Ships & Modules

Hulk isn't gank proof anymore.

What was done to it is that it and the other 2 barges/exhumers were balanced around 3 stats: EHP, yield, and cargo (represented by the new ore hold)

The Procurer and Skiff have the best EHP, approaching or exceeding 100k.

The Retriever and the Mackinaw have the biggest ore holds, with the mack having around 35,000m3.

The Covetor and the Hulk have the highest yield.

The non-hulks also get a role bonus for extra yield, giving them 3 effective turrets, the same as the hulk.

Mercoxit and Ice bonuses are gone, replaced by rigs that provide the same benefit. So you can mine whatever you want in whatever ship you want. The Mack is for the most part the new king of solo mining, the hulk is meant for fleet ops in null sec. The skiff is good for afk mining, since it would take quite a bit to kill it, and someone would have to really hate you to go to that much trouble.


----Opinion section------

In my eyes, the hulk got kinda screwed. I love that they balanced the other ships, but I see no reason to ever use a hulk for anything. Even fleet mining, it's ehp and hold are far too small for the hassle, and you only get 9% more yield out of it. Nice, but not worth it. I'd rather use a skiff in case my guards fall asleep from watching me mine, or a mack so I don't have to babysit the jetcan. But that's me.

The hulk was never "gank proof" to begin with.



With someone providing a T2 armor resistance link, T2 shield resistance link with implant, and with the skiff fitting for EHP it can push 152,349 with minimal (design) effort. It drops to 132,512 against pure EM damage though. Still, 21,166 raw shield HP without implants on the part of the skiff pilot. With implants (and spending a lot of money on them) you can eke out 167,856 EHP omni with a skiff.



If you're fleet mining with either an industrial hauling or an orca you don't need to worry about jet cans. Likewise you're going to have the same issues of if your guards fall asleep in a mackinaw as you will in a hulk, the EHP difference isn't all that great.

Frankly the hulk didn't get screwed, it just didnt get buffed as much as the other ships. It gained roughly 18% or so to it's base EHP while gaining a smaller but still acceptable 5% to it's EHP tanked numbers. Finally the ship got an ice mining bonus on top of the 1%/exhumer that the other two ships got. All of that for the "loss" of something like 5km3 cargo room from a ship fitting that negated being able to tank anyways.

In comparison to the other ships you might make a case for the hulk having been screwed, but in absolute terms saying so simply because it didn't get buffed as much as the other ships is, for all intents and purposes, a lie. It's like claiming you got screwed because you got one small piece of cake and three of your friends each got a quarter of it while your girlfriend got the rest. You got your cake, now shut up and eat it.

So it sounds like if one was to mine high sec with a Hulk and an Orca and a ganker shows up just dock in the Orca and I'm good? or am I over simplifying things?

Weird Ok well good to know. Still not sure if I am going to do much mining but thanks.

If you're mining with a Hulk and an Orca on their own you're using the wrong ship for the job.
For such operations a pair of Macks/Retrievers are the more efficient option - especially as with the cargo reduction the Mack has more yield than a "general purpose, non-gang" Hulk as the latter is effectively forced to run T1 or ORE strips due to the lack of crystal space.

That may change in the future (I hope it does - IMHO the cargoholds on all three barges were significantly over-nerfed) but IMHO it would take either a partial reversal of the cargo reduction, a continuation of the crystal size reduction (to about 5m3) or the introduction of a container between small and medium).