so i was thinking in light of metal planets on the horizon, albeit far on the horizon, why not make an interesting way for metal planets to happen in gameplay? check it out, so let's say you have an asteroid, and you're sucking mass out of it like it's going out of style, sending units abroad, building your factories and whatnot, eventually you suck out all the mass, the asteroid is hollow, like that episode of futurama with nibbler's planet. so what happens? the asteroid collapses, a thin layer of whatever surface was left, surrounded by a thick outer shell of scrapped buildings and units destroyed by the upheaval, instant metal planet, ready for reclamation lol. maybe have some sort of warning that continued mining of resources will collapse the planet.
I do not like it. Asteroids are already a limited resource and may be destroyable with missiles, the idea that they collapse for some reason seems anti-awesome to me. I think it goes against the eternal struggle and unlimited scale themes. Also the metal planets are relics of the past, and purposefully made weapons not clumps of wreckage.
i don't see why not. as i recall they've already said that they wanted ways to force players into showdowns so that battles can end. also, it's not like we're talking about a starcraft 2 map where all of the minerals can be sucked dry in an hour or so, this is a freakin' solar system. if you manage to suck an asteroid dry, you got some value, but you'll need to move your crap, and if you suck a planet dry, you might just ruin someone else also occupying that planet. i still think it'll be cool
Unlimited resources is one of the things that makes TA and SupCom epic. Limit the resources, limit the size of armies.
Nay for astroids, but I think there's a kernel of an interesting idea here. Now, you could do something with metal planets/battlestations; if you want to reactivate them, does it sound like a good idea to start recycling parts of it? "Whoops, I've turned the coolant systems into peewees!" If there's a cost (time and/or resources) to repairing these things, maybe it could go up if you have mined it out? It could be a stratigic option too; do you repair it for yourself to rain death upon thy enemy, or strip-mine the place to fuel your war-machine and make it so no-one else can use it? (Or it's just harder to repair?) What do you guys think?
im pretty sure this is how its intended to operate.. or else there is no choice! you simply do both! I was under the understanding that it would be closer to salvaging than mining with metal planets
How about previously depleted planetary bodies. As in just big dead planets you can stumble upon. They'd be large barren worlds granting players a huge amount of build space in exchange for pretty much everything else a normal planet would have. Not many would want to fight over these planets for the resources, but the sheer amount of real-estate could be quite a boon for certain players. Especially someone trying to hide "below radar" and focus on fabricators to power his eco.
