Sonic Industries - Mining Fleet Operation Manual

This guide is a work in progress. As we hold more and larger mining ops we will refine this guide to help everyone get more from their time grinding asteroids for fun and profit.

Please direct any comments or suggestions to Laucian Aramil in game.

Fleet Creation and Organization

Fleet command structure sets the timbre for the entire operation. Luckily EVE offers a solid fleet interface for getting everyone where they need to be.

Fleets should be started and commanded by any character that has the highest Wing or Fleet command skill. In the case of mining fleets the commander also needs to have the highest Mining Foreman and Industrial Command Ship skills, ideally piloting an Orca as well.

The commander must understand how boosting and bonuses work in order to assure everyone is mining at optimal efficiency.

• Squadron Commanders boost their squad
• Wing Commanders boost their subordinate Squadrons
• Fleet Commanders boost everyone in their fleet

The only caveat is that this is based on who is offering the best bonus. So if a Wing commander has a higher Mining Foreman skill his bonus will take precedence over the Fleet Commander but only for his subordinate Squadrons. It may seem like a small thing but layering the bonuses properly will enhance everyone much better than just feeling warm and fuzzy because you’ve got a green checkmark in the Fleet interface.

Fleet Leaders should have the following skills presented in order of preference.

• ‘Crucible’ Fleet Commander:

Leadership 5, Mining Director 5, Fleet Command 5, Industrial Command Ships 5, Warfare Link Specialist 5

• ‘Smelter’ Wing Commander:

Leadership 5, Mining Director 5, Wing Command 5, Industrial Command Ships 5, Warfare Link Specialist 5

• ‘Auger’ Squadron Commander:

Leadership 5, Mining Director 5, Industrial Command Ships 5, Warfare Link Specialist 5

Second, strategic mining is critical to assure everyone is being as efficient as possible in their activities. If more than a single miner’s laser is on an asteroid cycles will be lost. For optimum efficiency pilots in a field need to focus on one type of ore, adjusting their overview accordingly and maintain enough distance from other pilots working the same ore to avoid overlapping. Use of scanners is highly recommended to better time your cycle usage.

An efficient fleet composition would be as follows:

• 1 Orca (appropriate booster modules and max cargo capacity)
• 4-5 Hulks/Miners (Mining Laser Upgrades filling low slots)
• 1-2 Haulers (Mammoth/Iteron V fully rigged with cargo expanders and optimizers)

This model should be followed as a squad breakdown. Every ship and pilot has a role in this basic setup. The Commander provides fleet boosting, gathering cans and ore storage for haulers. Miners strip ore and dump to cans for the orca to pull. Haulers pull ore from the Orca and drop in the designated location. The Orca will also be the only ship with combat drones for basic NPC defense. Miners will carry mining drones to increase their overall yield.

Combat ships could be included in this fleet composition if the operation is taking place in PVP territory or the rats are heavier than the Orca Drones can manage. It would be more efficient for combat ships to be in a separate fleet to minimize confusion.