My Experience in Making My Own LUCK (CRAFTING)

I have had my hofs capped, by what I don't know, to 1322 peds or under. It is frustrating. All of the peds I cycle, all of the hours spent playing. It seems there is no way to break through this glass ceiling. I mean, I can see through it but I just can't punch through.

So, what did I do... I tried a few clicks of level 2 lights on condition. 5th click in I got 1320 ped hof. Seriously... Why is it keeping me in this range?

I then decided to get a few L prints, shear xr's, bull tacs... I proceeded to hit three more hofs 1K+ on these L prints.

My experience is that as long as you have the success rate maxed, you will get your best crafting return doing L prints on condition. A lot of things worth crafting use materials of such a high markup that I don't think it is possible to profit at all doing them on quantity, unless you can do short runs of bigger items that you can make with residue and turn a profit on that way... But, if you are tired of not hoffing, or just want to see if you can change your luck, get yourself a 20 or 30 click L bp, try a bull tac10 or a Shear XR 40 print. The tac10 runs about 3.5 peds a click. I promise most of you wont be deposited. AND

What further confuses and confounds me:

If I lose a bunch of peds hunting or mining, I can take a L print and usually get some or most if not all of my losses back. My experience is every 5 to 10 runs you can expect a hof, but whether the hof is big enough to recover your losses, hard to say. But if you play eco a lot, it doesn't hurt to shake up the system every so often with a condition L print run.

The differences between Globals, Hofs, and ATH's

I suppose, this is a simple subject, but for those new here, it is a valid question. Since I want to be as thorough and complete as possible in my blogging, I figure I should make a quick post explaining these differences. As always, feel free to browse my blog archive for any valuable information you might use. I promise not to delete old posts. I will update them if there are errors or new information that has came to light, but I will not delete anything. Even if something is obsolete, I suppose I will leave it for the sake of having a working history. I mean, I still have questions about a lot of things in the older versions that don't apply now.

Ok... Enough rambling.

A global is any single loot over 50 peds. It is rarely a single item giving you the global (except in mining), but rather, hunting, it can be eye oil or animal muscle oil, or both, or it could be a 50 ped weapon or a fap! But anything over 50 peds is a global. How they figured 50 peds I'll never know, but it seems to be a key threshold. Those of you who have never globalled have probably missed it by a few peds.

A HOF is simply getting a global that is larger than the 100th largest global in the last 24 hours.

An ATH is an All Time High, that not only is a HOF, but is large enough that it actually beat out one of the top 100 previously highest loots for that profession in Entropia's history!

So... With that sad... I must mention the recent 217+K Ped #1 ATH Mining that was hit recently by Elle eSoul Beast, details of it are of course found on the Calypso Forums. It is the single largest loot in all of EU.

Well... Let me stop here before you say "But what about that Rugaritz tower"... Well... All of the above is computed by the TT value. NOT marked up value. In all probabilities, that fluke of a Ruga tower that was hit for some 19K peds I think it was, with markup, HAD to have been the single largest loot in EU. I could be wrong... But then it brings to mind also the Atrox egg that someone looted and Neverdie owned for a while, I dunno who owns it now, and I have never heard anything about it in a long time... Who knows when it will hatch... Maybe it already has, I haven't spent a lot of time on the forums... But see... That is all MARKUP... It means it does not come from MindArk's pocket, it comes from another player's pocket.

If ONLY TT value existed... Without a doubt Entropia would be a negative expectation game. Everyone would eventually be broke and need to deposit, good luck streaks not withstanding... But designing in the skills, and the markup, no longer is it a game of pure chance. The art of trading and negotiating comes into play. The needing to know where to go with what finders to hit what ore. What each ore is worth on the open market. Is it rare or common is a question that makes a whole world of difference.

So just because you didn't global or HOF doesn't mean you didn't strike it rich.

Turning Crafting into a Calculated Risk

I've just discovered that Entropia Tracker allows you to check ubers on all the various items and mobs. You can set the threshold to 1,000 ped to 10,000 ped if you want. When you run the report, it tells you the recent ubers over that amount you've chosen for that item, how many days and hours since the last one went, how many peds of globals/hofs turned over since then on that item, and how long it has currently been since the last uber.

There is no way to say for certain that ANYTHING is overdue.. However, it would be foolish to say on any given item that an Uber will NEVER hit... Therefore, the next most logical conclusion is to say, the longer the amount of time and the more peds cycled on an item without an Uber, the closer it is getting to the time an Uber will hit!

I guess what I am saying is, if more peds have been cycled and more time elapsed than is normal for an uber on that item for that amount, then, in all likelihood, it is overdue. But many factors play into who is going to get it when it hits. What is your blueprint QR... What are your skills. How many people are crafting it right now. And part of it is simply being on the right crafting machine at the right time.

Now, it is a documented fact, that I know someone who ATH'd on a crafting machine that virtually a whole soc was using to craft on because it was a good machine. Since it paid out that ATH, very few people that I know of who use that machine have had a good crafting run on it since. This doesn't prove anything, to be sure... But... Every server has a hot and cold cycle. Not all places in EU are hot at the same time, not all are cold either. I had dropped like 30 NRF's on TI, then moved to Shinook and first drop gave me a 50 ped alferix. Well, the conclusion is simple. TI's loot was on a take cycle, and Shinook was paying out, and the server seen an imbalance and crapped out my global.

I really do believe you have to be in the right place at the right time doing the right things at the right time to stand a chance of getting an uber. This gives it the appearance of being accidental when it does finally happen, because it is only by chance that you will be doing all the right things at the one magical moment.

So... I just wanted to share the excitement over a new possibly useful tool I found, and perhaps a new way at figuring out what to craft, since that is a common question I am faced with.

And yes... EVEN BASIC FILTERS HAVE HAD FOUR DIGIT HOFS. Just as surely as I have witnessed non-mutant chirpies having four digits too.

TEAMS: Being In A Team = More Globals

This is something I wanted to cover quickly. I cannot explain it totally, but presumably the system is more favorable in giving loot to teams than individuals, since groups tend to burn peds faster than individuals, a logical deduction.

But it baffles me that I have had dozens of hunting globals and hofs, yet only two were solo. I can't for the life of me rack up any solo hunting hofs or globals. The two I had almost certainly were accidents.

Today, I globalled 56 peds on a mulholland boy level 3 or 4 mob. My team was active still and the friend I was in team with was offline, and it would seem as long as they are still in your team list online or not, you can still loot your kills.

Generally, I don't hunt with anyone else, even if I am teamed with them. I am off doing my own thing, as are they. I still set the loot to damage stack share just in case they do run into me and help kill something. I get all my loot from what I kill that globals or hofs.  So I will set up a team JUST FOR THE PURPOSE of getting better loot. I know I will global in a team but that I most likely won't solo. And this irritates the hell out of me. No pun intended lol.

SO if your hunting is complete crap like mine, give a team a try, find someone you know who is willing just to be on your team even if they aren't hunting.

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...

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!!!

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!

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.

Mining Research: Mine for Ores, or Enmatters, or Both at once???

It would seem that the more confusing MindArk makes elements of the Entropia Universe, the more money people will lose before they figure out what they are doing wrong. This was almost me being the victim again. Fortunately, I have been able to reproduce my results. Not saying it's going to be 100% right. Fact is, you could be most opposite of my conclusion and still manage, in even a small remote possibility, of hitting two towers on one drop. That doesn't prove I am wrong, that only proves you are lucky to the tune of one in many billions. There is always room for an exception to occur. But let's make luck the rule rather than the exception, shall we?

By stretching your ped roll as long as possible, you give yourself more chances at hitting a home run. If you spend wrecklessly, you actually get fewer chances at a jackpot. What we are all about here is the law of large numbers. The more you do something, the more likely you will succeed. Many times playing Video Poker, I have literally hit a straight flush or four of a kind on my last 25 cents. If I would have missed one proper play. If I would have accidentally thrown out a pair of jacks or kings, I would not have had the stake to make the last bet that ended up winning me enough to keep playing and come home a winner. It is the same way here. If you spend wrecklessly, you may go broke before your jacpot comes along. That is why what I am telling you here is important.

So...

Yesterday's test involved a Finder 105, two Level 2 Finder Amplifier, two Level 3 Finder Amplifier... And a few hundred peds in probes. I spent most of it mining in the same general region.

For the first three amps, I burned up a level 2 light searching for both ores and enmatters. That was something like 100 peds or so spent, my return was eh, 70 peds with markup. Not tooooo bad, but my average finds were level III and IV. It just didnt seem like I was getting anywhere.

I went on to a Level 3 amp. I probably recovered 25 or 30 peds on that one, again doing both.

I did my last level 2 light, and again right around 50% return. Mining for both.

I realized some things of importance. First, by bombing for both, if you don't increase your mining run to account for the extra cost in mining for both, you are actually cutting your possibilities of hitting a hof or a global. By mining for both, you are dropping 1/3rd less bombs total. That is 33% less possibilities at hitting something big.

Second, I realized that my Prospecting is level 23, and Surveying is around level 17 or so. It made me realize that there is such a large gap that my surveying skills would be giving me less of a return than my prospecting skills, lowering my average return. To this time, I was still only pulling average of V's, thats even with a Level 3 amp too.

So I decided ok. I am going to burn the entire last amp just mining Ores. It will give me more drops, and more chances to get some peds back. Also, my prospecting skill gave me confidence, it's one of my highest skill sets, if not the highest.

I started hitting VIII's all over the place. Almost every bomb hit. Gazzurdite, Cobalt, Durulium... Azzurdite... 10 points extra credit if you can identify where I was mining just by those resources :) Towards half way through, I hit a 155 Cobalt I think it was. I didnt mine it right away, figuring if I am on a warm cycle, I will keep mining. I only extracted my smaller claims. Then, I hit a 65 ped Durulium I think it was. Two globals on one amp... I dont usually do that, but considering the heavy losses I suffered the previous three amps maybe the servers were balancing out my losses for me... BUT... Fact is...

1. Average claim size went up a great deal.
2. By sticking to my highest skill, I got the best return.

I speculate that if your Surveying and Prospecting are more closely matched then you should comfortably be able to mine for both, though I recommend any time you mine for both, you want to extend your budget by 33% to give you the same chances of hitting something good accross the board.

So out of 500 peds, I came out with around 600 to 700.

Now today, I am again mining just ores. I have hit a 50 ped blausariam... My initial finds were far and few between, but I ended up with a 40 ped gain after running through half a 102, not light that is.  So 150 ped run yielded 190 with markup. I am now off to finish my other half of the run and see if my findings still hold true!

Good luck and happy mining!

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UPDATE!!!
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I just concluded the second half of my run.

Another global on Cobalt of 68 peds I think, and a level XII gazzurdite one or two stones away from a global.  I ended the second half of my run which cost around 150 peds (Whole level 2 run takes around 300 peds without markup), second half ended at about 200 peds. A rough gain of about 50 peds.

The whole time I was mining in one region. I haven't moved areas all day. I want to do another amped run and see if I can work up into a hof, but I gotta get my nerves to calm down first! I need my peds to keep going up because there's so much I want to do. But mining is my strongest profession. Crafting used to be, but I chipped up my prospecting and I think that pushed my tendency to be a good miner even higher. Still I have never had a hof over three digits. And that was 908 I think gazzurdite with a OF 105 and a OA102 (which if you want to convert into the new amp system, a 103 is equivalent to an OA102), second biggest hof was crafting at around 500 and some I think it was. I have yet to hof on hunting, but I am still working at it!

I think whatever you do the most is going to be your best profession. Although I do a lot of hunting and crafting, my avatar STILL wants to be a miner!

Standard Damper and Basic Filter Crafting: YES THEY GLOBAL

I know the first stop in skilling in crafting is filters and dampers. I know of no actual use in the game for the filters other than to be TT food. Dampers, I really have never seen anything that needs them, but maybe I am wrong as people seem to buy them.

What is nice about crafting them is, you can deposit $10, and 100 peds will buy you a LOT of Lysterium and Oil. TT cost per click for filters is 5 pecs, 7 pecs for dampers. In small lots you should be able to get oil and list for about 110% markup or so. In 100 peds, you should get 1800 clicks or so with markup. Now, with the autoclick feature at the terminal, all you have to do is set it and forget it. Don't worry about your first hundred or two clicks. They may be doing great, they may be doing horrible. But over 1800 clicks, your run will balance out. That is why you get 300 residue drops or maybe some K's of residue...

I ONLY recommend doing this if you have decent skill and decent QR... But if you want a global faster and don't care about smaller amounts of loot, slide the slider to condition. More filters and dampers will drop on a success. More residue too. In fact, your residue tends to be worth about 109% on orders in auction because it is used by limited item crafters. They can take 50 peds of residue at 110%, add it to a 300% markup craft, and essentially are making triple their initial investment back on that residue. Now how many clicks they may have lost to get a success cuts into their profit margin.

If you start with a 1QR blueprint... I will advise you that on full quantity (It just means a higher number of your clicks will succeed, versus a lower number of higher value successes on condition), I can honestly say that you can expect a global around 75 to 85 QR. You should be able to hof after you hit 100 QR and keep going for some time.

Also, STAY AWAY FROM S.I.B. anything.. Skill increase bonus is just a marketing gimmick. A fully skilled tool, weapon, or blueprint will give you more skills than one that you aren't maxed out on.

Do not recycle any of your materials until you are done with your run, and then start again. If you keep rolling what you got back over, it will generally balance out, and you shouldnt suffer any real big losses. I played for 6 months on my first 100 ped deposit, and I was mining, crafting, hunting, you name it.

Just be aware there is a lot you will want to do but not have the skill to do. Be patient, if you don't it going to cost you a LOT in the long run.

Good luck and go get your globals!

Oh, and you can check what items have globalled and what their record highs are for loot on www.entropiatracker.com.  It will also track your globals too!

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 :-)

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.

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.

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!

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.