TseTse said:
I'm far from a pro, but i think the answer simply is: it depends.
I have no reason to believe you can make even a fraction of the money ratting that you can from mining if you invest the time/training into it.
Of course, if you can crush battleships and even shadows with ease and with speed, then scan all containers for top qual stuff... you can make some really damn good cash, esp with rare drops. I assume people can make a small fortune from ratting in quick time, with good skills and a good ship. But if you put the same amount of training into mining then i think mining is still gonna be raw gravy in comparison. It jsut comes at a steep trade-off, it seems.
I personally want more understanding and guidance on this exact matter, cuz im really tired of investing time into mining. I'd rather be ratting and trading. Although im also considering buying a decent miner and using that char to grind cash. I dont mean a completely tweaked out uber-miner as much as one that is cheap (i.e. <2m sp or something) but can still bring in great cash.
If i understand it right, you can perhaps be comfortably pulling in like 20m an hour with a decent miner... without much hassle. I just don't want to waste more time training for it =(
Ratting is better IF you have the right ship for the right spawns. A maxed out Hulk pilot can theoretically pull in excess of 60mil per hour. However, unless you find an INCREDIBLE belt, the actual number is likely half or less of that number. You'll quickly go through whatever tight concentrations of high ore there are in the belts, leaving you to have to either warp to other belts or head to a different section of the belt you're in. If you have more than one miner, this only becomes worse, as you're always moving around due to the ore just not lasting and this translates to a much lower ISK per hour than what you'd expect.
For ratting, there is no such constraint IF you planned things out correctly. Finding a relatively empty system and a few belts to chain isn't too hard, and can pull 40-60m per hour (on average in a sufficiently low sec 0.0 system. Sometimes can spike up to 100m+ per hour if you have a lucky string or two of commander spawns and good loot). Ship choice is INCREDIBLY important though. Minmatar ships are by far the worst to rat in (regardless of NPC type) due to the incredibly fast rate of ammo consumption they enjoy. In terms of efficiency, the less often you have to head back to a station (or even a secure container) and "refuel" is better. Gallente blasterboats aren't much better in that regard, and should be avoided also.
That pretty much leaves the Ishtar, Dominix, Raven (and Cerberus), and several Amarr ships. Obviously, the Raven can fight any NPC well, due to it not having a specific damage bonus, but there are better choices for each individual type. But unless you plan on fighting Guristas, I'm actually not a fan of the Cerberus due to "wasting" the 5% kinetic bonus. For the droneboats, fitted with a few blasters and heavy drones, the Ishtar and Dominix will TEAR through any Serpentis spawn with a relatively low rate of ammo consumption. However, in my humble opinion, the Absolution is the best NPCer bar none IF you can get access to either Bloods or Sanshas. If you have a hauler to pick up all the loot, an Absolution filled with Conflag crystals can last for weeks in the deepest of 0.0 systems, and deal in excess of 700 DPS while being able to tank any spawn.
Obviously, it is expensive to actually fit an excellent ratting setup, but I actually find it easier to rat than to mine if I need some ISK. For mining, you need to spend time to actually find a good belt, and then once you find it, the high-end ore never lasts longer than an hour or two if you have good mining skills, then it's rinse and repeat. For ratting, you warp into a belt, see if it's a decent spawn and perhaps blow it up if it is, then move on.
