Mining Rework

[DeltaV112]

The way mining works ATM where it is essentially a stopgap until you research fuel or metal extraction techs is I think a pretty poor system. It puts too much importance on tech breakpoints and makes most production extremely centralized around cities.

I'd say to remove these buildings and make conventional mining the main resource source through the game. That would mean making map resources much higher, on the order of hundreds of thousands of metal. To stop you from just sitting on the same metal point for the whole game, as you extract a resource it should have reduced availability(probably using a logarithmic function). That way you're encouraged to expand and try and find new and untapped(or less-tapped) resources.

In terms of replacement techs, having high-output mines that have bigger costs in terms of machines but give a flat availability bonus would be good. That would give you cause to tech into them as you deplete existing mines(because the flat bonus is larger for depleted mines) and still have a large consumer for machines the way infinite resource buildings are currently.

[KeepStay]

(based on multiplayer experience) Good player always rushes "Metal Soil Filtration" tech and builds as many Demetalization Facilities (DF) as he can, while generic mine only gives around 20-30k metal in 20-30 turns even on Volcanic planets. Demet. facility will give a stable 3k per turn when upgraded. Late game big war not playable without multiple lvl. 4+ DFs, mines simply cant provide an adequate amount of metal for later turns. Players who didn't rolled for DF tech fall behind an average curve and cant compete. If you ask me this tech took too much importance in itself, I think metal extraction should be spread somehow more evenly between several metal extraction methods. We have multiple ways of getting oil, but only 2 ways of getting metal.

[Tartannosaur]

Demetalization facilities should have some sort of ongoing input costs associated with them, such as energy and/or fuel costs to power the facility.

[Elver]

If you ask me this tech took too much importance in itself, I think metal extraction should be spread somehow more evenly between several metal extraction methods. We have multiple ways of getting oil, but only 2 ways of getting metal.

One thing that would make a certain amount of sense to have seen with Oceania would be tidal/sea filtration tech. My limited understanding is that it might be better to make it do a higher yield of rare metal than standard metal, but it would allow for some diversification of resources. The biggest problem I see is that it doesn't fit well with how SE handles infrastructure upgrades. Those are very much things you'd either want to be coastal (or actually out to sea), but the principle bottleneck put into place by advanced production assets is the "one per zone b/c they must be in a city" rule.

Demetalization facilities should have some sort of ongoing input costs associated with them, such as energy and/or fuel costs to power the facility.

They do have a relatively high energy upkeep; it might make sense to ramp it up more steeply at higher levels. The problem there is that the game is definitely balanced around its current state.

[fibol]

I would like for mines to get some additional longevity by making them peter out slower, especially high quality ones. Something like once a mine exhausts there is a governor prospecting roll to find an new metal deposit in the same place with 2-5 [random] lower accessibility, representing harder reachable veins that so far had been to difficult to extract that the mine is now getting to.

It also seems to me that the AI is notably underprioretising Metal Soil Defiltration, playing on hard I rarely ever see them go into that and if they it's like one lvl1 asset.

[Nagabaron]

I would like for mines to get some additional longevity by making them peter out slower, especially high quality ones. Something like once a mine exhausts there is a governor prospecting roll to find an new metal deposit in the same place with 2-5 [random] lower accessibility, representing harder reachable veins that so far had been to difficult to extract that the mine is now getting to.

It also seems to me that the AI is notably underprioretising Metal Soil Defiltration, playing on hard I rarely ever see them go into that and if they it's like one lvl1 asset.

I agree with OP and you, it feels like a slow rush, nevertheless a rush to achieve these major mining techs before my main sources of Metal is gone.

Have the Mining techs instead create Bonus-Assets built only in City Hexes, that give flat bonuses to their specific Mining-Asset in the Zone. Ease-Of-Mining levels should also incorporate that when they're depleted, it descends one level with a random generation of Reserves less than the total amount of the level before, becoming increasingly harder to extract.

[Vic]

Soil Demetalization has been nerfed downwards in upcoming v1.21i

[Vic]

I am also looking into a way to find more deposits in an active mining hex.

[mroyer]

I am also looking into a way to find more deposits in an active mining hex.

Nice... I like it. These are 200km hexes after all - if deposits have been found, there are likely more undiscovered deposits nearby. Are you thinking when a new deposited is discovered, the reserve quantity would simply be increased and the user informed?

-Mark R.