Mining Ships

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The Mining Ships page is intended to provide details on all ships that have been given a role bonus to mining. For information and instruction regarding mining in general, please refer to the basics of mining.

Generally, any ship with turret slots can function as a mining ship. As a matter of fact certain ships, notably the Caldari Rokh, are able to function fairly well as mining vessels due to their sizable CPU output. However for this guide only those which have been given a mining bonus will be covered. You can find a ship's mining bonuses listed under the Description tab in that ship's Show Info screen.

Frigates

Most aspiring miners will begin their career in a frigate class mining vessel. The advantages of a frigate are a low cost and low skill requirement making them perfectly suited to new players who would like to try their hand at mining. With modest skills a pilot will be able to fit two Miner II despite their relatively high CPU requirements. A major drawback to frigates is their low cargo hold capacity even with the ship bonus. Many miners counter this by using the jet can mining technique detailed in the following guides: Jet Can Mining, Combo Jet Can Mining and GSC Mining. Another major drawback to frigates is their almost negligible tanking ability against rats, especially when they are fully fitted for optimal mining yield. As such, it is recommended that frigate pilots mine in 1.0-0.9 high security space.

Bonuses:

• 5% bonus to cargo capacity per skill level
• 20% bonus to mining laser yield per skill level
• -60% mining laser capacitor use

Ships:

• Amarr: Tormentor
• Caldari: Bantam
• Gallente: Navitas
• Minmatar Burst

Cruisers

When ready to move up from mining frigates the next step could be a mining cruiser. Each of these ships comes with a mining bonus either to their lasers or drone yield. While the Amarr and Gallente ships get a bonus to mining drone yield this is offset by the small cargo capacity and travel time penalty of using mining drones. The Caldari and Minmatar mining cruisers are a better choice over all, but require Electronics V and a Co-Processor I or two to fit an array of Miner II lasers.

Amarr: Arbitrator

• 10% bonus to drone mining yield per skill level
• 345m3 cargo
• 150m3 drone capacity - 50 Mbit/sec

Caldari: Osprey

• 20% bonus to mining laser yield per skill level
• 485m3 cargo
• 20m3 drone capacity - 20 Mbit/sec

Gallente: Vexor

• 10% bonus to drone mining yield per skill level
• 480m3 cargo
• 100m3 drone capacity - 75 Mbit/sec

Minmatar: Scythe

• 20% bonus to mining laser yield per skill level
• 440m3 cargo
• 5m3 drone capacity - 5 Mbit/sec

Mining Barges

Mining Barges are the next step in mining ships. Able to fit Strip Miner modules and having larger cargo bays, these ships make ore management much easier and more rewarding. Mining Barges have a 3% bonus to Strip Miner output per Mining Barge skill level.

Mining Barges and Exhumers are created by ORE and don't have racial variations, although they count as Gallente for manufacturing purposes based on ORE's Gallentean origins.

The Procurer

The Procurer is the smallest of a ship class designed by the ORE Syndicate to facilitate the advancement of the mining profession to a new level. Mining barges are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. Coupled with a sizeable cargo hold, this makes them extremely efficient ore extraction vessels.

By the time you have the skills to use this low level mining barge, you might as well just invest the extra few hours and get a Retriever. You'll be able to get a much higher yield as well as better cargo space. A Procurer can sometimes be useful if you decide to skip training for cruisers or are clamouring for 3min laser cycles, but they are definitely rare, and for good reason.

The Procurer has a tank comparable to a mining frigate, although it can be fitted with a medium shield extender with moderate skills.

Skill Requirements

• Mining Barge I
  • Industry V
  • Astrogeology III
    • Science IV
    • Mining IV

Fitting:

• High Slots: 1
• Medium Slots: 1
• Low Slots: 2
• Base Cargo: 1000 m3

Retriever

The Retriever is the medium-sized version of a ship class designed by the ORE Syndicate to facilitate the advancement of the mining profession to a new level. Mining barges are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. Coupled with a sizeable cargo hold and a godly drone bay, this makes them extremely efficient ore extraction vessels.

The Retriever has a very respectable 2000m3 cargo bay, which is significantly more then the mining frigate or cruiser that you have been using so far. It may not be the size of an industrial ship, but then the industrial doesn't exactly having the mining capability either. And don't forget that with two low slots, you can use 2 Cargo Expander IIs to boost that cargo hold by 63%.

The Retriever has a tank comparable to a mining cruiser.

Skill Requirements
Procurer plus:

• Mining Barge III

Fitting:

• High Slots: 2
• Medium Slots: 1
• Low Slots: 2
• Base Cargo: 2000 m3

Covetor

The Covetor is the largest craft in a ship class designed by the ORE Syndicate to facilitate the advancement of the mining profession to a new level. Mining barges are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. Coupled with a sizable cargo hold and a goodly drone bay, this makes them extremely efficient ore extraction vessels.

Many pilots will recommend skipping the Covetor for the Hulk. Yes, the Hulk is less then a day of skill training away after you have the skills for a Covetor. However, you have to take into account that the Covetor is in the price range of 20 million ISK, where as the Hulk is in the 150-180 million ISK region. If you have that sort of ISK lying around then by all means, forget about the Covetor and head to Exhumers, otherwise this is a large upgrade from the Retriever.

Skill Requirements
Retriever plus:

• Mining Barge V

Fitting:

• High Slots: 3
• Medium Slots: 1
• Low Slots: 2
• Base Cargo: 4000 m3

Exhumers

Exhumers are the final 'tier' of direct mining ships. Although the Exhumers are classed as T2 versions of each of the mining barges, each ship is specialized for a particular task rather than having a progression like mining barges. Exhumers have a 3% bonus to Strip Miner output and a 7.5% bonus to shield resistances for each level of Mining Barge. Between the shield resist bonus and four midslots, all Exhumers can fit a good shield tank.

Exhumers require the skills to fly a Covetor, plus the Exhumers skill.

Skiff

The Skiff is the smallest of the second generation of mining vessels created by the ORE Syndicate. Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. They are also far more resilient, better able to handle the dangers of deep space. Skiffs are speciality vessels, designed to mine Mercoxit.

The Skiff is the smallest of the mining Exhumers and only requires Exhumer I to fly. It has been designed to fly in 0.0 space and mine the Mercoxit that can only naturally be found there.

Exhumers Skill Bonus
60% bonus to Mercoxit Mining Crystal yield multiplier per level
20% reduced chance of Mercoxit gas cloud forming per level

Role Bonus
The skiff is the only mining ship with a +2 to warp strength bonus, which makes it harder for unfriendly pilots to stop you warping away.

Fitting:

• High Slots: 1
• Medium Slots: 4
• Low Slots: 2
• Base Cargo: 4500 m3

Mackinaw

The Mackinaw is the medium-sized version of the second generation of mining vessels created by the ORE Syndicate. Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. They are also far more resilient, better able to handle the dangers of deep space. The Mackinaw is a speciality vessel, ideally suited for ice mining.

The Mackinaw is the second Exhumer and requires Exhumer II to fly. It has been designed to specifically mine ice asteroids. The role bonus means that as you complete a mining cycle, you will receive two pieces of ice instead of one, but will the cycle time will take 25% longer. The Exhumers skill bonus reduces this penalty.

Exhumers Skill Bonus
5% reduction in Ice Harvester duration per level.

Role Bonus
100% bonus Ice Harvester yield but 25% penalty to ice harvester duration

Fitting:

• High Slots: 2
• Medium Slots: 4
• Low Slots: 2
• Base Cargo: 6000 m3

Hulk

The Hulk is the largest craft in the second generation of mining vessels created by the ORE Syndicate. Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. They are also far more resilient, better able to handle the dangers of deep space. The Hulk is, bar none, the most efficient mining vessel available.

The Hulk is the largest of the mining exhumers (requiring Exhumer III to fly) and is arguably the best mining ship a new player can get. (If you want an interesting conversation just ask in the industry chat about using capital ships for mining!) With 3 strip miners, a large 8000m3 cargo bay and a large enough drone bay to store 5 light drones as well as 5 mining drones, the Hulk is an amazing piece of machinery that is designed for maximum mining yield.

Exhumers Skill Bonus
3% additional better yield for Strip Miners per level
3% reduction in Ice Harvester duration per level

Fitting:

• High Slots: 3
• Medium Slots: 4
• Low Slots: 2
• Base Cargo: 8000 m3

Support Ships

Support ships are ships commonly found in mining fleets that do not directly mine asteroids.

Industrials

T1 Industrials are the most common hauling ship. While weak, they are generally fitted for maximum cargo capacity since they only make short journeys to nearby stations; the biggest threat should be a few rats. A tractor beam is a common addition since industrials will spend most of their time taking cans from the mining ships or an Orca, and a salvager or survey scanner can be added if these modules are not present on other ships. Note regarding industrials: New players often make the mistake of assuming that industrial vessels are ideal for mining due to their large cargo bay; however, industrials lack adequate turret slots and the absence of mining bonuses makes them extremely inefficient as mining vessels.

Orca

The Orca is a specialized mining command ship, able to provide multiple mining links to fellow miners and/or act as a hauler. While an Orca theoretically needs to boost a squad of several miners in order to replace an additional mining ship, the added convenience and utility it provides often outweigh the throughput downsides.

Rorqual

The Rorqual is a capital version of the Orca, and is generally only seen in nullsec. As well as fielding similar bonuses to the Orca, it can carry a mining fleet to their destination and compress ore to make it easier to haul. Often, though, the Rorqual is seen as too risky to deploy in an asteroid belt and is set up within a POS shield instead; miners still get the bonuses and ore compression, and most pilots see this as a worthwhile tradeoff.

Top Cover

Top Cover refers to combat pilots guarding a mining fleet in a belt. The lower the security level in which the op is located and the fewer miners involved, the more desirable having a dedicated combat pilot positioned in overwatch becomes. In hisec, a few combat drones between the mining ships may be all that is needed. In 0.4 space, a destroyer that can tractor and salvage the wrecks is a welcome addition. In 0.0, a cloaked Raven provides enhanced security against both NPCs and hostiles. An Orca's ship hangar may hold a couple of combat ships for pilots to use when the need arises.

The responsibility of the top cover is to engage any threat to the op and either destroy it or provide the op an opportunity to escape. Often, the top cover pilots also loot and salvage since they have more freedom of movement than the other members of the team.