Ships & Modules

Hi guys/girls


So I have a question for the pilots who are into mining. Might be the newb question above 'em all... but hey, if I want answers I have to ask.

I'm in the situation where a change of ship is coming. The Venture has served me well during the past weeksbut now I want to get a mining barge.

I've read page up and page down about different fits, views and experiences. Yet one question is left unanswered to me.
Maybe it's just my nature to analyse everything to death, but here goes.

The ships in question are: Procurer, Covetor and the Retriever.

Looking at the stuff I've read and the pure stats the Retriever is no question the cargo-beast of the lineup.
Fragile maybe when compared to the Procurer that comes to it's right if you end up in a messy situation while mining.
- this is also reflected in it's ore hold.

But the ship I've read close to nothing about is the 3rd in this lineup; the Covetor. Yes it has a minimum sized ore hold. Maybe not too hardcore for defending itself but in raw yield it's the monster.
This way it can fill it's hold fast (good for fleet mining with an Orca). But in my twisted mind this has an extra "bonus" to it.
- you're in danger in shorter periods while mining. If you change spots between 2-3 belts while mining this would keep you rather safe in my mind but am I way off here?

I simply can't believe that the Covetor is only 100% fleet mining - it must have it's place in solo mining too... or did I miss something while reading about mining barges?

As you might have guessed I mine both solo and fleet. Not 50/50 at the moment but that will come with a better ship.



Thanks for any input - but if all you can do is troll a new player then just stay quiet.

As roseline mention, three mining barge is same in base yield, even they dun have equal no of strip miner

Covetor mine more then Retriever, but due to the small ore hold, it suits in jetcan mining. that mean somone haul for u
otherview, use retriever to save your docking up time. Time is money

If you only can afford one barge, go for retriever.

The Covetor does get a slight edge in raw yield, but it pays for it with the small ore bay reducing your loiter time; the time you need to spend in transit to and from your dock sort of negates the Covetor's yield bonus.

The Procurer's good if you're worried about ganks, not just because it's inexpensive, but because it can be set up to tank like a battleship.

Thanks for your input.

I think I'll go for Ret' for starters. Fill that ore hold good some times and then invest in the Covetor for fleeting once the Ret' is upgraded to a good leve.

But yeah, I've heard about the pilots who believe they can claim taxes or hunt miners down.

The choices are very straightforward.

Venture: Awesome for gas harvesting. Fit for GTFO, not tank.
Retriever: The baseline choice for solo mining. Lower yield, bigger ore hold = less trips to the station.
Procurer: For mining in hostile territory. Mining ship with a tank.
Covetor: For mining ops with Orca support. High yield, small hold. Jettison those cans and let the Orca do its job.

If you plan to do any "serious" mining, you'll NEED a Retriever. The others are niche ships that fill their specific role.

I solo always so here's my 0.2¢ on how I go about it.

Never ever mine in a regular belt in a retriever no matter what it's to soft esp in lower systems and the roids get too small once you get above 0.8 then you just end up moving around too much.

If you mission mine then feel free to use the retriver with minimum risk.

Mining in a procurer is your safest bet for belt mining in all systems 0.9-0.5 I typically stay in 0.6 system if I even belt mine and have never been bothered but have seen retriever/mack hauls in the belt.

The yield difference is not that great compared with all the ganking that happens now for lol's.

The covetor can be used as a solo mission miner whilst jetcaning but otherwise it is soooo soft if you fart in your pod you may lose your ship, and jetcan mining in a belt is begging for trouble.

Never ever ever ever mine with a mack in a common belt it is gankers favorite food.

Or you can do it my way get a hauler alt train him for an orca then get 2 more toons and fleet mine have yet to get ganked as well as you will no longer need to pay for eve 07 fly safe

I would go for procurer. It totally not attractive for suicide ganking and once you qualify for the modulated strips you would have to take into account that it consumes 50% less crystals than retriver or 66% less crystals than covertor.

Crystals, in turn, are quite substatial additional boost to yield. T1 crystals net you 8% over the T1 strips and T2 crystals 16% yield advantage over the T1 strip miner.

Ofc you would need to manually manage your laser, as with only one of them you can seriously overshoot the asteroids wasting time on a basically depleted asteroid.