EVE Guide Complete Miner's Guide  

Complete Miner's Guide

Welcome to the complete miner's guide!

I have been playing for a little while now, and I remember I always enjoyed long post with lots of information about particular branches of EVE’s gameplay. I came to have a good knowledge about mining in EvE. I would like to share with you what I know, to give back what others before me gave. Hopefully new comers will appreciate it.

This guide is divided into the following sections:

1. Mining 101, a beginner's guide **NEW 21.05.2006
2. Refining **NEW 21.05.2006
3. To barge or not to barge?
4. Crystals
5. Max me out! **Updated 29.07.2006
6. Links? **Updated 29.07.2006
7. Drones **Updated 03.04.2006
8. Hulk… to buy or not to buy? **Updated 05.05.2006
9. Mercoxite mining
10. Ice Mining **Updated 02.04.2006
11. Ship Setups **NEW 29.07.2006
12. Summary
13. Conclusion

I try to keep the guide constantly updated. If you have questions freel free to reply to the thread and I will do my best to help you.

Happy reading!

1- Mining 101]

I realized this guide didn’t appeal much to beginners, I thought writing a small section for those just starting might be in order. This is the beginner’s section; if you know how it works already you can jump to section 2 right away.

Where do I start ?

When you start you get very little capitol to start with, which means the beginning of your mining career will head off slowly. Is it imperative you get Mining IV as fast as possible, which will allow you to use Miners II, which are cheap and much better than the tech 1 versions.

First of all, get out of your Ibis of Doom™ as fast as possible. The best ships to start with as a newcomer are frigates. They’re cheap and fast and do the job well. Fortunately, some frigates have a bonus to mining. The Caldari Bantam is the most suggested ship, it has a nice cargo and and some bonus to mining. Fit two miners on there and you’re set to start what hopefully will be a healthy career.

Any mining techniques?

Yes, in fact. There is a widely used technique called jetcan mining. The process is quite simple: you mine until your cargo is full, then jettison the ore in a can, and keep filling this jettisoned can until it is full (27450m3) (cargo->can). This saves you the time you would need to travel from the belt to the station every time your cargo is full. Once your can is full, switch to a hauler and haul it all to the station (more details later). Simple as that and very efficient !

There is a risk that an ore thief will show up in your belt and steal your ore. In that case, you will get a 15 minutes timer. This is your window to shoot the thief down without any interference from Concord. You can also gang yourself with corpmates to make it easier to shoot him down.

Ok, I know how to mine and sell, but WHAT do I mine?

The current problem in Empire is that many, many belts are stripped. Since the introduction of Exhumer (T2 Barge) class ships, as well as the gang modules, stripping belts has never been easier. A good remedy to this problem is mine in systems where there are no stations. You will have to haul a little more (make instas to make the trips faster) but the roids will be bigger. Also important to know is that the lower the security status of the system is, the better the asteroids are. A full roid grid can be found target="_blank here.

The basic types of ore are:

• Veldspar
• Scordite
• Pyroxeres
• Plagioclase
• Omber
  

Full list can be found target="_blank here with all information about what kind of minerals they give and where they are found.

The most basic minerals refined from these ores are Tritanium, Pyerite and Mexallon. Those minerals are always needed so don’t be scared to mine as much as you can!

Is the force with me ?

The force is with you always apprentice, but it’s stronger when you’re in a team, so I suggest you join a mining corp as fast as your fingers can bare to click. Do NOT start playing solo, first of all the “cool” effect will wear off WAY too fast and you’ll end up an old maid brushing the toilets of some battleships in deep space. The ISK is in the team work (at least at first) and I cannot stress this enough. Join a corp !

So what’s up now Luke ? I’m in a corp, now what?

Most corps do what we call “mining ops”, where a group of corpmate mine together for a few hours and each get an equal share. Sometimes the corp gets an extra share or a little more, for resale, production or trading. This is the best way to start, plus teamwork is always fun ! If your corp doesn’t buy you ore directly, then you have two options:

1. Refine the ore in minerals (trit, pyrite, mex,…) and sell it
2. Sell the ore unrefined

Problem with option 1 is that as a newbie your refining skills suck. You need Refining V, Advanced Refinery IV and Ore-specific Processing I to get a 100% refine. HOWEVER, unless you have a 6.7+ standing with the NPC corporation owning the station you refine at, you will pay taxes. Solution? Get a corpmate to refine for you ! Most probably the CEO or some nice directors have the skills required to get you 100% of the minerals back as well as the proper standing.

What about option 2 ?
Highly not recommended. As simple as that

How do I sell the minerals now? Do I haul, or sell, or huh?

The golden rules are don’t be too lazy and be patient too ! Mining isn’t insta-cash like ratting is. IF you want to sell everything right away , although it is possible, you’ll lose a lot of ISK doing it. It pays to stockpile too ! Many traders will set-up region-wide buy orders at competitive, sometimes horrible prices.. However, they often require you to have a minimum amount to sell your mineral at that price. When bringing up the market, sort the buy orders by prices, look for orders highlighted in green. Those are the people you can sell too from your station ! Look if any of those are attractive for you. If not, you’ll need to haul your minerals to another station where you can make better more profit.

What’s a hauler?

Haulers are industrial-class ships, very slow but have a huge cargo. I very strongly suggest you get Minmatar Industrial IV and use a Mammoth. With 4x expanders I you get a cargo of 13086m3. With that cargo you can put 4x Giant Secure Containers in your cargobay (FYI, GSC take 3000m3 of cargo space but can carry 3900m3. Which means for every can you can carry you get an extra 900m3 of cargospace). All-in-all, for a few days of training you get 16686m3 of cargo space. That’s A LOT, and you can carry a ****load of minerals with that ship. Hauling your mineral to a station with a high buy order is the most lucrative way to do it for a miner, although it takes a little more time. The best T1 hauler is owned by the Gallente Federation, the Iteron V (21658m3) but requires Gallente Industrial 5 (Which is 30 days of training alone). It’s a nice long-term objective though.

Do I need protection?

Concord protects you in empire space (0.5-1.0) from pirates, but not rats. They are usually easy to tank or kill, so before you start mining you can kill them and mine until they show up, or ask a corp mate to come and kill them for you. If you just started I suggest starting to mine in 0.8-1.0 systems to be safer.

What’s the next step?

The next step is a cruiser, preferably the Caldari Osprey for its very nice bonus on the mining yield. By now you should be good with your Bantam and be familiar with the basics. You should have Mining IV already, perhaps even Astrogeology IV. Now is the time to get Frigate IV and Cruiser to III, at IV even better. Mining in an Opsrey is the best you can achieve before starting to mine in a barge. An alternative is also the Scythe which also gets a bonus. Once you got a mining cruiser you can start saving up for a medium barge. This is all covered in the next sections.

2- Refining]

Although I covered it a little in section 1, I wasn't totally satisfied with it so here is a more comprehensible section.

Any ore mined can be refined into minerals. The refining percentage you get is determined by your standing with the corporation owning the station where you refine, as well as your skills. To get a 100% refine in empire you need the following:

• Refining V
• Refiniery Efficiency IV
• Ore-Specific processing I (example: Veldspar Processing I)
• A standing of 6.7 or higher with the corporation owning the station
  

This only applies to empire as all NPC stations have station equipment with a 50% refining yield. A very comprehensible spreadsheet can be found target="_blank here. Outposts (conquerable stations or player built outposts) have a station equipment of 35% only, so you can only get 97.5% at best out of them.

To know what equipment the station has, simply open the refiniery and at the right it will be cleary stated.

For those interested the formula works like this following:
Equipment + 0.375x(1+Skillx0.02)x(1+Efficiency Skillx0.04)x(1+Processing Skillx0.05)
Credits go to Tinoga Enterprises Services

A refining yield calculator can be found target="_blank here. An excellent ore calculator can be found target="_blank here

3- To barge or not to barge?]

I see this question pop-out very often. There is no definite answer to this question, but I can help you make the best decision. An Apocalypse or Dominix can mine as good, even outmine a medium barge. A covetor, on the other hand, will outmine any mining cruisers or battleships. The training for a covetor is very significant (Astrogeology V, Mining Barge V) which is about 40 days of training with decent learning skills, 30 days with good learning skills and a +3 implants set. If you’re serious about mining (which is probably why you’re reading this on the first place) you’ll want a Covetor as fast as possible, EVEN if you plan to play solo a lot.

I seriously suggest no matter what direction you go for to have Astrogeology IV and Mining IV as soon as possible.

So now… let’s do the math! *yay!!*

We’ll start with the Retriever.
Good medium mining barge. It’s important to mention that even a mining cruiser (Scythe and Osprey) will outmine the small barge, so don’t lose your time with it. If you go for a barge, go directly for the retriever.

Skills you should have: Mining IV, Astrogeology IV, Mining Barge III

Using Strip Miners I, you will get the following yield:
540 * 1.20 * 1.20 * 1.09 * 1.05 (1x mining upgrade)= 847.58 ore per strip/cycle (180sec)
This means per minute, (847.58*2 strips)/3min(180sec) = 565.05 ore/minute

Let’s do the beloved Apoc and Domi
Why those two? Because if you’re serious about mining, you’ll want to join a 0.0 corp as soon as humanly possible. Don’t lose your time in Empire, the money is in 0.0. The Apoc and Domi are the best miners to tank. Those who have never set foot in 0.0, you will find the rats to be nasty. You will either need a corpmate to tank for you so you can mine in your barge. What happens if nobody is available ? You can’t mine. Time is money, so get a BS !

I personally prefer the Domi to the Apoc, despite the fact that the Apoc can fit two extra Miners II. The Apoc cannot fit 8 Miners II without sacrificing two lowslots for CPU, which render his tanking capabilities much weaker. The Domi can tank anything (up to triple 1.5mil BS and its cruisers escort) without breaking a sweat and fit 6 miners II. See section below for suggested setups.

Let’s do the math for the Apoc and Domi.

Skills you should have: Mining IV, Astrogeology IV

Using Miners II, you will get the following yield:
60 * 1.20 * 1.20 = 86.4 ore per miner/cycle (60sec)


This means per minute:
For the Domi (86.4*6 lasers) = 518.4 ore/minute (596.16 with MU)
For the Apoc (86.4*8 lasers) =691.2 ore/minute (794.88 with MU)

If you’re in Empire and you don’t have to tank at all, then you can add approx. 3 Mining Upgrades for a 15% bonus to yield. Comparing the values, you can see a Retriever stand almost on the same grounds as the Domi with MU. The Apoc will seriously outmine the Retriever though if fitted with 8 miners II, so if you have a regular tanker for you in your corp, you might want to wait and go directly for a Covetor instead. If you intend to solo mine a lot in 0.0, you should go for the Dominix.

Finally the Covetor

As mentioned before, the Covetor is a mining beast, notably because of its extra strip, but it comes to a lot of training. Let me convince you by showing you what the Covetor can do (the Hulk deserves its own section).

Skills you should have: Mining V, Astrogeology V, Mining Barge V

Note: I introduced Mining V for the first time. The ~6 days of training for the 5% is worth it, especially because later you will need it for T2 Strip Miners. Train it, you won’t regret it.

Using Strip I, you will get the following yield:
540 * 1.25 * 1.25 * 1.15 * 1.05 (1x Mining Upgrades) = 1018.828 ore per strip/cycle (180sec)

This means per minute, (1018.828 *3 strip miners)/3 = 1018.828 ore/minute

This is already a 180% increase compared to the Retriever, or 128% to the Apoc with 8 Miners II and 3 Upgrades. But this is just the beginning…

4- Crystals]

As soon as you have a Covetor, you will want to train for T2 Strips, which uses crystals. It’s about another 30 days of training before you will get to use T2 Crystals , but the bonus is absolutely worth it.

Base yield for strip miners II with:
T1 Crystal: (360*1.625)= 585
T2: Crystal: (360*1.75)= 630

Note that the training from T1 to T2 Crystals is about nothing (3 days approx.). The only difficulty is sometimes finding them, and the price. Even then, they’re the bomb.

Skills you need for T2 Strips: Refining V, Advanced Refinery V, Metallurgy IV, Mining V, Mineral-specific Processing to III (T1 Crystals) or IV (T2 Crystals.)

Now let’s re-do the math for the Covetor with those sexy T2 Strips on.

Using Strip II with T2 Crystal, you will get the following yield:
360 * 1.25 * 1.25 * 1.15 * 1.05 (1x Mining Upgrades) * 1.75 = 1118.63 ore per strip/cycle (180sec)

This means per minute, (1118.63 *3 strip miners)/180sec = 1118.63 ore/minute.

This is already an extra 100 ore per minute! As you notice, the 75% bonus is applied to the entire equation, which means the more bonuses you have, the merrier. Let’s go further.

5- Max me out!]

So you want to know what it is you should max out to be considered a uber miner ? Here is a list of the skills and modules you should have to be totally maxed out (drones later).

To be a uber solo miner though, you will need two accounts, at best three. Why?
1st account: mines
2nd account: hauls
3rd account: battlecruiser which holds the optimization link

With two you can have your Battlecruiser tank and your second account mine/haul , but a BC has limitation when it comes to tanking, so you’ll have to find a spawn you can tank.

Note: With the introduction of gang mining skills with RMR, the ENTIRE gang gets the bonus, even you. However, the person with the Link or the Foreman skill must be undocked and in the same system as the gang. This means if you gang your two alts together, they must be in same system and both must be undocked.

UPDATE: Mining Foreman Mindlink has drastically dropped in price lately and is still not fixed (at least not completely). If you pay more than 150mil you can send the seller to hell, from me.

Here is the list :

• Mining V – 25% Bonus to yield
• Ice Harvesting V – 25% less in ice harvester cycle time
• Astrogeology V – 25% Bonus to yield
• Mining Barge V – 15% Bonus to yield
• Mining Foreman V – 10% Bonus to yield (see note at beginning)
• Strips II w/ T2 Crystal - 75% Bonus to yield
• Mining Upgrades – Can fit two on Hulk (10,25% bonus to yield), 1x on Covetor (5% bonus to yield)
• Mining Implant (slot 7) – Gives 5% to yield, and is rare. Usually goes for around 300mil-350mil
• Mining Implant (slot 10) – Not as rare as it’s brother in slot 7. Also gives 5% to yield, usually goes for around 150mil.
• Exhumer V – 15% to yield (Exhumers only)
• Mining Foreman Mindlink (slot 10) - So the ******* implant has been doing absolutely nothing until recently when the foreman links were silently fixed. If you do have the implant in your head, the bonus to the links will work, but that's it. No selfbonus or mining foreman bonus, inspite of my well written bug reports and e-mails. CCP just doesn't care, so don't go spending 300mil on those broken pieces of ****.

Please note that you can only use one implant per slot, so you cannot use both the mining foreman mindlink and the regular 5% mining implant that goes into slot 10 as well.

Let’s do the math now for the Covetor (Hulk later) with all those skills and modules to see how uber it can be:

Using Strip II with T2 Crystal, you will get the following yield:
360 * 1.75 * 1.25 * 1.25 * 1.15 * 1.1 (foreman) * 1.05 (MU) * 1.05 * 1.05 = 1441.51 ore per strip/cycle (180sec)

So, this means 1441.51 ore/minute without drones on a Cov. This is a 143% increase compared to our Retriever figures before.

Interesting isn’t it ? Wait… it gets even better with Links.

6- Links]

This section was completely rewritten as the mining laser optimization link was silently fixed in a recent patch. As it currently stands, the drone coordination link is complete garbage and is useless, so I won't be covering it here.

Each link requires leadership V. But you'll want Mining Director V as soon as possible (I know, it's as long as cruiser V but whatever) and get the mining foreman mindlink as well (see the max me out section).

Laser Optimization mining foreman link

The mother of group uberness. Those who trained the ridicule mining director skill to V and got the mining foreman mindlink implant, well here is where it pays off. Now that I can confirm the Squadron Command affects the foreman links as well (either it's a bug or CCP messed up in the description, whichever, CCP messed up again) I can tell you exactly what you get.

So in detail it works like this:
Before going into the details, a pilot in a BC with the mining foreman laser optimization link with the mining foreman mindlink in it's head and squadron command V will give a 22.5% bonus to the entire gang. That's right baby, you read correctly.

Director V brings the link effectiveness to 10%. The Mining foreman mindlink enhances this by 50% which bring us to a 15% bonus, and finall squadron command 5 enhances this further by 50% for a whopping total of 22.5%. Mind you, you won't see any difference in your yield, because the silent fix applied (why the hell nobody said a thing is beyond me) actually gives a bonus to your mining laser cycle time. So you don't mine more, you just take less time to mine it. It's the same thing really, and this was apprarently the only way to fix it. As long as it works, I'm okay with it.

I guess we have to thank CCP for this, so thank you.

Ice Harvesting

A maxed out Mackinaw pilot will see his Harvester II cycle time reduced from 317.29 sec to 245.90 sec with the ice harvesting link (with the mindlink implant, mining director V and squadron command V of course) which means it will add 3 cycles per hour approximately, which means a total of 60 ice per hour instead of 48. It's a ****load of a difference, especially when you do a big corp op...

Conclusion

So now all the links work as intended, too bad the drone coordinator link doesn't do ANYTHING different for high-ends miners(unless you have harvester mining drones @ 8mil a piece and rising and drone interfacing 5 already). The laser optimization link definitely kicks ass in the hands of a fulfilled and skilled pilot.

7- Drones]

Some people say drones aren’t worth it, but they’re wrong. Three types of drones are available:

• T1 Mining Drones – not important to concentrate on
• T2 Mining Drones (approx. 600K a piece)
• Harvester Drones (only available as loots, approx. 6mil a piece)

Skills you will want: Drones V, Mining Drone Operations V (25% bonus to drone yield), Drone Interfacing IV (80% bonus to drone yield)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Training Drone Interfacing from IV->V brings absolutely NO MINING BONUSES WHATSOEVER for high-end minerals like Bistot or Arkonor. If you train to IV you will get the most out of your drones already.

Using T2 Drones (base yield of 25):
25 * 1.25 * 2 = 62.5 ore/minute per drone

Using Harvesters (base yield of 30):
30 * 1.25 * 2 = 75 ore/minute per drone

However, you cannot combine the yield of 5 drones together and say, for example, that t2 drone will bring an extra 62.5*5 extra ore per minute. Because CCP rounds down the figures of each yield , you have to treat them individually.

Note: T2 Mining Drones are faster than the T1 variety and Harvesters. Given that, unlike mining beams, the drones do have to travel certain distances, this may mean that a T2 drone can out-mine the expensive Harvester over a certain amount of time. (Thanks to Sara Finn for pointing this important aspect out)

For example:
Mining Bistot (More precious ore in 0.0 after Merx, 16m3) you will get:
62.5/16 = 3.9 Bistot per T2 drone per minute, rounded down the drone will bring back 3 Bistot. Harvesters will bring 75/16= 4.68 Bistot per minute , rounded down 4 Bistot per minute. All-in-all, Harveters only bring one extra bistot per minute back, or 5 extra bistot with five drones. I will explain at the last section why this is important. Remember the figures.

To summarize the figures:
With Drone Interfacing IV and Mining Drone Operations V

• T1 Drones: 2 Bistot/cycle
• T2 Drones: 3 Bistot/cycle
• Harverster Drones: 4 Bistot/cycle
  

Difference in ISK per hour, using a 9000pu and 5 Drones:

• T1 Drones: 5 400 000 ISK
• T2 Drones: 8 100 000 ISK
• Harverster Drones: 10 800 000 ISK
  

The harvies will bring 5,4M ISK more per hour than the T1 drones, and 2.7M ISK more than the T2 drones.

What about travel time?

As mentionned before, unlike lasers, drones have to travel. The best remedy to this is to approach a spot where there is a lot of bistot until you are almost on it (100m and less). Have the drones mine these roids, and have your lasers mine those who are further away. This will maximize your drone mining efficiency. Even then those figures are theorical because there is still travel involved, but it is the only way to make a fair comparison. If mining from a long distance harvesters and T2 drones might do an equal job since T2 drones are a little faster.

Now on to the good stuff…

8- The Hulk… to buy or not to buy?]

This is the 1000$ question. Because of the insane price of the Hulk at the moment (anywhere between 300mil to 500mil), many people see this as an unworthy investment. Like everything , if you’re serious about mining, you’ll want one, no matter the price. Here’s why.

Assuming you took the 25 days it took to get Exhumer V (15% bonus to yield) and the fact that the Hulk can fit two mining upgrades instead of one, the Hulk really only brings an extra 20% bonus to yield. Is the 20% bonus worth the 300mil ? Absolutely! I suggested earlier you buy about 500mil worth of implant. But losing a ship is easier than lose a pod right?

But, but, but… the best thing about the Hulk though, is that it will tank as good as a Dominix. For all of you who were using an alt to tank for your barge, you can now send your alt to rat and make much more ISK/hour! Using this setup, you will be able to tank most 0.0 spawns. Note that you WILL need to stagger the strips while the tank is active.

High-
3x Strips II

Med-
1x Gistii-A Small Shield Booster
1x Eutectic Cap Recharger
2x NPC Specific Hardeners (T1 NAMED or GIST)

Low-
2x Mining Upgrades


The Gistii shield booster is about 70mil in Jita. You absolutely need Electronics V for this setup to fit and require 2x named hardeners. This exact setup will squeeze 374cpu out of the 375 available, which makes it very tight. I strongly suggest you replace one of the upgrades by a PDU2 at first to test the tank out the first time.

So, now that I gave you the advantages, the best one being it has a uber tank, which frees your alt for something else, let’s do the math.

Using Strip II with T2 Crystal and the bonuses of the ‘’max me out’’ section, you will get the following yield :
360 (Base yield) * 1.25 (Mining V) * 1.25 (AstroV) * 1.15 (Barge V) * 1.1 (Foreman V) * 1.75 (T2 Crystal) * 1.1 (2x Mining Upgrades) * 1.05 (Implant 1) * 1.05 (Implant 2) * 1.15 (Exhumer V) = 1732.74 ore per strip/cycle (180sec)

This means 1732.74 ore/minute on a self-sustaining ship. This is a 306% increase to our retriever figures or earlier, vs 254% for the Covetor.

Nice isn’t it ? So now, what does it mean in ISK ? Here goes…

So how long does it take to pay off?

A covetor (again, without link) with maxed out skills and all available modules will mine 1438.24 ore/minute as determined earlier. Mining Bistot, which goes approx. for 9000 ISK per unit in Empire, 1438.24 /16 = 89 Bistot per minute, or 5340 Bist per hour. It means you mine approx. 48 000 000 ISK per hour.

A Hulk will mine 1732.74 ore/minute, which is 108 Bistot per minute, or 6480 per our. Don’t forget that CCP rounds down the values ! This means with a hulk you mine approx. 58 000 000 ISK per hour.

Roughly translated, you make about 10mil more than the Cov per hour. Provided you paid your Hulk around 300mil and paid your Covetor 20mil, the difference is of 280mil.
So, to have your Hulk pay itself back you would need to mine:
280mil/10mil hour, = 28 hours.

All-in-all, roughly, you would have to mine for 30 hours before making it worthy, using the above figures. Again, this is all very, very estimated. Providing you mined it in 0.0, you would have to haul it all back to Empire, which is extra time as well. To be more realistic we would need to double this figure, so a rough 60-80 hours is more realistic.

You will have to calculate this yourself though. If your corp buys the ore directly in 0.0, it makes it much easier.

9- Mercoxit Mining]

Mercoxit is only available in 0.0 in very limited sectors. Usually there are always some in -1 security status. Thanks to Farjung for pointing me to this fabulous target="_blank Ore Map.

To mine Mercoxit you will need either the Modulated Deep Core Miner II (MDCMII), which you can fit on any BS, and can mount any crystal. The Modulated Deep Core Strip Miner II (MDCSMII), which can only be fitted on a barge or exhumer, can ONLY mine Mercoxit. Mercoxit is of course very rare and extremely valuable, as it is refined into Morphite, which can go for about 20 000ISK per unit in Empire. With the introduction of the Skiff, the smallest of the Exhumers, Mercoxit mining has become much easier. Let’s do the math with a BS first.

The Apocalypse
If you’re going to mine Mercoxit into a BS, I strongly suggest using the Apoc with 8x MDCMII. Get a second account to tank if needed. If you can’t mine at least with an Apoc, it is not really worth the trouble, in my opinion.

Skills you should have: Mining V, Astrogeology IV (at least)

Using 8xMDCMII with T2 Mercoxit crystals, you will get the following yield:
120 (base yield) * 1.25 * 1.20 * 1.375 = 247.5 ore/miner per cycle (180sec)

This means, per minute: (247.5*8)/3 = 660 ore/minute
Mercoxit has a volume of 40m3 per unit, so 16.5 Mercoxit per minute. In one hour this is 990 unit of Mercoxit.

The Skiff

I won’t do the figures for the Covetor, because if you do have a Cov, you’re about 1 hour from using a Skiff, which goes for about 50mil. If you want to go for Mercx, get a Skiff. Now the nice thing about a skiff is that it has a 60% bonus to Mercoxit mining per level, which means at level 5, the Skiff will have a 300% bonus to Mercoxit mining yield. It can only fit one strip though.

Skills you should max out: Mining V, Astrogeology V, Barge V, Exhumer V, Mining Foreman V

Using 1x MDCSMII with a T2 Merx Crystal:
250 (base yield) * 1.25 * 1.25 * 1.15 * 4 * 1.1 * 1.1 (2xMining Upgrades) * 1.375 = 2989.55 ore/cycle

This means per minute 2989.55/3 = 996.51 ore/minute, or 24 Mercoxite per minute, or 1440 per hour. That’s a 145% increased compare to the Apocalypse.

The Hulk, although it can fit 3x MDCSMII, will only mine 859.50 ore/minute, because it gets no bonus to Merx mining. Still better the Apoc (by 130%) but not worth getting a Hulk for Merx mining, especially considering its price. If you do have one already though, financing a Skiff will be a walk in the park.

10- Ice Mining]

Ice can only be mined by Mining Barges or Exhumers, using Ice Harvester strips. Since the introduction of the Mackinaw, the medium Exhumer, ice mining is less of a pain. Ice is refined into fuel, used for Capital ships or POS. It is however a real pain to haul as each unit has a volume of 1000m3. However, a well organised player can make a fortune out of ice mining. Note that there are no crystal to mine ice.

The mining, astrogeology and barge skills do NOT influence the mining ammount. The only bonus which can modify your yield is the Mackinaw (100%). If not, your ship will mine 1000 ore every cycle, no matter what. The Ice Harvesting skill and the Ice Harvester Upgrades reduce the cycle time, which means you can mine more per hour.

• Base cycle time for Harvesters I: 600sec
• Base cycle time for Harvesters II: 500sec

IMPORTANT: Unlike when mining normal minerals, you must complete the FULL cycle to get the ice. If the cycle doesn't finish, you don't get anything.

The Mackinaw

The Mackinaw gives a 100% bonus to Ice mining yield, regardless of your Exhumer level and can fit two strips. Instead, each Exhumer level gives 5% less to cycle time per harvester. Since the Mackinaw has a native 25% penalty to ice harvester cycle time, Exhumer V will negate the penalty, leaving you with the 100% bonus.

Your cycle time with Ice Harvesting V and 2x Ice Mining upgrades: (Harvesters I)
600sec * 0.75 * 0.9 = 405 sec

Since you mine 2000 ore per cycle per strip, and you can do 8 (8.88 actually) full cycles in 1 hour, you would mine 36 units of ice every 1h0m45s.

Your cycle time with Ice Harvesting V and 2x Ice Mining upgrades: (Harvesters II)
500sec * 0.75 * 0.9 = 337.50 sec

Since you mine 2000 ore per cycle, and you can do 10 (10.66) full cycles in 1 hour, you would mine 44 units of ice every 1h1m51s.

Since you can't really calculate per hour but per cycle, it's an approximation, but you do get 2 full more cycles per hour per Ice Harvesters II. However, they are very expansive (50-70mil per strip) and hard to find.

What about the Covetor?

The Covetor can only mount 1 Ice Harvester upgrade and has no bonus to ice mining yield, but has an extra strip. Let's see how this translate

Cycle time with Harvesters I: 600sec * 0.75 * 0.95 = 427.50 sec
Cycle time with Harvesters II: 500sec * 0.75 * 0.95 = 356.25 sec

Since you only mine 1000 per strip, you mine 3000 in total per cycle. This translates in:

• Harvesters I: 9 cycles in 1h4m6s, 27 units of ice
• Harvesters II: 11 cycles in 1h5m18s, 33 units of ice

The Mackinaw will mine 11 extra units of Ice for almost the same ammount of time (approx. 1 hour).

And the Hulk?

The Hulk's only advantage against the covetor is that it can fit 2x Ice Harvester upgrades vs only 1 for the Covetor. The Hulk will have the exact same cycle time as the Mackinaw per strips, but doesn't get the 100% bonus to yield. The Exhumer skill gives no bonus whatsover to ice mining.

Since you only mine 1000 per strip, you mine 3000 in total per cycle. This translates in:

• Harvesters I: 9 cycles in 1h0m45s, 27 units of ice
• Harvesters II: 11 cycles in 1h1m51s, 33 units of ice

As you can see, the Hulk will only save a few minutes for the same ammount of cycles with the Covetor.

Comparisons

Mackinaw:

• Harvesters I: 9 cycles in 1h0m45s, 36 units of ice
• Harvesters II: 11 cycles in 1h1m51s, 44 units of ice

Covetor:

• Harvesters I: 9 cycles in 1h4m6s, 27 units of ice
• Harvesters II: 11 cycles in 1h5m18s, 33 units of ice

I think these figures speak for themselves. Any serious ice miners will want a mackinaw, plain and simple.

11- Ship Setups

I can't believe it took me this long to do it, perhaps because I've got a lazy bum or I'm just that stupid (I don't think so but who knows...) so here are my favorite setups for some of the mining ships out there... they worked for me, and they might work for you, the most important thing is to well, test it yourself.

Hulk

Hi-
3x Strips

Med-
1x Eutectic Cap Recharger
1x Gisti A Small Shield Booster
1x F-S15 Braced Deflection Shield Matrix (explosive hardener)
1x Non-Inertial Ballistic Screen Augmentation (kinetic hardener)

Low-
Whatever

Ok so I've had emails saying "You ****, a Vaga sent my 700mil ship to oblivion ! Your setup sucks!"

First if it was a Vaga, then it was a pirate, not a NPC, so there is nothing you can do. Second, WTF were you doing not watching local ? Third, my setup works fine, you're the one who sucks apprentice !

Seriously, the Hulk is an expansive ship, it comes close to 700mil with fittings and won't be dropping in price anytime soon, so don't tank with it unless necessary. If you must, consider putting some WCS in the lows except of 2x mining upgrades, is 5% worth the risk of losing your ship? And don't forget the Hulk's natural resistances make it a better tank against Angels and it will have a hard time against Sanshas. Be careful before you unload the crying wagon in my inbox !

Dominix

The mother of all that is ugly and good. Cheap and extremely efficient, it was my favorite ship until I got into Exhumers and destroyed every belt in ASCN space (yes that was me, not a cookie dough holocaust, me).

Hi-
6x Miners II

Med-
5x Eutectic Cap Rechargers

Low-
2x Accodomation Large Armor Repairers
2x Capacitor Power Relays
2x Microcell Nanite Explosive Hardener
1x Microcell Nanite Kinetic Hardener

Flip the switch, let the tank run and mine like a rat on a cheese quest chased by a squad of hungry cats. Make sure to wave bye-bye at the rats as they can't even break your tank.

Be careful of Angels Cherubims and Saints as they do nasty thermal damage, and if you're tanking something other than angels, switch hardeners accordingly. Also, you might need cap skills at IV for this to hold, although I can't be certain. I mined so much in my two dominix, the 60s cycle made me crazy, but it did my fortune as a n00b.

Apocalypse

Hi-
8x Miners II

Med-
4x Eutectip Cap Recharger

Low-
2x CPU2
2x Cap Power Relays
1x Accodomation Power Relaya
1x Microcell Nanite Explosive Hardener
1x Microcell Nanite Kinetic Hardener

Although the Apoc holds 2 extra miners II, it can't fit them without CPU, therefore cutting on its tanking capabilities (and severly too). Don't even think about tanking a BS spawn with this setup, a cruiser spawn will work however and you will outmine the Domi a lot. If you want to remove two miners II and replace the CPU2 by an extra LAR and hardener that's fine, but then it wont be better than the Domi and it's more expansive to lose to pirates...

Osprey and Scythe

Hi-
3x Miners II
1-2x Heavy Missile Launcher or 250mm Turret

Med-
The best tank you can fit, something like:
1x Small/Mediun Shield Booster
1x Shield Boost Amplifier
1-2x Hardeners

Low-
3x Mining Upgrades

Now don't even think about tanking a spawn in 0.5 space and under. Have 5 drones in your drone bay to dispose of the rats, not tank them. Mining cruisers are good miners, not tankers. I haven't played with an Opsrey for months so you might have toplay with it a little to make it fit. Replace mining upgrades with CPU2 until it can fit (and train Electronic 5).

 

Retriever and Covetor

Hi-
Strips

Med-
Whatever

Low-
1x Mining upgrade 1x whatever

Barges are made of cheap business depot thin paper. With drones it'll hold against small rats, but under 0.5 forget about tanking.

12- Summary ]

The point of this thread was to explain how the mining system works so you can all better understand. Use the equations and modify them to reflect your own needs.

Summarizing the mathematical figures:

• A retriever with rough skills will mine 565 ore/minute
• A covetor with good skills will mine 1188 ore/minute
• A uber miner in a Hulk will 1732 ore/minute alone without any tank.

In ISK, again, using Bistot (9000pu):

• A retriever will mine about 30mil per hour
• A covetor with good skills will mine about 64mil per hour
• A uber miner in a Hulk will mine about 93mil per hour.

Remember the drones ?
T2 Drones: 15 extra bistot per minute (3 per drone), or 900 per hour, is an extra 8.1mil per hour.

Harvester Drones: 20 extra bistot per minute (4 per drone), or 1200 per hour, is an extra 10.8mil per hour.

We’re talking a lot of ISK here, especially for very little work (transfer ore in can) and attention to local for any incomings. A Hulk is the bomb, the uber godsend for miners. If you have two accounts, you can now use the 2nd one to haul as your Hulk tanks , making it much more productive. Three accounts is even better, where the Hulk tanks, the 2nd haul and the 3rd either rats or has a BC idling in the system with a Link. It’s a lot of ISK investment, but if you’re serious about mining, you’ll make it back in no time, and you’ll become a billionaire soon enough.

13- Conclusion]

This thread was intended to explain the mining system better, how the bonuses work, the possibilities if you’re serious about going in this branch of EvE and how to weight the positives or negatives. It wasn’t meant to tell you what to do, it was written to help you make a better decision.

Remember that mining can be boring, but in groups on a TS server with PowerDVD in the corner playing a good movie makes it all go away. This guide showed you how to max your productivity solo, but in groups, it’s even better, especially since RMR with the Foreman skill and the Link/Mining Director combo. Remember that!

I welcome any criticism or corrections. It took me a while to write it, so I might have missed mathematical mistakes. Feel free to donate ISK, or reply with comments, all is appreciated.

Fly safe and happy mining !

---

Converted from Guides
Created:	2006-06-22 11:20:54
Last Changed:	2006-11-17 15:17:38
Author:	Halada
Category:	Mining
Last Edited	1102892
Score:	5.00
Note:	None
Guide ID:	626
Last Changed:	Unknown

EVE Online Wikibase™