Hauling
Related class: Hauling 101
Hauling Craft
This gives a rundown of the strengths and weaknesses of each type of hauling craft.
T1 Industrials
Primary use: Cargo with large volume, but low value.
T1 industrials all have a large cargo capacity but weak tank and low agility. They are cheap but they die very easily. This makes them useful for hauling large volumes with a low ISK value around in highsec, but unsuitable for lowsec or nullsec or for carrying high value cargo which will attract suicide gankers. For fitting, industrials tend to have base powergrid around the level of destroyers and quite high amounts of CPU, which is mostly used by a shield tank.
Each race has its own industrials, which require their racial Industrial skill -- for example, Spaceship Command Amarr Industrial. These skills cannot be trained on a trial account and each racial skill is the prerequisite for the racial freighter skill. All Tech 1 industrials get 5% bonuses to maximum velocity and cargo capacity per level.
The four races do not all have the same number of Tech 1 industrials, and which race's industrials will offer the highest cargo capacity depends on the amount of training time you are prepared to invest.
Amarr
If you're only willing to train one to three levels of an industrial skill, the Bestower will offer you the best cargo capacity, making it good for a quick hauling alt.
Caldari
The Badger II can fit the best tank, with 6 midslots.
Minmatar
If you're only willing to train four levels of an industrial skill the Mammoth will offer you the best cargo capacity.
Gallente
If you're willing to train all five levels of an industrial skill, the Iteron Mark V will offer you the best cargo capacity.
* - Can be gained free from the Industry career tutorials
Blockade Runners (T2 Industrial)
Primary use: Relatively small and/or very expensive cargo.
Both types of Tech 2 industrial require the Transport Ships skill, and both have abilities which make them better at surviving trips to lawless space. Both also have the same two 5% per level bonuses to speed and capacity for their racial industrial skill that the Tech 1 industrials have (and you need all five levels of the racial industrial skill to fly them in the first place). Naturally, they also cost a lot.
Blockade runners align much faster than their Tech 1 equivalents, have a (fairly useless) bonus for some form of active tanking (shield boosting or armor repairing), and, most importantly, a bonus that lets them fit covert ops cloaking devices (and hence warp while cloaked). This means that even in nullsec the only dangerous moments for a properly-fitted and -flown blockade runner should be when it has to pass through stargates. The trade-off is that blockade runners carry less cargo than their Tech 1 equivalents.
Blockade runners are also one of the few classes of ship able to use the covert jump bridges opened by black ops battleships.
The Gallente Viator and Amarr Prorator are the best in this category. The reason for this is that Blockade Runners can warp cloaked, and as such should never be target locked, so tank doesn't matter (as much), but cargo space does. These two can reach above 10k m3 space with a full rack of T2 cargo expanders and T1 cargo rigs. With 10k space, you can safely carry a cruiser, so you can move expensive recons, HACs, Logistics ships, HICs and T3 ships around safely. The Caldari Crane can do the same, but it requires T2 rigs to pull it off at about 90m ISK each, and the Minmatar Prowler can't do it at all. The Prowler, on the other hand, does have two high slots which allows a combo of a cloak and a probe launcher (Possibly useful in wormhole operations) or something else you may want, but for hauling, it's not particularly recommended.
Deep Space Transport (T2 Industrial)
Primary use: Large, moderately valued cargo.
Unlike blockade runners, deep space transports have a larger capacity than their Tech 1 equivalents. They have the same bonuses to active tanking that blockade runners have, but instead of the bonus that lets blockade runners fit a covert ops cloak, they have a bonus to either raw shield hitpoints or raw armor hitpoints, helping them to fit substantial buffer tanks.
They also have a role bonus of +2 warp strength: this means they can't be tackled by just one warp disruptor or warp scrambler, though they can still be caught by bubbles, gangs of tacklers or HICs.
Where blockade runners are meant to rely on speed and stealth to slip by the enemy, deep space transports are designed to bust their way through the enemy, relying on their warp strength and tanking abilities to escape. This probably won't work against a determined and well-prepared gatecamp, and using a deep space transport indicates to all and sundry that you have cargo you want to protect, so you should think carefully before deploying one.
There is a split here between the races: The Gallente Occator and the Amarr Impel can pretty much match the Iteron V for cargo space, but with double the effective HP (EHP). The Caldari Bustard and Minmatar Mastodon get about 23k m3 cargo (with shield extender rigs), but with 60-65k EHP, both with the option to swap 5k cargo for 11k EHP by fitting a damage control in a low slot. Trying to match that cargo with an Occator/Impel only gets you 40k or so EHP, so it's a "cargo vs. tank" thing here. Remember, though, that if tank is important then maybe a Blockade Runner is more suited to the cargo.
Freighters
Freighters are the ultimate cargo carrying ships, with vast cargo holds. Tech 1 freighters can sometimes be spotted on New Eden's major highsec trade routes, while the Tech 2 jump freighters are used to transport cargo out to nullsec. All freighters have no high, mid, low or rig slots, so a freighter pilot's only way of enhancing their ship's performance is via hardwiring implants.
Freighters are subject to certain restrictions: they cannot jettison cargo into a can in space, and the only wrecks they can loot are the wrecks of other freighters. Assembled containers and assembled secure containers cannot be put in a freighter's cargo hold, so that pilots can't use containers to increase freighters' cargo capacity in the same way that they're used to increase the capacity of industrials.
Use Freighters for huge cargo through high sec and very short distances into low sec. These require proper support (someone to web for faster aligns, scouts, preferably some EW). Remember that the Uni provides at-cost Obelisks to Uni members.
The four Tech 1 freighters are good for carrying very large amounts of cargo in high security space. They align and warp too slowly to be safely used in lowsec or nullsec. Freighters are very tough, but they are definitely not immune to suicide ganking -- organised and prepared groups of gankers can and do kill freighters.
All four freighters get 5% bonuses to cargo capacity and velocity per level of their pilot's racial freighter skill (Amarr Freighter, Gallente Freighter and so on). Since you must train the freighter skill to at least level 1, the base capacity of the ship is only used to calculate the actual capacity.
- Amarr: Providence
- Caldari: Charon (The Charon has the highest base cargo capacity of the four freighters.)
- Gallente: Obelisk (The Obelisk has the highest base effective hitpoints of the four freighters.)
- Minmatar: Fenrir (The Fenrir has the highest base speed of the four freighters.)
Freighter Capacity
| Race (Freighter) | Base (m3) | Skill I | Skill II | Skill III | Skill IV | Skill V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amarr (Providence) | 735,000 | 771,750 | 808,500 | 845,250 | 882,000 | 918,750 |
| Caldari (Charon) | 785,000 | 824,250 | 863,500 | 902,750 | 942,000 | 981,250 |
| Gallente (Obelisk) | 750,000 | 787,500 | 825,000 | 862,500 | 900,000 | 937,500 |
| Minmatar (Fenrir) | 720,000 | 756,000 | 792,000 | 828,000 | 864,000 | 900,000 |
Jump Freighters (T2 Freighter)
The Tech 2 versions of freighters, jump freighters, have a reduced cargo capacity but are capable of using cynosural fields to jump long distances. They are also able to use stargates like normal ships. (Since cynosural fields cannot be lit in highsec, jump freighters travelling in highsec have to use stargates.) This makes them ideal supply ships for people who live in nullsec.
Jump freighters get 5% bonuses to cargo capacity and agility per level of the pilot's racial freighter skill, and 10% bonuses to shield, armor and hull hitpoints for each level the pilot has in Spaceship Command Jump Freighters. The Jump Freighters skill also gives them a 10% per level reduction in jump fuel needs.
Use Jump Freighters to carry cargo from the high/low sec border to wherever it is needed in null sec and back again. Caldari freighters are the largest, closely followed by Gallente, then Amarr and lastly Minmatar, which is partially compensated for by lower fuel use. The difference is not large though.
Orca
The Orca is probably the best anti-suicide-gank ship. It can't hold anywhere near as much as the Freighters, but the 40km3 Corp Hangar cannot be scanned with Cargo Scanners and will not drop any loot if the Orca explodes, which can hugely reduce the reward for any potential gankers. (Note: Customs agents can scan the Corp Hangar, however, so don't be tempted to use it to carry illegal items in Empire space.)
However, the Orca requires a completely different skill set to most haulers, with roughly 3-4 months of mining- and leadership-related training.
Fast Transports
There are situations where a small fast craft is better then a big lumbering beast. These include moving blueprints or other small volume, high value cargo. One option is a warpstab or nano-fit frigate with a propulsion mod to try and burn away from tacklers. However, the best option at this size is a Covert Ops Frigate, which can provide near-perfect safety if handled correctly.
Racial Comparison
Gallente have the best T1 Industrial, and are pretty much tied for first place in every other class of hauler. By comparsion, Minmatar only shine in the Blockade Runner part if you need a second high slot for some reason (not strictly hauling only). Amarr perform very well in the T2 Industrials, but are weak in the T1s and have a smaller freighter. Caldari have the largest Freighter, but need to T2 rig their Blockade Runner to reach above the "magical" 10k m3 limit, and the Iteron far outperforms the Badger.
Hauler Type Comparison
The best hauler is situational; it depends on where you are (high, low, null security space) combined with how large and valuable the cargo is. For example, using an Occator to move a cargo small enough to fit in a Viator is sub-optimal, as is using a Viator to move large amounts of Tritanium around in high sec.
Below are the optimal ships for each task, assuming that the area that you're going to/through is not a place where it's a clearly bad idea to bring such a ship type. As soon as moving through either null or low sec is required, you are strongly encouraged to switch to a Viator (Blockade Runner) or Jump Freighter.
- Small cargo of any value: Blockade Runner
- Large cargo of low value: T1 Industrial or Deep Space Transport
- Large cargo of medium value: Deep Space Transport
- Large cargo of high value: Blockade Runner. (Even if you may get the job done faster with a DST, getting it there at all is better then not getting it there due to being ganked.)
- Huge cargo below ~350k m^3: Jump Freighter (it aligns faster then a Freighter)
- Huge cargo above ~350k m^3: Jump Freighter or Freighter depending on the enviroment
Hauling Skills
Ship Flying Skills
- Warp Drive Operation: Helps with long warps. Each skill level reduces the capacitor need of initiating warp by 10%.
- Spaceship Command: Reduces align time. 2% improved ship agility for all ships per skill level.
- Advanced Spaceship Command: May reduce align time. Grants a 5% Bonus per skill level to the agility of ships requiring Advanced Spaceship Command
- Evasive Manoeuvring: Increases ship agility and acceleration. 5% improved ship agility for all ships per skill level.
Tanking Skills
Generally useful skills:
- Shield Management: 5% extra shields per level
- Shield Operation: 5% reduction in shield recharge time per level; level IV allows use of T2 shield boosters
- Shield Upgrades: 5% reduction in shield upgrade powergrid needs per level; level IV allows use of T2 shield extenders and rechargers
- <type-specific> Shield Compensation: 3% bonus per level in <type-specific> resistance for active hardeners (but only while they are NOT active!), 5% bonus per level for passive hardeners
Recommendation:
- Get Shield Management and Shield Operation at least to IV
Particularly useful modules:
- Engineering II & Tactical Shield Manipulation IV: Allows use of Adaptive Invulnerability Field II.
- Hull Upgrades IV: Allows use of T2 Damage Control. There is a trade-off with the cargo expanders typically used by haulers, however.
- Energy Grid Upgrades IV, Engineering II, and Science I: Allows use of T2 Power Diagnostic Systems. Some shield tankers prefer these over Damage Controls for the boost in shield recharge rate (that recharge will not have time to make up for the ehp loss compared to a damage control before concord arrives, even in a 0.5 with a 13 second delay, but it can be combined with a damage control).
Hauler Tanking
There are several types of tanking: buffer tanking, passive tanking and active tanking. Additionally, some buffer tanks are entirely passive (no active modules) and others include active resistances and damage control modules. The active modules must be turned on after every jump; remapping them to the F1-F8 keys makes this less inconvenient.
For high sec operation, the buffer tank is most common, as the goal is to survive the alpha strike (initial volley) of the attacking gankers and remain alive long enough for CONCORD to come and destroy the attacker(s).
T1 Industrials are typically buffer tanked.
An example buffer tank fit would include 1x EMP Shield Amp, 1x Thermal Shield Amp and 2-3x Medium Shield Extenders. One or two Adaptive Invulnerability Field IIs can also be used, but remember that requires capacitor to run and has to be restarted after every jump. A Damage Control II will also add a lot of buffer, but requires removing an Extended Cargohold II.
For hauling, passive shield tank skills are key, followed by the ability to use a Damage Control II and Adaptive Invulnerability Field II. After that, armor tanking can be considered, but that takes away cargo space quickly as you burn up low slots with armor plates/hardeners instead of Expanded Cargohold modules.
Visibly active tanking (most notably the Adaptive Invulnerability Field) might discourage ganking by the discriminating ganker, so remember to keep your active modules (if any) running at all times.
For hauling in null sec, a Microwarp Drive is key for getting out of bubbles. These are best used on a Blockade Runner that can cloak.
Avoiding Ganking
When hauling, you should remember the following guidelines to avoid being ganked:
- Don't fly AFK using the autopilot.
- Fit your hauler well & use the right ship.
- Don't haul expensive cargo in a flimsy ship.
- Know your route.
- Use insta-undock bookmarks at busy stations.
- Other tips and tricks
AFK Hauling
Flying AFK using the autopilot is the #1 way that most haulers lose their ships. When you use the autopilot to fly you to your destination, it warps you to 15km from the next gate then you slowly approach the gate at 100-200 m/s. At a minimum, this leaves you exposed for about a minute per gate and gives any potential attacker time to scan your ship, scan your cargo, then get ahead of you and setup a gank party.
If you must fly AFK, know your route and keep your cargo value very low.
Fit your hauler well & use the right ship
The more EHP that you have, the harder it is for the attacker to blow up your ship and steal your stuff. In the case of low/null security space, a WCS (warp core stabilizer) may be the difference between getting away and getting blown up.
For T1 industrial ships, you will want to fit as many medium/large shield extenders into the mid slots as possible. This should balanced with shoring up your weak EMP/Thermal resist holes using Adaptive Invulnerability Field modules or Shield Resist Amplifier modules. In cases where you need more EHP and can sacrifice cargo space, consider adding DC2 (Damage Control II) modules, reinforced bulkheads, or armor resist modules. A poorly fit T1 industrial hauler will only have 4k to 6k EHP, a well fit T1 industrial can have 10k to 20k EHP without sacrificing too much cargo space.
For orcas, the standard fit is (2) Adaptive Invulnerability Field II and (2) Large Shield Extender II, with a DC2 in the low-slot. This takes your ship from around 60-70k EHP up to about 140k EHP. The addition of a Reinforced Bulkhead II will boost that up to 220-240k EHP. A fit using shield extender rigs instead of cargo rigs tops out at around 285k EHP. With the addition of the non-scannable and non-lootable corporate hangar, these are a good choice for small volume high value hauling where you need to hide what you are hauling.
Blockade runners rely on good bookmarks, crafty use of their Covert Ops Cloak, MWD, and not fitting anything that would increase signature radius (no shield extenders). Due to their use of a covops cloak, well-flown blockade runners can be almost impossible to catch in hi-sec / lo-sec. So they are a good choice for more expensive cargo runs. But they are also very flimsy and can easily be ganked if you leave them uncloaked at a gate.
Deep Space Transports, used in high-security space, should be fit for hardiness to pack as much EHP as possible into the hull while still leaving enough room for your cargo.
Freighters and Jump Freighters cannot fit modules / rigs. They excel at bulk loads.
Expensive Cargo
In the case of a "suicide" gank, the goal of the attacker is to trade their ship for your cargo. They do this by knowing how much ISK they will lose when their ship gets blown up by CONCORD and how much ISK your cargo is worth. Therefore your defense against a profit-minded attacker is to raise their costs while keeping the value of your cargo below the attacker's break-even point.
The simple rule of thumb for the smaller industrial haulers is:
3M ISK per 1k of EHP
This means that if your ship has 8k EHP, you should not be carrying more then 24M ISK worth of cargo in it per trip. The more that you exceed that ISK/EHP value, the more likely you are to get ganked. However, you can often get away with 4M-6M ISK per 1k EHP if you know your route, do not auto-pilot, and know the key risk factors.
Key risk factors (which raise/lower the ISK/EHP calculation):
- System security
- Location (some systems are frequently camped)
- AFK traveling
- How shiny your cargo is
For freighters, which have about 180-200k EHP, the benchmark value is 1B ISK (one billion). As your cargo value exceeds 1B ISK, combined with traveling through systems with a security status in the 0.5-0.6 range, it becomes more and more likely that someone will gank you for your cargo value. This is a bit of a fuzzy rule of thumb and in the quieter portions of the galaxy with routes that take you only through 0.8 and above systems, you can get away with hauling higher value cargo loads for a very long time.
Know your route
Your best friend as a hauler in high-security space is knowledge of the local terrain. Which systems tend to be camped by gank parties. Which systems see frequent kills of haulers. Where are you likely to be cargo/ship scanned? The security status of the systems along the route. Scouting ahead with a fleet member.
Scouting, in low-security or null-security space, is a must-do if you are carrying anything expensive, or are not flying a blockade runner. In low-security space, a well-flown blockade runner is almost impossible to catch and it can usually get past most null-sec bubble camps.
Instant undock bookmarks
Busier market hub stations (such as Jita CNAP 4-4) will have people camping the undock 23x7, waiting for you to undock with something shiny in the cargo hold. Your #1 defense against this is to prepare an insta-undock bookmark ahead of time.
A good bookmark will get you off the station undock and out to a safe-spot before anyone has time to lock you, scan you and gank you. They are a must-have for Blockade Runners and rather important for the slower-aligning ships like Orcas and Freighters.
Other tips and tricks
Do not be predictable in your hauling of expensive items. Vary the time of day. Vary the route that you use. Change your ship name frequently.
Builds
Iteron V, Tank
(Cassius Longinus)
[Iteron Mark V, Tank] Reactor Control Unit I Reactor Control Unit I Reactor Control Unit I Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Large Shield Extender II Magnetic Scattering Amplifier II Explosion Dampening Amplifier II Heat Dissipation Amplifier II Heat Dissipation Amplifier II [empty high slot] [empty high slot] Medium Core Defense Field Extender I Medium Core Defense Field Extender I Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
That has 15+K EHP, which should tank most solo-Battlecruiser gankers.
[Iteron Mark V, Tank 2] Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Magnetic Scattering Amplifier II Heat Dissipation Amplifier II Medium Shield Extender II Medium Shield Extender II Medium Shield Extender II [empty high slot] [empty high slot] Medium Core Defense Field Extender I Medium Core Defense Field Extender I Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
This one has both more EHP and more cargo. You can swap 2 expanders for more tanking mods for the same cargo with even more EHP if desired. 2 T2 Adaptive Invulnerability Fields add an additional 5k ehp, and overheating them give 4k more on top of that.
Iteron V, General Hauling
(Scrapyard Bob)
[Iteron Mark V, 38.4km3 14.8kEHP] Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Adaptive Invulnerability Field II Adaptive Invulnerability Field II Medium Shield Extender II Medium Shield Extender II Medium Shield Extender II Salvager I Small Tractor Beam I Medium Cargohold Optimization I Medium Cargohold Optimization I Medium Cargohold Optimization I
Adding a Damage Control II will boost it to 18k EHP but you'll only have 30.1k m3 of cargo space.
Iteron V, Mining Support
(Scrapyard Bob) This is a real pain to fit, so you're going to have to play around with shield extenders that aren't Tech II. With level V skills, you can fit T2 shield extenders. Afterburner version is recommended for mining ops support.
[Iteron Mark V, Afterburner 38.4km3 10kEHP] Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Expanded Cargohold II Experimental 10MN Afterburner I Adaptive Invulnerability Field II Adaptive Invulnerability Field II Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I Medium Shield Extender II Salvager I Small Tractor Beam I Medium Cargohold Optimization I Medium Cargohold Optimization I Medium Cargohold Optimization I
Hauler Roles
TODO
Jump Freighters and Blockade Runners should be the only things hauling stuff in or out of null sec.
Market Hauling
Speculative hauling is one way to make money from the market that's fairly easy to get into for a new player
Alt Hauling
Setting up an alt hauler can be very useful to ship goods around during wartime when your main can't fly an industrial ship.
Mining Assistance
If you're using your hauler in a mining operation (without an Orca), consider fitting a tractor beam to bring cans to you faster, as well as a salvager to make something of the inevitable rat wrecks. You could also fit a mining laser, but even a good one with pilot skills won't be getting much more than 100 m^3 per minute.
Other
Haulers can also be used to make ISK via missioning, as described for Level 4 Cargo Missions.
References
Forum thread on hauling skills and haulers
Iterons and Suicide Ganking discussion
The Dark Side of Eve
