Originally by: Genasi

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Hi all

So I'm coming up on that point where I'm pretty solid on skills for my Command ship, and can do things really well, and want more. I want to make the jump to carrier, the Thanatos, and where I need about 20 days for all the required skills to fly it, I know that, in this game, just because you can fly it doesn't mean you can fly it well. What I'm asking is what are the skills/levels I should be aiming for to be an effective carrier pilot in general, aside from the obvious fighter skill? I'm a drone user so all my drone skills are maxed out, save for fighter, and since I've been flying command ships to run missions with my friends my Information and Armored Warfare module skills are pretty high too.

I guess I just don't know what else I need that would be of real importance. How are carriers used in general? Are they just big azz drone boats? They supposed to sit back and rep everyone? Painting? Passive support alone?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers
-Genasi

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Originally by: Genasi

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Thanks a ton for the extremely useful reply. That's about what I was thinking overall, with some added in here and there; good to know I was at least somewhat on the right thought path.

The idea of a cloaked Carrier is simply hilarious. Never even thought about it.

Thanks a mil guys
-Genasi

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Originally by: Zaolen Ying

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Maybe this isn't the right thread, but i was wondering - since a carrier has a ship maintenance array can it refit itself anywhere? :p

or does its own array not count.

-Z

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Originally by: Princess Jodi

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You are, however, missing one thing: 13-15 Harvester Drones. Makes you mine betterthana Covetor.

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Originally by: Mining guide by Halada

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14. Capital Ship Mining


Errrrà it seems the idea spread and people started to inquire about how a carrier could be a viable mining platform and how to make it good at it. Here are the five reasons why
mining in a carrier is stupid:

1) You are an easy target. A carrierÆs tank is not invincible, and you will attract attention.
2) The carrier is a 1bil ship, not including fittings and is just not meant for that
3) ItÆs a capital ship for ChristÆs sake
4) It has no turret slots, so you canÆt fit any miners on there
5) ItÆs a capital ship for ChristÆs sake

You need a math proof ? Fine ! A carrier (at Racial Carrier 5) can control 14 drones with 4 DCU. So we just need to take our drone table from the previous section and adjust it for 14 drones instead of 5, which gives:

ISK/hour ratio for 14 Mining Drones for key ore types

Ore T2 Mining Drones T2 Mining Drones - God Mode+ 
Omber 6,056,004.86 8,501,699.14 
Hedbergite 12,138,739.20 17,601,171.84 
Bistot 26,405,379.00 44,008,965.00 
Crokite 27,572,278.61 45,953,797.68 

God Mode+ includes a Mining Drone Augmentator II


As you can see itÆs nothing impressive. In fact a retriever with 5 drones will just about own the carrier. So, a retriever (6mil ISK), vs. a carrier (1bil and its fittings), and yet the little cheap retriever wins. If you want to be cool and mine in your carrier, go right ahead, but I hope you die.

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Originally by:

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8. Drones

Drones are not to be ignored, since they can significantly raise your ISK/hour ratio. Of
course IÆm talking about Mining Drones here if you had not understood yetà it is
however not a bad idea to have a few combat drones in your drone bay if you have the
room in case some pesky ceptor come at you à

Before I go any further, I want you to read this VERY carefully and apply it. In fact, if it
helps, you can make multiple Post-it and stick them everywhere in your houseà

STAY AWAY FROM HARVESTER MINING DRONES!

Please for the love of god, do not go spend a fortune on these, they are so not worth it.
Since they stopped dropping as loots, their price sky rocketed and keep doing so, while
people do not realize they suck monkey ballsà

But now, back to the subject at hand. As mentioned in section 6, two skills influence the
yield of your drone (thereÆs a gang mod that can as well, more on that later) , which are
Mining Drone Operations and Drone Interfacing. Take note that drones cannot mine Ice
or Mercoxit. First, letÆs have a look at the different drones available.

Drone type Speed (m/s) Base yield (m3/cycle) Cycle (in sec) 
T1 Mining Drone 400 15 60 
T2 Mining Drone 500 25 60 
Harvester Mining Drone 250 30 60 

Anything strikes you? First thing to look at is the speed, and you can see right away that
Harvester Mining Drones have fat asses and are VERY slow ! What is it important ?

The traveling factor !

Unlike mining lasers, drones must travel from and back to your ship before you get any
ore in your cargo. They will need 60 seconds to finish their cycle. Any traveling time to
and from the asteroid isnÆt factored in the cycle time. Simply put, Harvester Mining
Drones are twice as slow as T2 Mining Drones, and yet, their base yield is only 20%
betterà and they cost 20 times as much as T2 Mining Drones ! ThatÆs totally insane, so
do yourself a favor, spread the word that they suck and donÆt buy them.

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Originally by: Xaliendraa Khaine

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When you say refit, you mean swap in and out modules in space ???!!! ???

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Originally by: Princess Jodi

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Actually, I've read both those posts before, and disagree with them.

The first post makes the good point that you will be a target. Fair enough, it happens. But overall I mine in 0.0 deep in alliance-controlled territory, and being a target means they don't try to kill 500 mill isk Hulks. I accept the danger.

The second post had me convinced...until I noticed that although it says 30 meter-cubed space per Harvester, I actually get 75 meter-cubed. So...reality and experimentation beats statistics, as is usually true.

Thank you for your well-documented response. But I still disagree with the people you quote.

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Originally by: Donathan Slade

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2) ORE's don't have turret hard points but still get to use mining lasers, so why can't a carrier?

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Originally by: Zerge Bacon

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Hey all, Im currently starting my carrier train, and Im wondering if the skill "Jump portal generation" is specifically needed to jump with a carrier. I should hope not, as I havent seen it on these lists and its a very long train.

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