Mining:
Currently, mining is very bland. You have the same resources, uranium, silver and all the others. It gets boring fast.
I'm proposing that all of this is changed, in favor of a a random system that will make games more... interesting?
How it works and stuff:
At the start of each new round (When the game is setting up) a few (5-6?) materials would be generated, with a bunch of variables. These variables would be chosen randomly, with extreme numbers becoming rarer and rarer, so something with an insane stat would be rare, but possible.
Vars:
Spoiler:
Alloys are self explanatory. They're a combination of two different materials. The way it would work would be, two materials (And only two) would be inserted into a smelter, and the stats of both would be averaged out, to make an alloy of those two materials. It would be possible to keep doing this forever and ever, for whatever reason.
Forge for mining:
This would take some of the more useless things away from R&D, such as the pickaxe. The miners would be able to insert materials into this machine, and from there, construct various tools which would use the stats of said material to determine how well they function. A pickaxe wouldn't do good if it was soft, but a very hard/durable pickaxe would be good. Pickaxes that explode on hit if the coders code rare interactions (Erebite gloves from goon, anyone)
R&D and related magics:
Here is where R&D becomes not-shit.
Not sure if we should change how you research shit, though.
Components in complex items:
I don't mean the handle and tip of a screwdriver. I mean the parts of things such as the mining drill or advanced egun.
Each of the 'complex' items printable by R&D would have a few components, with a clear function. The materials used to construct each component would affect the overall result of a prototype printed, which could be tested by scientists.
For example, an Advanced Egun. The parts to make this up would be a Reactor, a Cell and a Casing.
Reactor: It would determine the power output and radiation output of the weapon.
Cell: The materials of the cell would determine the max charge of the gun, better cell meaning more pew pew.
Casing: The casing would protect the user from radiation exposure (If the material has any rad protection), and determine the melee damage if you are actually bad enough to run out of lasers and have people alive.
Possibly, it could get more complex for individual items, but that's the basics.
Mass Producing:
R&D wouldn't be in charge of mass producing WMD's. After the scientists construct a prototype, they can save the schematic for that in some sort of database, which will allow that to be printed at appropriate locations (Exoguns at exo fabs, guns at i dunno, a weapons vend somewhere?), locked appropriately. R&D would be in charge of designing, not manufacturing.
Why i wanted to do this: R&D is boring as fuck
