Zeb Carter
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Posted - 2005.07.19 16:36:00 -
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There is no way that an Osprey will outmine a Retreiver.
With maximum skills on an Osprey (Mining 5, Astrogeology 5, and Cruiser 5) using 3x Miner II's the Osprey pulls in 562.5m¦/minute.
With minimum skills on a Retreiver (Mining 4, Astrogeology 4, Barge 3) using 2x Strip Miner I's the Retreiver brings in 565.056m¦/minute.
While the difference there is small, consider the extra training time to get the Osprey to do that much.
If you use the same skill levels for the barge (Mining 5, Astrogeology 5, and bump barge up to 4 even) You'll be getting 630m¦/minute. If you go the extra distance and bring Barge up to 5 (at which point you should be using a Covetor) you'll be at 646.875m¦/minute in a Retreiver.
So while an Osprey gets nearly as much with maximum skills as a Retriever does with minimum skills, consider how much training time is necesarry to do so. You'd be better of investing that time into training for a Covetor, as it would take considerably less time to get into a large barge (Cruiser being a rank 5 skill vs Mining Barge being rank 4).
This isn't to say that the Osprey doesn't have a role in mining anymore. It's a good stepping stone for newbies while they work their way towards a barge. It also makes a decent disposable low-sec miner.
For those that argue that the Osprey is better simply because it can defend itself, well that is a valid point. However, I've had no problems solo mining in my Retreiver in space as low as 0.2 with simply an armor rep and armor plate in my lowslots and a bay full of medium drones. Since I got into a Covetor I fear rats even less.
The choice between the two is obviously up to you. But don't let people fool you into believing that an Osprey can outmine a medium barge. It would be possible for an Osprey with max skills in addition to the use of Modulated Deep Core Miner II's to outmine a Retreiver with minimum skills, but if you went through the trouble of training ALL those skills to be able to use DCM II's , and wasted them on an Osprey instead of getting into a Retreiver and using Modulated Strip Miner II's you'd be an absolute fool.
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