Players boosting mining fleets usually dont get much from doing so. Mining with drones is not very efficient and most of the time they depend on players giving tips. Maybe we can come up with a “tax” for compressing the ore, so that when a miner wants to compress the ore, a % of it goes to the orca (might need to think a solution for big rocks, like ice). The Orca should be able to choose what is the % and miners are informed of the % before clicking compress. This way the booster can get “paid” for its services. Also, I would restrict the max % as allowing people to set 100% would just make the orca into a big storage (there are other ways to do so, but still)
1 Like
Oh great, more taxes 
3 Likes
In a dystopian universe the governments at all levels would get a piece of the transaction.
This is not a bad tool to handle the transactions, it could be set to ISK and/or ore percentage. Most definitely set it to show before the compression.**
more like a “tip”, but it would be handled automatically, so no need for contracts or waiting for the miners to send isk/ore
Well, regardless. I’m not the one who will be affected.
Why don’t you inform all your miners about this “tax” or “tip” you want to have for the booster, and if they don’t stick to their word, you kick them out of your fleet, not invite them to the next fleet and/or blow up their ship? You know, like… communicating with the guys in your group?
1 Like
I thought about setting a flat rate for the boosting (ex: 10M per ship) but then you need to consider people will be using different ships or staying on the fleet for different amount of time, so a “fair” rate is hard to compute.
Well, I do understand where the idea comes from, but the reality of EVE teached me otherwise. From my experience the boosts of a fleet are usually “free” because it’s just an Alt that the owner would have brought anyway for his own convenience.
So, most people I know are just not caring for a “tip” and let their buddies join in without any “fee” or “tax”… There are few cases where I have seen such a concept however, but then it usually was like “10% for the booster”, which means there is a simple deal: You get like +40% mining amount and give 10% back to the booster, leaving you with still 30% profit. So the small Venture of a Newbro would give less, Maxskilled Exhumers of Vets would give more. Thats not automated however, you have to actually talk to the guys you mine with and agree on such a deal.
However, I am not a fan of “taxes” and “fees”, because it further automates that payment process and removes the social aspect of it. There can be no drama, no negotiation, no betrayal… it’s boring. And it gives more power to those in charge, leaving those who aren’t no choice but to pay.
1 Like
Betrayal, lol… I see your point, but that assumes that you have many alts. You need at least 3 alts to make it worth it having an orca on site (1 orca + 2 miners), otherwise you are better off just mining without boosts (assuming you are running a mack so you dont have to warp too often). And if in one fleet there are more than one player capable of flying an orca, then the player boosting is “sacrificing” himself to let other players mine more, so there is no much of an incentive. Even within a corp is hard to keep a good system where the orca player gets a decent pay for his work. With the “fee”, you can even make a career out of it
Actually not. A maxskilled Orca gives like -46% mining laser cycle time bonus, that means you get the same amount of ore in about half the time. And that means 1 Orca + 1 miner will mine about the same as 2 miners. It’s a little bit less but the ability to compress and the huge cargo of the Orca ensure that you can mine permanently imstead of traveling to a station every some minutes. So, all you need is one miner and one boosting alt.
As said, the Orca is usually (that means in 99% of all cases) an alt that would have been there anyway. I play this game for 15years and in almost no fleet anyone is ever charged for the boosts. Why would I charge my corpmates for a service I have running anyway? There are even often public fleets offeing free boosts.
That said, you will never make a ‘career’ out of mining boosts. Thats why the common thing is either ‘free boosts’ or ‘tip the booster’ (voluntary). The more I think about this ‘tax idea’, the less I think it’s an idea tha would make the game (as a social environment) a better one…
So players would only consider having an orca if they have alts, not everyone can afford two or more omega accounts. Also, it would be and addition without taking away from the current system (you can still have free boosts or rely on tips, just set the % to 0)
Yes, absolutely. Probably 99% of all Orcas in the game are flown by people with at least 2 accounts.
And? That doesn’t change the fact that most fleets out there offer “free” boosts or ask just for a completely voluntary tip. If you begin to ask for a set fee, be it on your own for a public fleet or in your corp as set corp-tax, you will be in competition with all those who do not, leading to the point where you either get no buddies that want to mine with you or you have to use such a ridiculously low fee that it will never be enough to generate a significant income.
I can understand that you don’t like my answer, but the chance to make a “career” out of demanding payment for fleetboost is straight zero.
1 Like
No, we really need to do something for mining as a career. More taxes seems like taking that in the opposite direction…
1 Like
I dont understand why people are so averse to the word “tax”. I just called it like that because i dont know any better word to describe it, its not like its going to the governmen. Take it as a donation but simplified. If you dont like it, then look for another fleet. Im in the game right now and i can only see 2 public mining fleets. Maybe we dont find more because people dont see any advantage on running a public fleet bc they dont get anything out of it (my corp did a test running public fleets for moon ore and most of the miners didnt made any contribution to cover the costs). I think it would be nice to have the option, if you dont like it, dont use it
Although I never ran a Rorqual, I miss reading about all the adventures of players utilizing them.
so… they keep the ore, and not give it to the corp? or the person paying the miners just isn’t smart enough to keep a cut of it for the corp?
It isn’t a “donation” any more if you can just fix-set the “amount” you automatically keep from the mined ore and then everyone in your fleet is forced to pay it. Why can’t you see the difference?
Having another automated payment system in the game sets a course, it sets future standards. Bigger corps and alliances, especially those who spam-invite new players and those that are so large that they can enforce basically any rule they want will begin to demand “mining tax” payment, small but steadily, and keep telling all the players “no worry, its normal to pay for the boost!” and that will establish a culture of payment instead of the culture of service and support that we currently have. It is a change from a welcoming and supporting attitude towards a demanding and capitalistic pay4everything culture. This is not healthy for the game in my opinion and that is reason for me not to like it.
In my opinion a tax on corp-level is halfway acceptable, because if a corp is managed well, it simply needs some funds for it’s expenses and services. Being a CEO myself, I know how much work and ISK it does cost to run a supportive corporation. Bringing a booster ship to a fleet is nothing compared to that, especially considered the fact that you would have flown it anyway. If you want payment in your fleet, talk to your fleetmates and negotiate.
1 Like
Not boost-ship related but few years ago i was building caldari cruisers. I asked a moon owner about mining for missing minerals. They asked me to give them the goo or what i didnt need to help pay for use. I had no qualms.
Communication is key. Talk to them
The idea was making the fleet public so anyone could join (no reds or low sec status, oc) and they would mine all they wanted and then sell the ore to the corp at 90% value. But most judt mined and never sold the ore to us, just kept it. And there is no way to control how much each player mined, so even if they sold some to us, we can never know if it was the correct amount
It is not “forced” because you are not “forced” to stay on that fleet. If you dont want to pay, go to one of the free fleets you mentioned before. From what you said before, there should be plenty of those, right?