Day 4: 30 Day Market Challenge

Results: Good day, inventory is almost nil, orders moved around nicely later in the day.  I had to unload some items due to annoying price swings, so I spun the wheels in place a few times, but overall things are looking good and my range of modules is starting to spread out a bit.  We’ll see if I can keep this level up.  So far I  have been roughly doubling my isk, after the first day. As a side note, at this point I am beating Beamer $94 mil to $6.6 mil.  I wish he was around so we could compare notes… (Update: Beamer started with $473.47 isk, so that last comment may not have been fair.)

Blobs: An Aesthetic Quandry

Go take a look at this fleet. I lifted that link from Corelin, and he nicely summed up the gameplay implications that fleet represents, so I don’t need to go there.  But I have a few more examples:  Found here.  Found here.   Found here. The theme, if you hadn’t guessed, was how godawful massive fleets look in big space fights.  Compare that to this: Notice the difference in the fleets?  I think this is something that, long term, could use some love.  Not necessarily now, but some sort of fleet formation component to Eve could make this look a lot nicer, and make AARs look a lot nicer than the current pile of crazy ships all sitting in space looking confused and ready to smash into each other. That’s all, just a random thought about blobs that has nothing to do with the actual mechanics, and everything to do with the visual presentation.

Day 3: 30 Day Market Challenge

Results: Doing ok, since I didn’t pay much attention today as compared to previous.  Apparently a bit of patience is a virtue.  Still working on balancing margins and quantity.   I also am starting to notice weird behaviors and trying to figure them out.  For example when a high margin exists and then a player puts up a sell for a few isk over the highest buy order.  Obviously this is not because that .01 isk matters…  Some sort of manipulation I do not understand.  I’m also learning the value of not overbuying one item when the margin looks nice.  That can backfire, although I have not lost money yet.

Day 2: 30 Day Market Challenge

Results for Day 2: There you have it.  Results are little less than I wanted, as I have a lot of inventory as of writing time.  I’ve been going for low quantity, fast turn over, but that slowed down in the afternoon.  The .01 iskers are killing me this afternoon…  I got into some nice margins items, but the competition is fierce, and I have not been able to .01 isk it as much as yesterday. Also, a bit of a side note due to financial considerations: if between my current accounts and this experiment I cannot PLEX the market account, I will have 26 days on the market account, so this may be a 28 Day Challenge depending on how well it works.

Growing Up

Now approaching its tenth year, the EVE Online player community has matured into an intricate and multi-faceted society viewed with envy by other game developers, but is frequently regarded with suspicion by the wider gaming community.  Is this perception deserved? Should “The Nation of EVE” be concerned by its public identity and if so how might that be improved? What influence will the integration of the DUST 514 community have on this culture in the future? -Seismic Stan, Freebooted, Blog Banter 35 Any discussion of the Eve community is tricky.  When you think of Eve from the inside, there are myriad groups all work with and against each other.  How do you succinctly capture a community that includes the CFC, R & K, Rote Kapelle, Tuskers, Faction Warfare, RP junkies, pirates, miners, inventors, manufacturers, wormholers, carebears, and traders?  Then add the flavors of each in all the various parts of space.  Then look at the meta community, which adds yet another layer.  I suppose the common theme to all the players who keep coming back is one of involvement.  The only way to succeed in Eve is not play, but if you ignore that, you reach a semblance of success Continue Reading →

Day 1: 30 Day Market Challenge

The results of my first day of the 30 Day Challenge: Not bad for my first foray out.  I bought two skills, Trade and Broker Relations.  As far as modules, I am using a strategy of looking at volume and the margin between buy and sell orders in one station.  The most challenging part of today’s work was playing the .01 isk game.  Some items are much more heavily contested, and also have nice margins.  Those are for days when I have lots of time to look at the markets.  The biggest question is how to scale up from margins of 10k or a few 100k to something that is more profitable!  A few more days to manage the income, and then I think I’ll ahve to start looking at that question.

Borrowing From Others – 30 Day Challenge

I’m blatantly stealing a project from another blogger, the 51 Day Challenge.  Beamer Grey started this but never finished it.  I’m going to pick it up, dust it off, and run it for 30 days. Goal: Make as much money as possible on a new alt by ONLY trading. Rules:  No leaving station Only market transactions can be used Start with 5 million isk as seed money Reporting: Each day I will report the following: Starting Isk: The Total Isk from the previous day Cash on hand Buy Orders Value Sells Orders Value Total Isk = Cash + Buy Orders + Sell Orders Liquid Isk = Cash + Buy Orders: This seems to me to be a useful term to have to illustrate what the actually accessible isk is each day. I started last night, so the first report comes later today!

My Daddy Was Tritanium Miner Like His Daddy Before Him…

I never thought mining, drones or salvaging would become the hot topic they have lately.  To read the blogs, you would think Eve is going to implode in a few weeks…  But oh what a beautiful implosion it shall be.  A few things about the incoming changes. Short TermBuy you gear now.  I mean it.  I’ve been quietly building a small stockpile of minerals, and the value is increasing just by letting it sit.  Weapons, modules and ammo haven’t caught up yet, ships are already starting to.   Thinking of moving to that WH?  Buy your Drakes, Retrievers and haulers now.  Maybe some fuel…  I think in a few weeks weeks you’ll be wishing you laid in supplies for a hot summer.  Speaking of which… Update Your QueueWant to gank some shiny hulks?  Best get those last few skills ready now.  I predict miners are going to be hiding for most of the summer.  Better get in on the initial kills, because Hulks are already ~50 mil more than they were this time last year.  Can’t wait to see the price on those pop up over 300 or 400 mil.  Want to be ready for the clear(ish) skies after Hulkageddon? Continue Reading →

Jita Blog Talk

MOre than a few people have been talking lately about the upcoming Jitahellcamp.  Ripard Teg thinks CCP have their collective backs to the wall.  Syncaine is musing on the urban planning challenges of holding all the tears that will come and the health ramifications of drinking said tears.  Poetic seems to have not really noticed, with his latest adventures in a stream-of-consciousness pile of posts.  I;m sure you can find some others to read too. I talked about this in regards to the philosophical context of the conflict that is coming.  But what about the day to day?  Here are some thoughts and predictions. I cannot wait for the Jitahellcamp to come, and I think it will be a wonderful moment for Eve.  So I am a bit more Syncaine than Ripard.  There are also some long-term implications if the Gooswarm wins the field. The economy of Eve may finally have to split up and the players will realize one mega-hub is a terrible way to run the economy.  The only reason attacking Jita matters is because it is THE hub of the game.  Sure, other empire hubs exist, but they do not hold a candle to the volume that Continue Reading →

Stealthy Bombers

Hanging in corp the other day I was asked if I wanted to practice some PvP tactics.  Being ever the eager nub, I agreed.  Twenty minutes and a few frustrating warps to get modules later, I was in a Manticore, practicing bombing runs.  The first attempt ended rather poorly, with my shields empty and my corpmate saying “See that red bar?  That means I killed you.” A few tries later I had the basic strategy down, no target lock from the enemy, but as I was one Manticore and he was in a Battlecruiser, and a passive regen stalemate ensued.  Then my shields dropped by 50%.  What the hell?  Let’s just say I have a newfound respect for many of the lesser used items in Eve, and I learned a lot about trying to hunt down foes in a stealthy piece of aluminum. Here are some takeaways for players new to the SB: Patience.  Lots of it.  They can’t see you until you decide to drop cloak, and that is hugely important. Understand the range of ALL your modules, and the modules your opponent is likely to fit.  If you burn in like a nub, all the range dampening in Continue Reading →

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