I would really like to see a Mining Mech in the game, which could dig into the planet, but you'll have to get off the mech to harvest the ores/loots. And you can upgrade your Mining Mech from drills to lasers to matter disruptor. or something.
Well first of all Mechs are just being added into the game so you can really start making suggestion about them yet because there's only a little bit done. Second, a mining mech is a great idea and I think the devs would already be thinking of putting it in the game... of course once mechs are actually completed though.
Hrmm. I think this would be a really wonderful idea! Although, make it pretty difficult to make. Don't need to hop out to get ores, but you do have to refuel once in awhile. Upgraded mining tools would be awesome as well! Start off with a really simple jack-hammer like fist, upgrade to a drill, then a laser!
Perhaps you're thinking of something like this mod? Mining Mech, by TP_ I also think it's an awesome idea and I was wanting to suggest it to Tiy myself, but I'm not sure how to go about that? (Email? Post on Twitter?) He did write that he is interested in particularly awesome mods to incorporate them into the game. In fact, he's already done that in the last update or two. Pastebin.com > I wanted to give you some info on our plans as far as modding goes
Two specific suggestions on possible properties for a mining mech/tech: 1. A mining mech or mining tech should allow faster horizontal mining, since currently horizontal mining is terribly inefficient compared to vertical mining. If necessary make a special horizontal mining tech that reshapes the horizontal mining area to be 2 wide x 4 high instead of 3 wide and 3 high. However, only allow horizontal mining to have this mining shape, otherwise vertical mining would become even faster than it already is. 2. Make a vertical mining mech/tech such that it automatically targets the blocks below you in a way that mines down as quickly as possible. (essentially a mech or tech that automatically repositions your mining area to be as efficient as possible. Additionally, if it is a mech it should have a wide enough hitbox so that it cannot fall through a 2-block wide gap. This way you can mine downwards faster and without worrying about accidentally missing a piece on the side because you fell past it. I had originally written a little more than that, but I think it sums up my thoughts pretty concisely. If anything about this idea or why it is useful is unclear, don't be afraid to ask. Additional Thoughts: Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, the current mining speed doesn't feel underpowered, so I don't know that any mining mech or tech needs to or should provide any significant mining speed boost. This is because in my experience, mining areas near the surface of planets in Starbound is more efficient than mining very deep, unlike most other mining games where mining speed is a bigger factor due to important ores being only available when far underground where the ground is harder to mine through. The main thing I would hope to gain from the addition of a mining mech would be easier horizontal and vertical tunneling. The main reason why I want that is because mining in existing caves and by simply running along the surface of different worlds and collecting all the ore i see is currently so much faster and more rewarding than digging your own mine shafts. Just to be clear, I do believe that encouraging cave mining is somewhat good because it encourages the exploration portion of the game, and it is more hazardous than creating your own mineshaft so it makes the game more engaging, but at the same time, when you run out of cave to mine it is nice to be able to mine horizontal and vertical shafts more quickly and easily so that you can discover other interesting caves more quickly.
One aspect of a mining mech that should proveuseful in Starbound is the fact that you'd be in an environmentally controlled cockpit. This means that while using the mining mech (or any mech) the character should be immune to a hazardous environment. For example, inside the mech they'd be immune to acid rain and other minor hazardous weather. Also, they should not freeze to death as a mech cockpit should have a military-grade heat system. And the character should be able to breath as it should have environmental support (air recycling). This would also proof against toxic atmospheres.
