OMG

          Well, I haven’t had much to write about lately in Providence. I have tried to crank out more Tech II bpcs on smaller items like missiles, ammunition, and other components that I may want to use in the near future. I have tried to get more involved with Sovereign defense and have had mixed results so far.  Now, getting to the bulk of my thoughts. After downloading the Inferno update(which I will admit was very smooth this time around), I began to look over some of the changes. I happened to be in my Prorator at the time. I thought my montior was set too low and then I realized that they darkened the shades on it as well as other Amarr ships in my inventory.

            As far as some of the new things that are getting some buzz, I think the ships are getting the most run right now. I absolutely love the new look of the Kestral/Manticore design. Even my Purifier looks totally different in a good way.  I have yet to see exactly all of the new ship redesigns, but from the chat channels I am on in game, that seems to be overwhelmingly the best part of the expansion.

            I would say the new inventory interface is and will be the biggest change both good and bad for this update. I was having blonde moments after blonde moments for the first 5 minutes of trying to see what the heck was going on and I realized that this one of those things that people are going to either love or hate about the game. To me, it gives you more space in the station view for looking at other things.  In space, I have to remember to readjust the inventory window smaller before getting involved with anything too complicated.

            As far as missiles go, from what I have seen on other ships firing at targets, the effects are very impressive looking so far. It seems like the damage hits before the visual effects take place. I have yet to fire any myself, so I will have to follow up this at a later date.

            Research is going to get a whole lot more expensive when it comes to Tech II items. I went to highsec today to visit my favorite level II research agent only to find that instead of me earning around 140 research points for a completed mission, I received a tiny 33 points instead. Now that is going to change a lot of invention options going forward. Not only are you not going to earn as many RPs towards datacore purchases, but you will also have to pay some isk to get datacores. I am glad I was able to stock up from the market before the update. I had anticipated that if this rumor was true, datacore prices were going to spike. It will also leave me a few cheaper options for datacores. I currently only get one type of datacores from a Caldari agent. I’m also 1 level away from research level 5 and can then add more research agents by learning research project management. I do have a lot of Tech II bps already in inventory.  I think I’ll try to clear some of them out before I go crazy buying up expensive datacores on the market.

            All-in-all, I think this update has brought as much interest as it has controversy. We’ll probably see about 6 small patches in the next week addressing bugs and complaints, but I think these changes will be for the better of the game once everyone figures out their blonde moments and try to keep an open mind. I for one look forward to using some of the new modules in this update and figure out a new wrinkle for putting isk into my pocket.  If only my French corporation would hire more of us mouth-breathing English –speaking players so I can understand the corporate channel more....

Better Late than Never

            I haven’t made the time to write in a while.  It seems that there are a few things that are in play right now in my mind. Burn down Jita has so far had mixed results. 500 billion isk was thrown around a number for the total losses by all parties involved. I really don’t have a concept of that much isk in the game.  The most I have ever had is around 650 million after selling a lot of ships and other equipment to others in my corporation. I guess 500 billion thrown around by a large alliance like the Goonswarm is not that much when they can field 50 titans at a time on a given battlefield. 

            I  myself would have planned it a different way. I would’ve announced it and made it very public like the Goons did. 12 corporations/alliances declared war on them which I find very humorous. Why give the Goons a free shot at you in front of Concord like that instead making them earn it more. If I was the goons, I would go through all of
Jita’s stations, inventory all of the corporate offices, and declared war on each office-holder in Jita. The rent is very expensive in Jita. Also, you know those corporations frequent the system and probably operate there as well as neighboring systems.
A few locator agents and you have more than enough targets to go attack. Hell, I would have done the same thing at Rens, Amarr, and Dodixie as well. With the amount of alliance members they have, they could cover them for a month and shut down the major marketplaces in Eve. That would’ve been much more effective and it could last longer than this campaign will.

            As far as Hulkegeddon goes, when you’re in nullsec space, it’s always Hulkageddon.  The only thing I won’t try to do for a while is afk ice mine in highsec.  I have been very fortunate lately about not losing any mining vessels that I own.  I also have stepped out and tried to do some more PVE as well as trying to join some defense fleets. Last week, I joined a CVA group that was trying to snare a Cynabal, a Sabre, and a Talos in a neighboring system.  Not sure what the plan was; the hostiles were about 120 km from the jumpgate we were camping and no one was really moving.  I only had a Moa lightly loaded since I don’t have any tech II hybrid capability.  I began to loiter between the fleet and the hostiles about 100 km from the hostiles. Past me went two interceptors with now support, flying separately towards them.  The hostiles surgically picked them apart in no time.  It seemed like the group lacked cohesiveness in order to attack the three hostiles that were present. I made a slow circle and realized that the Talos had started to close on me and opened fire. I was getting hit by him, but I was able to start returning fire and doing very little damage to him.  I was probably 55 km away when I was able to warp out and save my skinny little mining ass. I had flown back to the gate and saw no one around. I guess my version of fun was over for the night.  

            After that little event, it seemed like a fleet sniper would be a ship to work on flying next. The fleet I joined had to try to work close in and absorb significant amounts of damage before properly engaging the hostiles. A fleet sniper that could engage around 90-100 km would have forced the issue and made them either flee or close to attack the sniper.  I scored a few cheap BPCs of a Naga, Talos, and the other two tier 3 BCs and decided that my weapon of choice would be a Naga. After learning the large hybrid skillbook up to lvl 3, I built one and slapped some meta 3 350mm Hybrid turrets on it with some other trinkets to help with range and damage. I decide to try plutonium charges for their damage potential. With 2 Tech II sensor boosters running, minus scripts, I am able to target objects out to 145 km. With the plutonium charges, I can barely nick targets around 90 km and increase the damage as the range shortens up through 65 km.  I’m even able to hit Sansha frigs out as far as 80 km. Not bad for a newbie miner.  My next goal is to get tech II hybrid turret ability of the medium variety.....

Is It Me......?

     Is it me, or does anybody looking for cheap loot want to take their cloaky ships to Jita during the Goons campaign and pick through the debris while the bullets are flying all around you.  I would imagine that the remaining Goons will make sure they remember your character's name for future punishment.
  
     Is it me, or does it seem like there are certain ships that are pretty much nearly impossible to counter in EVE.  A well equipped Falcon comes to mind...

     Is it me, or does it seem like the majority of people are overreacting to this potential mineral crunch.  I was in highsec the other day where someone was trying to sell Condensed Scordite for a 100/unit in Domain. I cannot for the life of me figure out why some dumbass would pay that price for a pretty common ore instead of figuring out how to light a mining laser instead.  Have you seen the prices for a Hulk lately?  The real benefactors to this panic are the basic miners who usually have ores sitting on the market for weeks before someone is willing to pay their prices. My concern going forward is that basic fundamentals get so far oustripped by the lack of supply for materials that you see corp and alliance incursions into soveriegn space over developed mining systems and outright fights over little scraps left by strip miners.  Bots beware, the crackdown with such things like "Hulkageddon" may become monthly occurances instead annual ones.  Maybe the Amarr with their lack of ammunition needs become a little more stable and a little more relevent.  In my previous few months on EVE, it seemed like they were getting marginalized by the other races' equipment and ships.

Maybe Some Enlightenment

     I was just going to reposition some of my Jump clones to better highsec systems when we get hit by another Wardec.  This one will probably be just as interesting as the last few; highsec alliance members will scream and cry that they're being attacked unfairly and that we need to go protect them.  As they have been told many times before, stop operating in highsec and support the sovereignty that exists in Providence and no one will be attacking you.  Each of these wardeccing corporations just sit in the main shipping lanes and pick you off with little or no effort.  It's pretty predictable when you see multiple fighting ships with neg sec status, with one or two cargo ships hanging around gates waiting for the "right" cargo to come by the gate, even when you're not wardecced.  The travel around Niarja is becoming just short of lowsec nowadays as there is no AFK cargo pilotting like previously. Enter at your own risk, and beware of large groups. 
     Getting back to the proposed reduction of loot drops that is being reported after April 26th,  I think I can finally understand what CCP is trying to do going forward.  According to what I have been reading, the mining/producing component of EVE has been on the decline for a while now, and they are trying to jump start that profession.  I believe that a portion of the PVP/ratting population of EVE has been getting very brazen and wreckless that they have little or no aversion to losing ships, clones, etc in the game.  I think this concerns CCP and they feel they need to reign some of the "free will" of the game.  Unfortunately,  I also think this will reduce the amount of people that are willing to spend the time playing this amazing game going forward.  There's a reason why most people don't want to mine in EVE and I don't think this change will dramatically alter this reality: as dynamic as the EVE universe is, the short attention span that exists in most people tell me that something as tedious as grinding rocks will not appeal to most people playing any video game, let alone EVE Online. If a war over resources breaks out, as I think it might, CCP will spark a new struggle, aggravate the general masses again, and give most something to think about.  Maybe some risk aversion will start to come back into the game.  If mining becomes as lucrative, or even more lucrative than other aspects of the game, the isk hoarders will simply change professions.

New Role?

   It appears after the last earnings report for our corp, they are apparently looking to increase the profits of the corporation.  IMO, there are several things going on with this. I'm only going to address one of those right now.  I am now finding out that we are sitting on some pretty valuable moons in regards to mineable materials.  I have also discovered that we are way under-utilizing these assets into profits.  I had responded to my CEO after he put out the earnings for the corporation and asked for suggestions on how to make more. I dangled a few ideas out to him and he seems very interested.  It appears I am kind of becoming the moon goo guru for the group, especially since I was buying and making tons of it for months in my CL2  home away from home last year.  I am hoping to find more favor so I can at least buy the finished products at a discount. They should at least do that since I'm the one holding onto the reactions, and the complex reactor among other things.  Mining may become just a hobby if this takes off....

Evidence

   Everyone is all hot and bothered about the potential change in mineral supply.  I have seen some prices climb steadily on types on minerals that I buy.  I have also been checking out eve markets and other places and I have noticed a very significant increase in the amount of unfilled buy orders versus sell orders for minerals such as Megacyte, Zyrdrine, and Nocxium.  While I don't think that we have hit the highpoint on mineral prices, the trend appears to set up for a dramatic wait-and-see for the end of the month. The market is tightening up, and we'll see what dries up first, minerals or items made from minerals.  Either way, Indy guys like myself stand to make good isk if we position ourselves for the run up. 
   On another note, a new small grav belt was open for business today after I finally found it.  I was a little embarrassed for someone 6 months ago who routinely had to scan the static wh exit in my home just to go get supplies.  After the probes cooperated, I was able to set up for a little bit and take close to 160,000m3 today in mostly Plaglioclase and Kernite.  These two ores are not normally found in our space and they contribute the 4 minerals I cannot keep in stock right now: Isogen, Mexallon, Pyerite, and Tritanium.  It seems the last two I cannot ever get enough of here in Providence.  I would jump through hurdles to get my hands on Zydrine and Megacyte in highsec. How ironic that the other two are scarce around here at reasonable prices....
   My next highsec adventure is to compile a Heretic blueprint and some more cruiser and battlecruiser BPCs in case the predictions are true and market does dry up.  A premium for certain ships is already starting.  Hulks have been up 20 million since I bought 1 two months ago. Noctis seemed to keep rising. I've seen them go up about 25 million over the same time period and they have similar mineral needs that a battlecruiser build would be; but you've got at least 20-40 million additional profit per build with each of these babies.

It's a good thing that my buy orders for Viscous Pyrox and Fiery Kernite keep getting filled in highsec....I'll need my pile to get higher and higher for the coming drought.

Sold!

     Well, I wasn't even able to try out my Impel before the CEO decide he wanted to buy it off of me.  I'll have another 125 million in my wallet, but I have to figure out whether I buy the materials to build another or just pocket the difference I'll make and buy another in Jita.  In Jita they are selling for about 116 million.  I'm already up 9 million.  Unfortunately, I have tied up 40 million in the 4 BPs I bought at auction for Impel builds.  10 down and 30 to go....
     Let's see what the second build will cost me.  I start out with only having a few extra Tech II components made for this, plus the extra minerals, the morphite, the RAM Starship Modules, and the Construction blocks. I'll go with the assumption that I don't have any components made; that way I can continue to stockpile for other frigs or the two Tech II cruisers I want to use eventually.
     The Impel needs the following Tech II components:
   55 Fusion Thrusters
   99 Radar Sensor Clusters
1320 Nanoelectrical Microprocessors
3850 Tungsten Carbide Armor Plates
   33 Antimatter Reactor Units
 220 Tesseract Capacitor Units
 275 Linear Shield Emitters

     I can build the capacitors, the armor plates, and the microprocessors with my BPOs that I have for those units.  I unfortunately cannot make the moon materials for these items so I'll need to build the components from bought materials or I have to buy them already made.  From past experience, I know that the microprocessors are usually pretty expensive either way.   I'll use that as an example analysis for our discussion for the non-indy people reading this.
     A quick look at the blueprint for the Nanoelectrical Microprocessor reveal that I need three advanced moon materials to make these.  Now, for every race, they have the same basic items that are needed for their tech II components.  You have one or two neutral materials and then the race specific material added to them.  For Amarr components, they all have Tungsten Carbide in them.  If these were Minmatar's version, the Nanomechanical Microprocessor, they would have Fernite Cabide included instead.  The other two materials are Nanotransistors and Phenolic Composites.
The unresearched recipe to make one of these microprocessors is 13 Tungsten Carbide, 1 Phenolic composite and 6 Nanotransistors.  The Tungsten Carbide I have but for argument's sake, I can get the materials for about 111 a piece, for a total of  1,443 per microprocessor produced.  The phenolic is easy to figure out selling for 750 a piece.  The nanotransistors will put me back 7,300 each unit for a total of 43,800. That brings the total cost for each microprocessor to 45,993.  They are currently selling for around 39,000 a unit in Jita, so it's definitely better to buy them if you cannot make any of the moon materials.  Researching the ME on the blueprint well help drive down costs too, but in the end you have to be smart about what it costs versus making to materials.

     If I am to total the cost of the above components instead of making them, I would be paying about 98 million if I source them from accessible highsec markets.  If you add in the 10 million for the BP, I have a decent profit from my CEO of 17 million.  He can afford it.......