User:Antei thantonne
Mining Doctrine: Low-Sec Mining
Mining vessels are vulnerable to combat ships, and so AMC miners sometimes hesitate to mine in low-security 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 potential aggressors 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 AMC miners in low sec.
The doctrine boils down to a few simple rules:
Unistas should mine in Procurers or Retrievers, depending on the op.
| 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. 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:
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 x5
- 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, or both modules for scram and web.
If the FC thinks that the chance of miners getting tackled is high, then they should be in Procurers. However, the Procurer has two significant disadvantages, both of which are enhanced with the Kronos patch: the Procurer has the lowest mining efficiency of all barges; and it is fairly fast (160 m/sec, almost as fast as a cruiser), making mining aligned more difficult. (More on mining aligned below.) In cases where miners are expected to mine in peace most of the time, an agility-rigged Retriever is a better choice:
Strip Miner I
Strip Miner I
Survey Scanner I
Mining Laser Upgrade I
Mining Laser Upgrade I
Mining Laser Upgrade I
Medium Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Medium Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Medium Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Hobgoblin I x5
- I have fit this with T1 modules; upgrade to T2 wherever possible.
- The Low Friction Nozzle Joint rigs reduce alignment time by 15% each (reduced by stacking penalties). As a result, base alignment time drops from 18 sec to 13 sec (and may be lower than that, depending on your skills).
- If you have not trained Electronics skill high enough, you may need to replace one of the rigs with a Medium Processor Overclocking I.
- Scout drones are included for combating belt rats, but any low-sec rat heavier than a destroyer will be a problem, because of the weakened tank of this fit. If you see anything heavier than that, warp out and call for help. ECM drones will not help this ship—if you get tackled, you will be destroyed before ECM has a chance to work.
In the end, we may use mixed fleets of Retrievers and Procurers—Retrievers for yield, and Procurers for bait.
Miners should mine in motion, aligned to pre-made warp-out bookmarks.
If you mine from a stand-still, as you would in high-sec, you will be vulnerable to being scrammed and webbed by aggressors before you can warp away. On the other hand, if your ship is aligned towards a warp-out point, and moving at least 75% of its maximum speed, you can warp out immediately at the first sign of trouble. (If that's what you want. Procurers also make great bait for aggressors—more on that later.) This means that constructing alignment bookmarks is an important part of mining in low sec. For low-sec fleets that Clutter Fonulique and Antei Thantonne host, we will supply you with a container of asteroid-belt and/or ore-anomaly bookmarks at the beginning of the op. The bookmarks have a particular naming format, modeled after Agony Unleashed's format, that looks like this:
Examples:
=V-1= WI Left
Planet V, asteroid belt 1; warp-in point on the left side of the belt, with "left" defined from the perspective of being inside the belt curvature.
=V-1= WO Left Back @1000km
Warpout point, 1000 km past the left-side warp-in point. Miners aligned to this point can warp out immediately.
#HHJ# WI.1 Sunwd
Warp-in point on the sunward side of a Hedbergite-Hemorphite-Jaspet ore anomaly. We may set up multiple sets of warp-in/warp-out pairs; this bookmark belongs to pair #1.
[IX PTS] DOCK Above
Insta-dock bookmark at the top of the Pator Tech School station orbiting planet IX. It's always a good idea to use your own bookmarks for stations rather than the client's warp-to point; the game can warp you well outside the docking ring for the station, and if you have to burn the remaining distance, you may be vulnerable.
[IX PTS] IWO @800km
Insta-warp-out (or insta-undock) bookmark for Pator Tech School station.
SAFE P5 2AU or
DEEP SAFE P5 18AU
Un-aligned safe spot. Closest celestial is planet V, 2 (or 18) AU away. Deep safes are always greater than 14.3 AU (maximum D-scan range) away from any celestial.
Clutter or Antei will give each miner a Container full of mining bookmarks, and probably a belt/warp-out assignment, at the beginning of the op. Miners will then warp to the appropriate warp-in point, and then always "Align To" one of the two opposing warp-out points. In this scheme, miners are only vulnerable while they are reversing direction, switching between a "Fwd" and "Back" bookmark (or, in the case of mining an ore anomaly, between the "Sunwd" and "Outwd" bookmarks) because they have reached the edge of the mining area. The alignment axes are set up to maximize the distance between miners and the warp-in beacon that aggressors will typically use to reach the belt.
Miners will jet-can ore, just as they do in a high-sec shared-can op. Where they deposit those cans depends on the op and the type of mining vessel used. In Procurers (with their smaller ore holds), miners will need to jettison frequently, and so they will usually be dropping cans in the belt/anomaly. This works well for the miner, but not as well for the hauler that has to pick up the cans, because the hauler is vulnerable in the belt (and not as well tanked as the Procurer). In Retrievers, miners won't need to drop cans as frequently, so miners can release cans after warping out to their assigned warp-out point. The hauler can then retrieve the cans at that out-of-belt point. In either mining vessel, if the miner is forced to dock by aggression, the miner can keep ore in their station inventory until the FC can trade for it in-station.
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 typically shouldn't be flown by Unistas, to ensure their safety during high-sec travel. 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 deter aggressors, and no one should be able to take down an Orca before it docks at station.
Miners should control only one character, and be prepared to do opponent research on the fly.
Pilots in low- and null-sec and in wormhole space need to learn a lot more about other pilots flying in their system than high-sec miners typically do. For example, when we see an unfamiliar character in Local, we nearly always:
- Right-click on their name, "Show info", and check their security status, employment history (which gives their character's age) and bio;
- Search for their name on a public killboard like zKillboard or EVE-Kill, to see whether they have a history of aggression against PvE pilots, to try to determine what kinds of ships they fly, and to see whether they are associated with any other pilots in system; and
- Use D-Scan to try and determine what they're flying now.
Even though your Overview is set to tag pilots with negative security status, it is not safe to assume that pilots with positive security status won't aggress you. Low-sec pirates often repair their security status regularly for exactly this reason—to give you the false impression that they are friendly.
A good introductory assignment: Search a public killboard for the low-sec system that the FC has assigned for the op. What sort of ships have been killed there recently, and by whom? How were the ships fitted? The killboard won't give fits for the victors' ships—but can you find the victors' fits amongst their past losses?
Unistas should have combat ships—including EWAR and tackle—in system.
Low-sec mining offers a unique opportunity to initiate PvP! EVE University has permanently changed its Rules of Engagement in low sec to "Not Blue Shoot It" (NBSI), meaning that we can pre-emptively aggress anyone in low-sec space. EVE's Crimewatch system does have implications for aggression in low sec, but in general, aggressors are safe from CONCORD intervention and from station and gate guns. That means that we are vulnerable to attack, but we can also initiate attack!
There are a variety of reasons why we might engage in combat. If one of our mining vessels is pointed or scrammed, we might act to save it. Or, if we are being harrassed, we might act to convince pirates to leave us alone. Or maybe we just want a good fight! In any of these cases, the types of ships we use will depend on the specific situation we're in. I recommend miners have a few different ships at their disposal:
ECM: The Griffin
Good introductory reading: "Using your ECM Modules", in the ECM Guide.
Electronic countermeasures (ECM) are the cheapest, most effective method of denying an aggressor a fight in low-sec. They are also the easiest contribution for under-skilled pilots to make in a low-sec encounter. Here's a pretty standard fit:
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
'Umbra' White Noise ECM
'Umbra' White Noise ECM
'Umbra' White Noise ECM
'Umbra' White Noise ECM
Emergency Damage Control I
'Hypnos' Signal Distortion Amplifier I
Small Particle Dispersion Projector I
Small Particle Dispersion Projector I
Small Particle Dispersion Augmentor I
Mjolnir Rocket x80
- High-slot weapons are for countering drones only; the Griffin is too weak to take on any human attacker. This fit has rocket launchers, but you could also fit light missile launchers instead, or no waepons at all.
- With no skill bonuses, your ECM modules will have optimal+falloff ranges of 43+32 km, and the Griffin's lock range is 65 km. Your skilled ranges will probably be better than this.
- This ship is intended to be disposable; the total cost of this fit is under 1 million ISK. If you lose it in combat, just go get another one!
- As a result, you should *not* upgrade any of the modules to costlier Tech 2 versions, or choose to fly a pricer ECM alternative (such as the Kitsune or Blackbird). Any ECM ship we bring will become a priority target for our opponents, and flying the Griffin keeps our losses low.
Griffins will be available on corp contract at the staging station, fitted with everything but the ECM modules. Then, ECM modules will be also be available in separate corp contracts. (That way, you can pick up modules to replace the ones you've lost.) The UniWiki Griffin page advises a "rainbow" fitt of ECM modules, so that pilots can be prepared for any type of target. However, we will know the identity of our aggressors' ships from D-Scan or from being attacked, and so you should *not* use a rainbow fit. Instead, once you dock your mining vessel and switch to the Griffin, either fit all 4 ECM modules to match our opponent's ship type, or, if we have multiple aggressors, split your modules 2/2 to be able to target two opponents at once.
Heavy tackle
Good introductory reading: The UniWiki Tackling 101 Guide.
Many Unistas start their training as tackle pilots by flying small, fast frigates ("fast tackle") that can catch unwilling opponents. Our opponents, by contrast, will be entirely willing; if they are already aggressing a miner, we don't really need to catch them. As a result, in most encounters, we will need "heavy tackle", ships that are intended to tank a lot of damage while they keep an opponent from escaping. Four Tech-1, racial cruisers are built for heavy tackle duty: the Maller, Vexor, Moa, and Rupture. Miners should try to bring one of these to the low-sec mining system (and not just to the staging system). How you fit your heavy tackle cruiser, and what weapons you use, depends entirely on your character skills. There is no doctrine fit that you need to follow. Nevertheless, there are a few modules that are fairly essential for a low-sec heavy tackler:
- A Warp Scrambler (and not a Warp Disruptor). You will want to hold our opponents in place, and shutting off their MicroWarpDrive will be important to that goal. Fast tacklers will sometimes use Warp Disruptors because they are quick enough to keep up with an MWD-fitted opponent. You are not.
- A Stasis Webifier. Similar idea. Our opponents will likely be faster than we are, but if two heavy tacklers can land two webs (one each) on the opposing ship, we will likely have them tackled for good.
- A Capacitor Booster, with both small and large charges available in the cargo hold. This is an unusual inclusion in tackle fits, but capacitor warfare is very common in low sec, and our opponents will try to break your tackle and tank by applying neuts. A Cap Booster counters this strategy. Use small charges to give your ship continuous capacitor support (which eliminates the need for Cap Recharger modules), but switch to large charges if you find you are being neuted out.
Because the goal of heavy tackle is not to lose your ship, you should feel free to use Meta 3/4 or Tech 2 modules wherever you can.
Fast tackle
Good introductory reading: Azual Skoll's Newbie Tackling Guide.
Even though we will need heavy tackle most of the time, there will be a few situations where we will need fast tackle frigates: destroying enemy cyno frigates, tackling snipers (if we choose to), and countering enemy support ships. Once again, how you choose to fit your fast tackler depends entirely on your pilot skills, and no doctrine fit is given here. Most importantly, miners are advised to keep their fast tackle fits cheap; the life of a fast tackler is often short.
Other useful ships
There are a few other roles that we'll need flown very infrequently, but that miners might want to try out. These include:
- Other EWAR: Sensor dampening in the Maulus, or tracking disruption in the Crucifier. In general, these will be less effective than ECM. Our opponent(s) will have already locked onto a miner, so damps won't save an aggressed miner. And our opponents will easily be able to close range on a slow mining vessel, such that tracking disruption will have little effect. Nevertheless, I can think of situations where these vessels could be effective.
- Combat scanner (either in a Tech 1 exploration frigate, or a Tech 2 Covert Ops frigate). If an aggressor is monitoring us from a safe spot, it might be useful to scan him or her down using Combat Scanning Probes.
- Anti-frigate support. If our opponents are flying lots of fast frigates--unusual in low sec, but possible--they may be able to evade the turrets on our heavy tacklers. Light missiles are a great counter to frigate swarms. The rapid light missile launcher-fitted Caracal is probably the most common counter to frigates, but missile destroyers like the Talwar or Corax also work.
- Damage dealer. Along with the four heavy combat cruisers described earlier, each race also a Tech 1 light attack cruiser: the Omen, Caracal, Thorax and Stabber. These cruisers are bonused for damage rather than tank, and so are useful to add that extra bit of damage necessary to finish off an opponent. I expect that we will outnumber our opponents, and when this is the case, heavy tackle is more appropriate. Nevertheless, I can imagine situations where more damage might help.
Ships I recommend against
- Tech 1 Logistics. Each race has a Tech 1 logistics cruiser, and logistics serves as a great force multiplier in fleets. It's easy to imagine how a logistics ship could save a fleetmate (e.g., an aggressed miner) from destruction. However, solo logistics pilots are extremely vulnerable to cap warfare, and logistics cruisers have less tank, and have more expensive fittings, relative to other cruisers. If you are considering flying logistics, I recommend heavy tackle instead.
- Exhumers. We will lose mining vessels in low sec. Even though the Skiff is amazingly tanky, if we get hotdropped by a cyno'd, 10-pilot fleet of veterans, we will lose whatever vessel they choose to target. I would rather that be something cheap.
