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Daily highsec scanning for grav sites - worth it?
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Dr Tom
Viziam
Amarr Empire
#1 - 2012-03-15 17:27:27 UTC
Hello all,

I'm a solo hulk miner and of course would like to make a little more money ;)

I'm wondering if it's worth scanning my home system and the adjoining systems every day for grav sites? Would the initial investment of skill time (not long I know) and ship ever pay off? Would this just be a waste of time?

I'm in a 0.8 system and all adjoing systems are roughly the same.

Thanks in advance for your replies
Lady Ayeipsia
BlueWaffe
#2 - 2012-03-15 17:41:37 UTC
Doubtful. The problem is, grav sites aren't that common. You would probably be better off increasing your faction/npc corp standing and running mining missions.

Exploration is very hit or miss on profit, you would miss put on the radar, mag, and other sites being unable to run them, and well, just not worth it.

And if you feel you have maximizes your solo hulk profits, well... Start branching out or make friends ans join an indy corp.
KevLor I
Zephyr Corp
#3 - 2012-03-15 18:06:22 UTC  |  Edited by: KevLor I
Long ago, when I first got into scanning, I would occasionally stumble across a grav site. Rarely, it would have region-rare ore (i.e. Kernite in Minnie space), making it somewhat valuable. Even more rarely, it would not be under intense mining from locals Sad. Anyway, as mentioned above, if you are looking for 'secure' mining, run missions and look around for roids when you are done. Usually veld or scor, but sometimes huge fields of rocks.
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#4 - 2012-03-15 19:02:31 UTC  |  Edited by: Krixtal Icefluxor
Don't bother except in systems .6 and below. Sites are small and mainly High Sec Ores in .7 and above.

Easily findable Hemorphite/Hedbergite/Jaspet (Low Sec Ores) sites abound, really.

Avoid Omber Sites, as Omber is the least valuable mineral at refined ore sale prices ATM (the past year really).

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Zifrian
The Frog Pond
Ribbit.
#5 - 2012-03-15 20:02:04 UTC  |  Edited by: Zifrian
In my experience it's not worth the time and effort. You have to scan them first and if not bein mined already, it's usually crappy ores - omber and kernite for instance. Sometimes you get jaspet but the roids are small and really spead out. After all the hassle I could make more in regular belts.

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Dr Tom
Viziam
Amarr Empire
#6 - 2012-03-15 20:07:18 UTC
Awesome replies - thanks everyone
Devan Reale
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#7 - 2012-03-15 20:09:50 UTC
I honestly don't scan for grav sites in high any more just because they're not that worth it to me. If I have a mission that has decent rocks in it I'll log my Hulk toon to mine it out, but aside from that I won't bother anymore.
Lady Ayeipsia
BlueWaffe
#8 - 2012-03-15 20:12:45 UTC
Also, remember that plagio can be found in caldari space. Omber in gallante i believe, and kernite in amarr. Finding a grav site containing those roids means lite to nothing as you could shift regions for the same outcome.
Vincent Athena
Photosynth
#9 - 2012-03-15 22:30:11 UTC
I explore just to do exploration, doing the radar, mag and combat sites as I find them. If I find one of the high end grav sites, one with the J-H ores and its not too far from my home base, Ill log in all the accounts and mine it out.

But grav sites are not my main goal, having fun exploring is.

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Alyssa SaintCroix
Leihkasse Stammheim
#10 - 2012-03-15 22:46:04 UTC
I try to scan the systems in my area, at least once a day, some areas twice, and some maybe once a week and over the course of maybe two months I've found exactly one Grav site with two meager rocks of Omber.
Xearal
Dead's Prostitutes
The Initiative.
#11 - 2012-03-15 23:38:30 UTC
Your time is better spent learning other things, exploration is more a full time profession than just looking around for grav sites.
Best way to make use of exploration is by getting into a corp and ask the explorers in corp to let you know of grav sites they come across ( pay them a couple of mil or something for finding a good one )

Grav sites are one of the least interesting ( after mags, even with their buff and wormholes if you're not into those ).

Also, in .7 and above, you won't find any good grav sites, best you'll get is something like a kernite site. .6 and .7 are a little better, you have a small chance for low sec ores like jaspet, hemo and hedbergite. be prepared to move around though, those sites aren't like belts, and the rock are all over the place.
When I still mined, I would look for good spots to mine several rocks and fly there, start mining 'on the edge' and mine onwards while moving to the next spot etc. with my orca in tow, or just jettisoning the ore and tracktoring it in.

Explorers mainly look for radars and combat sites, everything else is something they might pass along, or dive into if it's a WH and they like WH raiding.


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Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#12 - 2012-03-16 01:52:33 UTC  |  Edited by: Krixtal Icefluxor
Zifrian wrote:
In my experience it's not worth the time and effort.


Can you explain the criteria for what exactly is 'worth the time and effort' ? What exactly, and why is it so, is the ISK/hr limit line of acceptable earnings in EVE ?, etc.


But yes, grab whatever kinds of sites you find certainly. Only the low sec ore grav sites are worth it, again. A few days a week I can find at least 3 within the day in between everything else. And grabbing with 2 Hulks and Orca with Mining Drones, makes it worth the time and effort most indeed.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Scrapyard Bob
EVE University
Ivy League
#13 - 2012-03-16 02:15:04 UTC
The two main problems with hi-sec grav sites:

1) They're still too rare and CCP would have to definitely increase their spawn rate if they ever go ahead with moving most ore out of the belts.

2) Small grav sites are a joke, usually with less then 200k m3 of ore in them. Why scan them down when you can just hit 6-12 belts in a 0.9 or lower system which probably all have at least 200k m3 of ore in each belt?

Small grav sites would need to be much more common with a minimum size of 500-600k m3 of ore to be worth it.
Lady Ayeipsia
BlueWaffe
#14 - 2012-03-16 12:31:33 UTC  |  Edited by: Lady Ayeipsia
Krixtal Icefluxor wrote:
Zifrian wrote:
In my experience it's not worth the time and effort.


Can you explain the criteria for what exactly is 'worth the time and effort' ? What exactly, and why is it so, is the ISK/hr limit line of acceptable earnings in EVE ?, etc.


But yes, grab whatever kinds of sites you find certainly. Only the low sec ore grav sites are worth it, again. A few days a week I can find at least 3 within the day in between everything else. And grabbing with 2 Hulks and Orca with Mining Drones, makes it worth the time and effort most indeed.


There is no isk/hour limit on eve. It's a game, play as you enjoy. That said if maximizing your isk per hour is a goal in eve, and part of what is enjoyable, then that can be calculated.

Mining veldspar on hi sec nets 18-25 mil per hour depending on hulk fit, skills, bonuses, etc. It can go lower if you have no hauler and need to head back to station after each load. Still, assume 15 mil an hour.

For exploration, 5 minutes to scan each site, 3 sites in each system, assume 5 minutes travel/setup time. This means you can.scan 3 systems per hour. Now remember, the op is a miner with limited skills. He will only run grav sites. If he finds 1 grav site in 3 systems, that site must warm him double the first hour of mining to recoup time lost to scanning.

Now after reviewing another topic that lists isk per cubic meter of ore, the ores you find in hi sec grav sites are not double veldspar in isk per cubic meter. You would need to mine 2 hours in a good grav site per hour spent scanning. To make a profit exceeding mining, you would have to mine a grav site for 3 hours if you spent an hour scanning. Chances are a hi sec grav site won't last that long, and that assumes finding one in an hour spent scanning 3 systems.



That said, eve is a game to enjoy. I like scanning. I like running radar, mag, other sites, and even venture into wormholes. To me, i make enough isk to keep exploring fun when I do it. So...

Tdlr: isk per hour, scanning for grav sites not worth it. If you enjoy exploring though, go for it.
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#15 - 2012-03-16 13:42:14 UTC
Lady Ayeipsia wrote:


For exploration, 5 minutes to scan each site


Shocked

Even with all skills on IV, it only takes me about 90 seconds for a weak signal to resolve......quicker if I'm just looking for the type of signature and do not complete.....so this should be more like 45 to 60 seconds for 'filtered-scanning' .

I'd shoot myself if it were EVER 5 minutes per site.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Salpad
Carebears with Attitude
#16 - 2012-03-16 18:33:56 UTC
Dr Tom wrote:
Hello all,

I'm a solo hulk miner and of course would like to make a little more money ;)

I'm wondering if it's worth scanning my home system and the adjoining systems every day for grav sites? Would the initial investment of skill time (not long I know) and ship ever pay off? Would this just be a waste of time?

I'm in a 0.8 system and all adjoing systems are roughly the same.

Thanks in advance for your replies


I think it depends on how heavily populated space near you is. I gave up scanning for grav sites last year, in the Caldari area I was in, but now that I've moved to elsewhere in high-sec, I may give it another try.
Elsa Nietchize
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#17 - 2012-03-17 03:01:05 UTC
personally, i think you're better off finding a non-crappy mining corp that has a well skilled orca booster. while my experience with hisec grav sites has been very limited, they've all been pretty crappy
Scrapyard Bob
EVE University
Ivy League
#18 - 2012-03-17 05:03:33 UTC
Lady Ayeipsia wrote:

For exploration, 5 minutes to scan each site, 3 sites in each system, assume 5 minutes travel/setup time. This means you can.scan 3 systems per hour. Now remember, the op is a miner with limited skills. He will only run grav sites. If he finds 1 grav site in 3 systems, that site must warm him double the first hour of mining to recoup time lost to scanning.

Now after reviewing another topic that lists isk per cubic meter of ore, the ores you find in hi sec grav sites are not double veldspar in isk per cubic meter. You would need to mine 2 hours in a good grav site per hour spent scanning. To make a profit exceeding mining, you would have to mine a grav site for 3 hours if you spent an hour scanning. Chances are a hi sec grav site won't last that long, and that assumes finding one in an hour spent scanning 3 systems.


That pretty much sums it up. The amount and value of ore in the grav site needs to be such that it's worth the logistical effort to:

a) scan down the site
b) move your mining fleet to the site
c) spend time scanning down a new site

If the site is not in your usual haunts, there's some wasted time spent traveling to the site. Or having to haul the ore to a different system in order to get the zero-tax refine. Which makes the entire process very inefficient for a career which is already towards the bottom of the pile in terms of ISK/hr.

Instead, you could simply find a good, long-term, home, undock in your mining fleet, warp to a belt and be mining within 2-5 minutes of logging in. And keep it up for as long as you want, moving from belt to belt and maybe into a neighboring system. Very little downtime involved as it only takes 10-20 seconds to check each belt in a system, and you know in advance which systems have belts.
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#19 - 2012-03-17 11:15:01 UTC  |  Edited by: Krixtal Icefluxor
These folks are obviously just trying to discourage others from doing the higher paying High Sec grav sites that contain Hedberg/Hemo/Jasp. Discouraging the competition is a strategy within EVE.

These sites are actually rather common if you scan only in .5 and .6 systems. And with the market for minerals right now on the way up, this is a WIN situation over regular mining.

The key is to not spend too much time looking for them. Its best to give up if nothing found in 3 or 4 systems.

These sites should be treated as 'in addition to' the regular belts, not the primary mineral source.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Scrapyard Bob
EVE University
Ivy League
#20 - 2012-03-18 04:17:26 UTC
Jasp is worth 175, Hemo is 194 and Hedb is 193. Or you can just go mine Plag/Kern at 153 (or Pyrox at 169). All of which don't require you to spend time scanning and hoping to find a grav site that is a medium / large Jasp/Hemo/Hedb.

So, yes you can make a bit more by finding one of those lo-sec ore grav sites. You're making between 14-27% more per hour off those lo-sec ores.

It doesn't change the fact that for every hour you spend probing down one of those sites, you'd need the site to last between 4-6 hours in order for it to have been worth it. (Over just going out to a Plag/Pyro/Kern belt and mining.)
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