[Barnacle Bill]

Naval mines in real life are already far more sophisticated than "bump into them and they blow up". I see no reason why anybody would make a mine like that in the distant future. Also, space is much more vast than the surface of the ocean. Such a mine would not work in space, even with a proximity fuse, except where there is a pretty small area that ships would need to go through (like low orbit around a planet or a warp point). This is actually the case with naval mines in real life. Turning them loose in open ocean just creates a random hazard which is not very effective as a barrier (although the knowledge that someone has done it tends to deter commercial shipping from risking the area). To form an effective barrier they have to be placed in a channel or harbor.

I think that realistic space mines would be sort of a one-shot "bomb-pumped" weapon (i.e. directional) with a lot of damage. It has to be directional to avoid fratricide. It would have to use passive sensors only, and have a computer to run it which could tell friend from not-friend. "Not-friend" is not necessarily the same as foe, as the mine would probably bounce an IFF off anything it had decided to fire at and fire immediately if the correct response was not received. It would only engage (i.e. bounce an IFF off of) targets within effective range. The mines within a field could be considered linked by some sort of highly directional low-powered tight-beam comm system which would let them cooperate in terms of which mine fires first at a given target.

With the above in mind, mines should only work two places. One of those is warp points. The mines would be considered to be placed at firing range from the warp point and would fire at ships entering or exiting the sector via the warp point. If defenders other than mines are present, the mines would still fire before combat is initiated (with no combat if the mines eliminate the intruder). If defenders other than mines are present and the attacker enters from another sector in the same system rather than via the warp point, combat occurs. In that case, the mines do not show up on the map to the attacker but fire if the attacker's ships come close enough to the square they occupy. That square would be chosen by the defender prior to the attacker's ships being placed on the tactical map, with a given range of the warp point square. If nothing but mines from the mine-owner's side is present, and non-friendlies enter the sector from another sector within the system and don't try to exit via the warp point, the mines do nothing (assume space is vast and they don't come near the warp point unless they intend to use it).

The other place I would allow them is at planets. Here they would be assumed to be located in a square adjactent to the planet. If a non-friendly enters the sector but has no interaction with the planet, and no other defenders are present, the mines do nothing. If the non-friendly attempts to colonize the mined planet, resupply at the mined planet, drop or pick up cargo, repair, retrofit, scrap, etc... at the mined planet, and no other defenders (i.e. things friendly to the mines) are present, then the mines fire. If other defenders are present, the mines are placed in a square adjacent to the mined planet (mine owner's choice, placed before the other side is placed on the tactical map) and only fire at non-friendlies which come in range. Again, they do not appear on the map to the non-friendlies. If nothing but mines from the mine-owner's side is present, and non-friendlies enter the sector and don't try to interact with the mined planet, the mines do nothing (assume space is vast and they don't come near the planet unless they intend to interact with it).


In the above context, minesweeper components would be considered a specialized point defense system which detects the hostile mine IFF pulse, uses it to locate the mine and quickly shoots at the mine before it can detonate. If you think the mine design would be sophisticated enough to put the IFF tranciever remote from the weapon (it would, in real life), then assume the minesweeper component includes a short-range sensing system which detects the mine despite its stealth, but only detects them at the mine's firing range, and gets off the first shot while the mine is processing transmittal of the IFF pulse. Also keep in mind that some simplification would be required for playability.

Cloaked ships would not set off mines unless one of the mines in the minefield (i.e. part of the same "group" of mines) has an installed sensor component capable of detected them.

There might be an option to set up the minefield to fire without trying to IFF first. Assume minesweepers still work because they have bigger & more sophisticated sensors & computers that let them still get off the first shot. This option then just lets your minefield work against your allies if you want it to (of course they would get angry...).