Future Visions: Mining

Jerma 0.5 < Nashar < Domain
Amarr Empire

You're piloting a Procurer, the member of a 10 man mining fleet currently preparing for a mining operation. The system of Jerma used to boast 17 asteroid belts, filled with large rocks of Veldspar, Scordite, and Pyroxeres. Now they were gone, replaced with dynamically spawning asteroid belt anomalies. Times were getting tough, and resources were harder to acquire. Onboard probe scanners had indicated the presence of a rare and lucrative type of ore anomaly - a "Jackpot" deposit which contained high yield ores - and the Director of Mining of your corporation wanted to get an op going.

There was just one hitch: in addition to being a lucrative "Jackpot" deposit, it's danger level was rated at "Catastrophic". This was not a site where a few Covetors and a hauler could set up shop. This required a coordinated fleet effort - or people would die. You had made the attempt before, just a few weeks earlier, when you were just another one of the sad, lonely pilots who mined the paltry scraps at the new belt anoms, which spawned around planets. But these new ones spawned in the deeps pace between planets.

You remembered that day. It was only a "Dangerous" deposit, and you thought you could handle it. But your shields were ripped away in seconds, and you were lucky to escape with structure damage. But now you were part of a local corporation, part of a team - and you were going places.

The blue star of Jerma cast a glaring reflection on the hulls your fleetmates' ships, which were gathering outside of a deadspace pocket near Jerma VI. As they floating around you - 2 Orcas, 8 Procurers, and a Noctis - their shield hardeners highlighted each ship in a translucent blue. The FC's voice broke the silence:

"Orca One, are you ready?"

"Ready."

"Orca two, are you ready?"

"Roger."

"Fleet, are you ready?"

"Ready." "Yessir." "Lets gittir done sir."

"Fleet - align to Catastrophic Jackpot. . . Take fleet warp. Orcas, cap chain up on landing."

The anomaly comes into view at the end of the swirling warp tunnel; a red miasma of toxic dust clouds, electrical discharges, and flying chunks of rock, all of which would apply periodic environmental damage to ships on site. The sun visibly dims as you land on grid; the stars and golden nebulae of Amarr space fading into pitch black.

"Cap chain established, mining boosts active."

"Shield boosts active."

"Entering Prospect mode - mining boosts amplified."

"Fleet mining ledger recording."

You look around you at this strange new world you've stumbled upon. Flashes of electricity briefly illuminate large deposits of Veldspar, Scordite, and Pyoxeres, each with the prefix "Jackpot". Containing the normal DNA of their species, the discription of each asteroid noted a 75% increased mineral density. Jesus, you thought to yourself, that Veldspar yields 700 units of Tritanium... and there's... 500,000 units of it.... Your money trouble was about to be over. You watched as over a dozen blue mining lasers began to drill into the rocks.

Until your shield alarm blares in your ears. Your shields are taking damage and depleting at a rapid rate.

"Start locking Skiffs. Alphabetical; Orca One takes top, Orca Two takes bottom."

"I'm taking serious damage here."

"Stay calm. Reps landing no-"

"CHECK CHECK CHECK, zero point beacon forming, type... 4?"

"Okay clear comms, we haven't seen this one before."

About 50km off the starboard bow of the lead Orca, a small beacon had appeared. Within moments it had expanded and turned into what appeared to be a wormhole; a violent vortex of angry red and black energy. As you watched, ships began to pour out of it, each with the dangerous ♦ symbol next to them.

"Diamond Blood Raiders - I need an Orca in Emergency Mode *right now*. Fleet, drones out drones out drones out. Anchor on the Orcas. Broadcasting primaries."

A bubble of energy burst from one of the Orcas - you think it was Two - enveloping the fleet. Your shields, which were already being amplified by the shield links, became even stronger. Emergency Mode increased the effect of Command Bursts, as well as improving the amount of shields that could be regenerated with remote reps - but, as with Prospect Mode, this rendered the Orca stationary.

"Emergency Mode active."

The battle began, warp scramblers from the Blood Raider rats rendering several Procurers unable to escape. A swarm of drones surrounded the first rat, and began to wear it's HP down. The incoming damage was hard for the Orcas to keep up with, and several times you watched your HP dip into armor. That would have to be repaired after the battle, when the fleet was cleared to launch armor rep drones.

And during it all, the fleet continued to mine; targeting NPCs with drones, cringing as their shields fell, moving ore between bays, and applying heat to shield hardeners when primaried. The rats would come in waves; there would be a few minutes of respite before another wave came again, during which time the fleet topped off on cap and armor reps.

You'd been bored in EVE, but not anymore.  You had a corp and a fleet of good pilots. Through the corp, you had access to higher level gameplay - more dangerous, but more lucrative. As the Noctis landed on grid to loot and salvage the wrecks - a lucrative prospect in and of itself - you thought about how different the game was when you played with other people. After a short while, a Providence came and began loading itself with ore from the Orcas. Hundreds and hundreds of M3 of high yield Veldspar, Scordite, and Pyroxeres.

As the fleet was standing down and getting ready to warp back to station - to deliver the ore to each pilot based on what the fleet mining ledger had recorded - you breathed a sigh of relief. "Are they all like that?"

"Oh no, it depends on what you bring on grid. They're adaptive, but we haven't quite figured out how the escalations work. And they get much worse in LowSec and 0.0. That's the worst HiSec has to offer though, and we did fine with 2 Orcas and Procurers. Most of the ones we find out here are Calm and Standard. Those mostly do environmental damage, but you have to pay attention because that damage adds up quick and a beacon can still drop. We mostly run them with Porpoises. We have a guy who even multiboxes them."

This was a future vision of the EVE That Might Have Been.