SEV discussion: Mines

[dogscoff]

I like decaying fields- but then I'm a micromanagemment freak. Then again, you could just setup a yard somewhere to repeat build mines and a ship to repeat load/launch them. Not much micromanagement there, except that you get troubles with ships cancelling their orders because the yard has run out of stock or something...

Of course I'd also like to see better order queueing and repeating in the game as well, which would help matters immensely: Imagine if you could give a ship the following orders:

code:

---

-Wait at location X.

-UNTIL (minefield A<50 mines) OR (minefield B<75 mines)

-IF (minefield A<50 mines)

--Goto location Y

--Load mines

--launch mines at minefield A

--Return to location X

-Endif

-IF (minefield B<75 mines)

--Goto location Z

--Load mines

--launch mines at minefield B

--Return to location X

-Endif

-Repeat orders

---

Or maybe even a (reliable) minefield minister could be introduced to deal with it for you. Or a "maintain minefield" button that allows you to assign a ship to a field or group of fields, and it will go off and do its own thing according to settings you specify. Micromanagement is a good thing as long as you have the option to delegate it.

Anyway, I quite like the idea of the mine vs minesweeper situation being like an arms race- kind of the way cloaking vs sensors works now, but with more variables thrown into the mix to reduce predictability. For example ship & fleet experience should definitely make a difference to the amount of successful mine hits, and previous knowledge that there was a minefield in that location. I like the idea of formation being a factor, and combat sensors and ecm and ship size.
I'd also like to see the sensors/cloaking system overhauled and mines worked into that. (ie taking range and other factors into account as well as sensor power vs cloaking power)

Bearing all this in mind, I think the best idea is the one suggested a few Posts ago to have some kind of unseen strategic combat played out every time a minefield is encountered. Then all the above factors could be worked in at once, and the result of a minefield encounter would never be 100% predictable as it is now.

Finally, there should be a "retreat at minefield/plough on through" setting for each fleet- if set to "retreat at minefield" then they should have a chance to go back a sector when they first encounter the mines (ie after the first few explosions), leaving some of the fleet and most of the minefield intact. If the "strategic combat" approach was used to manage minefields, this would amount to a "retreat from combat" option- something else I'd love to see resurrected for se5.