Science & Industry

I like mining.

I don't AFK much. I play a few accounts so I can boost, haul, and mine all by myself because my playtime can be sporadic and I don't want to rely on others or have them relying on me. I like being able to click into my browser window for a few minutes here or there while still keeping an eye on local and clicking dscan. I enjoy sucking ore out of these asteroids, knowing that the minerals that will come from them are the foundation of what (most) everyone in the game does.

I know that mining isn't the most lucrative profession in the game, and I like it in spite of that. But I still would like to make the most isk possible with the time I spend mining.


So far, I've got ~4 million SP on a few different accounts. I've only been playing for a few weeks recently, so I'm pretty much a noob apart from the reading I've done on various aspects of the game since I started up again. I've been mining in a pretty remote area of highsec to avoid gankers and competition and using industrials to haul ore/minerals to the nearest hub for sale, then upgrading my ships, implants, modules, etc., as possible.


What should I be researching from here in terms of increasing my isk/hour, apart from just continuing to improve skills and moving into better ships? I've considered relocating to a station-less system and setting up a PoS to base myself out of and either compressing ore there or perhaps getting into t1 manufacturing to try to spend less time hauling and/or get more profit out of the ore I have... but I don't know anything about PoSes. I've considered going to nullsec and joining one of these "perfect rorqual boosts available 23/7, no tax, no mandatory ops" types of corps, but I'm not sure if I care for the idea of being tucked away in the depths of nullsec like that. I've considered joining a corp to bug them with these sorts of questions, but because of my aforementioned playtime issues and other things, I'm not too keen on that yet. Lowsec seems out of the question in terms of risk v reward, even though I think I'd like trying to forge my own way there if it weren't so. WH? I know nothing about WH space.


I'd love any good advice anyone has, otherwise I'll just be relegated to more random reading about POSs and WH space while I continue plugginga way at these highsec asteroids!

To find out which ore is actually the most valuable ore cerlestes might help.

I can´t tell you much about mining in low or 0.0 but i´m living in WH Space so may be i can tell a litlle bit about mining there.
You don´t have static Asteroid belts in WH, but the earlier so called hidden belts which are now anomalies. They appear per accident in your system and will stay for about 4 Days. After they´re completely mined or have disappeared, the next one can be there on the same day or it can take up to 3 or 4 weeks until the next one will arrive.
The belts in WH Space do have 0.0 quality so A,B,C is all them but Mercoxit is only available in WH-Class 4 or higher. Have a look at the local doesn´t work as traveler won´t appear automatically, but only if they write anything in it. So D-Scan is your best friend but you should always have a look at the system scanner too, for the reason that any new WH connection will appear in your system.
Every neutral pilot will try to destroy you and most of them are cloaked. If you´re not alone, but have friends who will watch at the holes, mining in WH can be relatively safe, but if you´re alone, it will be riskier than low probably.

Actually, WH isn´t a good place to do mining only.

In fact, you can't do a damn thing to make mining better. In highsec, the only thing to care for is random gankers. There is a pill for that, called Procurer/Skiff.

In low/null you are watching intel and either:
a)Sitting at POS helplessly every time neutral/red flying in the system.
b)Spamming d-scan, watching overview and praying.
c)Waiting eternity to get buddies (For that extra firepower) into THE LEAST lucrative thing, spam d-scan, then being abandoned anyway.

To add insult to injury, low/null sec minerals like zydrine and megacyte (You can farm crapload of Nocx out of Pyroxeres) is a pale shadow of what average manufacture job takes in tritanium, pyerite, mexallon and other highsec-abundant minerals.
To top it off, null/low ore is NOT the best in terms isk/m3. Nullsec logistics eat away considerable piece of profit due to risk, expenses and requiring coordination of several people for just one run.

What makes Null beautiful is possibility to run full cycle of PI, moon mining, moon goo reactions and cover other expenses by ratting. Take ratting out of equation - and you'll get piece of junk nobody wants.

Lower security systems indeed got bigger rocks. The trouble is? Correlation between size of rocks and actual minerals in them is not that direct as you can think. 4500m rock with 87k veldspar in it? Here goes the Low sec rock, 18 km in diameter, high chances of stucking in it and either trying to fly away for a minute or flying at random direction at interceptor speed of 8km/sec for that minute. Congratulations, that rock will give you... 117k veldspar.

Nullsec ores got quantities that close to kernite, but since each unit takes a space of 16m3, it'll take a lot of time to mine it out. There is a big spodumain rock in ore anomalies spawned by system upgrade with considerable size, yes, but you are not able to mine afk anyway. The wasted cycles mitigated by using survey scanner.

What comes to POS, math is pretty simple. It takes 80 millions of hardware (Compression array and Small tower itself) and 110million worth of fuel to keep small tower up and running for month. Since there is no limit on how many people use it, the more the better. You can cut these costs by off-lining tower when it not needed and on-lining when you want to compress it.
Oh, and compression array takes 20 000 000m3 of ore inside.

Is it profitable? There's a lot of factors to that. Many people set up POS just for having gank-proof Orca booster, but I've never got myself to be victimized on high-sec mining (Not counting two accidents: First when I started stealing ice from bot, ahem, isboxer, receiving stabber rectal exam, second when I fell asleep, lost Procurer to rats and pod to random guy who decided to examine belts).

- If you have more than two accounts train one of them into an Orca + leadership skills. An Orca is an incredibly useful ship in general plus it will greatly increase the mining output & can handle moderate level of hauling. (maybe you already have an orca since you mentioned boosting).

- the size of the rocks is dependent on how long ago they were mined out. I think the size of rocks in .5-.7 is about the same, but the rocks will grow to their maximum size over 3 days. Try to find systems that are not mined out -- This can be easier in systems without a station. A very large number of belts in system will also help. Use Dotlan and display systems by the number of asteroid belts.

- Train one of your characters to operate a freighter.

- Experiment with ice mining. It's not as lucrative as it use to be, but you can mine one ice rock for up to 30 minutes. You can also get to know some neighbors. Some ice belts are friendly -- others no one ever talks.

- Strip Miner II's and crystals will increase yield, but add hassle.

- Mining ore anomalies adds some nice variety and will give you some important minerals if you get into manufacturing. To find them just pull CNTRL-P to get the window and make sure Anomalies is checked.

- Experiment with some other aspects of the game such as exploration, missions, pvp before you max out the mining skills.

- Make sure you have Laser Upgrade II.

- Lowsec is not worth it from an IPH stance, but who cares if you enjoy it.

- CCP recently released a report that showed ~98% of mining takes place in high-sec (most of the rest in Providence). But there is speculation there will be a push to mine in Null-Sec if the SOV changes this summer use Mining to help claim system usage.


- Mining missions are another way to mine rocks that require a lot less interaction (Two retrievers can team the mission to reduce warping to station & an orca give a good in system boost) The gas mining missions with a venture are especially effort efficient.


- Try Planetary Interaction if you enjoy mining.


Here's a link with some info that might be useful: The Mining Guide

This Mining Blog has some very good info on running a small mining fleet.

cheers

p.s. I love drone skills, but I feel like I wasted time on mining drones based on their pitiful yield

1. You can compress you ore at a POS. Compressed ore is easier to move and pays a bit better. Only online when you need it.

2. For mining missions google "greedy goblin" and search for his thukker mining guides.

3. Think about producing something with your ore or even trading. When you haul around, you can also make some additional ISKies while doing it.

4. Think about WH, Lowsec or Null mining. Even if its only daytripping with a Venture. Get a feeling for the other regions. Doesn´t mean you have to abandon High completely.

higher tanked mining ships isn't the magic pill for your safer mining either. I watched a fleet of nicely tanked skiffs a couple months ago get dropped on by a smartbomb group "to prove a point". Some gankers like doing that and don't care what they lose.

This guy has written a blog entry about his experience mining in Null: Staring at Rocks

I'm going to waste an enormous amount of time goofing around with this site, lol.

I too like mining, but what made it really enjoyable was the social atmosphere of the corp I was with. So my first recommendation would be to find a corp that a) likes to mine, and b) has people you like.

I cannot stress getting into a corp strongly enough. They will give you a reason to keep shooting rocks long after the novelty has worn off. They will also assist you with any noob (and not so noob) questions about Eve, give you fitting advice, help you haul, refine, and generally make life in Eve easier.

Some groups have bases in null, wh's, or low-sec, giving you the option to try all three with some assistance from the corp veterans. Finally, they will be able to guide you in whatever your next steps are beyond beyond mining.

Good luck!