Here is my solution to mine problem. Mines should hurt the player that lays them. Meaning no player(or computer)can spam them with without end. This would force the player to make routes through the mines fields. Also this would add value defenses because those routes in the mine fields would be guarded by turents and/or a Starbase.

What if you put a cap on the number of mines each race was able to build? That way, if you need to litter a grav well, you can. Instead of a fleet supply, have a mine supply. I don't know just throwing things out there.

I agree that things cannot stay the way they are.  

somthing else kind of screwy about mines....In the entenchment announcment they said each race would have mines that did diferent things depending on the races theme. This didnt hapen if you will notce, despite the fact that i thought would be an absolutly great idea. As it stands there is one unique mine on the vasari minelayer (and it rarely autolay's it) and the rest are "oh hey your kind of close, Boom!" kind of mines. I say we demand mines that actualy do different strategicaly relevant things....after thier fixed from being broken and stupidly implemented as they are right now. Any sugestions on special things the mines could do when trigered? And would have it been so hard for them to develop adven strikcraft "drone" mines that simply ran into an anemy ship to cause damage instead of movable drones that just arbitraily place themselves no where near thier suposed target and therefor ruin the strategic advantage of a ship seeking mine in the gravwell. we know the coding is available for fighter to crash into a ship since that vasari cap ship ability (cant think of the name) that make an enemy ship a strikcraft magnet. my 2 cents

I have a few thoughts regarding mines.  First, I agree that mines as they are in this game just don't work as they are and need major reconsideration.  I have thought long and hard about this and this is what I came up with.

1.  Mines in space should not be used like today's naval minefields.  It works fine for mining narrow straits and harbors in waterways on earth, but in a 3D space (even though Sins is not 3D) "traditional" mines just wouldn't work.  I think that the way mines work in "Banner of the Stars" (relatively recent anime sci-fi series) are the perfect way to go.  These mines are basically warheads with short range rocket motors.  They drift in space until a ship comes along and activates them.  Once activated, the rockets fire, the mine becomes basically a guided missile, and the mine rams the target and detonates.

2.  To prevent spamming, I think that there should be a new defense structure called the "Mine Control Center" or "Planetary Defense HQ".  This structure would basically be a small outpost that players would build to establish, control, and maintain the minefield.  Each structure could use a fair amount of tactical points and only support about 20 or so mines (to prevent spamming and lag by having too many onscreen).  Before I hear anyone complain, let me remind you that if mines are done like the above suggestion, you could get more bang for you buck (especially if they were made slightly more powerful).

3.  To counter the fact that you have a relatively small amount of mines, you could make it an option to set an engagement zone for this structure like you do with fleets.  This adds a new tactic to the game.  Do you have a small, compact minefield thats more devastating to a given area, or do you have a larger, spread out minefield that covers more area but may not cause as much damage in a given area?

4.  This type of defence platform could also have a reason behind it.  A control center could, for game fiction purposes, deactivate the mines when no enemies are present preventing "friendly fire" from acidental collisions (using IFF codes and such could work, but what if someone's frieghter is out of date or something and has the wrong code).  When enemy ships are inbound, the "Mine Control Center" or "Defence HQ" transmits activation codes to the field and the mines become active, with the IFF codes helping to further prevent "friendly fire".

5.  These structures would automatically replace any used mines, eliminating micro-management.  To make it even more valuable, this structure could also be upgraded with a missile pack or flack cannon giving it the ability to defend itself against minor threats if the mines were not enough.  It could also solve another problem:  having your newly conquered planet surrounded by hundreds of mines with no (currently) effective way to get rid of them.  Destroying the structure means that no one maintains the field and it becomes inert/self-destructs.

The current problems with mines worry me because the possible spamming and lag by having to many onscreen could give me my only forseeable reason to not enjoy this game as much as I do.  I really like this game, and I want to help fix this problem.  I look foward to hearing any comments or suggestions to my idea.

Wow, when I read all of the stories on entrenchment that were appearing in November, I got the idea that the mines would be in the phase lanes. You'd have to have a scout jump first so that it would be able to detect them and allow your main fleet to just go around them. Obviously it didn't work out like that. Though if they can't get the mines to work at a reasonable level in the gravity wells, mabye they should try it. Would also solve the lag problems.

The TEC mines seem to have a good balance to them. The other two races bah.....broken.

I agree that this makes more sense.  Homing mines already exist in the game, so you can see how that works right now.  It's not really about what works best in a realistic way, but what works best for the gameplay.  Homing mines might be an improvement for the TEC, as long as their range isn't too great.

I don't think we need a new structure.  TEC mines are already expensive, and a simple cap would keep them at a manageable level.  The other ideas you're putting forth seem to over-complicate things when it really doesn't need to be that complicated.

This is still early beta.  The devs haven't even taken a first shot at balancing the mines yet.  We're just going to have to see what route they take with them.  I'm sure the spamming is going to be addressed.  I don't think it needs to be a very complicated solution yet though.  Maybe if the simple solutions don't turn out to create the right balance, then something a little more complicated might need to be tried.

So my five cents after playing my first game of entrenchment.

From a defence perspective, in the real world, (and I know Entrenchment isn't), minefields are useful for denying the enemy the ability to either move safely through an area, or for chanelling them to a killing area of your choosing.

One key point is that while it might be your mine field, it is not a place that you happily wander through at will. In effect it is a no mans land. So for me, if you mine an area in a gravity well, anyone that wanders through should suffer casualties.

Allies will know where the mines are and avoid them, enemies and pirates will have a very bad day.

In addition I think the simpliest solution is using tactical points for a mine field. This will set a limit and make you think more strategically how to best defend your planet. Currently tactical strucutres such as hangers, planetary shields etc take points because you are spending resources to create and maintain the item, (mine fields do need to be monitored & repaired). Mind you this probably will not work in a worm whole or star gravitational field.

Finally, my biggest pet peeve with mines at the moment is when playing in AI mode (as TEC), and I am allied with a Vasari etc I notice that they are dropping mines off all around my planets gravity well when they come to visit!

Pretty rude and undiplomatic. Also means I can only remove them when I become their enemy. Would love to see mines are only laid in an area when at war with a party or when you are setting up defences for your own planet.

Yea. this is because the vasari minelayer and the advent drones both have autocast on the lay mine ability when they are built. so no matter where they are they are pooping out mines for no reason but that they have the antimatter to do so...If you dont turn off autocast on these when you build them you too will be pooping out mines all over the place for no reason. At this point ive said all im going to say about mines....they know whats broken so well see if they fix it soon...