We're post release! Quickly, do new features!
I just pushed some stuff into the heavy-resources branch for testing purposes. This thread should now be the feedback thread for further refining the idea.

Idea

The idea behind heavy resources came with Ringwaul's carry heavy lib and spicing up the mining from 'throw 50 objects into lorry / by hand' to 'carry few, big objects around with a little hassle'. Main feature is that veins now blast to big chunks of material:



Changes so far

- The following material will spit out chunks: Rock, Coal, Gold and Ore.
- The Blast2ObjectRatio / Dig2ObjectRatio have all been increased (i.e. you need to mine more pixels before an object spawns).
- Chunks are worth several pieces of little material lumps: Rock (5), Coal (4), Ore (4), Gold (3).
- Producer buildings will split chunks automatically into the smaller objects.
- All buildings that need rock to construct have been changed to be built from rock chunks.
- Carry heavy objects will disable scaling / hangling when being carried.

Testing / Feedback

Playtesting settlement scenarios will be the next step. Pay special attention towards the following:

1. How is the mining process perceived now? Do you think it's better than with little objects?
Starting your settlement should now be considerably easier. Constructing a Foundry is just one chunk of rock (instead of 4 rocks). One chunk of coal + one chunk of ore will serve you with 4 metal; enough for a Wind Generator + Flag + Sawmill.

2. What do you think on disabling scale / hangle?
The thought behind this is that you have to put more thought into your mine shaft again. Maybe even clear a path for a lorry in order to carry more than just one chunk. But at least shape the shaft in a way that you can make your way back out without scaling.
Now this is probably the most controversial change. It will also affect other carry heavy objects (the Boompack, the Barrel / Powder keg, Crate) - I don't know if it actually breaks any scenario that needs the Boompack. The whole idea came up when the Lift Tower was still under development. Back then, the prospect of having a building that could drag hard-to-carry objects along everywhere made it feasible to obstruct transportation. Now, with the rope development stuck, we might reassess the concept. For a start, I leave the obstacle in the game.
For players, this downside isn't that unperceivable: After all, carry heavy objects block your regular inventory and you can clearly see how they take up both your hands on the model.

3. What do you think on balancing?
The material outputs in Clonk have been well established for years. Changing the ratios is not an easy step. Do you think the material-to-chunk ratio is okay? Do you think the amount of chunks needed to run a settlement are okay? Since you can easily get more metal with less effort, we might want to increase metal need for high tier techs / buildings.
Also important: The chunks now simply weight 3, 4 or 5 times the little objects, making them especially heavy. Are they too strong a weapon or an unfair death trap?

4. Is the splitting / construction with logs nice?
You can't manually split the chunks right now. That's why I changed the rock-dependent buildings from taking rock to rock chunks. In order to get nuggets, you have to put the (gold) chunks into a Foundry first (probably biggest flaw). I'm open for ideas!

What is planned?

1. Make wood a 'heavy resource'
Introduce the logs from Fungiform's sketch. Trees will split into logs when chopped down. Logs will serve as construction material for low tier buildings and can be processed into wooden planks in the sawmill. Planks are construction material for high tier buildings / techs.

2. Get some nicer (and different) models for the chunks
Simple graphics to do for whoever wants to do it!