I seem to be doing it wrong

[inexorable]

Hey guys and gals, ol' Inx here

I've been playing PE for several years off and on (mostly off). I'm a depositer, got a nifty Gold Card too :] I do my homework, research and bookmark sites and information, and approach the game like I do the other MMO's I play: working smarter, not harder.
After a while, however, I get discouraged and end up "leaving" for times, as even after all the research and notes, playing as smart as I can, I can't break even. I use common sense in choosing armor and mobs and weapons, yet in the over 5! years I've played PE I can count on one hand the number of globals I've recieved. Never a HoF, never a "major" global either-always sub-100's.

So what have I done wrong? I've not been a member of a soc in a long time, perhaps that is it? I've learned almost everything about PE simply from playing, so when it comes to breaking out and getting to the point where I can at least say I'm breaking even, I am failing.

Can anyone provide me with some tips I might be overlooking this whole time? Maybe there is something real basic I skipped past without knowing, and it's compounded my frustration at this game.

My basic all-around setup is a set of Shogun and a M2890. I try to stay in the range of those two factors, so no I don't hunt Maffs, any bot over Drone 03's, I just try to keep it to one mob for a prolonged time, and without fail I'll end up losing.

Thanks in advance for whatever you share!

[Einstein]

Could you tell us your skills?

I would consider changing the weapon and going for something Limited

[inexorable]

I figured it out :]

[turk1077]

I agree with Einstein, a good limited gun would probably help. For a long time, my strategy was to camp argos at Twin in shogun with my LR 32(L). Amp it up to the 105 amp if you can, 104 if you need something a little cheaper. They consistently drop iron which at the time had a markup of at least 117%. I always saved it until I had at least 100 ped worth to sell on auction and sometimes even sold it for 120%. Once my evade got a little higher, I traded down my shogun to pixie, then went naked with a fap 50. I die a bit more and have a hard time soloing a hunter, but my return was almost always breakeven and was for sure breakeven over the long term.

Make sure you do at least 100 ped ammo runs. You'll almost always get a mini at least to bring you back up.

Another strategy is to find event mobs that drop a unique item. Again, argos were good for this because they dropped the duchev logs. Sold several of those for a nice profit. Umbras were also good for that. During the bot wars, if you could have looted some of the less rare items early and sold them fast, you could have made a killing. Now, most of those items are tt food (or little more).

Hope that helps!

[Sunab Naverith]

Biggest suggestion is to get into a soc! You can try to be solo in this game, but the key is to have friends branched out into all other professions, whom you can either dig info from, or sell stuff to at a decent price.

[Staffas]

not spending peds all comes down to markup, you need to loot items or resources with markup at such a rate that it pays for your spend markup and MAs fee. this might not be enough to break even in the beginning (depending on what you hunt) but it will strech the peds further.
Never throw anything else than ammo in the TT machine, always sell it for a markup, even 1% is markup and will get you closer to break even.

It is here that you find the true power of Socs, if you are in a rather large soc, you will most likely have a few paople that do some crafting and might be interested in buying even animal hide from you for a small markup.

The sugestion to go for a limited gun instead of an unlimited is a great sugestion.

I am one of theese people that always have to try something people say before I beleeve them, and I have tried the unlimited compared to limited on several occation and skills, (latest at lvl40 hit/dmg) and the cost is much lower for a limited weapon.

Best of luck, dont give up.

[inexorable]

Thank you guys for taking the time to duck in and drop some knowledge

I definately have been glossing over the (L) guns for a long time, I think it's well past time to grab one.

And thanks turk and staffas, I'm going to adjust my style given both of your inputs, and hope for the best :] Got nothing to lose but...well, that's not the statement I should be using :p

[AACB]

I have been roughly in the same boat as you have been. I don't even want to know how many ped I have lost. As for me I have used (L) guns since i stopped using the TT guns. I am in a respectable soc, (but still looking for someone to buy my low MU stuff for at least some MU) and still have trouble justifying another deposit. I have been playing since pre-gold, and dedicatedly playing for 2 years. Like you, I still seem to be doing it wrong. Is there any other advice out there for people like us? I know not everyone is going to break even or profit, that is just how it always will be. I am just looking to stretch my ped out longer and not have to deposit quite as often.

[Svarog]

We all know that the loot comes in good and bad cycles. Out of the skills you've gained in 5 years, I guess you either don't hunt too often or your hunting runs are very short, so there is a chance that you miss all your good cycles .

About globals. I see that your main skill is the Handgun (2470). I can say that when I got my very first global I was far over 3k in my main skill Laser Sniper, so your luck seems even better than mine . Though globals don't guarantee breaking even anyway.

[Zacariaz]

Well, if your goal is to brake even, the only solution, as I see it, is for you to:
1. Get a Limited gun which matches your skills. this will ensure higher avg dmg, higher hit ratio, higher critical ratio and of course skill increase bonus as long as the gun isn't maxed.
2. Get a set of armor which allows you to hunt relatively "big" mobs, could fx. be atrax or something simular. The reason that you need to hunt something big instead of, fx. snables, is that, IMHO, EU is one big slot machine, some times you loose and sometimes you win, but will in theory always loose in the end. However, if you hit a very big snable it might be a couple of hundred peds, but if you hit a big atrax, it might be a couble of 1000's. a bit like putting an amp on an ore or enmattter finder. You should still find the same number of deposits, but as you put more money in, what you find will be larger and if you find something big, it will be really big.

Well, these are of course just some of my weird thoughts and they are not very well explained I know, but still I hope they will enlighten you a little.

My specific advice to you is, since you allready have shogun, to buy a set of 3b or 6a platings and put on, then you will have a very cheap and eco bot armor. as for the gun, I'm not really sure which would suit your best, but a isis LR32 (L) will probably be a good choice and if you don't have the skills for it, it wont take that long to skill up to an appropiate level. to increase dmg/sec and also your dmg/pec, you could put on an a104 amp, which is also relatively inexpensive.
Then the last step is simply to go hunt bots east of jasons.

Remember though, that noone brakes even by bringin only 10 peds worth of ammo, that is enless they are very lucky. When I go hunting I fx. always burn at least 50k ammo (500 peds) and usually get a couple of globals.

Also, when I go mining, I bring 200 bombs and 200 probes.

When i am skilling components or simular I also spend severel hundreds sometimes even +1k of peds.

Some times I loose and sometimes I win, some times I loose big and sometimes I win big. Mostly though, I brake even. The reason thus, for me always being low on peds is that I am an idiot, spending my money on stupid stuff. Fx. my next mining run will be an investment of around 2k peds because im using the biggest and most evil amps I can find. I might get lucky and if I do I will get REAL lucky, but I'll probably loose half or so. It's a bit like playing the lottery. Sure with the right weapon an given enough time, you might brake even on gibnibs, though I doubt it, but one thing is for sure, you would never in a million years win.

So the term: "It takes money to make money" really does apply here.


Disclaimer:
I feel asleep once or twice while writing this so if I have written something weird or stupid, please don't troll about it, I'm just very tired. Still I think i did ok.