How does EVE lore explain miners?

[Valiran_Teleros]

@Elsebeth_Rhiannon

There are capsuleers other than independents (player characters), in the service of national navies etc.

Yep. Fatal is one, and I think @Oveg_Drust is another. I wonder if anyone has a list?

@Aiko_Danuja

No, I didn’t find the explanation very convincing - self-serving and convenient, but not at all compelling or believable.

Well then, I don’t know what to tell you. I guess we’ll just have to disagree.

[Elsebeth_Rhiannon]

@Valiran_Teleros

Yep. Fatal is one, and I think @Oveg_Drust is another. I wonder if anyone has a list?

I think Fatal might actually be the rare NPC indie?

But I believe that how it works now is that national navies employ a lot of capsuleers - not just named NPCs, but line members to fly in the NPC rat fleets etc.

[Valiran_Teleros]

@Elsebeth_Rhiannon

I think Fatal might actually be the rare NPC indie?

There’s also that pirate from the tutorial.

@Elsebeth_Rhiannon

But I believe that how it works now is that national navies employ a lot of capsuleers - not just named NPCs, but line members to fly in the NPC rat fleets etc.

Considering how capsuleer ships are supposed to rip through normal ships with incredible ease, which is why we can destroy entire fleets of NPC ships on our own, I think the instances of NPC capsuleers are pretty low. Or maybe I’m just not well-traveled enough.

On another note:

@Aiko_Danuja

There seems to be an over abundance of resources to be quite honest, not much scarcity in New Eden. I can’t imagine lore would depict mining as a lucrative career.

You have a point here, but I think this also runs smack dab into the conflict between realism and fun. If the game were realistic then mining would be even more boring than it already is, filled with hours upon hours of tracking down asteroids filled with minerals that are actually worth mining instead of plain ol’ nickel-iron.

Monotony is not fun, it’s anti-fun, and this makes it a mortal enemy of good gameplay.

@Aiko_Danuja

Well, if it’s a gameplay problem - then CCP needs to step up and fix the problem. Lore and gameplay should complement one another.

No arguments from me there, I think you and I might disagree on what constitutes a problem in this particular instance.

[Nevyn_Auscent]

@Valiran_Teleros

I think the instances of NPC capsuleers are pretty low. Or maybe I’m just not well-traveled enough.

The Dev word a while back is that indi capsuleers are outnumbered or matched by each navies capsuleers forces.
However those forces are the main battle lines and not regularly deployed into mission spaces. Missions & FW also require taking with a grain of salt because obviously not that many ships really get blown up or new Eden would be out of people and biomass. We haven’t really saved the damsel 50000000000 times. etc.

[Elsebeth_Rhiannon]

@Valiran_Teleros

Considering how capsuleer ships are supposed to rip through normal ships with incredible ease, which is why we can destroy entire fleets of NPC ships on our own, I think the instances of NPC capsuleers are pretty low.

It’s one of those places where lore does not entirely match gameplay mechanics, yes.

[Teinyhr]

IIRC Burner rats are considered to be capsuleers, also I think the FOB rats too? Though not sure if that’s official in any way, probably not.

[Corraidhin_Farsaidh]

As pointed out above, capsuleers rip through ebtire fleets of NPCs with ease. On the same basis they probably rip through rocks with the same efficiency.

Capsuleers are probably mining out rock fields in hours that would take an npc fleet weeks or more. Add to that the idea that eggers only bother gathering the rare elements required for ship building. Mining makes perfect sense in that context, the only reason it’s such poor income is the extreme organization of some groups combined with endless ore fields tanking mineral prices.