Tierius Fro
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Posted - 2009.03.25 21:06:00 -
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Edited by: Tierius Fro on 25/03/2009 21:08:04
One way to evaluate any activity is to look at ISK per hour of effort. Based on what I have done in high/low sec, I would say that running level 4 missions consistently produces the most ISK per hour spent. But. This is a game, so more important is are you having fun? So. I look at how much I enjoy the activity combined with receiving a reasonable amount of ISK for my time spent.
I like to change things up, so I do sometimes run mission, but mostly I explore. When I explore I get to work cosmic anomalies, plexes, hacking sites, archeological sites, mine ore, and harvest gas. Right there I get a wide variety of activities.
High sec exploration is generally faster than low sec (at least used to be) with less risk, and so the payout is less. I used to almost never explore in high sec, but since the expansion I do, as many good wormholes can be found.
All pay outs are based on low sec exploration.
Hacking sites typically have a much higher payout than archeological sites. In fact, low sec archeological sites were just horrible in the months preceding the expansion. On average I made about 10 million per archeological sites, and it typically took more than an hour to find it an work. The new exploration mechanic is much faster (even with the deep space probe nerf), and since you donĘt usually know what a site is until you have pretty much found it, I still work archeological sites.
Hacking sites typically pay out on average about 30 million. These are probably the most popular explore sites.
Hidden asteroid belts can vary wildly in ore and size, but with my high mining skills, I can mine about 12 million per hour spent. I typically mine low sec hidden belts.
Prices for gas vary across time. Low sec gas sites take me 90 minutes to harvest. I have sold a harvest for as little as 20 million, to as much as 60 million. Harvesting gas is not quite as boring as ice harvesting, with 5 T2 harvesters, it has a great payoff.
I rarely work cosmic anomalies in low sec as they are too easy for others to find, and usually is just some bounty and salvage.
I work plexes because I want to get expeditions. With an expedition you get generally escalling sites, with bounty and salvage, plus faction drops.
Cheers
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