Science & Industry

Same value rocks with more risk. Where is the reward, or is there any?

3 of the top 5 rocks are in lowsec ... perhaps you're doing it wrong?

... hears there are awesome beaches and great food in Low Sec.

Well, I am kind of hoping that I am currently doing it wrong. What rocks should I be mining, that are plentiful only in lowsec, that would be more profitable than chewing away on Veldspar in highsec?

If you want to make relaxing isk I'd mine in hisec and null. If you want to play cat and mouse and make poop isk I'd go to lowsec.

I saw a large gniess deposit anom sit practically untouched in a low sec system for 3 full days. Some alliance members tried to mine in it but the rest of us kept sneaking up in SB's then decloaking and saying "boo" in local, landing at 0 in catalyst/brutix gank fleets, and seeing how far we could bump them. They gave up pretty quickly.

I guess its too stressful even when there are only friendlies in system.

Honestly though, every time I see an exhumer on D the first thing I think it's bait...but then again, I always seem to take the bait even when it is an obvious trap

Why are you out mining in low sec? Simple, you are not, nobody is. Why?

Even simpler, it is to dangerous. The risks out weight the rewards.

Sure, if you could mine non stop like you can in high sec the better ores would net you at least 50% better income. Even if there was no risk from other players the rats alone would require you to tank your ship, costing you some yield.

Add to that the fact that low sec is a PVP zone dominated by pirates and gankers more interested in easy PVP than getting organized enough to claim some null sec space. You can not mine in low sec the way you do in high sec, you will get poped before you even fill your ore hold once.

If you are very careful and only mine in the hidden grav sites where you need to be scanned down, you can get some mining in, maybe even make a profit, but you will still spend more time hiding than mining, giving you a lower isk/hr than mining in highsec. And that was before they removed grav sites and made them all anomalies that no longer need to be scanned down. Even if you are mining in a Skiff, the time it would take you to mine enough ore just to pay for your ship will leave you exposed long enough that your chances of getting caught and popped are way over 50%.

Many, including Fozzie insist this is not true. But I say prove it. That fact that mining activity in low sec is all but non existent proves that the risk vs reward makes low sec mining not worth while. Null sec mining is not much better, unless you are deep inside alliance space.

The reason low sec mining is not done is because to do so, inb a way that will not leave you sitting in your pod before you even pay for your ship, will leave you with an isk/hr ratio far below what you can make in high sec. Miners are risk adverse as it is, but the only ting they really care about is isk/hr. If they have the tools they need to mitigate that risk for a higher isk/hr many will leave the safety of high sec to do so, but only if they can mitigate the risk. That does not include relying on corp or alliance mates for protection. Even if they can successfully mitigate the risk, the rewards must be high enough offset that added risk. These margins are very small.

There is a reason why 99% of miners are in high sec, it simply is not worthwhile for them to leave. Those who find opportunities, or are clever enough to create opportunities will venture out. But only if the isk/hr is worth the effort. Even then their numbers are small.

At least 95% of the demand for high end minerals is met by miners living deep inside friendly sov space. Most high sec miners do not have access to space like this. large null sec alliances do not recruit miners, there recruit PVPers who may or may not have miner alts. For the rest mining outside of high sec is just not an option.

But.. but.. but.. there must clearly be a reason for it being the way it is?

I can not simply grasp why they would not raise the rewards from venturing into lowsec and 0.0 significantly, and how it would not contribute to the game in a positive way for everyone? Miners would have an alternative to the safety of highsec and pvp'ers would have more juicy targets to choose from and we could have a game going here.

I refuse to believe that it is the way it is because of bad design, so someone please explain this logic to me.

You'll have to, eventually. There's room for improvement at every corner.
Should you doubt it, next time you enter your captain's quarters in a station, try opening the door to your left.

Ive seen more and more comments related to taxing mining in low and null. This leads me to believe that the various entities in low and null are interested in mining occurring there, but are still feeling blocked by game mechanics. Those being:

Poor refining efficiency.
No automatic way for a corp or alliance to profit from it.