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Mining Drone Role Bonus for Retrievers and Mackinaws
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Felsusguy
Panopticon Engineering
#1 - 2016-11-21 09:23:11 UTC
A while back, during the mining barge tiericide, it was decided that each mining barge would be given a role. Covetors and Hulks were to be oriented towards group mining. Procurers and Skiffs were to be oriented towards high defense. Retrievers and Mackinaws were to be oriented towards autonomy, or solo mining as it were.

The design goal for Procurers and Skiffs has certainly succeeded.

The design goal for Covetors and Hulks has also succeeded for the most part.

But I would not say that the design goal for retrievers and mackinaws has succeeded.

There is no particularly strong motivation to use a Retriever or a Mackinaw to mine solo. Procurers and Skiffs are generally the superior option. They are faster and more agile, with a smaller signature radius. They are more durable and get a 50% bonus to combat drone damage. They have more capacitor, more powergrid, more CPU and more mid-slots. The only advantage Retrievers and Mackinaws have over Procurers and Skiffs is their cargohold and ore hold, but even then a Skiff is going to take at least 10 minutes to fill its ore hold to the brim without a mining foreman ship to boost it.

If Retrievers and Mackinaws had a 100% role bonus to mining drone yield, that would give the Mackinaw with five mining drones a yield equivalent to a Hulk with no mining drones (although less than a Hulk that also has five mining drones). A 200% role bonus and they would be equally as effective at mining solo as a Hulk with five mining drones. As mining drones are not affected by mining foreman command bursts, they would not have the same yield as a Covetor or Hulk when mining in a fleet and this would serve to solidify the Retriever's and Mackinaw's role as solo mining vessels. An increase in the drone bay volume would also benefit these ships in their intended role.

The Procurer and Skiff would still remain the ship of choice when strong defenses are needed, and the Covetor and Hulk would still remain the ship of choice when mining in a fleet, but Retrievers and Mackinaws would become highly effective solo mining ships in terms of yield, exceeding that of the other mining barges when mining solo.

As an aside, the Procurer and Skiff could probably use a mining drone yield bonus as well, but a smaller one.

The Caldari put business before pleasure. The Gallente put business in pleasure.
Daichi Yamato
Jabbersnarks and Wonderglass
#2 - 2016-11-21 12:30:27 UTC
The mack and rettie are already better at solo than the skiff proc because you don't lose time going back and forth to station.

They are so good at it that they are the most used mining barges.

EVE FAQ "7.2 CAN I AVOID PVP COMPLETELY? No; there are no systems or locations in New Eden where PvP may be completely avoided"

Daichi Yamato's version of structure based decs
Tabyll Altol
Viziam
Amarr Empire
#3 - 2016-11-21 12:31:00 UTC
Felsusguy wrote:
A while back, during the mining barge tiericide, it was decided that each mining barge would be given a role. Covetors and Hulks were to be oriented towards group mining. Procurers and Skiffs were to be oriented towards high defense. Retrievers and Mackinaws were to be oriented towards autonomy, or solo mining as it were.

The design goal for Procurers and Skiffs has certainly succeeded.

The design goal for Covetors and Hulks has also succeeded for the most part.

But I would not say that the design goal for retrievers and mackinaws has succeeded.

There is no particularly strong motivation to use a Retriever or a Mackinaw to mine solo. Procurers and Skiffs are generally the superior option. They are faster and more agile, with a smaller signature radius. They are more durable and get a 50% bonus to combat drone damage. They have more capacitor, more powergrid, more CPU and more mid-slots. The only advantage Retrievers and Mackinaws have over Procurers and Skiffs is their cargohold and ore hold, but even then a Skiff is going to take at least 10 minutes to fill its ore hold to the brim without a mining foreman ship to boost it.

If Retrievers and Mackinaws had a 100% role bonus to mining drone yield, that would give the Mackinaw with five mining drones a yield equivalent to a Hulk with no mining drones (although less than a Hulk that also has five mining drones). A 200% role bonus and they would be equally as effective at mining solo as a Hulk with five mining drones. As mining drones are not affected by mining foreman command bursts, they would not have the same yield as a Covetor or Hulk when mining in a fleet and this would serve to solidify the Retriever's and Mackinaw's role as solo mining vessels. An increase in the drone bay volume would also benefit these ships in their intended role.

The Procurer and Skiff would still remain the ship of choice when strong defenses are needed, and the Covetor and Hulk would still remain the ship of choice when mining in a fleet, but Retrievers and Mackinaws would become highly effective solo mining ships in terms of yield, exceeding that of the other mining barges when mining solo.

As an aside, the Procurer and Skiff could probably use a mining drone yield bonus as well, but a smaller one.


No current balancing is pretty good. Only because nobody use it for solo mining, it´s not broken.

When you want max Yield take the Cov/Hulk. If you want a good tank take the Proc/skiff. If you have no hauler and don´t warp to station every 2 min take the Retriever/Mack.

No change needed.

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