Have you done nul mission? DED concord can turn simple missions into a pain in the neck.
You know, more damage, more tank, omni damage, omni tank, better A.I. and all colours of the rainbow EWAR.
Just felt it was a mention.
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This was a very well done on this guide and very informative of an aspect of the game few have tried.
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@Sebs_Pride cheers for the complimentā¦ I canāt take full credit for all the data, lots was gleaned from different online sources but itās definitely nice to have it all in one spot 
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Iāve run some L4 Mining Missions in nullsec but not in any regions where there are DED Concord spawns? In the nullsec regions Iāve worked I have had spawns of Faction BS and down sized rats that youād normally find in that regions asteroid belts.
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Ive seen DED on some gates while exploring, but you mostly find them in security missions. A guy was talking about how security status doesnt affect mission difficulty, which i guess still holds true, because this has more to do with whom the mission is for and not what the security difficulty is.
@Sebs_Pride thatās correctā¦ the rats that spawn in Mining Missions are not defined by the Level of the Mining Mission but rather the security status of the system the Mining Mission is in. So in High-sec youāll see Frigate sized rats almost exclusively (except for a few missions which spawn Cruiser sized Drone Faction rats regardless of which region youāre in). In Null-sec Iāve seen BS and BC sized spawns in Level 1 Mining Missions and Iād assume that there would be a chance for a NPC Capital spawn as well.
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Added some notes to each mission and the Porpoise fit below to the original post
[Porpoise, Level 4 Ore Miner]
Damage Control II
Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer II
Large Shield Extender II
Drone Navigation Computer II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Drone Navigation Computer II
Medium S95a Scoped Remote Shield Booster
Salvager II
Small Tractor Beam II
Drone Link Augmentor II
Medium Drone Mining Augmentor II
Medium Drone Mining Augmentor II
Medium Drone Mining Augmentor I
Mining Drone II x5
Good evening all:
I just discovered this post tonightā¦and its excellent. I have done many HUNDREDS of Level 4 mining missions. It actually is my primary pastime in Eve Online. I have +8.0 and rising standing with Minmatar Mining, Material Acquisition, and Chemal Tech.
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āLike Drones To A Cloudā - this is a gas mining mission which requires a Venture to complete. There are drone rats (including cruisers) which spawn in several waves. Once the waves are killed you can go AFK. NEVER run this mission fully AFK. I use a Venture specifically setup just for this mission (Ventures are cheap, you can afford this). I run with a DDA II in the lows, MSE II and AB II in the mids with survey scanner. RIGS are important. I run a field Purger, Ionic Field Projector, and Polycarbon. Ionic Field really gets your targeting range up, which sucks on the Venture. The sooner you can lock the drones, the faster you can send your drones. I used āIntegratedā drones since Rogue Drones have weird resists. The Poly helps keep speed up and the orbit tight.
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āGas Injectionsā - gas mining mission NEVER spawns NPCs. This can safely be done somewhat AFK. I use a Prospect. Yes, I could use a Ventureā¦but I want a reason to have a Prospect. In some systems, you can have TWO of this mission concurrently and complete BOTH in a Prospect.
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Ice missions. As stated, 20000m3. I run a max-skill Endurance for these. It often requires two trips, but the Endurance is fast. You can also AFK with your Endurance orbiting the ice in full afterburner.
NOTE: I typically donāt run the ore missions. They take too darn long.
Best Level IV Mining Mission corps/systems:
** Minmatar Mining Corportation ** (Republic)
- ALDILUR system. FIVE, yes FIVE Level IV agents deep in the quietest backwater of the Republic. But its 0.9. But you can run several agents at once, and even if you decline, you are bound to get a good one. Thereās a storyline agent several jumps away from MMC, but a closer one for a different corp. You can force MMC by getting a storyline on the closer agent and not accepting it until it expires. I lived out here for months. Its QUIET. And far from everything.
- GULFONODI system. One level IV agent and THREE Level III agents (only do the L3 ice mission) in a 0.5 system (best rewards). Molden Heath has a tiny high-sec area and its BUSY, so caution advised.
** Material Acquisition** (Gallente)
This one is insanely interesting. There are two excellent MA L4 operating areas. One is in a high-sec island in Placid at Ommaerrer. Theres a L4 and L3 located here, as well as a MA storyline agent. This is behind a FW pipe. I lived here as well. I never lost any of my frigates in the entry pipe from Stacmon ( I had gate safes). This pocket is extraordinarily quiet. The safer area is VALE. Vale has two L4s in a 0.7 system in the same station. Two jumps over there is a CHEMAL TECH L4 mining agent in a 0.9 system. Another two jumps away is a QUAFE L4 agent in a 0.5 system. The storyline agent in this pocket works for THE SCOPE. MA is my primary mining mission corp and I am grinding to 10.0 with them.
** Astral Mining** (Gallente)
There are FOUR L4 agents in AUFAY, which is 0.5 rated. This system is on the Jita-Dodixie trade route and is heavily camped with suicide gankers. I donāt advise doing mining missions here.
** Rapid Assembly** (Caldari)
In western Lonetrek there are two L4s one jump apart in 0.5 systems. RA is my favorite Caldari mining mission corporation. I havenāt run any missions for them in years as my present toon is Gallente-standing heavy.
Thukker Mix is absolutely viable. Their agent is behind ONE low-sec system. Getting frigates through there has never been an issue for me. +1 recommended.
My fleet: One Venture setup for 'Like Drones to a Cloud", one Endurance for L4 ice missions, one Prospect for āGas Injectionsā, one Prospect SCF (small cargo freighter, fast cloaky cargo boat). I have an Astero for occasional exploration/combat site running. I donāt own any barges. I briefly tried a solo Porpoise, but its too slow for me.
TL;DR - mining missions are awesome! Great guide. Hope I added some content.
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Good stuff @Miss_Stardust appreciate the added knowledge 
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Youāre talking like all nulsec missions contain CONCORD rats. The only missions that contain those are specifically the missions that pit you against DED. Just decline those missions, they donāt come up that often. Same thing for Empire rat missions, which by the way Empire space can also have and those missions are the just as difficult as in nul-sec.
Pirate agents can give you anti-Pirate missions as well against the opposing pirate groups, so Guristas/Sansha/Blood Raiders will give you anti-Archangel/Serpentis missions and vice versa. And of course, all L4 Security agents, regardless of faction, will give you all 13 different Anomic Missions: A L4 Guristas agent can give you the Anomic Agent (Guristas) or Anomic Base (Guristas) missions pretty often.
@Sebs_Pride @Muffinmixer - as far as I know there are no Mining Missions that spawn CONCORD rats. In my experience with Level 4 Mining Missions all Iāve ever seen are the Drone Faction rats that spawn in a few of the missions and then what ever type of Faction rats normally spawn in the systemās asteroid belts. Now of course in Null-Sec things will be a bit more dangerous as youāll be seeing BS sized rats spawn and as I mentioned in the OP Iād assume there would be the possibility of a NPC Capital Spawn as well.
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I will try that.
Sorry, we were talking about Security missions and not Mining missions. I understand now that they are extremely different beasts.
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My current mining mission fleet and the missions I use them for are listed below.
L4 Gas Venture
ā¢ Gas Injections
ā¢ Like Drones to a Cloud
L4 Ice Retriever (w/Medium Ice Harvester Accelerator I)
ā¢ Cheap Chills
ā¢ Ice Installation
L4 Ore Retriever
ā¢ Not Gneiss at All
L4 Ore Porpoise
ā¢ Arisite Envy
ā¢ Feeding the Giant
ā¢ Geodite and Gemology
As a general rule I will regularly decline the āMother Lodeā mission and on the off chance I get it twice in a row I will just go do something else while waiting out the cool down on the penalty for declining a mission twice in four hours.
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Mining drones do not have microwarpdrives so they do not benefit from the Drone Navigation Computer II. I donāt see what benefit the Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer II gives you either.
Doesnāt the Drone nav computer just increase max velocity? If so, then it would apply to mining drones.
Hey @Gadawan I was of the impression that the Drone Nav increased the speed of all drones but you could be correct, Iāll have to do some testing in game and see how the Mining Drones speed is affected. The Omni gives a small bonus to optimal range, itās not much but it does get the drones mining a little faster.
Cheers for the comment.
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@Shriven_Intaki check the description. It says it increases microwarpdrive velocity. I think the extremely small bonus from range is not worth it for the loss in tank for the tracking enhancer.
@Gadawan Iāve not experienced any issues with the tank on the Porpoise for the High-Sec L4 Missions so I donāt see any issues with the addition of the Omni.
Although with that said Iām not sure how much time is being saved with that extra bit of range on the drones, this is something that would also need to be tested in game to see if there is any advantage to using an Omni.
I did just play around with the Porpoise fit in PYFA and it does show Drone Navs having an effect on the velocity of Mining Drones, will have to double check that in game.
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Hey all:
Drone Navigation Computers were changed a while back, and they do now work perfectly fine on mining drones. Iāve confirmed it in my own setups. Also, the Omni is quite nice for both mining and combat drones, though it really benefits the combats a bit more. An alternative fit would be the mid-slot Omnidirectional Tracking Link in place of the Nav Computer. This gives better range + tracking, and can use scripts. That frees up a low slot for drone damage amplifier, or an overdrive for a bit more sublight speed.
/MS
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