Monday, August 24, 2009

VU 10.0 - The Crysis or is it the Crisis?

Well, it's finally here, love it or hate it the Crysis or Crytek engine has been implemented.

Many long-terms players will find themselves hitting the PC Hardware shops and spending anywhere from $100+ just to upgrade their existing machines in order to play. EntropiaForum is inundated with players looking for configuration help, a load of players can't login and many more CTD shortly after getting in...

A Word of Advice!!!!

I remember back when VU 9.0 came in and we saw the implementation of the Empty Skill Chips (a highly sought after prize at the time), christmas was upon us, so I among many made a chunky deposit (in my case $250) hoping to make it last the duration of my christmas break (about a month), I chose to hunt the Argonauts just west of the big volcano (south from Minopolis City). I had an awfull time of it, the new VU had so many bugs, the argo's would freeze (en-masse) I would run carelessly through them when suddenly they would return to life and I would shortly be ceremoniously ganked by every argo within sight. Needless to say my 'months' supply of PED dissappeared in 4 days flat!?! Lesson learnt here, do not carry out activities that cost PED for at least the first few weeks of a new VU!

With this new update, we have been notified that many "systems" have yet to be fully implimented, among those the ability to team up, all mindforce activities (no TP or Focus for now). I for one won't be mining for a few weeks until a) the Lootpool increases a bit and b) a few more navigation bugs are ironed out, including the new 'climbing' system. Hunting too is out of the question for now for the same reasons. As many Land Areas have also NOT been activated as yet many mobs aren't quite where they are supposed to be (nor are many of the ore spawns as yet).

For me and I guess most of my crew, it is very much a case of "if you can even get in-game, just explore the new places and keep your PED expenditure to a minimum, at least in these first couple of weeks". Expect there to be delays while the support crew go about fixing the bugs, above all else, if it gets really annoying - take a break!!!! Most Entropians are going through the same if not similar issues and problems as you, so if you must - take a chill pill, DO NOT attack your fellow Entropians and remember the key element of these games and their community is to respect each other. For now look out for each other both in-game & out of it. EntropiaForum has a huge amount of player generated help so be sure to register & use it, it's a great resource too.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Geologically Speaking - A Theory in Progress

Chipping up your avatar skills is certainly a way to 'hedge your bets' possibly increasing the loots you get in-game. Something I have noticed in the last few days may actually help our miners even further. Pathos has chipped up Surveying to 2k+ and it seems he doesn't find more en-matters at all?

While I was doing some comparisons with my own setup (1400 Prospecting, 1100 Geology and 500 Surveying)(I chipped up Prospecting & Geology) it became apparent to me that Geology may well be more important than we first thought. It is known that Geology crosses over the two areas and is shared by Prospecting & Surveying in order to enable you to improve your chances of locating the elusive ores & ens. With my setup I now find more ores but it is still a little sposmadic at times BUT what became clear was the fact that when I did drop en-matter probes I would find even more frequently (albeit very small finds)(my setup has over double the Geology to Surveying skills). When compared to Pathos' setup where his Geology is far lower than either Prospecting or Surveying it seemed to me at least that the cause of his frustration was clear due to a low Geology skill level.

We currently have a few experiments in place that may help to confirm this theory. I am about to pop Geology up a little further so that it is higher than my Prospecting - hoping to turn around the low to average find rate. Hunter has just chipped Geology so that it is higher than their Prospecting (and consequently is higher than surveying). Hopefully over the next few days we will be able to post the results of our findings here for you. If you can, let Pixel know what your mining levels are at so they can also be worked into the theory result.

Basically we are expecting to find a distinct correlation between Geology & Prospecting and Geology & Surveying. We feel at this point if your Geology is higher than either Prospecting or Surveying then this will improve your understanding of the terrain & coupled with the actual prospecting (for ores) and surveying (for ens) will allow you to find more frequently. The higher the Prospecting & Surveying generally speaking the bigger your finds will be. The direct result being that you will NRF far less and will therefore be much more economical overall. You will still come across areas that are 'empty' and when you do hit 5 to 10 NRF's in a row it is still better to move on. However when you are mining in what you 'know' to be rich areas the theory is that you will waste far less bombs & probes as you should "hit" more often.

This is still in the testing phase and we will post the results here in a few days.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Hunting Primer - Lowbie to Mid Level

So you've got a smashing new Ghost armour and a weapon suited to your skillset...
What to hunt and where? How to turn a profit killing beasties...

Well this is what I have found so far. By picking mobs within your range you will undoubtedly profit (albeit slowly). With my Ghost armour and a Korss H400 (most economical pistol in game) I can quite easily cope with the "Globalling" mobs like feffoids & argonauts (although Hunters up & Champions up are really tough (I try to avoid those)). These guys do global frequently & can be rather profitable if you're persistent. I've found that anything less than 9k to 10k ammo will see you global at least once or twice on these mobs. Watch the overall drop pattern though and if you get a 'slump' (or a heap of no looters) try another mob for a while.

Other mobs to try at this level are the Caudertergus Guardian & Dominant NNW of Scylla, the Cornies at the beach near Fort Argus & SW of Caravan. The Caravan Cornies have a mix of Plumertergus, Snarksnots & Merp which will yield a great selection of the crafting materials & loads of paints.

One thing remains at this point and that is to stress the fact that you need to clear the 'entire' mob to get the best results. Take a look at any mob group in Entropia and you'll see a definate grouping with say a bunch of youngs, a few matures & an old or two. In some cases you will find there are two or more mobs together. Focus on the entire group and you will get maximum yield from that group. Every group will yield at least a mini global (even snables & exas) if you're thorough and persistent youll get the Global &/or HOF. Troy for example has about 5 mob groups mixed with Kibas, Exas, Foul & Fugabarba. Circling Troy it is possible to clear out almost all of these mobs and the overall balance of loot generally ends up in profit (there will always be times where you 'lose' ped), once again if there is an apparent 'slump' in the lootpool try another mob or location. At these times I usually go lo-brow and hit the snables for a bit, they might not drop the skill chips so much these days but they are good for farming tailoring materials off.

I'll try to extend this as time goes by, hopefully also including a wider variety of mobs :)

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Our Aspirations in Entropia Universe

Just to give you all a rough (very rough) idea of where we want to take the DKz as a Society in Entropia Universe here are just a few of our plans:

  • Ownership of an Ore Store for the reselling of ores & en-matters
  • Ownership of an appartment on CND (Club Never Die) for extended hunts & mining
  • Potential for Lease or Ownership of a Land Area on Amathera
  • Possiblities for Ownership of a Hangar

All of these investments will be with a view to setting up the DKz and its members so we can be a productive & profitable society in-game. Some time into the future there is a possibilty of withdrawals but at this time everything we put in will be re-invested into the DKz profitability.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

DKz returns to an old favourite

Many DKz have recently returned to Project Entropia or Entropia Universe as it is now called. With the massive number of changes up to V9 and the promise of a new engine it seems to offer a lot more options for fun & exploration. As is normally the case with the DKz, we have and continue to undergo major research into how the game works and how we can best capitalose on what is does have to offer.

Over the next few posts we will try to make things a little clearer and members should be able to set themselves up nicely in a very short period of time.

It is envisioned that over the next week or three we will have compiled enough data that we can present to you a methodolgy with which to use in-game.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Welcome

Welcome to the Digital Knightz Online Blog. This blog has been created to help facilitate the wide variety of timezones. If you are a member of the clan and want to be able to post here please email Pixel with your email address so it can be added.

Please feel free to make suggestions.