Mines: How do they work?

[stoicFaux]

Mines: how do they work? In the simulator they clump up in terribly large Groups, unless you drop then in small amounts each turn. :P

If I mine a warp point, what happens when someone hits it? (How is the combat handled, do the mines still clump, etc.)

Haven't had anyone run into my mines so I haven't determined the above experimentally.

Thanks for any info/advice.

[Cyrien]

Mine damage isn't dealt in combat. It just happens to the ships that hit them.

I have never had combat in a sector that had mines leftover so I don't know if they appear in tactical combat, but I don't think they do. I think if you have a fleet/satellites/starbase in the same space as mines then the ships entering take damage from mines first then any survivors enter into combat with the ships there.

[Psitticine]

I've had the new improved lemon-fresh AI launch some mines from planets during combat. They just sit there, waiting for somebody dumb enough to run into them . . .

The way to use them is have them in place before combat. Use a mine-layer to put them in the sector you want to mine (like a warp point!) and wait for the enemy to arrive.

I'm not actually sure what happens if the enemy has a surviving ship and there are mines left over. I think the mines just continue to "attack" automatically until either they are all destroyed or the enemy is wiped out.

Warp points really do work best for mines. The enemy can't see what's on the other side before they warp so they'll plow right into 'em every time.