EVE General Discussion

PLEASE PLEASE give the Hulk/Mackinkaw extra CPU or we're going to continue seeing 90% of miners in Skiffs. Skiff is the only barge that can fit max yield whilst having CPU free to fit a tank.

Mackinkaw + Hulk with 3 yields mods has no free CPU to fit tank mods. Even with just 2 yield mods they still struggle to fit much with such little CPU to use.

How is it right that a max yield Skiff with 3 yield mods can easily fit a full T2 tank, but a Mackinkaw or Hulk that has sacrificed one yield mod, (just 2 yield mod fitted) will struggle to fit tank modules?

Maybe it would be productive to add new modules that enhance strip miners for mid slots. Sort of like tracking computers, but for strip miners, or drone navigation computers that give a very large bonus to mining drone speed. Nerf the base range of strip miners a bit maybe to force players into a trade-off for using them. Same with ore holds, maybe reduce them a bit and add rigs that increase only ore hold to give players a meaningful choice between tank and optimal mining. Hell, you could even add a secondary function to survey scanners.

I don't think I'm too happy with the kinds of barges the way they are now. They could easily be made into one hull with fitting options- for example using a Procurer as a baseline model. On that I have to agree with Baltec. There is of course the issue that, as someone else pointed out, there are no useful midslot modules that affect mining, and an expanded cargohold does not expand the orehold. These are however technicalities that can be worked out.

Now, adding such fitting options would of course obsolete the current lineup. Why? Because there is in fact only one relevant bonus a mining ship can receive: a yield bonus. And also because all three of them are roughly equivalent to two cruisers (or half a battlecruiser) -- it's not like one of them is a nimble destroyer-like miner and the other's a battlecruiser-style command ship miner. All three of them happen to be in the heavy-cruiser-almost-BC ballpark.

I am happy with the distinction between ninja mining frigates and barges; but rather than having a three-of-the-same lineup, perhaps we should repurpose one to be an armed platform which also happens to mine (some). The latter could be achieved by giving it a massive bonus to mining drones, freeing up (unbonused?) highslots with turret / launcher hardpoints to slap anything you like on there. More like a generic SOCT cruiser with an orehold than anything else, really.

As for the third one, I have some ideas but they feel like I'm trying to "invent" something just because there are three.

I doubt however CCP is going to do something outrageous like adding some combat capability to transports or barges. The tears would flood the old continent. Already some are flipping a gasket when a ship that costs two cruisers has a heavy cruiser's tank with a frigate's DPS.

Yet there it is: roll the current lineup into 1 model, and give us a Combat miner please.

That is exactly what I thought, I mean most rocks I go after in my Skiff last for one and a half cycles, when you hear them say AFK mining you snigger at them with a knowing smile at their level of failness. As I fit for tank I don't even have a survey scanner on which is why I like the two strip miners, less wasted cycles...

Generally CCP should take another route. Exhumers cost as much as T1 Battleships so give them the slots like a battleship and the fitting resources (CPU, grid, cap, high slots). 2 Slots that are open for strip miners and then go on. In High some Ewar will be beneficial because it might keep the group of gankers long enough at bay for Concord to blap them. In low and Null you would go for a fighting fitting to stop the rats and some overconfident gankers. The difference would be in the mining bonus or the tank/offensive boni.
Mining is boring because it is all passive. Think about a mining expedition in Low with a lot of skiffs. That should show small groups of gankers their pod and let them search for easier prey.

Holy **** why even participate in this.

You shouldn't support Drac's delusion that what he thinks matters to anyone but himself,
but that is exactly what you pretty much do. I can't be the only one who notices, so wtf is going on?

If any of you took this topic seriously, you'd be posting it where it matters.

Instead you waste your time with someone who has no say in the matter ...
... constantly BEHAVES like he has any say on the matter ...
... and you play right into his delusions.


I'll just go make that thread in F&I myself if you don't.
Even Infinity Ziona has some up now and they're horrible!

Why so mad?

Weak manipulation, I am putting forth a point of view, it is different to yours, grow up and deal with the fact that people have different opinions.

I don't want it so it to be easy to kill the hard prey, I want the gankers to have to work for it, not swan around blasting everything like they did before the previous balance pass...

EDIT: And here is the detail: The Kusions, if you go and do a ZKill search on Dzisumo Ellendaines you will find a kill on him by 11 Catalyst belonging to Kusion, the kill is not important it is just to show how many accounts he has. That is a single player, he has in an 0.5 system 22 seconds to blast at optimal with his Catalysts, that at 520 DPS assuming overheated and some less then perfect shots we get to 125,840 in a 0.5 system. Now that is what my current Skiff has as its almost max tank. So baltec1 wants to reduce all Skiffs to a maximum tank of 80,000 which is 7 Catalysts, 90,000 is 8 Catalysts.

So what we are talking about is reducing the tank of the Skiff so they can be ganked, the key thing is that at this moment Kusion has to use all his toons to kill one or get friends, so now we drop down to 7. Why does it have to be made so damn easy? That is my question every time!

So you are saying all t2 cruisers and most battlecruisers have too little tank? Because all of them can be killed by the same number of catalysts. Add a few more cats and you are killing battleships and pvp t3 cruisers. Escalate more and you can wipe out a dreadnought.

What you want is for CCP to make you safe rather than have the tools to do it for yourself, thats not good game balance.

There is nothing to gain from trying to gank unprofitable combat ships.

80-90k with t2 gear is tank enough.

Lets not forget that the skiff has an offensive bonus that gives it the same firepower as a pilgrim or curse. Again, ganking only makes up a small part of the total barges killed, the barge rebalance should not be based entirely around a misguided obsessive hate of gankers. It should be based on what is best for these ships throughout EVE.