Being in Entropia

Erastothenes

Guardian
Joined
May 9, 2009
Posts
302
Location
Any killing field
Society
Shaolin
Avatar Name
John Erastothenes Bluetail
I had a disciple, my second in about 9 years, just graduated. Happy about that. I think, perhaps, perchance, I'm not the worst mentor-type. Certainly not the best. Hopefully qualify as useful - I'd settle for that.

Selling myself as a Mentor is definitely not my strongest skill tho! Anyway, tried to be a salesman in RL, that also did not seem to be my destiny.

There are a number of good posts by experiended Mentors, and for any disciple of mine I'm not shy to defer and direct to these. At the same time, I thought I'd post a list of things that I could refer any future disciples of my own to read up. Lazy as I am, this might either deflect some banter about basic stuff, or, better, lead to more directed - perhaps intelligent - diving into the details of EU.

So here it is, suggestion and error corrections are most welcome!

Welcome to Entropia! A unique virtual universe, where you really are your avatar.

Remember that, and that everyone else also is a real person. Behave accordingly.
Our chat's should not be tabloid bullshit. I'm sure I'v sinned myself over the years - people makes mistakes. It's in our nature to mess up, from time to time.

Don't beg. Besides being bad manners - bound to make you unpopular - money is real in Entropia. And, as we come from all over the world, a dollar for some is more than for others.

I'v met people of all ages in EU. Some high professionals in their choosen careers, students, unemployed, ateists and religious. All kinds. Entropia seems to attract a lot of creative and interesting people. I hope you will meet and befriend the best of them!

Having money - PED - is someting you want, but don't be desperate. Slow slow but sure. A small deposit can last you long as a new Entropian, and you might want to have a look at the starter pack's in the webshop. But you should also spend time gathering resorces. We get "vibrant sweat" from the animals - MOB's. You have a free tool for this, that will not decay.

If you walk - not run - in the terrain you will find fruit, dung and stones that you can sell. This walking around will also make you familiar with the terrain, useful.

Now, at your very start (or if you been about a while and neglected it), register for all Missions on whatever planet you are. It's free and no limits as to how many you can have going. You never know when you might happen to do/find/kill something relevant, so make sure you get the points. Missions gives rewards. Often in skills, but sometimes in Items.

Time to mention the Entropedia (entropiawiki.com) , our "wiki". Not always up to date, it is still a very useful source of information. You will find lists of Missions there. Information on the MOB's, what type and how much damage they do, for example. And much more. Explore it.

Then there are the forums. The main ones are this one, the planetcalypsoforum, and the arkadiaforum. There are others for other planets, and a site called cyrenesecrets.com seems the best for all things related to planet Cyrene.

entropialife.com - check it out. They run many events outside the "standard" Entropian events systems, and they have a smart piece of software called the Entropia Tracker. Read up on that. For you miners, there's the mininglog.com, good tool. Both of these are approved by MindArk.

Mentors and Disciples

You may want a mentor. Your mentor should be dedicating time to educate you, and preferably be a bit experienced. It is not your mentors job to give you things and pay for expenses, and you should not expect such.

If you are not happy with your mentor, discard and find another. It's better to take some more time and learn properly, than to rush for graduation (and the grad rewards).

Upon graduation you will get a useful armor-set, and some trinket.

Gathering Vibrant Sweat and other resources

"Sweating" MOB's will make you some money and skills. And it is social, at sweat-groups you can meet new friends. There are certain locations on the different planets where people will regularly meet to work together to get sweat. This is efficient, because you will get hit less by the targeted mob and in the end get more sweat per hour than if working alone.

By walking rather than running around, you will come upon fruit, dung and stones. These spawn randomly, be observant. Zoom out from your avatar, and set some graphics low to get rid of grass and such, to better see. Walking around like this also has the advantage of giving you knowledge of the land.
You can also cut trees, but for this you need to spend a little PED. The basic trecutter tool, the PH-1, costs 5 PED. Walking around looking for cuttable trees combines well with searching for fruit, dung and stones. When you have a trecutter equipped, cuttable trees nearby will have a round yellow target on them.
There are 3 sizes of trees, yelding different size planks. You will need a PH-2 for level 2 trees, and so a PH-3 for level 3. You can cut all trees with the PH-1, but you will then only get the smallest planks.

Oil/other stuff that spawns

There are tree oil rigs that spawns oil on the ground, for you to pick up. Two are located in areas where players can kill each other. I'l write more about PvP (Player versus Player) shortly.
One is on Calypso, and often "closed" by hostile people who will keep you from getting a share. There are also big MOB's around there (Atrox Alpha to Stalker).
Another other is on Arkadia. The oil drops there are smaller and infrequent, but most of the time the place is friendly.
The third is in the "Hunt the Thing" area on Rocktropia. The position is 38351, 19360, on The Thing map, closest TP at 38331, 19150. Small Wolves there, level 1, 2 and 3 - can be taken with weapons that you can buy at the TT. It lights up as Red PvP on my radar, so I guess you can loose stackables if killed by another player here (see more about PvP below).

Rocktropia also has a spot that spawns some bottles. The bottles are only 1 PEC (1 PED is 100 PEC) each, but spawns are rapid and as long as you can reach the spot, it's fairly safe to be there. The bottles have some use and may be worth as much as double the TT (1 PEC) value when sold to other players. More on "MU" as you read on.
Toulan has a place that spawns Diagen Drops (I think they's called). It's PvP, but may not be occupied by others as Toulan has way less visitors than it (by my opinion) deserves.

Hunting, mining or crafting?

Those 3 are the main activities. There are other careers, but as a new Entropian these are what you will likely be doing. And trading stuff with other players or through the Auction.

I don't recommend crafting from day 1. Some people do very well by crafting, but they have skills and good Blueprints. That's not you just yet. No harm in spending a PED here and there for a small try, just do not count on profits on your first day.

Mining is better, start small. Use a "rookie terramaster" in the beginning, and use that mininglog. Mining gives good skills, for some reason Health goes up nicely.
Get your skills up a bit before moving to better gear, and amplifiers. Amp's are expensive but top miners use them for a reason.

Hunting is fun, and what most people seems to be doing. There is a MOB for every level of hunter. Hunt smart, and you will do well. Don't hunt above your levels/skills unless you don't mind loosing some PED.

Other hunting - PvP

Player versus Player - Entropia has that. On Calypso, the Amethera continent is PvP outside the Land Areas (or Outback Land Areas). More on LA's later.
Other places, PvP areas are marked on your map (at least when you find them by going there) with yellow or red color.

Yellow means that you can shoot or be shot, red means that as well as that it's "lootable". So if you are killed in a red PvP area, your stackables (stuff in your inventory Tabs "Materials" and "Mined Resources" can be taken from you.

Space outside the imideate areas around a planet's space station is all lootable PvP.
To enter a "red" PvP area planetside you will need a "anti-toxic" shot. Without it, you will die when you enter. A sensible precation, you will not likely enter a "lootable" area without knowing what you are doing.

MU - MarkUp

And then to trade your loot. Most things has something called MarkUp. MU for short. Some have little, some massive. Always check the MU on anything you sell or buy. It can be hard to get the best MU if you have small amounts of what you sell, so if you can afford to, save up stacks. And the Auction charges a fee, so there you need to see if it actually pays to pay it. The so called TT value, thats the "standard" value of items. If you sell items to a Trade Terminal (hence TT), that's what you get. Sometimes, if you have some small stuff with very low MU, it may be just as well to sell it to a Trade Terminal.

If in doubt about somethings real MU, check the action. What do other people sell it for?

If you are a good trader you can make money. Some do very well. The best traders seems to those who do repeat trade over time by being honest and reasonable.

SIB and your gear

SIB - Skill Increase Bonus - is something you will have on many items. Do not use tools that says "Not yet" on SIB. You will not use those tools efficiently. You can buy the biggest gun in the game and still not bang much, if you do not have the required skills to use it.

Skills!

Your skills are important! Skills in weapons, tools, luck, health, all of it. Skills are related, so, for example, when you shoot a pistol, your rifle skills will also benefit. Less closely related skills are also affected, all the way away to things not very related at all. But a lot less, slower.

As you progress, you will unlock new abilities. Details on the entropedia.

You can sell skills, and they tend to have very high MU. Hence you can buy skills, "chip in" as it's called. This can be very useful sometimes. For example; you have reached level 20 in Laser HIT but you are only level 16 in Laser DMG (Damage). And you really want to use some level 20 weapon, right quickly. You can chip in those levels you need for the balance, and go ahead.
Some people with high skills makes money by chipping out "surplus" skills they don't need. Other people use money to quickly gain very high levels. The trade in skills seems brisk at all times.

Scams

There are some that will try to scam other people, just like in RL. Sad shits willing to be thiefs for monetary profit. It ranges from overcharging in trades, to confidence scams.

Someone may try to sell you stuff that seems to have high MU, but may take advantage by short-time fluctuations in the market. Or take your sweat, promising to making it into something more valuable for free. Upgrade your armor with paint or something.

It has happened that some will seem a friend, maybe over years of time, and then they get to borrow something valuable. Cash, or a special item. Something. And then they stop responding - possibly giving up the avatar after having sold on or othervise passed the valuables on down a planned chain of trades. Hard to sort out, your loss most likely.

Some people may not pay as promised for services rendered. I know a guy was owned for healing someone on a real long hunt. Hunt went bad, hunter said he did not want to pay because he had a bad run. Reasonable? I'd say not.

It hurts to get scammed, even if it's for small stuff. It's not nice to know and experience that there are people who don't give a shit that you are a person, that you exist. Burglars in my home I can and will deal with, in the virtual world one often can not do so directly. Best is to use comon sense.
And, always, if someone is to borrow something, get collateral. Offer same if you want to borrow. Even if intentions are pure, shit can happen. What if someone borrows from you something valuable, and then the next day crashes the car going to work? Not likely, granted, but plan for worst-case scenario.

Teleports and teleporting


On any planet, you will start off with some - but not all - teleport locations. To get the rest, you need to visit their locations (and run through the Teleport's there to make sure you get them on your map).
The best, slowest and most difficult way to get new TP locations is to run (or walk). Best because you get to know the terrain and what's where. Slow and difficult because you will run into obstacles (MOB's, mountains etc).

You can fly, or have someone fly you, to get TP locations. Fast and easy.

You can also use a Teleport chip - an implant - to teleport (TP) from anywhere you are. Higher levels of TP chips enables you to TP greater distances. The chip's uses MindEssence as fuel. Vibrant Sweat is an ingredient for making this "ME".

Transport

You have legs, use them. Best way to explore. Then there are moving machines of a variety, flying, boats, cars and spaceships. Quad's and (if you are desperate) Sleipnir's double as planetside and spacegoing vessels.

A fast vehicle, like a hooverboard or some pod, can be very useful to escape big MOB's. A helicopter or troop transport good for bringing a team to the spot. Personally I favour TP chips to move somewhere fast and accurate.

In space you want to be careful, you can be shot down and looted by pirates. If you want to bring loot from one planet to another, the safest option is a warp flight with a proper spaceship. Two groups I know and trust have organised to bring you a safe service; see the websites efa.ms and titans-of-space.de
There may be others, check around.

If you fly on your own (normally by Quad), know that there is a fee of 2 PED to land on a planet. I have no idea why.

Land Areas

Land Areas (and Outback Land Areas) are (typically) owned by fellow Entropians. The owner of an area needs to stock it with some MOB or several MOB's, spending money on MOB DNA to make that happen. And then put Dung into the deal, to keep the spawns up.

Your advantage with this is that you may be able to find a area that guarantees that you will have your exact target - the right MOB at the right maturities.

For miners, it is often specified what ores and enmatter is found.

The downside for you is that most all such areas comes with a tax on what you find.

Good LA owners will make sure spawns are as advertised, and may make events with prizes to market their land.

Events

Entropia has a event system. To keep it short, events can be made in certain areas (like Land Areas, but not limited to) with different rules. Typically, an event is for hunters and use one of two rules: Most Loot (collected by a single player) or Highest Single Loot (collected by a single player). Limits can be set, such as no use of armor, no use of TP chips, others.

Entropialife, as an example, makes events outside of the standard system. Read ingame ads and keep an eye on the forums for events, both for those made using the event system and for other creative efforts.
For ingame events, right-click somewhere "clean" on your screen and select "system" - then "events" from the menu.

Daily Missions


There may be Daily (as in repeatable) Missions available on the planet you are on. The rewards differ, on Calypso you get Daily Tokens that you can use to buy things (weapons, other gear). Arkadia has a daily mission chain that will at the end reward you a troop transport vehicle.

Tokens

Daily Tokens, Combat Tokens, Skill Tokens. So you'v read about the Daily's. Combat Tokens (also a Calypso thing) can also be used to buy stuff. They can come from Missions, more come from special MOB spawns. There are places where you will trigger a "wave-spawn". Here you (most likely with other people to be able to finish it) will kills waves of a specific MOB. At the last round there will be a "boss", and this boss may yeald Combat Tokens.

Skill Tokens are typically rewards of Missions where you, for example, kill a certain number of a MOB.

Team Hunts

Team hunts are fun and efficient. But make sure the rules are clear. There are several ingame "rules" that can be choosen by the one making a Team. Often used is the deal where the damage you do will reflect how much of the loot you recieve from each kill.
Always check the team rules before you head out, and don't forget to note any % going to healer(s). Nothing wrong with paying healers, to the contrary, they deserve a share. But sometimes, someone will set healer's % way high - trying to profit from new Entropian's lack of knowledge (thanks to Herco Coz Man for noting this).

But. You and your team may well loot something valuable, some special item. Decide before the hunt how to deal with such things. One way to do it that some uses, is to say that with any item looted by anyone worth 50 PED or more, the money should be split equal with all team members.

It has happened, when people hop into teams with people they don't know, that such arrangements has been discarded by the greed of whomever got the nice piece. For me, I only team with people I believe I can trust. I might team on very small things with strangers, but if I do it would be more to be there to help, maybe heal.

On Money and Deposits

Ten PED equals one USD. The PED can be split into PEC, 1 PED is 100 PEC. Project Entropia Dollar into Project Entropia Cents. Entropia is the one virtual that has successfully linked it's currency to the RL.
We have no stress with "virtual gold" being harvested and sold illegally, as many other's have.
You can take your money out of Entropia, as you can deposit. Some people live by it.
To take cash out, you need to register an account for MindArk to deposit into.

To put money in, you have several options. You can use PayPal, Visa or Mastercard. There is a webshop, and you can depo directly while ingame - very fast. Pre-paid one-time Visa or Mastercards are widely available as a quick solution to those who may not have a regular one.

As a new Entropian you should off course be careful spending. Maybe you will leave us? I'd hope not, but to be realistic, not all that comes chooses to stay.

I will say this; as a new Entropian even a small amount of PED can boost you to more interesting things way faster than you would by just gathering sweat and other resources.
If you where my disciple, I'd suggest - in general - to graduate "slow slow but sure" and then, after graduation, count your savings and consider widening your options with some PED. Don't go overboard. Manage your funds as best you can. But at the same time, have the little leverage to pursue fun.

Details

On all I have written here, others have also, and in more detail. Peruse the forums. Check Mega's MOB list, for one really superb example, on this Calypso forum.
The Arkadia team are known for keeping a eye on the ark-forum, so if you have any ideas that are actually smart, they may be noted.

I welcome you to Entropia, my virtual home, hoping it will become yours!

John "eras" Bluetail
 
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For just 2 disciples... I think you should be training a lot more :girl:
 
ty

Thanks Norbert, and creative ava name! Respect.
 
Hi Aoi!

Like to... if I can find them :)

thanks :)
 
nice work mate.
Keep it up. :yup:
 
Saving the link for this one, very well done!!
 
Very nice! +rep Will be directing my disciples and new players to this.
 
I, and Im sure most others that care about Entropia, applaud you and your efforts with the new borne. I dont mentor much but, if I do again, will definitely direct them to this post. I want to personally thank you and appreciate the effort. I will save this post as well. :wise::yup:
 
A Good initiative +rep
 
Great work .. Thank you for an amazing post will help alot :)
 
Very nice summary and introduction!

+rep ;-)
 
Great post for both new players and more established players to review :)















#space_flight ~ where pilots advertise to grow their business
 
Guides needed an update - nice intro guide +R
 
Thanks, i'll direct my disceples to this post
+
 
Wow!

Thanks so much all, so many kind words! :D

- and thanks for all the rep!!
 
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Very nice post, +rep my friend. Sometimes old guides need to be refreshed and your passion in this game is immeasurable. thanks again for the thread. i will indeed direct my disciples here as well, link saved. Have a great day my friend.

Raven Raven Valicur
 
Erastothenes said:
Thanks for the rep!

Well, you deserve it. Most new players have no idea what to do, where or how they should begin in the world of EU. Your post will definitely help any new players who read it to not only get a better start in the game with specific examples/suggestions and pitfalls to watch out for, but will also help them get a better understanding of what to expect as well as a better overall understanding of the game itself.

Also, your guide is very well organized, easy to read and understand.
 
Oil on RT

Thanks Genesis, for telling me about oil rig in "Hunt the Thing". Did not know about it! I'l pop over at some time and check it out.
 
Thanks Genesis for info on the oilrig at The Thing (Rocktropia) :)
 
Red pvp means your in a pvp zone. Yellow means your near one. Red doesn't necessarily mean loot able.

Great guide though
 
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Red pvp means your in a pvp zone. Yellow means your near one. Red doesn't necessarily mean loot able.

Great guide though

Thanks, thats correct!

I was likely thinking about how the PvP's looks on the map - area marked red is lootable, yellow is not. I should specify!!!

ty man, cheers, eras
 
Three thumbs up :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
A very good summary for newbies. +rep
 
:)

Thanks Lefty and Malasuerte :)

Appreciate!

cheers, eras
 
Thanks Genesis, for telling me about oil rig in "Hunt the Thing". Did not know about it! I'l pop over at some time and check it out.

Arctic rig isn't as good as it used to be now that wolves and things show up there frequently. On rt motor head stadium is place to be as its easier now then back pre apocalypse when it was pvp... nowadays just fly in and u can stay a long time. Still boring as hell though. RT also has the docks but they are slow to spawn oil.

Also, could be a bug but I think some radiated zones on some planets don't require a toxic shot any more
 
Brilliant resource to show to new players. Thanks for your time and effort in this, I have added to my favourites so I can spread it around in due course.
 
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