<b>Mining Barge bonuses (per skill level):</b><br>
3% bonus to Strip Miner yield<br>
2% reduction in Ice and Gas Harvester duration<br>
5% bonus to ship ore hold capacity<br>
'''Role Bonus:'''<br>
10% bonus in Strip Miner yield<br>
12.5% reduction in Ice and Gas Harvester duration
350 GJ
450 m³
Mining Barge
260
50 m³
27,500 m³
Mining
Outer Ring Excavations
Mining Barges
2
Retriever Class
0.7
The mining barge was designed by ORE to facilitate advancing the mining profession to a new level. Each barge was created to excel at a specific function, the Retriever's being storage. A massive ore hold allows the Retriever to operate for extended periods without requiring as much support as other barges.
Mining barges are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining and Ice Harvesting modules.
3
17500000
6
125
2
83
Every day I climb two mountains; a mountain of ore and a mountain of ISK.
Of the mining barges, the Retriever has the largest mining hold — Half a jet-can size at 27,500 base — whilst being in the middle for hit points and yield, thus making the Retriever most useful for solo mining by reducing the frequency of trips to unload. Because the Retriever has an ore/mining hold size bonus per level of Mining barge skill the actual size will vary between 28,875 and 34,375. Additionally, the Retriever can fit an adequate tank to survive a suicide gank. cf. http://greedygoblin.blogspot.com/p/why-was-i-ganked.html
Skills
Further information about additional or recommended skills to pilot Retriever for a specific or its common role(s) can be written here.
Tactics
Suicide ganking is a popular play-style and miners are prime targets; cf. Why Was I Ganked?.
Fit enough tank to survive the ganker's DPS long enough for CONCORD to destroy the ganker; as of Rubicon 1.2, this means surviving a Catalyst's 728.2 DPS for 25 seconds—18,205 Void damage—in a 0.5 system
Use and keep launched ECM drones
This lets gankers know that you are expecting them and implies you are tanked for them; this is deterrence
This provides a chance to break the ganker's target lock for 20 seconds
One Hobgoblin I is sufficient to destroy NPC pirates, leaving room for four ECM drones or three ECM drones and a salvage drone
Setting drones to aggressive lets them engage your aggressor without having to target-lock first (see Using Drones)
Fitting expensive meta modules may compel a duo gank due to their high-value loot chance
Trade hubs (especially Hek) and ice belt systems are popular hunting grounds for gankers
Mine aligned to a celestial/station for faster warp-out
Warping out when a non-mining ship enters your belt/anomaly is prudent
Other mining ships may be scouts for gankers; it is good to know who your neighbours are and put known gankers on your contact list with terrible standing
If attacked, overload your tank modules
Mining in a fleet--even with just two miners--provides boosts with the skills Leadership and Mining Foreman
It is impolite (and diminishes yield) to mine a rock someone else is already mining: when the rock runs out of ore, the first laser to cycle will get the last ore but the other lasers will continue to cycle (up to 3 minutes) and get nothing
Due to how vulnerable and cumbersome the mining barges are, it is ill-advised to travel between stargates in lowsec in one, as they make for very juicy targets. Instead, a good idea is to transport your Retriever packaged in a hauler, which raises less (albeit still some) suspicion.
A Badger, even at base skills, has a capacity of 3,900, allowing it to carry a packaged mining frigate, barge, and even an exhumer, and still have enough cargo space for its modules, can perform the cloak trick, and when designed well, can align in under 6 seconds. Beware however, that when packaging a ship, all its rigs are destroyed, so either use cheap Tech I rigs or design your ship around not using them.
Notes
Personally I love this ship. I took a few modules from my venture to decrease the time required to go to warp.
- Joran Tegan
## Patch History
