A tractor beam more powerful...

MrDionne · Post by **MrDionne** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:43 am

Would it be possible in a future update to add the ability to buy and install on our ship, a tractor beam more powerful than we have now?

A tractor beam to mine asteroids and refuel 2 or 3 times faster than the current tractor beam would be just perfect! Neither too fast not too slow. Obviously, it would have to sell tractor beam to a high enough price. Maybe 2 or $ 3 million.

Because there is nice to be able to refuel passing near a star or nebulae. But to fill a tank of 3200 units of fuel, it's a little too long with the current tractor beam. 30 minutes waiting to refuel, it is very annoying. Same to mine asteroids, it is a little too boring. The tractor beam gain much interest in increasing its power and speed capture fuel.

Example:

Tractor Beam C1: (It's the actual tractor beam) range: 100m ~ 10 000$.

Tractor Beam C2: (Mine and refuel 2x faster than the TB C1) range: 150m ~ 1 000 000$.

Tractor Beam C3: (Mine and refuel 3x faster than the TB C1 and 1.5x faster than the TB C2) range: 200m ~ 5 000 000$.

Thank you.

[Edited on 18-12-2012 by MrDionne]

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:21 am

I like this idea. I'd also like to see the Platinum, Metal, Gold, and Diamond mining beams be add-on selectable sub-modules of the base tractor beam. That way you could carry one beam in one equipment slot and still get the benefits of putting up the cash for the specialized modules.

Being that all the needed materials for weapon's lab crafting are minable. The basic beam has become the most valuable mining beam type in the game. This would make it worth buying (and keeping) the rare - to - find specialty beams.

Schmidtrock · Post by **Schmidtrock** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:53 am

Caboose7 · Post by **Caboose7** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:16 pm

do you have a science officer? it mines must faster with one.

MrDionne · Post by **MrDionne** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 8:41 pm

It mines maybe faster, but not really enought.

Munshine · Post by **Munshine** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:26 pm

You should try the mining probe with the deploy constructor. While it is doing its task, you can do something else like a contract or crafting in the system and come back later after a short amount of time picking up the containers.

Post by **DaveK** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:33 am

Perhaps Vice can be persuaded to make the tractor beam fitted into Terrain Walkers (x5 faster) available for ships! - it would obviously be costly because it would need modifications for use in a vacuum

I've not tested in detail but I think that a mining probe, being a Deploy item will self destruct if you leave the sector - so you need to find somewhere with an asteroid field in the same sector as station. Mining probes are quite quick though - five plus cargo containers in less than five minutes - though you can't choose what they mine so it's a bit of a lucky dip!

oni14128 · Post by **oni14128** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:17 pm

From post: 152298, Topic: tid=10171, author=MrDionne wrote:It mines maybe faster, but not really enought.

I used to play EVE Online so I'm used to spending 2 hours just cycling mining lasers. That's way to long, the flip side however is that it would be very immersion/game breaking if you flew out to an asteroid and loaded your entire cargo bay in 2 secs. Especially if you are using the specialized lasers and the associated commodities are going for 5+k a unit.

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 4:01 pm

From post: 152375, Topic: tid=10171, author=oni14128 wrote:
From post: 152298, Topic: tid=10171, author=MrDionne wrote:It mines maybe faster, but not really enought.
I used to play EVE Online so I'm used to spending 2 hours just cycling mining lasers. That's way to long, the flip side however is that it would be very immersion/game breaking if you flew out to an asteroid and loaded your entire cargo bay in 2 secs. Especially if you are using the specialized lasers and the associated commodities are going for 5+k a unit.

Never played EVE-O, but my version of the cycle-able beam would be one key and you would still have the standard 'ALL' option to use. The others would be there so you don't have to 'seed' your cargo bay by constantly jettisoning until you get what you want in the bay.

Going to the moon or planet surface is nice because they also offer Gold and Silver which pay well. So for quickness sake, you can park on the surface and just fill up with whatever, then rinse and repeat. But really, there's not much incentive to mine materials other than Platinum. Monotarily, buying the Platinum beam is a great investment for miners, but you lose the convenience of being able to mine all the neccessries for the weapons lab. Perhaps this could be changed somehow.

I agree that insta-mining would break the immersion. The specialized beams do seem to have a slightly faster mining rate though.

Also sweeping the beam around on the asteroid's surface speeds up the process. Can't confirm but some say heating up the asteroid with some particle weapons fire also speeds the process up.

oni14128 · Post by **oni14128** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:06 pm

From post: 152380, Topic: tid=10171, author=Rubber Chicken wrote:
From post: 152375, Topic: tid=10171, author=oni14128 wrote:
From post: 152298, Topic: tid=10171, author=MrDionne wrote:It mines maybe faster, but not really enought.
Also sweeping the beam around on the asteroid's surface speeds up the process. Can't confirm but some say heating up the asteroid with some particle weapons fire also speeds the process up.
Yeah, I usually set some horizontal thrust with ids off, just a few m/s to speed things up. Never tried the particle cannon trick.

Post by **DaveK** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:55 pm

From post: 152298, Topic: tid=10171, author=MrDionne wrote:But really, there's not much incentive to mine materials other than Platinum.

Also sweeping the beam around on the asteroid's surface speeds up the process. Can't confirm but some say heating up the asteroid with some particle weapons fire also speeds the process up.

You can mine metal ore to get the raw materials to use in the Weapon Lab

I'm hoping Vice will add more Constructor conversion recipes (say hydrogen into fusion cells, platinum into electronics) for getting raw materials for the WL - That way SplosivesCorp could set up a constructor station and manufacture the raw materials for is Weapons Development and Manufacturing arm

I've never been convinced by the sweeping effect - if you sit still the asteroid rotates in front of you doing the sweeping for you!

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 6:02 pm

From post: 152406, Topic: tid=10171, author=DaveK wrote:

I'm hoping Vice will add more Constructor conversion recipes (say hydrogen into fusion cells, platinum into electronics) for getting raw materials for the WL - That way SplosivesCorp could set up a constructor station and manufacture the raw materials for is Weapons Development and Manufacturing arm

Already in place.

Hydrogen - Fusion units
Platinum - Electronics
Metal - Machinery parts
+
Metal
=
Viola!

Professor Paul1290 · Post by **Professor Paul1290** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 6:32 pm

I guess on the subject of mining, I think there's is an existing mechanic/technique of sorts where if you find a good spot on the asteroid where your beam picks up material and then orbit the asteroid as it rotates to keep your beam pointed at that same spot then you'll mine much faster.

More on topic, it would be neat if there was a faster way of mining, but it had more steps to it. Maybe if you shot an asteroid in a specific spot then used the beam then you'd get materials faster or something like that.

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:52 pm

Set your Beam, go have a soda or something come back and say "WOW that was quick!" lol

:D:D:P:P