Post
by therewolfmb » Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:56 am
I definitely like the idea of underground deposits. It seems like a great way to add depth to the materials in the game, and make some minerals harder to access. It could also provide a solution to the excessive mine rebuilding of late game. Underground deposits could be difficult to find and expensive to mine, but deposits of common materials would have orders of magnitude more minerals.
Simple suggestion:
The specialized drills could require additional resources to operate in addition to electricity, such as lubricant for metal mining or water (or even steam) for oil. This would make underground mining more logistically complex to maintain, since electricity becomes more or less free in the late game.
Crazy suggestion:
If you are looking to add complexity between raw surface mining and deep underground, perhaps surface minerals could start semi-hidden. Instead of being always being able to see the entire deposit, only a few specks of mineral would be visible, with some of the smaller deposits having no specks. The first time a player mines one of these specs, the ore underneath that tile is revealed. The player would then know to excavate the surrounding tiles, eventually finding the edges of the deposit, with excavated tiles converting to dark sand, showing both that the tile has been checked and reducing the tile's ability to collect pollution. Or the player could carpet the area with mining drills, which would automatically excavate their working area, but would cause more environmental damage. Tier 1 sonar equipment could automatically reveal these surface deposits, while tier 2 sonar would locate the deep underground deposits.
EDIT: changed some wording on the crazy suggestion.