Uhm.... micromanagement hell, anyone?

*wonders if any modders are reading this*

I am

But modding is always limited by the engine. So far, it seems that immobile ships are out, stealth technology is out, carriers are out, space battles different than "two sides firing" are out, and AI modding is out (I could be wrong about that one, but recoding core routines is certainly out). So the only way to model minefields are with fully visible, very cheap, unarmored customized starbase hulls... and sweepers with ships that have huge attack and defense bonii to said starbases, but are weak to other ships. It would be more like SEIV satellites versus point-defense ships, but that's really pretty close to mines and sweepers.

However, I'm not really sure if such modding is strictly possible, as it depends on the limits of component and hull specificity. A minesweeper should not, for example, be able to annihilate ANY starbase, just 'minefield' starbases.

Something like your example of mirrors could possibly be abstracted into a planetary building, as it is inherently planet-centric. Deep space mines, however, would need more engine support... and the exact limits of modding have not yet been published. AI support for stealth, and engine support for (strategically) immobile ships + carriers would both be wonderful, though, and useful for much more than just minefields. Stealthy probes, fighter/carrier fleets, and satellite clusters are just some of the many fun things that could be added with such support. A satellite cluster would be an easy, maintenance-free way to interdict an undefended enemy planet - just place them in orbit, and any newly produced ship has to fight immediately on launch before it can be formed into a fleet.

The nearest thing I can think of to a mine that is easily addable would be a super-cheap 1-HP hull with just enough space for a single weapon.

Damn that makes sense in a sadistic sort of way. Put yer biggest weapon on the hull, outfit it with a couple of sensors maybe a basic or general life support and a decent drive and you have a one shot mine. With a good sensor range and speed you are pretty much guaranteed to get to attack first therefore initial damage is yours.

Really good idea later in the game especially due to the high cost of huge and large ships when they are outfitted with the newest hyper warp drives and offensive weaponry.

DARTH KRYO you have earned the coveted "YELLOW STICKY" of appreciation... dated this day 10FEB06.... blabedly blabedly yada... yada... yada. Take a bow!

W/R
Suralle Straykat
Kat Lord @ Large

ps: Keep that up and we will have to get you your own hunting preserve on Prydelan.

Also mines could be given a default movement value of -10 to stop them moving. I assume certain hull classes get native abilities, otherwise they would all be just pointless hulls that are only separated by their capacity.

Nope. The game engine forcibly gives any ship at least 1 movement point.

Well Warhammer 40k got good concept for space mine fields. And regarding speed reduction - here is an idea - reduce speed for small ships and damage capital ones. For example starbase or improvement can decrease enemy movement so it's the same but for example for 3x3 cells - whole 3x3 area reduce damage for every ship class and if capital one pass through center cell - it's taking damage.

There would need to be check-and-balance against offensive mode mine layers. Perhaps limit the number of engines that can be put onto a mine layer type of ship hull?

Yes - I think mine layers should be very, very massive; allow only 1 or 2 engines; and have the engines 3x the normal size and cost (for pushing all that mass).

How about a Speed 9 mine layer ship that can zoom to a planet (with no defending mine field) before defender can even react, then start laying mines so that the defender's ships cannot even reach their own home planet in time to defend it?

Even if minelayers could achieve speed 9, they should take a complete turn to lay mines. In the Stars! and Space Empires IV models, a minelayer typically sits at a spot for several turns before the minefield becomes dense enough to be useful. If a player lets an enemy sneak a minelayer in - even at speed 9 - shame on him. But if he lets it sit there for several turns laying mines, that's worse than "shameful", it's more like suicidal