Yes Antilak, I feel you.
Nova didn't only make a treasure very much harder find, but you also need better mining gear to be faster, and you need to have much much more time, cause 1/3 of your missions are either leading to a "4 slot Epic patience test" or a "missing system" or leading to a system with a "1day15h nova countdown".
So yeah, mining isn't what it used to be...it's a pity but it's a fact that combat is way more profitable then mining, but it was that before too, just even more boring.
But many players enjoy mining, including myself, it's exciting to find a treasure, and frustrating if the mission leads to "nothing".
Sir Emi, we find a prospector that wants to lead us to a 50M$ treasure. We get excited, we jump to the quadrant and sometimes have to spend HOURS, HOUUURS...to survey all systems, and already at the last system we have this funny feeling that we won't find it... And even though we need to get up a 6 am the next morning....STILL we choose to check the quadrant corners, maybe just maybe we missed a system hiding there. And then we give up, exhausted... and disappointed about the senseless and meaningless way we spent our evening on this game.
No good Sir Emi, the adaptation of "AG mining" to the nova update still needs to happen! ...or, at least it would be nice to know if this is ever going to happen. Lots of players like mining...cause letting pirate ships line up and get zapped "one after the other" (strongest first lol) IS for many unrealistic and even boring btw bro.
Mining is the most realistic thing about this game, it's sad to see how mining itself is the least profitable and hardest way to make bucks.