Introduction What follows is information built up over 11 months of participating in gang mining in the Eve universe. It is a collection of personal experience and learned techniques. Special thanks to Mervaid, and Bbotn, and others passed for their coaching and advice throughout my career.
Organisation Organisation is a key factor in efficient gang mining. It is important to have a recognised leader who is calling the shots. Nominate or declare this person before a mining event. All participants should follow the directions given by the gang leader.
Bookmarks Bookmarks are essential. Making bookmarks before an event will increase hauling efficiency immensely. This is usually done by the gang leader, but the gang leader may reserve the right to delegate where necessary, so it is worthwhile knowing how to do this. Most Asteroid Belts form a wide semi-oval shape, which means in most cases at least four bookmarks are required. The end result you are aiming for is something like this:
Where ‘L’, ‘M1’, ‘M2’, and ‘R’ are bookmarked locations in the belt. A configuration of bookmarks like the one above will, in most cases, position craft within reach of most, if not all, asteroids in the belt After the bookmark has been created, you can right click on it in P&P to edit the name. I personally choose the convention: “PLANET/BELT – LOCATION”. For example: the left bookmark in belt X-5 would be called “X/5 – L” Repeat for the remaining 3 cans, naming accordingly. Then copy the bookmarks into one of the cans for the remaining miners to make copies from. To copy a bookmark, shift drag the bookmark from your P&P folder to your cargo hold, then from your cargo hold you can simply drag to a container in space. ALL MINERS AND HAULERS SHOULD OBTAIN A SET OF BOOKMARKS PRIOR TO COMMENCING ANY MINING I also keep the bookmarks organised in my P&P folder to make navigation simpler. For example, I have created a folder called ‘Dysa Mining’ and another called ‘Agha Mining’, and in each of those folders are contained the bookmarks for those systems.
Mining Probably the most straight forward section. Select the roid and mine it until it’s gone!
Mining Tips: Distributing your lasers across more than one asteroid is a good idea. The point here is to reduce the idle time of your lasers. When a roid pops, if all your lasers are on that roid, you have to activate all the lasers on the next roid. If only one laser was on the popped roid, then only one laser is idle during the time it takes to activate it on the next available roid. This is an advanced mining technique and over time increases efficiency, but it is not ‘essential’.
Barges Where barges are employed, due to the lengthy cycle on the strip miners, try not to target the same asteroid someone is already mining. If the roid disappears before a cycle completes, no ore is yielded during that cycle.
Mining Drones Where possible, include mining drones in your arsenal. They can really make a difference to your yield over time, and time = ore = minerals (= products) = money! At the time of writing this there were only three types of mining drones available in the game, however I understand Mining Drone II has been released since: Basic Mining Drone Cheap to replace but yields much less ore. Mining Drone I Somwhere in the middle. Compromising cost for yield. Harvester Mining Drone* Very expensive but yields much more ore. *Using Harvesters in low sec space is not recommended unless the roid they are mining is small and is situated very close to the owner. Mining drones have to travel long distances to orbit large roids, and the gravity field of the roid slows their return. Not good in an emergency.
Try to reserve the closer asteroids for your drones, and use your lasers to target the asteroids further out. The time taken for the drones to travel between ship and asteroid is also a factor when calculating yield. Obviously, less travel time is preferred. In addition to this, NPC rats often target drones first. The further away they are, the more time it takes to recall and scoop them.
Cargo Containers The existence of the cargo container is what makes gang hauling feasible. The miners are continuously filling these from their holds as they mine, with the goal of keeping their lasers online all the time to maximise mining efficiency. Here are a couple rules we like to follow to make the use of cargo containers easier:
Naming Cans and Can Expiration Always name all cans you make with the time that you made them. It is also useful to include your name, so that the hauler can identify it in the overview quickly. It is a bit of a mystery as to the actual life of these cans, but estimates range from 1 hours to 2 hours. It is advisable to refresh your can prior to the 1 hour mark. Try not to create too many cans at one time. If you are within reach of a can that has already been jettisoned by a fellow gang member, use that can instead of creating a separate one. This also makes the haulers life easier, as opening and dragging from multiple cans is just an added burden that can easily be avoided.
Hauling If you are not a hauler, please still read this. It is important for all to understand, regardless of your role in the gang. Hauling is probably one of the most frustrating tasks when gang mining. There are some simple rules to follow to make this a much simpler and less stressful task. Bookmarks are a haulers wet dream. Without them, hauling is an ugly task. Everyone should make sure they make their cans as close to the warp in bookmarks as possible, because that is where the hauler is headed. As stated earlier, cargo containers have a finite life.
Protection An important task that’s often underestimated and forgotten. If your assignment includes protection of the gang you have to stay alert. It’s easy to “fall asleep” but don’t forget that the mining drones are the first victims and secondly the expensive barges. This is also the reason that you can’t go AFK without being sure that the others have understood that you’re not there to protect them any more. In low sec. systems you can loose a barge in seconds if you don’t warp out instantly!
Ore Value (In Ascending Order) Veldspar Scordite Pyeroxes Kernite Jaspet Hemorphite |
More information on mineral yields per asteroid type
Coming soon!
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