Mine effectiveness

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

---

Another feature is mine sensors. A mine without sensors would miss a cloaked ship of a ceratin level. This would remove the overly strong capabilites (IMHO) of mines being able to take out anything that crosses it's path.

---

Actually, mines are too weak. Anybody with 20 Minesweeper V components can take out a 100 mine-field guaranteed, with no chance of taking damage at all. There are tricks to boost a field above 100, but anyone with sufficient sweepers in invulnerable.

quote:

---

Mines should have their own sets of componants. Basic mine with just warheads would be deadly but also visible. This makes for a deterant feature. Like putting up a "do not enter" sign.

---

Moddable. Just remove the cloaking ability from the basic mine hull (in vehiclesize.txt) Try adding a stealth component for mines (it may or may not activate automatically). If not, just make two Versions of each mine hull, one cloaked, one not.

quote:

---

I see minesweepers should do a certain amount of damage when mine sweeping instead of simply removing 1-5 mines each. That way, someone could make a set of mines that are heavy in Mine Armour but are totally visable.

---

Unfortunately, that is HardCode. You'll have to e-mail se4@malfador.com at Malfador Machinations.

quote:

---

Another feature is mine sensors. A mine without sensors would miss a cloaked ship of a ceratin level. This would remove the overly strong capabilites (IMHO) of mines being able to take out anything that crosses it's path.

---

Ditto.

quote:

---

This,however brings up sensors and cloaks. Different sensor types should have their own advantages. There should be cloaking devises for each type of sensor (Active, Passive, Gravtic etc.) Then there would be a point to researching different fields. Your sensors may work on one empires cloak but not anothers.

---

Done in a few mods. Somewhat challenging to get AIs to properly use the components, it will likely be a humans-only game.

[ 01 December 2001: Message edited by: suicide_junkie ]

[disabled]

Part of the effectiveness of mines is that you cannot see them. If you can see them, then you can destroy them before they are useful.


I would change how they work.

1 - Mines can only be seen until you are nearly on top of it. Large fields are more visible. Appearing as storms and debris fields.

2 - When mines are placed in the same spot as thier owner's ships and are attacked, the mines may detonate first (damaging the attackers), then combat will begin.

I'm not sure if these were already suggested but I think SE should have a form of "The Fog of War"

[Andrés]

Another problem with mines is that you can only self destruct a whole minefiled.
E.g. if your minefield is made of 50 obsolete old mines and 50 new mines and you want to upgrade it to 100 new mines you have to self destruct them all and lay new ones.
It could be explained that once a mine self destructs it starts a chain reaction that destructs the whole minefield, but then why isn't the whole minefield destroyed when they hit a ship?

[Zarix]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hadrian Aventine:
[QB]2 - When mines are placed in the same spot as thier owner's ships and are attacked, the mines may detonate first (damaging the attackers), then combat will begin.[QB]

---

Isn't it already working like that? I always put mines over my planets and they do damage before combat begins. Or did I miss your point?

[disabled]

I've noted that in one of my battles I dumped mines on one of my planets. Combat began and my colony was destroyed because I mis-clicked on the fleet's destination. The Mines did not activate until after the colony was wasted.

[Zarix]

I made a quick test and the mines did their damage before combat. Can you reproduce the bug?

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

---

I've noted that in one of my battles I dumped mines on one of my planets. Combat began and my colony was destroyed because I mis-clicked on the fleet's destination. The Mines did not activate until after the colony was wasted.

---

Perhaps the enemy fleet was already in orbit around the planet?
Mines don't explode unless you move into them.