Ships & Modules

A helpful and serious advice from a CODE member?

Whatever is your choice, don't forget the Higgs Anchor rig, and mine while at least 3/4 of your max speed all the time aligned to a bookmark (previously made with a fast frigate) or celestials around your favorite belts. And if you choose the Mack (best ship evuur :D) don't even dare undocking her without a damage control unit and thermal+kin shield resistances. Depending on your skils and if you have a cpu implant, you can fit 2 MLU with that.

Or, you simply join a null corp and mine in 100% safety in the blue doughnut. Null is infinitely safer than HS for mining/industry.

Buy a Mining permit first. Only 10 mil for a whole year of undisturbed mackinaw mining. I have them on offer with a 10% discount; evemail me.

Procurer or Skiff. With an Orca fitted for pure shield & hull tank boosting if available.

But its all a matter of personal choice. I prefer tank-ability.

I never play afk.

Playing afk is the equivalent of letting a trained helper monkey play EVE for you while you go jerk off or something.

I don't do it because its dumb

If you have 2B ISK in your wallet that you plan to dedicate to replacing one every time DOUCHE. ganks you in highsec, then yes, it's worth it.. or if you have the fluffy carebear borders of any null entity then yes, it may be well worth it except for when wh spawn in your area.

If I could get everyone to just treat the mack and hulk as if they didn't even exist in the game to counter the ganking lolz.... things would change.. but there are too many "it'll never happen to me.. " morons in the game so the cycle continues... kind of like when a corporate exec said, "HEY, lets take the same shtty game and just change like 2 things and add 3 levels the same time every year and call it 2,3,4, etc... and charge full price" and people kept buying it in ever growing numbers causing the corporation to get even more and more jewier each year with map packs, skins and weapons.... well you bring it on yourselves..

You can't spell DOUCHE. without CODE.

This is how the game is suppose to work; risk vs. reward. Some players will see that increased yield and take a chance that they will be able to avoid the gankers. Other players see another player do that and decide to call them on it and destroy their ship. This constantly shifting balance of risk vs. reward is what keeps the game interesting, interactive and full of conflict. If everyone was required to fly (nearly) invulnerable Skiffs the game would be terribly boring. The option to fly something with more yield, but with greater risk, is at the core of this game. Choosing more risk for more reward does not automatically make you "a moron".

Suicide ganking is an intended mechanic by CCP and is one of the few things makes any player decisions regarding mining in highsec meaningful. Without it the gameplay would be fit max-yield Exhumer, warp to belt and press F1, go make sandwich - literally no player decisions to make or any player engagement.

To the OP, the Mackinaw provides more reward but at more risk. Only you can decide if you are willing to tolerate that risk and can afford the loss if a ganker comes along and takes your shiny Exhumer. That is quintessential dilemma in most aspects of Eve.

Stick with the Retriever and spend your time training some PvP, exploration, etc. -- unless you know you love mining.

The usual strategy with a Retriever is to fit it strong enough to ward off a solo ganker and cheap enough that it's not a bother to lose it (this requires a cheapish clone too). For example:

[Retriever, Ore Balanced]
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Damage Control II

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I

Medium Processor Overclocking Unit I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

~15K EHP with moderate skills. 63% shield resist against Kin/Therm
~950 ore yield
- you can swap the DC for another laser upgrade if you don't mind the extra risk

Get a procurer to mine with if you lose your ship or know that trouble is around.

If that is the strategy, you have a lot to improve.

[Retriever, Ore Balanced]
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Damage Control II

Thermic Dissipation Amplifier II

Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I

Medium Transverse Bulkhead I
Medium Transverse Bulkhead I
Medium Transverse Bulkhead I

Same yield. 20.6k EHP against Catalyst.