EVE New Citizens Q&A

Hey,

I've been looking at a PI guide and there's a few things I haven't figured.

I'm training a toon with all the PI skills and will indeed need to get appropriate command centers for the types of planets I'll extract ressources from (lava CC, barren CC, etc.).
Will I need other skills to turn the raw ressources into... say.. Integrity Response Drones?
Do I need to buy anything else beside the Command Centers?
The toon is in w-space, so doesn't have a nice route to k-space everyday...

Now, if I got it right, you extract raw ressources from a planet, like mining ore, and reprocess them into a more refined ressource. Those ressources can then be combined into more complex ressources, etc.

Regarding this process:
I've seen there's a PI-dedicated ship, the Primae, but couldn't really figure why it could be useful, can an iteron mk3 substitute to it?
Is it an active or passive activity? (to get an idea of how much time I need to dedicate to it)

Also, is there some third party tool that can be useful/needed for PI?

1.) to set up planets you need: A command center and some ISK (other modules on the planet + upgrading stuff only cost ISK)
2.) No additional skills are "required" to build stuff. There are the 4 P.I. skills who will give you the ability to scan better, have more planets and upgrade your command center (which means more stuff on 1 single planet).
3.) Primae sucks, don't buy it, it sucks. Any industrial ship is better, Primae only has seperate hold for command centers which also fit into a normal industrial, yet the normal industrial has a bigger normal hold which means it can haul more PI stuff in 1 go. Btw, did I tell you the Primae sucks.
4.) I would say PI is semi passive. You have to update your extractors once in a while, you have to manage your storage (aka export and collect finished products) but it can be done in a short amount of time. The whole running of the planet itself is automated and you don't have to watch it once it's set up.

The op is in w-space, which counts as 0.0 space, and so has the best planets for PI.
It can be quite lucrative, especially as a starting character. but you get out of it what you put into it. If you maximize your runs every hour you will get very high production. If you do it once a day like most people, production will be average.
Also, what you produce makes a big difference. Some PI products are fairly worthless while others are great money.
I'd recommend setting up a production-only colony as well to make high-tier end products which are high value and low volume. This will make shipping and storage much easier.
It does require you to like farmville-like games. I really tried to keep doing it but the lack of terror and opression I could enforce on my slaves made me lose interest.
A great bonus in w-space is the ability to produce all of your POS fuel on the spot (except ice-related fuel).

PI really isn't for brand new people who think that 7 million ISK is a lot of money, cause that's what it costs you to upgrade your Control Center to V. You want your CC @ V - because everything you build uses Power Grid and CPU - so if you're not at V on your Command Center Upgrades skill - you're not able to build all the stuff you might if you were.

Since the basic design of your facility is based on what it can produce - you want to implement the design as a whole - rather than try and build a small colony and expand it.

The other thing about PI - is that you get taxed on your products every time you transport them to or from a planet. With other things - you only have to pay the tax out of what you sell the product for. With PI - you're paying that tax just to move things around between the station and the customs facility. Now if you're not in Hi Sec - you can set up your own customs facility - but then that's not for brand new people either.

Once you get to the point where 7 million ISK isn't a big deal and you've got the training time to devote to getting CC Upgrades to V - then you might think about PI - but I wouldn't bother before that.


As to PI being a passive activity ... to a degree it can be. As has been pointed out - the more time you put into it - the more you get out of it.

Now ... for myself ... I don't get to play as much as I used to any more. So - the potentially passive nature of PI is one of it's major attractions. For me ... it's better to set my extractors to run for 2 weeks and get less output from them - then to just not be able to do anything and get nothing. That and i don't really like doing it. So - as an activity that can make me some money every now and then - that I don't have to put any time into for 2 weeks at a time - PI has an appeal for me.

For other people with other priorities - they might want to take a different approach depending on what their goals and play style are and this can be reflected in the design of their facilities. For example - if you are like me - and don't want to visit your planets but once every two weeks - or less - then storage is another factor. As long as you don't need to transfer something to the customs station - you don't have to fly over there - you can pretty much reset your extractors from anywhere. Someone who is going to be much more active in their planetary management - doesn't need as much storage and can put that PG/CPU into more extractors.


Now another factor in PI - is if you run multiple accounts. I've got multiple accounts ... so I potentially have lots of alts. PI is a great activity for ALTs - if you don't want to put to much time into it. Even with one account - you could potentially have 18 planets if all 3 of your alts were doing PI. As with other forms of industry, each character gets you another set of research slots, production slots, etc. So - if you're already an industrialist with multiple accounts - training your guys to do PI can net you an extra source of cash/materials.



So .. PI is sort of what you make it. If you are part of a large corporation that can secure an area for you - or you like sneaking around - then you can go into lower security space and make more money. If you aren't - then you can stay in more secure space and make less money. If you can spend a lot of time on your factories and like doing it - then you can make more money than if you just set them up and let them run until whenever you can get back to them (like I do) and make less.


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