EVE New Citizens Q&A

Solo PvE and just a few days into the game with 5 days to go before I can get into barges. Procurer or Retriever is the question of the hour. Thoughts?

First: By going with a barge, especially a Retriever, you are agreeing to become one of the most highly sought after targets in the entire game. You are committing to either playing in a state of near paranoia, or to accepting that you will lose 20mil isk on occasion. You are also joining one of the most hated groups in the entire game, which also ties into why they are the most sought after targets. Additionally, you will be a common target for extortion by groups like CODE, who will demand that you pay them to not gank you (and then use alt corps to gank you when you do pay).

If you intend to make isk via mining, you have to be vigilant and aware of your surroundings (local, etc.). It also helps to keep your eyes on the market to make sure you are mining the best ore for value.

Second: if you're going to go at things solo, you will probably make more isk/hour running level 4's once you are capable of doing so. Unboosted mining in T1 ships is income, but not much more. Get into a procurer (better tank), fit it with a Strip Miner I, then figure out what you want to do with your skill queue. Look closely at the path you want to take and what ships you want to train for.

I did industry specifically for a couple years, and I enjoyed it, but that's partially because I wasn't just mining, I was building ships and had set goals to work towards.

Industry in general can be enjoyable in this game. Mining all by itself, is treacherous to your Eve career, because it is mind numbing solo.

Solo highsec mining is viewed by many as an antisocial activity usually done AFK, that doesn't add much to the game. It is also pretty boring so many look down on it as a form of income. Take a look at http://www.minerbumping.com/p/the-code.html to see what you are up against.

Don't let that put you off if you enjoy it but be aware that there is not much more gameplay to it then you are doing now. I would encourage you not to skill for Exhumers until you have tried a few other professions as pretty much everything else pays better and is more engaging and the skill points are useless for anything else if you find you like something better.

As was said the Procurer is a good choice as it is the safest, while the Retriever has a slightly better yield and a larger hold. Personally I would use a Procurer as it is cheaper, almost as good yield wise, but far safer, but if you are paying attention you can fly the Retriever. Just make sure you have enough for a backup ship I case your Retriever does get ganked.

As one of those people that preys on miners myself, there's lots of reasons. Mostly it's fun, but also there's a good number of economic metagame reasons.

Can I suggest that you try some miner suppression activities on the side. You might like ganking, and even if you do not, what you learn from *being* a ganker will help protect you from people like me if you return to mining.

God help you; do not mine in a Retriever. Those get ganked all the time. Look at any CODE. killboard to see what I am talking about. Use a Procurer with the following fit:

High Slot: Strip Miner
Medium Slot: Survey Scanner
Medium Slot: Medium Shield Extender
Medium Slot: Adaptive Invulnerability Field
Medium Slot: Adaptive Invulnerability Field
Medium Slot: Thermic Dissipation Field
Low Slot: Mining Laser Upgrade
Low Slot: Mining Laser Upgrade
Rig: Medium Core Defense Field Extender 1
Rig: Medium Core Defense Field Extender 1
Rig: Medium Core Defense Field Extender 1

If you have the skills, use the tier 2 version of the fit, otherwise tier1 or a meta version. This will allow you almost as much isk/hour as a Retriever and be far more resilient to ganks.

Mining in a Retriever is fine as long as you are aware of the danger and pay attention. Learn to mark gankers and their corps, learn to d-scan, learn that if a venture or some other ship sets up right on top of you he is probably not there to mine.

Learn that quite a few low level security missions give out more ore than a single person can mine in a day or even two (not to mention as long as you don't complete the objective you can mine the same mission for a week without any penalty other than losing a minuscule bonus).

D-Scan

It's a scanner that will allow you to tell when threats are incoming.

This is not true, you have more than enough time to align and warp out if you are paying attention. The only exception may be is if you are mining very close to a gate or station.

Like I said, look into mining out lvl1 security mission, this will keep you off the radar of 99% of the gankers.

Confirming that I have an alt that flies a Procurer named "Ungankable", and if that ship is within 3 kilometres of you, you'd better start warping out RIGHT NOW, or else you'll be added to the killboard.

I've actually gotten into the habit of aligning while I am mining. Saves that turn time.