EVE Online: Back to Trading & Manufacturing
Now that I have a machine that can, once more, run EVE in parallel with other programs, I can play the game again. EVE's peculiar style of waiting for things to happen means that it's much more suited to flicking back and forth rather than playing it non-stop. This has distinct advantages in that I can write at the same time, or even do chores. I've yet to try running a tabletop game with EVE running in the background, but I reckon my players might object, so I'll hold off on that.
This only remains true, though, if I don't run many missions. Missions, in my big slow battleship, take a long time to do, and occupy my attention in unpredictable fits and starts, and then I need to go back in with my salvage boat and clean up. They're profitable, certainly, but they require full attention, and then don't occupy it all. A level 4 mission two jumps away can easily take an hour and a half for me to complete.
So I'm thinking that I'm going to pull back from the mission-running - I can run a battleship, so I can always go back to it if need be - and go for trading and manufacturing instead. The idea is to do plain old buy-low, sell-high trading for a couple of weeks to build up some capital, buy some BPOs (cruisers are my current intention), do some research on them while continuing to trade, and finally start pushing ships out at a reasonable profit. Profits can then be invested in more BPOs, and more research, and will result in bigger ships, with the eventual aim being freighters. A freighter BPO will cost nearly 2 billion at current market prices, and needs capital components as well, so it's a long-term aim.
I have an offer of some pre-researched BPOs on loan from a corpmate, so I may well go for that as a way to jumpstart my efforts. I might look into ammo and guns as well, particularly if I can find a spot near low-sec or 0.0 to sell in - or even contract goods directly into those areas, and sell from outside.
I reckon this will allow me to play EVE as I like it, switching in and out, and then when I want some action, I can venture into low-sec space and get blown up.
Posted by Drew Shiel at November 13, 2008 1:01 PM
