Yup! It was the first method I was mainly referring to, right before you edited in the last bit. You did consider it a carbon copy after all. And i can tell you, an army of robot miners could work completely differently than a probe, just with similar results.
By the way please don't think I have a tone or angst, internet doesn't speak with body language and tone of voice or the lack thereof. I am simply confused, as I stated the more you research the more probes you could have working at once. How is that different than an army of robots? Does the name probe have a sexual connotation to it from Area 51 stories?
DAT Probe! Anyways, any idea that combines both manual mining and some sort of automated one in later game is fine by me, I just don't want to lose the exploration for rare materials thing, which is also quite fun ^^
Perhaps you might get a small bonus amount of minerals when you do it compared to when it's an automatic response?
This is a good point. Manual labor should always pay off more than having something or someone for it for you. Teach the kiddies a lesson on hard-work and space travel at the same time.
Sorry, I actually found that funny. I just like the idea of using robots for mining rather than a space probe.
Personally, I got a bit tired of the minng grind with Terraria. There should be an automated way of doing things. Not necessarily robots or probes, maybe just send NPCs or even critters (think Star Trek "Devil in the Dark" rock monster). It makes more sense for us to encounter more miners, farmers, less skilled labor kinds of peeps in our exploration of the galaxy. Unless, of course, the universe has shifted to some serious automation. In which case, we should be able to build some low end robots fairly easily for the same task (we'd need the basic materials first, though). I think that the over-all mechanics of the game should change over time. Such that, early game you might have to dig around in the soil yourself to locate all those precious materials for research and basic production, but late game you're more concerned with finding more worlds and defending your high yield mining facilities. I also think there should be leveling too, maybe not for the main character, but all your NPCs should be able to become better able to look for materials, scavange, etc (ie, someone who's just starting out as a miner won't have a clue what they are looking for, while someone who's been mining for awhile knows what's what and is stronger).
I like mining. Manually. Not relying on a minigame. But, it would would be nice if we could have mining bots\mechs\npcs to help us mine :]
One of the main features of the game will be that the terrain is fully changeable. That would make mining with probes be out of place. I can imagine technology that would make mining easier, but because of the terrain being changeable, you should do it yourself
