Science & Industry

Hello!

In my time in Eve, I've never personally experienced a healthy PI economy in a nullsec corp or alliance. Or even a healthy section of it. Instead, the incentive seems to be making single-planet P2, which can be shipped out to high sec easier, or once in a blue moon sold to a local who needs fuel components. Even then, the income is so small that many, like myself, haven't bothered with it.

But now I'm in a position where I'd like to see if I can nudge the region into making more PI, for the sake of generating PI taxes and line-member income. As I crunch a lot of numbers, I've only got vague ideas on how to do that. I'm wondering if others can comment on what they've seen work, when it comes to organizing and fostering Null-sec PI.

Thanks!

So... Put up buy/sell orders. Inform people that you will maintain these buy orders. Make deals to provide links in the chain.

Be aware that this might take time due to the fact if a link fails a lot of ISK/time will be lost. So when that guy goes on vacation for a week or a guy randomly stops, your going to have problems.

People make bulk p2 for shipping to highsec because it doesn't depend on other people. In eve, that is a prevalent mindset.

Yeah, I'm thinking that 1-on-1 discussion with some guys, and asking them to pick up some PI, to put it on the market, would be equally as effective as making and broadcasting the market's theoretical incentive structure.
My hope is that doing both at the same time would create a synergy. But the second part - the incentive structure, the overall market behavior, which pulls activity into the MARKET proper, rather than contract-buy programs, is the tricky one. Tricky because the optimal strategy and tactics for each category of individual are not obvious.

Currently I think of individual pilots in the following very rough categories:
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1. The confused layman. They avoided PI, or only dabbled in it because it wasn't terribly obvious what they oughta do, and/or were too lazy to go further.

My response to the layman is to create structure and simplicity, to simply tell them whats a good, easy, low-effort thing to do, and exactly how.
My hangup on this response is that I need to know my advice is correct. Should they just do the single-planet P2? Or should I maintain buy orders on PI and have them stick to mining, for greater efficiency + simplicity? I assume the second is more profitable but I'm having a hard time proving that.


2. The P2-and-forget. They make single planet P2, and might even combine two sets of P2 into P3. They often have a second account that does a bit of the same. In general, they're wary of changing their setup. If there's a contract buy program, they use it, but they might just pay-ship it Jita it without any consideration.

My impression is that this setup is not the best ISK per effort per hour that they can achieve, but that the lack of a market removes other options. If I can show a setup and broader market interaction that supports it, I think they might shift, hesitantly, but again the data needs to be ~solid~. I'm having a hard time consolidating that data. Moreover, it depends heavily on the market, and they're rightly skeptical of it's likelihood to strand them.
Even if the market were up and running solidly, I am unsure what role these guys ought to be playing in a more populous and robust market.


3. The dismissive quitter. I'm one of these guys. The payoff-per-time/effort for PI, in the current environment, is not high enough to make them want to continue. They've got other activities that are more profitable, time efficient, and engaging. Finding out the right strategy is a headache that just doesn't pay off.

My response to these guys is similar to the so-called 'Confused Layman' - I could provide templates and assurance of efficiency, and market applicability. They won't get stranded with bad/unwanted product, they won't refine any bum opportunity-cost items. I focus heavily on minimizing time-investment and complexity, and take the thought out of it, by having and sharing the 'right way to do it'(highly presumptuous, I know, but not out-of-reach). These are the guys who could potentially act as willing minions for the more dedicated PI players, probably doing simple P1 mi. But obviously the dependencies are thick here. Data has to be good, market has to be healthy, buyers have to be assured. Else they just drop it again.
I would.


4. The planetary mogul. They have a handful of accounts, they run dozens of planets, they are their own 'market.' They MIGHT sell end products on the actual market. They MIGHT contract their goods directly to the place they're needed. Often they'll just send a bunch of P3 and P4 to Jita via their own JF's, or pay for the freight. They're the ones who currently help alliance fueling the most, but they don't cooperate, and are likely to do whatever seems appropriate for themselves at the time.

Even if I've got buy orders on the market now, I suspect it's these guys who ought to be doing it. But I'm not sure that's true since they can, and do produce their own needs. If I can get two or three of these fellas on board, they will likely do some market activity, and move in the direction I suggest.... at least for a while. For them to keep it up, and be the rudder of a proper PI economy, it needs to be sustainable via innate incentive. But I'm not sure what that looks like for them. Is there any scenario where the PI mogul has incentive to buy P1 or P2 from the market? Or otherwise patronize smaller PI players? What's their most profitable or time/effort-efficient strategy, in a functional economy? I don't honestly know.

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In the near future I'm going to be setting up more PI market orders, make a bigger subsidy to try and kickstart the market. But I don't imagine that's sustainable, and I'm just unsure how to get where I'm going. Or even precisely what the functional goalposts or strategy are.

I've got 1500-2000 pilots who can potentially be using the same market hub, packed into a small-ish area with good jump bridges. The planets are all deep null-sec, and un-utilized. I would love to hear from logistics directors of larger alliances who currently deal with this. If you know someone who does, please please send them to this thread, I would greatly appreciate it.