I’ll be honest here, most of my ship builds are *ancient*, the Tengu fit that I used to use was from 2015, and the game hasn’t exactly stood still while time marched on. Some people have a lot of fun playing with different fits, but me, I tend to stick with one until it’s no longer viable to stick with it or until I lose the ship and need a new fit.
That’s how I found out that there’s a new fit I should be using when it comes to mining with the Orca. Especially ice mining, which I do in my home area quite frequently.
One of the banes of ice mining is that it’s SO large and takes up an incredible amount of room. That is apparently no longer the case if you can fleet up with an Orca (or other ship that can fit a compressor, there’s a few types). So I trained the skills, picked up an industrial core, and an ice compressor, and now all the weight of ice mining is a non issue. It has never really been that much of an issue for me in the past because I live in the system and dropping off the ice hasn’t been a big deal, but I can see the appeal. There’s also a lot of regulars who ice mine in my home system, and I’ve gotten to know them over the past week. They’re pretty friendly, offering to fleet up, offering advice on more up-to-date fits, and just chattering. I explained I was newly returning after a long break, and they completely understood (one of them mentioned that they had also just returned after a 10 year break).
It’s not exciting (well, unless someone unsavory pops by) and it’s not huge amounts of ISK, but it’s certainly better than regular mining in high sec, and my home area has quite a few ice fields to pick from. Yes, there are 20+ of us in there at any given time, but I’ve been enjoying this low key aspect of gameplay. It gives me time to read through the Rookie Help channel and get familiar with my new corporation. Plus I’m close to home, in case I need to log off for RL or I have a sudden urge to explore a new signature. I understand that mining is certainly not for everyone, but for now, this is exactly what I was looking for.