Nasty pirates messing up all your grand plans for market domination? Has production taken a serious hit lately due to marauding swarms of asshats blowing up your retrievers just as you were getting down to some comfy, casual mining? Have you given up on the Hulk? Well, hang in there friends. I am about to inform you of what you need to do to Beat the Gank! Oh, yes you can!
First things first: do you have a way to set a corporation red or orange? Standings, right? Yes, you really will want to set known ganker groups in your area red or orange. Do it right now. Then, if you see a local spike of red or orange pilots, what now? I know! Warp off and go mine somewhere else or do something else for a while! Best defense is avoidance. Don't be that guy who sat there mining afk and got podded to boot. Just don't.
Secondly, I am seeing a lot of failfit mining barges out there and basically, to quote Yoda, "That is why you fail." Don't be so greedy my little minions! Fit those barges a little harder and you will survive to make a lot more isk in the long run, and enjoy the satisfaction of pirate tears for a change (at least some of the time.) How can we do this, you ask? This must be deep magic or indeed, veritable rocket science that Miz Annika is about to drop on us? Well, not really. OK, have you ever been ganked? What was the pirate's ship du choix? Hmm... I guess it was a CATALYST. Typically it is. What kind of damage does a Catalyst do? Kinetic, and thermal. Yes folks, they are running cheap blasters and faction ammo. You heard it here first. So what do we need to tank against? You guessed it my only slightly thick Welsh mining types! Kinetic and thermal! So what is the difference? Well, the difference between life and death depending on the size of the ganking squad. If you are properly tanked, you will require that they bring more people at the same time to the field, and that should cause you to notice the above mentioned red or orange spike more readily. it also may cause them to fail as the larger a group is the more likely it becomes that someone screws up. These things are all in your favor. Here are some example fits:
[Hulk, Antigank]
Damage Control II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Domination Small Shield Booster
Kinetic Deflection Amplifier II
Thermic Dissipation Amplifier II
Small Shield Extender II
Modulated Strip Miner II
Modulated Strip Miner II
Modulated Strip Miner II
Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
[Mackinaw, Antigank]
Ice Harvester Upgrade II
Internal Force Field Array I
Frigoris Restrained Ice Harvester Upgrade
Small Shield Booster II
Kinetic Deflection Amplifier II
Upgraded Thermic Dissipation Amplifier I
Small F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Ice Harvester II
Ice Harvester II
Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
OK, so you want to mine using an Orca? Great! An Orca not only boosts your mining yields and laser ranges. It can be a mobile logistics platform, and an anchor. What is an anchor you say? Well, have any of you mining types ever PvP'd? (Low murmurs of discontent, awkward looks.) OK, I guess not. How about tried Incursions? (A few sharp darting looks, one or two brighten up a bit.) Ah, some have tried incursions! Do you recall logistics in the Incursion fleet? Instead of flying off in random directions, logistics in incursions all orbit an anchor, and so as the anchor moves, all the ships move. How can we apply this to mining? 1. Orca is the anchor. Have all barges orbit the Orca. 2. Have the Orca rigged with a large remote shield boost, and lock all the barges orbiting the Orca. 3. Add all barges orbiting the Orca to the Orca's watch list. 4. And have an XL Ancillary Shield Booster fitted to the Orca in case they attempt an Orca hit. 5. Profit. Why is this better you ask? Because a ship in motion will take less damage than a stationary ship. As the barges orbit the Orca, they make themselves much more difficult targets. The remote repper on the Orca can then send shield reps to whatever barge they primary. Remember - you only have to last long enough for Concord to drop their donuts, clamber their fat asses into their Police cruisers, and show up. Make sure you have enough tank to last that long against most setups.
Be aware though, that if you attempt to repair your allied Hulk, the Orca will then receive a global suspect flag according to the new game mechanics. So using it as a logistics platform is a serious risk. Why has CCP chosen to do this, knowing that the barge is ridiculously weak and that the advantage is always on the side of the ganker? Well, the answer is simple: they hate you. Mining is basically a high reward low risk activity in empire, and so CCP have added risk by allowing cheaply fit catalyst destroyers to suicide destroy you when you mine. They likely feel this is fair; and they might have something of a point. I feel the risk/reward ratio is far too skewed in favor of the ganker, personally. And that the Orca, if it attempts to remote repair the Hulk or other mining barge in this instance, gets a global suspect tag which likely would lead to the loss of the Orca, infuriates me. They put you out there with your pants down and you are not allowed to do anything smart to even slightly cover your ass. How to address this? I don't know. I guess what you would have to do is encourage everyone to gank all the time. Bring mining to a complete halt in empire, and crash the economy. Experience shows that CCP only responds when there are dire consequences if they don't.
Granted, if they bring a huge fleet you are going to die. Welcome to EVE. But if there are only three or four of them? Fool you once, shame on them, kill you every time because you are an ignorant miner? Shame on you.
First things first: do you have a way to set a corporation red or orange? Standings, right? Yes, you really will want to set known ganker groups in your area red or orange. Do it right now. Then, if you see a local spike of red or orange pilots, what now? I know! Warp off and go mine somewhere else or do something else for a while! Best defense is avoidance. Don't be that guy who sat there mining afk and got podded to boot. Just don't.
Secondly, I am seeing a lot of failfit mining barges out there and basically, to quote Yoda, "That is why you fail." Don't be so greedy my little minions! Fit those barges a little harder and you will survive to make a lot more isk in the long run, and enjoy the satisfaction of pirate tears for a change (at least some of the time.) How can we do this, you ask? This must be deep magic or indeed, veritable rocket science that Miz Annika is about to drop on us? Well, not really. OK, have you ever been ganked? What was the pirate's ship du choix? Hmm... I guess it was a CATALYST. Typically it is. What kind of damage does a Catalyst do? Kinetic, and thermal. Yes folks, they are running cheap blasters and faction ammo. You heard it here first. So what do we need to tank against? You guessed it my only slightly thick Welsh mining types! Kinetic and thermal! So what is the difference? Well, the difference between life and death depending on the size of the ganking squad. If you are properly tanked, you will require that they bring more people at the same time to the field, and that should cause you to notice the above mentioned red or orange spike more readily. it also may cause them to fail as the larger a group is the more likely it becomes that someone screws up. These things are all in your favor. Here are some example fits:
[Hulk, Antigank]
Damage Control II
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Domination Small Shield Booster
Kinetic Deflection Amplifier II
Thermic Dissipation Amplifier II
Small Shield Extender II
Modulated Strip Miner II
Modulated Strip Miner II
Modulated Strip Miner II
Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
[Mackinaw, Antigank]
Ice Harvester Upgrade II
Internal Force Field Array I
Frigoris Restrained Ice Harvester Upgrade
Small Shield Booster II
Kinetic Deflection Amplifier II
Upgraded Thermic Dissipation Amplifier I
Small F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Ice Harvester II
Ice Harvester II
Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
OK, so you want to mine using an Orca? Great! An Orca not only boosts your mining yields and laser ranges. It can be a mobile logistics platform, and an anchor. What is an anchor you say? Well, have any of you mining types ever PvP'd? (Low murmurs of discontent, awkward looks.) OK, I guess not. How about tried Incursions? (A few sharp darting looks, one or two brighten up a bit.) Ah, some have tried incursions! Do you recall logistics in the Incursion fleet? Instead of flying off in random directions, logistics in incursions all orbit an anchor, and so as the anchor moves, all the ships move. How can we apply this to mining? 1. Orca is the anchor. Have all barges orbit the Orca. 2. Have the Orca rigged with a large remote shield boost, and lock all the barges orbiting the Orca. 3. Add all barges orbiting the Orca to the Orca's watch list. 4. And have an XL Ancillary Shield Booster fitted to the Orca in case they attempt an Orca hit. 5. Profit. Why is this better you ask? Because a ship in motion will take less damage than a stationary ship. As the barges orbit the Orca, they make themselves much more difficult targets. The remote repper on the Orca can then send shield reps to whatever barge they primary. Remember - you only have to last long enough for Concord to drop their donuts, clamber their fat asses into their Police cruisers, and show up. Make sure you have enough tank to last that long against most setups.
Be aware though, that if you attempt to repair your allied Hulk, the Orca will then receive a global suspect flag according to the new game mechanics. So using it as a logistics platform is a serious risk. Why has CCP chosen to do this, knowing that the barge is ridiculously weak and that the advantage is always on the side of the ganker? Well, the answer is simple: they hate you. Mining is basically a high reward low risk activity in empire, and so CCP have added risk by allowing cheaply fit catalyst destroyers to suicide destroy you when you mine. They likely feel this is fair; and they might have something of a point. I feel the risk/reward ratio is far too skewed in favor of the ganker, personally. And that the Orca, if it attempts to remote repair the Hulk or other mining barge in this instance, gets a global suspect tag which likely would lead to the loss of the Orca, infuriates me. They put you out there with your pants down and you are not allowed to do anything smart to even slightly cover your ass. How to address this? I don't know. I guess what you would have to do is encourage everyone to gank all the time. Bring mining to a complete halt in empire, and crash the economy. Experience shows that CCP only responds when there are dire consequences if they don't.
Granted, if they bring a huge fleet you are going to die. Welcome to EVE. But if there are only three or four of them? Fool you once, shame on them, kill you every time because you are an ignorant miner? Shame on you.