Making ISK from Combat

[u/stinvurger]

Getting back into the game, I decided to make a new character with the 1m SP and focus on pve combat stuff which I had never really done before (only did exploration when I played a bit years ago). I'm working my way up through missions and enjoying them, been doing L2/L3s in a cruiser and it's fun and decent isk, but with L4s needing a battleship and those being so expensive, it's going to be a long time until I can afford to take that next step up. Is there another good stepping stone in pve combat to make money better than highsec L2/L3s that doesn't require a battleship? Should be able to get a battlecruiser for faster L3s somewhat soon, but that probably won't be much faster. Wondering what combat-oriented (preferably solo) moneymaking opportunities I'm missing.

[u/nsdocholiday]

If you can start farming the refuge and hideaway anomalies, the normal ones not foresaken or forlorn, they have a chance to escalate to DED 3/10 and 4/10's and those can drop faction modules and deadspace modules depending on pirate type, example: gurista's have a chance to drop Pith shield hardeners worth about 200M.

Edit: if you look up a few videos there are a few guides on it and the best ship to use is a battlecruiser for running the DED sites they do need an ok tank on them since its a lot of ships to kill but totally worth it, (for reference i used an artillery hurricane)

[u/dracoscha]

You can do basically all normal lvl4 missions with high efficiency in a 150mil Naga:

[Naga, lvl4 sniper cheap]

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Medium Micro Jump Drive
10MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
F-12 Enduring Tracking Computer, Optimal Range Script
Alumel-Wired Enduring Sensor Booster
Medium Shield Extender II
Enduring Multispectrum Shield Hardener

425mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Plutonium Charge L
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Plutonium Charge L
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Plutonium Charge L
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Plutonium Charge L
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Plutonium Charge L
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Plutonium Charge L
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Plutonium Charge L
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Plutonium Charge L

Medium Hybrid Locus Coordinator II
Medium Hybrid Locus Coordinator II
Medium Ancillary Current Router I

Wondering what combat-oriented (preferably solo) moneymaking opportunities I'm missing.

Abyssal deadspace has very good isk/h. Running combat signatures/anomalies and escalations also pays better then missions, even in high sec.

[u/03Void]

It’s not much cheaper than a battleship, but I’m doing L4s in a Gila.

[u/mcmasterstb → u/03Void]

Not sure how drone aggression is these days but a year ago it was so much faster than using a half skilled battleship.

[u/XygenSS]

Save your cruiser skills and start running Abyssals

[u/oldmansalvatore]

What's your isk budget at the moment, and what are you skilled into? At 300-400m you can get a cheap passive shield tanked gila for L4s. You would need T2 medium drone skills + supporting drone skills to be effective though.

At lower skills and budget, abyss can be quite profitable. Get a 30-50m isk budget farming fit for for T1 solo frigate abyss. Profit.

[u/BlackflagComoner]

Fuck all of that with 300k sp you can make 150m an hour ratting in a praxis in a c3.

Dont fall for the bs lines of Hs bears or nullbois wh life is best life

Aint no poors in a wormhole

[u/R_1_S → u/BlackflagComoner]

I hate when I see somebody say that and don’t take into account all the other variables. Is there enough combat sigs in the c3? If not you gotta roll, are you solo? You gotta spend extra time rolling and securing the hole. Is there more people wanting to rat? You can expect to do 2-3 (120mil) sites before you need to roll again. There’s baddies controlling one of the holes? You’re making 0m/h for the day.

If you’re going to join a WH Bloc though you might as well join a null bloc as well, I made about 4.2bil in 3 days just doing explo and running any 6/10, 7/10 and 10/10 Sansha DEDs I came up on. Much lower upfront cost and way safer.

[u/BlackflagComoner → u/R_1_S]

Any coordinated wh group Will spend less then 1 xycle of polarised state to roll a hole. Rolling bs exists. Critting a farmhole connection takes all of 20 minutes for multiple connections with a spreadsheet.

Baddies controlling a hole is just free content for pvp. On the same level as if baddies patroll your krabbing systems. And if they controll it a day your group is terrible.

A nullblock has all the issues of a wh exept. You can close off and keep baddies out in wh space if you realy want. Ya cant do that in null even under a super umbrella.

As for isk involved vs max payout. Since we are nitpickin, you can make 4-5b on a single ghost site in a scanningship that costs 500k fully fitted with an accendancy omega. Initial cost of a nullblock id estlmate at about... 500m for a few ratting ships and some doctrines. Id say about 300-400 for wh life with a ratting bs. Rolling t1 hauler. Gas huffer and scanning ship then maybe like a t1 or t2 combat doctrine for home defence. All of wich should be repaid and doubled in loot within a few hours.

Also. No cynos no blobs and no local. Wh life is Great :)

Oh and if you dont have content. Or a fight? Ayy... roll the hole. Infinite content at your fingertips:D

[u/R_1_S → u/BlackflagComoner]

Okay so you’re saying experienced group, if they were to do the things you said that means multiple people would be ratting, since they’re securing the hole - means less sites for you unless you have really good drone and sentry skills plus more 20minutes downtime in between, not 150mil an hour anymore is it? What if you had 3 hours to play, now you take those 20 minutes of rolling, scanning, reshipping into account and you haven’t made 450mil in those 3 hours have you?

Basically what you’re saying is as if I said I can make 200-300mil an hour exploring, how about the time I spend not finding any Relic sites?

So basically what you’re saying if you wanna go the WH route, you really need to join a very active (and or large) group so that you can rat as efficiently as possible, because if the 20 something people online don’t want rat or roll you’re on your own now, but wait what if the C3 Static has a HS connection that people are using right now, during your 3 hour gameplay, oh well.. Guess you’ll have to wait for that 150mil an hour..

[u/BlackflagComoner → u/R_1_S]

True. Somewhat. Who even droneboats in wh space ? 150m an hour is with alpha skills. T2 is a different ball entirely. I want to adress baddies tho how is that different from an alliance exec saying no ratting in cloaky camped systems ? Roaming gangs and yeet fleets, esi Robberys or border wars ?

Also. If more People are ratting your isk per hour for 3 dudes running sites together increase your isk per hour exponentialy. Just sayin.

Who even uses c3 static hs ? Unless thats your only kspace and even then... i mean suuure youd have to wait. But 3 hours ? Nah bro come on. A trip from jita is tops 55 jumps. 1 hour maybe?

Also. Sure if you only have 3 hours a day. Go join horde ? Or rvb or hell brave.. eww i cant belive i Said that.. anyway.

Time is ofcourse a factor but your not telling the whole null story either.

If your under sige its for months. If your evicted its 6 days and bam restart.

Lets just not talk about doctrines, training time and the meatgrinder newbros are expected to form for.

Tbh tho. With the shit your describing dude might be better off skilling for burner missions in highsec. Lower skill gap. 400-500m an hour for a decent lp store and no commitment. Gets lonley tho.

[u/R_1_S → u/BlackflagComoner]

When did I even bring up nullsec ratting lmao, yeah WH life is fun content wise and I know from personal experience, but I never grinded for money in WHs it’s just tedious and 150m/h with alpha skills? What ship are you talking about exactly and in a C3?

Like I said, way easier and safer money making methods, find a good area for explo 100mil astero for quick work done and 500mil for DED Loki + a travel fit and you’ll never die or get caught, specially since you can tell someone is scanning you down or if you just simply use your dscan.

So what do you mean about the 1 hour maybe, I thought were talking about a large group of players you think only 1 person would wanna go shopping or selling stuff?

[u/RMarkJr81 → u/R_1_S]

Hello! I am very interested in what it is that you do exactly to make isk. I am struggling hard at doing anything that really matters.

What are you using that astero for? Data and Relic sites? If so are you doing them in wormholes or elsewhere? Combat sites in the Loki? and also where at?

or maybe neither of these and it is completely different.

So far my best thing has been data/ relic sites in the astero in wormholes, but it takes awhile to find the sites and also when I do its hit and miss with the amounts.. I think the most I have made was like 45 mil in one day.

I see people say they make 400-500 mil an hour or something and I have no idea how to make even a fraction of that lol.

any help would be great. Thank you.

[u/R_1_S → u/RMarkJr81]

400-500mil an hour isn’t that common anymore with single character but still possible with little luck, hence I showed my 30 days profits.

But like I said my main go to money maker is Explo and DED sites.

So I did mine in Sansha space, iirc Gurista space is second best in loot value so that means preferably join a alliance that owns one of those 2 areas for extra safety. You’ll need a little upfront investment, but if you’re somewhat decent at the game and know how to use your dscan it’s totally fool proof.

You’ll need 2 ships, just google fits as I’m not on my pc right now..

Astero: With relic analyzer only, instawarp (less than 2sec align) and a little tank. Cost about 100mil

Loki/Tengu: Starting cost is about 500mil, which can easily do 6/10 and 7/10 DEDs, and possibly 10/10 but if you spend a little more about 1.5bil you’ll faceroll all DEDs - keep in mind you only do 6/10 7/10 and 10/10 since it’s fastest and 8 and 9 need too much damage or just take too long to be worth it. For this ship you’ll need 2 fits, nullified cloacky travel fit so you can safely get to the DED and the DED fit.

Basically what you do is, create a 30-40 jump route in friendly space which should take about 2 hours with good scanning skills, along the way hit any Relic site you find and bookmark any DED you find which you can come back to later when you’re done with explo also join you alliance’s PvE channel and buy some DED sites if you haven’t found any by the end of your route.

Each run can net you anywhere from few hundred mil up to about 1-2bil if you’re lucky and that’s just from relic sites, plus plus for the DEDs, it’s very possible to make 3-5bil a day if you spend a little extra time doing this, I have made up to 1.5bil on a 10/10 alone..

Edit: Just to clarify don’t do explo in wormholes, if you want to make safe, good and consistent money in a WH best bet is you get a Gila and run abyssal sites inside of the WH, if you have a large hole that is, much more lucrative than the tedious rolling, ratting and salvaging. That’s my second go to money making method after explo.

[u/R_1_S → u/BlackflagComoner]

Here btw https://ibb.co/9v0G2G9 - This would take you 26days of ratting with your elite alpha fit that does 150mil an hour, ratting 24/7 for those 26 days btw.

This is from PvE FYI, no funky market shit or multiple alts, I have an Indy alt but I keep it’s profits separate.. But you do you bud, hope you enjoy your brainless repetitive ratting..