Tchulen wrote:Gorgoth24 wrote:Given that ratting is largely based as an isk faucet with much of the income coming from the bounties off the rats, the isk income is more or less constant no matter how many rats are killed.
I'm not convinced about that. If no rats are killed no isk is produced. If one rat is killed then that bounty is paid. If two rats are killed, twice the bounty is paid and that goes all the way up. Yesterday, if twice the number of comparable rats were killed as were actually killed, twice the isk would have been produced from the faucet.
In that way, ratting is precisely the same as mining. The difference is with ratting it is actually producing isk whereas in mining you're producing a commodity that has a variable isk value.
People rat in carriers. That's my justification for mining cap ship. Not a very strong justification but a justification none the less.
I think you just reworded my post. The point is that a commodity like ore does having a variable-isk value that is subjected to supply and demand. Ratting is not. Any mining barge with increased yield would increase supply and therefore drop prices, whereas increased ratting would have no effect. Therefore a capital mining ship must take supply and demand into consideration as a concept idea, whereas "people ratting in carriers" are immune to the same considerations.
E.g. Let's say that 2 rats are killed for 2m isk in profit.
Now let's say that a new ship is introduced that would allow you to kill 4 rats for 4m isk in profits. Simple linear math.
Now let's say that a mining ship can produce 2m3 of ore. The market demands of ore at a rate of 1m isk per ore. Therefore there is a 2m isk profit.
Now let's say a new mining ship is introduced that would allow you to mine 4m3 of or instead of 2m3. But the market still demands the same amount of ore. Therefore you saturate the market, decreasing the price. So with 4m3 of ore, you STILL only get 2m isk. No increase in isk/hour was made because the market didn't support the increased supply.
This is an incredibly simple scenario, and economics dictates that the new supply would increase demand. BUT, by the same logic, the increase in demand would not mirror the increase in supply as ships are not simply built out of ore. So your overall isk/hour would not increase in a linear fashion.