Rivelers, Lithus's...

That kind of capital, equipment, and man power is something most alpha corps don't have - and those that do also have the combat support internally. The concept is sound, but I think the alpha game is still to new for something of that scale.

Maybe I'm getting the wrong impression of the beta Islands, what are the chances of an operation this size going off without degrading into an expensive firefight? 50/50?

I'm just thinking in regards to balancing risk vs reward, if the idea now is losing minerbots/haulers is too much of a risk, and a more invuln/safe autominer would be too much of a reward, something in between could work.  Basically that they are as vulnerable as, well, unattended drones, but ones that function.  I mean if you got fancy they could even function as drones (with a whole skillset), could be hacked (counterskillset) etc, but that's overcomplicating it.  As long as the prerequisite to making them function is indy skillset based, it also wouldn't invalidate being an indy (you still need the skills to use and place them - and it could even effect their efficency) but staying current with the 'balance' of indy being not easily defensible (unless youre crafty). 

runtime doesn't effect the idea either.  The longer theyre in the field, the more time there is to find them, the more work/manpower it is going to take to empty the can they generate. 

The only thing that's changed is a) the miner doesn't need to be in the field for the full duration - only to place the autominer, then to retrive the contents. 

There's no reason these things would have to run cheaply either, simply 'cheaper' than losing a mining bot at some ratio that's fair to leaving something blind deaf and dumb in the field as opposed to a living player.  Would just have to be fair.  My brain is thinking of the idea of - indy places autominers, combat ops guards autominers, even a single scout (could be the indy himself in a fast lightbot) can watch or check on them.  It sort of lowers the cost and amount of manpower required for beta mining -- or not -- depending entirely on the size of the op.  Heck a large corp could drain a field with them if they wanted, but at a lower efficiency and only a limited number of cycles per tile it would be counterproductive.

But meh, pipedreaming.

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I play MMOs. I need a signature which is deep, thought provoking, and devours bandwidth with the voracity of rabid weasels. It is also, by nature, vaguely sad with a tinge of my obvious internal, unfathomable loneliness. Like this,   , but at 1.3megs packed into 2 by 6 inches. ANIMATED.

For beta corps living on the islands, they can better manage the risk of mining. The risk/reward issue I was reffering to is why more alpha miners don't go to beta. Other than small scale ninja mining, the risk is simply being spotted, which results in a failed mission. Risk vs. reward assumes that you have some sort of way to mitigate that risk in balance to the reward. As it is now, the risk is constantly increasing over time but the reward remains constant. That is the longer you stay on the island the greater your chance of being detected, but you have to stay a certain amount of time to make the trip worthwhile, that's assuming your doing as Lemon suggests and continually hauling.

There's no way to mitigate the risk, that is I can't call up NeX and say "I'll pay you 20M NIC to let me mine in peace", because I'd also have to call Foom, 62'nd, M2S, ect ect.

Everyone is out there hunting everyone everywhere. I really miss the days when Alliances controlled the Islands. Having ALL the beta islands be the wild west is bad for business.

Neh.  You just call one of them and say "I'll pay you 20M NIC to guard my mining operation."  Then when someone else shows up, your guards fight them while you drop teleport beacons and GTFO.  Easy.

And if you worry about betrayal, the same could happen paying off an alliance.

As it is, just call up any island owner, offer your 20mil, and hope they don't say that NIC is meaningless because they function in a communisitic society and blow you up anyway.

Large scale alliances are in direct conflict with PvP and corporate individual identity.  As a new player I can tell you the names of only maybe 10 of the many more than that corps out there - and the ones I can mention are likely proverbial 'heads' of already existing alliance groups or corporations with members who stand out in discussions 9either positively or negatively).

Also I do not support the idea of an autominer because "mining is boring".  Some people may find mining boring, I do not.  I am a former memebr of a mining/manufacturing corp.  Mining is not boring. 

The idea is mining is exceedingly risky to corporate and individual assets in comparison to the rewards, and in the current market it is painfully difficult to compete by simply mining lesser ores in larger quantities and sell it to purchase the rare ones you need.

And yes, there are political answers such as wishing for a golden age of mega-alliances, but they don't currently exist in the form you're wishing that they do.

Either way, as I said, the idea of an autominer is pipe-dreaming.  It's not as if I have any say in the matter.

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I play MMOs. I need a signature which is deep, thought provoking, and devours bandwidth with the voracity of rabid weasels. It is also, by nature, vaguely sad with a tinge of my obvious internal, unfathomable loneliness. Like this,   , but at 1.3megs packed into 2 by 6 inches. ANIMATED.

20M is about buying a temporary BLUE with a corp, not bribing a single player.

However, I'll gladly tell you where and when I'll be mining, but maybe there will be a Lemon assisted log-in trap instead of slow fat miners.

Does this mean i get 20 mil?

That's not a deal... we come out to get blown up for free already!  You will need to sweeten it more.

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I play MMOs. I need a signature which is deep, thought provoking, and devours bandwidth with the voracity of rabid weasels. It is also, by nature, vaguely sad with a tinge of my obvious internal, unfathomable loneliness. Like this,   , but at 1.3megs packed into 2 by 6 inches. ANIMATED.

Based on our regular wulfpax kills, including a recent takedown of a mech by a couple lights and assaults, I don't think we need advice on that front. We can and do hunt down isolated peeps.

But gang on gang, benefits of gear and better range, speed and dps makes it nigh on impossible to stand and fight. Game has extremely effective anti blob mechanisms, which I support and enjoy, but lacks an appropriate gear/ep delta necessary for new players to engage with hope of victory. If prices come down on high tier gear it'll reduce the effectiveness of roboknighting, so that's one of our big goals atm.

That said, the next big saturday roam we do will have some entertaining surprises prepared for the folks that engage us.

Unfortunately EVERY Sandbox is full of these kids.

To be honest im surprised I haven't seen a "we don't like to pvp we should get immunity to mine on beta" thread, that every mmo with pvp zones has.

Care bears and Griefers are ruining every sandbox out there....

Sandbox does not equal PVP playland.

If you want a fully PVP-centric game with some crafting, play team-fortress.

Or, if the majority of the Perp players want it to be a pvp-centric game, then let us carebears know upfront so we don't waste months of our lives building up the in game industry.

<.<

>.>

How about that weather?

The rebel alliance was born under the cruel Empire...

There needs to be a conflict in the game between order and chaos; neither of which is necessarily good or evil.

At the moment, there's too much chaos and anarchy, factions need something to rebel against or they'll tear themselves apart.