Sunday night Inquisition FiS Division had its first corp Op, a little mining trip into a .5 system near us to grab some Kernite. It was a good night overall, and left us with a few goals to work towards.
The thing I like about mining Ops is they are low key. You don’t need a ‘full raid’ to start, you don’t have to end at a specific time, people can come and go as they need, and everyone can come and contribute, be it a pilot with a max-trained Hulk or someone in a frigate with mining lasers. It’s also a safe, semi-afk, guaranteed ISK process, allowing everyone to chat and get to know each other. It’s a good example of EVE, generally regarded as a ‘hardcore’ MMO, being far more casual with some of its group content than most games. And while mining was the example here, frigate PvP roams or group missions are also possible, and just as accessible.
The Op also encouraged our members to at least train up to a Retriever, while I’m now training towards an Orca. It will be interesting to see our progress here in terms of mining yield. By our next Op I fully expect us to more than double our total haul, and that’s without the addition of new pilots. The more ISK we haul in, the bigger our Corp goals can get, which in turn opens up new ‘content’.
Another interesting aspect of the mining Op is that our resident market man, Dex, now has a new research project, looking into the most profitable ores to mine and whether or not it makes sense to refine them (I originally picked Kernite because it’s the highest ore in our area of Empire, but it turns out it’s not the most profitable at current market prices).
As EVE vets know and new players hopefully learn, EVE only stays fun if you set goals for yourself. My overall aim with the Corp is to provide some short-term goals for our members, while also allowing them to pursue individual interests. In addition to the short-term, I’ll also establish some long-term goals to keep us focused. Right now one long-term goal is to look into low-sec living, or at least living in high-sec that boarders low-sec. We will see how that plays out after the holidays.
EVE-related blog post notice: If you would like to join us, comment here or shoot me an email. If you don’t have an EVE account, I’m more than happy to send a 21-day trial invite, and split the PLEX-related profit if you decide to sign up. Again just comment or email me.
Hardcore Casual 
Mining ops? Freakin’ care bears! Come out to null sec!
Hah!
Never thought I would get to say that.
Feels good right? :)
Doubly so, since this is a reversal of our usual positions.
After seeing that screenshot from null on your blog, we totally have to move out into low at least and get away from these damn nebula
Once you get out into some of those low-sec systems, they get pretty dark. You fly around and start to get a bit lonely. Then you explode that first ship and watch the pretty lights…
I still remember being both amused and annoyed when I realized that my Vexor (fitted with meta 3 mining lasers and a full flight of mining drone Is) out-mined my newly acquired Retriever by about 30 m3 per spin. When you first get that Retriever, you feel like a big miner. At least until you do the maths and realize how important support skills are.
Still, one of the most glorious mining platforms is the Mine-a-baddon. Ah, 8 miner 2’s and low slots full of mining upgrades!
Course – shooting things with the Abbaddon is still much more fun!
Your numbers guy might want to look at the value of ore per cubic metre. Every mining ship will extract ore at some rate of cubic metres per hour: with T2 mining gear you have crystals to help extract specific ores faster, but it’s still at a fixed rate of m3/hr.
It is usually worthwhile to build good standings with local NPC corporations and refine the ore when you can do so with no losses.
It is also worthwhile posting buy orders for the raw ore, since there are many miners out there who can’t do 100% refining.
It is also worthwhile posting buy orders for minerals in the systems with good belts, since there are many miners with 100% refining who prefer sitting in belts rather than hauling minerals to market hubs.
Good luck, I’d wish the force to be with you but that would be genre-bending ;)
My mining character Rarik Scutatus and my friend Selirus would like to join your mining force. Convo in game!
Hi Goon.
Institute a corporate incentive program.
Skill up for a Retriever? Receive a free Retriever hull.
My alliance does this with Logistics ships, but it’s applicable to any ship type your corp wants more people to fly in.
If we expand the Corp to generate enough taxes/revenue, I’d like to do this, although I think I’d do it for PvP hulls, free frigs and such first.
Retrievers aren’t exactly expensive, especially when coupled with a corp ore buying program at your home station to pay for the minerals to make more of them.
We usually have a stash of them around to give to corp n00bs who train up and to use as throw aways in high-risk mining. For Gallente pilots, Fleet Mining Vexors are good for the throw aways too.
Hey long time reader and Eve nullsec pilot, first time poster 07
Ice mining is apparently highly profitable, and certainly more so than kernite mining. Goonswarm ended their Oxy embargo several days ago so there is suppose a tremendous market there.
Then again I’m More of a pvper/nullsec fleet grunt, and my last mining experience consists of a burning wreck of a bantam circa 2007… take my advice with a pinch of salt heh.
Great posts to read btw and afaik the only specifically pro-sandbox MMO blog I know
I assume you are in the US time zone, is that right?
Yup, EST for the most part, although I’m on late enough to cover western prime time as well.
oh, well, I’m in the EU timezone :( Anyway, best of luck.