Trading 103: QuickBar and UI Layout

Posted: 2012-06-04 | Author: | Filed under: eveonline, industry, market, screenshot | Tags: , , | 5 Comments

The following items are some basic guidelines that I use when setting up the Eve client for my trading operation. Everyone is different, so take my suggestions into consideration when setting up your layout. There are a few ways to be productive with the current UI.

Window Layout

  1. Market on the top section. I merge Mail, Contracts, and Corporation windows into this section.
  2. Wallet with Orders tab open on the bottom merged with Inventory.
  3. Local isolated on the lower left and any special or intel channels above it.
  4. Station services left alone on the right.

QuickBar

This area of the Market interface is the lifeblood of my operation. Take the time to properly setup your lists with folders as it will allow you to quickly scan and locate items.

I’m only interested in around 400 or so items out of the thousands of items on the market — don’t spend time typing in the Search, have everything in your QuickBar!

I take one client and make it the master and when I have finalized  a number of edits to the QuickBar, I copy it to other character’s setups. There is a unique .dat file for each character.

Location
C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\CCP\EVE\[eve instance name]\settings (Windows 7)

File
core_user_[eve user id].dat

Example of my organized QuickBar:

Order Highlighting

Enable this with the Market > Settings > Mark my orders option. I use this to visually show how I am controlling a market. It can also give you insight into how competitive the item is by how many orders have been updated since your last check.

Updating Prices

An update operation involves me going down the Wallet > Oders list, double-clicking on each row. If an order needs updating, I right-click on it and selecting Modify Order.

Scroll-wheel

Did you know that you can move prices from the Modify window up or down by 0.01 ISK by using the scroll-wheel? I discovered this by accident. Happy 0.01’ing!

Inferno Escalation Test Server Changes

Posted: 2012-04-12 | Author: | Filed under: eveonline, industry, market, ships | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Build 362741 has been pushed to the test server, with a branch name of Tranquility. I will attempt to keep a list of changes here so bookmark this post.

Preliminary Size: 306 MB
Launcher update to 1.202
I was prompted for a DirectX install after the Launcher updated.

[Update April 12 13:12]
CCP Goliath non-comprehensive feature list post.

Team Five-0
Security status of drone regions has been rebalanced
Rogue drones no longer drop loot, but have bounties
Incursion site rebalancing
Behind-the-scenes work on aggression flagging, killmails, etc.
Loot-rights UI – container colouring should be more consistent when owners log off/jump/dock
Current iteration of titan changes

Team Gridlock
New file format for objects, with faster loading times

Team Avatar
Buff bar notification panel implemented beside HUD
Chat channels can now be locally cleared and the MOTD reloaded
Your own market orders can now be highlighted. To enable this, a setting checkbox needs to be checked in the market settings tab. The orders marked as yours have “modify order” option added to their menu
Quickbar entries can have text added to them
Your active ship will no longer show as available in Contracts
Deselect/Select all function added when arranging items in contracts
There is now a “Client” submenu in the transaction logs
A few improvements have been made to the quickbar in the market. Now items can be dropped on the quickbar tab, it’s possible to multiselect items in the quickbar, items in the quickbar can be “copied” over to another folder by CTRL dragging them to the folder, and now asset items can be added to the quickbar.
There is a new hairstyle available for female characters.
The ‘Pose’ icons within character creation and re-customization now display a clearer representation of the actual pose.
The “leaf” groups in the market can now be collapsed like all the other groups.
The most common user interface elements used to represent players can now be dragged over to various edit fields to add the characters name.
‘Select Station’ window for remote market orders now has 2 columns, station name and number jumps, and it’s possible to sort the list by either one of columns
Entries in most table like scrolls can be copied with CTRL+c. If entries are selected, only those will be copied, but if nothing is selected and the focus is on the scroll, all the entries are copied.
Hints that only repeated the text in the scroll entry been removed.
There is now a right click option on the group/category trace in market details which allows you to find that group in the browse tab

Team Superfriends
Market now shows Faction/Officer/Deadspace loot

Confirmed Changes

1. Officer/Deadspace/Faction on Market

2. Stealth Bomber V3 Update

Not on Test server yet.

3. Drone Rat Bounties

Drone Queen 1.85 M
Patriach 1.55 M
Drone Creator 1.4 M
Drone Ruler 1.25 M
Drone Controller 500k
Domination Drone 950k
Spearhead Drone 800k
Swarm Preserver 650k
Exterminator Drone 225k
Viral Infector 80k
Disintegrator 95k
Defeator 185k
Atomizer 110k
Violator 87.5k
Strain Splinter 25.5k
Crippler 195k
Striker Drone 205k
Nuker 117.5k
Siege Drone 215k
Dismantler 22.5k
Marauder 21k
Barracuda 13k
Devilfish 12k
Kalestra Cable link

4. Status Effects Notification Panel

Note: Remote Armor/Shield/Hull/Energy do not show up. Only E-war at this time.

Due to resource constraints we did a minimal implementation that is mean to be iterated on based on your feedback. Currently it is only tracking negative effects directed against you (debuffs). The plan is to include more things if this goes well and include assist modules and possibly even damage dealt to you.

The immediate goal is to make aggression against you visible and help you react to those that do. There is a lot we want to do more and we have scheduled time to iterate on this so please keep the comments coming
CCP Frellicus link

Additionally you can right click on the effect and get options for that pilot.

5. Text Trail-off Shading on Overview

It’s intentional and not… the fading is intentional, but it was not really supposed to go out in Escalation but Inferno and the change has been reverted for now. So soon you will see it change back to the way it’s on TQ.
CCP karkur link

FYI: This topic is being discussed by our UI designers and it seems like the amount of fading will be reduced a bit to avoid reducing the displayed information.
CCP Habakuk link

6. Rumored Drake Rebalance

No change.

7. Missile Launchers

Not on Test server yet.

8. Reload MOTD and Clear options on Chat channels

9. Drone Region Security Status Adjustment

Details in Carebearing 2.0 Devblog.

…worked out on by how close your are to empire, here is a sample of them
Kalestra Cable link

Etherium Reach got hit particularly hard because it was one of the best truesec regions in the game (-0.60 vs -0.64 for The Spire and Perrigen Falls, and just behind Deklein at -0.61, with the next-nearest non-drone region being Branch at -0.51), despite having a direct connection to Empire. It doesn’t have a hisec connection, so it’s more of a Tribute than a Pure Blind, but that’s balanced to some degree by having a connection to both Molden Heath and The Forge. It got the biggest adjustment because its sec values were the most out of line from what you’d expect anywhere else in EVE.
CCP Greyscale link further clarification

10. Engine Trail Consistency

Deimos now has blue trails.

11. Titan Adjustments

Current / Proposed

12. Market Order Highlighting

CCP karkur has confimed that this will be in soon(tm).

“Hmmm… no, the option is not there. It was checked in very recently and was integrated later. You should see it soon :P”
link

Looks like this made it into build 360692:

Looks a little rough. The highlight is a bar around your order. No editing done to the image below, just a crop.

Looks like there will be a change coming:

2012-04-16 Updated:

13. Bug Reporting Bug

…there was a bug in the SSL initialization that made the client lock up for 30 seconds or so. It’s been fixed so now you can bug report like the wind 🙂
CCP Explorer link

14. Contract Select

New buttons for Select All / Deselect All.

15. Rename Quickbar Item

16. Incursion Balancing

Yes, but I need to get more details on this.

Update: Find something new? Comment here or @k162space on twitter.

Journey to 100B ISK

Posted: 2012-04-04 | Author: | Filed under: industry, market | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Visions of power come in many forms in the Eve universe. Some people aspire for political wealth and the ability to spin the wheels of war with a few verbal orders. Others find power in numbers, the blinking of a wallet ever increasing towards a higher value.

I have always identified with the industry people, who wish to put disparate pieces together to create something grand. Ammo to Jump Freighters — I’ve built them all and have quite the journey.

In March of this year, I hit a new milestone as I saw my net value pass 100B for the first time.

Carebear Stare

As I reflect, I find the notion that I once held of an Iteron V being a masterful machine to be almost comical. Powerful Mining lasers from a Navitas frigate don’t seem to bring me the same thrill as before.

Now I am playing with what I consider to be the real industry and market people, who shift prices en mass and send ripples down the chain. I can now fund large conflicts and build something from nothing.

For one individual, vocal clout on comms provides wealth. For me, the work I am doing to drive conflict with money is far more entertaining.

The Vast Unknown

All journeys start with a decision that drives change. In 2008, fresh to the space opera, I found myself making small amounts of gains in highsec and eager for larger things. One day a corpmate approached me and lured me into unknown space with the promise of riches.

The introduction of wormhole space brought new fields of ABC ores to the galaxy. As my wormhole corporation climbed up the class ladder from a C3 into a C6, we grew in mining, production, and salvage efficiency.

In early 2009, the number of roaming gangs and gankers was drastically smaller than the current numbers. We would often mine for hours without seeing another incoming connection forming. The field was new and full of new mechanics that are drastically different than aged nullsec.

We used newly discovered mechanics to keep ourselves isolated.  Knowing that not warping to an outgoing connection will keep it despawned, helped keep our isolation from neighbors. When we saw a new signature from a nosy neighbor, we used the mass of our carriers and battleships to collapse the connection.

Isolation kept the Arkonor flowing and with each jetcan worth 14M ISK, our wallets fattened. We purchased carriers, a Rorqual, battleships, and funded second or third characters.

Clicking on Planets

Liquid ISK, which was created by piles of Megacyte mined in wormshole space, gave me the capital for my next venture.

I speculated heavily on the PI market before the Tyrannis patch. When NPC orders were removed, it paid off. I put 10B into NPC items such as robotics, construction blocks, coolant, and mechanical parts. As the prices peaked, I sold off the stock pushing my net worth up to 20/25B.

Market Epiphany

Another breakthrough came when I took up missioning as a side interest.

Running L4 missions.
Hmm, I need ammo and to rig this Dominix.
Hmm, why are rigs 3M more than Jita.
Hmm. Hmm. *click*
I should stock this mission hub.

Major Performers

Playing with Large CCC’s in major market hubs was my first journey into market PVP. I was able to 0.01 competitors out of the market and slowly saw the number of people competing with me in mission hubs go from 15 to maybe 5 or 6. I don’t have exact numbers, but this is my guesstimate based on the aggression of 0.01’ing.
These are the core rigs as I call them. Almost all ships will be rigged with a Trimark, CCC, or a Field Extender.As you can see, the price of them has fallen. The introduction of the Noctis has pushed rig prices down over the past year. Sadly, my profits on these items have been shrinking in line with the rig prices.
Salvage all the things! The Noctis was a huge seller for me and continues to be a powerful performer.I find that with new ship introductions, especially when the fulfill a role better than their predecessor, there is a huge amount of profit to be made. The Noctis replaced the salvage Destroyer for many people.
To my surprise the Ishtar has been a high performer. Despite not seeing these as standard nullsec doctrine ships, they sell well both in nullsec and in mission hubs. The Ishtar fills the role of your semi-AFK mission/belt ratter.
As lag remained a constant in Eve, the sheer power of an initial barrage of ammo from Maelstrom cannons took hold.In 2011 the standard T2 Alpha Maelstrom was a hot item. I have sold my BPO and reduced my involvement with battleships, mainly due to the fluctuating mineral market, yet the Alpha Maelstrom still remains a standard nullsec ship.
When people buy Capital ships in lowsec, they often want to fit their ship with a few modules. If you produce capitals in lowsec, be sure to stock the same station with common modules such as Armor Repair, Remote Armor, Remote Energy, Shield Transfers, and racial fuel. Also stock plenty of Cap Recharge and Power Relay modules as many people go for a travel fit out of their purchasing system.

Advice

Close Jita local and pretend it does not exist.

Expansions breed change. Pay attention to leaked patch notes, and review for manipulation attempts. If there is a change to loot drops proposed, get on the test server and figure out the refine value or use the static data set that CCP provides.

Stay away from the Official Eve Online forums, especially for market information. The reliability and quality of information is far too low.

Put on your tinfoil hat and join the r/eve and kugutsumen.com communities.

Read, read, read, use Excel or another tool, read, and read.

Take a risk and do something that you have never done before. Some of the most important trade data or inspiration has come out of new aspects of the game that I have never attempted before such as large 500 person fleet fights, mission running, or Incursions.

2011 Trading and Industry Report

Posted: 2012-01-13 | Author: | Filed under: eveonline, industry, market | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

This post serves as an expansion on the 2011 Trading and Industry Reflection post where I outline some of the high level items that brought success to my efforts in 2011. After some further database work, I created a page that shows items in groups on a more granular level.

Q: How was your list created?

I spent a lot of time looking at items that are consumed for mission runners, PVP, and nullsec fleet doctrines.

Q: I might want to take a stab at creating a report of my own. How did you create this page?

All the items have been manually entered into an array.

...
'12773', //Barrage M
'191',//Fusion M
'193',// EMP M
...

The array is then used in a very non-optimized query to produce volume and profit numbers over the past 365 days.

$eveDate = $this->getEveTimeSql();
$sql = ('SELECT typeID, typeName, sum( profit ) AS totalProfit, sum( quantity ) AS totalVolume
				FROM wallet
				WHERE DATE( transactionDateTime ) > DATE_SUB( DATE( :eveDate ), INTERVAL 365
				DAY )
				AND personal = 0
				AND transactionType = "sell"
				AND typeID = :typeID
				GROUP BY typeID
				ORDER BY totalProfit DESC');

956 x 2993 report page:

Q: What happened with the Improved Cloaking Device II?

I fat fingered the sell price and was off by a power. Whoops.

Q: Surprises or unexpected trends?

I was completely floored by the amount of Capital Shield Transports that I was able to move in 2011. The new Tier3 BCs did not sell as well as I expected.

Q: Why didn’t you trade xxx or yyy?

There are still a lot of markets that I need to test out.

If you have any more questions, please ask!

Shrinking Profits on Implants

Posted: 2011-11-10 | Author: | Filed under: market | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

After a break from Eve and trading in September and October, I am back in the flow of the markets. Below are some screenshots from my Wallet Manager. Since I have added the ability to report on our historical prices, I have greater insight into the big question of Eve trading — what to trade.

Here is some information for Basic Implants. Overall my margins have been shrinking since I started trading in November of 2010.

I’ve spent some time creating a item dashboard that can show performance for an individual item over time. This has greatly helped with profit projection.