The video critiques Star Citizen’s mining system as frustrating and unrewarding due to long scanning times, lack of useful tools, steep difficulty spikes, and poor economic design that limits the value and usability of mined materials. It calls for improvements like better quality management, enhanced player feedback incorporation, and more enjoyable, accessible gameplay to make mining a rewarding and engaging activity.
The video discusses the current state of mining in Star Citizen, highlighting that it feels unrewarding and filled with friction. Players face long scanning times, sometimes up to 40 seconds per rock, and often find themselves ill-equipped for the rocks they encounter. Additionally, the lack of in-game information about where specific materials can be found makes mining a frustrating and blind experience. Unlike other games like Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen offers no tools or mechanics to help players locate resource hotspots, and there are no plans to implement features such as scanning planets for deposits or saving and sharing mining locations.
The accessibility of mining is also criticized, particularly the jump from simple multi-tool mining of gems to more complex ship mining. While early-stage mining is straightforward and rewarding, ship mining presents a significant difficulty spike. The Golem mining ship is described as virtually useless, and even other ships make mining tedious. Players often spend more time scanning and flying than actually mining, and the sense of accomplishment from finding high-quality rocks is replaced by relief due to the game’s heavy reliance on RNG. Furthermore, refining ore results in the loss of about half the mined material, which adds to the frustration.
CIG’s design philosophy is addressed, especially their decision to keep material quality fixed at the deposit level and to make high-quality materials rare. They argue that rarity encourages player trading and interaction, but this overlooks the fact that official player trading systems and marketplaces are not yet implemented. The current player-driven market is prone to exploits and inflation, complicating the economic balance. Moreover, most mined materials are of such low quality that they are unusable for crafting competitive gear, potentially making crafting inaccessible and progression difficult for players who rely on mining.
The upcoming refinery rework is touched upon, with CIG planning to require multiple materials for refining, where only the primary material’s quality affects the output. While this concept has potential, it may leave players with large quantities of low-quality secondary materials that have limited use. Missions accepting common materials provide some alternative income, but selling materials is currently broken due to inventory management issues. The planned introduction of lower prices for low-quality materials means that even mining for profit will require high-quality ore, further emphasizing the need for quality improvements or alternative uses for materials.
In conclusion, the video calls for improvements to the mining experience, such as the ability to merge material stacks with averaged quality to reduce inventory clutter and make quality management easier. The creator emphasizes that mining should be an enjoyable, low-intensity gameplay loop rather than a tedious chore. They express concern about CIG’s dismissive attitude toward player feedback and stress the importance of listening to constructive criticism to refine mining, refining, and crafting systems. The video ends by inviting viewers to share their opinions on whether material quality should be improvable and how mining might be fixed in Star Citizen.