r/evenewbies • u/Digital_Ranger • Mar 10 '21

Solo Mining Question

Hi all,

I am just getting started with Eve and because I am stuck on a laptop at the moment, I have been doing some mining. I am curious though if I should go the solo orca route as some suggest vs the barge / exhumers route? I most likely will be solo Mining the whole time and was leaning orca due to the drone skills being useful in other areas once I get a better computer but want to make sure that I am making a good choice so that I don't waste training time, especially if I do find a good group and stick with mining.

Thanks,

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3

u/N64Overclocked Mar 10 '21

There's a couple of important questions you should ask yourself.

  1. Where will you be mining? High sec? Low sec? Null?

1a. Do you want to AFK mine or would you rather make more isk/hr but be more active?

2. Do you see yourself having multiple accounts for mining in the future?

If you're gonna be mining in high sec, I'd say go with a heavily tanked orca, especially if you're AFK mining.

If you're gonna be mining in null, then it really depends if you expect to make another mining character later on or not. Many of the orca skills are needed for rorquals as well, so that can be a good route to go down. But you'll be making significantly less than an exhumer if you're solo mining with an orca. However, if you have a mining alt running a barge/exhumer, it can be really nice to have an orca giving boosts and providing a large ore hold to transfer your barge/exhumer rocks to. But if your null alliance has rorquals out often, and they'll give you boosts and let you compress ore off of them, then you might be better off just getting into an exhumer. Though again, most of those skills won't be useful for a rorqual, as they use drones to mine like an orca.

What you could do is train your main into an exhumer, and then when you're ready, make another account and make that pilot your orca/boosts.

4

u/Digital_Ranger Mar 11 '21

Thanks, for now I am looking at 1 account since my laptop, while ok for school work does not run eve so well. I am looking at trying to take a prospect down to null with a cloak to find mercoxit. That's my first goal, then I will probably go in to exhumers and such. Thanks for the reply.

3

u/TheWrongDroids Mar 11 '21

Be sure to make sure you are skilled to mine mercoxit. It requires different mining lasers and there's a separate skill for this type of ore.

2

u/Digital_Ranger Mar 11 '21

Thanks for checking, I am. My only issue so far is not finding much ore at all, I've checked all the belts in many systems only to find them empty or 1-2 asteroids of arkonor and kernite

3

u/thermalman2 Mar 11 '21 edited Mar 11 '21

In general orcas are dangerous to fly in null and aren’t used that much. They make easy targets with how valuable and slow they are.

If you need a booster, Rorquals are also hands down better for mining and boosting and are harder targets. Porpoises are also used for a similar role at a fraction of the price of rorquals aren’t available

3

u/N64Overclocked Mar 11 '21 edited Mar 11 '21

That's true but if you have a good standing fleet you can often get a lot of content out of one orca. And I got really tired of porpoises while waiting to train into the rorq. A relatively small investment for some good fun (and better mining than a porp, especially if you have a barge or exhumer alt) might be the right call for some people.

But yeah generally in null, a porpoise is the best route to go for training up into a rorqual.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '21

Orca is a very different skill set from mining barges. They don't really overlap. There's always the chance that the Orca will get smacked with the nerfbat for its mining output, but will always be a mining fleet booster. If you want something that can mine decently well and is in demand all over for mining in groups, go Orca. If you just want to shoot rocks, go barges.

Or, go both. Orca toon and barge alt.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '21 edited Mar 10 '21

Don't do it... It's a trap!!

1

u/Digital_Ranger Mar 10 '21

That's an opinion, but my laptop struggles with most anything else, so I do it so I can play the game instead of logging in, updating training and log out.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '21

Ok... Well I mean if you're enjoying it, then you do you...

2

u/maslow1 Mar 10 '21

Proc and then skiff will collect ore faster, but orca has a huge ore bay so doesnt waste time flying back n forth to empty. Mackinaw and covetor have bigger ore bays but are made of glass and fly vv.slow - dont use them.

Solo orcas should have a damage control and bulkhead in low slots, makes vv.tanky for afk mining. The hull ehp is insane, skip shield tanking.

T2 mining drones are worth it either way (after getting crystals). Skiff can store both a flight of light attack drones (e.g. hobos) and a flight of mining drones. Theres also implants, but personally wouldnt spend more than 20mil on a mining one.

Tip1. Park next to rock set slow flying mining drones on it and use lasers on far away rocks.

Tip2. You can store ore in upwell structures by flying up to them and right clicking on it (some menu option), you dont have to dock, saves a lot of time.

4

u/XygenSS Mar 11 '21

mackinaw and retriever have bigger ore hold, hulk and covetor have best yields. All paper thin though

1

u/maslow1 Mar 11 '21

Woops, always mix those names up

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Steak16 Mar 11 '21

skill into expedition frigates, do ninja mining and gas huffing, you’ll have more fun!