EVE General Discussion

As I have stated in other threads, Soundwave stated in the Ten Ton Hammer interview that at least 40% of high end minerals come from the Drone Regions, the vast majority of that drone poop

Based on that number, we are seeing enormous run-ups in the cost of minerals
Some will say this is due to speculation, others will say that the prices have been artificially depressed for years and are now floating to a new equilibrium

I would like to suggest that whatever the reasons of the run up, the mineral price increases are making it much more profitable to mine in all sectors of space. Also many null sec alliances will either NEED to hire miners or perish. Plus, the entire game depends on high end minerals to some extent.

Though I have no love lost for null sec alliances, I recognize they are part of the game, and that it can be great fun
But I think that to make null sec mining seen as a more viable profession in null, a couple things may have to change

1. Any refinery at a POS can only operate at most 75% efficiency. That is a huge hit for any null sec or wh mining operation
You could increase mineral supply by 33% simply by removing that damper. And btw, not every null sec group has access to station refineries.

2. Create a class of mining vessels that can be cynoed in and out of belts. I think it would be great fun if ninja mining could become a profession. Plus, you could see low sec/high sec groups jumping into null space and "stealing" ore from null sec turf, just as I imagine you will see similar groups doing with R class materials in rings. I suppose that larger organizations can jump in Rorqual's and carriers full of Hulks, but I think for smaller groups it would be cool to be able to operate an independent jumpable mining vessel.

3. If you are looking at randomizing the spawn locations of R-class material in rings, why not the same thing with ABC asteroid belts. You already have the game mechanic built for wormhole pockets, just extend it to asteroid belts. Heck, you should extend that function to ALL asteroid belts in ALL space.

I don't think pos refining is too low. I think empire refining is too high.

Also the rising prices of minerals seems to be caused by more then just the panic over the dronepoo. Team Security seems to be banning a lot of mining-bots right now. Its not only the high-ends that are rising hard.

It's not a new idea, been mentionned already in various posts, but simply put, there should only be grav sites, no fixed-location belts, that would completely break automation for mining bots in the same process and ease the workload on Sreegs.