MINING CHANGES EXPLAINED

I just wanted to clarify some of the changes you will see in mining...

Your OF 105 has become F-105... Your eMine OFS has become the eMineFS... All of your finders seem to have been converted, but they could have appeared as anything, who knows... I am still a bit confused and somehow feel we didn't get fully compensated for the values of the converted finders...

But in any case, you can now mine for Ores AND EnMatters AND Treasure (if on Arkadia), or any of the three... I have dropped for both Ores and EnMatters with one drop and hit BOTH DEPOSITS ON THE SAME DROP. So... Guess what? Probes have become like Ammunition.

A probe costs 5 pecs. It still costs a ped to drop for ore, 20 probes, and 50 pecs to drop for enmatters, or 10 probes. Or you can do both for 30 probes, or 1.50 ped.

Amps still work the same way, just don't let their new names confuse you.

I really do like the changes despite the confusing nature of them. Hope this helps you! Thanks for reading! More great posts coming soon!!!

Announcement!!!

I am proud to announce I am now downloading Entropia again, and can't wait to see the new features!!! I hear Planet Arkadia launched, that mining has changed, and now it would appear that Space is either here or will be VERY soon!!! I can't wait to get this 2.8 gigs of stuff downloaded! What's sad is I am using free wifi at Borders and getting 150 Kilobytes per Second... It's still going to take about 5 or 6 hours... And at home, it would probably have taken me five or six weeks! Not kidding!

As soon as I get a chance to play around when this is all downloaded, I will be happy to add some new, informative posts once more... I also trying to exhaust my previous inventory of knowledge in the meantime, but I think I covered most everything I can think of that is important. But I do hope to post some more today.

Thank you so much for your making this blog the success it is. I have never had such a successful anything, but lots of hits coming in, and it is a shame that Google chose to declare war on me and cancel my adsense based on "suspicious click activity"... But seriously, HOW is getting $15 in earnings in about 5 years time suspicious activity? Especially when I didn't click them myself! I HATE Google, and recommend you use some other company for your needs. I know, that Google is the "Oracle of Internet", but it is time to support the underdogs and let them know that their underhanded business practices are not to be tolerated in our nation of Free Enterprise and Capitalism. I will support Microsoft before I will support Google. And considering how much I hate Microsoft for going to "windows live" crap for messenger and making the drastic changes from Windows XP to Vista and 7, I can hardly forgive them... Half of my "IBM Compatible" software won't even RUN on Vista or 7! So let's just say it makes no sense that Microsoft would release a version of Windows that in and of itself is not IBM Compatible!

Anywho, I have ranted and raved enough! Let the fun begin!

Internet Connection FAQs

All MindArk will say is you need a broadband connection... It is sort of inconclusive and doesn't help a guy find answers and I know a lot of you attribute lag to connection speeds but I have some first hand experiences that blow this wide open... But suffice to say I am taking it upon myself to construct this list.

Dialup: Flame me all you want but I'll say I told you so... Entropia DOES run on dialup!!! But please if you only have dialup install the program and updates at a friends house or somewhere with free Internet. I connect at 26.4Kbps and it runs beautifully. If I up the graphics quality then my old nvidia go 6150 doesn't like it and my framerates sink like president obamas approval ratings!

Satellite: Ok... Theoretically this should have bad lag due to your data being scrambled and beamed to a satellite where it is beamed back to earth... This is called latency and it is the drawback of having to send data into space and back at the speed of light. Entropia should work and you will have easier time downloading and updating but as silly as it sounds... You might want dialup to play without lag once you are updated.

Cable/Dsl: to those of us living in rural America ( I live like two miles out of range for dsl because the phone lines and switches routing to my house are still analog) it is the bane of our existence... We can see other people have it but we can't get it... Dsl is ok but expect a day for fresh install of entropia. Cable is the way to go.

Mobile Broadband: because of the data plan limits usually 5 Gb a month... I know what a joke right? You probably have that much in forgotten porn on your computer... Don't try installing the game... You would rack up a huge bill from overage... A few updates is ok... And playing the game is great because eu is mostly server side with the graphics being client side so there is mere kilobytes being downloaded and uploaded while playing... And nearly no lag!

WiFi vs. Ethernet: Ethernet will give you the best reliability and ping... WiFi can be unstable, however it still works :)

Smoke signals: ok ok I am joking :P but I can just imagine if Indians invented the Internet... You would have computers puffing smoke lol Well for all the money their casinos made off me lately I feel I deserve to make a joke... But I really do have a respect for our native Americans. But I'll save what I have to say for another soapbox...

Thank you my readers for receiving my blog so well and encouraging me to keep writing.

Why Some People "Global Spam" While Crafting

I'm not positive how the loot algorithm works... I don't even know if anyone knows as it does indeed appear to be a very dynamic system mingling luck, fortune, timing, random chance, skills, and who knows what else, together.

What I do know is global spam seems only to happen on big ticket items and most times when the crafter has a somewhat long series of clicks with no successes. In a small percentage of cases it can be observed happening to a full quantity crafter... But only seemingly when they have had great losses.

Global spam may make everyone curse and get upset but you gotta realize that thousands of peds can go down the drain before they start global spamming and even see a decent amount of their peds back.

In general you shouldn't worry about globalling... If you focus on profits and efficiency, when you do get one it will be a huge boost to your ped balance.

Cheapest Items To Craft In Entropia

From time to time I will look through my statistics and see what my readers search to find my blog. If I see something I don't feel I have covered, I write a new post on it. Such is the beginnings of this post.

I know some of you don't want to spend 5 or 10 peds a click but may not be sure what the low cost options are. So I will do my best to list some of them. This is all from memory so please bear with me.

COMPONENTS:
Basic Filters are the cheapest to make requiring one lysterium and one oil at a tt cost of 5pecs per click. And yes, they do global and hof.

Standard Dampers require one Lysterium and two Oil for a tt cost of 7pecs per click.

Basic Screws use only one Iron per click which I believe is 24pecs in TT cost and It has been TT food lately. Chances for global or hof are good but the market is so small for these that if Iron can't be purchased for a small markup not to bother.

Basic Sensors require two Belkar and one Blausarium requiring fairly close to 50pecs tt I believe. Demand is ok but again watch material costs or they won't be worth making.

ARMOR:

Settler armors tend only to require Lysterium and Iron which comes out to 50pecs a click and is the cheapest armor I know to craft. After that it starts going up pretty good.. But there can be lots of opportunity for making some good peds if you have the right blueprint.

WEAPONS:

Jester D-1 or Mann MPH are the cheapest weapons to craft but require around 80 pecs to a ped per click if my memory is accurate enough.

FURNITURE:
An interesting profession is the carpenter... While the demand is rather low for most furniture, the blueprints are somewhat uncommon and the right furniture can command a high price... I dunno why but as long as someone wants to buy it who cares :)

I'm not sure of what the costs are for the Nallo Ceiling Lamp but it does require a few copper ingots to make and not sure what the other ingredients are but suffice to say it's at least a ped per click or more. The pall stool is probably a similar cost to make as well but requires boards.

Attachments:
OA-101 Light requires about 5 peds per click... 101 is awful close to 10 peds per click... So 1000 peds will buy you 100 clicks or so.

There are all kinds of attachments but I feel the best value is in ore and enmatter amps.

VEHICLES:
I only mention this so you don't get your hopes up, the cost of the blueprints often reaches tens of peds per click since the blueprints are limited and the QR tells you how many clicks are in the blueprint. And then you have who knows how many peds in parts... So skill up and carefully research as just like GM or Chrysler, you've got a lot of production costs before you can stock your showroom.

I hope I've covered everything important enough to cover however entropedia.info can give you the whole database that you can examine any way you want to. Good luck!

So you want to move... Things to know:

With the advent of new planets, most recently arkadia... Www.planetarkadia.com for more info... I thought I would give you a few tips that you should remember so you don't make what is supposed to be a permanent move only to find you have to go back to where you came from. I know my friends are wanting and perhaps already have moved to Arkadia.

If you want to move I suggest the following:

If the planet is somewhat new, Truro find out the supply and demand situation so that you can supply yourself more cheaply to get you by a little while in your new environment. If you can't get ore amps chaply on your new planet, it will save you money stocking up before you go.

Storage in my entropia experience has never been linked between planets. You want to have all your storage moved into your avatar. Check all your tabs.

Check the auction house and maybe pull any unsold items or perhaps listed items... This will prevent you from having to pay transport fees.

All your current items should work in your new home so don't have a moving sale if you don't need to.

Be sure to read the forums for any information you might need to know about your new home before moving because if anyone made a mistake they are sure to post about it.

I know this is basic stuff but we usually forget the basic stuff in our haste to accomplish something. From one oldtime colonist to a noob, go to arkadia young man!

What you need to know about crafting profits:

I feel it necessary to summarize these most important points...

1. Markup on resources increases how much you needto make to turn a profit so buy as low as possible.

2. Markup on finished goods definitely means a big difference so always sell for as much as you can. Also try to sell in person because half ped auction fees add up to big money in a years time.

3. Don't get greedy. Be satisfied with slow and steady gains.

4. Dont expect a hof or global is due and keep losing peds tryingto get it. If a run is very bad, move to another terminal or log back in in a few minutes. You would be amazed how much this has helped me. On the other hand if you have thousands of clicks to do then don't worry my runs have always averaged out if they are long enough.

5. Understand that globals and hofs are not profit rather they help smooth our a very volatile run.

6. Watch the orders regularly... I once saw orders for bam at around 280% at a time when it was about 190% market value... Rarely happens but on things not used or made much the orders can be significantly high if someone needs them badly.

7. You can almost always get a good deal on materials and ores by placing orders :) this significantly helps the quest for profits.

This should help you but I'll always add more info as I have it available.

New opportunities on the horizon?

I have heard from a friend playing entropia that many new things are on the way such as space exploration... I have been unable to update my Entropia with dialup and it is sad that I have two laptops neither of which is portable due to monitor problems and havingto use an external display. However... Every innovation in Entropia brings untold new opportunities.

I am writing this not to state the obvious but to urge all players, old and new alike to examine any material available and try to see how these new changes can benefit you. I have no idea what space travel will mean but assume space combat... Crafters will have a new market In space craft and space based weapons... Perhaps hunters can collect bounties on blowing up robot spacecraft or pirate ships... Perhaps miners can prospect celestial bodies and gaseous anomalies. I have no idea... But regardless a new frontier means new opportunities and I will task myself in guiding you into the new frontier as I learn more about it.

I would normally have a wealth of information to give you guys but so many changes are happening and I have been out of the loop a long while... It sucks, it really does...

I love entropia... I love all my friends on entropia... Hopefully some of them are reading my blog... If so never fear, goldbaron Maximus will soon reappear! I really do miss you all... I would give shoutouts but I'm short on time... Good luck!

What You Can Craft in Entropia

If you have never played Entropia, I wanted to put together a basic list of things you could craft in case you were curious... Sometimes it's little things like these that convince people whether or not they want to be in a certain game, depending on what they like doing. I am just going to give a decent overview of what kinds of choices a crafted can make and the categories of items to be made.

If you decide to craft there are a few plans you can pursue:
-Craft for no particular purpose except skill and maybe to hit it big.
-Craft high demand high markup components to supply other crafters.
-Or craft end products to sell to customers and someday maybe run a shop.

The general categories for crafting are furniture, weapons, components, armor, attachments, tools, enhancers, and who knows what all else. And I can't leave vehicles out :)

It is common fo a person to take up one main line of crafting. I tend to favor components. They are cheap enough to make that a bad run won't bankrupt me. But almost as big a favorite, is armor. Others choose to manufacture weapons. It is generally about where you seethe best opportunity for profits.

Another factor that made a lot of crafters happy is the auto click option being added to the craft terminals. Prior to that it was possible to rig up a third party auto clicker but when vu10 came out even those wouldn't work. If you want to do a 5000 click run now IRS no problem but back in the day it would have been a real job! The legitimacy of autoclicking was hotly debated for years but the addition of the feature to the game eliminated any doubts.

There are many hundreds of craftable items and different variations. Each requiring it's own combination of skills to challenge even the most seasoned crafter when entering into a new product line.

If you like lots of options and variety... If you want to try your hand at gaining real money in a virtual world... You should give EU a try.

Rookie Bomb Global/Hof: Fact or Fiction?

Since I have personally witnessed this happen a few times, it is definitely fact. However it seems strange to spend ten times the money on bombs and never hit one, yet buy a few peds worth of noob bombs and get globals. Consider that a rookie bomb costs as much as a click at basic filters crafting.

Although I have a theory as to why the Rookie bombs have been so effective for so many people... I mean on my first try just for the hell of it, I put two peds into a run, and came up with an VIII lysterium when I couldn't even hit a V amped with a normal finder. Seems ridiculous, right?

Well, I have observed most big hofs happen at shallow depths of say 150 to 300m... At least this is what I observe. They are quite shallow. The reason I believe is that most people go for the deeper finders. not to mention that a shallow finder isn't quite deep enough either. Well, statistically you can hit a few 1m depth deposits with a normal finder, but by and large this is uncommon.

Presumably the system spawns 1 to 5 m depth deposits, and since they can't generally be hit by normal full size finders, they perhaps grow. A rookie has a tenth of the multiplier that a full cost bomb has if mining... So you can expect what ever you find is one tenth the size of what you would have found if using a normal finder. Well, say you have a global of 50 peds on a rookie at shallow depths... A full cost bomb drop should have technically gave you around 500 peds... Is it not foreseeable that a 500 ped deposit is laying right under the surface?

Hitting a rookie global is no more strange than hitting a basic filters global, but the fact so many people have done it with such ease has me wondering why I was still using normal finders :-)

An Apology From The Author

I am sorry, but I have not been able to update Entropia to play for several weeks now because my Wifi card is missing and my display isn''t working on my laptop and I have Dialup internet at home... Ok, so let me answer another question here... Does Entropia Work on Dialup? YES! I connect at 26.4Kbps and play with less lag than I have on broadband, although sometimes when it lags, it lags bad. But updating is impossible. So I must update at a book store or coffee shop with free WiFi... And guess what? I can't do that now, and even if I had my wireless card, I am not going to pack a 20" CRT monitor into Starbucks with me!

So needless to say, yes, I have heard that Arkadia is online now. Yes, I have also heard that mining has been revamped. So, some of my information about mining perhaps is obsolete, although the advice is still sound. I will be working to get updated and get back on EU so I can publish a NEW mining guide for you guys. Thanks very much for understanding.

Arguments That A Loot Pool Exists

No one really knows for sure if there IS a loot pool... But if you look at Entropia Tracker, the amounts of hofs and globals every day is up and down a bit from one day to the next, but it seems reflective of how much playing is done, i.e. how many Peds are being spent for the loot to come out of it. This is an issue that is perhaps hotly debated by some, I know I have had my debates... So I just want to put my opinion out there, everything I can observe and let you guys have at it.

First: If there were no loot pool, and if loots were truly random, then there should be times when there are MORE peds in circulation than what's been deposited and paid for. There is no indication of this happening. It appears the algorithm operates with a "house edge", that runs tend to get smaller, although the distribution of your wins seem to be random for sure. Everything designed into the game, decay for instance, is indicative of a sustainable system, therefore it is illogical for the system to be unsustainable.

Secondly:  The people who craft amps all day on full condition sometimes get 5 or 6 globals/hofs in a row after somewhat long clicks with nothing. And the people who spent tremendous amount of peds mining, end up hitting mining global spam, and with or without amps, I've never been able to do this, if it were random loot values, I would have by now... But only the ubers can get quick successive globals/hofs, but the amount of peds theyve turned over is far greater, so it seems they get a bigger piece of the loot pool, but that's fair really.

Thirdly: If Mindark were allowing random loots, with no basis in how much they took in, why do most of our loot patterns seem to be usually a little below what we put in? Hmmmm? I've played for nearly four years without a Tower. My biggest hoff was 906 Peds I think it was??? I have also burned through about 20 OA 102's, 103's and 104's without any hof. This seems inordinately off from what should have happened, that's a lot of bombs not to have a hof that were amped. If the game were like Anarchy Online, I'd probably be a millionaire, hell, for a basic weapon it costs hundreds of thousands of credits even though the missions pay a paltry thousand or two here and there. There is no indication that there are loots based on anything other than what the system has taken in.

Fourthly: If loots WERE random without any basis in what you've spent, then we should be able to craft Basic Filters and ATH, but that don't happen. In fact, if you look at Basic Filters highest hofs on Entropia Tracker, it's around 500 peds... Hmmm, 5 pecs per click in TT value, 500 peds in loot... That is the highest ratio between cost/click and hof. As you go up the charts to more expensive items, you see lower multiples, but is my theory that say, 10,000 times the click cost is the maximum multiplier in crafting, I could be wrong, but there is no indication that I am at current times. So showing that what you can get is linked to what you spend, I think I've won half the argument.

Lastly: Even if there is no literal loot pool and things are determined on the fly, they have an algorithm that more than likely ensures no more is paid out than is taken in. They have a great system that they've put such a large investment into, that has been designed from the ground up for sustainability, at least I see sustainable design implemented everywhere. WHY on Earth would anyone want to run their business model in such a way as to discredit and not take advantage of the designs that exist in the game? The Auction House fees... Decay... Ammo, Bombs,... Trade Terminal sales... All they have to do to make money is to keep a percentage of these things and if they pay the rest out, who cares, all it has to do is be cycled a few more times and they will have a bigger share on it, some people will come out ahead, but more people will lose a few peds than will gain a few, in terms of TT... The real gains come from MarkUp. Always remember that. Without Markup, I fear no one would profit much.

Limited Armor vs Unlimited Armor

There is debate on which is better... Limited or Unlimited...

Experience and research has shown to me that  the decay is much slower, a LOT slower on most limited armors versus equivalent unlimited armors. Notice the durability numbers... The lower the durability the faster it will decay. L armor has insanely high durability.

Sure, Unlimited can be repaired.... But is wearing your armor out four or five times faster any more efficient than paying a few hundred percent markup on a good armor and having it last forever? :-) And if you pick the right armors, you can actually get far more value and use than you would out of an unlimited armor.

People make the excuse "My armor might break in battle"... Hmmm... I've never had a piece of L armor long enough to wear it out! That's how durable the stuff is!!! But you just keep an eye on your condition, and when it gets close, purchase replacements.

L also has the benefit of keeping more peds in players pockets, versus just dumping the peds straight into the repair terminal and into MA's cybernetic oblivion, since we don't know WHAT their percentage goes to them and what percentage goes to the loot pool... And I maintain there IS a "loot pool" because if they awarded more loot than peds were spent in the game, then we would have uber inflation like all the free MMO's have because millions of game dollars is what you have in a POOR PERSONs account... You would have lots of people running around with lots of peds! Not true in EU! Sure, there are "millionaires" in Entropia... But not hundreds of thousands of them like in other games! :-) This is reflective of a sustainable system that X amount spent - Y amount equals the amount of Loot that goes into the loot pool, Y being MAs cut. Sure, I can;t prove it, but the evidence does not indicate an oversupply of peds!

See, buying L armor supports the crafters, who in turn buy from the miners and hunters. Sure, we can buy UL items, but if a crafter sells to one person, they won't sell the same piece of armor to them again unless it is sold by the owner and needs to be repurchased later, or is accidentally TTed. L armor will eventually wear out and then it is no longer in the game and a new one has to be produced.

I think if you pencil it all out, it will become obvious in most cases that the extra markup on L items is still more cost effective than buying a UL version and having to repair it, considering the faster decay rate.

But then there is the argument that the more peds you spend the faster, the bigger and better globals and hofs you get... This seems to be true, I mean, look at what people hit with OA 109,s but they are dropping 10 peds TT per bomb drop too..  I would assume it works with armor and ammo and weapons while hunting...

If you are trying to hunt economically, my experience is Limited is better. If you want something you can repair, and don't care about the decay, and expect it will improve your loots, then you will most likely want UL.

Crafting With Residue: When You Should and Shouldn't

It seems silly that people buy so much residue, and it was only for a short while that I wondered why. I thought about it and realized the key to what makes it so useful, and profitable.

Components do not have condition and therefore residue does not affect them, though the effect of putting residue in the ingredients window is unclear. EU is DYNAMIC. Any slight change in one place results in a change somewhere else. Kind of like real life. Suppose all those trees that Stradivarius made his fine instruments out of burned up in a forest fire before he could make his famous and world renowned instruments... The wood had special properties from how it grew that allowed perfect acoustics... History, would have been altered in a huge way. Anything you do will have an impact, even if it is unnoticeable. So to answer the question of does residue affect component crafting results, you must consult quantum physics.

Unlimited Items: It is not wise to use residue in crafting UL items. This is because it is CHEAPER to craft them either on full condition, or on full quantity and just repair them to full condition for their TT value needed in repairs than to spend 105% or 110% on residue to craft with in the first place!

LIMITED ITEMS: Here is where the money is. But you don't want to use it for low markup limiteds... If you are paying 105% or 110% for residue but your L item sells for 105% or 110%, you aren't gaining anything. On the other hand if you have a 50 ped item that sells for say, 150%, and you buy your residue at 105%, you are making 145% profit on your residue for the condition difference of your successful craft. Say your successful click is worth 5 Peds without residue. You would have only gotten 7.50 peds... And lets also assume it cost you 4 peds per click to make. You add 45 peds to the next click worth of residue. Your item you made on full quantity, comes out full condition thanks to the residue. You now have spent 49 peds to make a 50 ped item that you will sell for 75 Peds. That 45 peds in residue turned into what, about 67 or 68 Peds netting you around a 20 ped profit on your 45 peds of residue!

Imagine what happens when you have a very rare L item you can craft that has markups of 400% or even 1000%.... If you aren't seeing dollar signs, you should be! This is the one time you can turn near TT food into the same markup as the item you craft!!! Think about it!

BUT PLEASE NOTE: It would seem you can only use enmatter residue in items that are crafted with enmatters, and ore residue in items that require ores to make. And etc. So don't buy a bunch of residue you can't actually craft with! :-)

Good luck!!!