I feel like a broken record when it comes to this as I seem to be having this exact same conversation in multiple threads. Yet again im going to take the bait because bad information is just something that annoys me.
this is just categorically false. Any engagement starts way before anyone is locked up. And when it comes to miners mining safely the engagement (or lack of engagement) starts in deciding where you are going to mine.
Last time i outlined this snippet of information i was accussed of lying by someone with the same viewpoint of “its impossible” to do anything. Hopefully you will be more open minded. The other night i was having the exact same conversation as this and i was sitting in a ship in 0.8 system at the end of a pipe (no through traffic), 10ish jumps from a trade hub, 6 belts in system and guess what………? I was the only person in local.
Now contrast that with a system 4 jumps from Jita with 20 people in local. These are totally different risk profiles for a miner. But the 4 jumps form Jita option is easy and requires very little effort ………players just take the risk……get ganked and say ganking is a problem.
Whereas finding a quiet end of pipe system like i outlined above takes so much of the risk away. And these systems are not as rare as you think and once you find a few in range of home you can rotate between them. The benefits of this appraoch are as follows:
1 Gankers cant gank you if they cant find you. Now occassioanlly you will get the occassional roamer out and about for a look. But generally gankers gank where they gank. Its not like they are short of targets in this busyt systems. There is no need for them to travel when there supply is there. And remember gankers are looking for a target………they arnt looking for you.
2 These quiet systems are never totally empty all the time. But you will get to know who comes and goes. You will recognise names. And often from experience you will know what ship the person is in before you even dscan.
3 A quiet local means dscan can be used effectively. You can easily see all the ships and probes in space in the window that just isnt as easy in a busy system. If you are alone or only 2 or 3 people are in system then as soon as a name you dont know appears on local you can spam dscan. If dscan shows a new venture then you are probably safe. if dscan shows a new praxis then you are probably safe cause who is going to suicide you in that? most likley a mission runner. But if you see a catalyst. just start moving. be docked up before they even find you.
4 Suspicious activity i.e. scouts are easier to spot. Someone pops into local for a couple of minutes and leaves then be careful when anyone else shows up. check them on zkill. if your spidey senses are tingling dock up for a bit.
The one act of being sensible about where you mine can be so effective that you dont even need to start getting into being aligned, or being properly tanked. Losing a ship will become a rare occurance.
The person i was discussing this with the other day tried to undermine my position by bringing up my zkill as a way to shame me into backing down. You know the usual “omg you have 23 loses and no kills and i used to mine and build all this stuff. why should we listen to you”. Which actaully made me realise my zkill is actually a perfect illustration of the issue.
I stared in the game May 2020 and really enjoyed mining. so persued that ahead of all else. And you will see from my killboard i wasnt very good at it. As my friend from the other day pointed out i lost a mackinaw and a retreiver (even a skiff which is the most embarrassing thing on their. totally my fault as a result of a really bad decision to use it to shortcut haul through lowsec.). All those loses were around summer/autumn 2020.
I moved to quieter space in the winter of 2020/2021 (11ish months ago). I still mine regularly. Usually 3 evenings a week. sometimes less sometimes more. Yet im not seeing my killboard litered with mining ship ganking loses. i think the last one was the skiff and that was a gatecamp not a gank.
However the above advice comes with one large disclaimer. If all you want to do is click a few times and watch netflix then your risk goes up………signifcantly.
Mine in quiet space. find it. try it. live it. love it.