So I had a thought (Mines?)

EpilepticCricket

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EpilepticCricket

Radegast74

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Old thread ressurection. Mines could be actually a thing.
"Going forward, we hope to expand the types of items attached to these ordnance hardpoints in our efforts to provide additional gameplay opportunities. Some of our current considerations are:
Distortion Field Generators – Smaller versions of what gives something like the Avenger Warlock its punch.
Fuel Pods – To provide extra hydrogen or quantum fuel supplies for longer range flights.
Mines – Droppable explosives that safeguard an area of space, air, land, or sea."
From new shipyard article https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/16190-The-Shipyard-Ordnance-Hardpoints
Thanks for digging up this thread, when I saw that this morning, my first thought was back to this thread.

I'm still curious to see how they implement it...
 

Richard Bong

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Dangerous, I know, but I've been up for just shy of 24 hours now and stopped caring.

Now I may have missed something mentioning this in the past and I'm probably not the first to ask, but missiles and torpedoes are already a thing, so why not deployable space mines? (Think Dead Space 3)
I think they would provide an interesting mechanic for piracy and combat in general, plus it would allow for new ship designs dedicated to the role of mining and area denial as well as mine detection and clearing.

If I had to give a base idea
They would be small mines about the size of a soccer ball, and be attracted to a ship by its IR/EM signature and slowly move towards the vessel. They would either latch on to the ship and detonate, or go off at a set proximity, and individual mine would be equal to a potent S1 missile, maybe S2. They would also be detectable at range by strong enough sensors or once you drifted close enough, and be destroyed by ship weapons.
Different types would also be nice, aside from an explosive type, an EMP type could be used for piracy to disable a ship for a small amount of time, something like a fraction of a second per mine? The canister they would be dropped from could be mounted in place of a missile rack on other ships (S2/3?) and would carry a fairly limited number. This would prevent single-ships from causing to much trouble but allow a nice way for squads to work together for certain game-play aspects.
For example, taking over a space station, you could basically barricade the station and hinder incoming ships. Or of course laying an ambush on a trade route, pulling a ship out of quantum with an interdiction vessel right into a field of pain.

Granted the idea isn't perfect and could probably be easily abused, I think it would be a fun option.

What say you fellows?
Given the volume of space, mines and carpet bombing space have about the same general effectiveness.

You have to either know the exact route to be traveled well in advance or have a bazillion mines and are defending a point target.

Mines have to be silent, but also have to detect targets. That is generally impractical in space.

But since it is cool in Hollywood, we will probably see it.

Note that mines around a point target can be defeated with a c fractional bombardment.
 
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