The Hulk is the largest craft in the second generation of mining vessels created by the ORE Syndicate. Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. They are also far more resilient, better able to handle the dangers of deep space. The Hulk is, bar none, the most efficient mining vessel available.

Weasel word watch: They only claim to be better than Mining Barges, not actually good. They are better than Mining Barges.

A kick in the face is better than a headshot with a 9mm, right?

I see too many people failing to understand that exhumers are specialized craft. People want to be able to solo play with them, but that doesn't make it practical.

They can be used solo, yes. So can a freighter. Neither will make a top ten list of good ideas any time soon.

High sec with hulkageddon is the worst place to use a Hulk, since you cannot proactively defend your ship without being concordokkened.

Go tank up a rokh, fit it with mining lasers, and accept that certain groups in the game have changed how we play it.

It's a sandbox. They can do that.

Not sure if serious. So your idea of how exhumers should be used is in low/null in large groups with combat ships as "escort?" Are we talking about the same Eve here? People will come in and pop your conveniently grouped miners before your "escorts" get the lock on them.

Atm, exhume is very much a solo affair, in the sense that you find a system with only you in it, so that no one can sneeze on it.

You can gank a damn freighter in highsec, how good you plan to make hulks?

You can gank a freighter with one Catalyst?

Not sure if serious. So your idea of how exhumers should be used is in low/null in large groups with combat ships as "escort?" Are we talking about the same Eve here? People will come in and pop your conveniently grouped miners before your "escorts" get the lock on them.

Atm, exhume is very much a solo affair, in the sense that you find a system with only you in it, so that no one can sneeze on it.

Velicitia spelled it out neatly.
You really only need a doorman watching from one system out in every direction, and preferably in a backwater system with no non ally traffic.

In fact I can build a hulk for less than 7 million isk in fittings (not counting t1 rigs) which can withstand the alpha of two tempests.

Enlighten us with this fit.

See that highlighted text? Hulkageddon has made us all aware how untrue that is.

What if exhumers (but not tech 1 barges) received a new role bonus to allow them to fit large shield extenders with lowered PG and CPU requirements? Would this tanking advantage be enough to make a gameplay difference?

Figure it out...

And here, since your about to call me a liar I'll show you a video that tests the fit I run. This video is a made up story we put together a while ago just for fun, and we used the test server. The hulks you see are all fit with my setup and we used four smart bombing battleships. Because of multiboxing limitations we knew we'd be lucky to get two cycles off on each ship. Most of the ships did get two smart bomb cycles off, but one did not, he got one. Every hulk was in deep armor, to early structure when concord got the battleships down. All battleships h ave 8 large smartbombs on them of the weakest average resist on the hulk setup.

The fit is designed to withstand two well piloted smartbombing battleships which can get 3 to 4 cycles off each if done right.

EHP on the hulks are just over 22k-23k hps

What you're looking for is in the very beginning you don't need to watch the whole thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07n6k_Dbck

Hulks are fine just as they are.

As a friend who has been mining in EVE for a half decade with no losses to gankers would say, "learn 2 mine".

I concur with said friend's probable thoughts on the subject.

Don't need to keep the Hulks docked during Hulkageddon. Don't even need to fit a tank as so many people suggest doing. You can mine relatively safely fitted for maximum yield, not tank. You just can't get away with it if you're someone who thinks they don't need to pay attention to what's going on around you. The problem with mining isn't the ships. It's the miners themselves who refuse to pay attention to their environment, or take even the most basic of precautions to protect themselves.

So miners, if you think something needs fixed, first stop is in front of the mirror in your Captain's Quarters.

Also, I've heard rumors of implants for sale that enhance your intelligence.

See that highlighted text?

anticdotal evidence at best.. it means nothing without reviewing the skills of the pilots involved, the fits of all ship concerned, and any possible boosting to both attacker and defender.

I did forget the 2-3 guys in system with the miners, generally flying around and ratting (and/or providing skirmish or armour ganglinks). Granted, this isn't so important now that the shield maths have been fixed to work more like armour.

I remember this change being announced, and now that you mention it I can't for the life of me remember how it was different versus what it changed to. Could you refresh my memory on this please?

"Waa my non-combat ship doesn't have 50k base EHP so it gets blown up when I don't tank it and leave it sitting in a belt unattended for hours at a time"

either your usage of the word "hours" is because you have never mined and dont know that past 4-6 minutes of afk you're not earning anything anymore, or its a strawman argument. either way dont pipe in just to mock the opposition, you dont aid your side of the argument, you merely portray them as mindless children.

it's very hard to maintain the concentration required to mine "safely" in the current atmosphere for more than 3 hours, or up to 12 hours if you're like me. sometimes you just have to look away to save your own sanity. not to mention bathroom breaks. and if i simply docked up every time i needed to look away, nothing would ever get done. i could borderline-afk mission for better isk at that point (and i'd be able to go outside for a cigarette every now and then without really risking anything).

now, i do disagree with making the hulk a tank, but im sure there are other things that can be done that aid attentive pilots but not afk ones, such as increased agility for example. Even if you just allowed dscan to autorepeat it would make me happy.

It isn't rocket science to fit a battleship with smart bombs and cap boosters... The skills of the pilots ranged from just over enough skill points to pilot a hulk with skills for various defenses to guys with 42 million skill points. The low skillpoint setup on the hulk will be around 16k ehp.

And of course skills make the tank better, but are you really insinuating that the hulk should tank equally as good for a young character as it does for an old?

EDIT: Oh and the only bonuses in this situation are mining bonuses from the orca. They tank significantly better with a high skilled booster in the fleet of course.