How to make Moon Mining into an actually enjoyable experience, without the need for a Diabolus ex Ma

Make it into a mini(ng)-game!

First, let's talk about the moons themselves. There could be two or more "threat levels" of moons. Possibly three. The tiers go like this:

1. (Maybe) First Tier. Easiest. Very little in the way of Erchius Crystals, and Liquid Erchius can only be found very deep, beneath the magmarock layer. Digging is absolutely required to find fuel. This tier does not have much threat associated with it, and you're able to find moon bases and the such on this tier of moon.

2. Second Tier. Average. Erchius Crystals can be found in sizable veins around the magmarock layer, and Liquid Erchius is found in medium sized pools sub-surface. Digging is still neccesary to obtain fuel, but the sub-surface pools of Erchius aren't that far down. This tier has an average difficulty threat level, with the usual bandit hideout clustered around the moon. Also, the closer you go to the Erchius Chrystal veins, tiny Erchius Specters spawn that attempt to both close in on you and attack you, AND eat the crystals that *drop on the ground*. The threat is gone once the crystals are no longer on the ground or embedded in a tile.

3. Finally, the hardest tier. This tier has Erchius Crystals in abundance sub-surface, and large pools of Liquid Erchius litter the surface, with nuggets of precious metals in the centers of the pools (Possible meteor impact craters, or something more sinister?) Liquid Erchius is laughable easy to obtain, and Erchius Crystals are commonly found in large clusters of veins. However, a deeper threat emanates from near the core of the moon. Three Erchius Portals are present deep below the surface, from which powerful Erchius Ghosts are summoned from the second you swing your pick (metaphorically, unless you actually <use> a pickaxe...) upon an Erchius Crystal. While only one ghost spawns at a time, they are extremely powerful.

Now, this final (3rd) tier can go either of two ways: One being that the ghost is killable yet VERY HARD (Think Miniboss), and a cooldown is set in place when you kill it that halts any spawning for a period of time (This is debatable). All the while, the portal spews out Erchius Specters and Erchius Mites (!!!). While Erchius Specters go through walls and can eat the crystals off the floor, Erchius Mites dig through the moon rock and attempt to devour the embedded crystals before you can mine them. Both are easy enough to kill that they won't ever be too annoying, as the ghost is supposed to be the main threat.

The second option is that the ghost is invincible like it currently is, and you have to close the portals to remove its presence. (Closing the portals also would work for the first option, but specters still would spawn around the Crystal veins.) With this option, mites are less persistent in digging, spawn less, and are easier to kill. Same goes with Erchius Specters - they still spawn around Crystal veins, but are slower, and also easier to kill.

I feel like this could add a much better Quality of Life to the moons, and give people options - because that is what a sandbox game is about, isn't it? The option of taking the easy road or the hard trail? If you just need a few bits of fuel, hit up a Tier 1 moon. Need a challenge, or want to fuel all the ships in the galaxy? Try tackling a Tier 3 moon.

What do you guys think? I'd say it was my idea from the getgo, but this is simply an expanded idea upon one user's comment on a forum thread in the Starbound steam discussions:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/211820/discussions/0/352788917757542071/?ctp=2#c352788917761617935
(From user Taiki: "I've been thinking about this, a better thing in my opinion would be to have small mobs around the fuel nodes. The buggers break rocks and eat the fuel!!")

x-posted from my post on /r/starbound

 

The Erchius Ghost should instead spawn if you stay too long, and should be able to be killed, but be effectively a randomly-spawning boss.