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.

The Iteron V provides, by far, the best cargo space, and it can fit a pretty decent tank in its 5 mid slots. The Badger II can fit an even better tank in its 6 mid slots, but its cargo space gets cut in half compared to the Iteron. The Bestower offers only slightly better cargo then the Badger II, but fits only a lousy tank in its 4 mid slots. Finally, the Mammoth has a decent tank as well with 5 mid slots, but loses 7k m^3 compared to the Iteron V.

Skills-wise, the Bestower has the best cargohold with only 1 level of Racial Industrial trained, so is ideal for alt haulers. Semi-serious may want the Mammoth, with the best cargohold at Industrial 4, while the Iteron V is the best industrial if you're prepared to train Industrial 5.

Blockade Runners (T2 Industrial)

Primary use: Relatively small and/or very expensive cargo.

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 m^3 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.

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 and Jump Freighters

Use Freighters for huge cargo through high sec and very short distances into low sec. These require proper support (someone to web, scouts, preferably some EW).

(TODO: Describe the proper support fully)

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. The difference is not large.

Remember that the Uni provides at-cost Obelisks to Uni members.

Orca

For pure anti-gank hi-sec hauling, the Orca probably excels at this. It can't hold anywhere near as much as the Freighters, but the Corp Hangar makes a wonderful place to hide 40k m3 of cargo that you don't want to show up on a cargo scanner.

However, the Orca requires a completely different skill set, whereas all the other haulers have pretty much the same skills: a Racial Industrial V with a few small (but expensive) skills on top of that.

In addition, cargo in the Corp Hangar and Ship Maintenance Array always get destroyed when the ship is blown up, and does not appear on killmails. This means that even if gankers get intel about the expensive cargo that you have in there, suicide ganking you is still pointless since they can't get to it anyway.

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.

TODO: Discuss a few good fast transport setups for these purposes.

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 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 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 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 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

In a T1 Industrial, the best way to avoid suicide ganks in a hauler is to fly a ship that can warp cloaked, and not be AFK. You should be safe moving anything through low and high security space that way.

The second best is to just not be AFK. (Embarassing that that really needs to be said.) In that case, perhaps mobility (instabs/stabilizers) work as well as buffer to discourage ganking (No, they don't, you will not be able to align faster then a gank ship can lock, tackle and shoot you, so you still need buffer /Steave).

If you must travel AFK, then buffer is all you have. Some favor explosive/kinetic/thermal hardening as they believe suicide gankers consider Harbingers to bo too expensive (because of faction crystals and the cost of the hull), and that most people will be ganking in Hurricanes and Drakes. However, the high damage potential of lasers combined with the long range it can be delivered at means that they're perfect for catching haulers after they jumped trough a gate, enabling the ganker to catch both people that are afk and those that are not.

If you're really trying to go anti-gank in high sec, then a Deep Space Transport (65k EHP, 8k cargo on an Occator), Orca (250k EHP, 90-95k cargo) or Freighter (200k EHP 900-950k cargo) becomes mandatory. However, a blockade runner will be able to carry more cargo then a max tank DST, while staying safer due to its cloak.

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 Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence 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 Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence 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 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

Invulnerability Field II
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

Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Invulnerability Field II
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