Sounds cool. But would take the fun out of the game ya know.

Problem: you're talking about mines, in space. Each square is a parsec. That is a hell of a lot of room to fill up with mines...

Mine field in space? like a chinese wall or something around your cultural borders? mass and energies required would not even be conceivable... (by me at least )

only place where a mine field would make sense is around a planet, as a good way to soften a bit invading ships.
I don't build all the stuff that can improve the defense of a planet, I rely on fleets to defend space, and prefer to save the precious tiles...

Space Mines are homing, according to Gundam and Star Fox.   

They don't need to be particularly dangerous to be useful. If mine laying was cheap enough and flexible enough, you could do things like:

- Set them to attack any ship with a weapons level above X.
- Set them to allow but slow any ship of non-allied factions.
- Help route attackers where you want with a well placed minefield.
- Stake out a claim on those class 15 barren worlds and class 26 radioactive worlds scattered all over your empire at the start of the game.
- If a minefield has a small radar footprint for you to see, it allows you to police your border a bit better.
- A fast enough ship should be able to blow through a minfield unharmed and possibly even undetected if it moves far enough on it's turn. Higher quality mines could have higher caps on what speed ships they can detect and what speed ships they can intercept.
- Different and potentially more expensive types of mines can be multiuse things that have beam/missile/projectile type weapons mounted on them.
- Spys could temporarily disable individual mines or small areas of minefields.


Granted they are likely more of a GC3 or future expansion type of thing, but they would probably add a lot.

Maybe if they were able to be placed around planets, starbases, and resources. Perhaps as a sort of "suprise" trick. But for that to be viable they'd have to be speedy and buildable before constructors. I just don't see any point.

Clearly, the homing mine has a chain that connects it to the ocean floor and a missle doesn't.

Oh, wait, we're in space.....

Mines don't work in space - unless you are playing Space Empires. And then, yes, they are a micromanagement drag. You don't need mines - just more fighters!

A missile would require a launcher of some form to cart it around and aim it at something that needs to be shot at, a mine is self contained. The "realism" argument of space being too big to place mines down doesn't hold much water given a ship can already block an area. A mine would just be cheaper and offer less functionality.

from m-w.com
Mine:
3 : an encased explosive that is placed in the ground or in water and set to explode when disturbed

Missile:
1 : capable of being thrown or projected to strike a distant object
2 : adapted for throwing or hurling missiles

A mine is left in a given place and waits till an external stimulus triggers it, a missile is thrown/projected at a target with the intention of an immediate effect.

Thus, the concept of an unmanned machine that has engine+sensors+explosives being used as a mine in space to react to threats in the same way that a small manned fighter would without the expense is perfectly reasonable.

To be honest I'd say that's mainly because just about everyone quit using mines in the same way they did during WW2 so long ago and the technology behind them hasn't advanced in the same way ships/missiles/aircraft have over the last couple decades. Beyond the fact that I'm pretty sure it would be considered a warcrime in certain situations, there's no reason we couldn't make a ceramic/plastic mine built to float around underwater and propel itself at anything it detects that doesn't give a proper signal to the mine to allow passage. Enhancing on that and sticking it in space is just a small step

A tiny hull needs to be shielded from solar radiation and structurally sound enough to support life inside. A mine simply needs enough to keep the mechanical bits from getting fried, an engine, sensors, and some explosives.

You're all arguing realism in a game where space is 2D, factories are bigger than Japan, Venus doesn't exist and planets which don't orbit their stars are just a short hop away from each other.

Explain to me how mines wouldn't work in GalCivII's 2D plain.

I like this idea of mines.

Make a fleet have to have essential ships to operate....or get blown up.