EVE New Citizens Q&A

Hi, I'm a returning player to EVE Online... I probably had played 3-4 months under subscription in the past... after time with other games, I have decided to return to EVE full-time, cancelling my other MMO memberships and the like. Too much to do here, and too great of an atmosphere. Anyway, on to my inquiry...

I'm just wondering how much of a difference in yields/production I can expect between different levels of security in low-sec space as far as Planetary Interaction goes.

I am still in my first week or so being back to the game, but I chose PI first because I was very interested in it the last time I was here. I always intended to live in low-sec, so I had setup a four-planet setup in a very low-sec system. I was a "lone wolf" solo pilot... none of my RL friends play EVE, so I was just doing my best to play the way I wanted to start. I had started a solo corp and the whole nine to try to evade a higher tax rate.

Anyway, enough background -- I actually jumped into an established guild last night, and am moving to their systems. Most of their lower-sec systems are 0.3 - 0.4... Should I be expecting much lesser yields in these "safer" areas of low-sec, or is the difference between yield on a 0.3 planet comparable to a 0.1 planet?

The corporation is giving me a 0% tax rate for my ventures as far as PI, so I will definitely save on import and export duties... I am just trying to confirm I'm making the correct decision as far as my yields to go into a slightly higher security (but still low-sec system.)

Thank you for reading this and in advance for any further information.

Best Regards,

Omar Liddle

Ooooh yikes. Yep, don't say 'Guild' again. ;)

That's great that you've joined a corp. That's an excellent step in the right direction.

I'm a null-sec guy, so what I know of low-sec is spotty. But first off, I would highly suggest being prepared for getting intercepted, and blown up. Low-sec, all of it, is some of the most dangerous places in Eve. So in the course of your PI, or whatever else, it's important that you limit your potential losses. Make sure that whatever you undock or transport won't set you back much when(not if) it gets lost.

With that out of the way, lowsec will yield quite a bit better returns for your PI. This is in part due to the risk, prompting fewer people willing to do lowsec PI, but also because the planets are innately more rich in resources.

Here are two common and effective paradigms of making money via PI:
A) Extraction only. Focus on mining as much as you can, and turning it into P1. This is innately the most efficient setup, when it comes to your power grid limitations. It also avoids the 'traps' that occur due to OPPORTUNITY COST. Meaning that, very often, if you 'improve' your P1 into P2, the resultant profits are lower than if you just sold the P1.
B) Single-planet P2. This paradigm is effective because it limits the amount of volume that needs to be transported, which is a major factor in PI. Particularly given the risks you're currently surrounded by in low-sec. People make robotics, coolant, and consumer electronics I think.

As I mentioned, I'm a null-sec guys, and if you're really interested in working the PI angle, I'd suggest considering leaving your low-sec group and trying out Null. Nullsec is safer, paradoxically, and has even more rich planets, as well as other abundant opportunities like better scanning and anoms. But it also means you'd have to get involved in alliance or coalition life.

....Which is AWESOME.

when Daniel says about these forums, he means this New Citizens forum as trolling etc isn't allowed here. You probably realised that and I'm not being picky, just wanted to clarify that.

The one thing to watch out for in low sec PI is the tax on a player owned customs office. If your corporation owns the customs offices then they would usually be expected to have a low rate for corp / alliance / blues or whatever. If someone other than that owns the customs office you should make sure you check, some have very high tax rates.