Ground should process into Rare Ores, not common ones
The problem with ground processing into common ores, is that it becomes useless when you find deposits for those ores (among other gameplay balance issues).
The solution is, Ground should process into Rare Ores!
Further, Processing ground should be energy and space intensive (require many production blocks and lots of energy infrastructure). Get back some of that refinery gameplay in SE1.
You need lots and lots of ground, for small amounts of rare ores.
Ground -> Production Blocks with Time and Energy -> Rare Ores
The rare ores should not be found in deposits, or those deposits should be very rare and small.
This way, Processing Ground stays a relevant activity through the entire play!
A reason for players to build giant strip mines end-game!
This is also realistic, how many materials in real life are a tiny percentage of the processed material!
I will leave open what is considered ground, and what is not. It would be cool if there were types of ground: stone, sand, topsoil...
(additionally, please allow using ground for concrete and terraforming, but thats another topic).
I like this feedback
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