Assembly Hall

Dear CSM,

I recently experienced a high-sec gank that I thought was a complete exploit of Eve and the material extraction profession (ice and asteroid harvesting). I have read and witnessed gank after gank in high-sec where the typical aggressors are t1, meta 0-1 destroyers piloted by experienced players. How can it be that a corp of very low security status (including its members) can clone jump or pod race to a high sec station, fit a destroyer, undock, warp to a scout at 0 km, and melt down a ship without consequence? Yes their ships are either destroyed by CONCORD or they self-destruct (<4m ISK). Yes their security status is lowered, but now they can increase it again by tag ratting in low/null sec space. Their objective is ONLY to destroy ships, disrupt market activity, and generally be a PITA.

Things have gotten so bad recently that it is nearly a fruitless effort to mine or ice. Players wanting or needed raw materials need to create a fleet with combat and logistic support. When will the game mechanics change to drastically limit aggression towards high sec barges & exhumers?

Here are my suggestions:
1 - +2 warp core strength to all Exhumers
2 - Increase the resistance bonus from 4% per level to 8% per level (yes make it high for this class of ship)
3 - Reduce the drone bay to 25 m3 if needed
4 - Grant a shield boosting bonus of 7.5% per level
5 - If 1 thru 5 are not possible, then provide CONCORD and the Navy ships with logistics to allow the ship to escape and survive.

In short, give the material extraction pilots a fighting chance to flee and save their ship. All bets are off if the barge/exhumer pilot start the aggression...

I look forward to your thoughts and those contributing to a better Eve.

It's just a matter of consequences.

The Consequences do not match the offense.

Criminals have free reign of space even after destroying your ship.

There is no law even in the highest of empire systems.
Concord is NOT a law enforcement even though the wiki says:

CONCORD DED division
The main responsibility of the DED is to track high-profile criminals. For this they often hire independent contractors (better known as bounty hunters). The DED handles the licenses and legal issues of all bounty hunters for the empires, although some of the empires have been known to bypass the DED in special circumstances. Also, the most notorious criminals are marked as free-for-all targets by the DED.
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This doesn't even stop a KNOWN criminal from docking.

CONCORD won't stop them from blowing up you ship, but they will only blow up thiers.

At that point, the can dock buy a new ship and go back at it or go buy tags4sec in low sec or use the ones they brought with them.

Said negative status should imply a penalty or tax to purchase a new ship or equipment.
A fee to undock should also be applied.
UNLESS they have used their tags4sec to impove their security status.

Either way, it will cost them to improve their sec status or fees to buy and try it again.
Their should be a 30 day wait to biomass said character to prevent bypassing the penatly.
That is one Consequence idea.

Yet another gank whine thread.

Eve is hard and brutal. Deal with it.

Exhumers have been buffed and there are already mining ships specifically dedicated to tanking. Use the tools you've already been given.

Please understand that I am NOT whining. I am pointing out that there are opportunities to improve the game mechanics like some have posted in this thread. This is about a healthy and constructive dialogue. Clearly there are issues when I high sec gate camp near Dodi can pop any ship they want (mostly Industrials) simply because they want to...

This is not my only character. I posted that I was NOT working solo... I had another character piloting an Orca with logistics and other mining support. It was not enough... I do not AFK mine and am watchful of local and scans... it does not matter in a system with decent pilot activity.

1 - I have perfect skills with all forms of material extraction, incluing ship bonuses
2 - I ALWAYS fit a tank on all my ships
3 - I own and use a Skiff that is heavily tanked

I have seen pilots in Deninard lose their Skiffs to ganks... Even with a logistics support and in a group of Skiffs there is still an issue in high-sec. Please explain how a gang can pop a Skiff with an EHP of 88k before the Navy/CONCORD can take "appropriate" action (gank situation). Again, reinstating the +2 warp strength the Skiff once had would be a great place to start.

All material extraction pilots, including myself, have accepted the reduced (dare I say diminished) yields in order to survive.

What are your thoughts?

My thoughts are that you have plenty at your disposal to be able to mine. It seems that your looking for a way to tip the scales in your favor, and no, I dont think most people will agree with that.

So, instead of asking for an entire reworking of industrial ship stats, why not consider other options? Just a few:

You said your using more than one character. Replace one of their mining boost ships with an ECM cruiser. Gankers dont have much time to pull off a successful hit before being CONCORDED, so few will wish to attempt to engage a mining barge with a jamming ship on grid.

Why not mine in lowsec? Pirates? Work out a deal. I would be willing to let you mine in our system just because it will attract targets to you. (In turn, giving us more people to shoot at) No, it wont guarantee absolute protection, but you would have help from us just for being "bait". Im sure other systems occupants would be willing to deal as well... isk for mining privlages. I wouldnt bring the orca, though...

Shyte, you may even be able to pull off finding a low-populated lowsec system and mine in peace, just look at the map and filter kills in last 24 hours. There are MANY systems out there that arent heavily populated.

The intent was never to be able to conduct any profession in this game with no risk, and I think that your suggestions would make mining ships untouchable. But you know, the thing is.... even if CCP did what you asked for... the gankers would find a new way to deal with it. (Such as fitting a few ships with many mid slots with nothing but scrams to counter your warp core bonus).

Thank you for your feedback.

Just to clarify, I suggested changes to Barges and Exhumers and not other Industrials. I think reinstating the +2 warp strength to the Skiff is not asking much at all. Additionally, I never asked for high-sec or anything to be risk free, nor would I ever suggest it. Yes, there is always a counter move to every offensive and defensive move -- such is life. IMO, the ECM cruiser would be popped easily along with a barge and most exhumers, but the idea warrants further thought and consideration.

It is possible we could work out a deal with material extraction in your system with provided "protection". Contact me in-game if you would like to discuss this further.