Tuesday 24 June 2014

Ship Fits - Fast Transport Vigils

As mentioned in yesterday's comments, here's that "better than a shuttle for fast transport" 2 second align Vigil fit I promised.

[Vigil - Fast Transport]

Inertia Stabilizers II
Inertia Stabilizers II

Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array

[Empty High slot]
[Empty High slot]

Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I

Stats with all Vs in relevant skills are:

594 / 3978 m/s speed (MWD off / on)
1.99 / 2.91 second align time (MWD off / on)
5 Au/s warp speed
250 m3 cargo capacity

Cost about 4 million ISK

Note the cap chargers are to get maximum use out of the MWD. IMO the best defense in a ship like this is speed so might as well optimize for more time at maximum speed rather than trying to tank it.

Or maybe you'd prefer a 3 second align fit with better normal and warp speed like this:

[Vigil - Light Transport]

Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Overdrive Injector System II

Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array

[Empty High slot]
[Empty High slot]

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

624 / 4324 m/s (MWD off / on) speed
2.74 / 4.01 align time (MWD off / on)
7.85 Au/s warp speed
200 m3 cargo capacity

cost about 3 million ISK

Notes:

1. All stats are with all Vs in relevant skills.
2. The first fit requires high agility skills to get align time under 2 seconds.
3. For low skills alts the 2nd fit with another nano replacing the overdrive works great.
4. The cap rechargers are particularly good for alts with low cap skills, especially if they don't have Warp Drive Operation V yet.

Monday 23 June 2014

The Missing Link - A New Hauler

One thing I've always felt was missing since very early in my Eve career is a small, fast and agile T1 industrial ship (one for each race) that new characters can get into quickly. It wouldn't need a whole lot of cargo space, basically a T1 ship quite similar to Blockade Runners but without the ability to use covert cloaks or covert cynos and lower resists (T1 resists that is, BRs have T2 resists).

I'd give it 1 high slot, 3 or 4 mids and 2 lows. Base speed, warp speed and alignment time would all be close to Blockade Runners but not quite as good.

Around 300 m/s base speed, 2400-2500 m/s when fit for high speed with MWD, speed mods and Vs in all relevant skills (BRs can easily hit 2700 m/s).

5-6 Au base warp speed and 8-9 Au with 3x HVO-I rigs. BRs are 7.5 Au base with Transport Ships V and no HV0s (10.5 Au with 2x HVO-I).

Under 4 second align time with nanos and/or polycarbons fit but impossible to get under 3 seconds even with perfect skills and all agility modules. BRs can get under 3 seconds.

For cargo capacity 2-3k m3 base and no more than 10k when fit for max cargo would be plenty. All BRs can be fit for over 10k cargo now.

Then there's the question of tank and the big, contentious question of whether or not it's cargo should be unscannable like BRs too.

If like with BRs it's cargo cannot be scanned then it's tank should be about the same as a BR's too. Give it 3 mids, 2 lows and about the same PG and CPU as a BR. Due to having lower T1 resists than a BR's T2 resists that should put it's tank at a bit worse than a BR's even if the extra rig slot is used for tank.

If it's cargo can be scanned then it's tank should be a fair bit better than a BR's. Give it somewhat more PG and CPU, just enough to fit both a MWD and an LSE without compromising the rest of the fit and maybe a 4th mid or 3rd low (depending on racial tank preference).

I'd prefer that it can be cargo scanned. The lack of cargo scan immunity would give players another good reason (besides the covert cloak) to upgrade from this ship into a BR eventually. Besides that, as a T1 ship it's going to be much cheaper than a BR and a lot easier to get into, if it was unscannable too everyone would get one.

[Missing Link - Basic fit]

Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Improved Cloaking Device II

Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

2500 m/s with MWD on (350ish with it off)
9 Au warp speed
3.98 sec align
15k EHP (Omni)
2.5k m3 cargo capacity

I've talked about this in chat a couple times. A lot of players seem to think a Sigil already fits the bill. The thing is it doesn't.

Even when fit for speed a Sigil's normal space speed is still only about half that of a BR. Way too slow.
It's warp speed is only 4.5 Au base and 7.06 Au with 3x HVO-Is. Not bad but still not fast enough.
It can't get under 4 second alignment time either. That simply doesn't cut it.

A Sigil also has 4 mids, 6 lows and 3 rigs. That's quite a few more slots than a BR and it has quite a bit more PG and CPU to go with all those slots too. Consequently it can be fit for far more cargo capacity and/or far more tank. In other words, it's simply too big, too tanky and not fast enough.

What do you think, would you use this ship if it existed?

Sunday 15 June 2014

Regional Transport Example

Double post today, here's a link to the first post How Rich is Rich

This is just a quick post to give an example of the cargo I typically carry around on runs between regions.



Basically I fly regional milk runs picking up everything worth picking up (generally any station with over 40 million worth of stock is worth it) and gather everything up on the station that serves as my base of operations in the region. Then I post anything worth posting locally and let the rest pile up until it either is worth posting or there's enough to make it worth sending off to another region.

Whenever I have a couple billion or more worth of overstock in one region I contract it to a character in a neighboring region. I log the neighbor in, fly out, pick it up and bring it back to his region. Then I do the milk run in that region, post whatever's worth posting there and contract whatever's left over to the next neighbor.

Rinse and repeat until I either don't have time to do anymore or there's not enough stuff left to bother moving on to the next region.

I don't do this on all characters every day, it usually takes a week or more to go through most of my characters, getting stuff moved around and posted. The bigger I get the more time it takes to get everything done so I'm constantly changing things to make the entire process more efficient and get more effective use of my time.

Oh... And of course I changed the name of the ship before taking the screenshot then changed it back again after.

How Rich is Rich

I had a short but interesting conversation in game last night. A few guys in a starter corps were talking about how rich they were with amounts like 2 billion, 500 million etc. There was a little talk about whether the best way to make ISK was missioning or mining.

I resisted mentioning how rich I am at first because it would probably come across as bragging and they might not even believe me. But as the conversation went on I just couldn't resist anymore. I told them I'm worth 628 billion, should break 650 within a month and I made it all trading.

Someone commented about how many hours it took him to make 2 billion missioning and mining. He said there's no way he could spend the time it would take to make 600 billion. I said I only spend an hour or 2 a day trading.

One guy called me a liar stating that 600 billion would put me at number 7 on the list of the richest players in Eve. I responded with an "I don't think so" and went on to explain that most players don't have all their money on a single character and not all of it is even in ISK in the first place. IOW, how wealthy a single player is simply cannot be determined by how much ISK a single character of his has.

For example, I said, I have 30 characters, nearly half my net worth is in assets for sale, another 130 billion or so is in escrow, leaving only about 200 billion in wallet cash spread out across all 30 characters.

He called me liar again, saying there's no way I could have 30 characters and only spend 2 hours a day because it would take at least an hour just to log onto them all. I asked him "What makes you think I do log onto all of them every day?"

Never did get an answer to that.

I slapped up a link to last month's Financial Report but the conversation died after that. Obviously at least one guy didn't believe me, thought I was lying and making it all up.

I half expected not to be believed in the first place but the point that really stuck out for me is how he thought 600 billion would make me one of the very richest players in the game. I don't think I'm anywhere near the top 10, not even close. From indications I see on the market I believe there are quite a few players a lot richer than I am. I'm fairly certain there are more trillionaires than most players would believe and quite a few multi-trillionaires but I really don't know just how rich the very richest players are or just how many of them there are. All I can be sure of is they're a lot richer than I am.

So my questions are:

How rich is rich? Really rich that is, not just comfortably wealthy compared to the average player.

and

Just how rich are the very richest players in the game?

Sunday 8 June 2014

Large Markups

I'm always saying how I normally don't price gouge and markup items too high. For the most part, I usually sell things at under 20% profit margin and often much less than that. However, sometimes I go for the big markup too, especially if there isn't much competition (or no competition at all).

For example:


According to the tooltip above, these normally go for a little more than 4 million ISK each and I got a 5 stack for 4 million each. Since I've never seen anyone selling them in the region I decided to put them up for 45 million each (more than 10x what I paid for them) and see what happened.


A bit less than a week later one sold, paying for the entire 5 stack more than twice over.

Someone else was buying them too at first, a cut war with him is why I paid so much for them in the first place. That competition is gone now though, for the time being I have the entire regional market on both buy and sell orders to myself with no competition.

Maybe I'll sell a few more before new competition sprouts up and maybe not. Regardless, I've already bought 15 for 60 million and recouped 45 million on a single sale, leaving only 15 million more needed to cover the cost of them all and I still have 14 left to sell. It's unlikely I'll manage to sell very many at that kind of profit but I can probably get more than 5 million each (maybe a lot more) and I'll still wind up with a pretty decent profit on the lot in the end.

Thursday 5 June 2014

Tengu Electronics - Cargo Obfuscation

Just a crazy thought I had recently... A new T3 subsystems module.

Tengu Electronics - Cargo Obfuscation (aka Tear Harvester)

This subsystem adds a 3000 m3 cargo hold protected by specialized nano electronics components integrated into the very structure of the cargo hold walls which prevent the viewing of it's contents. When installed into a Tech III vessel, the electronics components resonate with scanning signals causing extreme interference feedback loops, disrupting signals and rendering them unintelligible.

Subsystem Skill Bonus:
5% bonus to cargo capacity per level.

Notes: Immune to all cargo scanners

Imagine the tears that could be harvested with this module equipped along with a Covert Reconfiguration module and an Inderdiction Nullifier. Gankers, griefers and gate campers everywhere would be screaming, ranting, raving, crying, stomping their feet, and rage quiting.

Naturally there would be similar modules for the other T3s too.

Sounds like a lot of fun! Doesn't it?

Wednesday 4 June 2014

Prowler Fits for Kronos Changes

Kronos is out and Blockade Runners have been rebalanced. I'm happy with the changes to Prowlers, overall it's a pretty nice buff. The biggest change to Prowlers is the addition of an extra low slot which gives the ship a lot more fitting flexibility.

I've been trying out various different fittings in Pyfa since last night, here's what I came up with.

All alignment times are with MWD off.
All tanks are omni tank.

[Prowler - Basic fit]


Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Covert Cynosural Field Generator I

Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

This fit is basically my old Prowler fit with a 2nd nano added to the lows and polycarbon rigs replaced with Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizers. It easily gets under 4 second alignment time, even with low skills alts now. Even with relatively low skilled alts, there's no longer any need for Polycarbons to get alignment time under 4 secs. Hyperspatials put warp speed up to 10.6 Au/s (assuming all Vs in relevant skills) without implants or 12.5 Au/s with a WS-618 implant (13.5 au/s with HVO IIs). With full T2 resists now tank is a fair bit better too, at 17.1k with Invulns and DC active and 9.26k with them inactive. It has 4.38k m3 cargo space, a bit better than before.

BTW, with Transports Ships IV, the warp speed is 10.1 Au/s.

If you want a little more tank and don't mind losing ~3 au warp speed you can always swap out the Hyperspatials for CDFE Is increasing tank to 10.4k / 19.9k.

Overall, it's faster (both warp speed and normal space speed), aligns quicker, has better tank and even has a bit more cargo space than the pre Kronos Prowler. I also noticed cap performance seems somewhat better too.

Note the Covert Cyno is optional, you don't really need it, it could easily be replaced with something else (a Sisters Core Probe Launcher for example) or just left empty (as I usually do). Also the fitting might be too tight for low skills alts with the cyno but no problem without it.

The above is probably the fit I'll wind up going with but the fitting flexibility gained with that extra low opens up some interesting new possibilities. For example a fit with under 3 second alignment time which was not possible with the old pre Kronos Prowler.

[Prowler - 3 sec align]


Inertia Stabilizers II
Inertia Stabilizers II
Inertia Stabilizers II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Sisters Core Probe Launcher

Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

This fit keeps the warp speed but trades some tank and normal space speed for a 3 second alignment time. Though I don't travel into low/null much anymore, that 1 second lower align time might be useful for those who do. The tank is lower too (14k with invulns active, 10k with them off) but with T2 resists now it's still slightly better than my old Prowler fit. Again you can always trade off some warp speed for a bit more tank (roughly 2.5k more with modules active) by replacing the Hyperspatials with CDFEs.

Then there's a fairly hefty active buffer tank fit.

[Prowler - Brick Fit]


Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
[Empty High slot]

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

This one trades the MWD for heavy tank with an LSE and 2 CDFEs. It has 41.8k EHP with active mods on and CDFE Is (44.8k with CDFE IIs) and still has an alignment time well under 4 seconds.

You could always dual tank it, trading one of the nanos for a 400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates and increase the tank to 49k (with CDFE IIs) but your align time would be over 4 seconds and IMO that's not worth the tradeoff (IOW, dual tanking is bad).

Finally though I normally shun cargo mods because I really don't need that much cargo space normally and alignment time is very important to me, there is one new cargo fit I find intriguing.

[Prowler - Cargo 6.41k (4 sec align)]


Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Expanded Cargohold II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Covert Cynosural Field Generator I

Medium Cargohold Optimization I
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I

I do buy a number of frigate and cruiser hulls. With under 5k cargo I can only pick up a single frigate and nothing bigger. This fit with 6.41 cargo capacity can carry 2 frigates or a single T3 strategic cruiser and still has an align time under 4 seconds.

By swapping in 2 more Expanded Cargohold IIs it gets 10.4k cargo, enough to carry 4 frigates, 2 T3s or a single T1 Cruiser with enough left over for the usual skillbooks, mods and implants I'm always moving around.

For 5k cargo, you don't really need the Cargohold Optimization rig (it breaks 5k without the rig) but the rig is essential to break 10k. Of course alignment time goes up without the nano but it's still under 5 seconds which isn't terrible.

That extra low really does give the Prowler a whole lot more flexibility. Besides these fits many perfectly good variations on them are possible now. They can easily be tweaked for a little more of one stat at the cost of a little less of another stat.

Tuesday 3 June 2014

Pyfa 1.2.0 for Kronos Released

Pyfa version 1.2.0 for Kronos is out now with all the updated stats for Freighters, Jump Freighters, Blockade Runners, etc.

Download here

I've just started playing around with it now. That extra low slot on the Prowler gives a lot of flexibility. It makes some very interesting new fits possible, like a MWD fit with under 3 second align time (with MWD off) and over 10 Au warp speed, or a fit with 44k active buffer tank and 4 sec align time (but no prop mod).

More on Prowler fits later, for now I just wanted to let everyone know the new Pyfa is available!

Sunday 1 June 2014

Financial Report - May 2014

Financial report for the month of May 2014 (last month). Trade oriented since trading is how I make virtually all of my ISK.

I buy and sell faction/deadspace/officer mods, ships, skill-books and implants with traders covering all 5 main trade hubs (Jita, Amarr, Dodixie,  Hek and Rens) plus secondary hubs in most other empire regions. I have 24 active traders, 3 on Jita (one each for mods, implants and skillbooks), 2 in another region, another 19 each covering a different region and a couple spare traders that are not actively trading.

In May, I made a profit of 54 billion after expenses (about 65 billion before expenses). That's a new monthly record for me!



Current net worth is 598 billion with roughly half in cash and market escrow. Most of the rest is in sell orders and recently acquired assets I haven't gotten around to posting for sale yet. Very little is in assets I don't intend to sell soon, with maybe 4 billion worth of ships and fittings I keep for my own use.