Hello miners

So currently there is a mining ship that fills almost every niche in the game for null sec corporations and high sec/low alike:

Mercoxit
Ice
Ships with ore bays
Ships with Ship Maint. Bays
Massive Cargo holds
Clone vat bay
Corporation hangars
Mining boosts

But currently no ship in the game has an option for In-Space refining. So i set my eyes on my orca. It has pretty much everything a station can offer:
Lots of storage
Fitting
Corporation hangars

Currently orca's are a must have for any industry corporation, And they can be used in high sec as an 'Alternative station' for pure mining corps.

So what if you own sov in null sec, but the system has no station? You have your one or two floating space stations but no way to refine that precious ore you've mined. aha! An orca With a refining array on it. The orca can take ore from the Ore bay, refine it onboard and dump it in the cargo bay, Shiny minerals for all

This can be great for a corporation because:
You can set a tax, like a Player Owned Customs Office
Longer mining Ops
Another reason to buy the already versitile orca
Less trips too and from a station (High/low sec)
Can set the tax/wasteage factor with corporation/alliance standing

So that's my suggestion, id love if a dev can see this, i think it would be a great addition to the game currently.

Glad to hear what you all think about this, Please post suggestions/Comments
FlySafe

Not trolling here, but why would you want to refine in space / belts (meaning not at a POS or station)? If its a transport / logistics issue you're looking to resolve the Rorqual handles it far better then refining ever would (through compression).

Also this ship ability would remove any need of the refining POS arrays (as Lady Ayeipsia mentioned) which all ready works good enough and offers the ability to refine at remote locations at a pretty small cost (25%).

The only way I can see this being of much use outside of existing game mechanics would be wormhole space, which you can still setup a refinery array or Rorqual in, or for corp members trying to bypass paying alliance fees in a station (refining taxes).

So yeah, similar mechanics exist, it would screw over alliances (allowing corps to bypass fees used to pay for station related stuff) and no one needs to be able to mine /refine arkonor prior to transporting. Its a pain in the ass moving it (m3 wise) because of its value. Being able to refine it before dealing with transporting would make nullsec / WH / grav sites mining far too easy and way to profitable.

Not a good idea. What you do not realize is that nul alliances get a portion of what you refine as tax. that part "we keep" goes to the alliance coffers.

Also, there is a pos module, a refining array. Most nul sec alliances will kill your pos, kick your corp, and get very upset if you online one of those mods at a pos.

Lastly, if in nul, why would this not be a rorqual option more than an orca? Rocquals have compression already and thus would defeat the purpose of compressing ore in many cases. For an orca it would be far to powerful.

Old timers may remember the plans to make Industrial be able to fit modules for industry, including a refinery, hence all Industrials have a lot more CPU than they should.

There was even the skill "Mobile Refinery Operation", which is now a collectable.

Don't know CCP's thoughts, though they are bringing back Salvage Drones.

Can we get some dev clarification on this? the whole skillbook thing, and where are industrials now?

Yeah if/when we ever get an industry expansion, I'd love the current POS refinery arrays to be looked at. Something like this could be an awesome addition instead.

What about my Rorqual?

Not a good idea. What you do not realize is that nul alliances get a portion of what you refine as tax. that part "we keep" goes to the alliance coffers.

Also, there is a pos module, a refining array. Most nul sec alliances will kill your pos, kick your corp, and get very upset if you online one of those mods at a pos.

Lastly, if in nul, why would this not be a rorqual option more than an orca? Rocquals have compression already and thus would defeat the purpose of compressing ore in many cases. For an orca it would be far to powerful.

Refining in the belts is a bit TOO powerful and would completely negate compression. Refineries are by design stationary objects that require you to have a supply line between the belts and the refinery. Moving the refinery into a ship takes away logistics, Rorquals, the usefulness of an industrial POS, and the ability of alliances to generate income from those who benefit from their protection.

What you're asking for is an "easy mode" where you can park on Orca with your Hulks, refine as you go, and strip belt after belt in safe space without having to worry about logistics. Then when you're done you can just dock it all up or log off in a safe spot and not have to worry about defending anything. That's a lot of reward for not much risk.