[Captain Kwok]

Here is an idea for a mine engine:

You take the number of mines in the minefield and place them in a "x-y grid" based on some setting in a data file. Say approx. 25% of the sectors are occupied with mines by default.

The ships that enter the minefield each have a random path through the grid. If they hit a mine then they take damage, if they make it through then great.

Of course, this would be a cpu process and not an actual graphic sequence in the game.