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.
Contents
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
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.
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 sizable 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.
Skill Requirements
Fitting:
- High Slots: 1
- Medium Slots: 1
- Low Slots: 2
- Base Cargo: 1000 m3
The 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 II's to boost that cargo hold by 63%.
Skill Requirements
Procurer plus:
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.
The Covetor is the best in the Mining Barge Range, and many would argue that it is redundant, however there are many who can throw a few counter arguments back. The simple fact is - you won't have the skills to use a Covetor for quite some time. As an approximate answer, and this does depend greatly on your learning skills, but you can get yourself into a Covetor with about a month of training. Is it worth it? And the answer is an easy yes, not only will you have gained an additional 11% bonus to your yield through skills, but now you can fit a 3rd strip miner. Thats a huge increase to your yield!
Skill Requirements
Retriever plus:
Fitting:
- High Slots: 3
- Medium Slots: 1
- Low Slots: 2
- Base Cargo: 4000 m3
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 enjoy this next step to being the perfect miner.
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.
