These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

EVE New Citizens Q&A

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
 

Command Center Upgrading
Author
Previous Topic Next Topic
Scorpio Aldent
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#1 - 2012-07-16 19:45:17 UTC
I am looking to dabble in PI and was hoping to get my feet wet while waiting for Command Center Upgrades V, but a lot of what I read seems to say that you cannot upgrade command centers, you must destroy what you have and start over.

Doesn't seem to be a lot of point in spending money in it and then having to take it down just because I get the next level of command centers, is that information dated or is it still the case? Can you upgrade a command center once its placed, or should I just wait for Command Center upgrades V?
Steve Ronuken
Fuzzwork Enterprises
Vote Steve Ronuken for CSM
#2 - 2012-07-16 19:48:05 UTC
What you're reading is wrong. You select the command center you've placed, and you upgrade it.

Woo! CSM XI!

Fuzzwork Enterprises

Twitter: @fuzzysteve on Twitter
J'Poll
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#3 - 2012-07-16 20:30:46 UTC
What you are reading is about PI before they changed it.

In the past, you could buy 5 different "Barren" (or any other planet) Command centers, each with their own level (1 to 5).

CCP changed it so you can upgrade the command centre after you placed it.

Personal channel: Crazy Dutch Guy

Help channel: Help chat - Reloaded

Public roams channels: RvB Ganked / Redemption Road / Spectre Fleet / Bombers bar / The Content Club
Lambert Simnel
PWLS Enterprises
#4 - 2012-07-17 04:23:39 UTC
You can just upgrade you command centre after it has been placed.

However, I would also add that it does pay to train your Planetology and Advanced Planetology skills. They make placing a command centre in the correct position in the first place so much easier. Once set a command centre can't be moved so the better you can scan and identify a resource on a planet the greater your yield.
Mara Rinn
Cosmic Goo Convertor
#5 - 2012-07-17 04:53:49 UTC
Lambert Simnel wrote:
However, I would also add that it does pay to train your Planetology and Advanced Planetology skills. They make placing a command centre in the correct position in the first place so much easier. Once set a command centre can't be moved so the better you can scan and identify a resource on a planet the greater your yield.


And then one day the resources show up in completely different locations.

Day 0 Advice for New Players
Lambert Simnel
PWLS Enterprises
#6 - 2012-07-17 04:58:31 UTC  |  Edited by: Lambert Simnel
Mara Rinn wrote:
Lambert Simnel wrote:
However, I would also add that it does pay to train your Planetology and Advanced Planetology skills. They make placing a command centre in the correct position in the first place so much easier. Once set a command centre can't be moved so the better you can scan and identify a resource on a planet the greater your yield.


And then one day the resources show up in completely different locations.




Absolutely! And nine times out of ten your command centre is nowhere near it :D

Also try low- sec. It's not as scary as you think if you follow a few basic rules and the yields/isk are far greater.
Threndir
ISK Enterprises Ltd
#7 - 2012-07-17 06:59:53 UTC
The position of the command center is not really that important. You know, extractors and launchpads does not need to be connected to your command center. Just ignore the command center and create your PI system without it.

In time the resource distribution on the planet will change anyway and you'll need to replace the extractors around a bit.
Lyric Lahnder
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#8 - 2012-07-17 13:33:38 UTC
ITs a good Idea to set up a hub with all of its routes, then move the extractors to chase resource pockets.

Noir. and Noir Academy are recruiting apply at www.noirmercs.com I Noir Academy: 60 days old must be able to fly at least one tech II frigate. I Noir. Recruits: 4:1 k/d ratio and can fly tech II cruisers.
Pinstar Colton
Sweet Asteroid Acres
#9 - 2012-07-17 14:31:08 UTC  |  Edited by: Pinstar Colton
Command Center Upgrades V is a tough sell in terms of time investment. For the time it takes you to get CCU V, you could roll an alt or two and train them up to CCU IV/ IC IV and have so many more colonies for the time spent.

Once you have your alt slots filled with PI skills, making the push for CCU V may be worth it, especially if you have access to good planets and low/no-tax POCOs.

I agree with the posters regarding Planetology. You can get away with Planetology III at minimum...but Planetology IV + Advanced Planetology IV will really step up your extraction rates as you'll be able to see and exploit Nuggets (Tiny patches of extreme productivity).

Suggested Skill training for PI (In the order you should get it)
Remote Sensing III
Planetology III
Command Center Upgrades IV
Interplanetary Consolidation IV
Planetology IV
Advanced Planetology IV

Rinse and repeat with Alts as desired.

In the cat-and-mouse game that is low sec, there is no shame in learning to be a better mouse.

Scorpio Aldent
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#10 - 2012-07-17 14:56:39 UTC
Excellent information! I am actually looking around now for a good low-sec pocket near by home bases. Found a few .4 systems together, but thats as far as they went, might try to find something a little lower as resources seem to go up a lot the farther down you go.

I've found a lot of sytems that have a very similar pattern. All planets are pretty lame and resource-empty, except the planets that have nobel gas in them, they seem to be highly yellow (as opposed to bearly green in the .4 systems) they have this dense area of nobel gas that circles the entire planet in both the northern and southern halves, I may try to set up on there and train my skills as people have suggested.

I'll probably skip Command Centers V at this point, as people have pointed out its quite an investment and I should probably play around with it first.
Lambert Simnel
PWLS Enterprises
#11 - 2012-07-18 06:26:06 UTC  |  Edited by: Lambert Simnel
Threndir wrote:
The position of the command center is not really that important. You know, extractors and launchpads does not need to be connected to your command center. Just ignore the command center and create your PI system without it.

In time the resource distribution on the planet will change anyway and you'll need to replace the extractors around a bit.



That's generally true except that you extractors and extractor control units must be placed within the radius of the command center itself. Very early in my PI career I managed to place a command center near a resource that then managed to migrate well out of its radius after I had trained Planetology and Advanced Planetology to a decent level.

My advice to the OP would be to choose a low sec system relatively close to the high sec/low sec border at first (two or three jumps at most). This is because it can be diificult to move PI products in large quantities through low sec and onto the high sec trade hubs. A freighter would attract a lot of unwanted attention from pirates. Your best bet is to use T1 industrials fit for agility, with mwd, warp core stabilisers and a cloaking device (unless you want to go the whole hog and train for a blockade runner).

There is no point choosing the most resource rich low-sec planet you can find if you lose your cargo every time you try and collect or move it.
Scorpio Aldent
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#12 - 2012-07-19 13:31:44 UTC
Lambert Simnel wrote:
Threndir wrote:
The position of the command center is not really that important. You know, extractors and launchpads does not need to be connected to your command center. Just ignore the command center and create your PI system without it.

In time the resource distribution on the planet will change anyway and you'll need to replace the extractors around a bit.



That's generally true except that you extractors and extractor control units must be placed within the radius of the command center itself. Very early in my PI career I managed to place a command center near a resource that then managed to migrate well out of its radius after I had trained Planetology and Advanced Planetology to a decent level.

My advice to the OP would be to choose a low sec system relatively close to the high sec/low sec border at first (two or three jumps at most). This is because it can be diificult to move PI products in large quantities through low sec and onto the high sec trade hubs. A freighter would attract a lot of unwanted attention from pirates. Your best bet is to use T1 industrials fit for agility, with mwd, warp core stabilisers and a cloaking device (unless you want to go the whole hog and train for a blockade runner).

There is no point choosing the most resource rich low-sec planet you can find if you lose your cargo every time you try and collect or move it.


I was planning to train for a Viator before even building my command centers for that exact reason, from what I've read it seems that a Viator would be very difficult to catch?
Lambert Simnel
PWLS Enterprises
#13 - 2012-07-19 23:53:24 UTC  |  Edited by: Lambert Simnel
Scorpio Aldent wrote:
Lambert Simnel wrote:
Threndir wrote:
The position of the command center is not really that important. You know, extractors and launchpads does not need to be connected to your command center. Just ignore the command center and create your PI system without it.

In time the resource distribution on the planet will change anyway and you'll need to replace the extractors around a bit.



That's generally true except that you extractors and extractor control units must be placed within the radius of the command center itself. Very early in my PI career I managed to place a command center near a resource that then managed to migrate well out of its radius after I had trained Planetology and Advanced Planetology to a decent level.

My advice to the OP would be to choose a low sec system relatively close to the high sec/low sec border at first (two or three jumps at most). This is because it can be diificult to move PI products in large quantities through low sec and onto the high sec trade hubs. A freighter would attract a lot of unwanted attention from pirates. Your best bet is to use T1 industrials fit for agility, with mwd, warp core stabilisers and a cloaking device (unless you want to go the whole hog and train for a blockade runner).

There is no point choosing the most resource rich low-sec planet you can find if you lose your cargo every time you try and collect or move it.


I was planning to train for a Viator before even building my command centers for that exact reason, from what I've read it seems that a Viator would be very difficult to catch?



Blockade runners are very useful but they are expensive and have a long train to operate properly.

There is no reason to wait. In my view, its not what ship you use but how you use them. I just use a Sigil but take basic precautions when operating in low sec. I use safe spots , instadocks and undocks in system, I use cloaks if needed, I can recognise who is who in local and have learnt to avoid/escape gate camps. More importantly I keep the cargo value low because at some point its inevitable I will lose a ship or two.
Rashmika Clavain
Revelation Space
#14 - 2012-07-20 11:08:22 UTC
Scorpio Aldent wrote:
I am looking to dabble in PI and was hoping to get my feet wet while waiting for Command Center Upgrades V, but a lot of what I read seems to say that you cannot upgrade command centers, you must destroy what you have and start over.

Doesn't seem to be a lot of point in spending money in it and then having to take it down just because I get the next level of command centers, is that information dated or is it still the case? Can you upgrade a command center once its placed, or should I just wait for Command Center upgrades V?



When PI was first released you could not upgrade your command centre. You had to buy a new one at the desired level, trash your existing colony and start over.

Nice, it was not.

Now you can easily upgrade your command centre by clicking on it, and clicking on the desired level.