Luck, yes, and strategy and tactics of course, but hofs are mostly luck. BUT.
The luck does not behave in a truly random manner. It has whims and even visible structure which can be learned and used. Some of this structure resembles a slot machine, other facets are clearly intentionally expressed via the underlying math. Hunting oratan with low dps while an oratan event is in progress, has poor odds. Hunting an under-hunted spawn with the highest cycle per, say, half day, among those hunting that spawn, has excellent odds, moreso on low-population planets due to less complex patterns due to fewer variables (aka players). One interesting product is that hunting gallards during a high volume oratan event, has excellent overall odds, in TT if not in market value (body fat drops at the same rate from gallards for me both during events and at other times).
I have nowhere near the cycle necessary to measure all of this correctly, but enough years under my belt to have noticed what elements exist in the behavior of this game's part-pseudorandom, part-cruftilydesigned "luck".
And that, my friends, is why experience eventually trumps cash volume. Eventually. When viewed in terms of averages.
