Working in the coalmine

Y115.05.09

Posted later than written

To quote Culture Shock - time is money and money is time, on civilization street. There’s a couple of wars active ATM, so missioning is out and the need for watching chat channels, listening to comms when doing PVE stuff in 0.0 means I could do with another option for a bit. So I’ve been spending more time on the alt and not logging Caisman in, as this just means I’ll end up roaming. Led a couple of nice logi flights though, it really does rock.

The alt just tried a couple of factory planets making P2 > P4 PI goods, but the lowish profit margin needs a fair bit of investment into P2 and I hate to admit it, but I can’t really spare the cash. P4 also seems to be dropping in price a bit, making the margins even smaller. But I have 6 planets available, so I will set up 5 making the most expensive P2’s, buy the other 4, whack ‘em into the factory planet and see what profit comes out. It’s become a bit of a goal to make it work properly, but I am sure I will get bored and PLEX before too long.

Putting ‘eve pi p0 to p2’ into my favourite search engine, looking for those tips on how to maximise profits that everyone seems so keen to share :/ , I came across a novel [to me] idea which I have put into place on the 2 planets I have set up so far – thread here with interesting bits here and here. Essentially [and on one P0 > P2 planet], it advocates extracting just one P0 at a time for say 3 days, trashing that ECU, rebuilding & linking at the other P0 hospot and alternating. This allows 10 heads on the ECU. Seems legit to me, but not to the corp PI guru, so watch this space. My initial setup is -

EH x10 > ECU > silo > P1 [basic] factory x3 > LP > P2 [advanced] factory x2 > back to LP

I may not need the silo, but it gives me a buffer in case of RL. One more level of Interplanetary Consolidation for Cais will open up the plan I mentioned a while back of using 4 planets for P0 > P1 and then a dedicated P1 > P3 planet. Combine this with the 1 ECU at a time thing and we’re golden. Possibly. Or just left with overflowing silos.

On the subject of watching this space, the planetary planner I mentioned last time, seems ok, but the window is small, requires a bunch of annoying scrolling and it’s a bit clunky. Kind of like a solution looking for a problem, but fair play to the author.

Going down down
Paused training on the alt to put another one in Jita and maxed his Accounting & Broker Relations skills to minimise any taxes. This gives me the abiity to sell in 2 trade hubs with no lengthy / risky commute and I can get Red Frog or Push X to freight any stuff I make to where it sells for most. Could also maybe max Connections and run a mission or two at 4-4. Nah, sod that.

Miiiiiiining
You know, it’s really not that bad. Undock, warp to belt, check other occupants & ‘roids, mine ‘til hold full, dock up, rinse, repeat. The mining laser noise is great. Alt is now on T2 strippers & crystals and basing out of another hisec system which is quiet enough to see who is coming and going and seems to have the rocks I like at the times I am on. He now has a 100% refine and a slightly better standing there to reduce refinery tax and I’ll do a bunch of level 1’s one day to get it down further. Tristan FTW! Not sold any of the minerals yet, will wait until there is a tidy sum, haul or even freighter it all to the hub and do it as one market order. Or start making stuff with it. Of course it would be better to buy and research some BP’s, which would be far better done in a POS. Can he possibly set up a POS and keep it running on his own? New plan – mine and PI endlessly on alt until 7 figures are made > grind standings > build / buy & anchor POS > research BP’s > make stuff > PROFIT!!1. But what about Caisman, you ask? Aren’t you making ISK to keep him in PVP? Do you not have enough time even for that? By the Empress, do the things to do in this game never end? At a monthly fuel cost just shy of half a bil, I’d want to be grossing twice that to make it worthwhile, so it’s not going to happen this week, that’s for sure.

Training
With Large Hybrid V in the bag, Caisman is pushing Interplanetary Consolidation to IV, while the alt is on Hull Upgrades V for that elusive T2 EANM.

Fly safe

o7