Rheinland Iridium sellpoint away from Dortmund (post #29). We have a strong history in lore of using Iridium in bulk in our radiation shielding and other products due to its density as well as its resistance to corrosion and heat–it's mentioned in the infocard for HazMat Canisters, for example–and we have established roleplay regarding its extraction and transit, e.g. our involvement in this project.

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Aurora — Wingman — Forumlancer — ALG