Ships & Modules

So...

Recent events have pushed me down into null sec where I can mine in relative peace. I never thought I would say that, but it seems to be the case. I got myself a new null sec gansta mining look (), now I just need to think about my fittings. During the war in High Sec, I quickly realized how useless Retrievers were. They are slow, bulky and a wee bit crunchy. Seeing as the Orca was out of commision, I didn't have much use for my Covetor either. This left me with the Procurer.

Now, before I go any further, I should say I am not yet ready for an exhumer. I have a few days left on Astrogeology V and then I need to pick my Mining Barge up to level V from III. My fitting skills are core basic, other than where mining and sheilds are concerned. When it comes to a warship, right now I would have trouble fitting an elephant into a football field, but my barges are okay. Plus, I am not at the point where I can afford to be losing Skiffs. I have more the Sherman tank philosophy at the moment, cheap and disposable. I can probably mine out enough to buy a fitted Procurer every hour, if I live that long.

Call me crazy, but I like to figure out my intended purpose, and then fit accordingly. Here is how i see it:

A: The ideal situation is not to be on station when trouble arises. This should be Mining 101, so I will not beat that horse.
B: The not so ideal sitiuation is to be taking incoming fire, not be pointed, and in the process of getting out of Dodge.
C: The really bad situation is to be pointed, holding on, and hoping assistance gets to me before I pop.
D: D is for dead. If there is a concerted effort to get me, I am goind to lose (Cpt. Obvious). I am just trying to think about situations I might be able to avoid. Fitting to enable option D should be quite simple, a couple corp mates seem to have this down; but I would like to avoid option D as long as possible.

Sacrificing yeild is a no no, so there will be the approriate T2 mining gear in the high and low slots. Really, the discussion is what to do with my mid-slots. Some folks suggest rat specific hardeners in one, but I have no intention of trying to tango with null sec rats. In this case they are the cat and I am the rat; we shall play our roles accordingly. Picking one specific hardener against players also seems a bit silly. CPU is a bit of a problem for me, and is thus a limiting factor. This is what I have in mind so far:

Small Smartbomber (Kinetic?)
Adaptive Invuln
Medium Sheild Extender x2

I decided I didn't really need my Survey Scanner. It would be nice, but this is not a luxury cruise. I would like to run a medium smartbomber, but it is just not an option. The intent is to help me deal with some drone frigate looking for an easy kill. I swat the drones with the smartbomber, while my Hobgoblins go for my attacker. I'm no drone ace, but I do a good bit of damage. I reasoned Kinetic might be the best drone swatter, I am certainly open to ideas.

What I am less certain about is my Rigging. At the moment, the design logic calls for an EM Ward and two Sheild Extenders. Again, I want to have as much buffer as I can. Rigging is open to suggestion though. As an option, I had considered fitting a single large shield extender and a sheild booster, but I am not sure I can do so. The intention here would be to keep my buffer, but add a bit of a tank for sitiuation C. I have the feeling I will have to up my fitting game before I can achieve this. I might be able to risk pulling one Extender rig in favor of an appropriate Engineering rig, but I am not sure about the numbers.

So ya, blah blah blah blah...

If you made it this far, any thoughts?

if you're mining in nullsec, then pointed=dead. There really is no middle ground, so don't try to fit for it. Unless we're talking about NPC frigates.

Are we talking about NPC frigates?

Keep the survey scanner, it should keep your yields up. If you're using the procurer in nullsec, the only reason is to tank the NPC rats. You won't be tanking people. You still seem to be in a hisec mining mindset.

No, I was thinking of one of my corpmates who got eaten by a player in a drone frigate.

1. Local.
2. Intel.

Don't need to dscan in null and ls. Local is all you need. If you silly enough to keep mining when a neut comes in and wait till you see them on dscan... you probably deserve to be turned into space dust

I mined in nullsec for 1.5 years and never lost anything. Here are my pro tips.

When a unknown pilot enters your system, even if the pilot is in your corp or alliance if you have not spoken to him and know nothing about him, warp to a safe pos.

Add hostiles to watchlist and see if they go offline while in system.

Never mine at the warpin.

Make a deep safe if you think the safe pos is bubbled.

Look for combat probes while you are in a safe logging off.

Your best defense is never being caught by either players or npcs.

Never travel without a scout. I used a T3 cloaky/nulled scout Legion.

Never jump blind in a Rorqual or any ship. Ask for intel or scout it yourself with an alt.

Cargo cans are never worth risking a ship. I've had to ditch cans and it is annoying but not as bad as risking a ship or it's 1.3b pod that I use to own. (michi's/+5s/etc I don't mine anymore)

Don't provoke roamers in local as they may afk cloak in the system out of spite. Or if you do this just switch systems.

Roamers never stayed in my system for long and as they realized that they would never catch me they soon became friendly even though if they had the chance they would murder my mining fleet.

Thank you, all, for the advice. It is appreciated.

Years from now, when I am advising some noob (if that is the case) I will remember the first time I up and hauled down into null sec with a Proc and five mil skill points. I will be thinking of these various points as I putter out to my first rock, belt, or whatever the hell is out there.

I've just been letting it roll gamewise, the whole butterfly effect thing

So far so good...

Its also handy to make a dock bookmark. Warping to some stations will see you a few KM away and you will slowboat to dock.
Make a BM at zero on the station and warp to that so you can instantly dock when you land. I make mine as far away from the undock as I can, so at the top, bottom, or back of the station.