Filthy non-multiboxer here. I feel like mining us only viable in a fleet type setting. Not just because an Orca literally doubles the speed at which you mine, but because of how mandatory compression is.
Suggestion for a mobile compressor based off old PoS tech.
Mobile Compressor - 100 m3 - 60 second deploy time. X amount of ore cargo hold. (25~50km3 based on T1 vs T2?)
Interacting with the MC will bring up a compression window for ore inside of the deployable. Clicking Compress will activate a 60 second cycle at the cost of 1 fuel block from the user’s own cargo.
The problem is that mining that requires compression typically does require a fleet. Either just for safety, or for an actual support fleet. Most solo mining is done in t2 frigates or in procurers.
Viable? For profit, or for volume? Hint, mining is with rare exceptions, never profitable as almost any other activity is less SP investment and requires less capital expenditure on equipment.
Mining survived for almost 20 years without on grid compression. Even though the button clicking on the current mechanic is annoying, its far better than warping to a POS to deposit ore into a compaction array.
If anything compression should be more difficult, peak mechanics were when the rorqual industrial core had to be loaded with a print and the job ran through a certain number M^3 a cycle. These days its all just instant, almost as bad as industry now having infinite build queues.
Ore compression is not there to make mining easy. Compression is there to force a ship on gird to be more of a target for 31337 PvP folk.
Eve is a team game. Make some friends with people who have the tools or skills you need stop trying to get the game changed because you want to solo this.
All mining that doesn’t take place in the same system as a friendly Athanor requires compression. Otherwise you waste a ton of time warping back and forth, or you have to jetcan mine and pick it up with a hauler. Which is horribly risky in and of itself.
On phone at work, so I’ll try and make this as readable as possible.
Viable? For profit, or for volume? Hint, mining is with rare exceptions, never profitable as almost any other activity is less SP investment and requires less capital expenditure on equipment.
So you agree with me that solo mining is non-viable.
Mining survived for almost 20 years without on grid compression.
Appealing to status quo.
Ore compression is not there to make mining easy. Compression is there to force a ship on gird to be more of a target for 31337 PvP folk.
Well hey, a pricy deployable that repeatedly locks itself down for 60 seconds sounds like a wonderful content generator to me!
Eve is a team game. Make some friends with people who have the tools or skills you need stop trying to get the game changed because you want to solo this.
So solo/small scale industrial people should just go kick rocks then? What if my Corp is off doing other things? What if I just want to do a quick, low effort, 20~30 min mining session while dinner cooks?
Yes, though the assertion is this is intended, as those with more skills/organisation/territory will be able to earn/create more than those who do not.
Not a fan of the status quo, though mining is one of those professions where the culture is more the problem than the mechanic, there always seems to be another industrialist willing to sell their dirt and wares for less dollars than the next guy.
Will it cost as much as a Porpoise? Then why bother using a porpoise to compact when a crappy deployable with a miasmas next to it costs less? Even if the deployable was only the same size as a compression module, some kind of industry ship will be needed to lug around that much m^3 as there is no way to fit it into the hold of a barge.
Nobody says the activity is off limits, the expectation that it generate a meaningful income is.
A porpoise will take at least that time to fill its hold in ice or ore. A mackinaw might only fill up 2 or three times, though depending on the territory more time might be spent maundering to the next rock.
I get it, really, problem being how much dev time will this take for such a small percentage of the player base?
I would argue it’s only small because the current situation makes it a non-viable activity.
And ofc it won’t be as expensive as a Porpoise. Say, around 10m for the T1, and 80m for the T2 in terms of crafting material cost? Roughly around the cost of a Mobile Tractor Unit.
The downsides being that you still need to hold and haul the ore, where as a Porpoise/Orca comes with huge ore cargo holds. So you’ll still want them for bigger fleets.
Mining Veldspar in empire will only make people poorer and it seems this is by design.
Therin lies the problem. If there is nothing forcing a porpoise to siege and compress, it will not. Much more ecconomical to drop a 10 million ISK deployable a dozen times than loose a single Porpoise.
Quite a lot of compacted ore will fit into a small space. For instance, a prospect holds almost as much compressed ore as a blockade runner, despite being only the size of a frigate. Realistically though, an Orca and a Porpoise should not be used for transporting ore between systems, that is the job of a Freighter.
Why does it feel like every second person here wants more and more features for solo gameplay?
Eve is an MMO, gang up, find a fleet or friends with whom you can fly together. That’s much safer and more effective on the one hand, and on the other you have contact with people - which should be the point of the game…
I think it’s because people do want to be able to do some things on their own. I do think some people are missing the point, but I do think some solo stuff could do with a buff
This. I work 40 hours a week. I don’t always have the time or energy to gather up a 10+ person fleet. There’s nothing wrong with allowing solo play to be viable. Not optimal, but at least viable.
I prefer solo play because I dislike using VC for a variety of reasons, but I do at least understand the principle of the game. And I do try group and fleet play, I did incursions for a good while before I got annoyed with it. Still kept my Vindi around though, since it’s a good ship.
I think CCP has said in the past that they do want solo play to be viable - though they avoided providing further detail.
I mostly play solo. The choice for me is to fleet up when I’ve the time (and luck) to find my pals, or to sub more accounts and multibox. I’ve done both.
Although this is apparently a thread about a desired feature, it does appear to be in fact a plea for more options for solo players. The problem has always been that if you make things too easy for solo players, others will pile in and game the mechanics to hell and back.
I feel this does raise a valid question, we use strip miners and then compress ore within the ships, so why not just have some kind of burst or system which compresses the whole belt, while in space making it easier to harvest.
From a business stand point I get it, CCP want people actively playing the game and as an industrialist nothing says enjoyment like 99% of your time grinding.
However within the announcements of the game and the lore of what we have available perhaps there can be some kind of compression system like that.
Maybe a limited time Mobile Ore Compression Array is what you’re looking for. The array would last for four hours and would then offline and explode taking any ore left in the ore bay.
having a cheap compression unit you can throw away in dangerous places would be nice because right now a porpoise cost 140 million which is not really that cheap anymore it used to be around like 40 to 75 and that’s not including the fit
because the sacrificial porpoise is not really sacrificial anymore
Thats okay, that doesn’t mean everything should be doable solo with high efficiency.
@Topic:
Solo Miners already have Expedition Frigates which they can use to sneak into 0.0, WHs, Lowsec and ninja-mine the highest-value resources. You absolutely don’t need compression for that. People make a fortune in C5/C6 WHs huffing C320 and C540 Gas out of the Core Gas Sites, even in Prospects. Also LowSec Drug Gas, Dark Ochre or Mercoxit.
If you want more, risk more. So, for Boosts, bring a boosting ship and risk more ISK. If you want compression, use the InduCore. Nobody forces you to do that directly in the belt, you can warp off and compress on a Deepsave or next to an armed POS for example. Or, extremely absurd thought process: cooperate in a multiplayer game to get more efficiency.
Absolutely, syzygium. Viable means feasible, possible. It doesn’t further qualify the activity, which may be only marginally comparatively profitable in terms of ISK, but which may also give the player a great deal of fun. There is more than one measure of ‘profit’.
Lately, there have been many suggestions for extra modules, changed mechanics, etc., which apparently seek to enrich the poster in some way, but with little or no regard being paid to the wider gaming consequences. Utterly and unashamedly selfish, in my view.