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Very true, with the new mining ship buffs null sec mining is far from impossible. In fact in its current state it is fairly easy to mine safely in sov null.

But it is no longer just a matter of killing or tanking the rats. When the new A.I. goes live it will all change. This is not an issue with null sec mining as it is now. The issue is with the changes to the A.I. making the current methods used for null sec mining no longer work. There are only a few methods that are effective for running a mining op in null sec. If they new A.I. makes those methods ineffective we will need to come up with new methods most likely needing to use the new skiffs just to survive the rats, with no regard for invading players. But that is all workable.

The problem however is that these changes will make null sec mining not only more dangerous as rats will actually be a threat, but will also make it far less efficient as we will be mining with skiffs instead of hulks. This will throw the risk/reward balance way out of whack for null sec mining. All minerals derived from null sec ores will go way up in price. What this means for you PVPers is that you ships will become much more expensive, AGAIN.

Why would I mine null sec ores in a skiff for 20 mil/hr when I can mine high sec ores for 25 mil/hr. I won't, and neither will most other miners. But null sec minerals will still be needed. This will drive the price of those minerals way up.

Therefore, we need to have a balance between risk-reward. The rats in Null-sec should be harder. Ratting is too easy as is in Null. I managed to do it after barely 2 months. That said, the rewards for mining in null-sec need to be higher. The easiest way to do that is reduce the "amount to refine". That way the flow of materials can remain consistent with the demand of the expanding EVE universe. Which will keep the miner's happy with the rewards. Everyone else will be happier with the increased difficulty with null-sec rats. PvPers can still get their ships without forking out a leg and an arm for them. So, unless I am mistaken that compromise works.

Anyone with more experience in-game than me have any thoughts on that?

Stumbled across the thread, thought I'd suggest a constructive solution to the OP's problem.

OP, you mention the use of BS-class cap-stable ships to tank rats; and now, it won't work as rats change targets. If the BS is not the rat's constant primary anymore, why not switch it to a full ECM boat? A Scorpion with 6-8 jammers should take care of the rats quite nicely. Or a similar heavy-midslot boat running multiple tracking disruptors or remote sensor dampeners (I know rats have been said to lock at insane ranges, I never tested these two but you could still try their effectiveness). IMO, your worst-case scenario is having to use an ECM Scorpion. Maybe the rats won't all be perma-jammed, but even a T1-tanking Hulk or Covie should have no trouble tanking intermittent hits. Especially if that Scorpion is fit with medium repair drones.

Hope this helps.


~ Scozz

Wait, earlier it was every 10 minutes. Now its every once in a while? Play semantics on definitions for amounts somewhere else, stay on topic. Killing 5-7ish rats every 10ish min = bounty, loot, salvage, which comes out to quite a bit over the time you spend mining. In particular armor plates add up. But you may be missing that if you just attempt to afk mine out there in nullsec, which is the thing that seems to be what is really bothering you. Active mining, you can tank it long enough for drones to do the job if you have a couple of ships with drones out (if you are Hulking, I assume you have other ships out, maybe an orca. If not, you are in the wrong ship anyway).

I don't 'own' any nullsec. But I do mine in it. Pros of being helpful at times, you get to play in some alliances back yard.

The argument stands. Don't like the change? Use a ship that can tank. The exhumer tierecide was put out specifically for that reason. Plenty of choices. ;)

But by all means, hold out and see if / what CCP has to say on it. I am guessing they don't even respond, but hey, you may get lucky.

~Z

A wise man once said "STFU if you have no clue" - miners can kill rats easily - not the toughest officer spawns, that might be, but standard belt-rats are a piece of cake. Oh, and this is coming from 0.0 with the toughest normal belt-rats in EvE = Drones with varying dmg types.

But I hope that this change will force some tards out of Nullsec, will help my income after all.