Ships & Modules

I'm one of the few people who has fallen in love with mining. I have done it everyday since I started and it's a nice thing to do. I'll soon be flying in a mackinaw and I need suggestions on fittings. I am mining in a 0.6 sec area were there mostly are rats that go down with only 3 lvl 1 combat drones.

Until this day I have been mining in a retriever and my fit has been the following. It's nothing impressive.

HIGH
Modulated Strip Lasers II - Kernite T2 Crystals
Modulated Strip Lasers II - Kernite T2 Crystals

RIGS
Medium Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Medium Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Medium Semiconductor Memory Cell I

LOW
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II

I'm buying a mackinaw mainly because of the cargo and the bonus %'s and eventually I will start using the barge for it's ultimate purpose. The site is already full of these fits but I want something else. A high yield and fill my cargo rapidly even though it's large so I can be as efficient as possible. I'm just gathering some money since I haven't played for very long, I'll move to null sec later probably and upon that I will change the fit.

The problem is people like the above poster, who will try to gank a Mackinaw just for the "lulz*" ... especially if you fly it without any tank and in a 0.6 security system.

The basic T1 Retriever mines just as well, and if someone ganks it ... oh well, it was cheap. Being cheap means you can forgo tank and focus on yield. So in that sense it is actually better than a Mackinaw, because with a Mack you have to tank the crap out of it to deter gankers.

Either way, if you're going to fly a Mack, stay in 1.0 and 0.9 systems and just fill it with ECM drones. Rats don't spawn there and ECM can ruin a would-be ganker's plans quite effectively.


*"lulz" is a sickness that often infects adolescent males who are insecure about the size of their manhood and, incapable of being real-life bullies, seek to use various internet means to bully others in order to compensate for their smallness.

[Mackinaw, COMEATMEBRAH!]

Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Damage Control II
Mining Laser Upgrade II

Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Small F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Modulated Strip Miner II, Kernite Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Kernite Mining Crystal II

Medium Processor Overclocking Unit I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Hobgoblin II x5
Mining Drone I x5

Stats (with Level 5 skills)
- harvests ~1120 ore a minute (~1400 with the mining drones)
- has ~36,000 effective hitpoints
- passively regenerates ~40 damage per second
- deals ~90 damage per second using the Hobgiblin IIs (more than enough to take out high-sec belt rats)
- capacitor stable @ ~60%
- aligns in ~12.5 seconds from a "cold stop"

NOTES:
- the CPU is a bit tight so you might have to drop a Tech 2 Invulnerability Field to a "Meta" variant.
- this makes "for-profit" ganking slightly borderline... having an Orca use Siege Warfare links will push the odds of making a gank "unprofitable" more in your favor (key words italicized).
- if you really want to "gank-proof" yourself I suggest using a Procurer or Skiff.

I live in a 0.5, and I fly a Mackinaw. I've been there for over a year, and I finally ran across my first gank attempt last week. I was flying this fit:
[Mackinaw, Thumper]

Damage Control II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Overdrive Injector System II

Survey Scanner II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Small Shield Extender II
EM Ward Amplifier II

Modulated Strip Miner II, Plagioclase Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Plagioclase Mining Crystal II

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Warrior II x5
Salvage Drone I x2
Mining Drone II x3

They had a decoy in a Procurer bump me out of alignment, and jumped 2 gank fit Catalysts in on top of me. Only got through my shield and about a quarter of my armor before I warped. But before the decoy warped in and started acting fishy, I was running this:
[Mackinaw, Max yield w/ depot for tank]

Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II

Survey Scanner II
Small Shield Extender II
EM Ward Amplifier II
[Empty Med slot]

Modulated Strip Miner II, Plagioclase Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Plagioclase Mining Crystal II

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Warrior II x5
Mining Drone II x5

Because with the new Mobile Depot, if you're bold enough and paying attention to your mining surroundings, you can store your tank modules in your hold, and swap them out when things look like they're going sideways. This is extremely risky, but I've had success with it so far. When the Procurer started creeping up on me, I popped open the fitting service on the Depot, swapped modules, and scooped the Depot. Saved my bacon.

Katran is correct though. If you're doing anything close to AFK mining in a 0.6, you should just stock up on Retrievers. Macks are targets.

Rule #1: Don't forget your suitcase. DCU II adds a bunch of EHP, and would make me not want to try to kill you without a second (probably 3rd) catalyst. Also consider an invulnerability field or 2. Basically, yes, follow the above suggestions. There are so many .6 systems with many untanked miners that can be killed with far less ship-fitting effort.