'tanky high-risk mining ship'

While the topic is still a matter of debate for many people

Yeah they should probably have a larger drone bay and some damage bonuses too. Maybe you could use them for running level 4s.

[Skiff, L4]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

Gistum A-Type Medium Shield Booster
Gistum A-Type Medium Shield Booster
Gist B-Type EM Ward Field
Gist B-Type Thermic Dissipation Field
Dread Guristas Adaptive Invulnerability Field

Strip Miner I

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II


Hammerhead II x5

The Skiff can already do L4s if you throw enough money at it. Tank is 561 DPS "omni" and it pushes out 220 DPS which is on par with drakes so in theory it ought to be able to do most L4s. Aggro will be a pain to get given that it has to run into stuff to get it, but at least the thing pushes 250m/s at top speed so rat-ramming won't take as long as in a dominix without guns, painters, or a speed booster. Presuming EFT's reporting the correct numbers. For some reason I thought the Skiff's top speed was only 90m/s, but EVE-Mon corroborates it so...

Couldn't you throw a NOS or a TP on there to get aggro?

A painter might be workable, but the high slot is most likely best left for a strip miner so you can get some ore while your drones nuke other stuff. You've got a 15km3 ore bay, you might as well use it, and fitting mining drones would lower your DPS while a strip miner wouldn't. Well, it wouldn't lower your DPS unless you want to fit a smartbomb in that high slot, but that's rather discommended.

Or you could simply be competent and watch your scanner as well as Local. Carebears always want things spoon fed to them, I swear.

I don't remember local being all that useful in wh's.

The Skiff has many advantages.

...

Quick on Ice: It has the shortest cycle time of any barge, meaning interruptions are less disruptive.

why can't you just fit stabs yourself (then die when you get bubbled lmao)

I tend to mine ice in systems without stations as they seem to generally be less prone to issues than systems with stations and ice belts. I also don't have enough miners to make it more profitable to have a ship standing by full time to haul ice as opposed to me just jumping to the next system, docking and dumping, and getting back. In my situation longer cycle times that yield more ore, as with the old mackinaw, were much less disruptive than the current situation.

Pre-1.2 it wasn't uncommon for me to be able to warp or jump out almost immediately after my ships start a new cycle, unload my cargo, and get back into the system and be aligning for said alts in time to pulse my gang links to keep their harvesters going without disruption. With skiff cycle times going as low as a bit under 60 seconds I don't see that scenario happening all too often, even if I mine in systems with both ice belts and stations.

If you want to run away you have plenty slots to fit Warp Core Stabilizers and ecm...

Sadly while the worst offenders might be that way I suspect that the majority of PvE-oriented miners would rather it was actually worth the hassle to mine in low-sec. Still, the fact remains that if you reach a point where you need warp core strength you've probably already screwed up in a place or three.

[Mackinaw, Stealth Mack]
[snip]
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Improved 'Guise' Cloaking Device II

[Hulk, Stealth Hulk]
[snip]
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Improved 'Guise' Cloaking Device II

Or you could simply be competent and watch your scanner as well as Local. Carebears always want things spoon fed to them, I swear.

Or you could simply be competent and watch your scanner as well as Local. Carebears always want things spoon fed to them, I swear.

*snip*

My hope is that the T2 ORE frigate will be a ninja miner with the built in 2pt bonus. >:}

T3 mining cruiser with 3pt bonus and drone damage bonus ftw. >:D

I'm not suggesting the skiff be able to fight back outside of high, just have a reasonable chance of fleeing.

if youre mining in a wh youre doing it wrong.
if you cant use dscan to stay alive in whs then youre doing it VERY wrong.

Apparently, you've never had 5 Cloaky Legions drop on you in the middle of a mining operation. Not that I have either, but I recall it happening to someone else a few times.

I think it needs the +2 warp strength back.

In highsec, you can tank the mack well enough to not get ganked, and the mack is the better miner, so there's not really a reason to use the skiff.

In low, null, or WH space, if the skiff's extra EHP is about as useful as it would be on an iteron...which is to say, with only drones for offensive capability, it will still die to a marauding frigate, albeit more slowly. The mack can also tank most belt rats long enough for the drones to kill them, so again, no reason to use the skiff.

Solo mining in lowsec isn't 'high-risk'. It's just plain dumb.

I find this comment a little intriguing, as it's normally a cry of

"Get out of highsec you scummy good for nothing carebear"

and here you are, berating someone for leaving highsec ???







in reply to the OP's Q re a +2 warp strength on the Skiff

Are you confusing the Skiff with the Venture ?

Besides the skiff turns about as fast as a standard cruiser, you should have no problems warping out if you keep yourself paranoid, d-scan etc etc.

yes, after recent mineral price changes low sec ores are now rather lucrative. who in their right mind would mine these ores in low sec where every ganker has a list of asteroid belts and can warp directly to you?

Not quite...The skiff is much faster to gtfo than other exhumers, but it isn't exactly fast. I timed it the other day, and even mostly aligned...it seemed to take between 6-8 seconds w/o any agility mods fitted.

Apparently, you've never had 5 Cloaky Legions drop on you in the middle of a mining operation. Not that I have either, but I recall it happening to someone else a few times.