Pioneering in W-Space: Part 4

This is a re-post of my blog from the EVE University forums to catch you up with what I've been doing.

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It's been a while since my last update, mostly because updating with how much new P1 product I have obtained over the course of the past day does not give much in terms of relevant content or interesting reading. However, I have learned some new things that I'd like to share with everyone.

I've been using a spreadsheet to keep track of my PI assets and made over 2m ISK (theoretically) based on the minimum Jita sell prices. However, I had to start getting my ever-increasing P1 products from my planet to my Epithal. I had originally thought that expedited transfers have 5 minute cooldowns. As it turns out, the expedited transfer from a factory to my command center has a cooldown of 20 minutes. This means that it would take over an hour to get my products transferred and launched. This isn't an ideal way of doing things.

Additionally, on the launch screen, I realized that my spreadsheet was incorrect in calculating the export tax. Or, should I say, the information that I read online was incorrect and therefore my spreadsheet was telling me incorrect things. Let me summarize what I thought and then give you the true story. Every planetary resource has a value defined by CCP. P0 are 4isk, P1 are 400isk, etc. Tax rates are a percentage of that value for every unit of P1 (in my case) that you will be exporting from your planet. Command Centers have a 15% tax for launching, meaning that the cost of exporting one unit of P1 is 60isk. I mistakenly took 15% of this value, thinking that my cost would be 9isk/unit. Whoops!

Despite my miscalculation, there is still profit to be made even if you're using Command Center launches. However, the length of time it will take to get my products off of the planet will take a while. However, the tax rates are not the only thing eating into my income. There are only two planets in Frontier, and one of them is a very large gas planet. Large planets are bad for PI because it increases the link cost of placing down buildings. Furthermore, Frontier is still occupied by my Russian friends (the same ones who own the POCOs).

I am starting to think that it is time to get my P1 products into my Epithal and take my high-sec static back to k-space to look for a new wormhole to settle in. The amount of money that I will get from selling my P1 products will mean that I will have broken even on setting up the initial planet. However, I have certainly learned a lot. I think in my search for a new home, I will be looking for the following:

1. A significant number of planets. 6 planets should be the minimum based on how many planets my one alt can handle.
2. Small planets. Gas planets are great but they hurt you with the cost of CPU and powergrid.
3. Unoccupied, truly this time. The good news about having a neighbour is that any attention in the wormhole might be focused on them. The bad news about having a neighbour is that THEIR attention could be focused on you. I know for a fact that after visiting the POS a few times, my neighbours were certainly active. And, judging by their 100% POCO tax, they want to be the only fish in this pond.
4. A C1, still. The advantage to a C1 is still the fact that battleships and higher cannot warp in. The bad thing about a C1 is the k-space static that could mean you will be getting day-trippers or WH corps rolling their C1 static to come run sites or look for PVP opportunities. Still, the ability to have easy access to k-space for selling my PI goods offsets the risk that comes with being in a C1.
5. Low POCO tax rates would be ideal. Anything below 15% would be great for when I decide to build a launch pad.

Hopefully my next update will have some good news on the search for a new Frontier.