Architect Archive
Thread: Idea for new architect structure.
Most likely, a stack of ore in your inventory has about 2 numbers directly related to it, its quantity and its type. The type probably references another data table that has the name and attributes. This is why all ore of a given name has the exact same attributes, no matter where they are harvested.
To allow refinable attributes, each item in your inventory would also have to store all the attribute numbers for that item, which is about a 5x increase in storage needed. And they already have database problems.
Not to mention the affect on schematics, which also would have to store the attributes they work for, as well.
Balagor
That is about the same obstacle that I came up with as well. But perhaps refining the ore would change the resource type? Maybe not the best solution but it seems like it would be a lot smaller obstacle to clear then it may seem.
I'm just of the opinion that these time sinks (ie. waiting for good resources to appear and actually getting a chance to harvest them) are more of a waste of time and very frusterating. You shouldn't have to be a power gamer and survey every planet every day twice daily just to get a jump on the good stuff. Perhaps offer us a way to create our own better resources. Hence the idea for the refinery. You'd still have to do plenty of harvesting because your total materials AFTER refinment would be a lot less than what you put in but you wouldn't have to wait around for the good stuff to show up. And when the good stuff DOES show up, you'd still harvest it because you wouldn't have to lose any of that material in refining process.