Mining Ships
This page is intended to provide details on all ships that have been given a role bonus to mining. For information and instruction regarding mining in general, please refer to the basics of mining.
Generally, any ship with turret slots can function as a mining ship. As a matter of fact certain ships, notably the Caldari Rokh, are able to function fairly well as mining vessels due to their sizable CPU output. However for this guide only those which have been given a mining bonus will be covered. You can find a ship's mining bonuses listed under the Description tab in that ship's Show Info screen.
Contents
Frigates
Most aspiring miners will begin their career in a frigate class mining vessel. The advantages of a frigate are a low cost and low skill requirement making them perfectly suited to new players who would like to try their hand at mining. With modest skills a pilot will be able to fit two Miner II despite their relatively high CPU requirements. A major drawback to frigates is their low cargo hold capacity even with the ship bonus. Many miners counter this by using the jet can mining technique detailed in the following guides: Jet Can Mining, Combo Jet Can Mining and GSC Mining. Another major drawback to frigates is their almost negligible tanking ability against rats, especially when they are fully fitted for optimal mining yield. As such, it is recommended that frigate pilots mine in 1.0-0.9 high security space.
Bonuses:
- 5% bonus to cargo capacity per skill level
- 20% bonus to mining laser yield per skill level
- -60% mining laser capacitor use
Ships:
Cruisers
Mining in a frigate can become frustrating with their low yield and limited cargo space. Cruisers provide the logical next step with both a higher yield, and increased cargo capacity. The following cruisers come with a mining bonus to either lasers or drones. Pilots should note that 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. Overall, the Caldari and Minmatar mining cruisers are a better choice though they may 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 and Exhumers are created by ORE and don't have racial variations, although they count as Gallente for manufacturing purposes based on ORE's Gallentean origins.
Procurer
The Procurer is a mining barge with exceptional defensive capabilities.
Development
The mining barge was designed by ORE to facilitate advancing the mining profession to a whole new level. Each barge was created to excel at a specific function, the Procurer's being durability. With that in mind, the designers could only make space to fit one mining or ice harvesting module. To mitigate the effect this would have on the ship's mining output, they came up with a unique loading system that allows this one module to work at triple efficiency.
Mining barges are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining and Ice Harvesting modules.
Mining Barge skill bonus per level
5% bonus to shield hit points
Role Bonus
200% bonus to Strip Miner yield
66.66% reduction in Ice Harvester Duration and capacitor use
Skill Requirements
Fitting:
- High Slots: 1
- Medium Slots: 4
- Low Slots: 2
- Base Cargo: 350 m3
- Ore Hold Capacity: 12,000 m3
Retriever
The Retriever is a mining barge with an extensive ore bay.
Development
The mining barge was designed by ORE to facilitate advancing the mining profession to a new level. Each barge was created to excel at a specific function, the Retriever's being storage. Although it only has space to fit two mining or ice harvesting modules, a fast loading system allows those two module to do the work of three modules.
Mining barges are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining and Ice Harvesting modules.
Mining Barge skill bonus per level
5% bonus to ore hold capacity
Role Bonus
50% bonus to Strip Miner yield
33.33% reduction in Ice Harvester Duration and capacitor use
Skill Requirements
Procurer plus:
Fitting:
- High Slots: 2
- Medium Slots: 1
- Low Slots: 3
- Base Cargo: 450 m3
- Ore Hold Capacity: 22,000 m3
Covetor
The Covetor is a mining barge with superb mining yield.
Development
The mining barge was designed by ORE to facilitate advancing the mining profession to a new level. Each barge was created to excel at a specific function, the Covetor's being mining yield. This additional yield comes at a price, as the Covetor has weaker defenses and a smaller ore bay than the other mining barges.
Mining barges are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining and Ice Harvesting modules.
Mining Barge skill bonus per level
4% bonus to Strip Miner yield
3% reduction in Ice Harvester duration
Skill Requirements
Retriever plus:
Fitting:
- High Slots: 3
- Medium Slots: 1
- Low Slots: 2
- Base Cargo: 350 m3
- Ore Hold Capacity: 7,000 m3
Exhumers
Exhumers are the final 'tier' of direct mining ships. Although the Exhumers are classed as T2 versions of each of the mining barges, each ship is specialized for a particular task like mining barges. Exhumers have a 3% bonus to Strip Miner output and a 7.5% bonus to shield resistances for each level of Mining Barge. Between the shield resist bonus and four midslots, all Exhumers can fit a good shield tank.
Exhumers require the skills to fly a Covetor, plus the Exhumers skill.
Skiff
The Skiff is an exhumer with exceptional defensive capabilities.
Development
The exhumer is the second generation of mining vessels created by ORE. Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, were each created to excel at a specific function, the Skiff's being durability. With that in mind, the designers could only make space to fit one mining or ice harvesting module. To mitigate the effect this would have on its mining output, they came up with a unique loading system that allows this one module to work at triple efficiency.
Exhumers are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining and Ice Harvesting modules.
Mining Barge skill bonus per level:
5% bonus to shield hit points
5% bonus to all shield resistances
Exhumer skill bonus per level:
1% bonus to Strip Miner yield
1% reduction in Ice Harvester duration
Role Bonus:
200% bonus to Strip Miner yield
66.66% reduction in Ice Harvester Duration and capacitor use
Skiff
Exhumers Skill Bonus
60% bonus to Mercoxit Mining Crystal yield multiplier per level
20% reduced chance of Mercoxit gas cloud forming per level
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.
Fitting:
- High Slots: 1
- Medium Slots: 5
- Low Slots: 2
- Base Cargo: 350 m3
- Ore Hold Capacity: 15,000 m3
Mackinaw
The Mackinaw is the medium-sized version of the second generation of mining vessels created by the ORE Syndicate. Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. They are also far more resilient, better able to handle the dangers of deep space. The Mackinaw is a speciality vessel, ideally suited for ice mining.
The Mackinaw is the second Exhumer and requires Exhumer II to fly. It has been designed to specifically mine ice asteroids. The role bonus means that as you complete a mining cycle, you will receive two pieces of ice instead of one, but will the cycle time will take 25% longer. The Exhumers skill bonus reduces this penalty.
Exhumers Skill Bonus
5% reduction in Ice Harvester duration per level.
Role Bonus
100% bonus Ice Harvester yield but 25% penalty to ice harvester duration
Fitting:
- High Slots: 2
- Medium Slots: 4
- Low Slots: 2
- Base Cargo: 6000 m3
Hulk
The Hulk is the largest craft in the second generation of mining vessels created by the ORE Syndicate. Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. They are also far more resilient, better able to handle the dangers of deep space. The Hulk is, bar none, the most efficient mining vessel available.
The Hulk is the largest of the mining exhumers (requiring Exhumer III to fly) 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 machinery that is designed for maximum mining yield.
Exhumers Skill Bonus
3% additional better yield for Strip Miners per level
3% reduction in Ice Harvester duration per level
Fitting:
- High Slots: 3
- Medium Slots: 4
- Low Slots: 2
- Base Cargo: 8000 m3
Support Ships
Support ships are ships commonly found in mining fleets that do not directly mine asteroids.
Industrials
T1 Industrials are the most common hauling ship. While weak, they are generally fitted for maximum cargo capacity since they only make short journeys to nearby stations; the biggest threat should be a few rats. A tractor beam is a common addition since industrials will spend most of their time taking cans from the mining ships or an Orca, and a salvager or survey scanner can be added if these modules are not present on other ships. Note regarding industrials: New players often make the mistake of assuming that industrial vessels are ideal for mining due to their large cargo bay; however, industrials lack adequate turret slots and the absence of mining bonuses makes them extremely inefficient as mining vessels.
Orca
The Orca is a specialized mining command ship, able to provide multiple mining links to fellow miners and/or act as a hauler. While an Orca theoretically needs to boost a squad of several miners in order to replace an additional mining ship, the added convenience and utility it provides often outweigh the throughput downsides.
Rorqual
The Rorqual is a capital version of the Orca, and is generally only seen in nullsec. As well as fielding similar bonuses to the Orca, it can carry a mining fleet to their destination and compress ore to make it easier to haul. Often, though, the Rorqual is seen as too risky to deploy in an asteroid belt and is set up within a POS shield instead; miners still get the bonuses and ore compression, and most pilots see this as a worthwhile tradeoff.
Top Cover
Top Cover refers to combat pilots guarding a mining fleet in a belt. The lower the security level in which the op is located and the fewer miners involved, the more desirable having a dedicated combat pilot positioned in overwatch becomes. In hisec, a few combat drones between the mining ships may be all that is needed. In 0.4 space, a destroyer that can tractor and salvage the wrecks is a welcome addition. In 0.0, a cloaked Raven provides enhanced security against both NPCs and hostiles. An Orca's ship hangar may hold a couple of combat ships for pilots to use when the need arises.
The responsibility of the top cover is to engage any threat to the op and either destroy it or provide the op an opportunity to escape. Often, the top cover pilots also loot and salvage since they have more freedom of movement than the other members of the team.
