New Mining Character Day 15 - Low Sec Mining

Having some disposable income, I decided to plunge into what some new miners will likely try to do and, also likely, get destroyed while doing it: low sec mining. The allure of higher profits and mining some exotic ore types is rather strong. Even when taking all sorts of precautions, it's still very easy to lose your ship, but it definitely adds a lot of excitement to something that otherwise may be rather tedious. Here's a few tips on making sure you survive for as long as possible.

 

 

Picking a very low traffic and occupancy system is paramount to your survival. Doing that is easier said than done, because ideally you want at least one station in the system where you would refine the ore. Jumping between low sec systems only provides you with more chances to be destroyed at a gate camp. However, browse around the map and take note of number of active pilots and jumps in the system. You can find that information in the statistics folder of the map.

I have picked Prism system (Black Rise, Caldari State) mainly because of it's sec status (0.2) that would let me mine Hedbergite, a presence of a station in the system and low number of active pilots.

Picking a system is one thing, but getting there presents a challenge. The first jump into low sec has a very high likelihood of being camped on the other side. For that reason I have equipped 2x Warp Core Stabilizers I and 1x Inertial Stabilizers I. The warp stabs will let you escape if someone managed to warp scramble you and inertial stabs will let you align to the next gate faster. The 2x warp stabs will help if you encounter a solo roamer, but will be useless if more than one pilot will be able to warp scramble you.

Once you get to the system, the next important thing to do right away is to set up a "safe spot" somewhere in the system. You can do that by warping to any celestial object, and mid-warp selecting "People & Places" (Alt-E) - Places tab - clicking the Add Location button on the bottom and submitting the bookmark to your inventory. This is the place that you can warp to in the middle of the system if you encounter problems. The only way to find the ship at a safe spot is to use Combat Scanner Probes. It may be a good idea to have more than one safe spot and to constantly warp between them if someone is really adamant on trying to find you.

The next order of business is to set up an "insta-warp" bookmark outside of the station you'll be using. The "insta-warp" is simply a location some 160km or more away from the station along the trajectory of the undocking procedure. If you see there's nobody around the station, quickly dock and undock. Once you undock, hit your afterburner and wait till your ship is far away enough from the station to be able to use the warp button to travel back to the station. It should somewhere above 160km. Once you're there, make a bookmark. What this will allow you to do is to quickly warp away from the station if there are people camping it. Your ship wouldn't need to align to another celestial object, a maneuver that usually takes very long and lets other players target you. Once you set up the "insta-warp" test it to make sure it works.

With that out of the way, now it's time to scout the asteroid belts. Start warping to random asteroid belts at about 70km and take a look at what's inside. Once you select your ore of interest (mine was Hedbergite), bookmark the asteroid itself - left-click the asteroid, save location. That serves a two-fold purpose. First, you'll be able to warp quickly to the asteroid, cutting down on travel time. Second, you will be positioned some 20-40 km away from the normal asteroid belt warp-in point. That means that if someone sees you on their Directional Scan (dscan) and warps to your asteroid belt to target you, you will be able to see their ship warping in and initially will be out of the range of their warp scramblers/disruptors. So the farther away you are from the asteroid warp in point, the better.

Bookmarking Asteroids to mine, Safe Spots and Insta-warp points

Make sure you always check your dscan for any incoming ships. Set the distance to maximum and the angle to 360 degrees. Check constantly whenever someone is in the system. You should always be aligned to a celestial object while you are mining. That will let you warp away fast at the first sign of trouble. Always, always, be vigilant. If you see the local spike, warp to a safe spot or dock at the station right away. It is likely just a roaming gang and they will pass (unless of course they live in that system). 

Mining in Low Sec: Aligned to station and constantly checking Dscan

Sadly, at this stage of my skill training, other players being in the system is not the only threat. The rats in low sec belts are rather tough. It is possible to fight against the NPC frigates, but that will only distract you away from watching local. It is best to simply move away to a different asteroid belt and to continue mining there. Practicing the avoidance strategy is the best course of action at this point.

The ship fitting that I used for mining is the following:

High Slots:
3x Miner II 

Medium Slots:
2x Medium Shield Extender I 

Low Slots:
2x Expanded Cargohold II
1x Inertial Stabilizers I
(or 1x Expanded Cargohold II)

Rigs:
2x Optimized Cargohold I


The shield extenders are just in case you get shot at a bit by belt rats. If you get caught in the belt by another player, you don't stand a chance anyways, so no need to worry about a serious tank. In retrospect, the Inertial Stabilizers I module could've been replaced by another Expanded Cargohold II module. If you stay aligned to a celestial while mining, you shouldn't need the inertial stabs.

For traveling to and from low sec, strip this fitting (except the rigs, you can't uninstall those), and install 2x Warp Core Stabilizers I, 1x Inertial Stabilizers I in the lows and 10MN Afterburner I, 2x Medium Shield Extender I in the mids. Keep the rest of the equipment in your cargohold when traveling.

I recorded a video of me mining in low-sec. Feel free to check it out. It is my first attempt at recording in-game footage, so it's a little rough around the edges.

 
Just to recap, here's a list of things you have to make sure you do to survive in mining low-sec:
1. Have a few safe spots in the system.
2. Have a few insta-warp points outside of the station
3. Bookmark the specific asteroids you want to mine and stay away from the normal asteroid belt warp-in point by at least more than 25km, but the farther, the better.
4. Always be aligned to a celestial when mining, quickly warp away at the first sign of trouble.
5. Use Directional Scan often (max distance, max angle, scan for ships).
6. Warp to a different belt if NPC rats appear.
7. Accept the fact that you will likely lose your ship

It's a fact of life in low-sec, you will make mistakes and someone will be faster to respond to the situation than you. Think of your ship as already lost, but try to survive out there as long as possible. The longer you survive, the more ISK you'll be able to make. There's a reason why there's almost nobody mining in low-sec. Anybody passing by will jump at an opportunity to destroy a mining ship. Mining in low-sec is more of a fun thing to try and gives mining some excitement if chipping rocks in high-sec becomes too boring.

After getting two full cargohold hauls (about 2,000 m3), I gained about 245k ISK. That's only a little higher than what I would ordinarily get in high-sec. That is primarily due to my poor refining skills, but the profit margins should increase with better skills! It definitely broke the monotony of the mine-jetcan-haul cycle that is mostly done while afk.

Other than that, I am almost ready to fly the Retriever. It will be possible in less than one day now. 

The few skills that I trained recently were:
- Warp Drive Operation (to be able to use warp core stabilizers)
- Astronautics Rigging (to be able to instal optimized cargohold rigs)
- Industry V (finally done!)

Now I am training:
- Mining Barge I
- Mining Barge II
- Mining Barge III
- Ice Harvesting I
- Ice Harvesting II (to learn about the differences between ice and ore mining)

Fly safe out there! If you decide to try low-sec mining, make sure you do it in a ship that you aren't afraid to lose :)