Economic Question

[theDemolisher13]

Is mining the only way to make resources in the game? I ask as the first thing I do is search every option to develop a steady and dependable supply line. Also if mining is truly the only way to gain raw resources then I see an issue with people who lost in the land war not having the necessary supplies to do much of anything meaningful in the game.

[Rob]

Defending the supply line is the corner stone of practically every RTS game ever made 🤷‍♂️ If you dont do it well and you loose a patch then you just need to play better.

But like many of them you have starting resources, a set amount in your system, you can refine what you mine to boost production, you can use the resources to sell goods and make money which you can use to buy even more resources, but only if you have the basics flowing in which its your job to protect.

[theDemolisher13]

Jul 17, 2018 9:07:46 GMT Rob said:

Defending the supply line is the corner stone of practically every RTS game ever made 🤷‍♂️ If you dont do it well and you loose a patch then you just need to play better.

But like many of them you have starting resources, a set amount in your system, you can refine what you mine to boost production, you can use the resources to sell goods and make money which you can use to buy even more resources, but only if you have the basics flowing in which its your job to protect.

OK Hmm . . . You said earlier that we could steal resources from other companies mind explaining that please? Like are you inferring the obvious of stealing their resources fields from them through combat/hackery or did you mean like we could go into their base forcefully or stealthily and literally steal resources out of their stock piles?

[thexenomorphian]

I think it's both but you don't steal resources with hacking It was tech I heard it in the Artism speaks podcast Which also said you could steal stuff from trader ships by blowing them up and taking their supply crates so it would probably the same for other companies

[I Darkstar X]

Perhaps there is late-game tech that allow mining outposts to mine resources in adjacent sectors, making their placement much more strategic?

And I believe another issue that could arise form having finite resources is stagnation. As a player who tends towards turtling, stagnation is a big scare in a lot of games. As an example, the old RTS game "Generals" had this problem, with the exception of the USA faction (arguably the most boring faction) who could build a small structure that produces a lump sum of resources every so often. (The expansion "Generals; Zero Hour" fixed this problem by giving the GLA's Black Market the ability to produce resources slowly and giving the China faction the Satelite Uplink building that produced money gradually based on upgrades and how many Hacker infantry were garrisoned inside.)

As a more fitting example, EA1 let you force meteors to drop with iron via the satellite, allowing you to have potentially infinite resources. (Even though there is not a finite resource mechanic for Iron in EA1.) I think perhaps something like that could be cool for EA2, like a special satellite that could (perhaps magnetically) pull a bunch of asteroids into the system its built in for mining, preventing stagnation entirely.

[Rob]

Actually mining outposts can mine adjacent sectors as they send their mining ships through the fracture network to the next nearest resource patch, however this is slower than having an actual mining outpost there.

[I Darkstar X]

Jul 20, 2018 13:35:43 GMT Rob said:

Actually mining outposts can mine adjacent sectors as they send their mining ships through the fracture network to the next nearest resource patch, however this is slower than having an actual mining outpost there.

They can do that be default? That is very nice to hear.

I would like to also know if mining outposts can be given additional mining ships, or if that is locked to a set amount that replenishes automatically when they are destroyed. This would perhaps make them more viable for spreading collection out across a wider area at the cost of spending the resources to build them.

[Rob]

I've tried to automated the resource gathering as much as possible so currently when you make a mining outpost it manufactures 2 mining ships and one cargo transport, if any of them get blown up it makes a new one. You can make additional ones too.

[I Darkstar X]

Jul 21, 2018 13:24:46 GMT Rob said:

I've tried to automated the resource gathering as much as possible so currently when you make a mining outpost it manufactures 2 mining ships and one cargo transport, if any of them get blown up it makes a new one. You can make additional ones too.

The cargo ship flies to the main base to deposit, I assume? That is a very well-made system. And by making additional ones I assume the production can be increased as well, so that is good to know.

This game is going to be great! 

[Rob]

bingo!!