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!