I’m interesting in the following fit for my Skiff but don’t want to waste time training the skills if it’s not possible:
[Rigs]
Medium Transverse Bulkheads II x 2
[Highs]
Modulated Strip Miner II x 2
[Meds]
Survey Scanner II
EM Shield Hardener II
Explosive Shield Hardener II
Kinetic Shield Hardener II
Thermal Shield Hardener II
[Lows]
Mining Laser Upgrade II x 3
Is this fitting possible provided I have the skills trained (CPU Mgt, Shield Upgrades, Mining Upgrades, etc)?
This is a terrible fit, don’t use this fit.
Yes. Just modeled it, in-game.
Cap stable at 51.8%. That is with the four hardeners on, plus the strip miners, but not the scanner.
EHP was 59,883.
Mining with veldspar II crystals was 11.3 x 2 = 22.6 m3/ s
Adding 5 x mining drone II = 5 x 1.1 = additional 5.5 m3/s
Adding 5 x hobgoblin II gives 143 dps.
Part II - but is it wise?
Not for me to comment, other than a couple of observations based on the standard mantra in EvE that it is not wise to use both shield fits (eg hardeners) and armor/ hull fits (eg bulkheads) on the same ship. The honorable exception is if you can fit a damage control unit in low.
So, if I swap the bulkhead rigs for a Medium EM Shield Reinforcer II + Medium Core Defense Field Extender II, the EHP = 64,557
With 2 x Core Defense II = 67,757 ehp
Then, swapping out the explosive hardener for a Multispectrum Shield Hardener II = 74,785 ehp.
Higher EHP, but leaves me with a larger signature radius for detection by probe scanners & easier to target?
Also swapping out the explosive hardener for multispectrum wouldn’t that leave me specifically more susceptible to explosive damage? So I’d have a larger signature radius plus a weakness for explosive damage (or whatever damage specific hardener I swapped out for the multi-spectrum)?
Currently using ECM drones for defense as well so being harder to target complements them. But might swap out for mining drones in the future.
Yes.
I based “example” fits on presumption of being sat like a turkey on static high sec belts. This then assumes any player-based attack would start with them already knowing where you are, with reduced need for probes. They would then come armed for elephant, meaning signature radius etc might be less of a defensive posture than ehp. However, again, this is simply the play-off when fitting for dangerous space.
In LS I have used procurers, both on ice and ore, and in that circumstance simply based my defense on running away. Altho, replacing a mining upgrade with a DCU in low also helps enormously against clone soldiers.
As an aside, I forgot that the character I used in modelling was fitted with implants. This has limited impact on both the mining rate and ehp numbers. However, much more importantly, the cpu on your original fit is tight. So, whereas I stand with my original answer of “yes”,you might need a 3% CPU implant for that fit to work. I can’t guarantee that, either way.
Shield resists for the skiff start at 20% for EM and increase to 60% for explosive. Based on my recommendation to focus on shields, explosive is the least hole to worry about, which is why I chose that one specifically. Again, the mantra is that gankers concentrate on EM/ thermal damage, but with some of the NPC/ trigs being strong on explosive, you can’t always be cavalier about these things. I will post some numbers separately.
Shield-only resists plus total ehp for skiff. Note, this is impacted by character (implants), training and fit.
| EM | Thermal | Kinetic | Explosive | EHP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| native | 20 | 36 | 52 | 60 | 39 415 |
| bulkheads | 56 | 65 | 74 | 78 | 59 883 |
| EM + core | 69 | 65 | 74 | 78 | 64 557 |
| 2 cores | 56 | 65 | 74 | 78 | 67 757 |
| cores + multi | 66 | 73 | 80 | 71 | 74 785 |
| cores + 2 multi | 71 | 77 | 73 | 78 | 79 561 |
The last line is based on swapping out both kinetic and explosive hardeners and actually gives you the best “omni-resist”, across the board, for any of the shown fits. The sig radius for the bulkhead fit is 150m. For the last fit it is 170m.
PS. As defense is important to you, out of curiosity I modeled one more fit. If you were to replace one of the mining laser upgrades the mining rate reduces to 10.3 x 2 = 20.6 m3/s. Two mining drones, which you don’t currently use, would fill that gap allowing you to still fly 3x ECM drones.
Replacing that upgrade with a DCU, the last line in the table would be:
75 … 80 … 76 … 80 … and 97 133
The best passive defence for a Skiff in a belt is “Someone else’s Hulk” - a better target for the attacker.
The best active defence is “not being there” - running away if something concerns you.
I’ve tended to use a balance of levelling out and improving the shield resistances and adding some sheer mass to the shields (shield resistances stack as I recall, so there’s a limit in usefulness there).
I’m an Exhumer - as others have pointed out I already have a 150+ signature radius. I’m easy to scan down. Assuming you can be bothered bringing a scanning ship (clue: The Exhumer is mining in a belt).
There are several things you can do to make life a little safer: don’t warp to zero on a belt. Go to one extreme of the belt or another to mine: anyone warping in is some distance from you and you have chance to respond.
Always pay attention to what is happening - spike in numbers on local: worry. People you have flagged as “low standing” (because they are a threat to you): worry, people appearing on d-scan: worry. People appearing on grid: worry.
And if you aren’t completely comfortable, go somewhere else.
Where: a system with a lot of belts means the attacker has a harder job finding you among all the options. Find somewhere quiet with little passing traffic so you are less likely to draw attention and can see “oddities” quickly.
No ship, however cunningly fitted to wring the last EHP out of the defence, will save you from a competent and determined attack once they engage. Only your situational awareness will prevent such an event starting in the first place.
So, as it is almost completely irrelevant to your survival: the Skiff fit I use:
[Skiff, Skiff]
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Medium Shield Extender II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Compact EM Shield Hardener
ML-3 Scoped Survey Scanner
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Modulated Strip Miner II
Modulated Strip Miner II
Medium Thermal Shield Reinforcer II
Medium Core Defense Field Extender II
Mining Drone II x5
Acolyte II x5
Infiltrator II x5
Scordite Mining Crystal II x2
Veldspar Mining Crystal II x2
Kernite Mining Crystal II x2
Pyroxeres Mining Crystal II x2
In dangerous space, once you’re tackled - you’re dead. More tank simply prolongs the agony. In highsec, a Skiff is rarely the target of choice - a lot of work for little reward. As @Terak_Romaller said - your best defense is to have a more desirable target near by. Also get away from the beacon - at least 20Km, and maintain situational awareness. One of the advantages of the Skiff is that it can align and warp fairly quickly - under 10 seconds with reasonable skills.
In high-sec where I mine there are no Hulks. Never even saw a Mackinaw until yesterday where when I pointed out to the pilot how dangerous it was he replied that it was his alt and he was there by mistake (and wasn’t mining).
Its Skiffs, Procurers, lots of Retreivers and me when I used to fly around in a Covetor (with the insurance payouts on T1 ships it made economic sense even with the ganks). To fly any exhumer other than Skiff would not be economically viable.
The ganks aren’t that sophisticated requiring crazy ehp on the Skiff, but I have taken a slight yield hit from before when I had three MLU2s & now I have two (third low being a DC2). Perhaps its time to look into mining drones now to make up for that lost yield vs trying to recreate it in a Skiff from hull alone which will require maxing out skills (I don’t use implants) to get those three MLU2’s combined with those 4 shield hardeners.
I could use mining drones, a light attack drone for belt rats, a salvage drone & finally whatever ECM drones I could still fit in the bay. ECM drones being less necessary to my survival vs when I flew that yield-optimized Covetor (which was the antithesis of any sort of AFK mining haha).
Why is this in PVE section ? 
I mine in hi-sec in a Hulk.
But I’m very selective about where and generally paranoid about what else is happening around me. While the Hulk is a monster for sucking in Ore it has a couple of weaknesses: it’s a paper thin expensive ship, and the ore hold is quite small: five minutes in a belt will fill it then you are into hauling to the local base.
If I want to mine in a busier area then I take a Skiff. It meets my normal preferences in the balance of “mining speed v capacity v tank”. The reason for getting a Hulk was “I wanted one and can afford it”. If I’m going somewhere I’m likely to lose the ship but the reward is large, the I take a Venture. The Venture is very unappreciated.