Mission Strategies

[RobinGBrown]

I'm eventually going to settle on six accounts.

My one big annoyance with the choice of ships in EVE is that there isn't a decent hauler/salvager combination ship for supporting miners - unless the Noctis can lug stuff? Haven't looked at that yet.

Edit: 1496m3 with 3 low slots - not really a great hauler

[ShadowKntSDS]

The Orca is made to support miners. It can run mining gang links, has huge tractor bonuses, a massive cargo bay, a solid drone bay (5 mediums). The corp hanger allows the miners to drop the ore directly in the ship without needing to do a hand off. You can hold ~150k m3 of ore if you fit it for max cargo as it has a 50k m3 dedicated ore only hold on top of the corp hanger and cargo bay, and you can even shove 2x hulks in the ship bay.

I use mine as a mini freighter in high sec. Slap a MWD (needs a grid mod of implant) on it and it can align off of a gate in 10s.

I'm not sure what else you'd need in a support ship, but you wont find much better unless you step up to Rorqual.

[RobinGBrown]

No the Orca is great but not enough hislots to moutn a bunch of salvagers. Didn't know about the ore hold though, is that a new feature?

Edit: I hope it's a new feature because if not I could have been using the Orca a lot more.

[Meeo]

Ore Hold has been in since the inception of both the Rorqual and then the orca, The rorqual also has a ore only hold which holds 250k m3 ore only.

[RobinGBrown]

Sigh, it's amazing how you can miss something in EVE for such a long time....

[Ughmahedhurtz]

No the Orca is great but not enough hislots to moutn a bunch of salvagers.

Is that such a big deal for the most part? My little salvage noob is in a destroyer with 6 salvagers and two tractors. I usually find that I can suck up most of the wrecks shortly after the last guy dies in the mission. Any faster and I'd have to grow a new me to drive the combat while I salvaged. 3 slots instead of 8 might be a bit short now that I think about it. I can drive 4 easily. (Note, I'm talking about salvaging while in missions; not salvaging rats that show up while mining. I'm pretty sure one tractor and one salvage could easily cope with the low volume of random spawn rats I've seen so far.)

What is your preference for a salvaging boat?

[ShadowKntSDS]

Marauders are the way to go really. 2x tractors and 1x T2 salvager can mop up wrecks* as fast as my Golem + Domi combo was able to make them. No need for salvage rigs or anything like that as the T2 salvager and the skills needed to use it are a huge boost over the T1 flavor. The range bonus means I don't even need to move around to salvage. Other than spending a minute or so after the last wreck is made, it's no extra time over the time to complete the mission.
(* only the BS sized wrecks and close by BC sized wrecks, the rest is meh).

I know thats not the greatest answer for low skilled pilots.

For mining ops, you really don't need a dedicated boat. Just slap a tractor + salvager on a hauler/orca.

I have not tried out the new salvaging ship (the Noctis), but I'm sure it would blow anything else away for the job of looting and salvaging.

[RobinGBrown]

I suppose it just feels inefficient. When multiboxing you get [number of accounts] * [number of hislots] to do stuff with.

First Setup:
6accounts * 3 strip miners = 1 ore per hour (no salvage)

Second Setup:
5 accounts * 3 strip miners = 5/6 ore perhour
+ 1 account * gang link/tractor/salvager

Third Setup:
5 accounts * 3 strip miners = 5/6 ore perhour
1 account * 2 gang link + tractor (no salvage)

Does the gang boost and salvage gained make up for the loss of one hulk? It should do but I'm just not sure...

Here's a trickier question - if I swap one miner for a battleship with heavy/sentry drones and salvagers does being able to use mining drones on the others make up for the loss?

Fourth Setup:
4 accounts * 3 strip miners = 4/6 ore perhour
1 account * 2 gang link + tractor
+ 25 mining drones = ?? ore per hour
1 account * guns/drones + salvage

[ShadowKntSDS]

Check this guide for all things mining:
http://www.lsjv-eve.com/guide/

Google to find the most up to date version. It's a solid PDF if you can find the actual up to date source, and is filled with all the math about mining you want.

I suppose it just feels inefficient. When multiboxing you get [number of accounts] * [number of hislots] to do stuff with.

First Setup:
6accounts * 3 strip miners = 1 ore per hour (no salvage)

Second Setup:
5 accounts * 3 strip miners = 5/6 ore perhour
+ 1 account * gang link/tractor/salvager

Third Setup:
5 accounts * 3 strip miners = 5/6 ore perhour
1 account * 2 gang link + tractor (no salvage)

If this is purely for a mining op with hulks, the salvage will not be of a notable value unless you are in 0.0 or WH space. Frig mining ships might be a different strory, since the don't mine so fast.
None of these setups have a hauler. All of my hulk setups can fill their own hold in 2 cycles, and thats with cargo rigs and extenders instead of mining laser upgrades. All of the uber mining setups have an Orca AND a hauler, where the orca is the buffer/collector for the ore while the hauler ferries it from the orca to the destination. The Corp hanger is what lets other people interact with the Orca without the orca pilot needing to do much.

Do the math on how much your strips will pull in an hour in m3.

There is also only 1 gang link that will affect your output, and its the one that decreases cycle time. So put a tractor and salvager on the Orca if you are going that way. The tractor will be useful for towing in cans regardless. If you ditch the salvager, then

Does the gang boost and salvage gained make up for the loss of one hulk? It should do but I'm just not sure...

Salvage will be negligible compared to a single hulk with t2 strips.

If my math is right, a max skilled Orca cuts down laser cycle time by about ~22.5%, which is a ~29% boost. 5 hulks + an Orca is more output than 6 hulks, but as I mentioned you can't just run 6 hulks without docking them all over few cycles to offload the ore. 5 hulks and an Orca is more ore/hour than 5 hulks and a hauler by far. Granted, it takes time to get max skills (and the mindlink implant), but if you need a hauler/cargo ship anyway, might as well use one that boosts output.

Here's a trickier question - if I swap one miner for a battleship with heavy/sentry drones and salvagers does being able to use mining drones on the others make up for the loss?

You really don't need the heavys/sentrys for DPS unless you are in WH space or 0.0, and in those cases, you'll need some PvP ships not to get raped by the first trigger happy pilot that comes along. 5-6 hulks worth of lights/meds will destroy anything in a high sec belt in seconds.

A BS's mining yield is pretty weak unless its completely tricked out for mining. Even then, it's only a little bit better than a retriever. (read the guide for the numbers.)

Mining drones are kind of meh solo, and in a big mining op, they will be too annoying for their output. You will clear belts so far that you'll want to have at least 3 warp in points to combat the slow speed of your ships. You'll probably drop the salvager for the laser range gang link.

Fourth Setup:
4 accounts * 3 strip miners = 4/6 ore perhour
1 account * 2 gang link + tractor
+ 25 mining drones = ?? ore per hour
1 account * guns/drones + salvage

You really don't need a gunship. Rats respawn pretty slowly in high sec belts, and you could easily swap ships to a gunship, kill the rats before there is any real chance your hulks will die from them if you have even a remotely good setup (i.e you slap on ANY shield resistance mods).

[d0z3rr]

T2 mining drones that are boosted by an Orca pilot with links + having the drone rigs on your miners will very much increase your isk/hour. This assumes you have also maxed out the various mining drone skills...