I have 6 characters with 6 planets each. so in total I have 36 planets.
I am trying to work out a balance between cycle times and having to move extractor heads and wanted to get some opinions.
I’ve tried 2 day cycles, 3 day cycles and 4 day cycles, but even at 4 days the resources seem to dwindle fairly quickly and I have to move heads at least once a week, I do know that I tend to put down as many heads as a can nearest the densest resources and often end up with a load of overspill, Do you think it is instead worth aiming for a per hour resource extraction that matches the number of BIFs I have (which is 6 therefore 36k per hour) although on 4 day cycles I do tend to reset them after 3 days.
I thought about possibly changing to a 5 day cycle and resetting after 4 days, but then the cycle time is 2 hours rather than 1.
I run 2 day cycles, it seems to be the best balance between workload and yield. My planets are setup to make P2 and my extractors are setup so I don’t accumulate P0 which would require storage units - everything is buffered through the launchpad. I maintain half my planets each day - minor adjustments to extractor heads and reinstall programs on weekdays, usually takes less than a minute/planet. Repositioning extractors and harvesting on weekends when I have more time.
With level 5 skills, my nullsec planets average a little over 2000 units of P2/week and my highsec planets around half that - though I’ve been getting some exceptional resource spawns recently in highsec, several of my highsec planets are currently (and probably temporarily) producing in the 1400-1500 unit/week range.
Thanks, so you touch upon your PI on a daily basis, albeit minor adjustments. I wanted something I could set and leave for a few days if possible. Ill experiment, but i think for me 2 day cycles are too quick a cycle for me. Interesting on the high sec yields you are getting though. I suppose that brings forth another question and that is how are the yields on planets worked out and do they have a cycle for replenishment.
Even if CCP told us the formula it wouldn’t help much because the number of other players extracting the resource is a significant variable in the calculation.
Longer programs = lower yield. If you don’t intend to login for a few days it makes sense but, if you’re logging in anyway, it’s easy to multitask, especially in highsec where distractions are rarely fatal. I find the ability to refresh my PI programs while doing other things makes it one of the most profitable activities I do if you measure ISK per hour of play time invested.
I use 2 Day cycles and reset every day, this just allows me to forget eve for a day and not worry.
I run 36 Planets in a WH doing P2 as well (2 factory planets making P3 and P4). With 2 accounts on separate monitors i can reset and move some heads on 12 planets in about 4-5 minutes, so including account swaps ect its about 20-25 minutes and a bit more if i need to touch the factory planes a bit.
If I make he cycles any longer i can’t get full yield on most of my planets (some are 6/3 setup with some being 7/3).
I have 4 accounts, 3 characters each with level 5 skills = 72 planets including 2 factory planets. Current split is 1/3 in nullsec and 2/3 in highsec - mainly because my characters are also trained for manufacturing/research and my highsec business needs the slots.
Nullsec P2 planets have 3 advanced/6 basic processors. Highsec are 2 advanced/4 basic. I do 1/4 of my planets in the morning - before work and 1/4 in the evening with a 2 day rotation. As Andrew indicated - it’s a very fast process unless you need to move extractors and setup new routes.
I use the PI in manufacturing - mostly T2 drones and cloaks. I used to make MTUs but P4 is way too much work. Robotics, Guidance systems and Supercomputers are easy - even in highsec. I buy hermetic membranes - they are a hassle to make. Drones and Covert cloaks sell as fast as I can make them. PI is roughly 75% of the build cost for a T2 drone and close to that for cloaks so margins are excellent.
cool, I have just set up p4 Wetwares as I figure I am in a WH and need small m3 but large value. if this works out to be a pita I may go the drones route too, I have all the BPOs
P4 doesn’t reduce M3 by much and can increase it in some cases. For wetware mainframes 108 M3 of P3 = 100 M3 of P4. I make a lot of T2 medium drones in nullsec - 36 m3 of P3 compresses into a 10m3 drone.
I have 80 planets, for me its best to run them on 7 day cycles with 14 heads (yes, 2x7). the launchpad is usually 75% full by the end and I don’t have to log them in all the time.
It’s been awhile and I don’t remember details, but two things come right to mind… 4 days 3 hours, and buffer. To the OP question moving heads weekly doesn’t sound too bad. Blowing up the extractor to move to a new location more than once a month, that’s the bad option.
You mention overspill. I recall deciding to take a hit on day-to-day efficiency in exchange for never logging in to find something filled and processes stopped. On a good day/rotation the machines hummed along, occasionally some great moves resulted in a bit of overage, and when resources dried up (or I let things idle and then needed to restart) the overage could be processed.
I also managed 36 planets and decided to reply today and share advice: run up a buffer in the POCO’s. I found instead of having factory P3 planets gasping for the P2 output it was much more fun to separate the task of flying Epithal from the important job of feeding the machines. A few days to create a backlog was all that was required and it made things more enjoyable. Does that make sense?
A few days to create a backlog was all that was required and it made things more enjoyable.
That’s what I do, I build up a large stock pile of excess P1 over 6 months while I trained my last 2 toons to get the 6th planet then setup then used the 2 planets to convert that into P2, 3 and 4, I use what I have the most of then switch things up when I have build up a supply of other parts.
Four days is what I use on my p0-p1 extraction planets. You did not mention where you did PI. High sec? If your resource pools are diminishing quickly it is either do to poor planets (hisec?) or, as one other poster mentioned, others extracting from the same location. Your problem with overspill is mostly because you do not have enough processors when you relocate your extractors. You always have the option of juggling processors and extraction heads.
Using a silo is worth it. It gives you the benefit of prevented waste on initial overextraction AND acts as a secondary temp silo later when extraction slows down on your 4 day cycle by shifting p1 back into it from the launcher until you’re ready for a PI run. Consider the entire thing a minigame of sorts, where pull must be balanced with processing, and a few transfers to prevent waste. You can easily drop two or three nodes and throw up another processor when needed, or visa versa. Just remember that your draw is going to be huge on a new location and prepare for it by throwing down extra processors for the first week, or export most of it to the POCO until things slow down. Good luck.
Hi, yeah sorry, it is WH space, I have 1 LP, 1 Storage and 6 to 7 BIFs per planet, I have come to a “happy” medium. I’ve set my cycles to 2 day 1 hour and I reset them everyday (without moving the heads). On a Wednesday I may move the heads then leave them in situ till Saturday when ill move them again.
All the time I can log on each day ill also empty the LP back to the POCO.
If I find I cannot get on every day ill move to either 3 or 4 day cycles and reset every 2 days.
Pretty much what I’m doing and getting 2-3k p2’s per week per planet.
For shrinking PI nanite paste is good, as are implants. Depending on how much work you are willing to do citadels shrink a huge amount into a small package for medium size citadels.
I set everyone of my toons to now make Robotics, each toon is self contained to make their own with 4 regular planets, 1 factory for the mech parts and consumer electronics and 1 factory to make the actual robotics.
So each batch nets me approx. 370 robotics so that is 2220 per batch and I hope to do between 2 and 3 batches per week so either 4440 or 6660 robotics per week so at the lower number i’ll get approx 435m per week (before taxes) which I think is pretty good but still only just scraping a plex a month.
I think I looked into paste before but I believe I am missing a planet type for a particular resource.
Implants I have never considered to be honest. I think ill keep to the Robotics.
If you are only missing one P1 for your production for something then always bear in mind that hauling your stuff to a hub means you are flying back empty, nay as well haul back that P1 from a buy order…Our WH is missing 3 P1’s but I have never had a problem using this approach.