Ships & Modules

While the topic is still a matter of debate for many people, I have a generally positive opinion of the mining barge/exhumer changes.

The solo vs fleet mining tradeoffs between the retriever/mack and covetor/hulk make for a really meaningful choice depending on your circumstances.

However, the poor procurer/skiff still seems a little left out.

While it is, indeed, basically ungankable in high sec (or rather, it is completely unprofitable to gank) that trait alone does not seem to make up for its lack of yield and cargo.

What seems odd is that they removed the original +2 warp strength bonus from the ship. While warp strength in high isn't really needed at all, since you are relying on your massive tank to keep you alive while Concord does its job... adding that back in would breathe new life into the procurer/skiff: Solo low/null/wh mining. With that massive tank, you'd be able generally survive against the stronger rats in those belts. In addition, if you were to be attacked by a player pirate, you would generally be able to tank their damage and warp out even if they brought one or two points.

Of course the low slots could be fitted with additional stabs if you wanted to be extra safe...or you could fit them for yield and pray your attackers don't bring more than 2 points.

This would preserve dynamic fitting choices with the procurer/skiff while further emphasizing their stated role as a "Super tanky high-risk mining ship". After all, what good is all that tank outside of high if it is easily pointed and worn down.


And of course...ultimately it would be an inferior choice to an orca boosted hulk protected by combat ships...but it might encourage more solo industrialists to wander into low/null/whs as they would have a fighting chance to escape and still get a decent yield. On the flip side, pirates who are specifically skiff hunting might know to fit extra points and equip for longer, sustained DPS rather than high-alpha. They too would have legitimate chance against an unwary or ill-prepared miner.

I'm not suggesting the skiff be able to fight back outside of high, just have a reasonable chance of fleeing.

Most pirates carry 1-2 points solo. Any more and they give up valueble mid slots that could be used for shields, webs, cap boosters etc. A pirate must go out of their way and slightly gimp their normal PVP ability to fit the additional points...but doing so will let them to trap and burn down a high yield skiff.

A skiff pilot who is paranoid about pirates packing 3+ points can sacrifice yield for STABS, thus allowing them escape in those situations.

A really hardcore pirate can really gimp their PVP fit and carry 5 points to ensure a skiff doesn't get away no matter what. Even then they still run the risk that the skiff is just bait and they are suddenly fighting another combat ship that isn't overburdned with carrying 3 point modules.

All in all, if a solo pirate warps to a solo skiff, the outcome of that encounter is not instantly known by either party unless they know each other's fitting. The choice of fitting on both sides is not 100% clear.

In other words: Dynamic and uncertain combat = healthy combat. If the skiffs always got away, pirates wouldn't bother, and if the pirates always won, skiffs wouldn't try in the first place. At the moment, with no warp strength bonus, a skiff would have to sacrifice their yield to get, at most +2 strength, that a pirate could easily overcome with just one extra point module. Since fitting two STABs decreases the reward of mining outside of high sec while not greatly decreasing the risk, you don't see skiff/procurer pilots even trying.

Or you could simply be competent and watch your scanner as well as Local. Carebears always want things spoon fed to them, I swear.

Solo mining in lowsec isn't 'high-risk'. It's just plain dumb.

Stopped reading there. The skiff has great EHP now and is commonly used nowadays to bait people. The +2 warp strength is not necessary anymore. If you are solo in a skiff in lowsec you should be paying attention, if you are solo in a skiff in nullsec you should have friends.

[Skiff, L4]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

Gistum A-Type Medium Shield Booster
Gistum A-Type Medium Shield Booster
Gist B-Type EM Ward Field
Gist B-Type Thermic Dissipation Field
Dread Guristas Adaptive Invulnerability Field

Strip Miner I

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II


Hammerhead II x5

The Skiff can already do L4s if you throw enough money at it. Tank is 561 DPS "omni" and it pushes out 220 DPS which is on par with drakes so in theory it ought to be able to do most L4s. Aggro will be a pain to get given that it has to run into stuff to get it, but at least the thing pushes 250m/s at top speed so rat-ramming won't take as long as in a dominix without guns, painters, or a speed booster. Presuming EFT's reporting the correct numbers. For some reason I thought the Skiff's top speed was only 90m/s, but EVE-Mon corroborates it so...

Couldn't you throw a NOS or a TP on there to get aggro?

Target painters use mid-slots and would weaken the tank. Fitting somewhat better hardeners and going for rat-specific hardeners would possibly free up a mid-slot for one or to use an afterburner to go faster (if it has the grid, not sure0, but in the current setup a painter wouldn't work. Speaking of the power grid it's too low to allow any but small vampires, and with their range being so short you've probably already aggro'd the NPCs by getting that close.

A painter might be workable, but the high slot is most likely best left for a strip miner so you can get some ore while your drones nuke other stuff. You've got a 15km3 ore bay, you might as well use it, and fitting mining drones would lower your DPS while a strip miner wouldn't. Well, it wouldn't lower your DPS unless you want to fit a smartbomb in that high slot, but that's rather discommended.

I don't remember local being all that useful in wh's.