(...)
So, with that, just adding moar tank isn't going to thwart gankers. The more tank you add, the more firepower we'll bring, because our sole motivation is now the killmail, and not the ISK.

The best solution that I can think of would be, to give a barge class mining ship more agility. Maybe even slap it on the ret/maki hulls. This would reward the person who's actually paying attention, and give them a fighting chance to GTFO and avoid the gank entirely (The best tank in the universe being the "don't be where the shooting is" tank). Those who still AFK will run the risk of getting splattered.

Multiboxing does not necessarily equal ISBoxer, or any similar method of simultaneously controlling multiple clients. Some of us simply manually controls a number of clients at once.

As for having multiple ships in a fleet, then the fourth should be an Orca, and the fifth a freighter. Beyond 5 ships just add more mining ships. Technically the yield per time is higher if your fifth ship was a mining vessel in place of the freighter, but it gets *really* tedious having to dock your mining ships at regular intervals.

It's factual that there is a minimum fleet size at which a number of miners in retrievers is outmined by that same number -1 hulks. Unless you expect highsec to intentionally make mining more active, in which case the N.O. would be out of work, and intentionally reduce their own yields over time I don't see why miners in fleets below that size would chose the covetor/hulk.

But what is the effort required to run that N-1 hulks compared to the retrievers? What is the yield/time efficiency lost for hauling that load? If you have a dedicated hauler on top of that then yes the hulks would be better than the retrievers. If you have to trade the extra retriever pilot into a dedicated hauler for the hulks, how much extra effort are you expending in that case? Is it easier to mine with 7 retrievers (just a guess not sure the actual threshold) and dock them all to unload or mine with 6 Hulks and constantly unload their ore into a can and haul with a 7th pilot? What about about if you add Tech II strips with crystals and have to change them back and forth a lot? Is the increased yield worth all the extra effort?

Gee thanks for making my Mack unplayable since I now have spend 30 days training Exhumers to lvl 5 for it to be playable again.

You guys act like training is not a big deal. I am flat broke and can't even mine now unless I go buy a procurer and fit it.

Hey guys, don't worry.

High-sec mining is done by noobs and care-bears, remember?

These are the people PvPers love to gank, so CCP wants to make it easier for them.

It doesn't matter to CCP that the noobs won't be converting their trial accounts to subscriptions. CCP makes enough money off the Gankers. PvPers who cry if they don't have easy targets (who can't fight back) to pad their killmails with.

I am a player who will ONLY leave High Sec Mining when I leave EvE online.

CCP will NOT convince me to EVER mine in Low Sec or Null Sec until I can operate a ship that can SHOOT BACK when a ganker approaches.

I'm not talking about a warship hull, either. I'm talking about a hull the ganker sees as a juicy, fat miner, but turns out to be hellfire and death to the ganker.

It won't matter if I can actually MINE with that ship as long as that coward ganker finds out miners are no longer guarenteed killmails.

*points at buffed skiff/procurer

CAN...
NOT...
SHOOT...
BACK.

I counter that question with another.

When have the drones a miner can carry been able to stop a ganker (unless the ganker is woefully unprepared)?

In the year I have been playing, I have lost 3 Ventures, 9 Retreivers, and four Mackinaws to gankers while mining in high sec (I mine no where else).

Before I retired this character to forum duty, her last loss was a mackinaw with tech 2 drones, shield rigs, shield boosts and shield extenders.

I was watching (and tried to escape while the drones attacked) as a catalyst killed that mack in 7 seconds.

give the miners a way to turn the tables on gankers and watch the flow to low sec.

The best way is easy.

Rigs

have a rig that takes so much cargo or ore hold (maybe 1500 m3 for a small one) that warships can't mount it.
make that rig mount a turret for a weapon (a small turret for that 1500 m3 rig)
give flat bonuses ( not % bonuses) to one or more of the following:

Total shield
Shield regen
Total capacitor
Capacitor regen

Such a setup would make even a venture rigged fully a tough costumer for a 'ganker-fitted' destroyer.
That destroyer would have to be fully fitted for combat to fight that venture, but then the ganker would lose a hell of a lot more isk if that ship was destroyed.

That would cause the ganker to hesitate before engaging a miner (is it a disguised combat ship?) and possibly give the true miner a chance to escape.

you see, theres your problem. You want to be able to tank gankers with a mackinaw. I pointed to the skiff/procurer earlier, but I guess you forgot.Skiff/proc have excellent tank and now even better dps to fend off angry things. You are flying the wrong ship if survivability is your problem.

I have mined in null with skiffs for over a year now and only lost to 1/3 attacks by hostiles.in one situation I killed the attacker. in the other I lasted long enough for help to arrive and scare him off.

None of those were a procurer/skiff