Science & Industry

I've just managed to get my PI skills to a reasonable level and I am starting to search for a planet/system to setup. I'm wondering, though, what exactly do the bar graphs showing the resources really mean?

I understand that a shorter bar means that the planet will have less of that resource, but how much does that affect production?

Does it mean that I will deplete the planet of that resource quicker?

Does it mean that I will get less out of my setup if I try to gather that resource?

Will I just have to move my setup around more often to chase the hotspots?

I guess ultimately, I am wondering if trying to gather an expensive resource off of a planet with a shorter bar is better than mining an abundant, but cheap product?

Thanks.

It's much more complex than what you are asking:

1) The bar indicates how much is there. Which generally means you get more per cycle. I find you still deplete at about the same rate, but you are starting higher. There seems to be a minimum level that you deplete to.

2) Where the planet is makes a much bigger difference. A planet in Null Sec or a Wormhole out produces a Low Sec planet. High Sec planets aren't very good compared to the rest. (Which doesn't mean you still can't make isk off them.)

3) Other people will also deplete hotspots as well. So a planet next Jita will likely produce poorly compared to one in the middle of no where. Rare planets like plasma, and lava are generally heavily used.


PS- Currently I recommend producing coolant in HS as the materials are easily found, and it sells pretty well.

The length of a bar for a planet's resource represents the total amount of that resource distributed over the entire planet. This can mean two things. Either the resources is concentrated into a few hot spots and is scarce elsewhere, or is available in moderate levels over most of the planet's surface.

The rate of depletion is determined entirely by the number of extractor heads you use and the extraction cycles. The shorter the cycles, the faster you get resources, but the faster you deplete the area. Longer cycles really slow down your resource gain once you get past 2 days. Then again, this slower extraction rate gives the resources time to naturally replenish...so longer cycles will let you remain in an area for much longer before you have to uproot and move elsewhere on the planet. Additional people extracting the same resource in the same area will also deplete the resource very quickly.

Gathering a resource from a smaller bar will either give you smaller extraction rate (if the resource is thinly spread across the planet) or a moderate rate, but you have to move around alot to chase hot spots (if the resource is highly concentrated).

The "Best" resources to gather are the ones that are selling the best (or can be made into more refined products that sell well). Also, resource availability can vary wildly from planets of the same type.


I disagree with Icefluxor's claim that PI is a dead career. There is plenty of ways to profit from them. While I agree high sec PI not very profitable at all, if you can find a cluster of low sec POCOs that have friendly tax rates for neutrals, you can make a fair amount from those. Not every low sec corp charges neutrals 20%.

Once the Income from Low sec PI using 4 toons dropped down to 60% of the original due to the reduced product on planets and the taxes, especially Low Sec, I quit it, so it's DEAD TO ME.

IF one wants to make descent profit with PI then make Fuel Blocks themselves. But to maximize profit there, one needs to do at least a part of the Ice Mining required..................and I don't want to recommend that to anyone as we will never hear the end of the whining and Miner Hate on the Forums.

Disagree all you want, but it's nothing at all like it was.

Thanks for the input, but I'm not really looking to make 500m a day with this. I'm really just looking for something that will provide a decent income with very little oversight.

I run PI in HIgh, Low and Null Sec, like others have said its not for direct sales, I use it in production chains and for POS fuels.

Learn about what the tax rates are, Space Port (Export) 10% in High Sec and Space Port (Export) 17% in Low/Null Sec, mind you these days it will be very common to run into POCOs (Player Owned Customs Offices) in Low/Null and they can set whatever tax rates they want. Never reward a bad landlord, move to a different system and reset up.

Practice setting up your PI in SiSI, nothing can be worse then spending a few million for a set up and learning that you don't have enough power grid or CPU

PI's dropping because most POCOs are done being re-installed (meaning no big market for those mats) and everybody and their brother has PI alts.

Just like a big part of the Super BPC market crash is the proliferation of BPO owners. POCOs didn't change any market fundamentals, the supply just finally caught up to the demand.