On the subject of the new Military Salvage in Bering, this actually brought up an interesting idea in my head just now.
Let's say that Bering received the "Contested" status, and therefore consequently the 30-minute respawn timer. DSE and UN| are set up to be serious competitors in a grab for resources that generates money. As stated before, money is a powerful motivator. Junkers are also in a place to benefit from this, though whether or not they'll remain neutral or pick a side in this remains to be seen.
But what if a minable commodity was necessary for the construction of a PoB producible item?
Military Salvage means some seriously powerful technology, possibly allowing groups that have never seen such tech to pick up the pieces and forge something completely new, the likes of which no one has seen before. I know the idea of PoB-produced weaponry has been a topic brought up in the past, and with mixed feelings. But what if the simple task of obtaining the commodity is in a highly contested PvP zone? It would give people not only a money motivator to log in and secure the commodity, but a unique non-money end-goal reward, as well. Adding to this, if you require three different minable commodities from three different pvp-contested systems/areas, then it would limit the number of weapons that are producible, especially if you need an absurd amount of them for a single weapon (Such as a snub or freighter turret codename, or dare I say, a gunboat codename..?). Add in a 30-minute respawn timer, and the sense of urgency is created to mine as much as possible while the opposition is down.
Perhaps Military Salvage can be left alone as it stands right now: A money source. But it would be pretty darn neat to see a minable commodity or commodities that are required for the construction of a PoB-Exclusive set of Codenames. Said commodities could be in pvp-contested areas, and be difficult to obtain en-masse, since you would have to worry about protecting the miners from assailants. If these commodities are given a low enough yield, then even during low-population times, it may cause some stress-sweating of individual miners. Combine a low yield with a high commodity cost to produce the item, and couple it with the chance that you can be jumped at any time, and you have some serious potential for frequent pvp activity.
Tangent idea on that note: Instead of weapons, make it a PoB-Produced Blueprint. Once said blueprint is acquired, a Player Request could be made for a "PoB Produced" ship that has a unique advantage, such as for example, a Civilian VHF with 6 code slots, or a HF with 2 of its 6 gun slots being capable of mounting missiles, in addition to a CD slot, or even a freighter with a bomber torpedo slot.
I bring all of this up because, as part of a potential "rework" of the mining system, I would love to see minable commodities that, while may be unsellable to any NPC bases, would be highly valuable and sought after by PvP oriented individuals. This would cause PvPers to seek help from those who enjoy mining, and thus a symbiotic relationship can be formed. In return, the ones who wish to obtain these weapons can shower the miners with their own money, which re-cycles credits and places them in multiple hands, thus stimulating the economy in a small way.
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