User:Antei thantonne

Mining Doctrine: Mining Under Threat ("Procs on Rocks")

Mining vessels are vulnerable to combat ships, and so Unistas sometimes hesitate to mine with their UNI characters during wartime, or in low- or null-sec space. To be sure, mining barges and exhumers are slow to warp, have less capacitor than other ships, have little room for weapons, and spend most of their time at asteroid belts that WTs can directly warp to. But this doesn't mean that it's unsafe to mine! Unistas can mine productively under threat, especially in an Orca-boosted Shared-Can op. The purpose of this page is to propose a fleet doctrine that provides maximum safety, and even the potential for PvP response to targets, to AMC miners in the presence of WTs or other aggressors.

The doctrine boils down to a few simple rules:

Unistas should mine in Procurers or Skiffs.

	Procurer	Retriever	Covetor	Skiff	Mackinaw	Hulk
Relative Mining Efficiency*	81%	88%	100%	97%	106%	122%
Effective Hit Points**	60,000	14,000	11,000	67,000	30,000	23,000
Price (isk)***	16,000,000	26,500,000	30,000,000	124,000,000	179,000,000	217,000,000
Base Time to Warp (s)	13.9	18.3	24.7	13.9	18.3	24.7

Updated for Kronos.
∗Relative to the Covetor (100%) assuming max skills and optimal fittings for mining. Your results may vary.
∗∗EFT calculation, using Tech I modules and intermediate fitting skills. Again, your results may vary.
∗∗∗Jita/Amarr best price as of 3/29/2014.

As the table above shows, the Procurer has better tank and time-to-warp than other barges, at a lower hull replacement cost. WT scouts have, in the past, ignored Procurers in favor of targeting Retrievers or Covetors mining elsewhere in Sierra. Procurers can fit a Damage Control unit in a low slot, and shield hardeners in mids, and still have enough room for a Survey Scanner and Mining Laser Upgrade to help with mining. For example:

AMC Wartime Shared-Can

Procurer: AMC Wartime Shared-Can

EFT

[Procurer, AMC Wartime Shared-Can]
Strip Miner I

Limited Adaptive Invulnerability Field I
Limited Adaptive Invulnerability Field I
Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Survey Scanner I

F85 Peripheral Damage System I
Mining Laser Upgrade I

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

Hornet EC-300 x3
Hobgoblin I x1
Salvage Drone I x1

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

RUBI 1.3

ALPHA CAN USE

UNSET

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• I have fit this with T1 modules; upgrade to T2 wherever possible.
• The Mining Laser Upgrade and Survey Scanner can be replaced with other agility, shield or cap mods. However, the Survey Scanner will increase your mining yield significantly by avoiding excess cycle time, and additional low-slot defensive mods won't help that much.
• EC-300 drones are included to break the target lock on the opponents' initial tackler; these drones can be assigned to the control of whichever Procurer is being tackled. (They cannot be assigned to an OOC miner; this will tag that miner suspect.) If you don't have the skills to fly ECM drones, replace these with Hobgoblins.
• If you think you might like to "trap" an aggressor while the rest of the fleet re-ships into PvP response vessels, you might replace one of the Invulnerability Field modules with a Warp Disruptor or Scrambler.

If you don't have a Procurer at the time of the op, ask the Fleet Commander--the FC might have extras, or you might be able to contract one from the AMC ship hangar.
The only downside of the Procurer is its relatively low mining yield. The Skiff is even tankier than the Procurer, and gets mining yield bonuses that make it about as efficient as a Covetor. Even though the replacement cost looks prohibitive, it is extremely difficult for a solo or small group of pirates to take down a Skiff.
Out-of-corp alts can mine in any ship when part of a high-sec AMC fleet.

Orca and Hauler support should be provided by out-of-corp characters.

Orcas and haulers are the most expensive, slowest ships in the fleet. They shouldn't be flown by Unistas.
For high-sec ops, where the Orca will join miners in-belt, the Orca pilot should make sure to "Enable access to fleet members" for both the Ship Maintenance Bay and the Fleet Hangar in the Inventory window. The Orca should also carry a few shuttles in the Ship Maintenance Bay. That way, Unistas can trade their mining vessels for shuttles if they are targeted by enemies. In low-sec ops, the Orca should be posted within the docking range of a station if possible, or within 1 km of a gate leading to a high-sec system. Station and gate guns will help deter aggression from anyone other than a WT, and even WTs shouldn't be able to take down an Orca before it docks at station.

Unistas should have combat ships—including tackle, EWAR, and/or damage-dealers—in system.

Many of our wartime opponents specialize in high-sec PvP using gate and station mechanics, minimizing their risk by always being able to jump away or dock up. Having WTs aggress us in an asteroid belt represents a unique opportunity for us to kill them, without them being able to play gate and station games.

To do this, Unista fleet members will need to have a few different ships at their disposal:

Fast tackle

Two Unista fleet members should keep fast-tackling frigates in the Ship Maintenance Bay of the Orca, so that they can