The new ship availability look really good. I would like to see an update to mining barge availability.
More defence options would be good, and ships with larger drone bays would be good.
Currently we can hold, 5 Hobgoblins, and 5 Salvage, or 5 Mining Drones… Would be good to be able to deploy what we need at a given time, and be able to carry, 5 hobs, 5 Salvage, 5 Mining all at the same time, and deploy what is needed at the time.
Are there any other thoughts and suggestions to how Mining Barges might evolve?
I think you are trying to get everything even if it’s completely useless.
Having a flock of combat drones and a flock of mining drones is already enough IMO.
You get a little extra ISK from the pirates you kill and it keeps the belt empty of wrecks so that hostiles who pass by your system don’t instantly see which belt you were mining on.
Still, ships have limitations for a reason: you are not supposed to be able to do everything in one ship, which means people have to make choices.
Have you considered using an Endurance instead of Barge? With three high slots for one mining module and a cloak you have a spare slot for a salvager if you wish to salvage while mining!
The Exequror Navy Issue took thermal damage from the Hammerheads and mostly thermal from the Serpentis rat, so let’s assume for simplicity that the Reactive Armor Hardener was 60% thermal resist. Let’s also assume that both the aggressor and miner have perfect skills. This results for the ENI in a total of 78.9% thermal resistances against the Procurer’s Hammerheads. At 15,012 damage taken after resistances this must have been 71,147 thermal damage from the Hammerheads. At 337 dps with the drones (she’s using 2x DDA in her Procurer fits) this took at least 212 seconds.
It took about three and a half painful minutes to see their ENI get eaten by a Procurer.
This is the right answer. Utility high Salvager II is OP on Endurance. If you feel spicy you can drop the cloak and run a tractor beam for maximum productivity.
Yes, don’t use a barge anymore, it’s really mostly useless without mining fleet support, use expedition frigs, cheaper and more practical for solo or fleets.
