It's an hour or so after logging on to Kronos following its release during today's downtime and life is good.
My Hulks have (with perfect Orca boosts and Exhumers 5) a range of 32km and cycle in 82.8 seconds. My Survey Scanner II has a range of 38km (also new: the Survey Scan Results window shows a targeting icon next to the asteroids you've targeted, which for the Hulk can now be seven, though the icon isn't always showing up in a timely manner). The T2 crystals are 10 m3, so 35 will now fit in the Hulk's cargohold, which is handy, though were always accessible from the Orca.
The Charon of course was a bit of a shock after log on - cargo capacity was down to less than 600K, but now with three Expanded Cargohold IIs it's at 1,156,550.
If my little fleet was a belt buster before, it's now on turbo. Have mined out three belts so far, belts in a system for which I didn't have belt bookmarks - and I didn't need them. Warp to the default belt warp-in and everything's in reach once the boosts are up. Send in one miner, confirm the belt is still ripe, then fleet warp the crew.
Sweet, sweet Kronos - a Titan indeed.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
Eve Online Mining: Another look at Kronos and Crius
I run my own little mining fleet of six toons - no bots, no ISBoxer and certainly not an AFK or even AFKish effort. And I enjoy the process. Immensely. That's important to bear in mind. I don't mine this way strictly for the ISK - technically I could possibly make more ISK per hour doing other things in Eve. I do what I do the way I do it because the process yields enjoyable game time.
Spent a year mining in a single highsec system (.7). Had a POS and perfect refine station standings. Life was good. A little far from the trade hub so that hauling minerals was bit of a chore, but I'm probably spoiled and lazy. Used the POS to research BPOs, invent, and park the Orca when I was running Mackinaws and didn't need it on the field. Also used the POS for the Macks to dump the ore instead of doing so in the station - it's a bit quicker that way.
Spent a year mining in a single highsec system (.7). Had a POS and perfect refine station standings. Life was good. A little far from the trade hub so that hauling minerals was bit of a chore, but I'm probably spoiled and lazy. Used the POS to research BPOs, invent, and park the Orca when I was running Mackinaws and didn't need it on the field. Also used the POS for the Macks to dump the ore instead of doing so in the station - it's a bit quicker that way.
Over the last few months I have switched to Hulks and .8 and .9 systems getting ready for Kronos and Crius. Kronos will have the net affect of boosting the Hulk's yield by 11%. The Orca Mining Field Laser Enhancement gang link is going to apply to the Survey Scanner, so it will have longer range. You can read about these buffs here (and certainly should - the whole thread is worth a read as various players discuss their mining experience): [Kronos] Mining Barges and Exhumers. Basically, this means that my Hulks can hit a belt and reach all the asteroids from one spot and clean the ores I'm after quicker. While already good, my little belt-busting-fleet will be even more efficient.
Hulks, however, are notorious targets for gankers. This is especially true in .5-.7 systems, though no Hulk pilot should ever feel safe in highsec. No matter how much effort you devote to tanking your Hulk, their cost is so high that it will still tempt gankers to take them out even in .8 - 1.0 systems, though it's less common. There are enough Mackinaws and Hulks in .5-.7 that it's a bit on the rare side for gankers to hunt in higher security space, but again, make no assumptions.
Miners tend to be creatures of habit - same belts same system day after day. This is not a good thing in Eve. Your opponents, those who would like to gank your Exhumer can be extremely tenacious when it comes to scouting and stalking. While Kronos will make Hulks more efficient, Crius will deliver another benefit that will greatly aid my kind of highsec mining - mobility. Nomad mining. No longer will I be tied to certain systems because that's where I have perfect refine standings - I will be able to refine in a POS in any security status system except for the short list of restricted systems. And I can throw up a small POS in 15 minutes when it's time to refine or compress.
If you're a serious miner you should have your eyes on this Dev post: Reprocess all the things! and the at-the-moment 104-page comment post to it: Reprocess all the things! comments.
It boils down to this - refining in highsec isn't being nerfed, but it's being changed and it will work hand-in-hand with the abolition of the current faction standings requirements and current inability to anchor a POS in 1.0 - .8 systems. You will be able to have a refining array to refine in your highsec POS, or a compessing array to compress. You will still be able to refine in station, but at the moment it seems there will be a slight benefit to yield from refining in a POS.
These changes won't take effect until the July 22, 2014, release of Crius, at the earliest so it's best to keep an eye on the above posts in case of further developments.
You should also understand that these changes don't mean you no longer need skills to refine if you refine in a POS, nor do they mean that you will no longer be able to refine in stations. In fact, the skill requirements will increase and you will need both higher skills and the Zainou 'Beancounter' Refining RX-804 to maximize your refining yields. Over the last couple of months in fact, I've done more grinding to get good NPC standings with a variety of corps because the prevalence of war decs in highsec will make station refining handy from time-to-time. You must be in a player corp to anchor a POS, which means you are subject to war decs even if only one of your toons is in that corp - and you can anticipate more POS bashers on the horizon.
Overall, very happy with the upcoming Kronos and Crius updates as my crew will be able to be much more mobile. Another benefit of this sort of mobility is spending time in systems that are good for both mining and mission running - especially systems that offer level 4 mining missions, have a decent number of asteroid belts and the right security status for Hulks.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Eve Online Mining: Small fleet mining step-by-step
A look at the typical who, what, when, where and how of a highsec small-fleet mining op in Eve Online.
Where to mine
Where we conduct our mining op depends on several factors:
What do we want to mine;
What sec status level we are willing to risk;
Where we are going to refine;
Where we are going to sell the minerals/manufacture from the minerals;
What's convenient for those participating.
If I'm running a Tank Fleet of Procurers, meaning I'll mine in .5 - .7, I prefer Amarr space as the belts will have Kernite, and with Scordite and Pyroxeres, I'll have five of the seven basic building minerals. In .8 - 1.0, the Faction space doesn't much matter.
As to refining, post-Crius this will be simple - I'll keep a small POS and a refining array in the Orca and refine wherever. Until then, I'll keep refining in those stations where I have perfect refine standings.
What to mine
The type of ore you can mine in a system varies according to the Faction in control of a region and the security status of a system. You can find a detailed location breakdown and a guide to what minerals different ores yield here:
Information about ores and minerals
If you want an idea of the current value of different ores, you can get that here:
Cerlestes.de Ore Table
Generally speaking, Pyroxeres and Scordite are fine for highsec mining, meaning you do not need to mine in security systems lower than .8, which in turn means you can field a Yield Fleet that sacrifices some tank for greater yield. However, the asteroids in lower security space tend to be larger, which is a good thing for miners. In the end, you have to weigh the balance between yield and risk.
When to mine
The prime time to mine is immediately after downtime on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Avoid Monday and Friday after downtime as the spawns on these days result in asteroids smaller than the other days - substantially smaller. As a result, the absolutely worst time to mine is immediately prior to downtime on Tuesdays and Saturdays - still small asteroids but by now the belts have been worked by miners who don't care that they're smaller. To adjust for the smaller spawns on Monday and Friday, I spend some extra time on those two days mining before downtime and after downtime do something else instead of mining the belts.
How to mine (Edited on June 12, 2014, in light of Kronos)
[EDIT: What follows below was posted just prior to the release of Kronos. I should have waited. Kronos was a major buff to the Yield (Hulk)/Fleet. The only bookmarks I need now are a safe spot rally point and I make one for the station I use (I have a folder with these for the various systems I mine and keep that folder open). The new range of the Hulk's Strip Miners (32km) coupled with the new range of the Survey Scanner II (38km) makes being picky about the warp-in unnecessary - if you're maxed, you'll have access to the entire highsec belt from the defaul warp-in point. While I used to mine primarily from various Overview profiles, I can easily do it now from the Survey Scanner results. I'll leave the material below as it was presented for folks who might not be maxed yet and still have a range handicap.]
Do your homework. Pick a system or a couple of systems that fit with the decisions you've made with respect to the topics above, and before the op create a set of bookmarks for each system - at least one safe spot rally point and one prime mining point per belt.
What is a prime mining point? Asteroid belts are essentially horseshoe shaped. If your fleet is boosted by a well skilled Orca pilot with T2 Mining Foreman links and the mining mindlink, your strip miners will have a range of 25 kilometers. If you position your miners roughly in the middle of the belt, you should be able to reach both the left and right extremes of the horseshoe, as I've tried to demonstrate in the image below.
So, to create a belt bookmark I warp to the belt, usually in a Cheetah, and jockey the ship until I can tell that all of the ore is within 25 kilometers of my ship. This may not always be possible as some horseshoes are too large, but you want to get as many asteroids into the 25 kilometer range as possible. Most belts will comply. Those that won't, you'll have to decide if it's worth the fleet's time to chase those final asteroids down after you've mined the bulk of the belt. Mobile Tractor Units have made it much easier for Yield Fleets of Hulks to spread out at the final stages of mining a belt and get those harder to reach asteroids, which might be divided on the left and right edges of the horseshoe, jet can the ore, then have the Orca pull it in using a MTU.
If you've seen the screenshots I posted previously, you'll see that the UI windows I use leave very little space view. If you need a quick view of space you have two choices: CTRL-F9 will completely clear your UI or, as I prefer and did to take the screenshot above, simply hit TAB and all your windows will collapse. Hit TAB again and they'll expand to their prior state.
Hauling
I prefer to haul in a very easy manner - with a freighter on the field (I use a Charon). Miners transfer their ore to the Orca's Fleet Hangar and the ore is then transferred from the Orca's Fleet Hangar to the freighter. All just drag and drop with no jet cans. There are altervatives, such as using a second Orca to haul, which has many advantages, such as the ability to use more boosting modules or a tractor unit, they tank better than a freighter and cost less. Downside is they hold less ore than the freighter so you end up warping to station or POS more often.
Another alternative is use a Miasmos, the Gallente ore hauler, instead of a freighter or a second Orca. Much more warping, but the price is right. Some folks just use the single boosting field Orca and warp to station or POS when all holds are full. This isn't a bad solution, but when you position your fleet like I do they tend to be more than 15 kilometers from the asteroids, which means when the Orca is in warp and boosts are down, they won't be pulling ore. By the way, if you're seriously into mining drones, this range from the asteroids that I prefer is also a detriment, making mining drones basically unfeasible due to your distance from the asteroids.
Where to mine
Where we conduct our mining op depends on several factors:
What do we want to mine;
What sec status level we are willing to risk;
Where we are going to refine;
Where we are going to sell the minerals/manufacture from the minerals;
What's convenient for those participating.
If I'm running a Tank Fleet of Procurers, meaning I'll mine in .5 - .7, I prefer Amarr space as the belts will have Kernite, and with Scordite and Pyroxeres, I'll have five of the seven basic building minerals. In .8 - 1.0, the Faction space doesn't much matter.
As to refining, post-Crius this will be simple - I'll keep a small POS and a refining array in the Orca and refine wherever. Until then, I'll keep refining in those stations where I have perfect refine standings.
What to mine
The type of ore you can mine in a system varies according to the Faction in control of a region and the security status of a system. You can find a detailed location breakdown and a guide to what minerals different ores yield here:
Information about ores and minerals
If you want an idea of the current value of different ores, you can get that here:
Cerlestes.de Ore Table
Generally speaking, Pyroxeres and Scordite are fine for highsec mining, meaning you do not need to mine in security systems lower than .8, which in turn means you can field a Yield Fleet that sacrifices some tank for greater yield. However, the asteroids in lower security space tend to be larger, which is a good thing for miners. In the end, you have to weigh the balance between yield and risk.
When to mine
The prime time to mine is immediately after downtime on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Avoid Monday and Friday after downtime as the spawns on these days result in asteroids smaller than the other days - substantially smaller. As a result, the absolutely worst time to mine is immediately prior to downtime on Tuesdays and Saturdays - still small asteroids but by now the belts have been worked by miners who don't care that they're smaller. To adjust for the smaller spawns on Monday and Friday, I spend some extra time on those two days mining before downtime and after downtime do something else instead of mining the belts.
How to mine (Edited on June 12, 2014, in light of Kronos)
[EDIT: What follows below was posted just prior to the release of Kronos. I should have waited. Kronos was a major buff to the Yield (Hulk)/Fleet. The only bookmarks I need now are a safe spot rally point and I make one for the station I use (I have a folder with these for the various systems I mine and keep that folder open). The new range of the Hulk's Strip Miners (32km) coupled with the new range of the Survey Scanner II (38km) makes being picky about the warp-in unnecessary - if you're maxed, you'll have access to the entire highsec belt from the defaul warp-in point. While I used to mine primarily from various Overview profiles, I can easily do it now from the Survey Scanner results. I'll leave the material below as it was presented for folks who might not be maxed yet and still have a range handicap.]
* * *
Do your homework. Pick a system or a couple of systems that fit with the decisions you've made with respect to the topics above, and before the op create a set of bookmarks for each system - at least one safe spot rally point and one prime mining point per belt.
What is a prime mining point? Asteroid belts are essentially horseshoe shaped. If your fleet is boosted by a well skilled Orca pilot with T2 Mining Foreman links and the mining mindlink, your strip miners will have a range of 25 kilometers. If you position your miners roughly in the middle of the belt, you should be able to reach both the left and right extremes of the horseshoe, as I've tried to demonstrate in the image below.
So, to create a belt bookmark I warp to the belt, usually in a Cheetah, and jockey the ship until I can tell that all of the ore is within 25 kilometers of my ship. This may not always be possible as some horseshoes are too large, but you want to get as many asteroids into the 25 kilometer range as possible. Most belts will comply. Those that won't, you'll have to decide if it's worth the fleet's time to chase those final asteroids down after you've mined the bulk of the belt. Mobile Tractor Units have made it much easier for Yield Fleets of Hulks to spread out at the final stages of mining a belt and get those harder to reach asteroids, which might be divided on the left and right edges of the horseshoe, jet can the ore, then have the Orca pull it in using a MTU.
If you've seen the screenshots I posted previously, you'll see that the UI windows I use leave very little space view. If you need a quick view of space you have two choices: CTRL-F9 will completely clear your UI or, as I prefer and did to take the screenshot above, simply hit TAB and all your windows will collapse. Hit TAB again and they'll expand to their prior state.
Hauling
I prefer to haul in a very easy manner - with a freighter on the field (I use a Charon). Miners transfer their ore to the Orca's Fleet Hangar and the ore is then transferred from the Orca's Fleet Hangar to the freighter. All just drag and drop with no jet cans. There are altervatives, such as using a second Orca to haul, which has many advantages, such as the ability to use more boosting modules or a tractor unit, they tank better than a freighter and cost less. Downside is they hold less ore than the freighter so you end up warping to station or POS more often.
Another alternative is use a Miasmos, the Gallente ore hauler, instead of a freighter or a second Orca. Much more warping, but the price is right. Some folks just use the single boosting field Orca and warp to station or POS when all holds are full. This isn't a bad solution, but when you position your fleet like I do they tend to be more than 15 kilometers from the asteroids, which means when the Orca is in warp and boosts are down, they won't be pulling ore. By the way, if you're seriously into mining drones, this range from the asteroids that I prefer is also a detriment, making mining drones basically unfeasible due to your distance from the asteroids.
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