Eve Online

Fabulous ISK Maker Guide

Supplied by

Contents

1 Concept

2 Getting Started

3 Skill Talk

4 Where and How

4.1 Where

4.2 How

4.3 Types of Corporations

5 Equipment and Set Up

6 Strategy

6.1 Step 1: Explore the Region/Regions

6.2 Step 2: Setting up the Operation

6.3 Step 3: Preparing to Mine

6.4 Step 4: Mining

7 Working Smart

8 Selling Smart

9 Tips and Tricks

9.1 Tips

9.2 Tricks

Tables

Table 1 : Hauler Tracking

Table 2 : Storage Can Tracking

1 Concept

I started in the beginning of Beta 2 and was completely disappointed with how hard I played and how little I made. Just as I gained the skills to move up to bigger and better mining they changed everything and made the really good stuff harder and far more dangerous to get. Needless to say once again I was disappointed. So I made the decision to approach my little enterprise in a business and professional manner.

The first thing I did was to form a plan of attack that included doing a whole lot of exploring to seek out and find some of the richer more lucrative areas in the game. I assume by the fact that you are reading this that you also want to make every minute of your time as profitable as possible.

As a freelancer or as a shared endeavour for your Corporation it works the same. You have to have some knowledge and a plan to go out and make the Billions that can be had. Its like taking a trip around the world, You better have a good map and some ideas about where and when and how or you will waste your time as a wandering generality and not a meaningful specific.

I have worked for months to refine and perfect the things you will read in a short hour or so. It may seem simple and basic to you but I assure you it's not. It takes trial and error and a lot of driven pursuit to get it going but once it is rolling you will be smiling all the way to the market. Be patient and remain diligent and you will succeed.

Have fun and most of all remember it is just a game.

Or is it?



First, a bit of information on the types of mining and terminology. I refer to the types of Minerals and Ores in three categories.

High Grade Ore: Arkonor, Bistot, Crokite, Spodumain, Dark Ochre.

Mid Grade Ore: Gneiss, Hedbergite, Hemorphite, Jaspet, Kernite and Omber.

Low Grade Ore: Plagioclase, Pyroxeres, Scordite and Veldspar.

I spend 95% of my time mining only High Grade Ores. That's not to say you can't make big ISK doing the Medium Grade but I look at it in a Time = Production = Profit formula.

I also really enjoy the challenge that mining High Grade Ore yields. I mined enough Low Grade Ore to fill an entire Solar System and it gets very boring to say the least. The lower grades are sometimes needed but I find that when I have a few billion ISK in my wallet I can afford to pay others to provide my low grade needs.



Because of the formula I use Time = Production = Profit, skills play a huge part in my production and will in yours also. If your just getting started your going to have to spend a little time doing a lower production. I say use the time to get set up and to explore all you can. Just remember every time that voice tells you "Skill training is complete" you move closer to a higher production and profit.

Here is a list of the Skills you will want to have and to work on. Note: These are skills relating to mining only I will expand on ships and equipment in that chapter.

SUGGESTED MINER SKILLS: Industry, Refining, Mining, Drones, Mining Drone Operation, Refinery Management, Metallurgy, Electronics, Engineering and Survey

Mining 5
Astrogeology 5
Drones: Heavy 4 and Mining 5
Drone Interfacing 3-4 (I say 5 takes way to long so wait on it.)
Engineering 5
Electronics 5
Hull Upgrades 4

All skills that relate to Energy, CPU and Capacitor Capacity and Recharge to at least level 3-4 depending on what ship you fly etc.

Now I use two accounts on two separate computers. However you can use two accounts on one computer at the same time. On my second account I have my Refiner/Hauler. She is Maxed out on Refining and Refinery Efficiency as well as most Navigation Skills and she flies the Iteron Mark 5 Industrial Ship. (Best Industrial in the Game). An important note here is that if your mining in 0.0 space you will most likely be refining in an NPC station that will charge you a percentage based on your faction with them. They will most likely be Pirates so the Criminal Connection skill is a valuable one to have. Also take your refiner alt. and do some level one missions for them to increase your faction. My Refiner only gives 3% to the NPC's due to her faction and relationship to them. This ads up to a huge amount and is well worth the few hours invested in doing the missions. What ever you do don't go out and hunt or shoot the NPC's that your refining your ores with it will hurt your profits way too much. Another angle is to use Corp owned or Conquerable Stations that are under the control of your Alliance. These can be set to a zero tax or refining charge.

Having the two separate accounts makes having the needed set ups go twice as fast. I train Mining skills and She trains Hauling and Refine Skills. I am a Caldari she is a Gallente. Doing her as a Gallente gave her a good head start on the training for the Iteron 5. From day one to Iteron Five takes about 30 days if you start with the right pilot and attributes/skills. Its worth every day as no other Industrial can haul the size load she hauls. Implants will speed this training up allot however if your Pod is destroyed you will loose the investment. I personally used them until I lost them, now I no longer use implants as it was an enormous loss when it happened.

If you don't have two accounts then a technique that works and one that I use every week is to pay someone to haul for you. For that matter pay two players to haul. I generally pick out 2-3 newer players and I cut a deal with them. I furnish them with the Amarr Industrial skill book and then set them up in a fully equipped Bestower Industrial. This works especially well for me and it is a huge help for them. I do the pay based either on a percentage of what they haul or on a flat rate per hour hauling. I have this simple form that I made some time back. I stack it several to a page and then print it out.

Hauler	% Rate	What and amount hauled	Pay	Paid
A Hauler 1	2	Plagioclase - 15345 Units	1534	Yes
A Hauler 2	3	Veldspar - 15835 Units	2347	Yes

Table 1 : Hauler Tracking

I keep a logbook and record this information on all my operations. It's a big help if you go and buy a loose-leaf binder and some dividers and keep records and notes.




This is probably the most valuable chapter in this guide. I could sell this information alone and make big money. As you already know you won't find a single Bistot Roid in Empire Space. You have to go into 0.0 and I mean way out into 0.0. This presents some major problems as you know. Big NPC spawns some with Battleships a lot with massive Cruisers. In addition to the NPC's you also have to contend with the large number of Real Player Pirates. Then as if that's not enough you also have to deal with the various Alliances that control most of the good 0.0 space.



So with all of this to work out what I did was I joined a Corporation that is a member of an Alliance and I made sure that they would allow their members to do a good percentage of freelancing. Now the Corp I joined is a medium sized one with 80 or so members. They leave me alone because I donate a percentage of my minerals to them in exchange for the freedom they give me. It's a good arrangement and has paid very well both to me and to them. I also give a bit of my time in Corp. Mining and Hauling. This also has eliminated one of the issues of mining in 0.0 space. It is very rare that you ever have to deal with a Real Player Pirate in Alliance Controlled Space.

You will need to do your homework on the various Alliances. You can find vast amounts of information on the Eve Forums and some of the other forums as well. See if you can find an alliance map on the Eve Forums this can be really useful.

Do a bit of reading and you will soon see that there is a lot of info on what Alliance does what as far as Pirate or Anti-Pirate. Either way once you decide on your Alliance do a little looking around and find 3-4 Corps that belong to the Alliance. Then begin the process of contacting them one at a time. The first thing I ask is if they are accepting new members. If they are, be nice and be open with them. Tell them your goals and what you enjoy doing then get them to talk about their policies. One thing to be aware of is many Corps are afraid of recruiting an enemy Alliance spy so be careful not to come on to strong or to ask to many questions. Let them talk and listen to what they say. Ask if they have a Web Site, you may get some insight as to what their policies are and so on from that. I went through this process about ten times until I found a Corp that would work out. Once your accepted take it easy and spend your time exploring the new home territory. Spend time in the Corp chat and make yourself available to help mine and or haul for them. After a short time start to venture out on your own little by little but continue to give your time and help to them. It will evolve into a mutually beneficial relationship if your patient.

My rule of thumb is that for my solo freelancing I give to the Corp an average of 10% of what I mine. As for the time I give the Corp. Helping them mine and haul I give 100% of my share to the Corp. Greed won't get you anywhere so don't be afraid to invest some time and some minerals to get to a good point so you will be allowed to work on your fortune alone without questions. Also be sure to mix it up every week so that you don't start to look like you're just in it for yourself. It's important to have some understanding of what types of Corp are out there and what the various types generally do.



1. Mega Corps: Very big corporations, these give the largest protection, and usually make the most money however most of your personal profits go to the corporation.
2. Pirate Corps: These people will take kill anyone for no reason, however some do a lot of mining as well.
3. Relaxed Corps: These are more of a group of friends that hang around with each other rather than a formal corporation so to speak.
4. Manufacturing Corps: These are the peaceful kind of corps. They usually have a set of miners, and a set of manufacturing people. A good choice to try and gain membership into.
5. Capitalist Corps: These are the kind of corporations that make mad money. They can mine, trade, and manufacture. Usually large and casual and another good choice.
6. National Corps: These are the corps the only allow certain nationalities to join. Not a real good choice but you are the judge.

If you choose to remain a Freelancer then I wish you loads of luck. I tried this for several months but it never worked out. The game mechanics are designed to get people to play together in a team so thus my recommendation on the Corp and Alliance Issue.

If you are already in a Corp then I suggest if you choose that you try to gain Alliance Membership for your Corp.



I use a Megatron for my mining ship. It's a strong Battleship with plenty of low slots. I have recently started using an Armageddon some as well due to the increase in Low Slots and the need to use Warp Core Stabilizers (2 each) to insure you can escape the NPC Spawn should you need to. It's a great mining ship and is allot cheaper than the Megatron. To start with just go to the Market and buy your choice of ship. Gather up the recommended gear and buy 100% Insurance on it before you venture out. Make sure to pay close attention to the ship bonuses and keep in mind that the better you're Engineering and Electronic Skills are the better you can equip and run your ship. Here are some Ship Set Ups for you to use as a reference guide in making the choice on ships. Remember this however, that if you can get the job done in a tier 1 Battleship go that way so it's cheaper to insure and cheaper to loose.

My Megatron Set Up:

High Slots:

7 - Miner II's
1 - SR-3200 Missile Launcher

Medium Slots:

1 - Micro Warp Drive 100 MN.
1 - Named roid Scanner
1 - Large Shield Booster
1 - Shield Amp

Low Slots:

4 - Cargo Expanders 1
1 - CPU Tech 2 Booster
2 - Cap Relays

9 Harvester Mining Drones

The Megatron can also hold 6 Heavy Combat Drones in addition to the Harvesters. I use them as Decoys sometimes because it seems the NPC's go after them first allowing me to escape. This is a technique that allot of players use when Ninja Mining or Solo mining in an unsecured belt.

Iteron Mark 5 Set Up:

High Slots:

Empty

Medium Slots:

2 - Afterburners 10 MN
3 - Capacitor Rechargers

Low Slots:

5 - 25% Cargo Expanders

Giant Secure Containers

Note: I use 25% cargo expanders and not the 27% on the Industrials. The reason is that I spent a fortune on 5 - 27% expanders and then one day warped to a gate and boom they were gone. With this in mind it's a far smaller loss to loose the 25%. Also the Iteron 5 set up right can hold 6 - 7 Giant Secure Containers that add allot to the overall capacity. So use them as well to maximize your payload.

As more and more Tech 2 Items hit the market I buy them and so my set up keeps getting better and better. However I always consider the high risk in the type of mining I do as a factor to what I am willing to invest. One Tech 2 Item I use is the CPU Boosters. Miner 2s suck up CPU so the use of these gave me back one needed low slot.

With the above mentioned selections I keep my ships set up with common gear so that should the unfortunate loss occur the cost is minimized.



Ok, as I recently moved to a different Corp. In a Different Alliance I think I will simply describe to you step by step what I did this time to get myself set up and back to the BIG ISK mining.

I am in the New Corp and its time to get started. The first thing is to simply ask in the Corp Chat where there is some fairly good Bistot mining in the area.

I suggest you, in a very humble way ask allot of questions to the various corp. members. I write down the suggestions and look at them on the map. What I am looking for is 1st to see how far out from the closest refinery station they are and 2nd to check the route to and from to make sure it keeps me inside the Alliance Territory. I also check the number of Pilots In Space and the number of Ships Destroyed. You won't find good Fields and good roids close to any systems with stations. Your going to have to go at least 7 to 8 jumps out to have any hope of finding the Mother Load.

Before we start here is a brief outline of the scanner. I want to comment that to use the scanner correctly takes practice and skill. It was a hard thing for me to master but the hours I spent learning it and its bugs have paid off big time for me. So please spend some time with it and read some of the articles posted on the use of it.

About the Scanner:

The 4 functions provided with the ship scanner:-

Auto - This tab can be configured to show what info you want it to. Click the settings tab and you get the option to set up: States, Types and Columns. On the States Tab you can right click each item and choose colour and blink on or off.

Name - Lists all named (and known) celestial objects and any registered craft within range.

Range - Configurable feature that ignores known data and displays information it collects according to the Range you enter.

Direction - This feature allows you to determine the direction an object is in by degrees: 5.0, 15.0, 30.0 and 60,0

So lets look at each in turn, we need to understand what information each provides us and how we can use it to our advantage.

Possible Uses:

Auto: Use this to keep tabs on what is going on around you and to track the range of those items close by. I suggest you turn off most choices so that you see the important things like ships, sentry guns and gates.

Name: Use this to get an overview of what is in the system you are searching. It can separate things out by type ECT. For a fast look around and to count roids and belts, which will let you know it is worth exploring or if you need to move on to the next system.

Range: Scan by Range feature gives you a complete and detailed picture of the system area that is closest to you or at whatever ranges you select. It also is useful in finding hidden objects by determining if you are getting closer or moving away form your target.

Direction: This is in my opinion the most useful one of all in locating things. It in conjunction with the Map Browser gives you a clear picture to where you are in the system and where you are headed. It takes practice to get the hang of but I say its worth every minute you invest. When using this function keep refreshing it so your on top of you location to your target.



Pick out a really fast frigate; I use a Vigil for my exploring. Then pick out a Solar System and move to it. Once in the system while at the entry gate do a Name and a full Range scan and check the scanner results. Then hit the F-11 key to open your map browser and warp to a planet on the opposite side of the system from your current location and repeat the maximum range scan. I keep a count of the Bistot and Crokite Roids that show up. I repeat this process until I have covered all four corners and the centre of the solar system. If it looks promising I then set up a safe spot to park my ship at. The way to do this is with you map browser open and on the system map at the bottom right click a spot that isn't near any object or planet. Select Bookmark Location and Name it Safe Spot using the system name. Warp to within 15K of this new bookmark and then once again perform a max Range scan to see if any Planets, Belts or Objects show up. If nothing shows on the Range Scan then you have a good Safe Spot to work from. This whole Safe Spot thing will take some practice but its worth every minute you spend as you will see later on.

Once my safe spot is set up I exit my ship in my Pod and start surveying the named belts. I warp to 15K and check out the roids and the NPC's. Note: The NPC's won't attack your pod so you are safe to take a good look around. Once again I make detailed notes on what I find and as I move through the belts one by one I generally begin to know if this system is good or not.

Another thing that I do in every belt is after I do my basic survey I set my range scanner to 25K and look to see if any roids show up without a range or distance beside them. I then try a 50K scan. If some do show up there is a good chance they are across the Grid Line and would could be considered a Hidden Belt. These although changed in recent patches are still very valuable to know about, as I will cover later on.

I repeat this process over and over from system to system until I find the best possible one to do a full operation in. I tend to shy away from systems that others frequent and or others have set up large Can Farms in. I want to find the system that will provide me with the most resources and the least competition as well as safety.

One last point to make here, the whole exploring thing takes work and time. Don't try to short cut the process and be patient. It will pay huge profits if you do the groundwork and explore a number of systems. In my last system of operation I took over 3.6 billion in minerals out before it was depleted so do it well.

Note: You won't find much information on using the scanner so a good exercise is to go somewhere safe and try to locate a stationary object or 2. This is how I learned to use it and so give it a try and see what kind of result you get.

My Vigil Set Up:

High Slots:

1 - Miner 1

Medium Slots:

2 - Micro Warp Drives 1 MN
1 - Roid Scanner

Low Slots:

All Cap Relays



Now you have your system all picked out and your set with a good Safe Spot to work from. The first thing I do once the above has been accomplished is to set up my Places Folder with a separate folder named after the system I am going to work in. I move my Safe Spot and any bookmarks I made when exploring the system into this folder. Next I take my Vigil and begin the process of creating Inst-Jump Bookmarks in every system back to the refinery. Note: I will write more on the Inst-Jump Bookmarks in the Section "Tips and Tricks". I then set a coarse back to the system and set up my Inst-Jumps for the return trip. I create 2 separate folders and name them from system XXX to XXX. I use the BMs from location in one folder and the BMs to location in another folder. Once this is finished I copy them and store them in my hanger in small containers named the same way the folder is named. This makes it easy to pass them around to your haulers.

Once my route to and from is set up I get my hauler out and load up with Giant Secure Containers. I go to my designated system Safe Spot and I set up my Can Farm. I jettison the Cans for Self and anchor them and I set the same Password for each Can. I name them in numerical order Can 1, Can 2, Can 3 ECT. I also record the Password in the notes section of the Safe Spot BM so I don't loose it and my haulers don't have to ask over and over for it. Make sure you go back and check each Can to insure the Password is working. I repeat this process until I have at least 18 Giant Cans anchored in place. I do them in a large circle by clicking on the Safe Spot BM and choosing Orbit at 15K.

I use the Giant Cans to store Ore in when I don't feel like Mining and Hauling at the same time or when my haulers start to fall behind. I try to have enough Haulers to keep everything moving to the Refinery but it doesn't always work. Also there are times when your haulers decide they have had enough or you decide the same so this gives you a quick wrap up for the operation.

Giant Can Stats:
Skill required: Anchoring
Capacity 3,900
Mass 6,000,000 kg
Volume 3,000 m3
Radius 220

The Giant cans are fairly strong and safe so I highly recommend using them as a back up and storage tool over the other types available in the game. Do NOT under any circumstance use the non-secure cans.

Here is a simple form I use to keep track of my cans status and to also plan my hauls and to count my production:

Can ID Number	Contents	Quantity
Can 1
Can 2
Can 3
Can 4
Can 5
Can 6
Can 7
Can 8
Can 9
Can 10

Table 2 : Storage Can Tracking


Now that my route is set and my Cans are all in place it is time to mine. I take my Explorer Ship to the Safe Spot and Eject. I then Pod my way back to get my Miner Ship and bring it up to the Safe Spot. I keep my Frigate Explorer there for the duration of the Operation as its needed daily. If my Safe Spot is perfect which they are then no player in his right mind will spend the hours and hours it takes to track down and take it from me. In all my times mining this has never happened. If it ever does happen then no big deal he will have earned it. If you decide to log off for the night at your safe spot make sure you log off while in your Battleship.

The first thing to do now that you are set up is to choose your target roid.

(As of this last revision I changed my Roid of Choice from Bistot to Crokite. With the falling Megacyte prices the Zydrine is far more profitable for you to mine over the others. I do however mine every high grade roid in a belt sooner of later)

My first action in getting ready to mine is to explore the possible hidden roids that I picked up on earlier when doing my initial search and scan. The way I do this is in my Frigate I warp to 15K of the location range scan at 20K and then choose the directional scanner and try to pin down which direction to move toward. By using the two different scanners I can work my way to the potential hidden roid or roids. The hidden belts and roids are my location of choice by far. I do not kill these roids I keep a close eye on them with my Survey Scanner and as they reach near depletion I stop so the can grow again and again.

Once I have my target in mind the first thing I do is warp my pod in and look for NPC's and pick my first roid out. I then set up a bookmark 15k past it in a line from my safe spot. This will be used by both me and my haulers for fast set up and in and out pick up. I then go and get my Frigate and test the BM and lock on the roid. I activate my mining laser and prepare to run. In some cases the NPC's come right away if this happens I warp back to my safe spot get back into my pod and go back and wait. Once the Nap's leave I can then go mine in most cases without harassment for a little while. Sometimes for a few minutes sometimes for an hour or so other times for hours and hours.

Note: This is a good place to talk about the NPC's that guard the belts. Before I start I want to make it perfectly clear to you, There is NO set standard in the way they behave what so ever. The things I am saying here in this article is true sometimes and untrue in others. It can be one-way one day and different the next. They have frustrated me over and over again. However since this is a game of patience I have learned some interesting things in trying to figure them out.

Example: Sometimes I can warp into a belt and start to mine and the NPC's come in and start to lock me. I quickly run back to my safe spot and get in my pod and go back. After sitting there in my pod for a few minutes they will warp away and I come back and mine for hours and hours and never see them again. Other times they never leave but if I try a different belt they do and I mine for a while hassle free. Sometimes I find a hidden roid and can mine until its empty and never see an NPC other times they eventually show up. I have learned that if I mine for over and hour without a spawn I am generally safe from then on.

This being said you just have to work them and work them until you get the result you want to get. I wish I had a set secret solution for them but I don't. I will say this that if you find a belt that they leave and don't come back until the server reboots make darn sure you record that belt in your log book and don't completely deplete the roids. This is a gold mine belt and can save you hours of hassle and make you billions over time.



I am sure we all know how to mine so I wont go into allot of details here. What I do is this.

1. I get to within 500m or so of the roid and I point my ship at my safe spot or a nearby Planet. The reason I get so close is to recall my drones fast if I need to.

2. Next I set my scanner on Auto as I have the NPC's set up to flash red. I will mine for a few minutes before I deploy my drones and will be ready in an instant to run.

3. I jettison a can and name it and put the time it was launched on it. I keep my Cargo Hold window open and the Can window directly over it so I can move Ore easy. I keep it stacked and neat at all times to make it easy to pick up.

My run away or escape procedure is to first double click in space in the direction I am facing, I then hit my Micro Warp Drive and then I select Warp to 15K of my Target. This procedure speeds up the time it takes me to warp out if needed.

I keep my hauler at the Safe spot until I get a load then I warp Her in and grab a load and warp her out. Before I bring her in her Auto Pilot is already set on the coarse to the Refinery and so once she loads all I have to do is click on the Auto Pilot button if we get attacked. I keep the Insti-Jump Bookmark File open so if it's a routine load and go she can use the BM instead.

About Macros:

I know allot of guys that use these small programs to help them mine. They automate the process of moving Ore from your Cargo Hold to the Can and other things. I do not use them for various reasons.

1. If you get caught you get banned from the game.

2. It is cheating not to mention it makes it easy to get distracted and loose your ship.

3. I enjoy mining and I have found many ways to occupy my time while doing so. Use them if you like but I say be careful if you do.



As I mentioned early on I view this as my business. I know it's a game but I enjoy the business aspects of it. I love to mine and I love to sell and to trade with other players. Therefore I run it like a business. I keep a log and I also keep records on what I am producing whether I am mining or building and selling Battleships on the market. I can not see investing all this time in the game and not knowing what I am doing or where I am heading. You need to do the same thing in my opinion. It doesn't take much time to keep up with how much you mine or how much you spend. The game wallet keeps some of the records for you but my preferred method is to write it down. I created a small and simple spread sheet on Excel and I record my financial records there. I keep them on scratch sheets in my log- book and once or so a week I transfer the information over to the spread-sheet.

Here is my mining scratch sheet form:

Date	Location	Time In	Time Out	Units Mined	Units Hauled

This simple form keeps me up on production and also gives over time some very valuable information on where the best mining is per ISK earned.

Next I recommend you balance your game time over a variety of activities. Mining only, gets boring so I try and mix it up as much as I can. For example I could tell you right now where I will be mining for the next four systems. I like to explore so I do that allot. I also like to hunt NPC's so I keep my Raven close by and break up the chore of mining with some shooting High Level NPC spawns.

Last of all keep it simple and fun. Don't get so caught up in one thing that you burnout on it. Remember to enjoy your self. Another thing I do to break up the boredom of mining is to sell my minerals over the Market Chat while I am mining. This keeps my mind occupied and so the time goes by much faster.



I do a good bit of all types of sales transactions. I use the Market Chat, The Contract and I do Want to Sell / WTS ads on eve-i.com and other forums.

I have a sales Alt. located in Empire Space on the Highway System at about the centre of the Game Map. He does all my selling for me and keeps all the minerals and other items I sell. This simplifies the process because I am 30 plus jumps away and don't have time to run back and forth. I make one trip a week to Empire with a load of minerals. That's all I care to go there and so the selling Alt makes it possible. He has no skills and rarely leaves the station.

As for my pricing I do a couple of things. For the game Market I look up the sell price over the whole region my sales guy is in. I calculate the average from high to low and I ad 10% -15% to that number. If I am not in a hurry to sell I will even go over the highest price listed. I normally sell quantities of around 50k units so allot of people will pay more to get a big lot. I find this to be very true with Zydrine more so than Megacyte. The reason I think is the amount of each it takes to build a Battleship.

Besides selling Minerals I have invested in the top 6 Battleship Blueprint Originals. I have researched them to mineral efficiency 10 - 15 and I have the originals in Research Labs full time cranking out 1-5 Run copies to sell and trade with. Its not a big ISK maker but it does turn a good profit when you consider that the copies are close to free to produce. I also give them to Alliance members for free to build up my relationships and keep me in good favour. I rarely build Battle ships to sell however as a means to break up the boredom I will build 5 or 6 and put them on the Market. This also will yield above average profits on the Mid-Grade minerals I accumulate mining the good stuff. I did however build several spare ships for me and they are all docked in my home base fully set up and ready to go.

As you are able to produce more and more Minerals you will find a couple of Corps that will buy from you in large lots on a regular basis. You wont make top ISK per Unit but they will come and get the minerals from you and this saves time and risk. If they are not in your chosen Alliance have them meet you on the edge of Empire Space in a safer system. If they cannot meet you on your schedule then Contract the lot to them and go back to what you want to do.

The game market is funny to work with in that in one week you will make sales in huge volume and the next week you wont do half that amount. I have all but given up on building to sell items and ammo because it is just not that profitable to do. I do however build allot of my gear and all my ammo because it is cheaper and easier and once again it saves time for me to mine.

Last of all learn to Multi-Task your various things. I play in windowed mode so I can drop to my desktop and write an ad or record some data. Just remember to keep you game volume turned up so you can hear if you are under attack.




When Market day comes don't tell anyone what your doing or what you are hauling.

Take the time to set up Insti-jump BMs all the way to your sell point and back again. This saves time and losses.

Use Team Speak or Ventrillo as much as possible to keep your mind on your ship and mining.

Keep your location as secret as possible.

Do NOT carry your Minerals to Market in an Industrial Ship. Use a Battleship that is Shield Tanked and rigged for speed with at least two Warp Core Stabilizers loaded. I use a couple of cargo expanders and Cap Relays also. I use my Raven to haul in and I load all my launchers with FoF Cruise missiles.

Get a friend you trust to run one jump ahead of you that is on Team Speak so you do not run into trouble.

I really like the North Side of the Map the best!



Get as close to the roid as possible this speeds up your Drone production allot and as stated earlier can save them from loss.

Always set up Insti-jump bookmarks on routes you travel a lot. To create a bookmarks warp to the gate from the entry gate you arrived at then thrust in that line to 15K past the exit gate. Deploy a can and then select bookmark Item. I store my bookmarks in separate folders one for the trip to location and then another folder from the location to the destination. I name them A - New Caldari to Jita then the next one is B and so on. This will put them in list order in your folder and will make using them much easier. I store all my bookmark copies in small cans in my hanger and name them the same name as the folder they go in.

Eve Online

How To Make Money Guide

Supplied by

Contents

1 Overview

2 Mining

3 Agent missions

4 NPC hunting/chaining

5 Trade runs

6 Pirating/Scamming, and everything else god has forbidden

6.1 Scamming

6.2 Ore theft

6.3 Pirating

6.4 Corp Theft

1 Overview

Important, before I begin: This guide is based upon my personal opinion and experience, it might differ a bit from reality or your opinion, but then again this is what every player made guide is like.

Things id like to talk about:
Ways of making money,
My opinion and approximate amount of profit/risk.



Mining is both the most common, and oldest form of making money. It basically means getting a frigate, cruiser or battleship. and fitting mining lasers on them. Mining is done frequently by having a few miners in asteroid belts (which are found in nearly every system) fill up cans, and then have industrial class ships pick up the ore left in the "jettison cans", this can also be done in secure cans, however they only anchor in less secure systems. The reason secure cans are being used is because of the fear of so called Ore thief's, They're people in industrial ships that will come to your cans and take the stuff in them, they cannot be shot or they will trigger concord (=police) response. Usually the best mining ships are the ships with most gun slots (=most miners). frigates: The race here doesn't matter, usually frigate pilots will mine solo, therefore cargohold would be nice to have. for example, bantam, probe, imicus.

Cruiser: If you have time and money to spare for the skill I'd recommend getting the thorax, this ships got 2000 m3 drone space and 5 turret slots, so defence and mining capability are at its best with drones and 5 lasers here, a vexor or maller would be second choice, below that most ships will have near equal mining ability.

Battleships: Most battleships have enough turret slots to be a pretty good miner (tempest and domi = 6, arma and mega = 7, apoc = 8 ) drone bays on these ships are all fairly enough to keep defence at nominal levels. The best ship is of course the apoc, but the 1 or 2 more slots its got only insure a 12.5 or 25% higher yield, which with skills isn't that much of a difference (especially if its the first battleship I would recommend the Armageddon since its half the price).

Mining can of course be done in different areas, I consider: 1.0 - 0.9, 0.8 - 0.5, 0.4 - 0.1, 0.0. of course location also means what minerals are available, but I will keep it general (in practical terms one or 2 minerals will be missing in each area because of the location/region the belt is located) (profits are considering 1 Indy and 1 battleship, solo).

1.0 - 0.9: These are some of the worst areas to mine in, these are often very close to general travelling routes and will be mine by hordes of people and strip-mined by mega corporations they'll contain scordite and veldspar most of the time. also there are no pirates. expect several millions per hour.

0.8 - 0.5: These belts are often mined unless you find one out of the normal routes people have, I found a few totally unmined, this can be profitable. Common minerals are veldspar, pyrox, scordite, plagio, and in the lower security levels also omber (0.7) and kernite (0.5). Expect a few frigate pirates, but nothing drones cant handle. Also player pirates are not to be found in these sectors. Profits are again several millions per hour, yet more then 0.9 and 1.0, but at a slightly higher risk.

0.4 - 0.1: STAY OUT OF HERE unless in rather large groups, in my opinion this is the domain of the real player pirates, expect to find descent ore, cruiser NPC pirates, but worst of all player pirates, these are people usually working in groups of 3 or so, they will first come in with one of them, he will scan you, by this time you should already be at a station or even docked! If you plan to mine here, in any kind of group smaller then your whole corporation watch local with your life. Profit can be around 2 - 3 mil per hour per person if its mined correctly. However against the risks I suggest going back to 0.5 - 0.8 for more profit. or if you know how to run properly you can stay here. There are however sentry guns at the stations so you're safe there.

0.0: lawless space, no sentries, a players will is the law here. You can be killed without any security hit. however in my experience as long as the refinery and your mining spot are close to each other there is not that much risks from player compared to immense rewards. expect 10 - 20 million per hour or sometimes even more. the NPC's are very powerful and 1 or 2 battleship sized defenders are a must (or park your own tanked battleship in a safe spot).

If you're on your own id recommend ninja mining, which basically means, get a ship that can run properly. park an Indy at a safe spot in the system, and mine in the ship until you see pirates. once you see them, run to a moon or your safe spot. Wait for about 10 minutes till your scanners clear and go back. Then once the can contains about the amount your Indy can carry get your Indy out of its safe spot and make it grab the stuff also bookmaking your mining asteroid is a good idea so you wont have to travel much.

My own favourite: 0.0 space, if you're in a good alliance, have a good group and don't have 2 many player pirates around this is the number 1 way to make money, however its only for the people with nerves of steel and people that live with the knowledge they could lose a ship daily. For anyone that does not have this and people that are simply not ready for it yet I would recommend 0.8 - 0.5, that is if you can find a descent system.



Agent missions at the moment are one of the safest and most boring way to make money. To start you need to climb up from a lvl 1 agent to a lvl 2 agent to a lvl 3 agent. This can take several days. The 3 levels all contain a different difficulty, level 1 is very easy and can with ease be done in frigates, level 2 can be done in frigates but is hard. At level 3 either a battleship or a cruiser and industrial are a must.

Of course each higher level will give bigger rewards. An agents effective quality will show the height of its rewards, this can be raised by standing and by certain social skills. (so can the standing with the connection skill by the way) I'd say agent are for people that like to watch television while playing and cant find a good belt to mine in, and for people that are starting the game and need their first frigate to cruiser and wish to do this solo.

There are 2 different classes of agents, Research and development and regular agents.

Research and development agents will only give out rare blueprints, and are based purely on luck, no matter what you do, it will always be a lottery, I myself have had an agent for nearly 180 days and still nothing, others had 3 blueprints in a row. If you manage to get a blueprint you can make several (I'm serious) billions selling these items overpriced (but heck you're nearly the only one with the print....). In my opinion its not balanced out at all because CCP bases some richness on what is nearly pure luck. id recommend people get 1 RD agent for the sake of it, but its not a reliable way of making money. Oh yeah, and to increase the amount of Research points (RP) you dot have to do anything, but by doing missions you can sometimes double or triple the daily amount (get 200 instead of 100 once).

Regular agents: They are also based on luck, and the only big profit to be made with them is by selling the basic implants (whom give a +3 to a certain attribute) for 12 - 15 million a pop. If you're lucky you can get one every 10 missions, I think the average is about 30 missions. But again this is based on pure luck, you can only get implants during important missions, which are pretty rare. You need a level 3 agent with 6.0 standing (at least) to get implants though. so dot expect to start of with them, it requires some work. The rewards per missions are around 150,000 ISK a pop, which is not much so I wouldn't go for that. There are tech 2 building components to get and sell though. I have no idea how much this can make you extra per hour but it doesn't exceed mining or NPC hunting unless you're lucky. (this is what agents are based on though). You can direct the type of missions you'll get a bit by picking the right corporations and the right part of this corp. For example, security in Caldari navy will likely get you fighting missions. however you will still get some gun shipments, so keep that Indy ready.

What I often do is have 3 level 3 agent in the same station, so I can take all 3 missions at once and complete 3 missions where others complete one.



Quite profitable, try and take your abilities to the max because the higher the more money. The most important thing here is to know your limits, don't try to take on spawns that are a lot higher then your own ship and ability, if you get killed this will ruin your profits for some time. Its better to take pirates a bit below your ability then take them to high, also chaining will mean they'll instantly respawn, if you had any difficulty in the original spawn that problem might get duplicated when they spawn right after they die.

Commonly chaining is the best way for making money, however some voices say this will be removed in the future, still I will discuss the basics: First you skim through belts trying to find one that suits your own power, then you'll have to kill the entire spawn except for one pirate, this should be the weakest one, let him attack you constantly and don't let him get away. At first nothing will happen but after some time (can be anything from 5 minutes to an hour for the first respawn) the whole spawn will respawn, again you kill all but the one circling you, then after that it should respawn faster and faster and faster, until it will be nearly instant (right after you kill one he'll be back).

You need to experiment for yourself what chains suit you, and sometimes you will have to learn the painful way, but eventually you'll get good at it, or ask corpmates for advice about your abilities.

Another way would be going to a base, this is hard at first because there can be up to 30 pirates at once, but there usually only a few spawn points, and them spamming one at a time at a slow rate (this rate cannot be increased).

The biggest prize often comes in the loot cans the ships drop, but can also be their bounties, usually you alone will be enough to chain, unless you're going to chain battleship pirates (0.0 space) then you might need a group, I would also recommend shield transfer arrays for everyone in this case (with 4 medium arrays at one ship hell be invincible compared to the enemies, even if its the heaviest NPC battleships). Profits killing NPC's battleships aren't that high because of the group split, but sometimes the loot is very rewarding. NPC hunting is profitable but it is risky and knowing your own limits its a must.

exploits: I wouldn't call it an exploit but officially chaining is one, can't get banned for it though. Another one is when fighting heavy Gurista's, hide behind an asteroid, since they're using missiles the missiles will not hit you, and since Gurista's like blasters, a big rock can hold them far enough not to use them.



A friend of mine used to make 100s of mils a day with them, but now that's no longer possible, its useful for noobs but I wouldn't suggest doing it if your any kind of age, I haven't done any recently myself and if anyone can send me some trade runs to prove me wrong ill reward this with a small ISK donation, ill also expand this part of the tutorial if I get more info. ... until that time I cant really tell much about trade runs because I lack recent experience, I can however explain the basics.

You need an Indy or another ship with descent cargo, find a place where something is sold cheap, then try sell it at a higher price somewhere else, it requires a lot of planning and research and is therefore time-intensive to start with. but there is the autopilot once that's all done.

"exploits ": This used to be a famous one, put up a large sell order for a "low" price, and a buy order (with an alt) somewhere else (a bit far out) once someone bought the stuff cancel the buy order and the money is all yours. ... this is harder nowadays though, and finding an item suited for this is hard on its own.



This generally means letting other people make money, and you take it away from them the "easy" way, this includes scamming, pirating, gate camping, etc.



One of my personal favourites. I'm not going to go into details about how I do it, but lets say I didn't exactly mine for that raven of mine. This basically means using the stupidity of others, I will tell you people some old scams though so you might think of your own way. Selling shuttles for 10 million a piece, selling minerals for ridiculous prices, putting a condor named scorpion in the trade window (they used to look a like), etc.

Scamming is commonly done with alts, but this no longer works because people know alts are being used and won't buy from them nowadays. Scammers can however expect to become outcasts and can expect to no longer be appreciated if this gets known to others. It can definitely be the most profitable thing to do, but it will get you on more blacklists then pirating itself will.



Now I have to admit prior to making this guide I wanted to know what it was like, so I trained an alt to fly a small basic Indy, within 2 days I was on the KOS (kill on sight) lists of at least 3 alliances. This is the most hated profession in the game, it makes about twice the profit mining normally does. You just basically get an Indy, sit in 0.5 and grab the unsecured cans of poor miners (they can't attack without police response as of yet). Sometimes they will attack you, with a nice explosion as a reward.



Now the real forms of pirating would of course be killing miners/NPC hunters and camping gates, most people see pirates attacking alliances, but I consider these people to be space Vikings not real pirates (m0o for instance). This profession can be among the most profitable around, if you're lucky (and any good) you can have people ejecting from their battleships to save their pods, and you can collect an easy 30 million from most smart pilots that desire to live. Unlike what most people think pirating is commonly done in 0.1 - 0.4, not 0.0, 0.0 is usually filled with groups of people, this usually ends up in a fleet battle, and not a fast miner hold-up. To start the way of pirating described here you used to only need a blackbird, but since the nerve you need is a little more, you also need to make sure friends are not to close, and you need to put pressure on people. However blowing them up is not much profit so negotiation is a must.



Among these are the most famous, hated and richest people in eve. It means betraying friends you've been with for months, and often means being hunted till the end of the world. Some examples of these are agent shield (who corpthieve after his corp. let a corpthief join, dual corptheft). and Fallzone (who stole form the richest corporation at the time).

This is a profession most hated and it will not get you friends, even among pirates. But it will get you immense wealth, after which you can sell your account...