[Petition] Un-Nerf Mining!

[Arashi]

I believe mining will make about 30 mil/hour at the moment.

If someone can show me a trade route that makes 40 mil per hour or more, I will increase mining to allow at least this profitability.

If someone can present a good argument about why profitability should be more than trading then I'll make it more than trading.

Well I can't give an example of ALL mining, but I'll give an example of IMG ID/IFF, with Omega Mining Syndicate in Omega 7 mining Cobalt with Ore Sale at Ingolstadt in Munich.

WE don't use Hegemons, so we must use transports.

Basically we try to get 3 or 4 miners with one transport, then we cycle the transports, (transport player switching to miner, while a miner gets a transport), we usually spend a few hours filling 4 or 5 transports (most of them with 4k cargo or more).

During this time we're not only pewing rocks, but we also RP, we get interrupted by pirates, so our transport runs while the miners (Mafic's armed with snacs) usually run the pirate out, with some RP

So the pirates and RP with them slow it down, then we get interactions with kruger next to us (we are in north fields: IMG and Kruger, cobalt, silver and copper ores). Ocasionally a Wild or Phantom, or some such comes in and we run back to friedstadt till that blows over. That's more time we don't mine.

This is what we enjoy, yes it takes longer to mine, we RP when others are around and make it interesting, but it's fun.

Just today before the rephack, we filled 3 Atlas's (4100 ore each) in I think around 2 hours. We stopped for about 20 minutes when a possible pirate showed up (RP'ing it out, is it safe for the transport to return, etc), then regathered to mine and RP some more.

We had to wait to transport the ore to Ingolstadt, because with the rephack we couldn't enter rheinland space without the RM NPC's going hostile on us as soon as a Dauman NPC entered scan range.

Later we started our trip to transport the ore... we had 1 escort, we RP'd a little along the way, it was clear the entire route. But that's not always the case.. sometimes the escort finds a pirate.. and starts RP'ing with the pirate, while the transports take the LONG way around.

Without interference it takes about 20 - 30 minutes to make the run (depending on how many trade lane rings are out from NPC's actions). When there are pirate players along the route that can easily get doubled or trippled. We really don't mind the Player pirates, we even have some fun interactions with Hessian Pirate Players.

So in summary:
Mining = about 2 - 4 hours (we try to mine as a group, filling between 3 - 6 transports).
Transporting Ore (one way): about 30 - 60 minutes (sometimes more with heavy pirate activity). We still have to get the transports BACK to Omega 7 from Munich. The return trip the pirates usually ignore us as we run empty.

So at the original prices, EACH miner was making (for an atlas) 44mil and change, for a minimum of 2 hours of work.

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If we didn't RP we could probably shave 30 - 60 minutes off of that time, and I'm sure their are power mining groups out there, that's all they do, is mine for profit. I personally can say that OMS doesn't do that, and we usually stir stuff up when we mine, for those around us.


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I know that those using Hegemons mining for themselves can make about 30 ish mil for about an hour of work, but Hegemons are EASY targets for pirates. And that 30(ish) mil per hour is not counting paying escorts or protection while mining.

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Ok, I'm not asking you to change the prices of mining.. currently cobalt goes for around 8,600 a piece, I'm estimating that at about 25% cut from original 10,790 price. But with the RP and working as a GROUP, we were still making less than some of the trade runs I hear of, but we were getting RP out of it.


A few suggestions:

Is it possible to:
1A) Lower overall drop rates all around
1B) Solo miners get a standard bonus (for proper mining setup).
1C) increase drop rates for each proper miner GROUPED, in CLOSE Proximity, mining (with proper mining setup).

Example:
1A) Someone in an atlas mining would get 1 drop in 50, with 1 or 2 ore in the drop.

1B) A Hegemon Miner, with proper ID/IFF, and mining turret would get 1 drop in 5, with 1 to 3 ore per drop. ***Restriction*** Hegemons do not count towards multiple miner bonus ((this is to force use of transports instead of bunches of solo miners grouping together just to get the bonus))

1C) 5 miners (let's say Mafics, with proper ID/IFF, and mining turrets) with an atlas collecting, would get a bonus for 5 properly setup miners IF they are in the same group, and within say 250m of each other. This bonus would be something like 1 drop in 5, with 1 to 3 ore per drop multiplied by # of proper miners meeting requirements: so in this case 3 - 15 ore per drop.


2A) Non miners get 0 drops

2B) Properly setup Hegemon Miners get a standard drop rate.

2C) Properly setup dedicated mining ships get improved drop rate (since they have limited cargo hold and most will be mining for a nearby transport, this would encourage group mining.)

EDIT:
As I saw posted in other threads about this issue:
IF a miner is attacked and flee's or is killed, they can no longer mine for 4 hours, a trade ship doesn't have that restriction as they can reenter the system if they are passing through or trading.


EDIT 2:
The idea behind this, and the #'s will need adjusting, is to make non miners not worth the effort, solo miners should make same as avg trade routes, and GROUP mining should get bonus mining potential.

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Enjoying a game isn't always taking the easy route, sometimes you have to take chances and trust in luck, sometimes that luck takes a big bite out of your backside.