Science & Industry

30 minutes seems kinda slow to me...

Your fits are suboptimal.
I get 30K just with fittings alone, 31+K overheated - and thats just with my alt which doesn't have LVL 5 tanking skills. Factor in gang boosts and implants and you can go way above that. Also, your 'Raw' hulk fails to take into account EHP losses from Cargohold mods/rigs. (mods kill Structure, rigs kill Armor) I'd say the 'average' Hulk out there generally fits multiples of both.

But that aside - what, 30K+ EHP. isn't enough? I don't see how a 'balancing pass' is necessary. You do realize that insurance for gankers has already been nerfed, which is essentially a stealth Hulk buff by significantly increasing the cost of the average gank (or at least requires gankers to coordinate a large mob of destroyers).

I'd say any miner that tanks up to 30K and doesn't mine AFK (ie, keeps an eye on local and ganking activity) is quite safe - especially if there are softer targets around.

mining has gone quite some time without much developer love. But that is because mining does not need fixing. at least not compared to other aspects of the game.
Sure there are several area's where there is room for improvement but nothing in mining is broken. almost ever other profession in game has aspects that are essentially broken. Area' that need fixing. these take priority over mining improvements.

If you look at mining ships the same way as combat ships you will have your answer. As others in this thread have said with combat ships you need to find your balance between tank vs gank. Mining ships you need to find the balance between tank and yield that best suites your objective. if you fit a ship for maximum yield you sacrifice your tank just as a combat ship fit for maximum DPS sacrifices its tank.

Hulks are generally fit for maximum yield in high sec. it is safe, a basic hulk with drones can tank any rats that spawn in high sec belts and ganking is not nearly as common as some would have you believe, as long as you are smart.

If you want to mine in low or null you have a choice to make. risk a max yield hulk for max profit? I wouldn't even consider it unless deep inside alliance territory with protection readily available.
A max yield fit covetor may be worth the risk in a low activity system.
A hulk fit for max tank still has a good yield and decent survivability but will be a prime gank target for pirates. HULK wrecks yield good salvage as they are T2 ships.
A battleship such as a Rohk or Apoc can make a good mining ship. they can fit 8 T2 mining lasers and either several mining laser upgrades or one hell of a good tank. Safer and cheaper than using a hulk and a pretty decent yield considering.

There are however a couple improvements I would like to see in mining. I would not place these as high priority but would still like to see them.

procurer/retriever balance. the procurer is a useless ship. it is supposed to be the entry level mining barge but the mining cruiser you would be stepping up from can out mine it. it needs something to make it a useful stepping stone. I would think maybe give the procurer the two strip miners with the retriever still at two but with more cargo and a better tank and maybe slightly better yield bonus over the procurer.

With regard to the request many keep making for a new 0.0 mining ship. I understand where this desire is coming from but this would have to be very carefully implemented in order to not be game breaking. All other PVE activities in null can be done solo so mining should be also able to be done solo without the need for officer or dead space mods. If this ship was added it should not have greater yield than a hulk, in fact it should be significantly less. yo want max yield risk it with a hulk. You want to be safe you must give up some of your yield. profits are way higher for null sec minerals so you do not need massive yield to have a huge increase in profits, what you need is survivability.

I do not believe there is enough demand for a 0.0 mining ship to warrant the developer time needed to develop a new ship from scratch. However I have heard rumors of tech 3 battleships being developed. A mining subsystem in the offensive slot allowing these ships to equip strip miners is all that would be needed. A T3 battleship should have plenty of tank to make it survivable as a mining ship. Problem solved with one sub system for a ship that would be primarily developed for combat.

The only ship I can imagine that could possibly have a higher yield than a hulk that would not be game breaking would be some sort of capital class mining ship. I am not suggesting the development of a new ship , but I am thinking a Capital class mining laser that would be equipped on a dread. if it had yield comparable to a T2 strip miner but some dreads could equip four of them that would in my mind be a reasonable way to have a ship with greater yield than a hulk without being game breaking. It would also add some usefulness to dreads as they are currently not used much other than POS bashing. It would be easy to implement, a single new module. And the risk of losing a dread would more than make up for the higher yield compared to a hulk