All About EVE Online

Balancing the Books (10 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. Looks like I am going to get a chance to make something. Ok let’s see I can go and mine Pyroxeres or Plagioclase to get the Mexallon I need, then some Omber (which is not native to Amarr space) for the Isogen, or try and find some Kernite which has both Mexallon and Isogen and then use the Tritanium that I have on hand to start the build, which will take awhile to finish. Or I could just buy the 50 units on the market, keep the BPC and the minerals and save a bunch of time. Of course that way I also need to figure hauling time. Let’s see each crystal takes up 1.0 cubic meter, times 50 units equals 50 cubic meters. That’s easy enough to haul. I think that’s what I’ll do, check the market and find a good price and I could build the crystals later and sell them for a profit, and on my own time. Found a good deal on the crystals, brought them back to my agent and collected the reward and bonus. 

It looks like I have outlived my stay with this agent, but the idea about building stuff myself seems like fun. I think I will go see this other agent in the station, seems he does manufacturing. Maybe he will have a job or two for me.

- End Log -

• As you can see on this mission, you have chooses on how you want to accomplish your tasks. Yes I could have built the crystals from the BPC, use the minerals I had on hand and waited about an hour and a half. There would still be some left on the BPC to build more and I could still make a profit. But it was just as easy to buy the crystals, haul them to the agent and end the mission. This is what is special about EVE; there is no set way to do things.
• If you decided to build them, just right click on the BPC and select manufacture. Select the current station manufacturing facility (not all stations have them so you may need to go to one that does). Select and open bay (or one ending soon) and then hit the install job. Then select the number of runs you want to use. Some items are one unit per run, others can be 100 units per run, and you just need to do the math. Take the number of units you want at the end and divide by the number of units per run, and there is the number of runs you need. Then select OK, and if you have all the materials and all green checks, then select accept quote and wait until done.
• You open the Science and Industry tab, select the jobs tab and the get jobs. This will give you a list of jobs that you are working on and when they will be ready. When ready, hit the deliver button (the cancel job buttons will change once a job is complete). NOTE: if you cancel a job you will lose all materials except the BPC/BPO.

Ok this ends the business tutorial mission, ‘Balancing the Books’. I hope you enjoyed my story and I look forward to seeing you again with the other tutorials ‘Making Mountains of Molehills’, and ‘Cash for Capsuleer’s’. You can repeat these missions in other area and with the other races. Just note that the other races will give you different weapons and ships and other items, and always the loot will be different.

I will be writing up many more tips, tricks and how to’s on all aspects of EVE. If there is any area that you want to see more information on, feel free to sign up and leave you comments. EVE is an every growing and changing thing so there are sure to be updates to may information.

So until next time, Fly safe.

Reggi Mental

Balancing the Books (9 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. Well it looks like need to go shopping again. This time I need to find two units of 1MN Afterburner I for my agent. Wait a sec, I got one a few missions back from him, that I can’t use, and I found at least one on one of those rats I took out. What is it they say, reduce, reuse, recycle. I’ll just knock the dust off of them and send them over to the agent, heck I don’t even need to undock this time, cool.

- End Log -

• This mission tests your familiarity with the market in EVE. Being familiar with the market is a good way to get the best ISK for your time and effort.
• You can use the browse or search tabs in the market to find your items. You can select the range of your search from the station, system, or region. You can also filter out low sec and 0.0 space. And you can select to show only what is available or show all objects.
• You can buy an item anywhere in the current region, then go there and pick it up. But to sell an object you must be in a station in that system. You can also place a buy order for items and set how much you are willing to pay and how far you are willing to travel to get it, but those limited to your skill levels.
• As for setting the autopilot for a market destination. Simply right click on the location, hover over ‘Location” and select ‘Set Destination’.
• Also this mission will allows you to get rid of a surplus of items. If you have 2 units of 1MN Afterburner I modules in you hanger (from previous missions or looted wrecks), you could just accept the mission then complete the mission.

Balancing the Books (8 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. This is a simple transport and delivery mission in another system. I set that auto pilot up for the round trip as soon as saw the orders. Made sure I transferred the documents from my hanger to the cargo hold. Undocked and hit the auto pilot. After going through the Jumpgate I warped to the location I was given. Talked to my agent again, completed the mission, undocked and hit the autopilot again. After going through the jumpgate, I simply warped back to station and checked in with the agent and collect my reward and bonus.

- End Log -

• When the agent gives you a mission you will sometimes see that the location is another system. Right click on the orange link and set destination. You can then select the orange link for the agent, right click and add waypoint. This will set up you auto pilot for a round trip. You can use this method to make several stops.
• Remember to transfer the cargo from the hanger to you cargohold.
• When using the autopilot to travel, it will warp you to about 15km from the gate and then set you on approach to the gate. When you reach the gate, it will jump you automatically. On the other side it will warp you to the next gate (again 15 km off) or disengage if you have reached your destination or waypoint.
• By right clicking in space, going to the bottom of the menu under Agent Missions, will you have one or more of the following. Encounter, Drop off, Agent station. Hovering over the one you want brings another menu, simply warp to, or dock.

Balancing the Books (7 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. I’m not an archeologist but I think I can fake it. My job is to discover the secrets of the runes and remove any rats that might be there as well. Then I get to analyze the runes and recover some data for my agent. Well it looks like this site is in deadspace, so I will need to go through an acceleration gate. The First gate had no guards but the second gate had two rats. There is a lot of veldspar here, I wish I had the time and the equipment to set up shop this could be a good haul here. The third pocket of deadspace had the runes and two more rats, this is looking easy. Well it took several runs of the analyzer but it finally got some good info for me, a datacore. Now to take it back to my agent and get my reward.

 - End Log -

• The analyzer, like the salvager and codebreaker discussed earlier, will allow you to access game based secure cans. And as I mentioned before when you get “Your attempt at —– failed this time” or something like that, it does not mean you cannot do it, just that it will take more time. Just let the module run until you succeed and then open the can (in this case). If you cannot do it the message will be more like you do not have the skills, or that it is too difficult for you. Again the Civilian Analyzer really only works for the tutorial missions.
• There are sections of space where you cannot warp directly to. These are called Deaspace. To get to these Deadspace areas you will use an acceleration gate. Most of your missions and adventures will be through these. They can limit the size of ships that can pass through. They can also be locked until you finish something (like kill all the rats in the area, or just one special one) or have a key. To use an Acceleration gate is just like using a jumpgate. Get within 2500 m of the gate, select it, and then hit the jump icon above the overview. You will be thrown to the next location, sometimes called rooms or pockets. There can be several rooms or pockets to mission. Acceleration gates also make good meeting places when in a fleet (later on that).
• Sometimes deadspace areas have asteroid belts, even some rare ones. You have a bit of security because it’s a mission related site, so if time and equipment permit you could start a mining op and make a few ISK on the side or stock pile for later.
• In this mission you will recover an “Elementary Civilian Technologies” datacore. Data cores are used in the invention of Tech II items. A Tech I Blueprint Copy (BPC) of a item or ship combined with a number of datacores, the right skill set and a bit of luck, can produce a Tech II BPC of that item or ship.

Balancing the Books (6 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. This is a simple purchase and deliver run. I need to search the market for a tracking computer, buy it and deliver it to my agent. The prices vary greatly from system to system and region to region. The tracking computer seems a bit high in local so I expanded my search for the whole region. I found one about half the price but it was 10j (10 jumps) out. I set up the autopilot for the round trip. I undocked and hit the autopilot. Autopilot dropped me as always out of warp about 15km from the gate, but with the injector it cut that trip time almost in half. Once I entered the system with the tracking computers, I look to see which station had the good price and docked. Bought the tracking computer and loaded in my cargohold. Undocked and hit the autopilot again. Once in my home system I docked and Checked in with my agent to complete the mission and get my reward and bonus.

- End Log -

• This mission gets you familiar with the market in EVE. Some items are provided by Non Playing Character (NPC) in the game, but this does not mean that those prices are locked. Some items the NPC has locked and will not change (Skill books for example), others vary by supply and demand. Other players can buy and sell items for whatever price they want. Being familiar with the market is a good way to get the best ISK for your time and effort.
• You can use the browse or search tabs in the market to find your items. You can select the range of your search from the station, system, or region. You can also filter out low sec and 0.0 space. And you can select to show only what is available or show all objects.
• You can buy an item anywhere in the current region, then go there and pick it up. But to sell an object you must be in a station in that system. You can also place a buy order for items and set how much you are willing to pay and how far you are willing to travel to get it, but those limited to your skill levels.
• As for setting the autopilot for a market destination. Simply right click on the location, hover over ‘Location” and select ‘Set Destination’.
• Aura should give you ‘Trade’ and ‘Retail’ skill books through the tutorial, If you have not already received them.

Balancing the Books (5 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. This is a simple deliver run. I need to deliver the datachip I found to some other station in another system. I set up the autopilot for the round trip as soon as I saw the orders. It must be important, my agent gave me and overdrive injector to help. Those things increase the speed of any ship. I placed the datachip in my cargohold and undocked. Hit the autopilot. Autopilot always drops you out of warp about 15km from the gate, but with the injector it cut that trip time almost in half. Once I drop off the datachip and checked in with my agent, I undocked and hit the autopilot again. Once in my home system I docked and waited for the next assignment.

- End Log -

• When the agent gives you a mission you will sometimes see that the location is another system. Right click on the orange link and set destination. You can then select the orange link for the agent, right click and add waypoint. This will set up you auto pilot for a round trip. You can use this method to make several stops. Again it is a good idea to check the route.
• When using the autopilot to travel, it will warp you to about 15km from the gate and then set you on approach to the gate. When you reach the gate, it will jump you automatically. On the other side it will warp you to the next gate (again 15 km off) or disengage if you have reached your destination or waypoint.
• By right clicking in space, going to the bottom of the menu under Agent Missions, will you have one or more of the following. Encounter, Drop off, Agent station. Hover over the one you want brings another menu, simply warp to, or dock.
• If you have to travel through low sec space, it is a good idea to do it manually. Still set up you auto pilot with the route, but manual warp from gate to gate. This will put you right on top of the jumpgate and you spend less time as a target.

Balancing the Books (4 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. Well it looks like the pirates are getting more organized. They have a listening post in the area that they use to find where the shipping lanes are. My job is to take it out and any rats that might be there as well. Then I get to hack through their systems and recover some data for my agent. Well it took several runs of the codebreaker but it finally got the datachip for me. Now to take it back to my agent and get my reward.

- End Log -

• As I mentioned before when you get “Your attempt at —– failed this time” or something like that, it does not mean you cannot do it, just that it will take more time. Just let the module run until you succeed and then open the can (in this case). If you cannot do it the message will be more like you do not have the skills, or that it is too difficult for you. Again the Civilian codebreaker really only works for the tutorial missions.
• Tech II items are invented from Tech I (or standard) items. But they tend to require extra parts. These parts can be found/purchased/made. Hacking sites are a good place to find them. I will cover more on Inventing in other blogs.
• If the tutorial was running you should have gotten “Contracting” and “Negotiation” skill books from Aura.
• If you find datacores during you missions, get them you may need them in upcoming missions.
• Remember to take the datachip with you once you open the can.

Balancing the Books (3 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt.  A simple mine and refine mission. It’s in a secluded belt in Deadspace. This means an acceleration gate, and most likely rats at some point. Since this a secluded belt I most likely won’t have to deal with can flippers or thieves so I can use a jet can. Just need to remember to name it and empty it before 2 hours goes by. Found the acceleration gate and went through it. Found a single rock of veldspar. I hope there is enough here for my needs, I’m not trained in ore processing yet. Target locked the rock, got within range of my civilian mining laser (cheap piece of junk) and started mining. Just as my cargo hold was getting full I jettisoned the ore into space in a jet can. Opened the jet can and now every time the mining laser cycles I can place the ore in there. Renamed it with the time I launched it, I think that’s what all the miners do. Ok there’s the rat, I swear they are attracted to mining lasers. He was easy to dispatch. Ok the rock popped and so that all the ore from this belt, now for the several trips it going to take to get it to station but I know it’s faster than running each cargo load one at a time as I’m mining. Ok all the ore is now at station and now it’s time to process it into trit. I know that if I had the skills I could do this with little or no waste. I got enough of the mineral and even some extra. So called the agent and collected my reward and bonus.

- End Log -

• Mining in normal system space is straight forward. You right click in space, asteroid belts, warp to, or select a downward triangle from the overview of a belt and click the warp to button above. This will send you to a belt. If you are in really high security space (1.0 or 0.9) then you may end up over 100km away. Simply find a rock in the belt, right click it and ‘Bookmark” it. Warp out of the belt, then right click in space and select the bookmarked belt and warp to it, you will go right to the rock. One thing to consider while mining in normal space is that if you jettison you ore and mine into the can (known as jet mining) you can become the victim of a can flip or thieves. In deadspace mining (like for an agent mission) you don’t have this problem much, but it can happen (it requires probes and lot of scanning).
• Can flipping is when someone warps in, goes to your can and takes your cargo and puts it in one of his. His plan is that you shoot at him, so he can shoot you, or that you try and take it back so he (or his fleet, corporation, or alliance) can shoot you. Best advice when mining alone, don’t jet mine.
• Each mining laser has its own set of attributes. These could be a limit on range or yield amount per cycle, or even cycle time. Most of the standard mining lasers have a 10km range and 60 second cycle time. Strip miners (that can only be mounted on mining barges or exhumers) have a 15km range but a 180 second cycle time, but a great amount of yield. Skills, rigs and modules can improve one or more of these attributes.
• It has been said that mining laser tend to attract rats. In 1.0 or 0.9 space you do not have this problem in normal space, only in deadspace.
• You can increase your cargo hold capacity by using Expanded cargo hold modules, but these will affect you speed. Look at the attributes of these units to see the bonuses and drawbacks.
• If you allow you mining lasers to over fill your cargo hold capacity the excess ore will be lost in space. This is called ‘Dirty Mining’ in EVE. If you see that you are close to full you can interrupt the mining laser and equal amount of ore for the time/yield will be placed into your cargo hold.
• Each ore has a ‘Processing” skill. These skills reduce the amount of waste you would lose in processing the ore. To see the amount you current are losing. Mine some ore and take it to a NPC Station. Open the reprocessing plant window by right clicking on the ore and select refine. You may need to stretch the window from side to side to get all the columns’. One column will be titles waste.
• When starting out you will only have frigates to fly. Some frigates have mining bonuses (as do other ships). You can find which ones have bonuses by reading the description of each ship. You may want to consider as time goes on making a dedicated mining ship. This is a ship that you use only for mining. Then also have a dedicated fighter, this one has your weapons and spare ammo (don’t forget your ammo).
• If you have the time and there is a few mineable asteroids during a mission you may want to mine what you can. Sometimes you may need some ore or minerals and when you go to the local/normal space belts they may be mined out. It’s good to have a small stock pile.

Balancing the Books (2 of 10)

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. This is a simple recovery mission in another system. I set that auto pilot up for the round trip as soon as saw the orders. Made sure I Installed the Salvager, which I was given for this mission. Undocked and hit the auto pilot. After going through the Jumpgate I warped to the location I was given. I removed the rat that was there and looted his wreck. Then turned my attention to the wreck I came for. Once in range (5000m) I targeted it and activated the salvager. A few passes later I finally got the jet can open and could recover the item. That completed the mission, I hit the autopilot again. After going through the jumpgate, I simply warped back to station and checked in with the agent and collect my reward and bonus and he took the item.

- End Log -

• Salvaging is different than looting and can bring in a bit of extra cash. Salvaging is getting spare or damaged parts from the ship not modules or cargo. These parts are used for making other parts for your ship called rigs. Some ships are easier to salvage than others so if you want to do this you will need to train “Survey” to level 3, and then “Salvaging” to level 1 for most of the smaller ships, the higher the level the better chance you have to get something and the bigger ships you can salvage.
• The Civilian Salvager will only work for this mission. Do not count on it working on anything other than a tutorial ship.
• “Your attempt at salvaging failed this time” or something like that. Failure does not mean you cannot do it, just that it will take more time. Just let the module run until you succeed and then open the can (in this case) or if you salvage anything of value it will appear in your cargo hold (if there is room). If you cannot do it the message will be more like you do not have the skills, or that it is too difficult for you.
• Jury rigging or rigs give bonuses to your ship in certain area, but can have some drawbacks. Rigs become a permanent part of your ship and cannot be removed without the rig being destroyed. Rigs also require skill training.
• If you had the tutorial open, or go to the tutorial on salvaging, you will receive “Social” and “Diplomacy” skill books.
• There are sections of space where you cannot warp directly to. These are called Deaspace. To get to these Deadspace areas you will use an acceleration gate. Most of your missions and adventures will be through these. They can limit the size of ships that can pass through. They can also be locked until you finish something or have a key. To use an Acceleration gate is just like using a jumpgate. Get within 2500 m of the gate, select it, and then hit the jump icon above the overview. You will be thrown to the next location, sometimes called rooms or pockets. There can be several rooms or pockets to mission. Acceleration gates also make good meeting places when in a fleet (later on that).

This is my story using an Amarraian Pilot, but the gist is the same for the other Races. Enjoy.

Balancing the Books (1 of 10)

                Objective:           Deliver some important Datasheets to another system or station.

                Reward:               38,000 ISK

                Bonus:                  38,000 ISK

                Collateral:            155 ISK

Mission Log: Lady D’Mentia (that’s me), Capt. This is a simple transport and delivery mission in another system. I set that auto pilot up for the round trip as soon as saw the orders. Made sure I transferred the documents from my hanger to the cargo hold. Undocked and hit the auto pilot. After going through the Jumpgate I warped to the location I was given. Talked to my agent again, completed the mission, undocked and hit the autopilot again. After going through the jumpgate, I simply warped back to station and checked in with the agent and collect my reward and bonus.

- End Log -

• When the agent gives you a mission you will sometimes see that the location is another system. Right click on the orange link and set destination. You can then select the orange link for the agent, right click and add waypoint. This will set up you auto pilot for a round trip. You can use this method to make several stops. One thing you will want to check is that you have your auto pilot set to stop at each point. You can do this by selecting the map icon on the left hand side or by pressing F10. Then under ‘Autopilot’ tab select ‘Settings’. Then activate the “Disable autopilot at each waypoint”. While here also select the “prefer safer”, this will keep you in high sec as much as possible. Then hit the map icon, F10 or select ‘close map’ to get back to your normal view.
• When using the autopilot to travel, it will warp you to about 15km from the gate and then set you on approach to the gate. When you reach the gate, it will jump you automatically. On the other side it will warp you to the next gate (again 15 km off) or disengage if you have reached your destination or waypoint.
• By right clicking in space, going to the bottom of the menu under Agent Missions, will you have one or more of the following. Encounter, Drop off, Agent station. Hovering over the one you want brings another menu, simply warp to, or dock.

Hope this was helpful, until next time Fly safe