It’s a loaded question but an interesting one all the same. I think once upon a time this might have been possible, but nerfs to HS ganking have definitely tipped the balance in the favour of miners.
To name but a few:
3 minute max bumping timer (Changed from infinite)
Huge buff to the EHP of mining barges
Characters with low security rating can no longer dock or teather
Ganking is now omega only (Alphas cant go safety red)
The last one in particular has created a huge barrier to entry for attracting new talent. When you consider the natural churn rate and poor player retention EVE suffers from, it has put HS ganking in a difficult spot in the long term.
That being said those of us who still remain have adapted to the new meta. Mining ships now require more damage to kill and our pool of players to be called upon has been significantly reduced.
However, from my own experience I have seen an upwards trend in the use of Ore Strip miners, possibly because of the buffs to EHP and waste mechanics. So it is very much a double edged sword.
So do not pity the miner or feel any remorse when they are destroyed. They have endured far worse and if the shoe was on the other foot they would happily see our form of gameplay go extinct.
I regularly go belt ratting in Aurcel…and not a single miner there despite 15 or so asteroid belts. There again, it saves me having to type ’ no…don’t run away…I’m just belt ratting’ in local.
From the sound of it, the miner is a nomadic species, prone to roaming which gives the illusion they are going extinct, but in fact have moved into different feeding and breeding grounds.
They are a gentle, docile breed. The herd should be on high alert at all times but for now, amidst the goo of a moon, all appears tranquil.
Tranquility can be decieving.
A pack of Catalysts has emerged through the gate and has begun to D-Scan the system. Their scanners work much the same as the Miners they hunt for, but these Catalysts have evolved to become expert hunters and are fanatical in their refresh spam.
@Ax_l_Thorne speaking from an alpha miner’s point of view; gankers are part of the game, they keep me on my toes. NPC rats are not so tough, when they get tough, you can always out maneuver any AI. I appreciate the human element in the game.
I for one, would not bother with tiny unarmed ventures, I would seek equal targets for the challenge. I don’t see the benefit of killing tiny ships. I haven’t been ganked all that much since I started playing. If you are looking up my stats on zkillboard then you should be aware, the shuttles were just me getting my 50 ships destroyed achievement. From what I am seeing on there, the last time I was ganked was January 20th of last year.
I don’t believe that to be an issue. Miners are more likely to quit from the boredom of mining without risk. I mine in my wormhole, but it doesn’t stop people from dropping in on me. Last month a Praxis attempted to take out my venture. Even if he had, I have about 8 or 9 more of them in dock. Today’s miners can always become the gankers of tomorrow. If mining stops, the market would reflect a significant rise in the common ore prices and I would no longer need to be mining gas inside my wormhole.
Same rules apply to those those do security missions for a couple of weeks and then quit. People living in a vacuum will quickly lose interest and move on. EVE is a social game and that’s why it has stood the test of time.
With advances to the chicken cloning technology, science has allowed us to skip right to the chicken breast meat processing part and bypass the whole tedious egg and feather stages.
Yep (Just saying “yep” wasn’t enough characters, so i added “…”, and apparently periods don’t count as characters, so now I am typing this, and now there is enough characters)
