Low-Tier Mining Overhaul - Community Feedback

[aerelm]

Low-Tier Mining Rework

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As some players already noticed, there's been some smaller scale test runs for this periodically popping up in different fields during the last two patches, and now after those test fields have received multiple adjustments based on feedback, it seems to be a good time to expand them across different regions and open this up to wider community feedback. Before we get into the details, please note:

1. This is still planned to receive more adjustments based on feedback, so expect changes (droprates, sellpoints, sellprices, etc).
   
2. This is intended partly as a bridge between normal trading to proper ore hauling for newer players who might not be able to afford larger transports yet, and partly as a side-activity for various factions, not their main focus, and the entire system is balanced around that.
   
3. The commodities included in this rework are not intended to be as profitable as actual Ores (hence the name). The prices are tuned as more of a midpoint between ores and regular trading, and the main hope is to have these as an alternative that provide a change of pace to regular mining, with faster drops, shorter travel times, and a profit range that still respects the players' time investment but reflects the lower risk factor.

With that out of the way, here's the details of the recent rework:

All regular Scrap Metal, Toxic Waste and Alien Organism mining zones and sellpoints have received a complete overhaul with 4.95.4, and each region's been given at least 2 primary fields depending on which commodity was more fitting to lore of the factions of each region. These fields (and their respective ID bonuses) are all equalized to the same drop rate, which are roughly ~3 times faster than standard ores. The ID bonuses for low-tier mining commodities are Not eligible for faction perks.

Sellpoints are generally set up at a much closer travel time than regular ores, with a mid-range option also available where appropriate. The midrange sellpoints are a separate test run on their own, and depending on community feedback will either be extended to all low-tier zones, or will have some other mining commodities currently set up as regular ores detached from ore economy and set up as separate mid-tier fields instead.

Players who were around during older iterations of mining system will notice the new set up is pretty similar to the older version of these commodities before they got cycled out in favor of their more profitable ore variants.

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Factions

Toxic Waste	Junkers, ALG, DSE, EFL, Freelancers
Scrap Metal	Junkers, ALG, DSE, Xenos, Bristol, EFL, Brigands, Freelancers
Alien Organisms	Zoners, Samura, Planetform, GMG, Order, Core, AI, Freelancers

For detailed list of eligible ships and specific bonuses refer to the Mining Guide.

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Regions

Bretonia	Scrap Metal Mining zone in New London, Belvedere capital ship graveyard Sellpoint on Trafalgar Base, New London Toxic Waste Mining zone in Leeds smog clouds Sellpoint on Belvedere Refinery, New London
Liberty	Scrap Metal Mining zone in Pittsburgh scrap yard, New York Sellpoints on Rochester Base, and Planet Pittsburgh (and its atmospheric entry point) Toxic Waste Mining zone in Colorado, accident scene on east lane Sellpoints on Rochester Base, New York and Toronto Station, Ontario
Rheinland	Scrap Metal Mining zone in Frankfurt, Mainz to Mannheim tradelane obstruction Sellpoint on Kreuzberg Depot, New Berlin Toxic Waste Mining zone in New Berlin, Dortmund Wreck Sellpoints on Krezuberg Depot and New Augsburg Outpost, Munich Mining zone in Cologne, Karlsruhe Wreck Sellpoint on Wuppertal Refinery, Cologne
Kusari	Toxic Waste Mining zone in Honshu, Osaka Wreck Sellpoints on Wichter Station, Sigma-15 and Newport Station, Sigma-13
Gallia	Scrap Metal Mining zones in Burgundy (lawful) and Lorraine (unlawful) Sellpoints on Bourg-en-Bresse Space Port, Burgundy (lawful) and Pelussin Base, Lorraine (unlawful) Toxic Waste Mining zone in Cologne, Karlsruhe Wreck Sellpoint on Bourg-en-Bresse Space Port, Burgundy
Sigmas	Alien Organisms Mining zone in Donryu Cloud, Sigma-19 Sellpoint on Atka Research Station, Sigma-17
Taus	Alien Organisms Mining zones in Baffin, the Organism Farms Sellpoints on Tsushima Depot, Kyushu and Cold Bay Depot, Hudson
Omicrons	Alien Organisms Mining Zones in Omicron Zeta clouds Sellpoints on Freeport 11, Omicron Delta and Corinth Research Annex, Omicron Kappa

For specific sell prices refer to the Mining Guide. Expect changes to listed prices in following weeks.

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Note that these are not the only fields present ingame for these commodities and you might find other fields dropping them around the map as well (just like there are water/oxygen/etc fields as ambient props in different systems), but for the purposes of this test run, only the specific fields listed above are tuned to the intended rates and you'd generally get lower drops in other fields.

Feel free to go out and give these a test, and if you feel any particular route is over or undertuned, drop a mention here (preferably also include your loadout and stats from multiple runs) and it'll get a review. We're also lookin at adding a few more fields and factions to the mix in future passes.

Have fun.