HELL! 2.5% TAX RATE! TAKE ADVANTAGE WHILE YOU CAN!

I finally spent a great deal of time hunting in hell, which, now currently as of this writing has a 2.5% tax rate! This is unprecedented! It has got to be the lowest rate anywhere in Entropia for mining and hunting.

I chatted with Neverdie and he said he wants to raise the taxes back to 5% at some point. I don't know when or if it will happen, but if you want to see taxes remain low in Hell, now is the chance to show him that having a low tax rate works!

Publicity Stunt? Or did something really happen?

This on the Rocktropia Launcher after the fresh update... Not sure what to make of it. Read for yourself and see what you think.

http://rocktropia.com/news/2013/06/19/neverdie-is-dead-long-live-tutankhamun/

If I figure anything out of course I will update and revise this posting.

ROCKTROPIA: Why I Recommend Crafting Here

The blueprints that drop are going to be related to the planet on which you are crafting. Rocktropia has not had very many blueprints drop. It is my opinion that Rocktropia has had WAY less new blueprints drop than on any other planet, and all that hunting loot eventually will be used in something. The only way to discover these prints, is to craft on Rocktropia. I know, it is still a long shot, but... The odds are better given the low number of crafters here.

The main opportunity I see is, so far, the items are proving superior to their counterparts from other planets because of their ingredients required to produce, versus their efficiency. For example... The D Class mining amplifier on Rocktropia, is equivalent to a Level 8 from Calypso. But the TT cost per click is only a third of that of the Level 8. Though you will have quite expensive markup trying to get the parts, but it STILL comes out cheaper than the Caly version. Though it is quite possible that your successes will have a lower TT value, therefore increasing the amount of residue needed, but no big deal right? Have you tried buying a level 8? I'd much rather pay for the residue to make a full TT D class... But the other side of the coin is, the description suggests that the D class MIGHT only work on Hell and Rocktropia, but I have not confirmed this.

If you can get a high value item print to drop, and if you have the peds, you can capitalize on it quite nicely before it becomes wide spread.

I further advise crafting at locations other than Lagoon, several people have reported crap luck there including myself. I do best crafting in Hell or on Studio Street at the old club. Good luck!

January 2012: Review of the Planets

Well.. I got to thinking about the various planets and how a person might decide just one to start on. Without having already played, who's to know which planet is best for you? So, I thought I would write a general post covering each of the planets and what they have to offer. I am trying to be as objective and unbiased as possible. I have no vested interest in Calypso, Rocktropia, or Arkadia. I am not their investor, or otherwise affiliated with them. I don't even own Calypso Land Deeds. I am however a qualified and experienced Speech and Interview judge, so I am used to judging what I see in a fair manner.

Calypso:
Features: The flagship planet of the Entropia Universe. Has the strongest most developed economy, the largest population. In general, most of the professions do well here. However, I have decided to rank the planets according to what they seem geared best for.
Crafting: 10/10 (Widest access to materials, and markets for your crafted goods.)
Hunting: 9/10 (Largest variety of mobs, from noob to uber, but item drop rates suck)
Mining: 8/10 (Could be better, could be worse, but is perhaps the most balanced, and has best market for selling your ores and enmatters.)
Quests: 2/10 (Unless you do the 10K Bronze, the quest rewards suck)
Noob Friendly: 5/10 (It is hard to start as a noob here, you can't own the oil rig, sweat prices are depressed, the quests don't give you anything but nova and blazar fragments unless you spend a lot doing them. In short, deposit, or die of boredom.)

ROCKtropia:
Features: Rock and Roll themed planet. Large variety of easy mobs for beginners. Large variety of uber mobs for ubers. Ores and Enmatters that are specific only to this planet. Large array of rewarding and fairly easy quests. Is home to HELL and Artic.
Crafting: 5/10 (Many materials hard to come by for doing larger runs. Poor market for reselling your crafted goods unless you own a shop or stand in lagoon advertising all day, seems a lot of people here don't know how to use the Auction house.)
Hunting: 9/10 (Noob mobs are SUPER easy, some of the tough mobs are super easy too, but some of the tough mobs are uber tough. Why I give it 9/10 is hunting loot markups, large variety of super easy to super tough mobs, and in general, I get literally 5 to 10 times the items I've ever looted on Calypso.)
Mining: 8/10 (I only give it 8 because of lack of sustainable demand for mined resources. It can be quite a challenge selling your ores fast. I wanted to give it a 10 because deposits are shallow and easily hit with shallow finders, and THERE IS NO COST TO GO TO HELL unlike trying to get to F.O.M.A.)
Quests: 10/10 (Some of the mission chains are still in their infancy, however, of the ones in existence, there is actually TT value on the rewards! You don't get novas and blazars... You get high markup goodies! The Thing gives you 50 pec TT helicopter and 50 pec TT truck, and couple peds in weapons faps and ammo! RT quests give you gold coin worth 5K% to 25K% MU (5 peds to 25 peds per K), Rocktropia Records (10 to the pec) And items that help you gain other quests, like police badge and radio which together are worth like 20 peds mu. When I first arrived, it took me a week to do all the beginner quests to familiarize myself with the place before I even really did any ped spending!)
Noob Friendly: 10/10 (The people here are VERY friendly and helpful. The quests are SUPER easy for non depositing noobs especially the Artic The Thing quest, and a lot of the beginning mobs drop good loot for being one shot opalo mobs. Sweating might be tougher, but sweat is about a ped or two per K higher than on Caly)

Arkadia:
Features: Well... In my opinion, they are a LONG ways from reaching my satisfaction. They have FAILED thus far to bring out Treasure Hunting. They had claimed I believe last August to have it implemented, but NOPE. And this is what everyone was waiting for!
Crafting: 7/10 (I only put it at 7 because many of the prints require a huge number of different ingredients making it a nightmare to try and click them, However the Auction seems to be a slight bit stronger here for selling crafted items than on Rocktropia.)
Hunting: 5/10 (Well... I figure 5 was low enough, it is a failing grade. You have to be pretty uber to hunt even the low level mobs any more... And the loot is astonishingly crappy. It's not just my own experience, but failing treasure hunting, I know several people who refuse to go back to Arkadia until everything is as promised. I have no idea what they expect you to hunt here as a total noob. The Tiarak are about the only mob I can kill.)
Mining: 6/10 (It started out great mining here to be quite honest. But hit rates are way down now, if I wanted 1 in 10 bombs to hit, I'd go to Hell where sure, 1 in 10 is a very good ratio when you are talking X's and higher! Also, there isn't the best market for trying to sell your ores either, and I havn't seen enough traders when I've needed them.)
Quests: ?/10 (I don't think I have even found a mission broker here but I haven't looked for them either, so I can't really comment on this part of it.)
Noob Friendly: 5/10 (I just don't see the great opportunities that Rocktropia, or even Calypso have to offer. Lacking totally noob mobs for the noobs, I have no choice but to give it a low rating. I may be wrong, I am not an Ark expert, but this is what I see.)

Next Island:
I have only been to Next Island once, and never returned. It is definitely more noob friendly than Arkadia and maybe even Calypso, but there's nothing really spectacular here as far as I am concerned. I really am not in a position to make any comments regarding the game play here since for me it's nearly a year since I was there. I like to think it's came a long ways since they began. I am told though that Ancient Greece is good for cheap Melee skills! At the time I was there, loots were on par with Calypso for Mining, Hunting, wasn't maybe as good, but I am sure that's all changed.

As things improve or get worse over time, I will come back from time to time and update this listing for your benefit. This is mainly intended as a quick guide for you to look at your needs and wants, and possibly help you decide where you want to concentrate your energies. I mean, it's obvious. If all you want to do is craft, start on Calypso. This is just made as a tool that offers a second opinion where one is desired.  If the management of these properties that I have reviewed do not like my scores, then they should read and take heed... If Ark will ever introduce Treasure Hunting, I will probably give them 10/10! I mean seriously folks! Treasure hunting! A new concept, yet they are dragging their feet... It just doesn't make sense to me. They have a veritable gold mine within their grasp, but slowly the golden goose is dying and wasting away. Soon, Ark might be a ghost town. Rocktropia has a lot of work left to be done, but at least they are putting quality into it. Calypso, is booming and needs room to expand,  but this is why we need to get the other planets economies roaring to life, so that people have viable alternatives to go to. 

I wish you all luck, and if you are choosing which planet to begin on, give it some careful thought :-) And you don't have to just take my advice for it.
 

ROCKTROPIA: Things You Should Never TT

It is a challenge to be a crafter on Rocktropia. There is inadequate supply of materials unless at great expense because few people are using the auction house, and shopkeepers are not keeping enough supply of common necessities or their prices are so ridiculous you cannot do business with them. Further, a lot of you are TTing high markup loot because you can't find buyers...

Here's a list of things that you SHOULD NOT TT but rather list on AH or fill orders with because no only do you need the peds, but crafters need the items!

Silver Party Flasks - Average MU around 150 to 250%.
Silver Shakers - Average Orders 150 to 200%
Vixen Android Gears - Very low supply very high demand, Average MU 6K% on orders.
ROCKtropia Gold Coins - Valued at 10 pecs for 100, MU is around 5K to 10K% (10 peds per K)
Rocktropia Records - 10 pecs per hundred as well, MU has been 500%, and is needed for Creative Juice.
ORES... You should never TT any ores in high demand, such as Gazzurdite and Alternative. Traders are somewhat common and anywhere there is a large group of people at least ask if they need any of your ores, someone I am sure will buy. I know it is going to take time to develop the economy on Rocktropia, but it will thrive soon enough.

IF YOU HAVE TRANSPORTATION TO CALY THAT IS SAFE:

You should stockpile Basic Target Assessment Units, they drop by the bushel on Rocktropia, and command a great markup on Calypso, usually a lot of orders for them on AH too.

Mindforce chips are also perhaps something worth taking back to caly. I never get them to drop for me on Caly, but here on RT, I get several a day without fail no matter how small a hunting run I do.

Regardless of what you have, you should always check orders on auction house especially if it something you are wanting to TT. The only way things will boom is if people can get the materials they need and put few extra peds into your pocket as well.

ROCKTROPIA: Loot and Opportunity

There are a lot of materials in very high demand but very low supply... Auction house is full of high markup listings... 6000% MU for Vixen Gears... 500% MU for rocktropia records... 180% for Silver Shakers...

A lot of things that I loot I hold onto because it will be far too costly to get them the day when I ned them. But out of desparation for peds... I've listed maybe 15 peds TT of loot i've saved... Well... With MU I am looking at about 70 or 80 peds!

The big items drop more frequently on Rocktropia than on Calypso in my opinion. But the little things like components and materials don't loot so much. But on calypso... I've hunted a whole week and never had a loot over 10 peds. On Rocktropia, I have at least one 25 or 35 ped loot a day, and mostly all are easy mobs, at least if you stick below level 15.

The droprates on items may be changd, who knows...  But prices are up, so if you can take advantage of this, it would be wise to do so.

ROCKTROPIA: Mining Advice

First... I am going to reconfirm what I already posted about the arctic:

All I can hit there is Oil and Lysterium, but there is such a high density of it all over the place that I'd say if you need lyst or oil, is safe to go there and drop a few probes! And there is a crafting terminal on the great big building next to the one with the hole in the floor that you drop down to hunt Things. I only say this because Lyst and Oil makes Standard Dampers and Basic Filters, and I have had great results crafting in the Arctic.

Second...

I average 1 hit for every 10 drops in Hell. And the smallest claim I get for Ore is a IX, and smallest for EnMatter is VII. I am working on bringing you a comprehensive list of ores in each Hell Mine, as well as the mobs in each one and what their levels are. The hofs and globals seem to be very deep here, with my 105 I was able to hit a blausariam global at about 1100M depth, and my depth enhancers only took me down to 600m. So I got lucky I think.

And Last:

Rocktropia ores and enmatters are incredibly shallow. All my big claims on the surface are between 200 and 600m. So while the Demonic Dector is a Hell blueprint, it doesn't work for crap in Hell, I surmise it might work good on enmatters there, but certainly not so great on ores. On the surface however, yes. You are going to do well with it, and it is pretty easy to craft requiring only Lysterium and Alternative.

But I Surmise that the Z5 and Z10 finders will work great, as will the 103's and 104's. I would love to try an F-211 or a eMine... With what I've seen so far, an F-211 might produce some awesome results! But this is mere speculation.

If you want some great areas with what seems to be high density of Alternative, I will reveal a couple of my choice locations: East of City of Dreams... The stadium construction site... And East and South of Mulholland Way TP.

I have hit Frigulite, Garcen, and Blues at the Construction site... I have hit Melchi and Lytarian along with the Alternative and Lysterium and Blues over by Mulholland. I have even hit Dianthus east of CoD.

FURTHER NOTES:

If you can't hit within the first 3 bombs, go to another area if you aren't seeing skill gains. If seeing skill gains, try a few more and then move if nothing.

If you are getting double and triple skill gains with a single drop, it means you are at the right depth for hitting what is there. 90% of the time I will usually global if I get double and triple gains, on the same finder that I got those gains.

Beware that the game is dynamic, which means everything is a variable and the system changes to fit those variables. I.E. It can't know where we will be mining or what we will be spending, but it can know where to put loot and what to put there for loot. I am beginning to understand more about how the claims spawn. There are certain mobs for instance, that won't respawn unless you kill all of them. Once the last one is killed, then they respawn. Since programmers like to recycle code to save production costs and time, I like to think of Mobs as claims but we don't know if they have loot or not. It is forseeable that before an area will spawn new ore deposits, all existing ones must be hit, or else it will automatically respawn and redistribute them every night during whats known as Lagoclock, since unless you are in a dome, it is unlikely every claim in a given area will be hit.

And if you are having bad luck mining still.. One more place I recommend trying is near London Blockade.

Also, Some days I hit better with combo drops, others, just doing ore or just doing enmatter. If you are doing something and it isn't working, change, and you will get different results, not necessarily better or worse, but different.

Hope this bit of information helps and will tide you over until I can provide something a bit more substantial..

There is quite a bit of info that I have not shared with you and will not until I feel the time is appropriate. A lot of what I have I am still verifying and doing more research.

If any of you wish to contact me or add me to your friends list, feel free to use the Player Register I posted about earlier inside the Entropia Universe and search for Goldbaron Goldbaron357 Maximus. I will be glad to chat with my readers when I am online. I'd like to hear what you think and it would be great if you tell me anything you want to see me to add to this blog. It can be tough writing, because some days you just don't have any ideas, and others, like today, you are clacking away at full speed on a keyboard trying to write everything before you go insane and forget it all!

Rocktropia: Motorhead Keg (RT Version of Oil Rig)

Yes, I can confirm now that there is a Rocktropian version of the Oil Rig... However, since it is relatively low stakes as of late, there are no armed conflicts and blazing tank guns here. However, if you are satisfied with picking up a few pecs here and a few pecs there, it might be an interesting visit for you to make to the Keg.

I do want to point out that the zone is PVP, but non lootable PVP. And you revive far away IF someone were to kill you. But seriously, if they take even one shot at you it costs them a few minutes of keg collecting to pay for the ammo they just wasted.

Do Kegs have use? I'd say some blueprints have used them because there is some 60 peds having been sold in the history of Rocktropia at a MU of about 600%. Of course there is no weekly or daily MU, perhaps even monthly either. So they clearly aren't as of yet in high demand. But that might change in a year or two.

The Kegs weigh 1 kilogram a piece, and TT value is 1 pec. They are dropped every few minutes by the Keg in stacks of 1 or 2. The stacks may get bigger as people start spending more peds fighting for them. Is only my speculation but I surmise the more peds spent in the Keg zone, the bigger the keg stacks will be and the more that will be spawned. Only time will tell if I am correct.

I am only posting this for the sake of completeness in my blog. Most of you would rather deposit 10 bucks and have 100 peds to run around doing stuff with, I mean, it would take a long long time of running around picking up these kegs to get 100 peds :P

I suppose I am addicted to picking them up simply because the Oil rig has been denied to me so many years, I've never, not even pre vu 10 have picked up any oil even once. The Keg seems to be fair game for everyone, and it is a good feeling to finally get a turn at something like this. But if you are broke and can't deposit, it is still faster than sweating :-)

The Keg can be found at 126460, 92245.. these coords are right along side the Keg, so yeah... Good luck and have fun!

ROCKTROPIA: My Observations

I have spent quite a bit of time on Rocktropia now... And I am very pleased with it there. There are a lot more quests, and the quests are more rewarding than those on Calypso. Instead of Nova and Blazars, they give you things that actually have TT value, or things that lead to more valuable quests. And the quests themselves are not impossible, though it seems getting some of them to trigger is just about impossible.

Things to remember when doing quests:
If you must find an item for a character, lots of times it must be looted.
If you accidentally cancel a quest, some of them are almost impossible to get back because of how the system is structured.
The quests are location specific. If you get a Quest in city of dreams to kill trolls, killing trolls near say the Hyperplex won't count for your totals.

This is going to be a lot of just general information... More specific things coming soon such as what mines in hell have what ores and matters for instance.

The mobs are looting better and more often than I have seen personally on Calypso... It would seem that Rocktropia is geared more towards building a satisfied following of players than fleecing the flock and treating them like gamblers as Calypso tends to do... So safe to say I feel Rocktropia is under better management. I want to also note, that when Neverdie still owned the asteroid, my loots were never crappy. I mean, I would always hit say 5 or 10 claims in a hundred bombs. After Foma took over, I was lucky to hit one in 200 amped or not. And its not surprising now that I am getting good loots in Hell and RT. I might permanently move to rocktropia, who knows... But one things for sure, the mobs sure look a hell of a lot better :D

What I don't like about mining on Rocktropia is, just a small amount of Rocktropia ores is an immense amount of weight, so the only solution to mining for extended periods of time, is simply to build up your strength using Melee weapons so you can carry more.

When visiting Hunt The Thing, or the Arctic as it is known... You can mine, but bombs can't be bought there if memory serves correctly... So you will have to bring some with you. Only stuff I've hit there is Oil and Lyst, though when you get to the refueling base where you engage The Things, there is a construction terminal next to the supply shed on the bigger building. My crafting has been lucky there in the arctic.

Also, I want to point out, that the shotgun from the Arctic is very cheap and effective against the Rocktropia mobs, mostly. But for the bigger mobs, you want a bigger shotgun!

I am going to call it good for now, but I will be bringing you a great deal of new information that is specific to various issues within the coming days. Happy 2012 to all of you!

ROCKTROPIA: How To Get The Cell Phone

Please see the post that came before this for getting your CND pass... This one deals with getting your cell phone.

You have to talk to Frankie on the top patio walkway. You then have to talk to one of the gals dancing on Level 2, forget her name. Actually you might want to talk to her first since it seems to start the cell phone quest. Then, you have to talk to Trey up on level 3 in the lounge. He gives you a tour of the town you must go to the waypoints. Once thats completed, you return to him. Then he will invite you to go up and talk to the DJ. You talk to the DJ, he will give you a cell phone.

It took a bit of time, but was simple. I still not know what use the Phone will be though... But that is how you get it.

Also, you need to get your pass or you will die when you go places.

My First Visit To Rocktropia!!! New Visitor Tips!

Rocktropia is awesome in my opinion! Seems like there is so much more to do, and the environment is more fun... Well, atmosphere is the word I think. I don't recommend it for anyone on dialup since even high speed wireless seems to be giving me enough lag as it is... Perhaps a good graphics card will make the difference on that.

But there are some things I didn't know that I just learned, and I wanted to post them here :-)

OK...

FIRST! I landed on the top patio for the club neverdie in the city of dreams. Now, yes, the bouncer kicked my butt and I died because I didn't have the pass. But I got to talk to Frankie Headstone up on the top somewhere outside the club. I can't really specify his exact location, but he's up there. If you talk to him, he will give you a free baseball bat worth 1 Ped TT. My friends who been there before didn't know that and didn't get theirs. So I wanted to let you all know.

SECOND: I didn't know I was going to rocktropia today... And I thought there was a CND pass on Calypso auction, I figured eh, I will bid a few peds, thinking it was a good deal. Heh... LOL... No. You get them free at the club on Rocktropia. But it took me forever to figure out how to get the pass.

You have to go to the bottom level, walk outside the club, and there are two people at the entrance, NPC's, and more NPC's making a line to get in. You have to talk to Trinity, and she will add you to the guest list and then Bulldog will give you a pass when you talk to him. This will prevent you from dying from being where you aren';t supposed to go.

I will continue to blog my tips and experiences here on the Rock until I leave maybe tomorrow back for Caly.

AND A REMINDER: DO NOT attempt the journey in a sleipneir with any cargo. I guarantee you the Sleipneir has a "Shoot Me, Loot Me" sign on the back of it!!! Dump all your ores and matters and resources into storage prior to travelling. And unless you have a warp capable ship, prepare to spend an hour or two in space.

MINING: Arkadia / Rocktropia Ores / Enmatters Average Depths!

I promised it, and here it is! Again compiled from stats found at www.mininglog.com... No, i'm not affiliated with them in anyway, just their method of collecting data allows for relative accuracy over the long run, and is as scientific as one can get in Entropia.

Along with the Calypso average depths posted here for ores and enmatters in earlier posts,

Here are the remaining average depths for any exclusive ores and enmats to Rocktropia and Arkadia.

ORES:
-----------------------------------
Alternative Rock ~413
Banite Stones ~597
Blues Rock ~310
Folk Rock ~468
Glam Rock ~704
Grunge Rock ~398
Hard Rock ~1052
Hebredite Stones ~748
Jazz Rock ~646
Kaz Stones ~935
Lidacon Stones ~846
Ospra Stones ~447
Punk Rock ~547
Telfium Stones ~678
Veda Stones ~433
Wenrex Stones ~644
Yulerium Stones ~650
Zulax Stones ~738
------------------------------

Enmatters:
------------------------------
Florican Mist ~576
Hurricane Cocktail ~884
Hydrogen Steam ~656
Mai Tai ~478
Pel Crystals ~756
Pina Colada ~373
Quil Sap ~580
Somin Tar ~498
Star Particles ~817
Vorn Pellets ~802
Xelo Haze ~685
Zolphic Oil ~450

And that concludes the average depths for the Current Entropia Universe.

As more planets with more resources are added, I will do more posts to keep a list going here.

I am not familiar with planet specific finders... However, a safe bet is to use eMine or F-105's for finding most everything...  But if you can use the super high level finders and afford them, by all means go that route. The main thing is, target the average depth of that which you are seeking, and you will more likely find it if you are in the right place for that resource to be found.

Good luck and happy prospecting!

Entropia: Helpful Links You Should Know

I have ran into a lot of Entropians who still don't know a lot of the best places to get information they need. A lot of things in Entropia Universe seem to have a high degree of confusion, such as how big of a skill implant do you need to cash out 2500 skill points? Or, how big of an implant do you need to go from 2000 prospecting to 3500 prospecting? Then you have times when you need to find out every possible item you can manufacture with the resources you have on hand.

A lot of things are learned by trial error, which for most Entropians is expensive to do, so fortunately there are those who have tried, and sacrificed, but have been nice enough to share their information and research with us all.

Because it is an important matter, I wish to share these useful resources so that you may have a more pleasant experience in Entropia.

http://www.entropedia.info/... A must visit. They have a full Wiki on everything. They have a database of all ores, enmatters, materials, blueprints, skills, every last thing you could need to look up can be found here. Even a complete list of mobs, and their common loots, and even where you can find them. They even have maps that you can select what you want to find, whether it be an ore, or a mob, and it will show you the reported areas on a map!

http://www.entropiabay.com/... Their numbers are off on markups, but other than that, is a free alternative to the auction house. And they have an inventory calculator, just copy and paste all your items from your account list when you log in at http://www.planetcalypso.com/ and it will tell you what your value is before and after markup.

http://www.entropiatracker.com/ is a must visit too.. They use Optical Character Recognition to provide real time global and hof stats. It tracks each item, each ore and enmatter, each mob, what globals and hofs they have had... Their average loots, highest loots, total for that day, the times they were hit. A lot of patterns can be studied and perhaps theories derived. But importantly, it tracks each persons hofs and globals, so it keeps a running record of everything you hit :)

http://www.entropiatools.com/numchips.php If you wish to ever chip out your skills, this tells you how many skills will fit on a certain TT value chip. If you have say, 5000 skills, and you wish to sell 2000 skills, you would go to the 2000 skills on the chart, and it would tell you the smallest chip you can use to hold 2000 skills would be 11.64 TT... The more skills on a chip, the disproportionately higher the TT value goes. Likewise, it tells you if you want to buy a 5,000 skill point chip, the TT value of implant to look for! I will make a post soon about how chipping works, so you can get the most out of it.

And last but not least, http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/ .

There are more great sites, but you can find their links within the pages I've given you. These are probably the most important of them.

Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!!!