Mining stuff ...?

[Bumpy_Kai]

Hi all

During the last event I got into mining a bit, I am not a miner but I did have some skills trained into it and went on further. I do not intend to become a full or main miner or anything like that. What I am looking for is a good way to mine the ore for future events for the accelerator components and maybe some ore here and there if I occasionally want to build something, or need some ore for a mission or alike. I’m doing it mainly in HS.

So I trained Mining barges to 4, and got into a Procurer fitted as follows:

[Procurer]

Power Diagnostic System II
Damage Control II

EM Ward Amplifier II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Medium Shield Extender II
5MN Microwarpdrive II

Modulated Strip Miner II
Modulated Strip Miner II

Medium Core Defense Field Purger II
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Medium Low Friction Nozzle Joints II

Hobgoblin II x5
Mining Drone I x5

Veldspar Mining Crystal II x2

.

My question is, when looking at mining upgrades and mining rigs, all I could find was stuff for mining lasers, not strip miners, when I put those into my fit in the simulator the strip miners do not receive any bonus. So are there any mining upgrades or rigs for strip miners similar to the mining upgrades for lasers ? Am I missing something here or there aren’t any in the game ?

Second, I was looking at the Skiff but I don’t think its worth the training since it won’t be mining any faster then the procurer. Its only benefits as far as I can tell would be slightly better tank and a bigger ore hold so I wouldn’t have to dock or deposit so often. Like I said, for me that is just not enough to be worth training into, or is there something I’m missing here ?

The mining barges and exhumers other then Procurer or Skiff do not seem to be worth it to me at all as they have horrible tank and horrible fitting options and I would die to rats very quickly or have to switch ships so often to clear them it would be kinda stupid.

So is there something I’m missing about the Procurer and Skiff ? Are there any mining upgrades that work on strip miners instead of just mining lasers ? Are there any fits or anything that would help me get better yields ? And no, personal pocket orca or purpoise or joining mining corp are not valid options for me for a wide plethora of reasons. Just looking for a decent solo occasional mining set up.

[Leah_Crowleymass]

@Bumpy_Kai

My question is, when looking at mining upgrades and mining rigs, all I could find was stuff for mining lasers, not strip miners, when I put those into my fit in the simulator the strip miners do not receive any bonus. So are there any mining upgrades or rigs for strip miners similar to the mining upgrades for lasers ? Am I missing something here or there aren’t any in the game ?

Not sure why this isn’t showing up in the simulator. Mining Laser Upgrade modules do affect strip miners.

@Bumpy_Kai

The mining barges and exhumers other then Procurer or Skiff do not seem to be worth it to me at all as they have horrible tank and horrible fitting options and I would die to rats very quickly or have to switch ships so often to clear them it would be kinda stupid.

This depends on your skills and where you mine, but generally you are correct- the other barges/exhumers generally are best when used with support ships/fleets.

Here’s a pretty standard Proc fitting for ore mining:

[Procurer, Procurer fit]

Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Medium Shield Extender II
Survey Scanner II

Modulated Strip Miner II
Modulated Strip Miner II

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I

Hobgoblin II x5
Mining Drone II x5

The Adaptives can be switched out for specific hardeners (usually Kin/Therm since Catalysts are the ganker ship of choice and those use blasters), but with that fit I’m showing 10.3 m3/sec with a well-skilled mining character and 55.8k EHP. Going to a Skiff with a similar fitting, you can add another upgrade module and push both the harvest and tank. But, honestly, not sure that getting into a Skiff is worth it just for occasional mining- too much training and too much money unless you really need that extra tank.

One minor thing to note- unless you are using crystals, T2 stripminers get a lower yield than T1. So, for the event ore that didn’t have crystals (or other ores that you can’t use crystals on due to training, supply, or whatever), having a pair of T1 strips handy is a good idea.

[Bumpy_Kai]

Mining Crystals do work on the event ores, you can use any crystal for any ore on them.

OK, now the laser upgrades are showing, I do not know why they didn’t show before.

And it looks like I will be staying with the Procurer then

Thanks

[Markus_Reinhart]

+1 on Leah’s fit.

It’s tanky where it needs to be without going overboard with a DC.

[Lily_Inkura]

@Bumpy_Kai

I will be staying with the Procurer

No argument with your decision. Just a few additional comments for completeness.

@Bumpy_Kai

Mining Crystals do work on the event ores

Too late to check, but received wisdom at the time was that mining crystals did not give any bonus. This is why most miners I know were using T1 during the crimson harvest event.

@Leah_Crowleymass

I’m showing 10.3 m3/sec with a well-skilled mining character

I don’t like to quibble, but simulating my procurer gives me 9.3 m3/sec. So, 2 x 9.3 + (5 x 1.1 for T2 drones) overall.

Compare that with the skiff I used for the last event. Swapping out the T1 harvesters I actually used for T2’s with veldspar II crystals gives 2 x 8.5 + (5 x 1.1). So, not quite as good as the procurer BUT, also with 106k ehp and 331 dps. This is the fit I used to clear the harvest sites solo and then mine.

Stripping out the lows to maximise mining instead and my skiff would now give 2 x 11 + (5 x 1.1). So, about 18% better (on exhumer IV) than the procurer (on barge V) and yet still has 87k ehp. So, the skiff really is quite a bit better than a procurer … and quite a bit more isk too. So, it is still a bit of overkill for your needs.

@Bumpy_Kai

Are there any fits or anything that would help me get better yields ?

Final point. This not quite what you asked, but if you are wanting to run a procurer as your utility-mining ship, it might be worth fitting an ice accelerator rig so it can also take ice? This does not impact on ore mining yield, but does give a good boost for ice and would not impact on ehp that much. Maybe replace your anti-thermal rig for an ice one and then swap out one of your Adaptives for an active thermal hardener? Worth thinking about.

[Niko_Johnson]

@Lily_Inkura

Too late to check, but received wisdom at the time was that mining crystals did not give any bonus. This is why most miners I know were using T1 during the crimson harvest event.

I did extensive testing during the last Crimson Harvest and tested all crystals, none of them worked. All you got was the base yield of the tech II strip miners. Use tech I strip miner for event ore.

I think the confusion comes from people seeing the veldspar reprocessing skill having an effect on reprocessing event ore and using that knowledge to assume it would also work for crystals. It did not.

[Lily_Inkura]

@Niko_Johnson

seeing the veldspar reprocessing skill having an effect on reprocessing event ore

Ironically, I completely missed this. In practice, I think I got a yield of 2.78 tricarboxyl / 100 ore units instead of the max which someone suggested was 2.89?

The double irony was I deliberately logged onto the events channel in-game in order to pick up such detail. And still missed it!

[Leah_Crowleymass]

@Lily_Inkura

I’m showing 10.3 m3/sec with a well-skilled mining character

I don’t like to quibble, but simulating my procurer gives me 9.3 m3/sec. So, 2 x 9.3 + (5 x 1.1 for T2 drones) overall.

I’m guessing that’s due to skill differences. I’m pulling that out of PYFA, but after looking, that character I used is actually pretty well skilled (almost all 5s for the relevant skills), so there could be some differences in out sims. All good

I should mention that those are yields with both harvesters, but no drones. With drones, I’m showing 15.9 m3/s, but take that with a grain of salt since drone travel time can alter that.

@Niko_Johnson

I did extensive testing during the last Crimson Harvest and tested all crystals, none of them worked.

Confirmed from my side as well. No crystals worked, but the reprocessing explanation makes sense. I guess I didn’t even notice that skill was having an impact. Thanks for adding that info.

@Lily_Inkura

if you are wanting to run a procurer as your utility-mining ship, it might be worth fitting an ice accelerator rig so it can also take ice? This does not impact on ore mining yield, but does give a good boost for ice and would not impact on ehp that much. Maybe replace your anti-thermal rig for an ice one and then swap out one of your Adaptives for an active thermal hardener? Worth thinking about.

Good advice here. Having some flexibility in getting into ice if you choose to is certainly worth thinking about before you pop those rigs in.

[Lily_Inkura]

@Leah_Crowleymass

I’m guessing that’s due to skill differences … I should mention that those are yields with both harvesters, but no drones. With drones, I’m showing 15.9 m3/s, but take that with a grain of salt since drone travel time can alter that.

Yes. I have a 3% mining implant. Forgot about that. My apologies.

Talking of forgetting. Any chance that you did not include mining crystals? If I model 2 x modulated strip miner II’s, I get a combined value of 10.6 m3/sec (a difference which might also account for the +3% implant).