Hi, am looking for some advice on how to compose a multibox mining gang. I am able to comfortably sub 3 accounts and would like to start with this.
The plan was to have my main boost in a porpoise while the other two accounts start off in ventures and work up to barges.
Im unsure how effective this will be and was hoping for advice for more seasoned players. I should add im thinking about starting in HS but then when im comfortable with running the op finding a home in NS. Sorry for any bad grammer, not native english speaker.
I personally enjoy having my main as a Fleet Squad Leader. I utilize an Orca. My alt then carries out mining with a Hulk. The ore gets transferred into the Orca Fleet Hangar … An Orca is a great mobile warehouse.
Some people find mining boring, but there’s a lot you can do while collecting ore … updating Planetary Interaction, researching information, etc …
I’ll recommend a different path. Train your main for PI - it takes less than 2 weeks to get level 4 skills. You want:
Command Center 4
Interplanetary Consolidation 4
Remote Sensing 3
Planetology 3
Trade 4
Customs Code Expertise 4
Gallente Industrial 1
Then pause your main and train the 2nd and 3rd characters on your account to the same level.
With 15 highsec colonies you can realistically earn 600-800 million ISK/month at current prices - and you can do it while you are mining. Train to fly a Procurer really well including T2 mining drones. The drones will harvest almost as much as a strip miner with the following fit:
[Procurer, Procurer fit]
Damage Control II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Survey Scanner II
Medium Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
EM Ward Amplifier II
Strip Miner I
Strip Miner I
Medium Drone Mining Augmentor I
Medium Drone Mining Augmentor I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Mining Drone II x5
Hobgoblin II x5
With my skills PYFA tells me I get 14.2 M3/sec from the strip miners and 6.74 M3/sec from the drones with 61K EHP to discourage gankers. CPU is tight - you can substitute meta modules for the mid slots without reducing capability too much.
Follow the same process for your 2nd and 3rd accounts.
I haven’t done the math for the Porpoise but I doubt 2 barges and a command ship can mine much more than 3 barges.
A well trained Porpoise will almost halve the cycle time of the strip miners and more than double the range.
Like you, I’ve not sat down and done the maths but it seemed worth doing to me. The Porpoise does have OK mining capability similar to that of a crappy T1 mining barge, so that adds up too.
with this I can mine +70M ISK/Hour of Compressed Ore (Compress in available Structure, which is free if you didn’t know). Does require some micro-management if you want to keep the Script usage to a minimum (Buff lasts 2min 5sec but module cycle is only 1min). It takes me about two and a half hour to clear out an entire belt… yay!
As suggested you should also train up some PI characters as it can be very profitable (unsure how profitable it is in HS). You may think; how do I go about setting that up?, well with as many planets as you can aim to produce P2 planets and export it and transport it to a different planet, which is set up for P3/P4 Production only (No Extranctors). With 3 Accounts you can potentially have 54 Planets to work with, holy**** that’s alot!
For a starting Mining OP (Composition) the following should speed you on your way:
1x Porpoise Drone Mining + Boost
2x Procurer/Skiff/Hulk
If you need further assistance feel free to write me ingame
A Porpoise can mine up to 20.8 m^3/sec using this fit:
[Porpoise, Porpoise fit]
Damage Control II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Survey Scanner II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Mining Foreman Burst II, Mining Laser Optimization Charge
Medium Gremlin Compact Energy Neutralizer
Medium Murky Compact Remote Shield Booster
Small Tractor Beam I
Medium Drone Mining Augmentor II
Medium Drone Mining Augmentor II
Medium Drone Mining Augmentor I
‘Augmented’ Mining Drone x5
Hornet EC-300 x5
Infiltrator II x5
Salvage Drone I x5
A Procurer cam mine up to 23.2m^3/sec when rigged for tank (more if rigged for drone yield) using T2 drones. When boosted from the Porpoise, the Procurer will mine up to 31.3m^3/sec.
With these numbers, a Porpoise boosting two Procurers will yield 13.8m^3/second more ore than three Procurers.
Depending on skill levels, the Porpoise won’t always be better than three barges (but should always be better than three Ventures), but there is the advantage of larger ore capacity, faster align time, boosted combat drone capability and remote repping.
Personally, if I was to run two or more accounts while mining, I would always include the best boosting ships I could fly/afford, even if the overall yield is a bit lower, in combination with pure mining vessels.
