Why Mining?

[benjaminlawrence27]

I was just browsing through the suggestions section of the forum, and something I noticed is that one of the big features nearly everyone is waiting for (with varied levels of anticipation) is the ability to eventually mine resources from asteroids and other celestial bodies.

While I too am for the idea, I\'m wondering why everyone seems to be excited for it, namely because:

A: It won\'t be that exciting. Don\'t get me wrong, anything to do with space trips my trigger, but there are reasons real-life companies like Planetary Resources plan to use near fully-automated systems to harvest asteroids.

B. Unlike what practically all space games (EVE online comes to mind), there is a lot more to do in space than poke rocks for minerals all day, namely scientific research.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

[Capt'n Skunky]

Just remember, what you find interesting and fun in a game may not be fun or interesting to someone else and vice versa. It\'s a delicate balance that all game designers have to work with.

Cheers!

Capt\'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[Ascensiam]

I have to say though, adding magic to minecraft to please the majority is in my opinion something that has ruined the game entirely, yeah, come at me, but that\'s how i see it.

Same here, i\'ve played a great deal of these majority games and i find space mining way too far ahead of the tech area this game is at, docking and space stations, for example, is far more important in my opinion.

So you\'ll always find people trying to immediately add commonly found features to streamline newer games like KSP.

[benjaminlawrence27]

Just remember, what you find interesting and fun in a game may not be fun or interesting to someone else and vice versa.

I understand, Skunky, I just think its curious that so many people want a feature like mining, generally in the context of selling what you mine, etc. I always imagined that if mining were put into KSP it would be something along the lines of mining water from wherever to be used as propellent, there by allowing me to launch my kernels even farther from their home with no intention of bringing them back whatsoever.

[benjaminlawrence27]

me to launch my kernels

Kerbals. derp.

[Tim_Barrett]

If it does come to this I\'d like it to be part of the game were you can play normally without it. That\'s how big mods like Tekkit are enjoyable for everyone and not a pain because it doesn\'t rewrite the laws of minecraft (vanilla) but instead adds on to it.

[Candre]

Mining? It should be for the very real need for building ships in space. I\'m not sure why this appears to be something that is\'nt really necessary, as it will be practically essential for huge interplanetary missions and then interstellar missions. Am I missing something?

[benjaminlawrence27]

Most definitely it would be useful, Candre, particularly in real life. But in KSP our parts already come from nowhere, so why should they come from somewhere when we\'re building ships in space? As I said previously, I\'m for mining in the game... eventually. It just confused me that so many people seem to consider it a \'must have\' feature for KSP, particularly in the sense of trade and economics.

[Candre]

Later in the game we are going to be required to purchase parts on the ground. We\'ll most likely be given funding for certain missions. That should satisfy the need for having a source on the ground. As for the \'must have,\' you\'re right that it isn\'t a \'must have\' feature. However, mining in space does make it much easier for big missions, so that the logistics of getting the spaceship of the ground isn\'t a nightmare. It would be reduced to waiting for the parts to be produced and having the Kerbals sent up to the new ship. It looks to me like a matter of preference. If you want to set up a colony on another planet, you can either make a bunch of small flights without the need for orbital construction, or you can make a huge mothership that would take it all in one go. Now I see.

[TNTGODZZ]

i believe that mining should never(EVER) come into the game. i think it would ruin the fun, currency is simple, why not leave it there. in the future, we will have reasons to land on different planets/asteroids and what have you. mining isnt one of those reasons.

[Vanamonde]

In the real world, the advantage to mining asteroids and small bodies would be that you don\'t have the expense of hauling the goodies out of a gravity well before you can use them. To me, that is a factor which would add interest to a space-simulator; I have to figure out how to travel in space, survive in space, and possibly find and exploit resources in space. I suspect we all enjoy putting our own rockets together or we wouldn\'t be playing KSP, so wouldn\'t it add to the fun to also make the pieces before you put them together? I think so. But then, when it comes to games, I\'m kind of a managment freak. I don\'t want to just command the battle; I want to decide how many arrows my archers carry in their quivers, etc.

[Rascal Nag]

Mining for trading is an idea I am against. It would be a net loss to go out into space and then bring stuff back anyway in almost all cases. Mining for volatiles in order to make rocket fuel, however, is a very valuable ability to have if you wish to undertake large missions. Instead of lugging a huge, fuel filled ship up at once, or even a bunch of tiny bits of fuel up at once, you can bring up one empty ship, then fill it with mined fuel from a designated mining craft, which would also take some fuel for itself in order to get back to another asteroid and start the process again. Or what happens once your fuel depot in orbit runs dry? Launching up a bunch of rockets from Kerbin to re-fill it sure wouldn\'t be cheap.

[TouhouTorpedo]

Heres my take on the idea -

Have an errant asteroid or two somewhere out there, maybe a belt? which are just free random objects of a size you could either A) land upon if you was very very careful or had a harpoon, or pick one up if small enough and take it back with you.

And on that front I think it\'d be interesting to collect rocks or similar on the mun and minmus to bring back, Apollo mission style.

HOWEVER, I do not think we should have mining or trade currency. It really doesnt make any sense in the game enviroment of KSP.

[bandit4910]

Why am I thinking about mining stuff to have a almost indestructible rocket? Like turning the rock into metal and building a shield around the rocket, Making the rock into rocket fuel, Repairing part of the rocket, ETC.

[Luigibro606]

Mining=Money.

If you can find valuable minerals out there and haul \'em back, pa-ching.

That\'s realistic too, peeps. To any that\'ve seen the film Avatar, the humans are only there because there\'s sources of Unobtainium, which being rare, is expensive.

Also, if any one here wants to establish a Mun-base with launch facilites, you\'re gonna want to mine for elements to make rockets.

[benjaminlawrence27]

I knew someone would bring up Avatar, and using mining, specifically for \'ultra rare interstellar resources\' as an economic incentive for space travel.

Science Nerd Away!

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/stellartrade.php

[McLuv]

Well, far more likely and realistic than Avatar, asteroid mining IS an exciting and profitable.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/planetary-resources-asteroid-mining/

What space mining allows you to do is to target asteroids made primarily of an exotic and expensive element on Earth, such as Platinum and gold. It also allows for space colonies to be built out of and in existing asteroids, which decreases their cost and increases their usefulness by a huge degree. Furthermore, asteroids with large reserves of water can be used as fuelling stations, which paves the way for far more efficient and less expensive interplanetary travel, and would add a whole new branch of designs for space vehicles.

I\'d love to see space mining in this game. It doesn\'t need to be boring (pun intended), and the actual extraction of materials can be automatic, but getting there, getting the hardware onto asteroids, and finding a way of making it useful are all incredibly interesting aspects that would add a new facet to the game.

[benjaminlawrence27]

I\'d love to see space mining in this game. It doesn\'t need to be boring (pun intended), and the actual extraction of materials can be automatic, but getting there, getting the hardware onto asteroids, and finding a way of making it useful are all incredibly interesting aspects that would add a new facet to the game.

Puns are awful

I concur though. I think some people took the wrong impression and thought I was against mining being in the game - I\'m not, I\'m just against the idea of mining for money to buy more parts for my spaceship. After all, its a space program, not the US government (Bad joke but I like to be critical.)

[TouhouTorpedo]

> That\'s realistic too, peeps. To any that\'ve seen the film Avatar,

Avatar isn\'t science fact.

Well, far more likely and realistic than Avatar, asteroid mining IS an exciting and profitable.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/planetary-resources-asteroid-mining/

I\'m glad they finally changed their figures. Last I heard of this they were claiming the mission would cost $16M, which is frankly impossible for what they were trying to do even using an off the shelf satellite (you would only just get a suitable COTS bus for that, with no launch or operations included). Though I am very skeptical about their claims for what it can be used for. You don\'t use the same kind of imaging techniques to take a picture of something on earth as you do in deep space, so this thing is going to be a lot more complex than your usual space telescope if they try that. Therefore, I\'m even finding their $25-$30M mission budget very unrealistic.

Small low cost spacecraft, and one off multicapability system -DO- -NOT- -MIX-. So either they don\'t have any real space engineers on the team, or the marketing department is pushing some serious porkies. Someone is gonna get upset somewhere down the line on this project.