how long does your miner survive against a superior observer IF you have fitted defense?

i know my tank-fitted seth would die in seconds if i get within 400m, since shield bonus removal and repair tuning nerf.

the non defense miner will also die to:
roaming 1rst rank yagel/castel/prometheus
roaming 1rst rank arbalest

its doesnt matter which npc comes, if you dont fit with at least a little bit defense, you will lose your bot. It doesnt need an artifical overspecced roaming NPC to create a "Threat".

if you think its not risk without observer - tell me: what do you do if a player waspish appears on your beta-map radar when your out with a mining mech? standing still and waiting for it to pass?

Normal roaming caravans still pose a threat to alpha miners, a threat they can manage - in contrary to observers. They were like a thunderstorm, the only thing you could do about it is run for cover, but most of the time they were faster than you. And it didn't only affect miners, but new, inexperienced players as well.

For those veteran players who miss them and liked to farm them, we'll have a new feature very soon, where you can fight high level npcs for high level loot. Expect a blog post about it next week.

1. Tellesis SO goes faster than a termis or rivaler with an LWF.
2. Also to fit a detector on a miner bot would mean hurting cap stability a good deal. (I know, not optimal returns)
3. With a base detection of 80, you do not have much to work with. "Get another account much?"

I am a miner that fits for defense (my rivaler has a .3 shield conversion ratio, 18K effective HP, 75% demob resistance). I mine on the beta islands, where I have learned observer routes and setup scouts to alert me to any roaming spawns, observers or other players.

Avoiding observers is possible, however I feel that roaming spawns are the better choice for alpha 2 islands. Grand observers are fine as well.

The imballance is SO's on alpha islands. GO's are fine.

If people wan't to mine in relative safety and be able to take a piss, I feel they should be able to on alpha 2 islands. Beta is another story . Roaming spawns will still gank AFK miners there. Nothing has changed but the amount of time you have to react has been increased.

To the devs:

Please put Grand Observers back on alpha 2, they made life a bit more interesting and could be solo killed if you were careful. Since players could kill them, they didn't roam around that much to gank miners (and they were way slower than the new SO's)

Good news!
Gargaj has at least fowarded the request!
10:29  * GargajCNS fwd'd the request
10:33 <@GargajCNS> "grands may reappear"

But he does not agro at the range he can see you.

Also the spawns move faster now (less randomly moving around, more moving in aline)

I doubt you lose your field can.

I can agree with most of what you are saying especially because you are actually fitting your bot to overcome the risks you are facing.

The island types should have escalating difficulties.
They should also have escalating rewards to make it worth the extra effort (fitting to survive vs max yield)
     For miners this should mean better ore fields. Perhaps a slightly increased regen time.
     More difficult npcs for the pve group
     escalating the difficulty of observers -- assualt observer on alpha, grand mech observer on alpha2, rest on beta
** the following is a good one in my opinion*** side track yes, but it hit me while typing
Artifact scanning should be based on island level:
alpha islands- lvl 1 sites, small chance of a level 2 (maybe 10% chance to get a lvl 2)--25% cts only

alpha 2--- lvl2 sites, small chance of a level 3 site (10% chance)-- 25% and 50% cts only

beta--- the works excet for no lvl 1 sites, 50/50 mix of lvl 2 and lvl 3 sites, no 25% cts

Risk versus reward. This option allows for all play styles and gives the new players an escalation route in all indy/pve careers. It even stimulates some population on Beta.. Want to build a MK2 bot? The best chance you have of getting the ct will be Beta!

What was the problem ever with grand observers (and sup observers pre buff)?

They provide a fun challenge to go take down. I remember fighting my first one as a new player with a small group of friends. Its was one of the more enjoyable activities on alpha 2 islands.

They do give a sense of danger that I like in a game. Its fun having them roam around, having them almost roll up on you and take you out, going to refit and taking them down.

Alpha 2 islands should not be a complete dangerless snoozefest, which is what alot of players seem to want.

Yes they do now (observers agro you at 500 even while standing still, dont know about other roaming gangs), but there are no more observers on alpha for the time being.

Variety is a good thing. Players can hunt down the roaming mobs and get industrial kernels or higher level kernels if they want. Players can also hunt down the observers for different rewards.

IMO both have a place on alpha 2 islands.

And for the record I have done quite a bit of mining on both alpha and beta islands.

Grand observers were no where near as fast as Superior after their buff.

You can outrun a grand observer pretty easily with a LWF in an industrial bot. By removing them from Alpha 2, the sense of danger you got and random moments of excitement have been reduced.

This leads to boring uneventful gameplay.

Want to mine/farm in complete peace and safety? Go to alpha 1 islands. This will lead to scarce ore fields in the alpha 1 islands, encouraging players to go out and explore the higher level islands.

Players who are not AFK will go mine on Alpha 2 now, no problems. But if you just want to do everything AFK, this may make your think twice about eating all the ore fields on tellesis while AFK.

This is how island balance should work, incremental danger on each level of island.

More reward = less used ore fields = more abundant recources

You  won't have to haul from as far or go out as far to find good mining spots because some people will go back to the alpha 1 islands to AFK mine in complete safety.

More power to them, but when I mine I am alert and at my computer watching over my miners. Why should I not be able to go to a more dangerous zone to mine more abundant resources between the alpha1 and beta islands?

Why should alpha 2 islands be completely safe? They should not, that is the job of the alpha 1 islands. Unless of course we want all islands to be the same... How boring would that be?

It already was paradise for them before they changed the AI to attack players that didn't move.

They need to add grand observers back in addition to the roaming spawns on alpha 2.

I predict price for liquids will INCREASE as more macro miners get popped by roaming spawns (even with no observers). This is a GOOD thing for miners who do not macro.

Current prices for Liquizit are extremely low compared to the time it takes to extract it because it is so easy to Macro/AFK it.

o.O

Market analysis!

Don't forget to take into account the miners with (5) accounts and millions of NIC and 1000's of U's of ore that stopped logging in because the demand was too low to sell and the risk was too high to mine.

Maybe they'll come back, but unlikely since the demand is still low.