Mining Attacks

Industry Gameplay Center Mining & Extraction
21

NightHunter surprisingly is a null sec miner though.

He even retaliated and killed one of the Interceptors of the Interceptor fleet that caught him.

This is a good example that mining ships can in fact fight back.

The problem however is that the attacking fleet was too big to fight back entirely and that NightHunter made the choice to fight instead of flee even against overwhelming odds.

This isn’t a problem of mining ships, it’s a problem of either a bad judgment of the situation, or slow reaction.

3 Likes
22

surprisingly? also in that instance I was too slow

23

Your complaint surprised me, because people who mine in null sec generally are aware that non-allied players that come into their system will actively try to kill their mining ship.

“it seems like everyone in system attacks you.” is an universal truth about non-allied players in null sec, regardless of your choice of ship.

You were saying that as if people go nuts for mining ships. People in null sec don’t go nuts for mining ships, they go nuts for any ship they can catch, especially if they’re a roaming ceptor gang looking for any ratter, miner, hauler or whatever who is slow enough to be caught.

They don’t care that you’re mining or what ship you fly, all they care about is that they could catch you.

Your question felt so so disconnected from a null sec mentality that I was surprised to find out you were mining in null sec rather than high sec.

Not that that’s a problem, if you wish to get a better feeling for hunting hostile ships (including miners) there are plenty of opportunities in the alliance! I always think the best way to get to know how to outplay your enemies or targets is by trying their playstyle.

So now I’m flying an Ishtar myself.

Yep, it happens. I too lost ships because of that. :sweat_smile:

Better luck next time!

1 Like
24

you are only looking at the history of my main. also, when I first started, I was always in high sec and had constant problems with catalyst groups.

25

I know I am complaining. I just wish there was something more that I can do. drones do nothing to people, and they can just shoot them down.

26

You should attempt to utilize ECM drones for help. Sensor damping and target breaking options can be used to help break the lock of initial tackle. Not in every circumstance, but it can work for those moments where an initial pilot might not expect electronic warfare!

27

To be honest, it wouldn’t bother me. Ganks sometimes fail anyway. I’ve never encountered a miner who would swap either mining/combat drones or modules for the ECM varieties. Greed, mostly.

In Highsec, your best bet is either to make yourself as unattractive a target as possible (brick-tanked Skiff, etc), or to make yourself scarce. In Nullsec and Lowsec, you’re toast anyway if you get caught.

Some gankers do scan fits. A Passive Targeter with Ship Scanner fitted to a throwaway ship will tell me all I need to know about the survivability of your barge or exhumer. I collect the information over time but miners are particularly fond of (or lazy about) not changing or upgrading fits.

In the distant past, I ganked a particular miner twice, and he used exactly the same fit the second time. You can’t patch that level of stupidity.

No, NH96, your best friends here are Tank and Absence. Anything else is uncertain, at best.

1 Like
28

Drones and a tank do a lot: they are enough to deter smaller predators. Without drones and tank you could and would get killed by a single player in a single frigate.

Because of the drones and tank of your mining barge you don’t get bothered by a single interceptor roaming around in space whenever they see you, they need more firepower to take you on.

People like to maximize their chances. They attack when they know when they win, which is when the group is large enough to kill your ship before you are able to do much with your drones.

That doesn’t mean drones are useless, it just means that the most dangerous situations for you are those where you are outgunned, outnumbered or both.

While a well-fit mining barge will deter smaller predators, there are a couple of things you can do against the larger predators:

  • run before they catch you
  • bait them with firepower they do not expect

Keeping an eye on your surroundings and running away when you see danger is your best bet, but as you say you want to be able to do more.

Have you thought about playing as bait?

It doesn’t take much: whenever you know a hostile roaming group is looking for kills in the area you can work together with your allies.

For example, fit for maximum tank, be in standing fleet, ask around to see if you have enough people to take on the enemy group and let your allies hide in a nearby structure while you continue ‘mining’ in a max tank fit, preferably with some warp disruptors. They arrive, you call your allies and suddenly the predators see much more firepower than they expected, some cannot warp away due to your warp disruptors and die.

Or even better bait, let an interdictor and someone with a covert ops cyno cloak right next to you while the rest of the covops ships wait in another system for the enemy to take the bait.

The roaming group sees a miner and two names in local that are unaccounted for. They might smell bait, but if they take it they find themselves in the middle of a bubble with a much bigger enemy fleet around them.

The best part is if you do this more often people will be able to tell from your killboard that you bait fights.

People may even stop trying to attack you because of that when they can see you often bait. Imagine how nice it is to be mining and being left alone because people assume you would kill them if they tried?

Mining ships can fight back, you just have to think outside of your barge.

4 Likes
29

Because the lone mining ship is an easy kill that the gankers don’t have to worry about someone coming along and stopping the gank.

The number one thing that gankers hate is the gank being stopped. Stopping the gank takes away the ‘Alpha and Almighty’ strike the gankers believe they have.

30

I guess some gankers may ‘hate’ this. It’s really too strong a word for something that’s quite a possibility on any ganker’s radar. Ganks fail for all sorts of reasons; some are down to human error, others are precipitated by human intervention - planned or accidental. It’s all part of the ganker experience.

No-one should take up ganking if he can’t handle the odd disappointment.

Well, that’s a bit of a generalisation. It’s only an easy kill if you can bring enough firepower to do the job. In my case, I’ve already had to increase the number of my Omega accounts to allow me to tackle Exhumers (my mate’s Skiff boasts 110k EHP). The cost of those accounts can make it daunting.

The other thing is my increasing age. I’m experiencing co-ordination issues which might make what was easy 8 years ago, something of a challenge!

Anyone who can’t handle disappointment will struggle to succeed in New Eden - certainly in the long-term.

1 Like