A Procurer Pilot's View Of September's Mining Barge Changes

Yesterday CCP Fozzie posted the upcoming changes to mining barges and exhumers to the EVE Online forums. I know that many people are deathly allergic to the forums, so I'll post the ship and module changes below:

The overall mining yields of the Procurer, Skiff, Retriever, and Mackinaw remain unchanged after this pass. The Covetor and Hulk will gain a lowslot which allows some new options and the potential of greater yield (although fittings will be appropriately tight when using three MLUs).

As part of this change we are increasing the yield of all barge-sized strip miners and ice harvesters, which cancels out the changes to hardpoints and bonuses on the Barges and Exhumers. We are also providing a moderate buff to the ORE Strip Miners and ORE Ice Harvesters.

The module changes in full are:
All Non-ORE Strip Miners: +25% volume mined per cycle
ORE Strip Miner: +30% volume mined per cycle, -10 CPU
All Ice Harvesters: -20% cycle time, -20% capacitor use
ORE Ice Harvester: -16 CPU

And the ship changes:

Procurer:
Removal of strip miner yield and ice harvester cycle time role bonuses
+1 highslot
+7 PWG
+55 CPU

Skiff:
Removal of strip miner yield and ice harvester cycle time role bonuses
+1 highslot
+8 PWG
+60 CPU

Retriever:
Removal of strip miner yield and ice harvester cycle time role bonuses

Mackinaw:
Removal of strip miner yield and ice harvester cycle time role bonuses

Covetor:
Changed skill bonus for the skill Mining Barge: 2% (was 4%) reduction in strip miner and ice harvester duration per level
New role bonus: 25% reduction in strip miner and ice harvester duration and activation cost
-1 highslot
+1 lowslot
-5 PWG
-15 CPU

Hulk:
Changed skill bonus for the skill Mining Barge: 2% (was 4%) reduction in strip miner and ice harvester duration per level
New role bonus: 25% reduction in strip miner and ice harvester duration and activation cost
-1 highslot
+1 lowslot
-5 PWG
-40 CPU

I only fly two of the ships, the Procurer and the Skiff. Instead of getting all bitter about the changes and talk about ships I don't fly, I'll only discuss the ship I fly the most, the Procurer.

Since the change is basically artistic in nature, I'll address the aesthetics first. I like the current Procurer hull. The appearance of the ship is distinctive. The new designs of all the mining barges and exhumers looks too similar to me. I'm sure over time I'll get use to the new design. If the new design means less problems getting tangled up with asteroids, I'll like the design a lot faster.

The switch from one to two mining turrets means the game play changes a bit. Instead of just worrying about how much is left in one asteroid, I now have to pay attention to two. Of course, if I am in high sec, that means I can sit pretty much motionless for 3, 4, or even 5 cycles while the strip miners work. With my skills and fleet bonuses, that means if I choose the asteroids carefully, I can turn on the modules, go AFK, and come back in 10-11 minutes to a full ore hold.

In low sec, the challenge is a bit greater. The change rise that as I mine while aligned that I could potentially scoot out of range of the asteroid before I finish sucking up all of the ore. I'm not really worried about that because the mechanics allow for training both strip miners on one asteroid. In effect, I can fly the new Procurer just like the old one.

Another issue that affects both mining in all areas of space is the increased use of mining crystals. I will need to carry at least two crystals of each type of ore I wish to mine. I haven't tried to see how many crystals I can stuff into my cargo hold on Singularity, but I will need to pack a little more carefully when going out to the belt. Well, unless I have Orca support, that is.

On the positive side, two mining turrets means I can mine two different types of ore at once. For example, this weekend I did some mining in low sec. I mined some hedbergite because I needed the rarer minerals like isogen, nocxium, and zydrine. I also wound up mining scordite to meet the constant demand for tritanium and pyerite required for manufacturing ammunition. Overall, I mined two ore hold loads of each. I would mine hedbergite one trip, then scordite the next. With two turrets, I can fill up half scordite and half hedbergite each trip to the belt. I would like that option a lot more.

Another advantage that doesn't affect the way I fly is the ability to use the second high slot as a utility slot. Those interested in mining won't like the idea of cutting a ship's mining yield in half to have the ability to light a cyno. I'd also say that putting a cloaking device on a Procurer is crazy, but I can fly a Prospect. People who don't have the skills may see a gimped Procurer with a cloak the functional equivalent of an expedition frigate.

Overall, I see the changes as a net positive for the Procurer. Not a big gain, but a gain just the same. Then again, the September changes are not a balance pass. Instead, the patch brings new artwork to the game and the changes are to support making the game align with the developers vision of how the EVE universe should look. I'm not sold on that vision, but I'm sure I'll get used to the new ship designs someday.