Ships & Modules

Hi all,

I'd like to try solo high sec mining in an Orca, with the safest possible fit to minimize the chances of getting ganked. I'm willing to sacrifice the drone mining yield to achieve this. Any suggestions?

I'm pretty noobish when it comes to ganking, so don't really understand whether it's all about effective hitpoints or do warp core stabilizers/inertial stabilizers etc come in to play at all.

I presume some usual suspects apply, like Damage Control II, Adaptive Invulnerability Field II etc?

Fair enough. I like the idea of mining in various ships though. I used to mine in a Rokh back in the day. Of course also tried Hulk, Mackinaw etc, but now I'm itching for a new solo mining high sec ship, so I'd like to maybe try the Porpoise or Orca. However, I'm not a rich man, so losing an Orca would mean that I'd lose 99% of my total worth. :-)

Which, I guess, makes the whole proposition all the more exciting!

Grand, so no point in fitting-anti-gank modules then? Just max mining yield and hope for the best by "watching local".

Solo mining in an Orca would be like painting a giant red target on your back while screaming "Come and get me", so I don't think there's a "safe fit".

If you just want to try out mining drones, I suggest the Porpoise. With good skills you almost get the same output as with a Skiff, while at the same time sitting in a much cheaper ship. Bonus: The Porpoise still has a rather large ore bay, so it's almost like sitting in an Orca, anyway.

Having a cheap, boring ship is a better defense then hit points could ever be.

No I wouldn't go fo a max yeild, that drops your shield by A LOT, by just swapping the shield rigs for drone mining rigs. I'm getting 390k with this fit(440k vs hybrid, 380k vs projectile), That's before adding shield burst charges. If you go max yeild, ur tank goes down to 310k(350k vs hybrid, 310k vs projectile).

This is what I'm going to work with when my ol lady gives me the time to re sub. This is my do everything orca, for fleet and solo.

[Orca, Fleet Orca]
Damage Control II
Warp Core Stabilizer I

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
EM Ward Field II
Thermal Dissipation Field II
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender (very easily get a shield extender ii in there, just already had one on the ship)
Kinetic Deflection Field II

Mining Foreman Burst I, Mining Laser Optimization Charge
Shield Command Burst I, Shield Harmonizing Charge
Mining Foreman Burst I, Mining Laser Optimization Charge
Medium Remote Shield Booster I
Medium Remote Armor Repairer I
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

Large Core Defense Field Extender II
Large Drone Mining Augmentor II
Large Core Defense Field Extender II


Hobgoblin II x2
Garde I x3
Hammerhead II x6
Mining Drone II x5
Salvage Drone I x1

You can drop the mining burst for shield burst just in case of an emergency. That should boost all your stats way up if you have all 3 shield burst charges running in of emergency.

How did u get it 600k?

The question is why do they want you dead that badly, even a low tank Orca is well over 300k and given that your fit would be worth a few mil isk at best and they would require something like 25 Cats to kill you it, it seems unlikely.

From personal experience (have not mined in a while though ) people are more likely just to bump you out of range of the rocks.



Why bother with the Warp core, if 25 Cats land on you I'm pretty sure at least 1 will have a scram.



Almost always better to go for Invuls and resistance over extenders with the Orca, It has so much base Shield HP that they are a relatively small %.

Personally I would just go for close to Max Yield. This fit has 451K EHP and 530K with heat (well worth while heating) and yet it only misses 1 drone rig and maybe a Drone Nav over what a Max yield fit would have. Could fit more tank if you drop the MWD but then your align time is super high.

[Orca, Mining Solo]

Damage Control II
Reinforced Bulkheads II

500MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
EM Ward Field II
Thermal Dissipation Field II

Shield Command Burst II, Shield Extension Charge
Shield Command Burst II, Shield Harmonizing Charge
Small Tractor Beam II
[Empty High slot]
[Empty High slot]
[Empty High slot]

Large Drone Mining Augmentor II
Large Drone Mining Augmentor II
Large Core Defense Field Extender II

PS, just did a Lols DS fit and you can (without Implants) get an Orca up to 1.6M EH with heat. Pretty epic tank even if it does cost 5Bil.

Oh that's what I figured with the rare mods. But aren't u mixing it tank a lil too much? And making yourself a big target, more gank worthy?

I like it.

I thought a few times about adding bulk heads in lows and maybe rigs. I guess ur right

Well, I'm not much of a grinder, so I will never be rich in Eve, but I love trying different ships and fitouts. I'm not planning to AFK mine in it, probably like reading a book and glancing at the screen one per minute. :-)

It's true what was said about gank-worthiness, I'm not planning to use any particularly expensive rigs or modules, so it's probably unlikely that I'd be a high-priority gank target.

Thank you for all the suggestions guys, I think I'll go for a near max yield fit as suggested. And I'll try the Porpoise first as well.