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question about minimum-grind income

Author
Shou Kaukonen
State Protectorate
Caldari State
#1 - 2012-06-15 23:47:54 UTC  |  Edited by: Shou Kaukonen
First off, allow me to (hopefully) pre-empt a few trolls by saying I'm not about to ask you for your dearly bought trade secrets. Honestly, half the fun of this game for me is figuring that stuff out for myself.
That said, my question:
I need in-game income, and I also need to deal with work/life - a common problem, I know. As a result, I'm on a hunt for sources of isk that aren't measured by a straightforward isk/hr standard; I'm having a harder and harder time avoiding spending my whole weekend trying to make money instead of actually having fun. I'd like to know if there are any low-grind endeavors other than what I've tried that can achieve meaningful income through the efforts of 1 player (and hopefully avoid dropping months of training time on a dead end). Yes, I've been reading up, but checking out gobs of guides and articles with no context is only so useful, so any help, even if vague, would be greatly appreciated.

Thus far, I've had success with:
small time station trading, though I'm still learning the ropes/developing my pool of capitol
PI, though at about 250 mil/month profit I've pretty much topped out what my setup can achieve (holy tariffs Batman)
datacore farming...though this is a small bonus at best, datacores being how they are

stuff I'm looking into, and hoping at least to learn whether I'm wasting my time or not:
manufacturing (t1 is supposed to be madly competitive, also not worth it unless you're hardcore enough to spend all day managing jobs? I've also heard that ships tend to have next to no profit margin)
invention (60+ effing days to skill into inventing/producing AMMO? Plus, possibly same issues as t1 manufacturing? And buying BPCs would murder the profit margin)
research (t1 BPCs are supposed to be unimpressive and BPOs are reportedly a saturated market?)

Again, not asking for trade secrets; just like to know, can they be made to work with 1 person's resources, are they dominated by a few mega-interests that would crush me, are they a waste of time for relative small-timer, etc.
Simetraz
State War Academy
Caldari State
#2 - 2012-06-15 23:59:42 UTC
How much do you want to make and how much time do you want to spend ?
Mara Rinn
Cosmic Goo Convertor
#3 - 2012-06-16 00:03:26 UTC
Just in case you haven't seen it, allow me to point you towards the Making ISK guide.
Shou Kaukonen
State Protectorate
Caldari State
#4 - 2012-06-16 00:06:28 UTC  |  Edited by: Shou Kaukonen
how much? I'm not trying to be a multi-billionaire (yet?), I just don't want to have to worry about whether I have enough money to keep pvping and I'm not quite there yet.

Time? I'd just like to avoid activities that are ONLY profitable when actively engaged in - I spend an hour or 2 a week on PI and 5-15 minutes a day on market orders, for example.

And thanks for the link. I have seen the guide...I guess the reason I"m posting this question in forums is mostly because I've found on several occasions that the actual experience of dealing with a given eve profession tends to differ from what's in the guide, sometimes by quite a lot.
SmilingVagrant
Doomheim
#5 - 2012-06-16 00:06:45 UTC
If you were a 0.0 player I'd say get into trade hub importing: Lots of money in it. But you aren't.
Mortimer Civeri
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#6 - 2012-06-16 00:06:56 UTC
Are you lookng to PLEX your account or just to make money for "stuff"?

"I don't know which is worse, ...that everyone has his price, or that the price is always so low." Calvin

Shou Kaukonen
State Protectorate
Caldari State
#7 - 2012-06-16 00:09:15 UTC
plex would be nice, plex + stuff would be awesome, just stuff would be acceptable Lol
sabre906
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#8 - 2012-06-16 00:14:29 UTC
Easy solution: Sell plex for isk. However little time you spend grinding in game, you can make it faster irl. And if you can't, you've got issues.

This may come as a surprise to many 1337 pvpers, but some people enjoy pve. If it's torture to you and you do it anyway instead of selling plex, you're doing it wrong.
Torneach
Doomheim
#9 - 2012-06-16 00:18:09 UTC
Erm.

Join a corporation/alliance with a meaningful and effective SRP and effectively get paid to PvP.

That's all I can really think of..
Mortimer Civeri
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#10 - 2012-06-16 00:21:16 UTC
Module invention is pretty nice. I make enough profit for stuff, but I can scale it up with more effort for plex + stuff if need be.

"I don't know which is worse, ...that everyone has his price, or that the price is always so low." Calvin

Nyreanya
Serenity Labs
#11 - 2012-06-16 00:27:53 UTC
You said "reportedly ". Always double check. That's as much of a hint as you'll get from me.

[/sarcasm]

sabre906
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#12 - 2012-06-16 00:33:41 UTC
Torneach wrote:
Erm.

Join a corporation/alliance with a meaningful and effective SRP and effectively get paid to PvP.

That's all I can really think of..


Recipe for mandatory hours of gatecamps. I'd rather mine...
Torneach
Doomheim
#13 - 2012-06-16 00:55:03 UTC
sabre906 wrote:
Torneach wrote:
Erm.

Join a corporation/alliance with a meaningful and effective SRP and effectively get paid to PvP.

That's all I can really think of..


Recipe for mandatory hours of gatecamps. I'd rather mine...


Well mining is definitely a part of any SRP...
SetrakDark
Doomheim
#14 - 2012-06-16 01:08:23 UTC
sabre906 wrote:
Recipe for mandatory hours of gatecamps. I'd rather mine...


Hey, another guy with no idea what he's talking about sharing his invaluable opinion.
Haulie Berry
#15 - 2012-06-16 01:17:50 UTC
Shou Kaukonen wrote:
First off, allow me to (hopefully) pre-empt a few trolls by saying I'm not about to ask you for your dearly bought trade secrets. Honestly, half the fun of this game for me is figuring that stuff out for myself.
That said, my question:
I need in-game income, and I also need to deal with work/life - a common problem, I know. As a result, I'm on a hunt for sources of isk that aren't measured by a straightforward isk/hr standard; I'm having a harder and harder time avoiding spending my whole weekend trying to make money instead of actually having fun. I'd like to know if there are any low-grind endeavors other than what I've tried that can achieve meaningful income through the efforts of 1 player (and hopefully avoid dropping months of training time on a dead end). Yes, I've been reading up, but checking out gobs of guides and articles with no context is only so useful, so any help, even if vague, would be greatly appreciated.

Thus far, I've had success with:
small time station trading, though I'm still learning the ropes/developing my pool of capitol
PI, though at about 250 mil/month profit I've pretty much topped out what my setup can achieve (holy tariffs Batman)
datacore farming...though this is a small bonus at best, datacores being how they are

stuff I'm looking into, and hoping at least to learn whether I'm wasting my time or not:
manufacturing (t1 is supposed to be madly competitive, also not worth it unless you're hardcore enough to spend all day managing jobs? I've also heard that ships tend to have next to no profit margin)
invention (60+ effing days to skill into inventing/producing AMMO? Plus, possibly same issues as t1 manufacturing? And buying BPCs would murder the profit margin)
research (t1 BPCs are supposed to be unimpressive and BPOs are reportedly a saturated market?)

Again, not asking for trade secrets; just like to know, can they be made to work with 1 person's resources, are they dominated by a few mega-interests that would crush me, are they a waste of time for relative small-timer, etc.


T1 can, in fact, be quite profitable without too much effort - at least, in game effort. The margins aren't great, but you can make it up in volume. The catch is that if you don't have a good chunk of capital to start with, it's a bit rough to break into. You spend far less time managing lines than you do with invention because you can just plug in BPOs for long runs. If you want to build multiple lines of one item from copies, you will spend more time managing lines (personally, I've always avoided this for the sake of diversifying my output).

Invention is a bit of a training haul, as you noticed, but it's a pretty solid long term investment . It *is* pretty heavy on line management if you want to maximize your income.

Personally, though? Right now? I would fit a rifter and join the minmatar militia and capitalize on that **** while you still can. It's probably the best thing in the game right now in terms of income for effort (at least for what you have available to you).

And hey, there's always scamming. :D
Surfin's PlunderBunny
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#16 - 2012-06-16 01:34:22 UTC
Scamming is the best isk maker in the game... provided you never pop Estamel and he drops his invul field. Very likely possibility this will never ever happen to you

"Little ginger moron" ~David Hasselhoff 

Want to see what Surf is training or how little isk Surf has?  http://eveboard.com/pilot/Surfin%27s_PlunderBunny

Fozzy Dorsai
Friendly but Irritating
#17 - 2012-06-16 01:37:14 UTC
I PVE grind a lot (I find it fun, go figure); my corp mates PI, mine, invent, & build; other friends PVP and actually make a profit. But of all that I do and all that I've seen, station/interstation/interregional trading is the thing that makes the most isk. It, however, is directly proportional to the time you put into it. Another however is that most folks find it excruciatingly boring.
So my trade secret: buy low sell high.
But a previous poster said it best. Work one more hour RL and buy a plex. You can fund a lot of frigates with that.
Orlacc
#18 - 2012-06-16 01:42:20 UTC
Fun is priceless. Have fun and you will notice you are making isk as a rule. Don't update everything every week.

"Measure Twice, Cut Once."

Shou Kaukonen
State Protectorate
Caldari State
#19 - 2012-06-16 02:07:10 UTC
Thanks for all the constructive replies! Even some of the snarkers gave me one or two things to go on, so much obliged everyone. Lol
SetrakDark
Doomheim
#20 - 2012-06-16 02:20:35 UTC
The biggest one to take away is "do what you find fun". Absolutely. No contest.

That aside, station trading is by far the best option for low time input. The only problem is you need substantial (2b+) starting capital before it really picks up.

The other factor is to just fly cheap until you reach a comfortable income/expenditure balance. I'm a firm believer in battlecruisers:online. Sure faction, t2, and t3 ships are all super cool, but actual pilot skill and game mechanic knowledge in t1 ships can **** on all of them. Don;t get caught in the trap of flying ships you can't afford to lose as a compensation instead of not learning to fly well.
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