Mines could add a lot of game depth

[Eisenhans]

No strategy game like SE 4 can do or should do without mines. Mines are a cost efficient way of keeping an nme at distance, so it simply is not realistic to do without any.
Space mines as used in SE 4can be thought of to resemble sea mines, of which there are quite a variety around with any degree of sophistication from a powder keg that will blow up only when a ship bumps right into it to wonders of modern technology that can be programmed to only react to a certain frequeny (for example mine sweeping sonar) or a certain noise or a certain ship size or whatever. Some even do not explode themselves but rather fire small torpedoes at the ship in question. There are many levels of stealth to be found as well.
The tech-thread for mines in SE 4 though is a rather primitive.
IMHO the whole game could gain a lot of depth with more differentiated mines. To start with

Mines I: they should simply explode whenever ANY ship hits them – even your own.

Mines II: would be able to distinguish between you and anyone else without making up for
changing alliances. They would just blow up anything that is not yours.

Mines III: could act much like the mines do now, but maybe have a higher range in tactical
combat

Mines IV: could be able to react to hull type: some for Colony Ships, some for Carriers and so
forth.

Mines V would then be able to distinguish between certain designs deciding on components
on the ship. Like they blow up that nasty mine sweeper or ships with weapons or ships with cloaking devices...

Another feature I would like to see is that mines get old. Once in space for some time they just can’t keep up with a changing environment and become less and less able to distinguish between friend and foe. Maybe they could even start to float someplace else. So in an area heavily mined there should be a real mine threat to anybody. (In fact any serious damage done to ships in the past 20 years by mines was done by leftovers from WW2)

This is no top priority thing(although I would like to have it tomorrow!) but rather a project for some time in the future. Anyway it would require a way better AI to deal with that.

Is there any way to get this done by modding? I had a look but couldn’t figure it out.

What do you think? ( Comments by people who do not out of principle condemn mines especially welcome!)