CCP Fozzie wrote:
In practice we underestimated the value that players would put in the isk/effort advantage of the Retriever and the Mackinaw, leading to a less diverse mining landscape than we would have liked.
And yet the people who actually mine switched to the Mackinaw pretty much overnight. I wonder if anyone on the ship rebalancing team mines for their ISK?
Switching from yield to cycle time is awesome for hi sec miners, since most asteroids contain between 2.1 and 3.1 cycles of a max yield Strip Miner I. Now we'll waste fewer cycles, improving ISK/hr.
The Hulk could use a bit of a hand in terms of PG and CPU in order to be able to fit T2 hardeners. As it stands you have to fit a high-meta T1 tank or do foolish things such as use faction tank modules (which just make your mining ship that much more attractive as a gank target). Upgrading the Hulk to 45PG (+15) and 330CPU (+30) would be a great start. Every combat ship can fit a T2 tank and T1 weapons, and most of them can also fit a MWD without having to use MAPC or Reactor Control modules.
Despite the higher theoretical maximum yield of the Hulk (which advantage is being closed somewhat by this rebalance), I'll still be using Skiffs for fleet mining operations simply because it is so much faster, aligns quicker, has a far better buffer tank, and can do all that while still fit for maximum yield. To put a tank on the Hulk, you sacrifice MLUs for MAPCs. This puts the Hulk's yield below the Skiff. The only advantage the Hulk still has is range, but the 25% extra range translates to about 8km, which the Skiff can cover using its superior range before it's finished mining out the rocks that were previously in range.
Although the Hulk gets a bonus to speed so that it can conceivable "speed tank" those catalysts or MWD stabbers, a Hulk pilot still has to make compromises that Skiff and Mackinaw pilots are not asked to make: that is, the pilot has to choose to either fit for tank or yield. The Skiff and Mackinaw can do both. As such, the Skiff is still the superior fleet mining vessel (and that advantage is being reinforced due to the yield boost it is receiving compared to the Hulk's yield nerf).
And thanks for the extra CPU on the Skiff meaning I can upgrade from F-S9 to T2 shield extenders for even more tank while still having better yield than the Hulk thanks to 3 x MLU II (while the Hulk will be fitting a DC2 and bulkheads in order to not be one-shot by a solo catalyst).
What role was the Hulk supposed to fill? I can imagine it being useful for deep blue null sec where you can see neutrals enter system before the neutrals know they're there.
Yet another stealth null sec buff :P