Okay, so gankers and miners have mutually exclusive opinions over whether or not the changes will make it easier or harder to gank miners. One of these groups has to be wrong. Now, what is particularly interesting to me is not that some players can make bad predictions and analyses, but how an entire demographics can do it.
Anyway, how bout some fits and maths. Because, surely miners will see it and be like, “wow, thank you. I will now change my opinion based on this new information, because that’s what reasonable and logical people do.”
COVETOR
Max Yield
- 14.4k EHP
- 3 MLU’s (plus mining drone rigs)
- 2 Open mids, but you’ll only have enough CPU for a survey scanner.
Hull Tank
- 26k EHP
- 2 MLU’s
- 2 Open Mids
RETRIEVER
“No Tank”
- Well, if you fit absolutely no tank, you’d have 13.6k EHP versus void. However, with the fitting room and slots that you have at your disposal, there’s really no point. Might as well slap a MSE on there.
- 15k EHP
- 3 MLU’s (plus mining drone rigs)
- Survey Scanner
- Extremely tight on CPU, but there are various ways to solve that (i.e. train skills, CPU implant, compact MSE, drop a drone rig).
Light Shield Tank
- 21k EHP
- 2 MLU’s (plus mining drone rigs)
- Survey Scanner
Hull
- 24k EHP
- 2 MLU’s
- 2 Open mids, plus plenty of fitting room
Shield
- 26k EHP
- 2 MLU’s
- No Survey Scanner
PROCURER
Hull Tank
- 66k EHP
- 1 MLU (same as what most had before).
- Two open mids. Plenty of fitting room left. Can fit survey scanner and/or prop mod. Can still bait fit.
Shield Tank
- 65k EHP
- 2 MLU’s
- No room for a survey scanner (which I personally don’t consider a huge loss, but even if you do, you still have fitting options. So, it’s up to you what you want to prioritize -tank, yield, or survey scanner).
Brick Tank
- 76k EHP
- 1 MLU (same as before)
- No survey scanner.
- I’d assert you’d be better off with the increased yield, as 66K EHP is already enough to deter most gankers, but you have the option.
I could go, but I’ve already spent like 2 hours working on this post. So, I’m not going to do exhumers. Plus, there’s still the strat of mining while aligned, which is still viable.
And yes, we could argue till the cows come home over what’s the best strats or fits to use. However, that won’t change the fact that miners most certainly did not get the shaft with these changes.
For example, it used to be that a solo ganker could assume that they could pretty much gank any retrievers or covetors that they came across, regardless of how they were fit. The only relevant variables were system security status and concord pull status. Now, you either have to scan ships (which increases the time between ganks, and the chances that you’ll spook miners and they’ll safe up), or you have to bring additional gankers. Thus, the idea that the retriever and covetor buffs are inconsequential is straight up bad analysis. I mean, even just looking at the numbers, you can see a big jump in EHP. But more importantly, the increased EHP creates a break point. I mean, I don’t know about you guys, but I think that having to double the number of gankers required to execute a gank is a BFD.
And, then we have the totally destroyed procurer. WELCOME TO THE NEW GOLDEN AGE OF PROCURER GANKING!!! I mean, look at those numbers. Man, I should invest in ponchos, because it’s going to be a blood bath.
Edit: @Mike_Azariah I’m not asking for you to bring this to CCP or anything. I just wanted to share some actual fits and math, instead of just ranting.