Would the drilling platform, or some other sort of platform structure, be able to replace Planetary Interaction, please? Currently there is no way to get rid of people that are squatting on planets that you want for your own use

The idea of "passive" mining structures is very intriguing. Will drilling platforms be able to be parked in an asteroid belt (or even a mining anomaly) and be able to mine autonomously, or will doing so require human interaction throughout the process?

This would go a very long way to making null more self sustainable, and allowing alliances to withdraw from space they only hold so their members can generate ISK.

One general concern I have with the new structures concerns their pricing and their capture mechanics; based on the dev blog/fanfest slides it seems they'll be subject to Entosis Link mechanics, which in turn implies the structures will be captured in a successful attack, rather than destroyed.

Since attackers would then get ownership of the structure (and, presumably its fittings, except possibly rigs) it seems like this would provide a significant incentive for large groups to prey on smaller groups that couldn't effectively fight back, just to take their structures for resale.

In comparison, right now small/solo corps can run a POS with relatively little risk, because usually the most valuable asset in such a setup is the control tower, which has to be destroyed for an attack to be successful. Generally this means that it simply isn't worth the time/ISK involved in attacking the POS in the first place. On the other hand, if the whole POS setup could be captured, there'd be a lot more risk for small/non-PvP-focused corps.

Capturing structures also opens up a lot of questions with regards to assets stored there - If I'm selling my goods in a public-access market hub and another group comes along, gains control over the hub and sets it to corp-only, would I still be able to recover my assets and if so, how? What about if they take it over and unanchor the station and haul it away?

It would be cool to have the Drilling Platform generate a variable sized astroid belt containing rocks that have ore based on what its anchored to.

The belt would increase in size based on the platform size
Moon goo and raw PI mats could generate as part of the belts, in very small quantities
Perhaps allow the fitting of mining lasers into the high-slots allowing the structure to be manned and used to mine its own belt: 8 strip miners sounds op, but it is limited to its own belt as to what it can mine.
The belts should be tied to system location and the systems natural ore distribution; no Jaspet in a .9 Minmatar system, and the belt should only regenerate after downtime.

Potential rigs could be fitted that maybe increase the quality of the ore, size of the belt, or size of the individual rocks.

...

I wonder if there will be enough skills for there to be people who train and become the 'architect wing' of a fleet. The ones who set things up because the others cannot be bothered. Kind of like the fools who go all the way through and train FC V. I, for one, would like that. So that is what I will encourage in discussions.

m

Not a good idea. It would be far better for the drilling platform module to be separate from any POS or outpost infrastructure and be a separate module. You would have to keep an eye out for the large rock deposits spawning either in standard asteroid belts and/or in the mining anomalies. Then the drilling platform would have to be transported to the large rock deposit and anchored to it. We could maybe have an additional skillset to anchor and use these new drilling platforms proficiently . I'm starting to get excited now. These drilling platforms would be like POCO & mobile depot and would be attackable only under wardec conditions with a reinforcement timer. Obviously they could only be anchored by members of player run corporations.

We definitely don't want another passive/AFK revenue stream added to the economy and especially not to the 'blue donut'.

Planetary Interaction is a good system and is not really truly passive as it takes quite a bit of time to set up and complete the processes - for me anyway . But the number of nullsec people asking for drilling platforms to become another actual 'passive' income stream for large nullsec entities is extremely worrying. Lets hope the CSM, which GSF has a larger hold on this year, does not push for what nullsec communities/leadership desire on the issue of drilling platforms.

We should be able to hire DUST Marines to solve this.

...
AFK Mining or using Drilling Platforms will allow the miners to train to be combat pilots so the constant whine that is heard across New Eden from PvPer's not having enough targets to shoot at will be fulfilled.
...