New Planets, New Frontiers, New Opportunities

It was recounted to me a couple years ago how many of what we would now call "Ubers", the ones running around with 5 and 6 digits of markup on their weapons armor and other tools... Made their pile of Peds simply by having started early on, in the beginning of Entropia. It is unknown how many people are included in this group, but I often wonder when I see screenshots of hofs with astronomical ped balances... How'd they do it? Simple... A lot of what USED to be just every day cheap items, became scarce but highly desireable when the Entropia Universe took off and became more and more populated. There was a... Boom in markups and demand for things, especially weapons. I am told some players capitalized on this drastic rise in prices that occured many years ago already.

It was probably 2009 when I was told of this.  The source of the information came from a player who himself had done this, taken advantage of common things becoming uncommon and valuable. It is quite possible that same person may actually read this and maybe not remember having talked to me about it... But I want to open everyones eyes to the future. NOW is the furthest back in time we will ever be. How's that for something to ponder?

Right now we are seeing infant worlds, much how Calypso started out to be sure... Except there is a huge difference. Calypso did not have other planets already successful from which to spinoff and use as a foundation. Rocktropia, Arkadia, Next Island... All are able to lean on Calypso, a well established economy and solid player base. There is no way that any planet will fail so long as this strong foundation remains. However, there is still great opportunity.

Over the years, many tools, weapons, have been changed, or eliminated. Some things quit dropping. And some of those items are worth a great fortune in peds to the lucky few who own them.We do not know what Rocktropia weapons or tools will become rare or valuable... Certainly, it will do so to a lesser extent than was seen in the earlier days of Entropia... But nothing is 100% right at the beginning. Take a look at your favorite television series. Compare say, seasons one and two, to seasons five or seven... Don't you notice something? The components making up that show begin to grow together and flow more smoothly, while at the beginning, no one knew for sure what direction things would take. If you compare the early days of Entropia to now... You can definitely see the point I am making here. Things have came together smoothly for Calypso. But now, we embark on the other planets journeys. It will take a few years, but they will get them ironed out.

Right now, yes, there is a lot of loot out there that has no use at present. Hopefully this will be fixed. But learn the lesson that has already been observed... Android Gears were dropping by the piles, but there was no use for them so they were TTd. Now their drop rate is so low that they command a 6200% markup on orders. The same thing can happen with other components that are dropping.

But what I am really writing about now is this: Look to the future. Based on what you know... What items do you feel are going to be valuable and needed perhaps by yourself or someone else? What weapons are cheap now but have the potential of going up a lot? I know L weapons make it a moot point... Being L, they are no longer items so much as they are commodities. A half condition Isis CB5 (L) at 250% is no different from a full condition Isis CB5 (L) at 200%. It's a commodity. It comes down to X gun is only worth about Y markup. Unlimited items and tools and weapons is where there is a lot of room for profits. For instance... No one in their right mind would hunt with a L weapon that costs 10K% MU. But... A UL weapon that is +5K peds... + 100K peds... If it is worth it to the person that has the money, and they want it bad enough, they can keep it as long as it suits them.

The message I am trying to put out to all of you is this:

You will probably not see ridiculous price increases especially in light of the bad economy and also with more planets, there being more competition between "brands", and what may be expensive from one planet's product line, the equivalent may be much cheaper from another planet, and people will always compare.  But there will still be a few items of which only a few will ever exist, and these, if you can get them early enough, and hang on to them, there is profit to be had.

But when looking at items, always bear in mind that all as it is now, shall not forever remain. Those items you refused to hold onto might be a small gold mine some day like those Android Gears... Or... Maybe that 800% ore will turn to TT food as has happened before too. But at TT prices, one can only go up!

Also... I speak this last paragraph from my own experience... If you are doing so badly that you find yourself TTing things you wouldnt have dreamt of TTing... It's too late and your luck is too bad for that few peds to save you. Rather, you should find other sources of peds, that those items will be of more value to you later than now.

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 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.

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.