8 Simple Rules for shooting my friendly enemies.
1: No podding, ever. If you happen to pod someone by accident, not only will it hold us up until that person returns to the battlefield, but you will owe them the cost of any new implants.
2: Fights will only take place at the designated locations (designated system which will change each week, and designated bookmark) in round format. Each round will begin with each squad leader warping their entire squad to the fight bookmark at 0. (The squad leaders will be in touch to synchronize warps). Each round ends when there are no more ships alive for one of the two teams. (no reshipping). The winning side gets to loot/salvage the field. Please abandon wrecks to make this easier on the other side. After the looting/salvaging has taken place, each team will go back, drop off loot and reship for the next round.
3: No warping off. If you warp off by accident, you die. (no need to fit long points because of this)
4: There are ship and fitting restrictions that vary by each round. Please refer to the restrictions of each round listed for each week (they will vary by week). Cloaks are the only module which may NEVER be fit. For more details on this week's limitations, see * below. It is the job of the squad leader on each team to confirm his team is properly fit prior to the round beginning.
5: Fights will happen between even numbers of pilots for each team. If either team has more pilots, they will sit pilots, or trade them to the team with less pilots to even up the numbers. At most, there will be one squad''s worth (10 pilots) per team.
6: No off grid boosting. Boosters are only allowed on grid, and only if the allowed fittings allow for a ship that can boost. The boosting ship also counts to a team's pilot total. (Example: 5 pilots + 1 booster = a team of 6 pilots).
7: Drugs and Implants are fine.
8: Each week's fight will consist of 5 rounds, and please no smack talk. Keep it civil!
* Week of Apr 17th 2015: Fitting restrictions:
Round 1: T1 (non-faction) cruisers. You may fit your ship any way you wish with the following exceptions: No ECM, damps or tracking disruptors. No prop mods. No ECM drones. No logi (remote rep) modules. No logi drones. No cloaks. No ECM Bursts.
Round 2: Any destroyer hull. (t1, t2, t3 all fine). No ECM Bursts. No Cloaks. No other restrictions.
Round 3: Rookie ships. You may fit your ship any way you wish with the following exceptions: No ECM, damps or tracking disruptors. No ECM drones. No logi (remote rep) modules. No logi drones. No cloaks. No ECM Bursts.
Round 4: T1 Battlecruisers (non-faction). You may fit your ship any way you wish with the following exceptions: No prop mods. No remote rep (logi). No logi drones. No Cloaks. Note, this is the only round where boosters may be used. Once again, they must count toward your ship total, and be on grid (and therefore destroyable). No ECM Bursts.
Round 5: T1 Haulers. You may fit your ship any way you wish with the following exceptions: No ECM, damps, or tracking disruptors. No ECM drones. No logi (remote rep) or logi drones. No cloaks. No ECM Bursts.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Friday, August 23, 2013
Profit and Loss- Quest For 11 Figures Update- 2 Months In
When I first started this venture I was planning on pumping out a Naglfar every two weeks or so (it takes 11 days to build the thing, and some extra time to buy/build the capital components as well as sell the darn thing). I had 2.9B liquid, a fair amount of BPOs for capital components (about half) and a Nag BPO. Naglfars had BUY orders for around 2.9-3.0B with a build cost of around 2.3-2.4B (and that is using jita sell order prices). That means that a conservative estimate was 500M per Nag, or about a bill a month assuming a Nag built every 2 weeks.
Two months in, I have just recently sold my first Naglfar. How did I do? Not well.
I sold my first nag at a price of 2.32 Billion (net of order and sales tax fees). So what went wrong?
1: In the two months, prices have fallen for minerals, rather heavily. Build Cost is now about 2.0B, roughly a 15-20% decline.
2: The war in fountain is now over, lowering that temporary demand for Naglfars, pushing prices down.
3: Two weeks in, I decided to research ME to 1 on my BPO. This did indeed lower the BPO inefficiency from 10% to 5%, however, it took a month (33 days), during which period prices for minerals fell further than the 5% savings I was gaining by doing the research. The smart thing would have been to sell all minerals I had attained at that time, and buy them up again once the BPO was close to done researching.
Where do things stand now? The buy orders for Naglfars are very close to the build cost of roughly 2B. However, there is a rather large spread between buy and sell orders. The lowest sell order in The forge is currently 2.74B (some other regions are less, but all are 2.4B or higher)
So although I did lose ISK on building my first Nag, I will continue to build, as long as I believe I can sell them using sell orders for somewhat over build cost.
Where do I stand now?
2.54B ISK liquid
170M in inventory (Liquid Ozone cynos)
300M minerals toward next Naglfar.
Total worth: 3.01B ISK
Despite the fact that I took a (small) loss on my first Nag, and that I've run at least one POS continuously (Poses eat fuel, nom nom nom), I've managed to make 110M ISK in 2 months.
For those of you following along at home, that's a horrible return for two months, even considering that I don't play much. Some people make that in one weekend ratting or LV 4 missioning. Let's see if things change going forward, hmmm?
Oh, on a side note Parasoja recently noticed he hit Twelve figures liquid. Congrats Parasoja! How did he manage it? Well, capital ship construction. Lets hope, I can join that club some day.
Two months in, I have just recently sold my first Naglfar. How did I do? Not well.
1: In the two months, prices have fallen for minerals, rather heavily. Build Cost is now about 2.0B, roughly a 15-20% decline.
2: The war in fountain is now over, lowering that temporary demand for Naglfars, pushing prices down.
3: Two weeks in, I decided to research ME to 1 on my BPO. This did indeed lower the BPO inefficiency from 10% to 5%, however, it took a month (33 days), during which period prices for minerals fell further than the 5% savings I was gaining by doing the research. The smart thing would have been to sell all minerals I had attained at that time, and buy them up again once the BPO was close to done researching.
Where do things stand now? The buy orders for Naglfars are very close to the build cost of roughly 2B. However, there is a rather large spread between buy and sell orders. The lowest sell order in The forge is currently 2.74B (some other regions are less, but all are 2.4B or higher)
So although I did lose ISK on building my first Nag, I will continue to build, as long as I believe I can sell them using sell orders for somewhat over build cost.
Where do I stand now?
2.54B ISK liquid
170M in inventory (Liquid Ozone cynos)
300M minerals toward next Naglfar.
Total worth: 3.01B ISK
Despite the fact that I took a (small) loss on my first Nag, and that I've run at least one POS continuously (Poses eat fuel, nom nom nom), I've managed to make 110M ISK in 2 months.
For those of you following along at home, that's a horrible return for two months, even considering that I don't play much. Some people make that in one weekend ratting or LV 4 missioning. Let's see if things change going forward, hmmm?
Oh, on a side note Parasoja recently noticed he hit Twelve figures liquid. Congrats Parasoja! How did he manage it? Well, capital ship construction. Lets hope, I can join that club some day.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
A Quickie
I was reading up on Elon Musk's new plan/project: Hyperloop tubes. While reading, I couldn't help but notice, his design for the hyperloop pods looks awfully familiar. The only two questions I have are, will there be one or two midpoints, and does in come in gold?
Friday, August 2, 2013
The Quest for 11 Figures, Day 45 Update
It's been 10 days since my last post with regards to the quest for 11 figures, so I figured I would give an update. I am starting to get giddy, as my Nag BPO is set to come out of the cooker (ie: lab, being researched to ME 1) in 6 days.
10 days ago I had:
A: 25M ISK liquid.
B: All capital components needed to build a Nag.
C: Nag BPO, in the oven. If you look carefully, you can see it in the picture to the right. (No, actually you can't because it's not there, but thanks for trying).
D: Roughly 100m in minerals left over.
E: 6 planets for PI, all in lowsec.
F: 3 stations stocked with LO/Cynos.
What's changed in the last 10 days? Not much really. Here's where I stand now.
A: 50M ISK Liquid. I've actually been selling LO and cynos at a decent pace recently and have sold more than this, however, you'll see that reflected in D. I've also bought about 25M more in pos fuels, but thats mostly been offset by sales of PI goods.
B: As before, all cap components to build Nag1 are owned.
C: Nag BPO, 6 days to go before exitting the lab, I'm getting excited.
D: I've bought roughly another 100M in minerals using buy orders, bringing my new total to roughly 200M worth of minerals for the next run. Money was from revenue (both profit and the ISK I initially spent to buy the Lo/cynoes.) generated by sales of LO/Cynos.
E: I still have 6 planets running PI. It's not a complete cycle and I may end up changing what they produce, but for now I'm just building up stockpiles (but I am selling mechanical parts).
F: I still have 3 stations stocked with LO/Cynos. Looking over my market history I'd say about 70% of people who buy cynos, also by LO at the same station. I would say that only about 30-40% of people who buy LO also buy cynos (which means that people might still have their ship from last time, and didn't lose the cyno, but need more fuel). I've been having a competitor in one of my stations buy up my entire stock of LO and relist for an additional 50% markup. Honestly, I'm making money, so I don't really care that he's gouging people. The only downside is I have to keep going to that region to put up more sell orders constantly, but having money come in such a fashion, is quite nice. What this might mean however, is that I could potentially raise my prices yet more, and still have buyers. Maybe I'll try it next time to buys up the stock.
10 days ago I had:
A: 25M ISK liquid.
B: All capital components needed to build a Nag.
C: Nag BPO, in the oven. If you look carefully, you can see it in the picture to the right. (No, actually you can't because it's not there, but thanks for trying).
E: 6 planets for PI, all in lowsec.
F: 3 stations stocked with LO/Cynos.
What's changed in the last 10 days? Not much really. Here's where I stand now.
A: 50M ISK Liquid. I've actually been selling LO and cynos at a decent pace recently and have sold more than this, however, you'll see that reflected in D. I've also bought about 25M more in pos fuels, but thats mostly been offset by sales of PI goods.
B: As before, all cap components to build Nag1 are owned.
C: Nag BPO, 6 days to go before exitting the lab, I'm getting excited. D: I've bought roughly another 100M in minerals using buy orders, bringing my new total to roughly 200M worth of minerals for the next run. Money was from revenue (both profit and the ISK I initially spent to buy the Lo/cynoes.) generated by sales of LO/Cynos.
E: I still have 6 planets running PI. It's not a complete cycle and I may end up changing what they produce, but for now I'm just building up stockpiles (but I am selling mechanical parts).
F: I still have 3 stations stocked with LO/Cynos. Looking over my market history I'd say about 70% of people who buy cynos, also by LO at the same station. I would say that only about 30-40% of people who buy LO also buy cynos (which means that people might still have their ship from last time, and didn't lose the cyno, but need more fuel). I've been having a competitor in one of my stations buy up my entire stock of LO and relist for an additional 50% markup. Honestly, I'm making money, so I don't really care that he's gouging people. The only downside is I have to keep going to that region to put up more sell orders constantly, but having money come in such a fashion, is quite nice. What this might mean however, is that I could potentially raise my prices yet more, and still have buyers. Maybe I'll try it next time to buys up the stock.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
The Quest For 11 Figures, Day 35 Update
It's been 15 days since my last update on the quest for 11 Figures. I'm not planning on doing a post every 15 days, it just kinda happened that way.
15 Days ago I had:
A: 100M ISK Liquid
B: All the capital components needed to build a Naglfar with ME 1.
C: A naglfar BPO in the cooker for ME 1, with a month to go.
D: About 100M ISK worth of raw materials still left over.
E: 2 PI Planets.
15 Days ago I had:
A: 100M ISK Liquid
B: All the capital components needed to build a Naglfar with ME 1.
C: A naglfar BPO in the cooker for ME 1, with a month to go.
D: About 100M ISK worth of raw materials still left over.
E: 2 PI Planets.
F: 2 stations stocked with LO/cynoes for sale.
Where do I stand now?
A: Down to 25M ISK Liquid. I spent half of it on booze and strippers and I wasted the other half. No wait, actually I spent most of it on pos fuel. The posses were crying and wanted to be fed, so I fed them.
B: I still have all the capital components needed to build a Naglfar with ME 1.
C: My Naglfar BPO is still in the oven, about 2 weeks left to go.
D: I still have the estimated 100M ISK worth of raw materials left over.
E: I finally got off my ass for a bit (see below) and set up 6 planets for PI. Im working on setting up another 4 on an alt to have a complete chain for nanite repair paste. I used to do some heavy PI about a year and a half ago. I don't think much of anything has changed since then. For now I'm running 23 hour cycles, however, if I start to feel burned out (which happened 18 months ago), this may become 3-6 day cycles soon. This has cost about 40-50M, but has been mostly offset by sales of mechanical parts, cynoes, and LO. I will most likely close down the mech parts production once I have the nanite repair paste chain fully up and running.
F: I also stocked a third station with LO/cynoes. The income is still mediocre with 3 systems, but if i ever truly get off my ass completely, mediocre income at each of 20+ systems, should really start to add up.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Proper Use of POS Labs
This is a primer for people who are new to using corp labs for research. I use this method when researching my Capital blueprints, and you should too (when doing work on just about any blueprint of value). We all know anytime you undock anything in space, it can, and often will, go pop. The same is true when you are carrying blueprints, or when blueprints are placed in a POS lab for research. Fortunately, there is a rather simple work around for this.
1: You will typically want to have tight security around blueprints, so having your own personal corp is the easiest (albeit not only) way for this.
2: Rent an office (look for cheap office space in the least used station in the system) in the same solar system as the POS (or desired future location of POS). Office space varies greatly from station to station, so shop around.
3: Have the character that will be doing the research train up the skill "scientific networking" to at least level I. You can train it higher, but even at levels II+, the bpo still MUST BE in the same solar system as the lab.
4: Put the BPO in the corporate owned hanger in the station (ie: stick it in the rented corporate office space).
5: Have your lab anchored and online at your corp's POS.
6: Install job. Use the "corporation" filter (rather than the typical "public" filter) when searching where the work will be performed. This will bring up your corp's lab at the POS as an option. Keep in mind, any output will still be at the POS (ie: if you are researching (ME/PE) your BPO, it will still come out in station, however, if you are copying, any copies will be in the lab in the POS and need to be picked up).
Yep, it's that easy. Now even if the POS is destroyed, your BPO is still safe in station. This works both in highsec, lowsec, and nullsec, but typically has the most value in lowsec. Be like Durrr, be safe. If you're going to research, research with protection.
1: You will typically want to have tight security around blueprints, so having your own personal corp is the easiest (albeit not only) way for this.
2: Rent an office (look for cheap office space in the least used station in the system) in the same solar system as the POS (or desired future location of POS). Office space varies greatly from station to station, so shop around.
3: Have the character that will be doing the research train up the skill "scientific networking" to at least level I. You can train it higher, but even at levels II+, the bpo still MUST BE in the same solar system as the lab.
4: Put the BPO in the corporate owned hanger in the station (ie: stick it in the rented corporate office space).
5: Have your lab anchored and online at your corp's POS.
6: Install job. Use the "corporation" filter (rather than the typical "public" filter) when searching where the work will be performed. This will bring up your corp's lab at the POS as an option. Keep in mind, any output will still be at the POS (ie: if you are researching (ME/PE) your BPO, it will still come out in station, however, if you are copying, any copies will be in the lab in the POS and need to be picked up).
Yep, it's that easy. Now even if the POS is destroyed, your BPO is still safe in station. This works both in highsec, lowsec, and nullsec, but typically has the most value in lowsec. Be like Durrr, be safe. If you're going to research, research with protection.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
The Quest for 11 Figures- Day 20 Update
15 Days ago I had:
1: A billion isk liquid
2: About half of the capital components I would need to build my first Naglfar
3: an unresearched Naglfar BPO
and 4: Most of the materials that I would need to build capital components from the 5 bpos I did have.
Where do I stand now?
1: I'm down to around 100M liquid.
2: If I haven't royally screwed up the maths, I should have all of the capital components I need to build Naglfar 1.
3: A Naglfar BPO being researched to ME 1. No, I did NOT do the smart thing and start researching the BPO right away, instead I waited 15 days. And since they take a little over a month for 1 point of ME research, I shall be waiting.....
4: About 100M ISK worth of materials still left over.
So, Since capital construction is in a holding pattern for another 30 days, what about those other forms of isk making I mentioned I might be doing.
A: Station Trading: Hasn't happened yet. Yep, lazy kitty.
B: AFK Ice mining: Since I got my retriever popped a couple of weeks ago I've been too lazy to replace it on that toon. Yep, lazy kitty.
C: PI: I've set up 2 planets which bring me minimal dividends from time to time. I hope to expand this in the future, and perhaps have a full chain going, but yep, lazy kitty.
D: POS Reactions: No progress, lazy kitty.
E: Plexing/FW missions: I haven't done any in a long time. Yep, lazy kitty.
F: Station stocking: The initial goal was to stock 20 ish stations with LO and cyno generators. I currently have stocked 2- yep, lazy kitty. With only 2 stations stocked I can't expect much income but it has been trickling in with minimal effort, so I cant complain.
G: I did earn 10M ratting in low sec, looking for those special rats that drop sec status tags. None found yet.
All in all, facepalm on capital ship construction, as it is delayed for a month, and lazy kitty on just about everything else.
1: A billion isk liquid
2: About half of the capital components I would need to build my first Naglfar
3: an unresearched Naglfar BPO
and 4: Most of the materials that I would need to build capital components from the 5 bpos I did have.
Where do I stand now?
1: I'm down to around 100M liquid.
2: If I haven't royally screwed up the maths, I should have all of the capital components I need to build Naglfar 1.
4: About 100M ISK worth of materials still left over.
So, Since capital construction is in a holding pattern for another 30 days, what about those other forms of isk making I mentioned I might be doing.
A: Station Trading: Hasn't happened yet. Yep, lazy kitty.
B: AFK Ice mining: Since I got my retriever popped a couple of weeks ago I've been too lazy to replace it on that toon. Yep, lazy kitty.
C: PI: I've set up 2 planets which bring me minimal dividends from time to time. I hope to expand this in the future, and perhaps have a full chain going, but yep, lazy kitty.
D: POS Reactions: No progress, lazy kitty.
E: Plexing/FW missions: I haven't done any in a long time. Yep, lazy kitty.
F: Station stocking: The initial goal was to stock 20 ish stations with LO and cyno generators. I currently have stocked 2- yep, lazy kitty. With only 2 stations stocked I can't expect much income but it has been trickling in with minimal effort, so I cant complain.
G: I did earn 10M ratting in low sec, looking for those special rats that drop sec status tags. None found yet.
All in all, facepalm on capital ship construction, as it is delayed for a month, and lazy kitty on just about everything else.
Monday, June 24, 2013
The Quest for 11 Figures- Day 5
Status Update on Day 1: After consolidating isk from across all my accounts, my starting liquid isk value was 2.9B not, 2.5B
Day 5 Update: Liquid ISK in wallet: 1.0B
What have we spent the other 1.9B on?
1.6B spent on capital ship components. I put up buy order in jita at perfect (perfect researched bpo) build cost + 8-10%. It's not incredibly fast, and certain capital components are filling easier than others, but mostly its chugging along. Why do I not mind paying over cost to acquire these capital ship components? Honestly, because the margins are there. I can pay the extra 10%, and still make 400M per capital ship constructed at current prices.
300M spent on cyno field generators and liquid ozone. These are the two items that pair well together that I mentioned in my previous blog. I hope to sell the cynos on average at various non-hubs for jita + 1M, so about 2.7M per. I may have to adjust prices a bit here and there, but my hope is to have so many systems initially seeded with this combo, so that I can sell out at these inflated prices. LO will most likely be jita + 20%. I'll be sticking to empire for 90% of sales (usually last highsec jump before low), but I might also put some up for sale in certain stations in our FW warzone and see how they sell.
How are the other ISK making opportunities coming along you ask? The short answer, not well.
Ice Mining: For the first time since I started mining ice I got a miner popped. I run with a damage control on each of my retrievers, to make it harder for people to pop me, or to at least encourage the gankers to pick an easier target. After all, as with camping, you don't have to outrun the bear, you only have to outrun one of your friends. This was not the case this time, and a single catalyst was able to pop my retriever. I've been lazy to replace it, and when I do, I'm sure I'll add in some medium slot tanking mods in addition to the damage control.
Station Trading: I've yet to start this. Mostly because I need virtually all of my 2.9B isk liquid to be able to seed markets with cynos/LO, and to build the first capital ship. Once the profit from the first cap hits, I might start doing this. Implants, my area of knowledge, will be what I focus on.
PI: I've set up one lowsec, and one highsec planet for PI. I'll add on to this (mostly in lowsec) as I become less lazy. One of the benefits of having only 2 planets tho is that I'm able to run 1 day cycles, at least for now, without the feeling of being burnt out.
POS Reactions: More maths have to be done on this before I decide to take up such an endeavor.
That's 5 days in, stay tuned as I give more updates on the quest for 11 figures.
Day 5 Update: Liquid ISK in wallet: 1.0B
What have we spent the other 1.9B on?
1.6B spent on capital ship components. I put up buy order in jita at perfect (perfect researched bpo) build cost + 8-10%. It's not incredibly fast, and certain capital components are filling easier than others, but mostly its chugging along. Why do I not mind paying over cost to acquire these capital ship components? Honestly, because the margins are there. I can pay the extra 10%, and still make 400M per capital ship constructed at current prices.
300M spent on cyno field generators and liquid ozone. These are the two items that pair well together that I mentioned in my previous blog. I hope to sell the cynos on average at various non-hubs for jita + 1M, so about 2.7M per. I may have to adjust prices a bit here and there, but my hope is to have so many systems initially seeded with this combo, so that I can sell out at these inflated prices. LO will most likely be jita + 20%. I'll be sticking to empire for 90% of sales (usually last highsec jump before low), but I might also put some up for sale in certain stations in our FW warzone and see how they sell.
How are the other ISK making opportunities coming along you ask? The short answer, not well.
Station Trading: I've yet to start this. Mostly because I need virtually all of my 2.9B isk liquid to be able to seed markets with cynos/LO, and to build the first capital ship. Once the profit from the first cap hits, I might start doing this. Implants, my area of knowledge, will be what I focus on.
PI: I've set up one lowsec, and one highsec planet for PI. I'll add on to this (mostly in lowsec) as I become less lazy. One of the benefits of having only 2 planets tho is that I'm able to run 1 day cycles, at least for now, without the feeling of being burnt out.
POS Reactions: More maths have to be done on this before I decide to take up such an endeavor.
That's 5 days in, stay tuned as I give more updates on the quest for 11 figures.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
11 Figures
In my eve life I've never been a rich eve player. Not only have I never made shittons of ISK, but I've somehow always managed to spend much of the ISK I do make on something disposable. Sometimes that's plex, sometimes that's ships that go pop, sometimes that's poor investments. Whatever the case may be, I've only been able to crack 11 figures (10B+) in liquid wallet ISK once (at which point I went on a shopping spree). I currently stand at 2.5B liquid, with probably another 15-17B in assets. My goal is to start out my inner carebear and work to get that 2.5 to 10 by the end of the year, without selling my assets or toons. To some people *cough* Gevlon *cough*,
this may not be hard at all. To the rest of us, especially those like me, who think and plan about eve, much more than we actually have time to play, it's a bit more of a challenge. I'll keep posting updates on how I am trying to attain the magic 11 figures liquid. My current plans are:Major Planned contributor:
Capital Ship Construction- I've been putting this off far too long. The spreads are there for certain ships, that even after buying bpcs, a good amount of iskies can be made.
Minor Contributors:
1: Station Trading- I've done a bit of this earlier in the year, and the iskies were actually pretty good. I'll probably stick to the few items I know rather well though. Not only will this keep me within my knowledge base, but it will also keep my time needed to update orders to a minimum.
2: AFK Ice mining. I have two of my ice mining retrievers in a system with ice fields. Whenever there is a field I can warp them in, start mining 2 different blocks, and come back 20 minutes later (about how long it takes to fill a retriever). Each pair of retrievers brings in 54 blocks, which is somewhere in the 9-10M ISK range. Not bad considering it's highsec and all you have to set it and forget it. Also the ice fields are great for someone like me who will mine if they are there, but won't care much if they are not (I'll simply do something else).
3: PI: I've been meaning to take greater advantage of corp/friendly pocos with low taxes. I need to get these planets set up, but then I can basically be as active as I want. (7 day cycles, or 1 day cycles).
4: POS Reactions: These can be quite profitable, however, require quite a bit of time, both initially to set up, and they have to be maintained. If you don't maintain em, you'll quickly lose em, or they can stop being profitable, not to mention, you have keep doing all the maths to ensure that what was profitable a month ago, still is.
6: FW Plexing/Missions: I've made a decent amount for myself doing this in the past few months, and to be honest, I'm a bit missioned out. While I may do some of this, it will really depend on my mood.
Stay tuned, next post will not only give you an update on 11 figures, but also will critique my Odyssey predictions.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Pre-Odyssey Investments Part Deux
You guys didn't think I'd leave you stranded after only one pre-expansion investment blog, did ya? Well, I'm not. I'm back for part two, with some more ideas.
For starters, along with the battleship tiercide the battleships are getting new build costs which are now on sisi. http://i.imgur.com/4LukTqT.png or http://i.imgur.com/pzvBEVZ.png For the TLDR version, all battleships will need additional resources to build, some, quite a bit more than others. In a vacuum, it would seem that the idea is easy.
Step 1: Buy/Build Battleship
Step 2: ???
Step 3 Profit
Unfortunately, CCP threw us a curveball this time around. While, all battleships are going to need more resources to build them, resources will themselves be more plentiful due to the new changes to minerals announced during fanfest. Medium to high-end ores will now also give trit, pyerite, mexallon or isogen, in addition to their normal zyd/mega/nocx http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/resource-companion-blog/#ORE. So we have increased demand on one side, and increased supply on the other.
Given that not all battleships are being equally changed, there are 2 ships which I believe are the most likely to yield you profit: The geddon and the dominix.
Both of these ships are having their mineral requirements increased by over 100%, and hence, are a much safer bet.
In addition to this, we can short tangible assets. Well, ok you say, how do you short something in eve. It might not be as easy as it is IRL, but can be done. For example, lets say you have a lot of T1 ships sitting in your hanger. If they are unrigged, simply sell them at today's prices, and buy them later, after the mineral prices have dropped. A good example of such a ship is a freighter (but you can do it with any t1 ship whose mineral costs are not being changed). A fenrir sells for about 1.3B now, but with much more supply of minerals coming later, you can easily sell it now, and buy it later, when it falls to say 1.0B, pocketing the difference. The only drawback is that you do not have access to your freighter (or whichever ship you sold) until the market drops, and you can buy it again.
In my last post, some people were giving me grief for not including the Navy Augorer as a list of profitable ships. While I do agree the the Naug will be a beast post patch, the Amarr were at tier 1, and are now in tier 2, as their tier increases their LP will be losing value (as they will be becoming easier to get), and hence, it is hard to quite tell if their prices will rise or fall, due to the unknown supply side of the equation.
Finally, CCP will be adding capital sized rigs in Odyssey. This means that if you have a capital ship that needs to be rigged relatively on the cheap, do it now (you can also sell caps rigged pre-patch with large rigs). Also, if you have a stockpile of salvage, NOW is the time to sell, as demand is quite high from other people doing this.
As always, enjoy the expansion, and profit.
For starters, along with the battleship tiercide the battleships are getting new build costs which are now on sisi. http://i.imgur.com/4LukTqT.png or http://i.imgur.com/pzvBEVZ.png For the TLDR version, all battleships will need additional resources to build, some, quite a bit more than others. In a vacuum, it would seem that the idea is easy.
Step 1: Buy/Build Battleship
Step 2: ???
Step 3 Profit
Unfortunately, CCP threw us a curveball this time around. While, all battleships are going to need more resources to build them, resources will themselves be more plentiful due to the new changes to minerals announced during fanfest. Medium to high-end ores will now also give trit, pyerite, mexallon or isogen, in addition to their normal zyd/mega/nocx http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/resource-companion-blog/#ORE. So we have increased demand on one side, and increased supply on the other.
Given that not all battleships are being equally changed, there are 2 ships which I believe are the most likely to yield you profit: The geddon and the dominix.
In addition to this, we can short tangible assets. Well, ok you say, how do you short something in eve. It might not be as easy as it is IRL, but can be done. For example, lets say you have a lot of T1 ships sitting in your hanger. If they are unrigged, simply sell them at today's prices, and buy them later, after the mineral prices have dropped. A good example of such a ship is a freighter (but you can do it with any t1 ship whose mineral costs are not being changed). A fenrir sells for about 1.3B now, but with much more supply of minerals coming later, you can easily sell it now, and buy it later, when it falls to say 1.0B, pocketing the difference. The only drawback is that you do not have access to your freighter (or whichever ship you sold) until the market drops, and you can buy it again.
In my last post, some people were giving me grief for not including the Navy Augorer as a list of profitable ships. While I do agree the the Naug will be a beast post patch, the Amarr were at tier 1, and are now in tier 2, as their tier increases their LP will be losing value (as they will be becoming easier to get), and hence, it is hard to quite tell if their prices will rise or fall, due to the unknown supply side of the equation.
Finally, CCP will be adding capital sized rigs in Odyssey. This means that if you have a capital ship that needs to be rigged relatively on the cheap, do it now (you can also sell caps rigged pre-patch with large rigs). Also, if you have a stockpile of salvage, NOW is the time to sell, as demand is quite high from other people doing this.
As always, enjoy the expansion, and profit.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Pre-Odyssey Investments
As Odyssey will be coming down the pike rather soon, I should probably have another predictive blog about how you can make money from speculating in the eve markets. After all, we all know everyone in EVE loves to be able to make it rain.
For starters, we have to look at what's getting love in Odyssey. Faction frigs, faction cruisers, as well as the first appearance of faction bcs. In addition to this, most battleships are getting changes- some are getting buffed, some are getting nerfed, and some are changing to completely different ships.
There will be a big argument over who are winners, and who will be losers, but here are some of my ideas. Please note, you need to Sell on patch day, lest the market normalize before you have sold.
Winners: Brutix Navy Issue
Ways to invest: (my expected ROI if invested this way and sold on patch day)
Buy up Brutixes (8-10%)
Buy up Gallente Beta Nexus Chips (50-100%)
Store up Gallente LP (N/A)
Winners: Republic Fleet Firetail
Ways to Invest:
Buy up firetails now (10-15%)
Buy up Mimatar UUA Nexus Chips (25-50%)
With the Matari at tier 4, I doubt storing up their LP would do much good, as people could quickly plex or mission to get a few copies for themselves.
Winners: Scythe Fleet Issue (This one is probably the most debated ship, but I think it will Rock)
Ways to Invest
Buy up Scythes (10-15%)
Buy up ScyFIs now (10-20%)
Buy Minmatar UUB Nexus Chips (25-50%)
With the Matari at tier 4, I doubt storing up their LP would do much good, as people could quickly plex or mission to get a few copies for themselves.
While it's still pretty early, these are my early picks for making ISK. Stay Tuned.
For starters, we have to look at what's getting love in Odyssey. Faction frigs, faction cruisers, as well as the first appearance of faction bcs. In addition to this, most battleships are getting changes- some are getting buffed, some are getting nerfed, and some are changing to completely different ships.
There will be a big argument over who are winners, and who will be losers, but here are some of my ideas. Please note, you need to Sell on patch day, lest the market normalize before you have sold.
Winners: Brutix Navy Issue
Ways to invest: (my expected ROI if invested this way and sold on patch day)
Buy up Brutixes (8-10%)
Buy up Gallente Beta Nexus Chips (50-100%)
Store up Gallente LP (N/A)
Winners: Republic Fleet Firetail
Ways to Invest:
Buy up firetails now (10-15%)
Buy up Mimatar UUA Nexus Chips (25-50%)
With the Matari at tier 4, I doubt storing up their LP would do much good, as people could quickly plex or mission to get a few copies for themselves.
Winners: Scythe Fleet Issue (This one is probably the most debated ship, but I think it will Rock)
Ways to Invest
Buy up Scythes (10-15%)
Buy up ScyFIs now (10-20%)
Buy Minmatar UUB Nexus Chips (25-50%)
With the Matari at tier 4, I doubt storing up their LP would do much good, as people could quickly plex or mission to get a few copies for themselves.
Cruise Missile Launcher 2s as well as 'Arbalest' Cruise Missile Launchers
Ways to invest
You gotta invest directly in the modules (10-15%), especially the arbalests (20-30%), as CMs are getting a couple buffs. An unrigged raven will spew missiles that travel at 10K M/S post patch.
Winners: Armageddon
While I do really like the new geddon, I'm sad, as I liked the old geddon too.
Ways to Invest:
Buy Researched Geddon BPCs- Try to find a few off contracts that are normally priced before people realize what an awesome ship this will be in smaller engagements. (10-50%)
Buy Geddons Themselves: (5-15%)
Buy Large Faction Neuts (10-25%)- This one isn't as obvious, but with each geddon, a pilot will want to buy multiple faction neuts for extra range. Careful not to follow this market too high, as there are other alternatives (DB, Imp Navy, Ammattar Navy, Khanid Navy, etc.)
Buy Tags (Fleet High Captain I, Fleet Commander I, Fleet commander II) that LP Stores Require for Heavy Faction Neuts: (10-30%) These might have a bit of a delay in price appreciation as they will appreciate only after the heavy neuts themselves have appreciated most likely.
While it's still pretty early, these are my early picks for making ISK. Stay Tuned.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Lucky # 13
We've made it to blog 13, not bad considering I'm no Poetic Stanziel with a post every day. I honestly don't know how the guy does it. I mean, sure, some of his posts aren't worth reading, but most are, and that's where I'm impressed.
I haven't written in a while and part of that is because I haven't been playing much eve lately (read: DUST 514 addiction), and when I have been playing, I've picked up a new playstyle. That's right, I've gone into super-carebear mode.
I now currently have 4 poses running, doing whatever poses do to make ISK (1 research pos, 1 moon mining pos, 2 reactor poses). I've also gotten into playing the markets. I sell my wares in non-hub systems.
Also, after reading blogs such as older Greedy Goblin Posts (he now just ganks high-sec miners, but his old posts are good for the industrialist), and Merchant Monarchy I've gotten a decent understanding of how station trading should work. I've tried it in the past with mediocre success, but after more understanding perhaps this time it will be a viable play style for me.
And finally, as always, I've speculated on the most recent patch (Retribution 1.1). I figured battlecruisers would have increased build costs such as frigates and cruisers before them. Honestly, I was too lazy to actually check sisi to confirm this (I know, I know, really bad), so I could have lost ISK, but such is the risk you run for being lazy. Long story short, battlecruiser material requirements did go up, and with it, came profits. I also assumed medium armor rep rigs would go up as well as demand rises due to new "paste eating" armor reppers. I was able to sell most of my stash at higher amounts, and once again, I'm a happy carebear.
I haven't written in a while and part of that is because I haven't been playing much eve lately (read: DUST 514 addiction), and when I have been playing, I've picked up a new playstyle. That's right, I've gone into super-carebear mode.
I now currently have 4 poses running, doing whatever poses do to make ISK (1 research pos, 1 moon mining pos, 2 reactor poses). I've also gotten into playing the markets. I sell my wares in non-hub systems.
And finally, as always, I've speculated on the most recent patch (Retribution 1.1). I figured battlecruisers would have increased build costs such as frigates and cruisers before them. Honestly, I was too lazy to actually check sisi to confirm this (I know, I know, really bad), so I could have lost ISK, but such is the risk you run for being lazy. Long story short, battlecruiser material requirements did go up, and with it, came profits. I also assumed medium armor rep rigs would go up as well as demand rises due to new "paste eating" armor reppers. I was able to sell most of my stash at higher amounts, and once again, I'm a happy carebear.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Eve Online Retribution: NostraDurrrus
It's been a couple months (ok, 7 weeks) since my post "The winter shopping season". It's time to see how good of a prophet Durrr was this time.
Prophecy: 1: Support (Logi) Frigates- I think everyone will want to test out the combat ability of the new support frigs, and see if they are over/under powered. It would be a good idea to start producing/buying these up now while their demand is still low, and sell them on patch day. I see no reason most players wouldn't want to pay 2-3M for a ship like this, whereas the build cost is in the low hundreds of thousands.
Jita Actuality:
The Bantam peaked around 300K, now 100K, at prediction: 120K
Inquisitor 750K, now 400K, at prediction:550K
Navitas 300K, now 100K. at prediction: 150K
Burst 250K, now 100K, at prediction: 190K
Result: Although there was an appreciation in the cost of these ships, I overestimated the demand (or perhaps underestimated the supply).
Prophecy 2: Combat & Disruption Frigates: These too will be buffed, and while I don't think their demand will meet that of the support (logi) frigs, I think most people will want to test out what they can do. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go for 2-3X build cost on patch day.
Jita Actuality:
Crucifier peaked 420K, now sells for a little under 350K, at prediction: 380K
Griffin 600K, now 400K, at prediction: 400K
Maulus 500K, now 400K, at prediction: 400K
Vigil hasn't moved, and is still at 400K, where it was 3 months ago, and every point since.
Result: Once again, the appreciation was overestimated.
Prophecy 3: Combat, Disruption, & Attack Cruisers: I would stick with the cruisers that now suck, and will receive a nice buff due to the patch, as their demand will greatly increase, all at once, causing for a spike in price.
Jita Actuality: I will skip the Caracal, Rupture, Arbitrator, and Blackbird, (a couple others could be added here,as I believe these were used fairly heavily, prepatch (and my prediction does state those cruisers that now suck). How did we do?
Maller: peak: 18M, now 12M, at prediction: 12M
Moa: peak 14M, now 12.5M, at prediction: 11M
Vexor:peak 10M, now 9.5M, at prediction: 7.5M
Omen: peak: 11M, now 10M, at prediction: 8.75M
Thorax: peak: 15M, now 13M, at prediction: 11M
Stabber: peak 9.5M, now 9.5M, at prediction: 7.75M
Celestis:peaK: 9.25M, now 7.75M, at prediction: 7.5M
Bellicose: peak: 8.5M, now, 7M, at prediction 7M
Result: These cruisers maxed out a bit more than I thought. However, prices have mostly fallen near prediction levels, so if you weren't able to sell near the highs, you at least broke even.
Prophecy 4: Support Cruisers: These might not grab the same attention as the new logi frigs, mostly because they already exist, but I do believe they see use after the patch, extensively if they prove to be near on-par with their tech-2 varients, as I suspect.
Jita Actuality:
Augoror: Peak: 8M, now 6M, at prediction 6M
Osprey: Peak 7M, now 5.5M, at prediction 5.5M
Exequror: Peak 7.5M, now: 5.5M, at prediction: 6M
Scythe: Peak 7M, now, 5.75M, at prediciton: 6M
Result: While I do see a fair amount of these flying around, and they are more impressive than I was expecting, their price rise wasn't all out amazing.
Prophecy 5: Small/medium remote reps (shield and armor, as well as energy xfer): For every new support frig and cruiser, I would assume 2-4 reps will be needed per ship. With that kind of demand, all at once, I would assume the price of these will sky rocket.
Jita Actuality:
Small meta 4 shield xfer: (s95): peak 400K, now 100K, at prediction 200K
Small t2 shield xfer: peak 1.2M, now 900K, at prediction 1.2M
Medium Meta 4 shield xfer (s95): peak 750K, now 450K, at prediction 200K
Medium t2 shield xfer: peak: 850K now: 500K, at prediction 400K
Small Meta 4 Energy Xfer (Regard): peak: 111K, now: 8K, at prediction: 26K
Small t2 Energy Xfer: has remained fairly stead around 500K
Medium Meta 4 Energy Xfer: peak: 1.1M, now: 200K, at prediction: 50K
Medium T2 Energy Xfer: peak: 4.5M, now 3M, at prediction: 725K
Small meta 4 armor rep (Solace) peak: 550K, now 280K, at prediction: 240K
small t2 armor rep: Peak: 2.6M Now: 1.7M: at prediction: 1.4M
Medium meta 4 armor rep (Solace): Peak: 3M, now: 2.2M, at prediction: 850K
Medium T2 armor rep: Peak: 5M, now: 2.6M, at prediction: 1.9M
Result: I really hit this one out of the park.
Prophecy 6: Drone Damage Amplifier mod: While I don't expect a skyrocket out of this item, you can expect a nice price appreciation, both initially (as many of the newly remade ships will be using drones), and over time, as the mod is getting a buff.
Jita Actuality:
Drone Damage Amp 2: Peak: 2.2M, now: 1.3M, at prediction: 750K
Result: These actually shot up much more than expected, but we'll take price appreciation wherever we can get it.
Overall Lesson Learned: While the most obvious items had the least price appreciation (ships), the somewhat less obvious ones (mods that those ships will use) had very nice price appreciation. In either case, both were ISK making opportunities, and I hope everyone of ya'll made at least 10% on their ISKies this retribution.
Prophecy: 1: Support (Logi) Frigates- I think everyone will want to test out the combat ability of the new support frigs, and see if they are over/under powered. It would be a good idea to start producing/buying these up now while their demand is still low, and sell them on patch day. I see no reason most players wouldn't want to pay 2-3M for a ship like this, whereas the build cost is in the low hundreds of thousands.
Jita Actuality:
The Bantam peaked around 300K, now 100K, at prediction: 120K
Inquisitor 750K, now 400K, at prediction:550K
Navitas 300K, now 100K. at prediction: 150K
Burst 250K, now 100K, at prediction: 190K
Result: Although there was an appreciation in the cost of these ships, I overestimated the demand (or perhaps underestimated the supply).
Prophecy 2: Combat & Disruption Frigates: These too will be buffed, and while I don't think their demand will meet that of the support (logi) frigs, I think most people will want to test out what they can do. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go for 2-3X build cost on patch day.
Jita Actuality:
Crucifier peaked 420K, now sells for a little under 350K, at prediction: 380K
Griffin 600K, now 400K, at prediction: 400K
Maulus 500K, now 400K, at prediction: 400K
Vigil hasn't moved, and is still at 400K, where it was 3 months ago, and every point since.
Result: Once again, the appreciation was overestimated.
Prophecy 3: Combat, Disruption, & Attack Cruisers: I would stick with the cruisers that now suck, and will receive a nice buff due to the patch, as their demand will greatly increase, all at once, causing for a spike in price.
Jita Actuality: I will skip the Caracal, Rupture, Arbitrator, and Blackbird, (a couple others could be added here,as I believe these were used fairly heavily, prepatch (and my prediction does state those cruisers that now suck). How did we do?
Maller: peak: 18M, now 12M, at prediction: 12M
Moa: peak 14M, now 12.5M, at prediction: 11M
Vexor:peak 10M, now 9.5M, at prediction: 7.5M
Omen: peak: 11M, now 10M, at prediction: 8.75M
Thorax: peak: 15M, now 13M, at prediction: 11M
Stabber: peak 9.5M, now 9.5M, at prediction: 7.75M
Celestis:peaK: 9.25M, now 7.75M, at prediction: 7.5M
Bellicose: peak: 8.5M, now, 7M, at prediction 7M
Result: These cruisers maxed out a bit more than I thought. However, prices have mostly fallen near prediction levels, so if you weren't able to sell near the highs, you at least broke even.
Prophecy 4: Support Cruisers: These might not grab the same attention as the new logi frigs, mostly because they already exist, but I do believe they see use after the patch, extensively if they prove to be near on-par with their tech-2 varients, as I suspect.
Jita Actuality:
Augoror: Peak: 8M, now 6M, at prediction 6M
Osprey: Peak 7M, now 5.5M, at prediction 5.5M
Exequror: Peak 7.5M, now: 5.5M, at prediction: 6M
Scythe: Peak 7M, now, 5.75M, at prediciton: 6M
Result: While I do see a fair amount of these flying around, and they are more impressive than I was expecting, their price rise wasn't all out amazing.
Prophecy 5: Small/medium remote reps (shield and armor, as well as energy xfer): For every new support frig and cruiser, I would assume 2-4 reps will be needed per ship. With that kind of demand, all at once, I would assume the price of these will sky rocket.
Jita Actuality:
Small meta 4 shield xfer: (s95): peak 400K, now 100K, at prediction 200K
Small t2 shield xfer: peak 1.2M, now 900K, at prediction 1.2M
Medium Meta 4 shield xfer (s95): peak 750K, now 450K, at prediction 200K
Medium t2 shield xfer: peak: 850K now: 500K, at prediction 400K
Small Meta 4 Energy Xfer (Regard): peak: 111K, now: 8K, at prediction: 26K
Small t2 Energy Xfer: has remained fairly stead around 500K
Medium Meta 4 Energy Xfer: peak: 1.1M, now: 200K, at prediction: 50K
Medium T2 Energy Xfer: peak: 4.5M, now 3M, at prediction: 725K
Small meta 4 armor rep (Solace) peak: 550K, now 280K, at prediction: 240K
small t2 armor rep: Peak: 2.6M Now: 1.7M: at prediction: 1.4M
Medium meta 4 armor rep (Solace): Peak: 3M, now: 2.2M, at prediction: 850K
Medium T2 armor rep: Peak: 5M, now: 2.6M, at prediction: 1.9M
Result: I really hit this one out of the park.
Prophecy 6: Drone Damage Amplifier mod: While I don't expect a skyrocket out of this item, you can expect a nice price appreciation, both initially (as many of the newly remade ships will be using drones), and over time, as the mod is getting a buff.
Jita Actuality:
Drone Damage Amp 2: Peak: 2.2M, now: 1.3M, at prediction: 750K
Result: These actually shot up much more than expected, but we'll take price appreciation wherever we can get it.
Overall Lesson Learned: While the most obvious items had the least price appreciation (ships), the somewhat less obvious ones (mods that those ships will use) had very nice price appreciation. In either case, both were ISK making opportunities, and I hope everyone of ya'll made at least 10% on their ISKies this retribution.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
I Tip My Hat To You CCP
Imagine the tears that openly stating a nerf to high-sec would have caused. The threads, the tears, the threats to quit eve online with all 5 accounts each high-seccer has. Yet by nerfing it in a round-about way, and not calling it a high-sec nerf, the threads and tears are minimal, and I've yet to see any threats to quit the game. If you already haven't figured out how high-sec is being nerfed you need to get Netflix (assuming your the one person on the planet who doesn't have it) and watch more Sherlock. For those of you still in the dark, I'm talking of course, about the sleeper AI proliferation to all rats. You see, incursions and sleepers already had "sleeper AI" while their backward inbred cousins, belt and mission rats, did not. With these changes, the belt and mission rats now switch targets seemingly randomly, rather than simply focusing on the first target they aggro. Yet, this doesn't matter much in belts as at most, there are 5-6 rats in a belt, and are almost always soloed (hence, no targets to switch). Yet in missions (especially Level 4s), where there are a multiple of that many rats, many people would run them in groups of 2-3 toons, either 1 tank + a dps ship or two, or a couple battleships with a logi. Yet now, all toons in the site must tank, and even the logi will now gain aggro, making missions, a staple of high-sec income, more of a challenge (I use the term challenge loosely here).
I believe the buff to low-sec pirating is fairly clear (gate guns 'forget' you if you warp off and back) and will now focus on how Technetium was nerfed. I spoke somewhat about this in my post Winter is Coming. You see, these tritanium built t1 cruisers are becoming somewhat of a norm for "everyday" fights, whereas the technetium built t2 stuff is left in the garage for fights that must be won. The T1 cruiser has been tiercieded to where it is now the "everyday" car, whereas that T2 cruiser has been relegated to only be flown on nights you wish to impress the opposite gender. Sure, the T2 cruiser still has a purpose, but the game is no longer T2 or bust.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Winter Shopping Season
In much of America, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving (which always falls on a Thursday) officially marks the beginning of the
For Everyone:
1: Support (Logi) Frigates- I think everyone will want to test out the combat ability of the new support frigs, and see if they are over/under powered. It would be a good idea to start producing/buying these up now while their demand is still low, and sell them on patch day. I see no reason most players wouldn't want to pay 2-3M for a ship like this, whereas the build cost is in the low hundreds of thousands.
2: Combat & Disruption Frigates: These too will be buffed, and while I don't think their demand will meet that of the support (logi) frigs, I think most people will want to test out what they can do. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go for 2-3X build cost on patch day.
3: Combat, Disruption, & Attack Cruisers: I would stick with the cruisers that now suck, and will receive a nice buff due to the patch, as their demand will greatly increase, all at once, causing for a spike in price.
4: Support Cruisers: These might not grab the same attention as the new logi frigs, mostly because they already exist, but I do believe they see use after the patch, extensively if they prove to be near on-par with their tech-2 varients, as I suspect.
5: Small/medium remote reps (shield and armor, as well as energy xfer): For every new support frig and cruiser, I would assume 2-4 reps will be needed per ship. With that kind of demand, all at once, I would assume the price of these will sky rocket.
6: Drone Damage Amplifier mod: While I don't expect a skyrocket out of this item, you can expect a nice price appreciation, both initially (as many of the newly remade ships will be using drones), and over time, as the mod is getting a buff.
For the quick Buck:
7: New Destroyers/mining frigate- If you have access to a manufacturing pos near a market hub, and you're quick, you can take a risk, buy a bpo of these as soon as the patch hits, and build one or two of these babies. This won't make you a ton of isk, but you might be able to sell for enough over build cost, to recoup the cost of the BPO, and therefore, have a free BPO henceforth. I remember when the drake first came out, the first 6-7 hours, it was selling for double build cost (as people do not want to wait), before coming down in price.
8: Micro Jump Drive- Once agian, this involves time, and a risk, but it may prove fruitful (if you have a manufacturing pos near a trade hub) to buy the bpo here, and produce a few right off the bat, selling them for massive profit, as I believe this mod will be quite revolutionary. After the initial intrigue falls away, I would manufacture in npc stations, as the cost is much cheaper. This bpo should be able to give you consistent returns over time.
9: Salvage Drone- Once again this involves timing. I would buy the bpo and manufacture these at a pos right after patch. Rather than looking for a trade hub, I would try and setup shop near a mission hub, as this is the missioners dream drone.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Winter is Coming
Winter is coming, and with it many changes. The most important change as many players are concerned is the tiercide of the remaining Tech-1 frigates, as well as all Tech-1 cruisers. For starters, I have to give it to CCP Fozzie (and Friends). He has shook up eve, in general, for the better, ever since he started using the moniker Fozzie. Technetium, was appropriately nerfed. Partial Frigate tiercide left me feeling with a "well these ships are almost flyable" feeling, without them feeling overpowered. T1 Cruisers, which were initially not expected to be tiercided until next year, have ALL been added to the 2012 Winter expansion. Judging by the frigates from tiercide part 1, one thing that appears to be clear from the expected changes to cruisers is more slots, more functionality, more of a role purpose, all of which will make T1 cruisers more apt to be flown, and getting a ship class, which is mostly ignored, to be flown, is a good thing. So, why then, am I starting to feel pessimistic? The answer is because virtually all actions have side effects, and Fozzie's many, swift, and well intentioned actions have side effects as well. Side effects, that will open up a Pandora's box full of unintended consequences.
Don't Fret, all is not lost, however. You merely need to stay tuned, as our next blog post will feature ways to make iskies from this upcoming shakeup. Buy, when there is blood in the streets :)
Monday, October 15, 2012
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
Mark Twain once said that there are 3 types of lies in this world: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. I'm here to tell you that our beloved Killboards are a form of a lie. You see, most people assume that KB efficiency of a character/corp/alliance tells you how many people they kill for every death (or, how much isk they blow up per every isk lost). This in fact, is only part of what that efficiency number shows. I believe the best way to present what these numbers really show is to give a few simple examples.
For our examples we will use two corps, Secret Agent Corp vs Shape Corp. Each corp has 3 members. For the Agents, the members are Agent 003, Agent 005 and Agent 007. For the Shapes, the members are Square, Circle, and Triangle. We will assume that each pilot flies a ship of equal value (to make the numbers nice an even) and only flies that ship. Also, each example is independent of all the rest (Ie: Example 2 does not take into effect what happened in example 1).
Example 1:
Agent 005 has 3 1v1 vs Square.
Agent 5 wins 2 of the fights.
Square wins the third.
Killboard Result:
Secret Agents Efficiency: 66.667%
Agent 005 Efficiency: 66.6667%
Shapes Efficiency: 33.333%
Square Efficiency: 33.333%
Conclusion: 1v1s give you true efficiency numbers.
Example 2:
All 3 Agents have a fight vs all 3 Shapes.
All 3 Agents survive while all 3 shapes die, then the Shapes reship, and come back and kill all 3 Agents without losing a ship. Total ships lost, 3 each side.
Killboard Result:
Secret Agents Efficiency: 50%
Agent 003s Efficiency: 75%
Agent 005s Efficiency: 75%
Agent 007s Efficiency: 75%
Shapes Efficiency: 50%
Squares Efficiency: 75%
Triangles Efficiency: 75%
Circles Efficiency: 75%
Conclusion: When you have multiple people from a corp fighting together (ie: fleeting up), the efficiency is (artificially) improved for each individual member (assuming they all get on the kill) by the number of members in the battle (Assuming the overall corp efficiency is 50%, each individual member's efficiency would tend toward 75% for 3 members, 90% for 9 members, 98% for 49 members, and so on, even though the corp efficiency has not changed and is still 50%).
Example 3:
Agent 007 hooks up with 2 new players from a Russian corp (Aptly named Backwards N): Ivana and Natalya (both dudes in real life) and they decide to camp a gate together. The Shapes show up promptly, and all 3 are blown up. The Shapes reship, and this time they kill all 3 ships.
Killboard Result:
Secret Agents Efficiency: 75%
Agent 007s Efficiency: 75%
Backwards N Efficiency: 66.667%
Ivana's Efficiency: 75%
Natalya's Efficiency: 75%
Shapes Efficiency: 50%
Square/Triangle/Circle's Efficiency: 75%
Conclusion: As you can see, when you fleet up with members of a different corp, not only does each individual's efficiency show as artificially high, but the corp efficiencies show high as well. The more non-corp people included in your fleet, the higher your corp efficiency will be raised (artificially).
In Summary, what have we learned?
We have learned that pilots who tend to 1v1 a lot will have lower efficiencies as compared to people who fleet up a lot. Said another way, if you want to artificially increase your toon's killboard efficiency numbers, join fleets. Extrapolated another way, the larger your fleets are on average, the larger the artificial boost to your KB efficiency (One would expect members large 0.0 alliances to have artificially higher KB efficiencies than smaller corps who get the same 'true' efficiency).
What else have we learned?
We have learned that corps who tend to fleet with members outside their own corp will have higher corp KB efficiencies than those who do not. Said another way, if you want to artificially increase your corp's KB efficiency, join fleets hosted by other corps/alliances.
For our examples we will use two corps, Secret Agent Corp vs Shape Corp. Each corp has 3 members. For the Agents, the members are Agent 003, Agent 005 and Agent 007. For the Shapes, the members are Square, Circle, and Triangle. We will assume that each pilot flies a ship of equal value (to make the numbers nice an even) and only flies that ship. Also, each example is independent of all the rest (Ie: Example 2 does not take into effect what happened in example 1).
Example 1:
Agent 005 has 3 1v1 vs Square.
Agent 5 wins 2 of the fights.
Square wins the third.
Killboard Result:
Secret Agents Efficiency: 66.667%
Agent 005 Efficiency: 66.6667%
Shapes Efficiency: 33.333%
Square Efficiency: 33.333%
Conclusion: 1v1s give you true efficiency numbers.
Example 2:
All 3 Agents have a fight vs all 3 Shapes.
All 3 Agents survive while all 3 shapes die, then the Shapes reship, and come back and kill all 3 Agents without losing a ship. Total ships lost, 3 each side.
Killboard Result:
Secret Agents Efficiency: 50%
Agent 003s Efficiency: 75%
Agent 005s Efficiency: 75%
Agent 007s Efficiency: 75%
Shapes Efficiency: 50%
Squares Efficiency: 75%
Triangles Efficiency: 75%
Circles Efficiency: 75%
Conclusion: When you have multiple people from a corp fighting together (ie: fleeting up), the efficiency is (artificially) improved for each individual member (assuming they all get on the kill) by the number of members in the battle (Assuming the overall corp efficiency is 50%, each individual member's efficiency would tend toward 75% for 3 members, 90% for 9 members, 98% for 49 members, and so on, even though the corp efficiency has not changed and is still 50%).
Example 3:
Agent 007 hooks up with 2 new players from a Russian corp (Aptly named Backwards N): Ivana and Natalya (both dudes in real life) and they decide to camp a gate together. The Shapes show up promptly, and all 3 are blown up. The Shapes reship, and this time they kill all 3 ships.
Killboard Result:
Secret Agents Efficiency: 75%
Agent 007s Efficiency: 75%
Backwards N Efficiency: 66.667%
Ivana's Efficiency: 75%
Natalya's Efficiency: 75%
Shapes Efficiency: 50%
Square/Triangle/Circle's Efficiency: 75%
Conclusion: As you can see, when you fleet up with members of a different corp, not only does each individual's efficiency show as artificially high, but the corp efficiencies show high as well. The more non-corp people included in your fleet, the higher your corp efficiency will be raised (artificially).
In Summary, what have we learned?
We have learned that pilots who tend to 1v1 a lot will have lower efficiencies as compared to people who fleet up a lot. Said another way, if you want to artificially increase your toon's killboard efficiency numbers, join fleets. Extrapolated another way, the larger your fleets are on average, the larger the artificial boost to your KB efficiency (One would expect members large 0.0 alliances to have artificially higher KB efficiencies than smaller corps who get the same 'true' efficiency).
What else have we learned?
We have learned that corps who tend to fleet with members outside their own corp will have higher corp KB efficiencies than those who do not. Said another way, if you want to artificially increase your corp's KB efficiency, join fleets hosted by other corps/alliances.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Ninja Plexing- When SH!T H!TS the Fan
In my last post, I promised I would cover:
A: How to maximize griefage while Leeching (aka Ninja Plexing)
B: What to do if they do drop an alt on you.
C: Why I Leech rather than plex.
Before I go any further, Let me present my typical fit for Leeching (Ninja Plexing) FW Minmatar Plexes. I use a Slasher, with the following fit:
Lows: Warp core stab I X2
Medium: 1mn Microwarpdrive i
EM Resistance Amp i
Thermal Resistance Amp i
4th slot is your choice. (ECM burst, warp disruptor, web, warp scrambler, another resistance amp, whatever will fit).
Highs: Prototype Cloak i
I use the MWD to be able to get to the button quickly. This is useful when I notice that there is minimal time remaining (say 20-30 seconds) upon my initial warp in. I used to use an AB so that I could run the sites as well, however, after missing out on one too many majors by a few kilometers, I switched to the MWD.
The resistance amps aren't necessary, but if they do warp out, and I grab agro, they let me survive long enough to warp out (or on rare occasions finish the plex myself).
The warp core stabs are if they bring (or decloak) a neutral alt who points you, so that you can get away.
I will explain the cloak in a bit. In the mean time, I will go over my strategy. If you want to maximize profit, you will keep a stopwatch (or stopwatch app on your phone) handy. I will warp in to major and medium plexes, note how much time is left (a piece of paper and pencil dont hurt), and unless it is 2 minutes or less, i will leave. No sense spooking the poor bastard too soon. I typically check a couple neighboring systems for their mediums and majors. You can check minors too, but they really don't pay too much. After I notice, that there is roughly 2-2.5 minutes left until a plex is about to be completed, I will warp to the plex, enter it, double check the time (on occasion, people were chased out, or otherwise left the button, thus making my timing be off) and proceed to orbit the button.
To maximize profit, you typically want to switch between complexes and systems, and not leech off any one person too much (for profit, you want to anger people as little as possible, because having to deal with them will lower your LP/hour). After working an area of systems, switch to a new area. At one lucky point, I was able to leech 3 majors, and 1 medium, in about 20 minutes. Thus having made roughly 46K LP in 20 minutes (or at tier 5, which I cashed the LP out at, roughly 140M isk in 20 minutes).
Now, if they try to drop an alt on you, or you notice there is roughly say, 4 minutes left, and you don't want to warp off, and warp back, that is where the cloak comes in.
And the cloak, can be used two different ways. If you don't want to spook them, and do want them to do the "heavy lifting" for you, at least until it is too late, yet you don't want to warp off, (I usually do this with say, 2-4 minutes left on a timer) you can enter the plex, burn off the entrance, and cloak up. Then simply wait for the timer to get low, before decloaking and burning into range of the button. If you get into the plex, and notice they have a neutral alt waiting for you, you can quickly turn the mwd on, to get away from the warp in (which usually decloaks you, and prevents you from cloaking), and cloak up. This way you are safe, and in the plex. You merely decloak and approach the button with like 15-20 seconds left (MWD on).
Between the warp core stabs, and the cloak, I have yet to be blown up, since I have switched to this fit. Sure, no fit is full-proof, but this greatly enhances your survivability.
Now, for those of you whose main goal is to cause grief, and a lowered morale of your opponents plexers, here are some things you can do to maximize pain to the enemy.
1: Leech in groups of 3 ships. With 3 ships, you can scour for major and mediums in multiple systems at a time, form up, and take 3/4 of their LP. Careful though, Hell hath no fury, like a carebear who just had his earned LP for running a major go from 25K to 6.25K. In groups, you can even have more of a pvp fit, and take down neutral alts who try to chase 1 toon off (you can even bait neutral toons this way). Because you are splitting the LP 4 ways rather than 2, the LP/hour isn't as good, but is much more demoralizing, and harder to counter.
2: Follow a guy around. Use your cloak to stalk someone and keep stealing their LP. It makes most people want to log, after they unsuccessfully travel a few systems, only to be constantly harassed.
3: And of course, when causing pain to the enemy, local is your friend. Taunt them, kindly of course.
All in all, although plexing is easy, and pays better, I tend to leech more often due to it being fun. Face it, plexing is boring as hell. Leeching (Ninja Plexing), not only has an element of demoralizing the enemy, and helping your side win the war, but also, since you are going whits to whits with a real person, there is a bit of a challenge there. They can perform an action that you didn't see coming, or vice versa. It can be a bit of a game of cat and mouse, but much like in pvp, you often learn something.
Enjoy your leeching.
A: How to maximize griefage while Leeching (aka Ninja Plexing)
B: What to do if they do drop an alt on you.
C: Why I Leech rather than plex.
Before I go any further, Let me present my typical fit for Leeching (Ninja Plexing) FW Minmatar Plexes. I use a Slasher, with the following fit:
Lows: Warp core stab I X2
Medium: 1mn Microwarpdrive i
EM Resistance Amp i
Thermal Resistance Amp i
4th slot is your choice. (ECM burst, warp disruptor, web, warp scrambler, another resistance amp, whatever will fit).
Highs: Prototype Cloak i
I use the MWD to be able to get to the button quickly. This is useful when I notice that there is minimal time remaining (say 20-30 seconds) upon my initial warp in. I used to use an AB so that I could run the sites as well, however, after missing out on one too many majors by a few kilometers, I switched to the MWD.
The resistance amps aren't necessary, but if they do warp out, and I grab agro, they let me survive long enough to warp out (or on rare occasions finish the plex myself).
The warp core stabs are if they bring (or decloak) a neutral alt who points you, so that you can get away.
I will explain the cloak in a bit. In the mean time, I will go over my strategy. If you want to maximize profit, you will keep a stopwatch (or stopwatch app on your phone) handy. I will warp in to major and medium plexes, note how much time is left (a piece of paper and pencil dont hurt), and unless it is 2 minutes or less, i will leave. No sense spooking the poor bastard too soon. I typically check a couple neighboring systems for their mediums and majors. You can check minors too, but they really don't pay too much. After I notice, that there is roughly 2-2.5 minutes left until a plex is about to be completed, I will warp to the plex, enter it, double check the time (on occasion, people were chased out, or otherwise left the button, thus making my timing be off) and proceed to orbit the button.
To maximize profit, you typically want to switch between complexes and systems, and not leech off any one person too much (for profit, you want to anger people as little as possible, because having to deal with them will lower your LP/hour). After working an area of systems, switch to a new area. At one lucky point, I was able to leech 3 majors, and 1 medium, in about 20 minutes. Thus having made roughly 46K LP in 20 minutes (or at tier 5, which I cashed the LP out at, roughly 140M isk in 20 minutes).
Now, if they try to drop an alt on you, or you notice there is roughly say, 4 minutes left, and you don't want to warp off, and warp back, that is where the cloak comes in.
And the cloak, can be used two different ways. If you don't want to spook them, and do want them to do the "heavy lifting" for you, at least until it is too late, yet you don't want to warp off, (I usually do this with say, 2-4 minutes left on a timer) you can enter the plex, burn off the entrance, and cloak up. Then simply wait for the timer to get low, before decloaking and burning into range of the button. If you get into the plex, and notice they have a neutral alt waiting for you, you can quickly turn the mwd on, to get away from the warp in (which usually decloaks you, and prevents you from cloaking), and cloak up. This way you are safe, and in the plex. You merely decloak and approach the button with like 15-20 seconds left (MWD on).
Between the warp core stabs, and the cloak, I have yet to be blown up, since I have switched to this fit. Sure, no fit is full-proof, but this greatly enhances your survivability.
Now, for those of you whose main goal is to cause grief, and a lowered morale of your opponents plexers, here are some things you can do to maximize pain to the enemy.
1: Leech in groups of 3 ships. With 3 ships, you can scour for major and mediums in multiple systems at a time, form up, and take 3/4 of their LP. Careful though, Hell hath no fury, like a carebear who just had his earned LP for running a major go from 25K to 6.25K. In groups, you can even have more of a pvp fit, and take down neutral alts who try to chase 1 toon off (you can even bait neutral toons this way). Because you are splitting the LP 4 ways rather than 2, the LP/hour isn't as good, but is much more demoralizing, and harder to counter.2: Follow a guy around. Use your cloak to stalk someone and keep stealing their LP. It makes most people want to log, after they unsuccessfully travel a few systems, only to be constantly harassed.
3: And of course, when causing pain to the enemy, local is your friend. Taunt them, kindly of course.
 |
| My Kind Taunting Face |
Enjoy your leeching.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Get Paid While You Grief
But, I know what you're thinking. Half of you are thinking "if you want to make the most isk, and plexing pays better, why not just plex?" The other half is thinking "If you want to cause harm to the Matari plexer, why not just go in there with your Amarr main, and shoot him?" I will answer both questions, starting with the latter.
If I want to prevent my opponents (the Matari) from plexing with an Amarr toon, I have to
A: Jump into local
B: Find the plex they are in
C: Warp to that plex
D: Enter the plex
E: Fly near the button to point/web them.
F: Watch them die
From the point that I jump into local (A), until I fly close enough to them to point/web them (E), my opponent can:
A: Notice me in local
B: Watch D-scan until I get to the outside of their plex
C: Align to a Safe Spot
D: Warp once I enter the plex
Due to the time it takes me to get from the stargate to the button, the plexer is in little to no risk of losing their ship, and with the current plexing system, if I want to prevent them from completing the current plex, I have to stay on the button long enough to cancel out their time on button + the initial time (ie: defensive plex), or I can leave, and they can pick up right where they began. If I stay and d-plex, during the same time they can run an identical plex at a new location and have time left over (due to me not just having to run down the initial time, but the additional time they ran it up as well), in which case I have not accomplished anything. If I leave, they can re-enter their plex and continue right where they left off, in which case I have accomplished nothing.
If I want to inhibit my opponents (The Matari) from plexing with a Matari toon, I have to
A: Jump into local
B: Find the plex they are in
C: Warp to that plex
D: Enter the plex
E: Fly near the button
You will notice, that not much has changed. However, since I am a "blue" to them, they often do not run away. Oh, sure, they might cry in local for me to leave, but honestly, they are left with only a few choices:
A: Accept their Fate- take half the LP, and let me take the other half. This not only lowers their LP/hour by half, but also demoralizes them.
B: Shoot at me with their Matari toon to chase me off/kill me- Albeit, this of course, requires guns (which many do not have), skills to use weapons (which many do not have), a pvp fit (which many do not have), and even then, since 95% (my estimate) do not shoot the rats, all I would have to do, is point and web them, and the rats dps would add up pretty quickly. And even, assuming all of this in their favor, they still take a standings hit toward the Minmatar Republic, which they need to keep positive standings with, to continue to plex.
C: Defend their plex with an alt that is not in the Minmatar Republic. This is by far the most effective way to keep their plex to themselves, however, by already forcing them to have an alt, that will need to go pirate (or need to be in the Amarr/Caldari Militias) and need to have skills, I am forcing many of them to do something that they cannot. On the off chance that they can, there are naturally, ways to counter them, which I will go into detail, in my next blog.
Stay Tuned. My next blog will cover
A: How to maximize griefage while Leeching (aka Ninja Plexing)
B: What to do if they do drop an alt on you.
C: Why I Leech rather than plex.
In the meantime, you might find Hans' recent Blog a good read of things that might come in winter.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Evolve to Survive, Evolve to Thrive
Since the changes that came with Inferno, to many it became clear that strategies of the past (gaining LP on the amarr side only), would not be sufficient in keeping pilots' wallets sufficiently padded. This was true of the Amarr for a few reasons:
1: The Amarr held less systems when Inferno hit. This gave an incentive for anyone who wanted to gain LP that was more likely to be cashed out at high tiers sooner to join the Matari, further boosting both their numbers, and man hours of plexing.
2: There is a perception that the Amarr are outnumberred. Since inferno (when I joined FW), this has been true. In my previous post I pointed out, that on the battlefield, prior to the Great Exodus, numbers were oftentimes even, however, the realm of pve is not the battlefield. A PVE competition tends to trend to whoever has greater sheer numbers, which over the past 3 months, has been the Minmatar.
3: Boots on the Ground: Most Minmitar base out of the warzone, whereas most Amarr do not (the large exception being BlackWatch Guard, who base out of Sahtogas, which has been successfully defended thus far, for reasons about to be given). There are pros and cons for each strategy, however, two of the pros for basing out of the warzone are a higher desire to defend the "home" system, as well as more troops in the warzone (home system), at any one time.
After the Great Exodus, the Amarr LP seem to really have little going for them. The Minmitar hold more systems, have more numbers, and live in the warzone, all 3 of which lead to better value for Minmitar LP and lower value for Amarr LP. The question then is, how do you adapt? The initial answer is simple: plex for the Minmitar. Yet, won't this lead to an even greater Minmitar advantage in the PVE war? Not necessarily.
12 days prior to the Matari hitting tier 5, I had 2 alts join FW on the Matari side. With the alts, I performed 3 actions, none of which hurt the Amarr in the PVE war.
- Plexing systems that were already vulnerable and would be lost anyways.
- Running FW Missions
- Leeching LP (AKA Ninja Plexing).
Now, I happened to have two alts with some skills (one had 2M SP, the other about 10M) that were not in the war, yet had standings to apply for the Matari Militia, although performing actions # 1 and 3, only require an alt roughly 3 days old, and since they are new, they would meet minimum requirements for the Minnie Militia (ie: a standing of 0).
Over the following 12 days I proceeded to earn roughly 800K LP, which cashed me roughly 3B ISK (I don't think I played any more than normal, and I didn't spend all my playing time on earning LP, so this really shows how broken the system is). Of the 800K, here is the rough break down:
Roughly 200K earned from running plexes
Roughly 200K earned from missioning
Roughly 400K earned from Leeching
But, other than the fun involved, why should I leech (ninja plex)? I believe the answer to that question, is so involved, that it deserves its own post, at a future date of course. Stay tuned!
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