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Thursday, December 29, 2011

ARCTIC Part 2: The Thing Conclusion... Tips

Well... After many hours I finally made it through The Thing quest, and got my arctic helicopter.

I am still not an expert with this quest despite how long it took me. Here are the following issues I ran into:

1. I cannot find any storage terminals in the Arctic. So, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR VEHICLES SPAWNED WHEN YOU LOG OF. They get returned to storage, and NOT to Rocktropia storage either! So I had lost my Arctic Truck to storage. Without it, you are going to have a hard time getting through all of the things gathered along the path to the exit point. It quite possibly may take a trouble ticket with MA to get your truck back if you lose it.

2. When you enter the refueling base, you basically keep to the right, and there is a large building, and a smaller building kind of close to the satellite receiver. Don't worry about fixing this satellite, theres no terminal on it. Instead, you have supply and repair terminals on the side of the buildings there. Inside the smaller building is a hole in the floor that you are to drop down and you will find underground tunnel with Things all over.

3. It does appear that your Armor works from Calypso. My shogun was doing an admirable job, but that could just be from my defensive skills who knows. Supposedly only the arctic armor should work, but who knows really. In any case, the Things are very tough despite being level 7. These aren't the 1 shot 1 kill level 7s of Rocktropia. It took about 20 shots with my breer M3A to kill one. The shotgun you get from the supply terminal is powerful, but it was a 50/50 if I died or not while killing one. And if you get more than one attacking you you are better off to run for it unless you are uber. So if you plan to do the thing, BRING SOME POWERFUL WEAPONS AND THE APPROPRIATE AMMO!

4. You must reach the escape point from underground. There is no way to complete the mission above ground, believe me, I tried. Upon escaping you are at the surface next to a base. You will receive further instructions by Radio, and then it just gives you your Helicopter and says thank you for playing, and more episodes coming in the future. So it does appear that they will be expanding the Arctic.

5. MINING IN THE ARCTIC: You cannot buy bombs there. BUT you can drop them! Though all I found so far is Lyst and Oil but I did use the crafting terminal in the refueling base, and ran a small profit on standard dampers with the mined Lyst and Oil. Just bring everything you think you need and maybe even some things you don't think you need.

If you are not wanting to spoil the spirit of The Thing, and juse use all Arctic gear, that's fine, and I can respect the ambition of that, but you might want to go with friends since it will be helpful to have a team in dealing with all the Things.

Please see Arctic Part 1 in case you missed it for tips on getting through the first half or so of the mission.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

ARCTIC PT 1: I Begun The Thing Quest: TIPS

I just wanted to give you a few tips for starting the Thing Quest...

1. You get to be either a Scientist or a Soldier. The Soldier gets to use the Assault Rifle to begin with, and the Scientist gets to start with the 9mm pistol. It's not as bad as it sounds though... Even though the weapons are weak, the mobs aren't very hard to kill.

2. You have to do everything in the proper order or you will confuse the Quest system. It's not too bad.. But for instance when going to the first satellite receiver, don't TP chip or otehrwise cheat, actually walk down the road to it!

3. When you arrive at the next base after getting your vehicle, you have to turn on the power generator. This requires a level 1 access card but I have not yet found it. I do not know if you have to loot it from a mob or actually find it... However... You can right click and operate the parked vehicles in the bases. Some of them will have things stashed in them to find like Ammo and etc. There is one vehicle that is locked, but I do not know if it is possible to break into it or not, and part of me thinks that the access card may be found inside it, but I dunno if they put that much complexity into the quests to where they would make you pick your way into a vehicle to find something.  UPDATE: Continue south through this base, almost to the next satellite dish, you will see a vehicle. THIS vehicle has the access card.

4. The freebies you get amount to a couple peds probably, including the fap, weapon, ammo... But you may purchase the shotgun, assault rifle, and additional pistols at the terminals attached to the various buildings.. And the ammo.. The shotgun is fairly powerful to be honest, it packs more of a punch than the sollomate opalo...  But they are limited so you can't repair them. So if you like them, and leave, stock up while you can.

5. What is the sequence for the power generator?
Reduce power to Beta.
Increase power to defenses.
Increase defenses again.
Increase cooling.
And you want the 13/20 split on last one.

Monday, December 26, 2011

ROCKTROPIA: How To Get The Cell Phone

Please see the post that came before this for getting your CND pass... This one deals with getting your cell phone.

You have to talk to Frankie on the top patio walkway. You then have to talk to one of the gals dancing on Level 2, forget her name. Actually you might want to talk to her first since it seems to start the cell phone quest. Then, you have to talk to Trey up on level 3 in the lounge. He gives you a tour of the town you must go to the waypoints. Once thats completed, you return to him. Then he will invite you to go up and talk to the DJ. You talk to the DJ, he will give you a cell phone.

It took a bit of time, but was simple. I still not know what use the Phone will be though... But that is how you get it.

Also, you need to get your pass or you will die when you go places.

My First Visit To Rocktropia!!! New Visitor Tips!

Rocktropia is awesome in my opinion! Seems like there is so much more to do, and the environment is more fun... Well, atmosphere is the word I think. I don't recommend it for anyone on dialup since even high speed wireless seems to be giving me enough lag as it is... Perhaps a good graphics card will make the difference on that.

But there are some things I didn't know that I just learned, and I wanted to post them here :-)

OK...

FIRST! I landed on the top patio for the club neverdie in the city of dreams. Now, yes, the bouncer kicked my butt and I died because I didn't have the pass. But I got to talk to Frankie Headstone up on the top somewhere outside the club. I can't really specify his exact location, but he's up there. If you talk to him, he will give you a free baseball bat worth 1 Ped TT. My friends who been there before didn't know that and didn't get theirs. So I wanted to let you all know.

SECOND: I didn't know I was going to rocktropia today... And I thought there was a CND pass on Calypso auction, I figured eh, I will bid a few peds, thinking it was a good deal. Heh... LOL... No. You get them free at the club on Rocktropia. But it took me forever to figure out how to get the pass.

You have to go to the bottom level, walk outside the club, and there are two people at the entrance, NPC's, and more NPC's making a line to get in. You have to talk to Trinity, and she will add you to the guest list and then Bulldog will give you a pass when you talk to him. This will prevent you from dying from being where you aren';t supposed to go.

I will continue to blog my tips and experiences here on the Rock until I leave maybe tomorrow back for Caly.

AND A REMINDER: DO NOT attempt the journey in a sleipneir with any cargo. I guarantee you the Sleipneir has a "Shoot Me, Loot Me" sign on the back of it!!! Dump all your ores and matters and resources into storage prior to travelling. And unless you have a warp capable ship, prepare to spend an hour or two in space.

This Weeks Share Dividends...

1.93 ped per share... Hopefully this was due to people saving their peds for Merry Mayhem, or perhaps everyone being with their families for Christmas, who knows. I hope this is the exception and not the rule... If the payouts stay this low, I expect a lot of people will cash out their shares at any price just to be out of it while they can.

I advise any land deed holders to just wait a week or two and see what happens. If it still so poor, then you might expect it to keep up that way for some time.

Friday, December 23, 2011

ADVICE: Do Not Underestimate Land Deed ROI

I want to give you this piece of advice as a christmas present in that you may understand it and take it to heart. I just had an epiphany of thoughts, and I know a lot of you see the returns offered by the Land Deed dividends as paltry. But let me shine some light on this for you.

Let's compare the ROI on a Land Deed to say, a savings account interest, or perhaps a Certificate of Deposit:

Savings accounts with your local bank only offer maybe .25% to 1% Interest PER YEAR. So, on $100, you MIGHT get as much as $1. That's 10 peds per year per hundred dollars in your savings.

CD's might offer 2% or 4%... So you are talking $2 to $4 per hundred per year. 20 to 40 peds per year that way.

Calypso land deeds are paying out between 5 and 6 peds a week!!!! Do you know how significant this is?! That's 50 cents to 60 cents a week!!! You are getting a years worth of bank interest in about 2 weeks time or less on that same $100! Say you are getting 250 peds a year, you are talking 25% yield per year. THERE IS NO CD IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW THAT I AM AWARE OF THAT YOU CAN MAKE MORE THAN 5% ON.

Robert G Allen wrote in his book multiple streams of income, that just saving $1 a day, and earning 5% per year interest will make you a multi millionaire within 20 years by compounding interest. Of course, the only way your ROI will compound is if you use the dividends to buy more shares... BUT imagine what you can do with 25% interest!!!

Of course, the playership should grow over time, every product and service has it's critical mass at which things go crazy at. When that happens, I will bet dollars to beans that you will see the ROI go far beyond 25% per year.

No, I have no shares, and no vested interest in how well they do or what their price goes to. Oh yes, I would like to have some, but maybe some day... But here lies a tremendous opportunity to those of you who are quick enough and sharp enough not to squander it.

But even if the ROI drops to 5% for some reason... YOU ARE STILL WAY AHEAD OF WHAT BANKS ARE PAYING!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Mining Basics Part 4: Selling Your Ores

This seems like a logical fourth part to my recent series of posts outlining the basics for all the noobs who are coming into Entropia on a daily basis. I am seeing incredible amounts of new people every time I log in. It takes me weeks sometimes to run into another avatar I've seen before. Seriously!

If you look at the totals on Entropia Tracker, say my mining rank is like 700 out of 3000 or something... And you think wow... 3000 people is that all thats here? But then you realize... That's only people who have hoffed and globalled in the last 30 days that are counted. It took me 6 months to get my first global. Then it took another 6, and after that it dropped to 3, and then I started hitting some kind of a global at least once a month... Until now, where I have globalled virtually every day I've played. So just think of how many people there really are playing that are not counted in the globals and hofs.

Anywho... I am a bit off topic here, but that's ok. This is going to be short and quick.

Markup is crucial to your success in any profession. It is the difference between winning and losing. Mindark is not going to guarantee you will win on every run you do. However, what gives you the opportunity to is markup because markup is directly out of other peoples pockets unlike the TT value of items.

There are several things to consider.

1. Rarity and % markup.
2. How many peds worth of each resource you have.
3. Auction fees.
4. Trader prices.
5. Is it worth more refined or unrefined (This may sound dumb, but I will explain why it is valid)
6. Do I fill orders, or do I just list an auction with a buyout?


So lets start with number one...

If a resource is selling for less than 110%, you are generally going to have a hard time pushing it on the auction unless you know what you are doing, and it is going to take a fairly large stack of the stuff to make it worth doing. For instance...

Oil had orders at 104%. I thought ok, I will try refining my 80 ped oil global and sell it to orders. What I didn't expect was, my refiner broke at least two times, so that cost me 4 peds right there. Then there is a matter of the auction fee of nearly a ped or so. My markup was less than 5 peds. I literally didn't gain anything by doing this.

However, it has a lot to do with what is the value per unit. See, refining decay is based on how many units you are refining. It is costlier to refine Crude Oil than say, Angelic flakes or Dianthus... Ped for ped that is. It wasn't worth bothering to refine the oil and fill orders. But I could have 80 peds worth of say, Alicenies and refined it and sold it on an order of 104% and actually made a few pecs.

Depending on the markup it can be cheaper to actually TT the stuff. But on all items you think are TT food, at the very least talk to a trader to see if you can get ANY markup for.

BUT REMEMBER: If you take something like Dunkel... Assume 5K% markup. A trader MUST automatically deduct around 1500 points off that markup and offer you between 3500% and 4000%. Because even with 3500%, the auction fees would take all the profit and then some. And if you think it is easy to sell something so rare, especially when it's not refined, you can try it. If its extremely high markup and rare, so few people even use it that it would be a risk counting on the fact someone using it would actually see your listing and buy it... It's safer in my opinion to sell it as fast as you can as long as the offer is reasonable. Reasonable, in my book, is markup minus auction fees on rare items. On common ores and matters, the standard few percent discount is reasonable.

#2:  If you have 10 peds of lysterium thats worth say, 105%... You are only talking 50 pecs markup. You wont make money with orders. Potentially, you could list a 9.99 ped lot of Lysterium ingots (333) of them for say, 120% and they will sell becuase lots of crafters will pay a little extra for smaller quantities. But you risk also that you might not sell it and lose the auction fees. So you have two options: Hold your ore til you have about 50 to 100 peds worth, or find a trader. Small markups will make a difference, but only on large TT values.

#3: Auction fees are progressive. The more value the item has, and the higher the markup, the faster the increase in auction fee as you up the price. However something you should know is... The auction fee to list what, 200 peds of Cobalt is like 6 peds or something... But to sell say, 900 peds on auction the fee is only like 12 peds. So after a while, economies of scale kick in and the more you can list at once the cheaper it actually gets for you to list. If you were to list four lots of 200, you would be paying nearly 25 peds in fees, versus saving and filling that 900 ped order. The numbers are just approximations from memory, not accurate... But the principle is what I am trying to explain. It will always be CHEAPER to sell the biggest lot that you can sell at one time,

Fees are good though. Why? Because it prevents people from using the auction as a warehouse like so many online games tend to do. If there were no fees, people would simple list everything at astronomical prices and never have to worry about storage for their stuff again. It might not be a big deal now, but back in the day when there was no storage on the asteroid, it would have been considered a major exploit.

Also, it prevents people from flooding the markets or otherwise manipulating them by buying up all the cheaper listings and relisting at much higher prices. The fees force people to list at prices they reasonably expect will find buyers.

I do notice the more I spend in AH fees, the better quality of loot I get... But I have no concrete proof, only observation from my own situation. But just keep your eyes peeled to see if it's making any difference for you or not. There is a lot we may never know about the game.

4: The reason traders are justified in making profit is simple. Most people do not have more than a few peds in any given stack of ore or resources. If you mine with less than a couple hundred peds, you are going to have a varied inventory when you get done. You will be forced to either tt lots too small to put on auction, or find a trader.

Now, when a trader buys from you, he has to consider how the market is. Are prices heading upward, or downward. Is it in high demand or is it not being used much. Whats the current price.

See... The advantage of a trader is this: If you cant list the stuff you have yourself, you either have to wait til you have more, TT it, or sell to the trader. Would you rather have five piles each of 2 peds of 120% ores and trade terminal them, or go to a trader who would give you say 115% for the ores. It is your choice. You can either lose 2 peds in markup by TTing, or you can go to the trader and let him make a few pecs, and lose only half a ped.

In turn, the trader accumulates the ores til he has sufficient amounts to peddle on the auction house or direct to crafters.Traders however, if they are smart, will take a sufficient cut on the ores so that when they have amassed their piles, that they will still make some money after figuring in the fees and etc.

However, if you have piles of ingots worth over 20 peds, and markup is over say 115% or 120%, by all means sell them yourself, in most cases you will get more than a trader will offer. It's just reality. But the exception to this rule... If it is an Ore that doesn;t move fast... Cobalt is very tempermental. If I list it as the lowest auction buyout, someone always undercuts me. But orders are sometimes 10 points below the lowest auction price. The solution? See what a trader will offer you. If Cobalt is 120% on orders and buyouts are no lower than 130, rather than risk being undercut, you might get a trader to give you 125%.

#5: Yes, I have to cover this... Becuase there are separate categories for unrefined and refined ores and enmatters, differences in the market value arise. In the case of chalmon/devils tail... I once sold 20 peds or so TT value, to orders for 560%. I went and checked the devils tail orders... Devil's tail was ordered at 620%. I would have made more money selling it unrefined. So when you have VERY high markup stuff... ALWAYS check the refined and unrefined orders BEFORE you refine it... You can always refine it later, but you can NOT unrefine an ore!

#6; Filling orders vs. Selling on Auction...

Scenario 1: Your ore's lowest buyout is at 120%. The orders are paying 119%. It is best to fill the order. Because even if you do list for say 123%, it might not sell, and for the 4 points difference, i'd rather have my money now. Also a gap like that generally means the price is going to be dropping so is best to be done with it than stuck with an overmarked up listing.

Scenario 2: Orders are at 120%, but lowest buyout is 130%. This is what I have experienced with Cobalt on a somewhat regular basis. Because the cobalt is virtually impossible to move without filling orders for me, I would opt to take it to a trader or fill the orders. Any other ore though, I would just do a listing at slightly under the lowest buyout if I needed the peds right now. If I wasn't in a hurry, I would find the lowest price listing around the size lot I had, and list just a little bit below that. People are going to always pay a little higher markup for smaller lots of resources.

Scenario 3: Make note of what the lowest auction buyout is, and then ask a trader, if there are no orders. If the trader offers you an amount somewhat close to that figure, do the math and see how much of a difference it is and if it is acceptable, take the trade. Otherwise, see Scenario 2.

I hope this helps clarify some situations and help you understand some of the dynamics at work in the market place. I will go through and clarify and rewrite this over time... Maybe add better examples and make it simpler to understand... But in the mean time, good luck!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Chirpy Hofs... A Quick Note

I have seen chirpy globals and hofs on normal chirpies, not the mutant chirpies.

But I gotta set the record straight... The mutant chirpies will make an uber cry. Thousands of hitpoints in health and hundreds in damage. Sounds incredible, but true. And they do hof.

But the normal noob chirpies I have seen hof as well in the past.

But consider this:

The cost of killing a chirpy is roughly the same as crafting basic filters.  So you spend 5 to 10 pecs killing a chirpy and about 5 pecs on a click of filters. So in all honesty, you have roughly the same chance at hoffing or globalling a chirpy as you would on filters... And just think how many thousands of filter clicks it takes to get that kind of reward...

Monday, December 12, 2011

Basic Mining Guide Part 3: Understanding The Nature of Ore Spawns

Every ore, and enmatter is found in only certain areas. No one really knows where the boundaries of these spawns exactly are located. However, there are some things we do know for sure.

You will only find a certain mix of deposits in a given area. And this mix changes from area to area. For instance, you can mine all you want on Treasure Island and you will not hit any Lanorium or Alferix. But you can go to Shinook and never hit any Cobalt. You also will not find any Lysterium on Treasure Island for that matter.

But let's look at the rarer stuff. Take land areas for example... Let's use Miners Heaven for my example, even though I am not affiliated with the owners, it is a wonderful place to mine and I don't mind putting in a good word for it, since I have globalled unamped lots of times, and have even hit a fair share of Kanerium and Redulite there.

I have only found Redulite on the very west end of the land area. Gazzurdite and Durulium are somewhat abundant too. I have not hit Redulite on the East end of the land area. As you head towards the middle and then the east, you start hitting mostly iron with some gazzurdite and durulium. But I never hit iron on the west end of the land area. And on the very east end, I tend to hit more durulium than anything else.

To put this into perspective, A large portion of the area may yield most of those ores. But there is one very small zone in all of that land maybe several hundred meters accross only, that is capable of producing Kanerium and Redulite.

I believe the scarcity of ores is controlled by how large the spawn areas are to some extent, because the smaller the spawn area is, the less likely you are to be directly over it when you are mining, and the less of it that will be produced.

So you will want to write down your coordinates of any rare finds. I think you will find that as you get more and more of these deposits, you will notice in a big search area, they will be mostly congregated in a somewhat small area.

You may have heard theory about veins, and from my experience, they do exist, but most people don't tend to follow them. See... I took the care to chart out where my hits on TI were one day. I mine north to south and south to north. Each pass I move over a hundred or two meters and go back. What I had noticed is, 80% of my claims lined up almost perfectly on a northwest south east axis. What was really interesting, was my globals lined up on these axis almost perfectly.  I do plan to do some runs and I will print out a map of where I mine, and mark down the approximate claim locations with pen, and then put this map of my run up on the blog so you can kind of see what I am talking about.

So I want to stress... LOCATION is VERY important... If your finder matches the average depth for Niksarium, you should be mining where Niksarium is found. If it matches for gazzurdite or durulium, you should go where those are found. There are areas where you are mostly going to hit rare ores if you hit anything at all, but these areas are not practical for most of us to go for.

So the lesson I wish to convey here is this:

1. Not every ore can be found in every location.
2. Pay attention to the specific areas you are finding something you want to find.
3. Watch for patterns and veins.
4. You might do well to track your claims... Make an Excel spreadsheet. If you don't have microsoft office, go to openoffice.org and install a free office suite. As my programming skills improve I hope to make a utility that you can load your spreadsheets and it will translate all the coordinates into spots on a map of the Entropia Universe. But tracking the areas where you are finding what will give you an idea of specific areas and relative concentrations of the ores so that way when you take up crafting for instance, or when prices skyrocket on one ore or another, you know where to go and can take full advantage of this.
5. Take rumors with a grain of salt. If testing theories, take notes, and don't risk peds you can't afford to lose.
6. Keep checking my blog for new information :-) And I am thinking about announcing a contest for my blog. I have some blueprints that aren't selling so I am going to find a unique way of giving them away. I will make this announcement once I've devised a way to do this. I have a 100QR BSM print and a 60 some QR MannMPH dlxe print. I will start planning something...

Good luck,,,

And in the words of Mr. Spock (sort of), "Live Long and Prospect" :-)

Mining Basics Part 2: Controlling Your Costs

Seems appropriate to make this the next topic of discussion. This is a continuation of the following post: http://entropiauniverseguide.blogspot.com/2011/12/mining-basics-part-1-pointers-for-noobs.html#comments

If you don't like the standard costs for prospecting (1 ped / 20 probes) or surveying (0.50 Ped / 10 probes), there is another option.

You may obtain a rookie finder and use rookie bombs. I believe it is 10 pecs per drop each for ore or enmatter, and 20 pecs if dropping both.  So you are spending 2 probes for ore and 2 probes for enmatter.

Your claims are going to be much smaller too, but people still global and even hof on a rookie finder. I have hit VIII's with my first few rookie bombs. This is useful for skilling, or testing a new area you aren't sure if you want to risk a more costly run on. And if you come by your peds the hard way and don't want to lose them fast, this might be a safer option for you.

If unamped mining is too low of a stake for you, you may join the "high rollers" and purchase amps.

The amplifiers will increase your cost per drop, thereby increasing your claim sizes. I believe every claim has a base size, and that your decay puts into effect a multiplier value that is unknown to all but the system. In this way, everyone is proportionately rewarded according to their spend.

However, it is curious that you might not hof or global with an amp but soon as you take it off, your hofs and globals start happening. Don't be discouraged. I recommend you follow the rule of thumb of 5 levels of skill per level of amp. And I don't recommend going past a level 2 or 3 until you are well above level 20.

By the time you reach the biggest of the amps, you are spending up to 10 peds to drop for ore. And if what I hear about amps costing the same decay no matter what you do, then it reasons that enmatters will cost about 9.50 peds per drop, or almost 20 peds when combined, and this doesn't take into account the markup of the amp. As you can see, it is quite possible to wager a significant amount if you so choose, or you may play for almost literally, peanuts.

Calypso Shares Week 2 Dividend

I am going to do my best to provide you with weekly reports on the Calypso land deed dividends. I hope to set up a dedicated page just for it on my blog, with a chart of the results... But for now I must track it in this manner.

Week 2 Dividend: 5.32 Ped Per Share, a 52% increase over last week's payout.

Mining Basics Part 1: Pointers for Noobs to Get Started :-)

I wanted to thank Luizeba for the kind comment I just received... In response, I've decided to go ahead and spend a few posts focusing on the beginning miner.

To start with... You will have the ability to use only the basic mining equipment. The TT finder which is the Ziplex Z1 I believe. As you max this out, it is common to move on to the F101, F102, etc. However, I STRONGLY urge you pay no mind to the skill increase bonus. I have always gained skills faster and had better returns with equipment I've already maxed out. Skills are not so important as it is to be economic and efficient. When you follow the SIB, you become less efficient and less economical. I only advise moving on to the next finder when it is maxed out for you. And I have noticed no difference in the rate of skill gain between SIB and non SIB. If it didn't benefit Mindark to have SIB, they wouldn't have gone through the trouble to add it.

I believe you will do well to move on to the Z5 as your second finder. It has served me very well. In fact, I hold the Z finders in high regard... However, the F105 is considered the "gold standard" for the average prospector.  I will save this for one of the next parts to this series of posts.

What I am getting at is, you have low skill, low level finder, so you should target areas where there are high concentrations of common low level ores and enmatters. It will do you little good to go into an area that is mostly deep and high markup ores with shallow finder and little skill.

Here's a few rules for you to follow to get off to a good start:

1. If you go to any location, and hit 5 NRF's in a row, go back to the TP, and go to a different area. Many areas have different servers, and if one is on a very cold cycle, another one is probably doing better. If searching for Ores, if you don't hit in the first 3 bombs, it's usually going to be a bad run in my experience. I have had 20 or 30 NRF's in a row expecting it to turn around and it didn't, so it makes a difference to move.

2. If you get a claim in a seemingly unmineable spot, get as close as you can, and right click your deed and click "summon claim". It will put it right next to you so you can mine it.

3. Don't get in a hurry to bomb all over the place. Take your time. Put about 8 to 12 seconds between bomb drops if you are running. If NRF's keep persisting, increase the distance to 15 to 20 seconds. I know it is hard to bomb so slowly, but it does help most of the time.

4. If you are not getting claims OR skills, the area is likely very cold, and is best to go somewhere else.

Treasure Island is good for starting out on... Sweetstuff, Force Nexus, Typonolic, Lytarian... As a rule, most enmatters are quite easy to hit. But if looking for ore you can expect a lot of blausariam and some cobalt and little durulium and gazzurdite.

The islands directly south of Port Atlantis ONLY yield Oil and Lyst... It might be worth a try if you are just using the TT finder.

My own personal recommendations of areas to hit as a noob, and test are, in no particular order:
Nymphtown (Ignisium and Dianthus), Fort Troy, Fort Ithaca, Ashi (I've globalled on oil a few times here), Shinook River (Lumis Leach), New Switzerland, The area surrounding Twin Peaks (quite a bit of mineable area with low level mobs or no mobs if you are careful. Lots of Belkar, Oil, and some Melchi and Blaus).

The other option is to go to www.mininglog.com, and look at the map. Look for the regions with the highest % of claims for common ores. Blausariam, Belkar, Lysterium, Oil, Nexus, Sweetstuff, Typonolic, Lytarian, etc.

Target the common stuff, the more valueable stuff will come with it now and then. If you target just the valuable stuff as miners tend to want to do, you are cutting your returns in the long run. Sure, the system eventually will balance it out, but keeping your returns as good as you can is the difference between depositing a little, or a lot before you see your first big hof.

Some areas are less hospitable to low level miners than others. If you follow my advice, you should see some improvements in your return... But I will expand this post as necessary. I will post again within the next 12 to 24 hours, and will be a bit more specifc and thorough on exact locations you should focus on exploring and testing.

Friday, December 9, 2011

ADVICE: Keeping your accounts secure!

I can't stress this enough... I wasn't going to say anything but today, my paypal account was broken into and used by the hacker to make 1,000 USD worth of fraudulent purchases. It took me all day to fix all of this, and its going to take a couple weeks for my banking to return to normal. But my email was also broken into. It had the same password as my paypal, and my entropia also had the same password. This has all been changed today.

In order to protect your accounts... Please observe the following advice:

1. Download and run Spybot Search and Destroy and install some software such as Avast Anti Virus, and perhaps Zone Alarm for a free firewall. This will protect you against spyware, viruses, and hackers.

2. Do not use the same passwords for multiple accounts. Do not let anyone else know your passwords for any reason.

3. Change your password every 30 to 90 days.

4. Do not use passwords that are too simple. If it is in a dictionary, it will be used for brute force attacks. Mix in some characters and numbers, upper and lower case.

5. Make sure your security questions are not answers that would be easily guessed or obtained.

Had I not caught this in time, the damages may have been severe. I still dont' know if I am going to get everything refunded. But let's just say this is the fastest 10,000 peds I lost without playing Entropia :P

I cannot stress how important it is to maintain security of your accounts, financial or otherwise.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

How Enhancers Work In a Nutshell

When Tiering first came out it was a bit confusing... However... I want to give you not only some observations I've made, but also some facts that I have learned as well.

1. A depth enhancer will increase your finders depth  by 10% for each tier you add an enhancer on. This is not compounding. If you have a 200m depth, one tier of depth will take it to 220, two tiers 240, three, 260. But I believe your decay is increased slightly on the finder as well. All other enhancers are based on percentages as well. Damage enhancers give you 10% more damage but make your gun decay faster I believe, either that or it uses more ammo... Not entirely sure now its been so long.

2. With a .9 tier F105, I could only hit two digit globals and my 4 digit hof. After tiering to 1.9, I have started hitting 3 digit globals... Conclusion? I believe tiers are skills for the finder. If you want it to be useful to it's full potential, you want to get as close to tier 10 as you can get. But more research needs to be done.

3. Every enhancer gives you a benefit, but also gives you a drawback, this is known as opportunity cost. Eco enhancers use less ammo but do less damage for instance.

4. The higher the tier your item is, the longer your enhancers will work til they break basically. The lower the tier value you have, the more likely that enhancer is to break.

PayPal and Depositing... Technically there is a way...

Mindark does not accept deposits through PayPal. I know PayPal makes the world go round for some of you... But there is really only one way you will be able to deposit safely using your PayPal account.

Apply for a PayPal debit card. I believe it is issued through Mastercard. Not everyone is going to be approved for it, but it allows instant access to the funds on your PayPal account, so you can use your balance without having to wait a few days for the funds to transfer to your bank account.

Monday, December 5, 2011

How To Collect Your Share Dividends From Land Deeds

There is perhaps some confusion reguarding this matter. Mindark has a tendency to implement new changes or ways of doing things that have to be figured out... And for the sake of completeness, I am posting this information to my blog.

In order to collect your weekly share payments, You must right click and bring up the menu, and then click
"Pedflow Center" in the list. Since I don't have any shares, hopefully all the steps after this point are self explanatory. It just tells me I have no additional ped accounts.

Also, I am told by a friend that this last payout was 3.50 peds for one share. So, you have 14 peds a month if things stay constant... Which is under half of what the estimated ROI would be...  But still, thats like getting 1K of sweat sweated and sold for you each week... And I do expect the numbers to fluctuate greatly over time depending on how much playing is done by the community.

I may decide to establish a graph of dividends and track the values over time... I'll see what I can manage :-)

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Amplifier Effects: Angel Scales and Hansidian Finds Multiplied Also!

This just in... My good friend who has gone through my blog decided I should add here some vital information. Generally, when we hit Angel Scales unamped, you get about 30 peds with markup worth, so like 100 to 200 scales. Well, back in the day of the old mining amps, he was bombing along with an OA-109, and hit angel scales along with his claim. It gave him 4K scales.

This is definitive proof for me that amps amplify not only the claims you hit, but the things found with them. And rumor has it also, that if you happen to find an unlimited amp while mining, it is going to be of the same level as the amp you discovered it with. I cannot confirm this, but it does seem fair and logical.

Also, I want to point out... Hansidian isn't just found while prospecting and angel scales aren't just found while surveying. I have recently hit angel scales while prospecting for ores only.

A Look at Level 2 Amplifier Lights

Every time I am doing very well, with great returns, and put a level 2 light on my finder, my returns go way down. It has never failed. But if I use a level 2 non light, I get good returns. There is no statistical difference between the two amps, but I don't know if anyone else noticed this streaky trait. I have no explanation, but it would be logical to advise you to run with non-light amplifiers if you can afford to.

There may be hidden characteristics between a 2 and a 2 light that do not show in item information. But I would also suspect that the amp you use the most, will return the most. I used to do very well on level 2's and 3's, but when I run anything bigger, my returns go as nearly zero as statistically possible. I literally had about 20 peds returned on a level 8 amped run. I am advising to stick to a ratio between 5 and 10 levels of skill per level of amplifier. It has been the golden ratio for me, and any time I stray above that, I suffer horrible returns. There are people out there no doubt that can prove me wrong, it is entirely possible you could buy a level 13, drop one bomb and hit a tower.. However, it could be simply a result of how many peds you lost hunting and crafting, and the system decided to balance itself out. Who really knows. But I tend to Mine and Craft equally. My crafting losses tend to be made up while mining, and mining losses tend to be made up crafting. But who knows if it is the crafting making up for the crafting losses from earlier, at a later time and likewise for the mining. There really is no way to know.

Speculation on Entropia Universe Returns

Fact: MindArk's standard response regarding any payback issue or loot streak issues says that total returns are based on a PERCENTAGE.

So, since this is an important question everyone tends to ask at some point, I thought I would offer my own opinion as to the subject.

First, every indication is that the system does NOT pay out more Peds than it takes in. The system is obviously sustainable, and no company in their right mind would put that at risk. Many real life friends have obtained their payouts without problem other than waiting several weeks to several months for it to finally arrive. However, I do want to point out some people that haven't been paid have likely given Mindark a reason not to pay them such as violation of terms and conditions. There HAVE been exploits. There may still be some exploits. But the thing of it is... Exploits destroy the value that makes this game worth playing. It is a theft against each and every one of us that play.

Second, I believe the percentage paid out is based on the total spent into the system. Most of what everyone puts in, comes out somewhere along the line. The main edge they would have would be in keeping a portion of the repairs and decay, as well as auction fees, but who knows what percentage of each bomb or gunshot goes to MA directly. However, granted that even an absolute noob can tower on their first day unamped, which has happened, not often though, indicates that you do not have to pay in more than you loot.

But what I feel takes place is this: Every ped and pec spent is tracked. Every transaction you make. Loots are only figured in TT returns. But the higher markup items you use, the higher markup your loot tends to be, such as finding Rugaritz or Dunkel with the VRX2000 finder. But the thing is, the percentage kept by MA is easily compensated for by markup. Markup is extra value which derives from supply and demand. There is a limited amount of money fighting for a limited amount of resources and items. Markup is essentially what has come out of other people's pockets. But it ensures that everyone stands a good chance at either break even or profit.

IF you had to rely only on TT returns, you notice quickly that you almost NEVER run a surplus. You might have 1 in 10 mining runs that give you more in TT value than you spent. However, 7 of those 10 runs may bring you profit with markup.

I also want to stress that skills do affect returns as well. As a level 1 or level 5 prospector, I almost exclusively mined lysterium, oil, belkar, blausariam... As I ranked up, I gradually seen shifts from the low value ores to higher value ores such as narcanisum and niksarium, and later, kanerium became a regular find. Also, I have noticed as my skills go up, the frequencies, and average sizes of my hofs and globals have gone up.

I am not saying you can't hit good ores with low skills. I'm just saying you are going to hit fewer than if you had more skill. At level 28 prospector, I almost never hit Lysterium, and only occasionally hit Belkar and Blausariam.

So while they are paying out a percentage of what they take in, I wholly believe they use skills to control the distribution of that percentage. Certain finders are better at finding certain ores. But it takes certain skills to use certain finders. But also, another variable comes into play. It does matter where you are. You can mine all you want on those islands south of Port Atlantis and never hit anything but Lysterium and Oil. But... That's not to say you wont have ANY compensation for your troubles since you do still stand a chance of finding say, angel scales or hansidian, but TT value is low, and so your reward is simply dependent on what others are willing to pay for the stuff. But it works out, because chances are to use a 3K% markup ingredient to craft, the item it goes into is worth a great deal of markup as well, so the crafter can easily recoup his investment, and it is ultimately the final customer footing the bill for the materials that went into making the item.

There are a lot of complex principles at work here in Entropia... I hope I've been able to shine some light and open some minds as to this complexity. Think and play smarter, and more economical, and you will be rewarded as I have. But if you treat it like a casino, expect the same results. There are days no matter how much you spend you simply can't buy a global or a hof, I am proof of that. But if I play cautiously, and I am not expecting the big hits, they do happen! I certainly did not expect my XXI cobalt that I hit for 1322 peds, my largest loot in game and first four digit hof.

Good luck!!!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

ALERT: Ore Prices On The Way Up

As of yesterday I noticed tremendous increases in ore prices.

Gazzurdite had orders topping 121% for the first time in over a month I am guessing,
Cobalt at 128%,
Blausariam back at 108%,

I think in general prices are going up accross the board. I think we will see a general increase in prices over the next few weeks.

However... Some ores still remain bargain priced... Adomasite is TT food for the most part and it used to trade between 200 and 300 percent... Maganite is 200% and it used to trade at over 500%, I have even sold it at 800% once. Kanerium seems to be holding steady at 200%. All of the rare ores are generally bargains right now.

If you havn't bothered mining recently, I advise you to look at the markups... I just go by the orders, because for me I can judge quickly whether or not the market is better or worse. AH prices will always be higher than orders, but the orders tell me what the big crafters are willing to pay.

It is important to try to hit higher markup ores, because I strongly feel all of Entropia is based on a Percentage return of their TT value take. Evidence of this comes when you track all of your TT returns from mining, hunting, crafting, and pit them against what you spent to do the run with markup cost of the run. Without markup, over the long run, I believe you are going to be a net loser... But the main prevailing theory here is, the more skills you have, the more rare and higher markup ores you will find as a percentage of your total results, the higher your profit margins will become.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

ANNOUNCEMENT: 100 QR BSM and Simple I Conductors BPs On Auction

I will delete this post after most of these have sold... But I wanted to put the word out that I have the following blueprints on auction...


100 QR Basic Sheet Metal, Buyout 100 Peds
100 QR Simple I Conductors Buyout 95 Peds
62   QR Mann MPH Dlx Buyout 70 Peds
48   QR Simple I Plastic Ruds 12 Peds
46   QR Basic Screws Buyout 15 Peds


They are listed for 7 days, so if you want them you better get to them before someone else does!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

ANNOUNCEMENT: My First Four Digit HOF!

I have done it finally!!! I hit my first four digit hof! After four years! Just shy of level 25 prospector, I hit a XXI Cobalt, Unamped, 1322 Peds! Of course it kind of sucks because Cobalt is down to about 122% on orders, from it's usual 135% to 150%... But everything else is super cheap now too so it's a buyers market at least.

This is the only place on the web I will post the full screenshot with the coordinates not blotted out. Everywhere else that I post, is going to have the coords blacked out. This is done as a thank you to my loyal readers who have made the success of this blog possible.

My instinct tells me this is only the beginning!!!

Friday, November 18, 2011

FAQ: Mining Amps

I have took it upon myself to post common questions and the best answer I have for them regarding mining amps.

1. Is it worth amping?
- Generally, yes. What one has to realize though is, you might be able to afford 300 unamped bombs, but if you amp with say a level 4, you might only afford 100 drops. What happens is you are spending more ped in a shorter amount of time, so your finds will be larger, but you have 1/3rd less chances to hit your claims. However, not only do Amps amplify your claim sizes... They will multiply your losses as well, so if you can only afford one or two amps, consider it high risk, and if you should only get 50% of your investment back, try another unamped run with your remaining Ped, it's not uncommon for me to global unamped after a bad amped run.

2. Is there a strategy to mining with amps?
- In my experience, if you are going to amp, you need to amp every bomb, otherwise it's like playing a progressive slot machine at the casino. Does it make sense to only play max bet once in a while when the jackpot could hit on a lesser bet and you miss the big payoff?

-Also... Don't be afraid of giving some distance between drops. If you spread them out a bit, I find my returns are much better as opposed to dropping as fast as I can.

3. How much decay is there if amping on enmatters?
- Since all of the changes to the amplifiers and mining went into effect, your amp will now decay at the same rate for ores or enmatters. So if the decay is 1 ped per drop, if you mine for both, the decay becomes 2 peds per drop.

4. Are amps required for big hofs?
-No. They may improve the odds and frequency of big hofs, but they will still happen unamped. In fact, one friend has hit many towers without amps, but it took a lot of prospecting to get them. Another friend hits his four digit hofs unamped too. As for me, my biggest hof of 908 peds was hit with an OA 102 (near as I can tell is equivalent now to a level 4). I don't think I have ever had a three digit that was unamped to be honest with you.

5. Is there any other advice I might be able to use?
-Yes... Always look for the lowest markup you can get on amps. If you can get a level 3 for 110% and a level 4 for 120%, it is better to go with the level 3. The closer you get things to TT, the less losses you will have in the long run.

- If you get numerous NRFs in a row, switch to another area. I was so far in the hole, and decided with my last few drops on my level 3, that I would try shinook. First bomb just away from TP hit a 66 ped alferix global. I continued mining, and only ended up down about 25 peds which wasnt a big deal on a 250 ped run. I've made that loss back crafting.

-Don't worry about getting big hofs. Even the globals will happen when you least expect them. Funny how that works too.

6. What level should I be for what amp?
-My best results have always been by following the rule of thumb, that says 5 levels of prospecting for every level of amp. So a level 4 amp would be good idea to use at level 20 prospect or survey. I find if I take out bigger amps, my returns sink lower, and lower on average. This is my opinion, but it is also based on my experience. I think you will agree its a good formula. But you are free to disagree as well.

I will expand this as time goes on... Thanks for reading!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

ADVICE: When Double-Bombing Is A Good Idea

This is just a matter of opinion based on my own experiences. Results may vary.

I seldom double bomb... But if I hit an unknown ore with an unknown size, I go back and mine it, then I head out to about where I dropped the bomb that found that claim then I drop again, and almost always , say 85% of the time, I will find a claim not far from where the first one was.

Double bombing is kind of a yes/no/maybe so thing. It's never guaranteed.

However.. I have known of people to double bomb after they hit a global, and they sometimes hit another global or even a hof. You just don't know.

But my best odds have been double bombing an unknown claim.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

ADVICE: Take Advantage of Low Markups!!!

A lot of blueprints can be very expensive to skill up. Armor is especially costly to skill in. If you have something you want to skill in but don't want to pay high markups, just keep track of what materials you need and check their prices over time. I have seen Alice drop from 150% to TT food. Narc from 170% down to 120%. Cobalt as high as 170% down to 130%.

If most of the components you need for a blueprint drop significantly, there is no better time to craft it than when it is most affordable. That way, when the prices go back up, you have your skills without the expense you would have had. The system does pretty good usually at compensating in terms of TT losses, but Markup is what you can expect to lose. It's the cost of doing what you are doing. I am not saying that the system cannot compensate you in terms of the relative markup, but it sort of has a built in mechanism for that. Say if you have narc at 140% and Alice at 120%, BSM tends to sell for 160 to 170%. The markets on Entropia are no different than any other. They will always tend towards equilibrium. If it costs more to make a good, that good is going to be worth more, generally.

I see dozens of resources that are "on sale" because they have dropped so low in markup. Cash Cows of the old days... Turned to TT food.

Good luck and happy hoffing!

Monday, November 14, 2011

ADVICE: To TT or not to TT

There are times when you simply cannot profitably sell something for a markup if it is too low. Take Oil for example. It had a common markup of about 104% on orders or less, and if you competitively list it, you are lucky to even sell it at 105%. But, I was trying to fill an order once... My refiner broke a lot trying to refine a couple hundred peds of crude oil. By the time I was done, the orders were not high enough to cover the refiner decay and the listing fee. In short... TTing my oil was more profitable than auctioning it off.

Generally, I consider anything below 105% to be TT food, unless I have a trader that will buy it from me, or someone in my society can use it. If it is someone in the Society, I generally will sell it to them for TT value, it helps them out, and they will gladly help you out in the future too.

You have to look at it this way too: If you have something at say, 103%, and you are holding it and holding it trying to gather enough to sell... Finally you have thousands of peds worth, or maybe hundreds, and you sell it for your little bit of markup... If you don't feel foolish, you ought to when I tell you... You had no doubtedly deposited so you had more peds to play with because all your peds were tied up in loot, correct? Well... You effectively lost half a percent if you sold your tt food at 103% to a trader, or even on auction. How? Because there is approximately a 3.65% fee deducted from your peds when you deposit to cover the credit card transaction.

So, it is cheaper just to TT the low markup stuff if it means having to deposit.

If you are fortunate enough to have a large ped roll, then never mind me... It is wiser to get any extra you can out of what you have. Feel free to read my posts regarding survivability to find out more on why this makes a big difference.

It is mysterious to me how the auction fees work in Entropia. Some items is possible to fill orders at 102% on auction and still have some slight gain. Other items, you can't pay the auction fee with anything less than 105%... You just have to look closely at what you are selling and what all the costs involved are, otherwise you will find not all opportunities are ge drd le s.
Always remember a loss is a loss no matter how small.

I generally do not recommend TTing anything over 105%... Exceptions are for things that either sell slowly or not at all. If there is no demand, you can't expect to sell it for any markup.

Under 105%, is TT food.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Become a citizen of planet!

I owe it to my faithful and loyal readers to bring to your attention if you aren't already aware of Mindark's new citizenship program. It is kind of part land owner, part stock holder proposition, with dividends paid weekly on your shares. Each "share" deeds you 100 square meters of land and there will be 60,000 shares auctioned off with buyouts at 1000 peds or so per share.

The full details are here:
http://www.entropiauniverse.com/bulletin/buzz/

Count me in!

And you will be able to build houses too!!!!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Questions? Feel Free To Ask!

If there is a specific question on your mind, you may add a comment to this post or contact me through my blog, and I will gladly post a response answering your question in as much depth as possible. If your question has already been covered in my blog, I may simply direct you to the appropriate post.

I try to think about everything, and post about everything, but I know there is a LOT that I have not yet written about. There has to be. So, if you think of any questions feel free to bring them up!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Crafting: How Many Peds Do I Need To Start With?

Well... I decided this is an important thing to mention. Volatility will make or break you in a hurry if you have a small amount of Peds. The larger your Ped balance, the less volatile your results will be crafting. The general rule of thumb is, you want to be able to set up a 1,000 click run or 2,000 clicks. So... If you are doing basic filters, you would need approximately 50 to 100 peds. But if you are doing say, basic sheet metal, you would want to have around 400 to 800 peds. I would not advise trying costly items such as amps without having at least 2K peds to play with, and being able to afford losing them if your results are not spectacular.

If you follow my above guideless of 1K to 2K clicks and just keep cycling everything at the end of your run, you should find some good results. However, if your crafting starts out cold, switch areas until you get some successes in the first few clicks. I have found a cold area usually stays cold. If you can't get any successes anywhere, log off for a short amount of time and then log back in. If your failures ARE the result of a system glitch, there is no way MA would ever admit to it, and I relog just to err on the side of caution.

Also, avoid doing anything at around I think 5AM mindark time... They seem to do their backups around then and loot ALWAYS goes to zero for me during "lag o clock".

Good luck and happy hoffing!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

CRAFTING: How To Make FULL TT Items!

Ok... There seems to be a lot of people wanting to know how to craft full value items. So, to make it easy on you guys, I am going to condense it all into a single post so that you can find it easier and make it less work to learn about.

There are TWO ways to get full TT items. Unfortunately, one has more to do with luck than skill, and the other, well, it has a lot to do with skill and QR.

The most cost effective way to make a full TT item (it only makes sense if you are crafting L items. If items are UL, it doesn't matter what the condition is because you can repair them and it cheaper than crafting UL items with residue), is to use residue while you craft.

Say you have a 10 PED max TT item you are making. Say you click and a 1.83 PED success drops out. That's really not bad, but you want full condition. So, if you would have added residue with your ingredients, then you would have had your 1.83 PED success, and 8.17 PED of residue (817 units of residue) would have been consumed and a 10 PED condition item would have dropped out.

If your item uses enmatter, you can use enmatter residue, if it uses ingots, you can use metal residue. But be aware, that the markup on the residues means its best to use for higher markup items. If you can craft super high markup items at like 400%, and you are able to use 100 peds or 200 peds residue in each click, you are getting 400 to 800 peds back just on the residue!

The second way to craft full TT... Is to have as high a QR bp as you can afford... 100QR recommended if you going to do this... Craft full condition. You will have more lost clicks, but your successful ones will be worth a lot more when you have them, and you will have greater chances of a huge loot dropping, but you could very well go broke before one drops.

Hope this helps, and stay tuned for more great information!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

ADVICE: The Importance Of Tracking Where Your Peds Go

The surest way to lose money in any venture is to not keep track of your income and expenditures. You should track how much value your equipment has before you start a run. Write down how much ammo or probes you buy. Then, when you are all done hunting or mining, write down what you sold your loot for.

By taking a look at where your peds went, and your profits or losses, you will soon understand that you aren't doing as bad as you thought, or maybe you are doing worse than you thought. If the latter is true, then you should make necessary changes: i.e. more eco weapons and armor.

Over the course of a 200 ped hunt or mining run, if you lose only 5 or 10 peds you do well, and especially if mining, 5 or 10 peds can easily be made up by getting even one more ped out of each stack of resources you sell. Always try to get the best markup you can.

If you don't keep track of your results, it is much harder to make up for losses when you don't know what they are, or where you can cut back your expenses at. The more economic your equipment, the closer you will be to breaking even on every run.  And soon, you will be broke and wonder where your peds all went.

The other benefit to keeping track of your results, is that over time you will have enough data to construct a chart or graph which will easily show how much of the time you are on a down cycle and how much of the time you are on an upcycle. Many would argue this information is unimportant, but ideally, you want to do something as long as you are on the upside of it, and when it heads down, do something else.

It is very easy to waste peds if you don't track them. I think you will notice you do a little bit better if you do take notes and watch your finances in the game like a hawk. Stretch all you can out of every pec. Even if you only save enough to make one more click at the crafting terminal, that one more click might be what hofs you. I've seen it happen, even with my avatar. In real life it's happened to me so many times. Get down to my last 5 nickels on a poker machine and either hit four of a kind or straight flush. That actually happened four times in one session to me. I couldn't believe it! But believe it. The crappier your luck is, the more unusual the good luck will be when it finds you!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

How To HOF: The Short Answer

I do pretty good job at catering to the needs and wants of my visitors by examining the search results that lead to your finding my blog. When I see something that isn't covered by my blog clearly, I write regarding that topic. It is the least I can do for my valued visitors.

So, to answer a recent search...

The surest way to hof, not only from observation but personal experience, is to choose one thing, whether it be hunting argo, or prospecting or surveying or crafting Finder Amplifier Level 2's ;) and stick to it. Though I am not saying to keep going when the loot is extremely bad. When it does go extremely bad it is adviseable to go do something else. With three professions, when one or two do poorly the other usually does well. But choose one or two things to stick to. If you have been hunting argo, don't switch mobs. If you have been crafting ore amps, don't switch to weapons. It doesn't matter what you are doing, as long as you stick to it you will hof!!!

See... It has a lot to do with ped turnover. If you turnover all your peds on all the different things you do, then that ped turnover is divided over many areas and your globals and hofs tend to be smaller than if you focus on just a few things.

Eventually, you will hit it big if you stick with it.

I know someone who has had two or three ATH's just from sticking to the same item. Not saying those ATH's broke them even or made them any profit, but let me just say this... If you treat Entropia like a casino, you will get the results of a casino, and it will treat you like a gambler. But the difference between Entropia and a Casino is primarily that in a casino, you can play your entire life and never hit a jackpot. In Entropia, if you play long enough, you are going to eventually hit a big one. I can guarantee that. But I can't guarantee the same about a casino.

Also... Every indication is, that skills DO affect the outcome of Entropia, thereby circumventing the definition of a casino. Skill based games are not gambling. The only gamble is in whether or not you will make a profit.

If you spend a couple weeks mining amped or unamped, constantly turning over those peds, I would guarantee you should hit a nice hof in that much time. At least in 9 out of 10 instances.

Good luck, and happy hoffing!

Friday, October 14, 2011

MINING: Arkadia / Rocktropia Ores / Enmatters Average Depths!

I promised it, and here it is! Again compiled from stats found at www.mininglog.com... No, i'm not affiliated with them in anyway, just their method of collecting data allows for relative accuracy over the long run, and is as scientific as one can get in Entropia.

Along with the Calypso average depths posted here for ores and enmatters in earlier posts,

Here are the remaining average depths for any exclusive ores and enmats to Rocktropia and Arkadia.

ORES:
-----------------------------------
Alternative Rock ~413
Banite Stones ~597
Blues Rock ~310
Folk Rock ~468
Glam Rock ~704
Grunge Rock ~398
Hard Rock ~1052
Hebredite Stones ~748
Jazz Rock ~646
Kaz Stones ~935
Lidacon Stones ~846
Ospra Stones ~447
Punk Rock ~547
Telfium Stones ~678
Veda Stones ~433
Wenrex Stones ~644
Yulerium Stones ~650
Zulax Stones ~738

------------------------------

Enmatters:
------------------------------
Florican Mist ~576
Hurricane Cocktail ~884
Hydrogen Steam ~656
Mai Tai ~478
Pel Crystals ~756
Pina Colada ~373
Quil Sap ~580
Somin Tar ~498
Star Particles ~817
Vorn Pellets ~802
Xelo Haze ~685
Zolphic Oil ~450


And that concludes the average depths for the Current Entropia Universe.

As more planets with more resources are added, I will do more posts to keep a list going here.

I am not familiar with planet specific finders... However, a safe bet is to use eMine or F-105's for finding most everything...  But if you can use the super high level finders and afford them, by all means go that route. The main thing is, target the average depth of that which you are seeking, and you will more likely find it if you are in the right place for that resource to be found.

Good luck and happy prospecting!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Differences Between Surveying and Prospecting

We use mining as an interchangeable term that covers both prospecting and surveying. But one is not the same as the other. Prospecting is the search for ores, and mining is the extraction of them. Surveying is the search for enmatters, and drilling is the extraction of them.

But the main difference is... Unamped, surveying costs half as much, and while the average claim sizes tend to be greater than in previous version updates, they are still significantly smaller than the average ore claim.

Though, perhaps an equalizer to this is amping. It would seem now that if you amp, the amps decay the same amount for ores as they do for enmatters, meaning proportionately larger claim sizes from amping.

However, I tend to surmise that you have a greater chance at overall profit with surveying. You will have more probe drops for your gains to balance out your losses, losses will be slower and smaller than if looking for ores. And it doesn't take a very big claim to correct a 10 or 20 probe NRF streak.

And as unbelievable as it sounds... I have heard of people hitting unamped enmatter towers long before they ever hit their first unamped ore tower... But this is going to change depending on what you do the most I think.

If you drop 5 or 10 in a row and find nothing, move to another area, a cold streak in Entropia seldom will turn around by trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip.

Good luck!  And happy mining!

Sweating: Is It a Waste Of Time? Or Is It Something Everyone Should Do?

Sweating is very slow, and very tedious. I can't stand having to sweat. It is an annoying thing to have to do and gets monotonous very fast. Very big kudos to those of you who have established your Entropia existence by only sweating and not depositing. I can't imagine a slower way to progress, nor can I imagine any harder work than that. But perhaps even those of you who rush straight into depositing are missing out on some valuable benefits from not sweating... So here are my observations and thoughts on the issue. I am not trying to talk anyone into or out of sweating. I am merely trying to answer the question of "Why should I bother?"

Sweating was a lot easier Pre-VU 10... I say this because I used to get 10 sweat or so per success... Which actually, makes it not sound so bad as it used to be... Well, Between 5 to 10 I guess is what I used to get. But now, I have to make half a dozen attempts at sweating and then, if I succeed, I only get 1 or 2 bottles?! This is insanity!

But...

You gain athletics, and evade from sweating. Very important defensive skills.  I suspect your other attributes like concentration and intelligence are affected as well. Point is, you gain some very important skills from sweating, that contribute to the other things you do in the game. I begin to wonder if people who have sweated a lot spending the same peds as someone who's never sweated will have better results over the long run.

The defensive skills will help you save money on armor decay. They will eventually get you to the point where you might not even need armor if you get enough of them. I will do some sweating and see what all skills you get from doing it, and I will revise this post and add them here.

If you don't want to die of boredom from having to sweat, just commit yourself to doing it for say 15 or 30 minutes a day, and it's going to add up over a week or two.

The price of sweat should be going up eventually, so long as MA keeps giving us more stuff to craft with it. I have seen the price currently running anywhere between 3 and 5 peds... You won't get rich very fast, but 1K of sweat will get you quite a few rookie bombs and rookie finders, and yes, those do global and hof... Though I have yet to see one ATH :P

Good Luck and Happy Sweating.

MINING: Enmatters Finders VS Average Depths On Calypso

Here is the second part to my average depths and finders post, covering enmatters on Calypso. Please see the first post regarding ores and finders here! http://entropiauniverseguide.blogspot.com/2011/09/mining-ore-finders-vs-average-search.html

The reason I think it best to focus on the AVERAGE depths is logical since you have a large number of claims that have been recorded by various players with various equipment as provided by www.mininglog.com... This means that most claims for these resources are found at these depths the most. The minimum or maximum depths don't really mean a lot, because regardless of what finders you use, you will find something. But if you want to target specific resources, you should aim for those depths they are found at on average. In my own experience, it indeed increases the likelihood of hitting what you are after. I found my first deposit of Redulite following my own advice!

So... Enmatters are for the most part in the 500's and 600's... Only a couple are in the 800's. This means either an un enhanced F-105 or unenhanced eMine finder for most of these, and depth enhancers to about three tiers to hit the deeper stuff.

So... Here we go!

Untiered eMine or F-105 With 0 or 1 tiers of depth
---------------------------------
Acid Root ~657m
Alicenies Gel ~559
Angelic Grit ~599
Ares Head ~506
Azur Pearls ~616
Blood Moss ~441
Cave Sap ~621
Crude Oil ~556
Devils Tail ~693
Dianthus Liquid ~718
Dunkel Particle ~594
Fire Root ~670
Force Nexus ~607
Garcen Grease ~572
Growth Molecules ~607
Henren Stems ~696
Lumis Leach ~623
Lytairian Dust ~616
Magerian Mist ~648
Melchi Water ~535
Solis Beans ~570
Sweetstuff ~561
Typonolic Steam ~606
Vegetation Spores ~697

eMine Finder + 3 tiers of depth, or F-105 with about 4 tiers of depth:
-------------------------------------
Binary Fluid ~879
Ferrum Nuts ~886
Energized Crystal ~817

Monday, October 10, 2011

ADVICE: How Much Should You Deposit?

Money is a lot like manure... It does little good in small amounts.

If you are just starting out, I recommend a $10 or $20 deposit,, it will get you your weapons, basic armor, and enough ammo for you to keep going quite a while on. Mining, it should last a long time too under normal circumstances. I made it 6 months on my first $10!

But, if you are wanting to do some serious mining... I recommend $100 to deposit. If you take 1000 Ped, and say you mine with that... You are going to have a less volatile result by the time you are done than if you only did 100 ped mining run. Quite honestly, you should hof or at least global by the time you are through that 1000 Peds.

I think I will never again deposit less than $50, because for me, 500 peds eliminates most of the volatility that bankrupts me with smaller deposits. You will either have a really good run, or a really bad run with just a few peds. With a lot of peds, you will tend to have a good chance of both the good and bad times, but the good times are good enough to get you past the bad times and survive to see good loot again.

If I deposit $20 at a time like I have been doing, it's a 50/50 chance if I go broke or not. But in all cases, if I start with say 500 peds, I can play for weeks. It just gives more chance that you will survive a given cold streak to have a bigger deposit.

I guarantee the smaller your deposits the more frequently you will deposit (and the greater the sum of the deposits) than if you make just one bigger deposit.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Contaminated Zone Glitch: WARNING DO NOT BELIEVE THE PVP INDICATOR

I am about to file a complaint with MindArk regarding this bug... But my friend and I both were in the contaminated zone mining... FORTUNATELY I was able to tp chip out of there just as incoming rockets were detonating on my position. But my friend was not so lucky.

See, when we flew in, the pvp indicator said we were in a PVP zone, and was Red... When we got out of the vehicles, the indicators shown yellow, that we were near a PVP zone. We couldn't even shoot each other.

That's when some people landed and attempted to rob us... They were successful but we weren't able to fight back.

It doesn't matter WHAT the indicator says. If you know you are in a PVP zone, treat it like a PVP zone. Just because the indicator is green or yellow don't mean a thing! And if you experience this kind of a glitch be sure to report it, the more reports they get the more likely they are to patch and fix it. Though it is unclear if the issue was addressed in this last update, I haven't tried since the last patch. But in any case, it would seem not everyone is "bugged" and it may just depend on what server you are logged in on, who knows.

Be safe, and good luck to ye.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Would you like to have a Mentor?

The new mentoring system seems to have a competitive edge to it now, so let me put my qualifications out to those of you reading my blog, and see if I can't drum up some disciples for myself. No sense letting the uber ubers get all the goodies when all they really care about is what fancy gift MA has in store for them. How would you like a mentor that really cares about your success?

As of now, I am level 24.5 in Prospecting, and nearly level 20 in BLP, and I think level 18 in Laser. Not uber by many standards, true...

But if you want someone that is there when you are, I am online at least 12 hours a day usually. I have learned the hard way where to mine and with what equipment to get best results. I know many of the details of crafting, to help you be successful going that route as well. Hunting, well... All one can do for hunting is wish in one hand and hope MA doesn't give you dung in the other.

I will always help you with anything you could ever need help with, except don't ask me for free peds lol... Though from time to time I will be happy to craft some armor for you or maybe a weapon.

If you like what you see in my blog, consider choosing me as your mentor. All you have to do is right click to get the menu in Entropia, and I think it is under System, where you can find the mentor directory. Just search for goldbaron357, I will most likely be the only result, but goldbaron goldbaron357 maximus is my full Entropia name.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Entropia Universe Update 12.1.0 Comments

Well, you can now tell Scotty you need warp speed... Warp drives are here! Don't even want to speculate how rare and expensive they will be though...

And for all you Pker heads in the PVP zones and CZ areas that like to drag and drop your targets status bars for a tactical advantage, you are finally SOL. Thank god that exploit is gone! No more dragging status bars in PVP zones!

Well... For the full details on this update,
http://account.entropiauniverse.com/news/pages/2011/10/04/6551/index.xml

Friday, September 30, 2011

Mining: Ore Finders Vs. Average Search Depth for CALYPSO ORES

I just compared the average depths as logged by www.mininglog.com... This is data taken from their members mining results, and they average it out... And I know that it is possible to be mining past the depth for certain ores and enmatters, so it pays to pick the one finder that can find what you are looking for and try to keep from going past the depth too far that it is usually found at. Sure, you may still hit it at a much deeper depth, but it could just be a fluke, the system correcting for your losses for example.

As I understand it though, the higher the level the finder is, the more shallow of deposits will turn up. The lower the finder, the closer your finds will be to the average depth. So if you are using a Tk or VRX, I wouldn't worry much about this, and if you are using those then you already know what you are doing!

F-105 Untiered (Avg Depth 522m)

Alferix ~569
Belkar ~507
Blausariam ~514
Caldorite ~553
Cobalt ~484 (Perhaps a F-104 work best for Cobalt, but I hit it good with the 105)
Copper ~586
Erdorium ~614 (Untiered E Mine should work great here)
Frigulite ~549
Gazzurdite ~574
Ignisium ~604 (Untiered E Mine should work great too)
Iron ~568
Lysterium ~519
Narcanisum ~550
Niksarium ~572
Zinc ~592
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-Mine (No Depth Enhancer) (Average 676m)

Adomasite ~677
Dianum ~598
Durulium ~651
Erdorium (See under 105)
Eironite ~697
Himi ~652
Ignisium ~604
Kanerium ~641
Megan ~666
Quantium ~624
Zinc (See under 105)
--------------------------------------------

E-Mine +Tier 1 Depth (Average 727m)

Azzurdite ~716m
Petonium ~700
Pyrite ~ 745

--------------------------------------------

E-Mine + Tiers 1-3 Depth (Average 827m)
(Another tier of depth might not hurt for some of these deeper ones)

Ganganite ~845
Gold ~ 821
Iolite ~828
Kirtz ~ 935
Langotz ~ 831
Maganite ~ 827
Morpheus ~ 996
Platinum ~ 904
Redulite ~ 1042
Ruga ~ 839
Tridenite ~ 874
Terrudite ~ 870
Valurite ~ 913
Versperdite ~ 1006
Xeremite ~ 892
Zanderium ~ 932
---------------------------------------

Coming up on the next post: The same chart for Calypso EXCEPT I will do a list of enmatters!

After that, I plan to do lists with all other planets ores and enmatters for your convenience.

This list took quite a while to research and break down, I hope you find it useful, and if you know anyone else that can, feel free to givem a link!

Utilities: Mining Claim Logger / Depth Charts / General Ore Locations

Well... Information is crucial to success for the prospector. And with the ever changing updates, Finally we have a reliably updated list of depths, min, average, and max that are derived from over 100,000 claims from nearly 200 users.

http://www.mininglog.com/ appears to be an awesome utility and the stats are priceless!

Now, you can pick an area, and target the average depths of everything you want to find by either tiering with depth enhancers or using different finders!

I have yet to download the utility and try it, but it's 30 + megs, and I am on dialup so it's not happening any time soon LOL.

You do have to register with the site, but it is worth it in my opinion because the data gathered and compiled is indeed priceless beyond measure. Even if the depths change, the changes will be reflected in the statistics. It is a dynamic way of assembling such an amazing collection of information!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Mining: Why I Think It Has Best Chance Of Globalling

Anyone really serious about wanting to get globals and hofs I think is best to stick to mining. Learn all you can about it. Always used a maxed finder and don't fall for that SIB crap. I have always skilled faster on a finder that's already maxed.

See... Hunting seems to require a HUGE amount of peds to be cycled before you can even think of a global. For instance... I have killed many thousands of mobs since starting 4 years ago. Only global I got was two years ago on a Drone Generation 1. I had hunted so much that both my Laser and BLP are nearly 3K, my rifle is around 3K... Seriously, that's a lot of peds spent hunting. Then I decided to start being serious about the Argo challenge. I got a global half way through my 1K mission. That means, it took me about 600 to 700 kills to even global, not counting what I blew killing other mobs. I spent nearly two full days hunting drones and minerbots. Since my global, I have killed over 1000 more argo with no global. I seriously doubt a hof is possible hunting. Check my entropia tracker page and have a good laugh. Seriously. Goldbaron Goldbaron357 Maximus.

Crafting tends to require high QR blueprints. If you are of moderate or low skill, you don't have a snowballs chance in hell of a global or a hof unless it is an expensive item to craft. And then its only because you lost so many peds you globalled. I am not knocking crafting, but its not something where you can do say, 5K clicks and guarantee a global.

Prospecting on the other hand... I will say surveying too, but in general the surveying claims are much smaller than an ore claim, because surveying costs half as much per drop to do... However, it is great to skill up your geology first before moving onto ores if you so choose, but now, with being able to mine for both at once, I'd say do both at once from the very start, that way your prospect and survey should remain about equal, and I highly suspect it is a hidden amping effect if you hit one and not the other.

But as long as you have sufficient number of bombs to drop... I would recommend at least 100 bombs to drop (That's 100 peds worth if ore, or 150 peds if both), but the more the better, and if one area not doing good, go to another area and increase the distance between drops. You will find a lot of times you can hit good size claims if you are down a bit and balance back out. Markup on ores is a huge deal, because most hunting loot is TT food, I mean, sure, you might get 100.1% on oils, but unless you sell directly to a crafter, you can't afford to pay auction fees to fill orders on some of that junk.

You are able to cycle a greater number of peds faster, with better average returns so long as you are wise about where you are searching and what finders you are using. I wouldn't worry about amps until you get a feel for where things are found, and what is a good reliable area for your skillset and equipment. Then after you find an area you are getting a good hit rate in, maybe consider amping... But I recommend one level of amp for every 10 levels of skill for best return. It would seem if you reach past this rule, returns will often jump off a cliff. I speak from many thousands of lost peds from doing so.

A global is 50 peds. You are dropping 1/50th a global when looking for ore. Most times you get a great return if not a profit. If you keep cycling your peds, you should quite easily find a global within a day or two of solid mining. I have hunted for 18 hours a day several days straight and not hit even one global. I have crafted a lot of clicks on things i used to global and hof a lot on, and nada. But mining, I was able to hit 5 globals in two days recently.

My mentor always said if you want to global or hof, MINE. Now I know why after 4 years of playing Entropia.

Speaking of mentoring, if MA finally does actually come out with the updates that are supposed to happen, and they do eventually bring back mentoring, I will be happy to take on some disciples and teach everything I know about mining and crafting. Just leave a comment here or email g o l d b a r o n 3 5 7 at g m a i l . c o m, just remove the spaces.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Arkadia: Crafting Contest, and Treasure Coming Soon Hopefully

It would appear that there is currently a crafting contest going on at Arkadia, crafting globals on arkadian blueprints over 100 peds are eligible for one of a series of blueprints. I don't know what kind of prints, but I would assume that they are primarily going to be issued to the winners of the competition. I havn't had a crafting global in so long I am probably not even going to bother!!! But those of you who think you have what it takes might look into it further and give it a shot.

Yes, the auction house is a bit volatile... The crafters aren't around because it's hard for them to procure enough resources to craft with, and without crafters, there is no market for the miners to sell to. Me being on Arkadia right now trying to mine, I end up TTing all my ores becuase I can't wait a week for all my peds worth of stuff to sell. So most of what I have lost up there is due to the fact I can't get markup since there isn't a lot of demand because there isn't a lot of supply.. It is really a vicious cycle.

HOWEVER... All you gotta do is place your orders up there. Most resources HAVE no orders. If you give orders, you will get miners wanting to sell their resources now. And traders, traders of all people should be jumping on this opportunity.

My biggest complaint is there is very little narc, alice, and iron to be found on Ark.. It's not a bad thing to have common stuff on other planets be rare here and vice versa... It creates opportunity, but what we need are people to jump on that opportunity. I would do it myself, and maybe I will... But I am so short on funds at present that I can't even begin to try.

SO with all of that said.. I take that back, that is not my biggest complaint. My biggest complaint is we've been waiting so long for treasure hunting to get here that I hope it is actually going to be in this next update. I can't imagine how much business Arkadia is losing because of this not having been released on time.

Those of you who have suggestions, you need to make sure and let support know what your suggestions are. You might think they don't listen to what you have to say, but if you send them reasonable ideas that are plausible and even beneficial, they do listen. I see many things that I and others have suggested come into play finally. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and the customer is always right... Unless Mindark is wrong, in which case they won't admit it :P That's why if you ever have a support case, MAKE SURE TO SEND THEM A SCREENSHOT OR THEY WILL DENY ANYTHING WENT WRONG!

I will be on Arkadia for quite a while maybe, and any crafters needing materials, feel free to get ahold of me and I can arrange to meet with you to supply you with anything you are needing for crafting. Otherwise, place orders on the auction house and I will look for them and fill them as I always do.

Question of the Day:
If you spend say 300 Peds on an amp or something and use it up, do you think of it as a loss of $30, or do you just think of it as a loss of 300 Peds?

You might ask what importance this has to me, but it does have some. There is a psychological element to the Entropia Universe... Personally, I tend to think of it in terms of Peds.. Spending $30 in a casino and losing it is far more devestating to me than losing 300 Peds in Entropia, but why? Just wondering if it is similar to you guys is all.

I do not believe Entropia Universe is a casino... In fact, to avoid that legality, everything is "skill based", and "skill based" gaming is not gambling... Though you are still risking a stake to try and win a profit... Just a thought... And I highly suspect the reason banks are in fact pawnshops in the game, is because for them to actually allow actual bank type banks, being a real cash economy, it would violate a ton of banking regulations around the world... Just my observations, maybe I am wrong...

Part of what I am trying to do here is to get you guys thinking. If you aren't thinking about things, then your mind becomes dull, and if we keep it sharp, your losses will be much less. If you don't use it, you lose it.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

ENTROPIA ABACUS: Trading Utility I Just Released Today!

I am somewhat of a C++ hobbyist... I am learning a great deal about programming with C++ and PHP... But I have traded a lot in the past and with people coming up to me asking if they could buy 10 peds of lysterium or 20 peds of gazzurdite, I wanted to be able to QUICKLY figure out how many ingots I can give them for the amount they have to spend and still ensure I can make a slight profit at least. When I can resell directly, I don't try to charge as much as I can. You can make nice profits and not be greedy at the same time.

An Abacus is an ancient calculator that is by our standards, unusual. My utilities that I am creating do calculations that are unusual as well. Who ever heard of a ped to quantity calculator? :-)

Eventually I will make the interfaces fancier and more modern... I will add more capabilities... I want to corner the market on helping my fellow entropians any way that I can.

I know it is very basic right now, but give it time. I am constantly working on projects, new and old, to see what I can do. You shouldn't have any problem running it in Windows 7, Vista, or XP.

The home page is located HERE. You may download the program for free, and while it is free, you may donate, any amount will help fund my current projects and allow me to bring you higher quality tools. As a bonus, your contribution will allow you to advertise one of your links on my site, that will be placed along side your name and the amount you contributed. Only first names will be posted, as a thank you. This will all go on it's own page soon as I finish building a proper site.

If you haven't checked it out yet, please visit http://abacus.horizon-host.com!

What Survivability Means

I have spent the past 8 years or more of my life playing and learning all I could about Video Poker. There is not a whole lot Entropia has in common with Video Poker. But there is one thing of great importance which I've hinted about in my earlier posts. Survivability.

Every statistical action in the world has results that are never predictable with 100% accuracy. In some cases, we know the mathematical probabilities that govern certain outcomes, and can thereby know our odds and if the risk is worth it. In Video Poker, I can tell you that a jacks or better paytable showing 9for1 on full house and 6for1 on flushes will return 99.5% over the long run, IF PLAYED PROPERLY. This is where the professional is able to actually make a profit where the casual players don't care or don't know, and lose a lot more.

If you play video poker properly, you can survive the cold cycles long enough to see it warm back up and start paying good again. If you miss a few proper plays, it can cost you a few hands on the end of your session. Those very few hands can make or break your entire session.

Entropia, there is no way to tell you the long term payback. Only Mindark knows this, and only they know how it is calculated (it's probably better that way LOL)... First lesson is though... Say you put $10 in a nickel machine and play 1000 hands. That's 5,000 nickels you wagered. You only got 4,800 nickels back. So even though you lost 100% of your bankroll, you got a 96% return. See, people fail to realize that those credits you are recycling ARE part of your return.

In Entropia, if you want to know your % return, you are going to have to track everything you spend on Decay, Ammo, etc, and track every pec you get back in loot. You might be doing extremely well but you won't realize it becuase losing a few percent at a time even, will grind a small bankroll into oblivion in no time.

If you have a large pile of peds, you will do much better. It will be much harder to go completely broke, and it will give you less volatility so that you may survive to see a hof that will greatly correct your losses. On a small pile of peds, you have a much greater chance of going bankrupt before you even see a global.

Too many times I am guilty of being a cheapskate, putting in $20, and losing it in a few days, and then i'll put in another $30, and then maybe a couple more deposits after that. What I should have done was just put my $100 in and not worry about it. At least by the time you cycle a full 1000 peds, you should have most of it back in loot by the time you reach the end of the run.

But you have to discipline yourself not to waste, not to lose faith in the law of large numbers. I had about 30 NRF's in a row on TI north recently, and it corrected with an XI. But what happens if you run out of bombs without hitting anything, but had you kept going, the correction would have been a XV, or a XX?

Three times I have had my very last hand in Video Poker result in Straight Flushes for 250 credits or Four of a Kinds worth anywhere from 125 to 800 credits depending on the variations im playing.Yes, it is a long shot to say my last bomb is going to save my run. Yes it is a long shot to say my last hand will be a Royal Flush. But the longer you can play, the better the odds of it being possible.

I hope this helps some of you better understand what a great return really means and why getting a great return can still mean you lose.That is why getting the most markup you can out of your resources is paramount to anything else. This is what bridges the gap between a 96% payback and a 101% return.