Posted - 2005.04.18 21:12:00 - [1]

 

Edited by: Ticondrius on 19/04/2005 15:32:58
Ok, first off, I am by no means an expert, so if you find errors or think I'm missing something, then by all means tell me and I'll add or fix it.

As for my qualifications, I've worked in 3 POS projects in the past, and am now CEO of a corporation that is involved with NAGA's POS operations as part of the Stepstone organization.

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First, let's look at moons themselves.

The problem here isn't so much finding moons with good materials, the problem is not enough variety in moons. We find countless moons with the most common stuff, that's well and good, where are the moons that have a 3, or even higher, density on the low end materials? Even in 0.0 the 3 density moons are very rare, but who's going to waste time on a POS out there for the common materials? As for the rarest stuff, you can find it in 0.0, occasionally...After some 500+ moons surveyed. These need to appear in empire space as well, but only at a density of 1, while increasing the densities in 0.0.

So in short, As CCP intended, Moons in 0.0 are likly to yield the rarest materials availible, however, not in any great quantity, making it hard to turn a profit, however, some changes came in the last patch that helped solve this somewhat. I'll get to that shortly. ...And Moons in low security empire space have an abundance of moons with the low to mid-range materials, but you may need to get more than a few moons to create any useful reactions.

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To continue on Moons, let's go over Moon Surveying. In your inital planning and setup phase, you will need too, and probably will, survey MANY, MANY moons.

You will need a ship that:
-Has a LOT of cargo space
-Can run gate blockades (Or have and use instas)
-Can fit the scan probe launcher (OMG! 250 CPU! 0_0)

This means you will need a cruiser or better to even begin to think about doing this. Also, the scan probe launcher is NOT considered a missile launcher, so you can fit it on any ship that has the CPU to do so.

Many people recommend a Industrial, but of course they're ganked fairly easy. Remember, you can only deploy a POS in 0.3 and below..pirate and PvPer city. You NEED to be able to get in and out of the system you're working in. If you want to go the Industrial route, I recommend using a Transport ship, more specifically, the one for your skill that has the +2 to warp core stability.Don't plan on using a full rack of cargo expanders either, perhaps just enough to fit in 2 giant secure cans and a tiny bit more space. With about 6200m3 of space, you can fit in 2 giant cans, giving you a total of 8000m3 of space, leaving 200m3 outside the cans for reloading.

The other option, is a cruiser or battleship. Scanning in a battleship just isn't practical. Sure, you can have lots of drones and some weapons, but the 250CPU used by the probe launcher really gimps any kind of defense fitting. Additionally, a battleship is damned slow. You fit a few cargo expanders for your probes, and it will go slower than a dead Hippo.

The best option overall, IMHO, is a cruiser, and of all cruisers, the Exequror specifically. "WTH is an Exequror?" you ask, well, it's a Gallente Cruiser that gets an insane cargo bonus. At cruiser V, it has a base cargo of 900m3. With 1 or 2 expanders and maybe 1 or 2 large secure cans, you can fit quite a lot of probes, and still be able to fit a MWD and some nanofibres. You also have a decent drone bay to load up on light or medium drones, and enough CPU/grid left to fit a reasonable defensive/ECM fitting. Essentially, you're able to reasonably defend yourself, carry enough probes to make it worthwhile, and warp/move quickly...all on considerably less training and skills than what's needed to fly a Transport Ship. You don't need cruiser V to make this work.

Once you have your ship, you need to get some probes. Don't waste time training skills you are not likely to use ever again, or if you do, very rarely. Train for the 40 minute probes, and no more. Why? They're small, 50m3, and by the time you've launched probes at all of the moons on one planet, more than half will have already reported in thier results. It will take you not more than 1-2 hrs to survey a 50+ moon system, with the 10 min probes, maybe 1-1.4 hrs. Just not worth it. If you plan to use the system scanning probes, however, by all means, train to the max, I'm just telling you that you really don't need to for Moon Surveying.

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