Any person who’s even given it just a couple of hours of their time can tell that there is a lot of different activities in EVE Online. The main ones like ratting, mining, mission running, and exploration are well documented. I’m not here to write about them, however. Instead, I’ll be taking a look at the more unusual ways to make Isk:
I’ve found salvaging to be a very click-intensive activity, having to lock targets and turn salvagers on as fast as wrecks are consumed is a mind-numbing task, even giving planetary interaction a run for its money. That being said it is a great starter way to make Isk for a new bro. The best ships for it are the Catalyst and the Noctis.
The Catalyst being the cheaper option (5mil for a ship, 10mil for MTU), deploying a mobile tractor unit and using the 8 high-slots to fit Salvager modules you can burn through wrecks at a reasonable rate.
The Noctis is the more expensive option as it comes with a 25% increase in speed while salvaging with max skills as well as the option to deploy drones and even skip the MTU altogether for using a couple of high slots for its more powerful in-house Tractor Beams.
Ticks and availability of salvage vary wildly. You can choose to go make wrecks yourself by ratting and use short bursts of salvaging after a certain amount of sites to maximize your Isk efficiency. If you are within a corporation or alliance which supports a significant number of ratters already, it may be worthwhile asking if you can take salvage their wrecks left at their sites. Remember, the more difficult the site, the better the salvage dropped will be. If working with ratters is a prolific enough option, setting up a folder in Corporation Locations for them to place their finished sites in so you can salvage those increases Isk efficiency further.
Here’s a link to an Eve Uni entry which offers a more comprehensive view on the matter: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Salvaging
Blueprint research, copying, and invention are a relatively passive set of Isk-making activities showing that PI isn’t the only way to make money even when you’re offline. It consists of researching a Blueprint Original’s mineral efficiency and time efficiency first.
This can take quite some time; especially at maximum efficiency can take weeks or even months for the BPO to be at its best possible usage. Then once, at a certain level you deem acceptable (read: profitable) you can choose to copy it for people who do not have access to the Original. Alternatively, you can opt to invent new Blueprint Copies for the Tech II variety of the item you are dealing with. This is more profitable but is often harder, requiring data cores and more skills to do.
Once finished with your Blueprint Copies you can take them to a trade hub in which you can contract them to public buyers looking to build that ship. Generally, research and invention will require you to have access to the right Raitaru or station with those capabilities. This provides a good amount of passive income once correctly set up, and the Blueprint Originals are bought and researched.
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Research
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Invention
Skill point farming is the ultimate activity when it comes to passive Isk making. A character generates skill points as skills are queued as the vast, vast majority of players already know. However, if remapped, more than 5 million skill points and having the right implants, a character will generate enough skill points to make a profit of upwards of 500 million a month (this is at 45 points per hour; obtainable via remapping and +5 implants) when accounting for the cost of a monthly PLEX and an extractor for each injector that you’ll be using to sell it.
Many people choose to make farming SP in this manner their entire isk-making career using dozens of characters to make massive amounts of Isk. The main issue with farming skill points is the amount of capital needed to set up a new character. Only characters with over 5 million skill points can be extracted from as well which provides a large time buffer, or a lot of injectors that you end up buying yourself before you’re able to use it for Isk-making.
Here is a calculator for skill point farming that tracks current prices and lets you play around with certain stats: https://www.eve-mogul.com/ftp
Gas Harvesting comes from the same vein of mining but takes a slightly more different approach. Gas sites spawn in various constellations across New Eden but are more readily available in wormholes. Given they are somewhat harder to get to than their more robust counterparts; gas sites make better money by a pretty large margin. The two ships best used are the Venture and the Prospect.
The Venture, the popular mining frigate, has decent bonuses for gas harvesting, is quite cheap and easy to get into whereas, the Prospect, is its sleeker cousin from the Expedition Frigate group of ships. Other than looking far cooler, it has bonuses for using cloak, better yield and, most importantly, twice the cargo-hold which is very useful. That being said, it’s much more expensive and requires a good month’s worth of skill points.
Generally, Gas Harvesting follows the strategy of, scanning down a wormhole, if you don’t already live in one, then further scanning inside of it for a gas site, refitting for Gas Harvesters with a mobile depot once ready to use them. A cloak is useful throughout this to hide from potential hostiles who would wish to ruin your Isk-making.
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Gas_cloud_harvesting
This is more complicated than the others. It involves having a cloaky alt character sit in a system generally used for ratting or PVE. Drop on anybody who has the guts to mine or rat in a ship which you can gank. If the target group cannot mount a significant resistance to drive you off and you can keep the drops and 23/7 cloaky camp up for a long enough period, then you may be able to extort them. Give them a point of contact in your bio or mail and offer to leave for a large amount of money for a period of time. This will vary depending on how big of a corporation’s operations you’re shutting down and how many of their ships you are ganking. So the Isk scales depending on how good you are basically. Come back at the end of the designated period to extort them again.
This is half passive and half active but immensely satisfying if you can make it work. Bear in mind you will be very much despised by the target group even for just attempting this.
I tried but couldn’t find a good reference to system jacking specifically so here’s an Eve Uni article on Stealth Bombers which are an excellent choice of ship for the activity: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Stealth_Bombers
That’s only five, though. There’s plenty more to discover, I’m sure.
-Curt
