Mining Ships
As a pilot, new to Eve Online, there is an overwhelming choice of ships and modules to cater for every possibility, and as miners we have been given a series of ships that give us an edge. This section is going to take a look at the Frigate and Cruiser ships that haven been given a mining roll bonus, as well as the modules that you might want to invest in. It is recommended that before you choose a ship, you read about the basics of mining as it gives a good overview as to what asteroids are and how we exploit them.
In general any ship that has a free turret and high power slot available is capable of becoming a mining ship. Caldari ships typically make good mining ships because of their CPU capacities but each race has a frigate and cruiser with mining bonuses. Typically, players will receive their first mining frigate upon completion of the tutorial missions.
Mining In An Industrial
A mistake that many beginning miners make is thinking that since industrial ships have such enormous cargo bays, they'll save time by mining with their hauler. The Industrial ship may have a large cargo bay, but due to the lack of mining bonuses and slots to fit lasers, mining yield is greatly reduced overall. There are much more effective ways to involve an industrial and improve your ISK/hour ratio. For more information, see either Jet Can Mining, Combo Jet Can Mining or GSC Mining.
Mining Frigate
Ships that have a mining role bonus are very important. This makes any of the 'mining' frigates a good starting ship as the pilot will receive a cargo hold bonus, yield bonus and a permanent reduction in capacitor use. Mining lasers have a large CPU requirement but a low power requirement; but the layout of the 'mining' frigates makes it easy to fit two Miner II lasers with modest skills. The real issue with these frigates is the very small cargo holds even with the bonus. To deal with the small cargo hold issue check out the following links Jet Can Mining, Combo Jet Can Mining or GSC Mining. Also when fitted for maximum mining the ships have no tank; so mining in 1.0 - 0.9 space is recommended.
Bonuses:
- 5% bonus to cargo capacity
- 20% bonus to mining laser yield per skill level
- -60% mining laser capacitor use
Ships:
Mining 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
Exhumers
Exhumers are the final 'tier' of direct mining ships and require the Exhumers skill to operate. Within the Exhumer class, each ship is specialized for a particular task, rather than having a progression like mining barges.
The Skiff
| Bonus | Yield | Gas Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| LV I | +60% | -20% |
| LV II | +120% | -40% |
| LV III | +180% | -60% |
| LV IV | +240% | -80% |
| LV V | +300% | -100% |
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 asterodid type that can only naturally be found there.
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.
Mercoxit Bonus As we have mentioned, the Skiff is designed to mine Mercoxit asteroids and to complete this we have the following bonus: 60% bonus to Mercoxit Mining Crystal yield multiplier per level and 20% reduced chance of Mercoxit gas cloud forming per level
Mackinaw
| Bonus | Cycle Bonus | Cycle Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| LV I | +5% | -20% |
| LV II | +10% | -15% |
| LV III | +15% | -10% |
| LV IV | +20% | -5% |
| LV V | +25% | 0% |
The Mackinaw is the middle child of the mining Exhumers and only requires Exhumer II to fly. It has been designed to specifically mine ice asteroids. The role bonus is as follows: 100% bonus Ice Harvester yield but 25% penalty to ice harvester duration. This means that as you complete a mining cycle, you will recieve two pieces of ice instead of one, but will the cycle time will take 25% longer. However the Mackniaw recieves an additonal skill based bonus: 5% reduction in Ice Harvester duration per level.
Hulk
| Bonus | Ore Bonus | Ice Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| LV I | +3% | +3% |
| LV II | +6% | +6% |
| LV III | +9% | +9% |
| LV IV | +12% | +12% |
| LV V | +15% | +15% |
As many will say, the Hulk has earned its name. It is the largest of the mining exhumers 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 machinary that is designed for maximum mining yield. Its skill bonus is 3% better yield for Strip Miners per level and 3% reduction in Ice Harvester duration per level.
