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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Perception: What I've Learned About The Skill

Perception has been a useful skill gain. It tells me something is nearby. It could be anything. But generally, most of my globals are accompanied by a Perception gain. Some people argue there is no connection. But it seems that Perception really means there is something that your avatar sees that is beyond your radar range... In many cases, I notice that if you keep going the direction you are going when you get the gain, you will sometimes see, or find, what your Perception gain was from. In many cases, it turns out there is another avatar just a little further than I can detect on Radar, which lends credibility to this.

But it isn't limited to stuff above ground. I surmise that it is as easily indicative of something on the ground, in the ground, maybe in the air, who knows. But it indicates to me there is some change up ahead that my Avatar perceives.

I guess the bottom line is, it tells us something, but it can be anything. Doesn't mean it is not useful, but you will have to play around with it and see what you observe. In my case, sometimes another person is up ahead, or someetimes the mining gets better, or sometimes it is a mob, other times a REALLY BIG MEAN MOB! So it is plausible it means something is there. There is just no knowing until you see it for yourself or find it.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Why Should You Play Entropia? EU vs. Other MMOs

Very few MMOs run on a real cash economy and even fewer are big enough to ensure viability, sustainability, and a stable in game currency. Most MMOs require a monthl subscription and no equity is built costing you time and money simply for recreation with no chance to gain anything in return.

Entropia vs. Second Life:
The Peds in Entropia are created out of user deposits. While a small credit card processing fee applies, you are given your full purchase in Peds. The exhange rate is 10 Peds to the USD and does not fluctuate. Second Life's Lindens fluctuate like a yoyo.

Also, Entropia runs life like game engine with stunning graphics that don't kill video cards. I have heard of Second Life killing cutting edge graphics cards in half an hour or less. Even though I had a higher end computer, my frame rates in Second Life could be counted on one finger!

Entropia has a clean interface. Everything is intuitive for the most part. It looks clean crisp and professional yet fun and casual. And even your skills can be sold!

Entropia vs. WoW and etc...
Entropia does not charge a subscription. Most others do. Then I hear of people playing WoW for two years, maxing their character out, only to have spent how much in hat time and have nothing to show for it only to start over with a new character again. I just don't get it. Entropia builds equity. I can cash in my skills. Or I can keep them and do even more uber stuff. You can't really max your character out in EU. And if I hi a really good loot, then we ain't talking monopoly money or small potatos.

Sure Entropia doesn't seem fair at times but eventually when you are doing well you won see the problem any more. But what's better? Losing two years and you subscription fees? Or using that money to buy Peds and stand a good shot at hitting something big!

However there are some MMOs that have a deeper level of enjoyment. EU can get boring but they are fixing that with all the new worlds and Quests and missions and etc. There is increasingly more and more being added to improve the players experience. But I have a soft spot for Star Trek Online. They have done a great job and the depth of play is amazing and immersive and in my opinion, it is the only MMO that I don feel like I am wasting time... Because I love star trek and that is the closest I'll ever be to living it I am sure. But it is nice to have something to do when EU is down for updates or loots are cold.

Entropia has no fees... You CAN play for free not depositing but it is hard work... I am working on a website that will revolutionize earning peds without sweating but at this time it is classified top secret :)

There are people that started without depositing and now own shops and land areas... Hey worked hard but you can get there too if you give it a chance.

Money Management: Tips, Advice, and Why You Need To

Entropia is a lot like the real life. If you want to do something you have to budget for it and if you want your balance to grow, then you have to use care and caution to nurture your balance and it's growth. the basis of this post is, it is easier to save your way to a fortune than to win a fortune!

The number one tip I can give you is to take a few percent of every loot you get and pull it off your ped card and put it into storage. Over time if you don't touch this you will have a big pile of Peds. The idea is to save at least as much as mindark is making off of you. Very soon... Sooner than you think, you will realize you have enough peds to buy a shop or maybe even a land area!

If you budget 100 peds for a hunt, keep track of all costs so you can see what percent you got back... I would say any returns over 80% are good and at that point maybe run again or do something else. Split your profits and save some of them too.

Get every last pec you can out of things you loot and sell... Every extra pec you get is one less pec you eventually might have to deposit.

I do not advise buying things you don't need.

Do not over pay for something if you can get it cheaper elsewhere.

The only guaranteed profit is in trading or owning land. Crafting can be profitable but see my next post for details on why I say that!

If you save peds and don't touch them eventually you can buy whatever you really want even land! If you keep cycling all of your peds, eventually MA will get them!

How to back up and restore Entropja without downloading again.

Entropia is getting to be so massive that even on a fast connection it rakes hours to download, so I hated reformatting my computer only to end up downloading Entropia again. So I found the answer.

There are two folders you need to be concerned with. The one in the program files directory is not the whole program like it used to be. They made another folder called entropia universe under c:/users/public. This is where you find the dozen or so gigs of the game.

Backup Instructions:
Copy C:/program files/entropia universe to another disk along with c:/users/public/entropia universe. I you are running 64 bit windows it will be found in program files(x86).

After you reformat, you need to replace those directories and their contents back to their original places. Go into the eu folder in program files and right click the client loader icon and send to desktop as shortcut. This is how you will launch the game.

If after restoring the files and running it, you may notice it is trying to download huge amounts of data. If your installation was up to date, simply copy the eu folder in users/public that you backed up over the one you just put back on the hard drive. For me this will cut the downloading it does to a few paltry megabytes and you are up and running again.

If you use external drives, you want to make sure you are running USB 2.0!

Hope this helps you!

Where to find certain ores!

One of the toughest things to do is to decide where to mine or figure out where to mine what you need. From my years of knowledge and experience it is my goal to provide you with a decet number of localities for as many ores and enmatters as possible.

Most miners don't like to reveal their locations but you know what? I am o the opinion the more people mining an area the better the mining will be.

Lysterium: Most anywhere but high concentrations near water. Akmuul, Twin Peaks, Port Atlantis are some of the notable spots.

Iron: Twin Peaks, Dome 7, Port Atlantis, New SwitZerland.

Gold: Im not the goldbaron for nothing :) bu I have found more in real life than on entropia... But Reis Defence, New Switzerland.

Narcanisum: New Switzerland, land area northwest of Akmuul.

Maganite: I have only found north of Twin Peaks with 105 or eMine.

Dunkel: South of Shinook is where it has been found in past.

Devils Tail: Akmuul

Solis Beans: dome 7 and 11 I think, New Switzerland.

Force Nexus: Treasure Island is best place I know but it has been found around Port Atlantis.

Allicenies: Treasure Island, Akmuul, New Switzerland, have been the best for me.

Niksarium: LA northwest of Akmuul, New Switzerland.

Cobalt: I have only found at Treasure Island.

Azzurdite: Between Oshiri Hearts and New Switzerland... Treasure Island... And east end of Myrene Island. Beware of Atrox!

Zinc: Treasure Island, Nates Valley, New Switzerland

Caldorite and Cumbriz: Often found together. Limnadian District. New Switzerland.

Alferix: Took me forever to find but is TT food :( Most easily found near Shinook River.

Quantium: North of Wolverine Hope.

Copper: If you want it, Wolverine Hope, Twin Peaks.

Ignisium: I have found it near Port Atlantis and I believe near New Switzerland as well.

Terrudite: New Switzerland

Adomasite: New Switzerland

Lumis Leach: From Shinook River north and south from it.

Lytarian, Binary, Angelic Flakes: Akmuul is great place to find them. New Switzerland is too.

Ferrum Nuts: Southwest of Akmuul, New Switzerland.

Dianum: TBA

Energized Crystal Cell: Ashi and pvp zone there. Camp pheonix.

Dianthus Liquid: Nymphtown

Garcen Grease: Orthos West Mound, Twin Peaks, Limnadian

THIS LIST WILL BE EDITED EXPANDED AND REVISED REGULARLY

Only the best locations I know of are reported. Any missing resources will be added soon. Check back soon!

Trading: THE Road To Profits

I am an experienced trader and I have learned so many things the hard way I do not wish to give my secrets away... But I will share enough to help you understand and learn to trade.

By itself, Entropia is a negative expectation game. This means that because of decay and the unknown distribution of loots, if no new money were added, the economy would dry up and everyone after enough time would be broke. Fortunately people like myself are happy to deposit a nominal amount each month, which I don't mind.. $50 in Entropia lasts much longer than $50 in a casino... Or in a gas tank lol.

So how do you turn it into a positive expectation game? That is what markup does. Instead of mindark crediting you for tt value of an item, other people will pay a premium for things based on supply and demand. This increases the amount of peds circulating because the more spent in markup, the more that is deposited. But when markup is considered it is possible to suffer very heavy tt losses but make a slight profit.

Items and resources are always going up and down in markup. The real genius to the game is that the TT value never changes. This limits mindark liabilities to the player in a worst case scenario, and solves the problem of calculating loots with a rubber ruler.

The old adage buy low and sell high is king here. Say an ore is 140% markup on the auction. If you find a miner who wants to sell without waiting for auctions to do the job not to mention the fees charged to the miner for the auction, you could reasonably offer 135%... Maybe as low as 130%... But remember, you give someone too short of a deal and you will be ruined as a trader! If you are losing just a few percent on each crafting run, the cheaper prices from buying directly can mean break even or profit!

If you want to trade full time it is important to identify your customers. Who will you buy from and sell to? What is an acceptable profit margin? For a little while I was seeing traders on the asteroid offering two points under market value... It is nuts to buy a 200% ore at 198%... There was no way to compete with that so I had to quit trading. After a while the noons must have slit their own throats as prices later returned to a viable level... Remember it is a 50 ped round trip to asteroid and the only way miners get good markup on ores up there is traders. If not for the trader either the miner ties up all their peds and returns to planet to sell or they TT their ores.

So you got to also factor in other costs such as auction fees... I always strive to buy for no higher a price than break even if I have to let go of my ores at auction prices including the auction fees. If traders can't make profit then they go out of business... Which if someone is willing to pay near market value for something that you can't do, let them. If it is a bad deal for you it will hurt them and they won't be competing for long.

So, with everything said, I wish to highlight some important advice for trading:

1. Do not be afraid to offer TT value on a near TT item...
2. Always buy anything you can for TT... This does not mean screw over your customer eiher though... Always offer a fair price. For ores at 110% to 140% fair is usually 5 points off. As markup goes up, you can knock more points off... Say a 5K% Dunkel Particle... Is best to offer 4K% or so.
3. If a trader is offering more for something than you are paying, and you feel you can't beat their price, then perhaps selling all you have of that item for a quick profit is a good idea.
4. Always check orders... Sometimes you can be profitably surprised :)
5. Do NOT go up to people and initiate trades at random... This will piss people off and a pissed off person won't do business with you.
6. Be kind and courteous at all times...
7. Be very careful of the society you join. Joining one of the notoriously bad ones will give you an instant and epic fail as a trader.
8. Conduct your trades as timely and accurately as possible.
9. Always check prices so you can offer a fair deal from day to day.
10. If prices drop it is best to hold your inventory until it goes back up.
11. Ores run in cycles... They have a normal high low range. Narcanisum ranges from 130% to 170% on average for instance. This means you can identify bargain prices and stock up.
12. Regardless of what prices are you buy with enough margin for profit but if it takes you a long time to flip your inventory be careful.
13. Ask your customers to compare your offer with competitors. Most times they won't bother :) but it gives them confidence in you.
14. Profits are better than luck.
15. Don't get greedy lest you destroy your reputation and clientele.
16. If you think trading is slow, figure out how fast you can sweat and then see how many days it would take to sweat what you just made on one trade :)
17. Always be helpful to noons. They may not have much to trade now but they will remembebyour kindness and reward you with loyalty.
18. Remember... All deals are final and any errors are up to the people Involved. Unless mindark themselves have been harmed by your actions, they will not intervene on any finalized trade.
19. Restrain your spending. Every ped you use is one less ped that can make you money.

I will revise this post in the near future and add more to it so stay tuned!

The biggest advantage to trading is there are no tools to decay or risk to find the loot. And if you have trouble making peds... Just remember to ask yourself what a Ferengi from Star Trek would do :)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

A look into "Double-bombing"

You may be wondering if double bombing actually works. I cannot say with 100% certainty... But what I can say with certainty is that it works for me.

What is double bombing?
Double bombing means dropping another bomb or probe immediately after hitting a deposit or sometimes a skill gain. There are a few varieties some of them work exceptionally well for me but it could just be a statistical anomaly for me but we really don't know until we drop the bombs.

Generally if I hit a deposit and get perception or intelligence gain, I will go over to my claim marker and drop another bomb or probe. About 70% of the time I will hit something and I have globalled by double bombing but who knows how mindark set their algorithms up.

Another method involves dropping a second bomb over the exact spot as the first bomb. I have had poor luck doing this on calypso but on CND, er, the asteroid if bombing after a perc or intelligence I do seem to hit something.

It is also generally accepted that if you get a geology skill to switch to the other kind of probe or bomb... Sometimes I would find ore if not finding enmatter or vice versa.

The only conclusion I can offer is... Try it and see for yourself. It will either work or it won't!

Contaminated Zones and what you should know.

I know the contaminated zones have changed a bit recently... But they are an important place in the game. I am no expert but I can sure point you the right way and give you some info to get you started.

The contaminated zones are large areas of toxic ground that will kill you if you don't buy and administer to yourself the anti-toxic shot from the trade terminal which costs a bit over 5 peds I believe.

Please note: if a human player kills you in the contaminated zone your stackables excluding ammo bombs and mind essence will be stolen from you by the player that killed you. You will also have to buy another shot.

So you might ask why one would want to risk going in there in the first place? It is because where the risks are greater the rewards are too. Rarer ores... Bigger deposits... There are also mobs found only in the CZ such as the Attackers... You can either arm yourself in the hopes of killing some lucky but unfortunate person and obtaining their hard won loot... Or sneak in and find the much larger than average finds... Many screenies I have seen of towers are definitely in the contaminated zone.

Advice:
Empty your inventory into the storage before going into the cz.

Be prepared to escape if you find good stuff... Tp chip helps or if you must carry a rocket launcher to kill yourself with if escape will be impossible. This makes you keep your loot... Beware though if you hoffed or globaled they might camp at your claim waiting for you to return.

The storage of your vehicle is not lootable If you are killed as long as it is not in your inventory.

Only enter far away from prying eyes and be paranoid. Use a scope to look for other people before crossing into the zone.

Do not let anyone know your position or destination. Even friends could turn on you if you aren't careful.

If you global on attackers or mulmun... Understand that the ubers will then know where you are and be out to rob you! So... Get your global and get out!

On the average I have better luck in the cz and so far only have been robbed twice I think. Be cautious and you should do fine.

Try to have allies you can trust if you DO need backup should you tower in the zone.

Do not at any point think you can kill the ubers in the zones... You would have to be ridiculously armed and armored. Not saying it's impossible but if you are level 20 laser or blp, forget it :)

So far the main rare ore I find in the cz is Himi.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Things I Would Do If I Started Over: Beginners Tips!

I often wondered what I would do if I had to start over from scratch. If I knew when I was a noob what I know now, what would be the important lessons learned? What things would I have done to avoid wasting peds? Well... The good news is, I have some answers that I feel sharing with you new players should help you out...

CRAFTING:

If I had it to do again, I would have started off with a 100 QR Blueprint... Seriously, it makes a HUGE difference. Try a run on a 100 QR bp, then do a run on a 1 QR bp and compare your results. You save a ton of peds by not having to skill up the blue print when you are at zero skills.

I would have probably started off with Basic Sheet Metal. The Metallurgy skill is a huge boost to mining. I think you will agree once you start obtaining this skill. Besides that, BSM has a HUGE demand, all those 101's that are always being crafted, take a LOT of it. Alicenies and Narcanisum alwasy have good markup usually, and that means BSM does too, and I find it is easy to turn a profit on BSM.

I would also have bought a few hundred points of skill in Engineering perhaps. Engineering is by far the most useful of the crafting skills, it is used in all crafting. Every little bit of skill you gain increases your average returns... It may only be slight increases, but after a while, you go from averaging four or five sheets of BSM per click to averaging eight to ten of them. At least this is what I have observed. Every bit of experience tells me that skills and bp QR affect your results.

If you are new, and prefer not to sweat, crafting basic filters isn't a bad deal because it is the cheapest thing in the game to craft.... 100 peds would let you buy nearly 2K clicks depending on what you pay in markup. 100 QR Basic Filters BP's usually can be found from 15 to 30 Peds usually. Sometimes I have seen them under 15 Peds.

MINING:

If I had it to do over again... I would  have started with enmatters, skilled up my geology from surveying... After I hit say level 10 or so in Survey, I would probably begin my search for ores.

I would also not have trade terminaled the few odd stones I'd have every once in a while that I couldn't refine. Over time, I am sure I've lost hundreds of peds in markup from doing this... Believe it or not, a few pecs can add up to being the cause of your being broke!

HUNTING:

I have spent so much at hunting with so little loot out of it, I don't even WANT to comment on this category... But I for the sake of completeness...

I would have started out with an Isis CB5 (L)... They are cheap, last a long time despite being (L). They shoot faster than their Trade Terminal laser counterpart too. I favor BLP over laser any day.

I would not have gone hunting EXPECTING to get any loot, therefore not be disappointed when I didn't get any which was most of the time.

I would actually have not bothered with hunting... And instead put all those resources towards crafting and mining.

The mobs that I feel deserve the most effort and have had the best outlook as for loots, are as follows: Molisk, Argonauts, Exarasaurs (don't laugh, I have probably had more loot from these than anything else), and Drones... The Generation 1's are easy enough to kill, just have a moderately good weapon and a little armor. The mobs I would avoid? Feffoids, nothing has looted worse for me than a Feff. I consider Atrox and Atrax neither good nor bad... They either will loot or they wont.

MISCELLANEOUS:

-Do NOT lend ANYONE that you do not know in REAL LIFE anything of value, Unless you can afford to lose it.

-DO NOT fall for people saying they will give you skills if you provide empty implants. If you think they are serious and true, then ASK FOR COLLATERAL!

-Do NOT join someone's team hunt without looking the loot parameters first. It used to be very easy to be taken advantage of through unscrupulous loot settings.

-DO listen to local chats, eavesdropping sometimes can provide useful information.

LAST NOTES:

If you don't agree with what I've written, that is ok. These are things based on my own hindsight, experience and observation that I wish I would have known sooner. Everyone could write their own such list and have it read differently than everyone else. The point of this is to get everyone thinking, and if you are thinking, you will be more careful and hopefully more successful in the long run. If it helps you, great. If not, well, hopefully some of my other posts will :-)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Can Anything Global or Hof?

Well...  The short answer is yes. Basic filters global, and hof. Hofs are RARE, but they have been known to happen. At 5 pecs per click, the Basic Filters are the cheapest item to craft. And as far as that goes, I have seen Chirpy hofs, perhaps even cheaper to kill than it is to craft one click of basic filters!

See... The cost to do something is equivalent to the denomination of a slot machine. The more it costs, the bigger the risks, the bigger the rewards. It would be asinine to have 100K hofs on basic filters, and only give 200 ped globals for killing Second Entitys, wouldn't it? But don't lose your faith and hope yet.

Everything has the possibility of globalling. It just depends on how much dedication you put into doing something. If you are constantly running clicks on something, then yes, eventually you will see a hof, even on a small ticket item. If you are always mining a certain area, and putting out lots of bombs, sure, eventually you will tower there. If you did nothing but hunt Chirpy's, I guarantee you will eventually get a Chirpy global or a hof!

But it may take an EXTREMELY long time to get where you will hit something big on something so small as filters or chirpies. I would instead aim for something more practical... Exarasaurs and Snables do hof and global... Level 1 weapons and armor blueprints global and hof a lot too.

The problem is this. If you are spending  0.05 ped per click making something... You are doubling your money if you get say 5 filters and 5 residue to drop in one click. To get 50 peds in filters, thats 50.00... That is 1,000 times returned to you on a single click! The odds of hitting something that pays 1000 to 1 is not as great as say, something that is 100 to 1 or 10 to 1. Odds has a lot to do with it. I hate to say it, but if the game were truely random, which I do not believe it is, then you should as easily be able to hit an ATH on filters as you might with an OA 109 doing some carpet bombing.

The reality is, something like a Chirpy or Filters MIGHT some day ATH... But it will be so ridiculous to see. The odds of hitting 20K plus peds on something that costs a few pecs... That is very long odds, almost laughable.

So I think what is important, is to know that perseverance is what will get you your globals and hofs. If you do the same thing long enough, it will hit. And if you still have questions needing answered, feel free to leave a comment and I will either reply or add a new blog entry for that topic. And feel free to look through my past posts for more advice, answers, and tips.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

HELP: I've Played For Years Without a Global! Suggestions For Getting One!

It took me six months to get my first global. After that, they came in somewhat regularly. But that was crafting. Then my first mining global took FOREVER. It finally came. Then, you know? It took me about 3 years to get my first hunting global, and keep in mind, I have hunted so much that I have 2.5K in Rifle, Laser, and BLP from skilling... Not to mention what I have in Anatomy. But only one global on a Drone Gen 1. All my globals and hofs in hunting come while I am in a team... So much for solo recognition :( Look me up on http://www.entropiatracker.com/... Goldbaron Goldbaron357 Maximus... Notice my stats for mining and crafting? Then look at hunting. Pitiful ain't it?

HUNTING: If you don't care about whether or not you get the recognition and credit, find someone who isn't even hunting but doesn't mind you adding them to a team... Even if they are hunting, you can do what you want and not really make it a team hunt if they agree... By being in a team, your chances to global and hof go up exponentially. The theory I come to is this: Teams spend more in decay, more in ammo, plus the loots GENERALLY are split, therefore they must be larger on average. If you each do your own thing, you get your full share of what is in the mobs you kill. I know, why can't I get a solo global or hof? It is frustrating, and I will spend hundreds of peds trying to, but it just ain't happening. The one global I got musta been a glitch in the system.

MINING: I recommend you use say a Ziplex Z5 finder, MAYBE a Z10 at a place like Akmuul, or say New Switzerland. Run a few hundred bombs... See what kind of results you are getting, if you are doing ok, just keep running and the globals will come in. It's all about how many bombs you drop, and each area has certain ores, and each finder is better at finding those certain ores... So most miners do in fact have a finder for each different area they mine based on their experience. Now, it is observable that most towers I have seen screenies of, happened with an OF-105... As did my 906 ped or whatever it was hof on Gazzurdite... In fact, I still have faith that Treasure Island North is still a good chance at something great... Nice thing about TI is, it is the only place I am known to have found Cobalt, which has VERY nice markup usually. If you want to improve your returns, and your chance at a global/hof... I recommend using one level of amp for every 10 levels of prospecting or surveying skill depending on what you are doing. This is what an uber miner I know did, and he was always towering and hoffing all over the place. I notice if I use an amp that is bigger than a tenth of my skill, then my returns are cut in half on average.

Also, crafting metal components gave me metallurgy, after I gained significant amounts of it, my mining returns, and variety of ores found gone up. Now I regularly find stuff I never dreamed I would. Another rule of thumb, if you can't hit anything in 10 bombs, change locations!!! But also, I want to say that if you are amping, it would behoove you to amp all your drops and not just pick and choose. Why risk missing your first tower? And it's never failed to give me about the same return either way, percentage wise. And remember, with markups, it is easy sometimes to run a profit while mining, just pay attention to what the traders are actually giving you... And if you have enough of something, maybe auction is a good idea, but be competitive.. If you are too far out of the ballpark, you wont sell it and your peds will be tied up for a while.

CRAFTING:  If you really are having a hard time globalling... My advice is this... Take something like Basic Sheet Metal... Get a decent QR blueprint... Try to do runs of at least 400 clicks, and you should average at LEAST 5 sheets per click... If your average is above that, you should be close to profit mode with markup. You will global if you do enough clicks. I have globalled a lot on BSM. And just the other day on a basic screws blueprint that I skilled from 1QR, I hit a 80 some ped I think global after hitting just under 40 QR. Iron should still be close to TT food, screws pretty much are TT food, like three items in the whole game require them, so yeah... But it is easy as it just needs Iron :-) Set the autoclick and give'er Hell! If you are DESPERATE to get a global... Try to get a 100QR blueprint, say with screws or bsm... RUN ON FULL CONDITION. After hundreds of clicks you should have some nice residue drops and globals too! But I only recommend full condition IF you have a 100QR blueprint. The losses at lower QR's are staggering, at least for me, though it does skill a blueprint up quicker than on Quantity.

SILENT GLOBALS: The name of the game is making peds... And lots of times, you will find that you have had a silent global, sure you only got a couple peds of Dunkel, but hey, you are talking about 50 peds right there! So you can get a smaller amount in TT, but the markup makes it add up right for you. I know, it's not the same as hearing the bells trumpets and whistles, but don't look Mindark in the mouth when it comes to loot :-)

I will post more advice on this, and other topics as fast as I can. I want to get my inventory of information to the point where I've answered every question and provided advice for everything. I may never get there, but I will have fun trying. Please subscribe if you would like to keep up to date on everything I post, or check back from time to time. Who knows, I might start running some contests before too long! And if you found this blog helpful, please feel free to share with your friends!

Crafting Rules to Maximize Profits and Minimize Loss!

  1. ALWAYS buy your materials for the lowest possible markup. The closer to TT you can get your stuff for, the more room for profits... And for you Star Trek fans out there... It's easy, just think like a Ferengi :-)
  2. NEVER trade terminal anything with a markup over 105%. Virtually any trader will pay you SOME markup even on something that sells below 105%. Just save up mass quantities if possible so that the traders won't feel like you are wasting their time. Remember, 5% of nothing is still nothing!
  3. ALWAYS place orders at auction. You can obtain materials for tens of percent below actual markup sometimes by doing this! i.e. you need Basic Sheet Metal... Auction is about 180%, but you can pick it up by placing an order at 165%... Always offer slightly more than the highest order that has any significant quantity... This ensures your order will get filled first!
  4. ONLY fill orders with your crafted components IF the price the order is at is fairly close to what the item is selling at on auction.
  5. If an expensive material becomes TT food, and you use it a lot, STOCK UP ON IT if possible.
  6. ALWAYS buy stuff at TT value when it is possible to, GUARANTEED you can make profit reselling it or using it.
  7. ALWAYS use the highest possible QR blueprint you have access to. Trust me, I learned this the hard way and after many many Peds.
  8. RESEARCH the things you are able to craft before you craft them... Only craft items reasonably within your skill level, and some items are in more demand than others... Basic Sheet Metal is in super high demand, while something like basic sensors are not needed so often... Simply because people are addicted to crafting OA 101's!
  9. TRY mining for the materials you need... You would be surprised... If you just hang onto the stuff you can use and get what you can from the rest of your finds, it will add up nicely! And it might work out better than trying to source an affordable supply. On the other hand, it might be more costly. Use your best judgement on this one.
  10. IF you are in a society, always check to see if a soc mate wants to sell what you need, it is better to help an ally than someone who doesn't care one way or another about you.
  11. NEVER undercut a good markup item terribly... For instance, I was selling a weapon at around 200% no problem, until the next person to sell them came along and listed them at 140%... It is totally asinine to undercut someone by 60 points! Not to mention, if they would have put 180% even, they would have made 40 more points than they did! Compete reasonably, but don't kill the market! That hurts everyone! Especially if the materials cost a lot to make the item!
  12. If one crafting terminal is doing badly, don't be ashamed about changing location or terminals! It does help quite often!
  13. DO NOT get greedy! Getting greedy = soon to be bankrupt! Take a break if you start feeling the "go big or go home" attitude. YOU WILL lose all your Peds if you don't, most of the time at least. A FEW get lucky and hit it big, but don't count on you being one of those few if you wish to work your way towards profit!
  14. DO NOT craft things that are little used or little needed. Good markup items are always good business if they are used a lot!
  15. I will write a second part to this soon as I come up with more great tips!!! GOOD LUCK AND ATH! CHECK BACK OFTEN FOR MORE GREAT INFO!

When Will I Get My First Crafting/Mining Global? When Will I Hof?

This seems to be important to the beginner... Seeing all these global and hofs going off... Many peds filling many users cards at any given moment... It took me 6 months to get my first global, crafting. Basic filters. My mentor had told me to just keep skilling, keep clicking, a global will happen. He said that global would happen for me when I hit 85QR on my blueprint and any time after that... Hofs at 100QR at some point...

Well... I was 85 point something on my QR when I hit my 50 ped basic filters global... Before I got to 100QR, I moved on to standard dampers though. Same thing... In the 80's range, I hit my first standard dampers global.  I have never hoffed on these but never crafted them much. Though on http://www.entropiatracker.com/ you can see the historical highs for each item, and indeed they have hoffed nicely in the past considering the cost per click!

The thing to realize is, it might take you a while to get a global... But once you do, more will follow!

Hofs, come only after extended amount of effort and time it would seem... They will hit when least expected... If you are TRYING to get one, hah, good luck. If I am not expecting a global or a hof, I tend to get them, without fail. I know this isn't very scientific, but hey, a watched pot never boils, remember?

Mining simply requires dropping bombs. The more you drop the sooner you will global or hof. It's all about numbers. The more clicks you make crafting too the sooner you will get one.

Instead of worrying about globals and hofs, concentrate on your profit margins. Reduce costs as much as you can, and increase gains. Sell for the best markups, buy for the lowest. In the long run this will make the difference between having to deposit 500 peds or 5000 peds! If you can play efficiently, your globals and hofs will come without you having to buy them.

Remember: unless you are crafting on condition, a global will happen around 80+ QR, unless on more expensive items like amps and etc. A hof will tend to happen as you approach or hit 100QR, and then it might take a while.

My experience has been, if there are few hofs and globals rolling through, it means the loots are cold and you are not likely to get anything good. When there is a lot running through the window, you will tend to hit while everyone else is hitting. Even with something totally random, there are hot and cold streaks... For instance, Video poker machines have to deal completely randomly by Law. However, you can take $100 and put into one machine and lose it all without hitting anything of value, go to the next machine over, and put $50 into it and win $500. Even in total randomness, you will have cycles. Even if they say there are no cycles, there are cycles. Cold and Hot streaks abound... Although it is true that there is no cycle until it's been demonstrated by past results... If you chart your returns, you will see ups and downs. But you can't know what your future results will be, only what your past results are. And I surmise it is after long cold streaks that big hofs happen.

If you are doing very badly, I find it helps to log out and log back in after a few minutes. It may or may not affect anything, but it does seem to help and you can't lose anything by trying.

I hope this has been of help to you. Good luck, and go get that ATH!

Quantity Vs. Condition, Components or Items?

I apologize first and foremost for my extended absense. Due to circumstances beyond my control I have been away from my computer, and my blog. Do not fear, for Goldbaron is here!

The big debate is, what is better? Condition? Quantity? And does the slider affect only Items or Components too? Afterall, shouldn't "Quantity" mean you would get more of an item? You might be surprised at the answers that I have found over tens of thousands of clicks.

Quantity will ensure that you have the most successful clicks, while if you slide over to Condition, your item crafted will have a higher value but you will have fewer of them... EXCEPT, components have no condition, which leads to confusion... Even among my friends, I debate with them over the slider. Since they have no condition you would expect that Quantity is what you want to use... Well.... Yes and no.

If you craft components, say, Basic Sheet Metal, hereafter referred to as BSM, on full quantity, you may average 5 sheets per successful click. And you will get quite a few successful clicks, and residue drops will be smaller, say a few units of residue at a time. If you slide say, until your bar is in between green and yellow, your residue values will drop in the double and triple digits regularly. Your BSM per success on average would rise to say 8 to 10 sheets, but it will be longer between successes. Since you don't have condition on BSM, you are compensated through larger residue drops and more units of the item. So quantity doesn't mean that you will get more units of the item, it means you will get more successes. If you craft items, then yes, quantity really means quantity. Condition on items will give you a higher TT value success, but there is a strategy important to your success that I will reveal later in this posting.

When you craft items, you have some choices. Do I make L or non L items? Quantity or Condition? Well... It depends on your goal... If you are skilling, it perhaps is best to go with non L items. They tend to be TT food or at least easy to obtain materials for and cheap to make usually. My best returns have been with the highest available QR blueprint I can find, and with setting the slider at the point where it is at the bottom of the green, i.e. perfectly lined up with the bottom of the box to the right of the slider. This will give you a good shot at big residue drops and good globals/hofs, but won't give you such a bad success rate as to be a gamble whether or not you will make anything.

If you wish to try full condition crafting, which I have had great success with, but usually only when I have 80QR bp and higher, 100QR is recommended for best returns... Beware you can go 20 or 30 clicks without a drop... But on BSM, I usually get 3 peds worth of residue and 50 sheets of BSM per success on full condition. Full condition also earns you skills faster, and your bp skills up faster... But it can deal you devestating losses, but at the same time give you a shot at a much bigger hof or global.

If you see someone global spamming as it is called, they are likely crafting full condition, or else they have had a super long cold streak and it's finally warmed up for them.

If you craft limited items, check to see if their market value is good, and if they are in good demand. If so, you can profit by crafting on full quantity, and use residue... This will give you full TT limited items, and say you craft an ore amp worth 75 Peds, say 10 Peds was crafted value, and 65 Peds residue used. Say your residue cost you 105%. The amp sells for 115%. You have gained 10% of the TT value as profit over the cost of the residue. This is why people make limited items, and why residue is in demand. If you are crafting something with 500% markup, and paying 105% for residue, it is a no brainer... You are turning near TT food into uber profit!

If you craft at quantity, yes, you will global, but it might take you longer, however, globals usually mean profit for you. If you are crafting condition, you might need globals or hofs just to break even. It's kind of like a slot machine... The cost to play is more on condition but the rewards greater. Quantity would be equal to say, playing the nickel machines at the casino.

One more thing... Always try to get the most you can for your items. This benefits everyone by keeping prices up, including yourself. Do not TT anything that you can get markup for even if you have to visit a trader. Those few percents you will gain add up in the long run to much smaller losses.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Asteroid Survival Guide: What You Need To Know

The asteroid formerly known as Club Never Die, has set numerous world records since it was bought by the avatar known as "Neverdie". It was sold to a knew owner and has since changed names to F.O.M.A.

While it is under new management, many of the important details remain the same. I would like to take this opportunity to share what I know so that if you have never been up there, you will be more appropriately prepared for what awaits!

First you should be aware any serious expedition to the asteroid requires serious investment since a low budget trip is almost certainly doomed to fail. The fee charged by Mindark to teleport one way to the rock is 25 PEDs. So just out of the chute you are talking 50 PEDs before even mining or hunting.

Next you should be aware that the bombing radius for mining and surveying is halved to around 25m or so. This means it will take more bombs to search the same amount of ground. Though the alluring aspect of this is that finds are harder to get... But the sizes of ore deposits are much larger on average than you see on Calypso. So when running with amps you will find globals and hofs much easier to get. But beware it is not uncommon to drop a hundred amped bombs and find nothing!

Another important detail to be aware of is that every dome has it's own resources that can be found, as well as different mobs or in some cases no mobs present. Some finders are better at finding certain ores so it is important to choose your finder wisely for the domes you intend to mine.

One major lesson: the auction house doesn't work well up there for selling ores or crafted components. If you don't have enough peds to mine a bunch and return to planet yourself to sell your stuff you will either have to TT your finds or wait on a trader to show up if there isn't one already.

If you intend to craft up there, bring some of the materials you need because obtaining a supply up there is not always easy. Also you need to beware of unscrupulous traders since they do exist. It is normal for prices offered to be a little lower than on planet because of the teleport cost as well as the fact it takes time for these people to make available convenient trading.

Up until the release of VU 10, apartments on CND were a valuable tool as they were required if you wanted storage. But since they added storage terminals the values of apartments tanked badly. They may be a good investment now but only if they introduce new uses for them.

There are shops but it can be time consuming to find what you need. As a rule of thumb make sure all your equipment needs are filled before going up.

If you opt to use the storage remember: the asteroid storage is not connected to planetary storage and many times I've left without grabbing stuff I needed!

It is my hope this simple guide will help you in your new adventures. I do not know when or if spacecraft have been reinstated, but I am sure we will all benefit from lower transport costs from competition.

I wish you all good luck and an ATH!