So I’d really like to get into industrial command, particularly the porpoise, but just how badly would I be hurting my own yield to help my corp mates? It looks like my porpoise, with mining drone rigs and everything would be yielding like 1/3 of a moderately skilled retriever…I’m obviously missing some of the skills so my simulated fit isn’t super accurate, is it really this bad? What is the general “tax” rate for the people you support?
You don’t fly an industrial command ship for it’s personal yield, you fly one to boost the yield of other ships in the fleet flown by your friends and/or your own alts.
Some numbers I got from quick simulations in Pyfa:
(I assumed maximum skills, T2 equipment and mindlink. The numbers will be different than you have.)
Max ore yield from Porpoise with industrial core, 5 mining drone IIs and drone rigs: 14.9m3/s
Max ore yield from Retriever with T2 strip miners type B crystals, unboosted: 30.7m3/s
Max ore yield from Hulk, same setup: 50.2m3/sMax ore yield same Retriever, boosted by Porpoise: 51.7m3/s (of which +21.0m3/s because of Porpoise)
Max ore yield same Hulk, boosted by Porpoise: 84.6m3/s (of which +34.4m3/s because of Porpoise)
As you can see, the yield of the Porpoise is low, and is less than the boost it gives to a single other barge. The yield of the Porpoise itself is even less than half the bonus the Porpoise gives to a single Hulk next to it.
For the mining yield of the Porpoise I wouldn’t use one. But, from the numbers you can see that a Porpoise + boosted Retriever mines more than two unboosted Retrievers. And a Porpoise + Hulk mines about as much as two unboosted Hulks.
So, for two characters it already breaks even to put one of the two in a mining command ship. If you have three or more ships in your fleet, the fleet as a whole massively benefits from having one of the characters in a mining command ship, from the added yield alone.
Don’t fly the Porpoise to mine ore, use it to boost your mining fleet. I probably wouldn’t even bother using drone mining rigs on it.
As to how you ‘tax’ the mining fleet, I guess that’s up to you. Some players with multiple characters won’t mind putting one in a mining command ship for the convenience and extra ore it brings. If no one is willing to do so, perhaps talk to your friends what a fair tax is.
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I’ve flown a Porpoise for a new players’ Venture fleet in the past - I must do that again.
I’ll support everything @Gerard_Amatin has said - you aren’t going to match a barge, but mining isn’t the Porpoise’s job. It’s command, support and coordination.
You can scan asteroids to identify the best the fleet can get, you massively improve the mining rate of fleet members, you provide storage/caching for ore, do fleet defence against NPC rats, remote shield repair as required and so forth.
It’ll keep you busy!
If you are multiboxing then it’s just making your operation more effective. That’s the reward.
If you are flying to support other players, then it’s not unreasonable for them to recompense you for the advantage they give you and the sacrifice you are making for the common good - either agreed payment or by a share in the ore produced.
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Thanks for the input guys! I knew my yield wouldn’t be good but its great to see how impactful it is for the group, and at what point it’s better to have it than just another barge.
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Or - and this is a wild idea, but hear me out - you could do it to help your corp as you are a team player rather than obsess over your personal yield 
Accept what tips fleet gives the booster rather than some sort of tax, it’ll probably end up more than what you would have mined yourself anyway (unless your corpies are also obsessed maybe)
Even wilder - your corp could make the booster ship a corp asset that at least several players take turns being the booster with. Long-term everyone and the corp as a whole benefits.
and get an orca
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Listen to Gerard, the Commandships are there to support the fleet and they are very good at it (in my opinion way too good, because as showed, even using a booster ship as second ship in the fleet is better than using two unboosted ships).
What they mine themselves is completely irrelevant and how much you pay the guy bringing it is up to you. Within our own corp we usually don’t even pay the booster, because usually some Vet member brings a booster alt so the younger members can profit from it, no need for money there. Whenever I receive Boost from a stranger in a public fleet for example (or if you mine solo and nicely ask you sometimes get a fleet invite from people you don’t even know), I usually tip them 10% of my yield.
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It’s an industrial command ship, not an industrial mining ship. It’s primary purpose is not mining yield.
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