Legends' Hunting Blog!

Legends

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Inherent Marxus Legends
Thank you for checking out this Hunting Blog where I will share the details of my Hunting adventures in Entropia with everyone. First things first, here are my goals and the main reasons why I'm doing this:

1. I want to get back into hunting again
2. I want to learn and get better and smarter as I progress
3. I want to figure out how to do it in a sustainable way
4. I want to have fun while doing it!

There are some principles I want to adhere to as closely as I can while I do this, these are things that have either been communicated by MindArk as being important in order to maximize returns, or are generally known to be true by the community at large, here they are:

From VU 15.15.0 where Efficiency on weapons was introduced:
Notice
[*] Loot value calculations and the composition of the items in loot will be affected by properly matching avatar skills and gear to the creature being hunted, rewarding efficient kills with more interesting loot. For optimal loot, it will be important to avoid inefficiencies such as low damage output compared to creature health, excessive time and cost to kill, overkill damage, unmaxed weapons and other factors. This system is intended to reward game knowledge, which has traditionally been an important and unique aspect of success in Entropia Universe, and to provide opportunities for participants to improve their loot returns via experimentation, optimization and specialization.

Originally Posted Here

And this from follow-up Dev Notes:
[h=3]Developer Notes #14 - Loot 2.0 Update[/h]
Effects of Critical Hits/Damage on Loot
Finally, we have noticed several misconceptions in recent community discussions regarding Critical Hits that we would like to clarify. Critical Hits do not have a direct impact on loot value calculations per se. Since loot is now based on the actual cost to kill a creature in Loot 2.0, dealing more damage via critical hits (or by having higher damage per pec) does result in smaller loot events for a given creature, but this effect is directly proportional to the lower cost to kill and allows more creatures to be killed (i.e. more loot events) for a given amount of PED spent. Also, the composition of loot improves in such cases and results in a lower proportion of Shrapnel in loot. In other words, the use of items or consumables that provide increased Critical Hit Chance or Critical Damage can never have a negative effect on loot returns.

Originally Posted Here

My interpretation:
1. "matching avatar skills and gear to the creature being hunted" to me that means hunting slightly below my skill level, using a maxed weapon/amp setup that can 'efficiently' kill the creature but is not too powerful, so probably somewhere between 7 to 15 shots, swings or blows.
2. Higher Efficiency weapon setups means higher overall tt loot returns. Meanwhile, loot composition is only affected by DPP, the biggest factor of which being critical hits/damage, meaning that adding enhancers to weapons or taking pills most likely has very little to do with looting interesting items. There could be a case to be made for using Accuracy Enhancers to raise DPP and improve loot quality on mobs that drop higher mu stuff, I might explore this throughout the Blog.


From VU 15.16.0 where Looter professions were introduced:
I have confirmed with the dev team that the loot profession only affects loot returns (as stated in the release notes), not loot composition.

My interpretation:
My Looter professions will increase my overall tt loot returns. According to testing done and published in this forum, from level 0-100 Looter there is a total 7% increase to your loot tt value. Since my goal is to have the highest possible loot returns, I must make it my priority to raise these Looter skills (I will discuss this topic further throughout the blog).

Defensive decay returns:
Most of the decay from healing and using armor is now compensated for in the loot of the mob. On top of this the actual amount of decay to the armor per damage absorbed was reduced greatly. Overall the cost for healing and armor usage is less than 5% of what it used to be.

My interpretation:
Charlie has told us here that over 95% of the PED spent on FAPing and Armor protection is returned to you in the mob's loot. Since my goal is to get as close as possible to 100% tt loot returns, then it's plain to see that these defense costs are only going to drag me down over time, so I should do everything I can to try and minimize them.


Markup:
The loot system never accounts for markup. Not on markup spent on things like enhancers or limited weapons, nor on markup gained from loot such as oils, items and ESI etc, markup values are just transactions between players.

My interpretation:
Any markup spent on an item will never be returned in loot. for example if I buy an ArMatrix LR-40 at 110%, the 8.5 PED markup I just paid will not factor into the loot calculations, and therefore will never be returned, even if I get 100% tt loot returns. So the take away here is avoid paying markup. The best way is to use unlimited items, another way is to use items you yourself looted (preferably that have very low markup and that you would most likely tt anyway).

~~ ~ ■ ~ ■ ~~ CONCLUSIONS ~ ~ ■ ~ ■ ~~~
Therefore, my focus on these hunts will be on the following:

1. Eliminate/minimize the markup input in my hunting activities by using UL items/gear, items I looted myself and/or items with very low MU
2. Without violating rule #1 above, strive to achieve as high an efficiency as possible on setups used so as to maximize tt loot returns
3. Maximize markup output (loot composition) by raising DPP as high as possible without violating rule #1 above
4. No Pills or Enhancers, which all have high markup
5. Minimize all defensive decay costs such as Armor and FAP decay
6. Hunt mobs that are well within my Looter/Evade level (preferably 3-5 levels below)
7. Log hunting runs that are at least 3 hours, preferably closer to 5 hours in duration

Here's the format I will use when reporting stats on a hunt:

Creature #1:
Creature #2:
Location:
My Looter level:
My Evade/Dodge level:
Rings:
Weapon #1 (efficiency):
Weapon #2 (efficiency):
Weapon #3 (efficiency):
Weapons decay (incl. attachments):
Armor/FAP decay:
Total ammo spent:
Total spent on hunt (w/mu):

Hunting run duration:
Globals/HoFs:
Items looted:
Items TT value (~markup value):
Stackables:
Net returns (w/mu):
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel:
Profit/Cost per hour:

Others are welcome to contribute their results here in this thread if they wish, just make sure you follow the same guidelines as I am (points 1 to 7 above) and please use the same format.

Cheers o/

Legends

PS: I'm not doing a spreadsheet but I will most likely tabulate the results periodically so it's easier to see averages over time.
 
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PRACTICE RUN #1:

Creature hunted: Kerberos (L2-L6)
Location: Boreas
My Animal Looter level: 19.85
My Evade level: 20.40
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): LR S1X1 + A101/Bullseye 8 (61.7%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Worm Blaster mk V + A102 (65.1%)
Weapon #3 (efficiency): MarCorp Kallous-5 + A103/Bullseye 8 (63.3%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 30.66 PED
Armor/FAP decay: 0.63 PEDs
Total ammo spent: 100 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 131.29 PED

Hunting run duration: ~1 hour
Globals/HoFs: 18.13, 12.62 and 27.27
Items looted - value: none
Stackables: 156.40 PED
Net returns (%): 156.40 (119%)
Profit/Cost per hour: +25 PED profit/hour

What I learned: This was more of a test run than anything else, just to get my feet wet so to speak and work out the kinks. One thing I did learn from it is that I should keep track of globals and any item drops.
 
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Always interesting to see this sort of thing.
Good luck with it.
Subbed :)
 
PRACTICE RUN #2:

I kind of broke my own rules on this one, my Robot Looter level was only 11.05 when I started this hunt and yet this spawn of Drones does have some Level 10s and Level 12s mixed in. I actually didn't know that going in so it wasn't intentional, and the majority of the Drones I killed were all level 8 or 9 anyway, with very few being level 10 or 12 (maybe half a dozen in all).

Creature hunted: Drones (L8-L12)
Location: Jason Center
My Robot Looter level: 11.05
My Dodge level: 14.56
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): MarCorp Kallous-5 + A103/Bullseye 8 (63.3%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 80.02 PED
Armor/FAP decay: 3.49 PED (Adj. Nem armor)
Total ammo spent: 251 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 334.51 PED

Hunting run duration: ~1.5 hours
Globals/HoFs: none
Items looted (mu value): none
Stackables: 318.86 PED
Net returns (%): 318.86 (95.3%)
Profit/Cost per hour: -10 PED/hour

The decay on the Bullseye 8 was 3.65 PED for this hunt, and it only adds 0.02% Efficiency, so I'm thinking this is a complete waste of PED at this point. When a hunting run ends in negative returns, it just adds to the loss, so I'll think twice about adding attachments like sights and scopes to my weapons going forward.

What I learned: Again, this was just a short hunting run, still working out the details. What I learned on this one was that I should add the 'Location' where the hunting run took place, in case anyone is interested, and obviously, I also realized that I should probably not use any sights or scopes on my weapons for now.
 
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Creature #1: Berycled (L4-L12)
Creature #2: Foul (L5-L16)
Location: Camp Echidna and Sharpclaw Ridge
My Animal Looter level: 19.90
My Evade level: 20.44
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): MarCorp Kallous-5 + A103 (63.1%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Isis Project Zero-Two + Bull tac30 (55.8%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 95.70 PED
Armor/FAP decay: 16.24 PED (Phantom + 5B)
Total ammo spent: 396 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 507.94 PED

Hunting run duration: ~2 hours
Globals/HoFs: 29, 18, 42
Item looted - value: LLC 2 (L) - 12.31 PED @ 110% = 13.54
Item looted - value: LBC 6 (L) - 15.29 PED @ 107% = 16.36
Item looted - value: LBP 1 (L) - 3.96 PED @ 110% = 4.35
Item looted (mu value): Kinetic 4 (L) - 39 PED @ 106% = 41.34
Stackables: 475.76 PED
Net returns (%): 551.35 (108.5%)
Profit/Cost per hour: +22 PED/hour

I messed up a bit on this one, I didn't originally intend to hunt the Fouls, but I was looking for a higher level of Berycled to hunt and at Camp Echidna they are level 11 and level 12 but they are mixed in with Foul. I did eventually (about halfway through the hunting run) decide to switch to a denser pure Berycled spawn, which I found at a place called 'Sharpclaw Ridge' located just North of Corinth East Hangars A tp.

Entropiawiki.com calls the Foul a Humanoid. I wasn't sure if it was a Mutant or Animal at first, but it looks like it's Animal.

What I learned: Those Armor decay costs are too high, the Berycled spawn at Sharpclaw Ridge is so dense that I often had too many of them on me at the same time, just chewing up my armor. I like a dense spawn but this one was too dense.

PS: That 42 PED global came near the end of this hunting run so there was definitely some luck involved on this one, if it hadn't been for that, I would have barely broke even.
 
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Entropiawiki.com calls the Foul a Humanoid. I wasn't sure if it was a Mutant or Animal at first, but it looks like it's Animal.

It's a Mutant. The way to test is if you can sweat it. :sweat:


Good luck with the rest of the hunting log! :sniper:
 
It's a Mutant. The way to test is if you can sweat it. :sweat:


Good luck with the rest of the hunting log! :sniper:

If that's the case, then I think the Foul thread in the Creatures sub-forum should be edited to reflect that, it says Animal there under 'Creature Type'...
 
If that's the case, then I think the Foul thread in the Creatures sub-forum should be edited to reflect that, it says Animal there under 'Creature Type'...

I'm pretty sure Foul gives Animal Looted and Investigator skills, so the thread is correct. If you have evidence to the contrary let us know please :)
 
I'm pretty sure Foul gives Animal Looted and Investigator skills, so the thread is correct. If you have evidence to the contrary let us know please :)



I call it Mutant.
 


I call it Mutant.

There are some (not many) animals that can't be sweated. Iirc Argonauts can't be sweated but give animal skills.
 
There are some (not many) animals that can't be sweated. Iirc Argonauts can't be sweated but give animal skills.

They are mutants as well. :silly2:
 
Creature #1: Foul (L4)
Location: SW of Fort Troy
My Animal Looter level: 20.00
My Mutant Looter level: 12.50
My Evade level: 20.50
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): LR S1X1 + A101 (60.9%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Worm Blaster mk V (57.0%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 76.54 PED
Armor/FAP decay: 3.38 PED (Tiger)
Total ammo spent: 247.50 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 327.42 PED

Hunting run duration: ~5 hours
Globals/HoFs: 10.44
Item looted - value: Isis BL300 (L) - 8.59 PED @ 110% = 9.45
Stackables: 281.18 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 290.63 or 88.8%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 57.4% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: -7 PED/hour

index.php

Defense strategy: Since I don't have an Adjusted Restoration chip or Modified FAP, my best option is to use UL armor with decent Durability and thus avoid incurring any markup fees from using limited armor. The highest Durability UL armor I have currently is Tiger so I used that. Obviously that's really strong armor for these guys, way stronger then is required, so I just wore 3 parts so as to mitigate some of the damage that was being dealt to me. Doing this allowed me to take advantage of free health regeneration and therefore reduce my overall defense costs.

Hunting style: This is a really dense spawn but thankfully these fouls don't move around, so it's easier to tag them one at a time and avoid aggro'ing too many at once. The S1X1 + A101 was a very good match for these as they would usually drop dead just as they reached me. If I accidentally aggro'ed too many at once I'd pull out the Worm Blaster to kill them faster.

Notable: During the hunt the LR S1X1 went from tier 0.18 to 0.72, which is pretty good I think. It could be an indication that the gun was a good match to the mob, I've hunted smaller mobs with it and did not get such tier gains, but I have not formally tested this theory.

What I learned: The Animal Looter gains from this 5 hour hunt was only 0.03. I got Skinning skills often, but the amount I got didn't add up to much. I'll have to hunt a bit bigger if I want to increase my Looter skills faster. I also realized I should keep track of the ratio of shrapnel versus other loot, perhaps there will be a distinguishable pattern long-term when comparing hunting runs.

EDIT: I didn't realize it at the time but the Fouls drop a lot of Purple paint which has a decent MU around 125%. Taking this MU into consideration pushes my Net returns up to about 90%.
 
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I'm pretty sure Foul gives Animal Looted and Investigator skills, so the thread is correct. If you have evidence to the contrary let us know please :)

All through the hunt I just finished on Fouls I got Skinning skills. I believe those are related to Animal Looter? Do we also skin Mutants? :laugh:

I'm thinking Fouls are an Animal
 
Creature hunted: Drones (L8-L10)
My Robot Looter level: 11.44
My Dodge level: 14.75
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): MarCorp Kallous-5 + A103 (63.1%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Worm Blaster mk V + Bull Tac30 (55.8%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 122.37 PED
Armor/FAP decay: 6.16 PED (Adj Vigi)
Total ammo spent: 495 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 623.53 PED

Hunting run duration: ~3 hours
Globals/HoFs: none
Items looted - value: Electric 1 (L) @ 125% = 8.75
Stackables: 499.50 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 508.25 or 81.5%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 77.4% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: -38 PED/hour

index.php

These Drones haven't been good to me so far... But I wanted to work on my Robot Looter skills and this was my best option. I wish I had picked up some Robot Irons before they were replaced by the Codex.

What I learned: I feel like I'm paying for skills. While I'm at it, I guess I should take a look at what Iron missions I haven't finished yet and just finish those while I still can and maximize the skill gains.
 
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Creature #1: Allophyl (L14-L18)
Creature #2: Estophyl (L20-L23)
Location: Livas Heights
My Animal Looter level: 20.22
My Evade level: 20.77
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): ArMatrix LR-20 (L) + A103/LR1/B8/ExtendP10 (67.2%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): GeoTrek H21 Scrof (L) + A105 Hypercharged/LR1+B4/B8 (63.2%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 324.60 PED (+10.50 in markup paid)
Armor/FAP decay: 11.85 PEDs (Phantom + 6B)
Total ammo spent: 993 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 1339.95 PED

Hunting run duration: ~5 hours
Globals/HoFs: 64, 68, 124, 68 & 53
Items looted: Neopsion 10-A (L), Lacerating 4 (L), Regen 4 (L), Isis LLP 25 (L), 3xAurora (L) parts
Items TT value (~markup value): 224.13 PED (+12.50 in markup value)
Stackables: 1311.43 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 1548 or 115.5%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 58.77% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: +42 PED/hour

Acronyms:
LR1: Lonreach 1
B4: Bullseye 4
B8: Bullseye 8


index.php

I had a pretty good run, but my main reason for hunting these is because I have the 5k Iron still open on them and the reward is pretty decent so I'd like to finish it before MindArk takes it away. So I started out this hunting run sitting at 425/5000 and finished with 943/5000, meaning I killed 518 in total, or roughly 100 per hour.

Acquisitions: Longreach 1 for tt+11, Longreach 1 for tt+14, Bullseye 8 for tt+31.

Hunting style: just trying to use the H21 Scrof (L) mostly as it has a lower markup, and I use the ArMatrix LR-20 (L) as a tagger.

Defense: No fapping required. The Phantom with the 6B plates is the perfect armor set-up. I still take a little bit of damage here and there from the higher maturities which means I get to take advantage of free health regeneration and save on armor decay a little.

Notable: I bought an Extender P10 (L) for 103% on the auction and this was the first time I ever used this type of attachment. I've done the math and, in addition to raising the efficiency a little on the weapon it is attached to, it will save me 0.54 PEC of the 6.75 PED I paid in markup on the ArMatrix LR-20 (L), so why not.

What I learned: I didn't want to use an ArMatrix gun as they have quite a bit of markup but in the end, this 5 hour hunting run only cost me about 10 PED in markup which is nothing really. More than half the decay was on the unlimited amps so that helps a lot. I've also realized that using an Extender is well worth it, not only to save on markup costs but also to raise the efficiency on the weapon as well. Also I'm thinking level 20 guns might be a bit weak for the higher maturities so I'm glad I looted the LLP 25 as I think it will be perfect for the next hunting run I do on these guys.
 
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LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS:

Started analyzing the numbers and the first thing that jumped out at me is just how insignificant the defensive costs really are. Just to put things into perspective, here's how it compares to the rest of the costs on the above hunts:

1. Allo/Esto hunt had 11.85 armor/plate decay vs 1345 PED total hunt costs = less than 0.9%
2. Drone hunt had 6.16 armor/plate decay vs 628.50 total costs = less than 1%
3. Foul hunt had 3.38 armor decay vs 330 total costs = 1%

I'm looking at this now and thinking how that fits into the big picture and can't help but think, wow, all this obsession about saving on markup when really, at the end of the day, the difference it's going to make is really minuscule. Let's take a real example:

Let's imagine for a second that instead of using Phantom+6B I had used Aurora (L) + 6B. Aurora (L) pieces usually cost around 105% in mu on the auction. Let's run the numbers again and see what difference that 5% in markup would have made:

1. On the Phantom+6B armor setup, it should be fair to assume that the armor received approximately 68% of the decay and the plates would get the remaining 32% (because 6B provides 17 points and Phantom provides 36 points against Allo/Esto, which is Impact/Electric. 36/53=68%, other 32% is 6B plates).
2. Phantom+6B had decayed 11.85
3. Armor portion of that decay is 11.85*0.68=8.06 PED
4. Remaining 3.79 was the decay on the 6B plates which will remain unchanged
--
Now we need to take into consideration 2 main differences which will impact our new decay costs for the Aurora (L):
1. Aurora (L) armor has a markup of about 105%
2. Aurora (L) has 10,300 more points of Durability than Phantom does, which will result in protection cost savings of 8%, for the same damage absorbed.
3. 8.06/1.08= 7.46 is the new armor decay
4. 7.46 factors into loot calculations and is returned at ~95% the same as Phantom
5. Markup portion on 7.46 is 7.46*0.05=0.37 PED, that is not returned in loot

Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 324.60 PED (+10.50 in markup paid)
Armor/FAP decay: 11.85 PEDs (Phantom + 6B)
Total ammo spent: 998 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 1344.95 PED

Becomes:
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 324.60 PED (+10.50 in markup paid)
Armor/FAP decay: 11.25 PEDs (+0.37 in mu for Aurora (L))
Total ammo spent: 998 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 1344.72 PED

Items TT value (~markup value): 224.13 PED (+12.50 in markup value)
Stackables: 1311.43 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 1548 or 115%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 58.77% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: +40 PED/hour

Becomes:
Items TT value (~markup value): 224.13 PED (+12.50 in markup value)
Stackables: 1310.86 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 1547.49 or 115%

Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 58.77% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: +40 PED/hour

The difference on the returns = -0.57 PED
On a hunting run where the returns are almost 1550 PEDs, such a small amount does not affect the Net return %, not even a tenth of a percent, so what's the big fuss?

THE BIG PICTURE:
If I did use Aurora (L) instead of Phantom, I would pay approximately 19.5 PED in markup for a 391 PED full tt set (but I'd save 1.50 PED due to higher Durability, see *Note1 below). This armor set would last me at least 250 hours, which translates to an actual cost of 8 PEC of markup per hour of hunting.

So in other words, in order to save myself 8 PEC/hour of hunting (which is less than a penny btw), I'm going to lock in almost $200 usd on a Phantom set? Is that really sensible?

Anyways I have the Unlimited armor so I'm going to use it, but if you don't have it, I don't think it's worth worrying about too much...

But what that also tells me is that Evade/Dodge skills are not as important as they used to be in the past (before loot 2.0), same goes with Health. Looter professions take rank at the top now. Additionally, all of these fancy healing tools that cost 4k PED or more, that heal you for > 25 points/pec, doesn't really matter too much anymore when you look at this, because 95% of what you spend on healing is returned in the loot of the mob and the amounts are so minuscule that the actual savings are really negligible, maybe a few pec in a hunt (see *Note2 below), so is it really worth tying up $400 into an Adj Resto chip or Modified or FEN Edition FAP? I don't know... Especially when you consider that you need to stop shooting to heal yourself, which is not the case with Armor.

--
*Note1: Limited armor always has about 10k more points of durability which means that it costs less per point of protection, about 8% less. So what that means is that I actually get 422.28 PED worth of unlimited armor protection for the cost of 391 PED using a limited armor (391*1.08=422.28). That 31.28 PED that I would have spent for protection using unlimited armor would have been returned in loot at approximately 95%, so 29.71 would have been returned, meaning a loss of 1.56 PED.

*Note2: This will vary greatly on your hunting style, if you rely mostly on healing instead of armor protection, than obviously it could add up to more important savings, but I suspect these would still be small, but we'll only know for sure if/when someone actually runs the numbers. If anyone is willing to lend me theirs, I'll use it for one of my hunting runs and figure out the math on it.
 
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Creature #1: Allophyl (L14-L18)
Creature #2: Estophyl (L20-L23)
Location: Livas Heights
My Animal Looter level: 20.45
My Evade level: 20.83
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): ArMatrix LR-20 (L) + A105 Hyper/LR1+B4/B8/ExtendP15 (66.2%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Isis LLP 25 (L) + A103/LR1/Bullseye8/ExtendP10 (~63%)
Weapon #3 (efficiency): GeoTrek H21 Scrof (L) + A103/LR1/Bullseye8/ExtendP10 (64.1%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 325.34 PED (+5.70 markup)
Armor/FAP decay: 12.70 PED (Phantom + 6B)
Total ammo spent: 1088 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 1431.74 PED

Hunting run duration: ~ 4.5 hours
Globals/HoFs: 165, 105, 56, 79 & 92
Items looted: Isis LLC 13 (L) and Regen 4 (L)
Items TT value (~markup value): 71.57 (+7.32 markup)
Stackables: 1532.07 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 1611 PED or 112.5%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 71.4% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: +40 PED/hour

index.php

Another great run on the Allo/Estos at Livas Heights. I'm now sitting at 1508/5000, which means I killed 565 in total, or roughly 125 per hour which is a little faster then before, probably because of the LLP 25 which has 8 more dps than the H21 Scrof.

Acquisitions: Won an auction for an Extender P15 (L) for 101.33%

Hunting style: same as before, trying to use the ArMatrix as a tagger mostly and the handguns for doing most of the damage to save on markup fees. I also switched the A105 Hypercharged onto the ArMatrix rifle because I thought it made more sense that way; deal more damage to the mob as it's on it's way to me, then finish it off with the handgun, less overkill that way.

Defense: still no fapping. Phantom + 6B is perfect. I took off 2 plates to try and get more damage and take advantage of free health regeneration and save on armor decay a little more. My defense costs were less than 0.9% of the total costs so I'm happy with that.

Notable: The first 4 globals were all within the first 75 minutes of this run. I could have ended it there at well over 300% returns. Loot really dried up for me after that, I thought about ending it or switching mobs (Feffoids seemed to be paying out well), but I had already decided to do a 1100 PED ammo run on these guys, so all I could do was hope that loot would start to get good again. It never did.

What I learned: Loot quality took a dive on this one, I got 12% more shrap than on the previous run. I didn't get any Aurora (L) armor pieces, I think 3 of the globals were just pure shrap... I'm not really sure if there's any particular reason for this, the only difference in my setup was the LLP 25 (L) vs the H21 Scrof (L), which is only 1% less efficiency, there's no way that 1% less efficiency can result in 12% more shrap...? Maybe the previous run was just exceptional somehow.

Achievements: level 40 Laser Sniper (Hit) - Unlocked Coolness :cool: and also reached level 21 Evader.
 
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Creature #1: Allophyl (L14-L18)
Creature #2: Estophyl (L20-L23)
Location: Livas Heights
My Animal Looter level: 20.74
My Evade level: 21.03
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): ArMatrix LR-35 (L) + A105 Hyper/LR1/B8/ExtendP15 (66.4%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): GeoTrek H21 Scrof (L) + A103/LR1+B8/B4/ExtendP10 (63.8%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 276.88 PED (+9.84 markup)
Armor/FAP decay: 10.35 PED (Phantom + 4C)
Total ammo spent: 1088 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 1385.07 PED

Hunting run duration: ~ 4.5 hours
Globals/HoFs: none
Items looted: Kinetic 4 (L)
Items TT value (~markup value): 23.38 (+0 markup)
Stackables: 1113.06 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 1159.82 PED or 83.8%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 68.1% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: -50 PED/hour

--
Really mediocre run. All I can ask myself is "Did I have $5 worth of fun per hour?" Anyway, I'm at 2,028/5k now, closing in on the halfway mark.

Acquisitions: ArMatrix LR-35 (L) for ~114%

Hunting style: I'm mostly using the LR-35 now, and only use the H21 Scrof to finish off the L14 Allos to save a bit on overkill.

Defense: Since I'm using a bigger gun, I'm getting hit by the mob a lot less, so the Phantom with 4C plates is plenty and no fapping was required throughout the hunt. My defensive costs are down too, but that doesn't make much of a difference (2.50 ped less in armor decay, on a 1400 ped hunt really makes no difference at all).

Notable: I got the MF Chip near the end of the hunt, and got a couple of near globals, I thought maybe loot was going to start getting better. Then at the very end (second last mob), I got a 77% skill boost for 15 minutes. So what was planned to be a 1k ped run became a 1.1k run. MindArk sure knows how to keep us shooting.

What I learned: I'm not going to start complaining yet, I had a couple of really nice runs on these guys before and all this shows is that if it's possible to make 200 ped on a hunt, it's also possible to lose 200 ped on one. I thought about cutting it short several times, and I probably should have, but this hunting log would not be useful at all if it didn't also show what the runs look like when loot is bad. I was thinking to myself, last run I had 4 globals in the first 75 minutes, then the next 3 hours or so was just terrible, so maybe this time, the first 3 hours will be bad and then the last hour will be really good. Sadly, that's not how it went. My takeaway from this one is that if the loot is really bad for the first hour, it could be bad for the next 3 or 4 hours.

Achievements: level 12 Robot Looter
 
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LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS:

Studying what all the best Codex rewards are, to increase my loot returns.

This post shows all of the currently available Codex rewards:

Reserved for collating stuff...

Skill selections
These seems to be the "standard" ones - please report if you find any variations


Skill set 1 (Stages 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22)
Aim, Anatomy, Athletics, BLP Weaponry Technology, Combat Reflexes, Dexterity, Handgun, Heavy Melee Weapons, Laser Weaponry Technology, Light Melee Weapons, Longblades, Power Fist, Rifle, Shortblades, Weapons Handling

Skill set 2 (Stages 3, 4, 8, 9, 13, 14, 18, 19, 23, 24)
Clubs, Courage, Cryogenics, Diagnosis, Electrokinesis, Inflict Melee Damage, Inflict Ranged Damage, Melee Combat, Perception, Plasma Weaponry Technology, Pyrokinesis

Skill set 3 (Stages 5, 10, 15, 20, 25)
Alertness, Bioregenesis, Bravado, Concentration, Dodge, Evade, First Aid, Telepathy, Translocation, Vehicle Repairing

Skill set 4 (Stages 5, 15, 25 on some mobs)
Analysis, Animal Lore, Biology, Botany, Computer, Explosive Weaponry Technology, Heavy Weapons, Support Weapon Systems, Zoology

Google sheet with collated data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18qzG_7AaCoq9Yudo3YVbmT2fkOVjiBPn8TXvpQ5CZGE/edit?usp=sharing

All-stages calculator created by LavaSparks: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/128XGIG5eMPnTl0tF5R1fl6vYqQ6q_SeH5c1uAakHAlI/edit?usp=sharing

Since the Looter professions will increase loot returns up to 7%, at level 100 (according to testing done), then they are the most valuable skills to have and increase. Looking at what each one of the options above actually contribute to, I have determined that the best options available in each set are as follows:

Set 1: Anatomy (contributes 7% to Animal/Mutant Looter skills)
Set 2: Perception (contributes 9% to all Looter skills)
Set 3: Alertness (contributes 6% to all Looter skills, 5% Evade/Dodge)
Set 4: Analysis (contributes 5% to all Looter skills)
 
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..
Globals/HoFs: 10.44
Item looted - value: Isis BL300 (L) - 8.59 PED @ 110% = 9.45

I don't think you can count your returns incl mu this way.
it should be: 8.59 PED @ 110% = 9.45 - 0.60 (auction fee) = 8.85
So actual MU is 0.26 and not 0.86.

I've been doing the merp bronze and most have looted a hundred guns already. Even though they have around 110% MU (on the auction graph), that's not what you get for them.
Most listed items dont even sell. And 110% MU on an item below 10 ped becomes pretty much nothing.

Listing them on auction will cost you MU instead of giving it. So basically they're tt food.
 
I don't think you can count your returns incl mu this way.
it should be: 8.59 PED @ 110% = 9.45 - 0.60 (auction fee) = 8.85
So actual MU is 0.26 and not 0.86.

I've been doing the merp bronze and most have looted a hundred guns already. Even though they have around 110% MU (on the auction graph), that's not what you get for them.
Most listed items dont even sell. And 110% MU on an item below 10 ped becomes pretty much nothing.

Listing them on auction will cost you MU instead of giving it. So basically they're tt food.

Don't forget that items can only listed on auction at whole PEDs. You can list it at 9 PED (104.8%) and end up getting only 8.5 PED out of it after the 0.5 PED auction fee, which is worse than TT'ing it. You can also list it at 10 PED (116.4%) which is already way above average MU so you need some luck to sell it (or lose the auction fee if you don't). Alternatively you can 1) try to use/decay it until you can place it on auction at the correct MU 2) spam trading channels 24/7 and hope that someone will buy it at 110% 3) use it by yourself 4) TT it.

In essence these loots are worse than shrapnel because you will most likely end up TT'ing them at 100% MU.
 
I don't think you can count your returns incl mu this way.
it should be: 8.59 PED @ 110% = 9.45 - 0.60 (auction fee) = 8.85
So actual MU is 0.26 and not 0.86.

I've been doing the merp bronze and most have looted a hundred guns already. Even though they have around 110% MU (on the auction graph), that's not what you get for them.
Most listed items dont even sell. And 110% MU on an item below 10 ped becomes pretty much nothing.

Listing them on auction will cost you MU instead of giving it. So basically they're tt food.

I'm glad you brought this up, I've been meaning to expand on this a little because there are many different ways you can look at this.

I'm looting a lot of low tt items like this BL300 for example, and obviously, it would cost me 50 PEC to list it, and so if I list it for tt+1 ped on the auction, I'm not even getting 50 PEC profit, which isn't really 110%, I get it.

However the auction is not the only way to sell something in Entropia. You can spam #calytrade, do a private trade, or you can put it up for sale in a shopkeeper or a shop/booth that you own. So to default to what's possible only through the auction is putting an artificial limit on something where it actually does not exist.

Also, I'd like to invite you to consider this differently. Rather than thinking only about how much profit you can get out of an item, why not look at it in terms of what markup you didn't have to pay for an item? For example, I've looted several Kinetic Nanochip 4 (L) during my hunts on the Allo/Estos, which are perfect for my Mindforce skilling and I do plan on using them. But were I to acquire these from the auction or from other players, I certainly would have to pay markup on them. So you can look at it also in terms of what markup you didn't have to pay.

If an item is of absolutely no use to you, and it's an item that there's no demand for and just isn't worth trying to sell to someone else, then that's another story, I generally do not consider the markup value on these in this hunting log.

And it should be understood that my initial reasoning for including the MU of items looted was so that I could at a glance compare how much markup was in the loot, versus how much markup I paid on the decay of the weapons used in the hunt. This will help me see if I am spending too much on markup or if it balances out (markup into the mob vs. markup out of the mob).

Legends
 
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Creature #1: Allophyl (L14-L18)
Creature #2: Estophyl (L20-L23)
Location: Livas Heights
My Animal Looter level: 21.48
My Evade level: 21.23
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): ArMatrix LR-35 (L) + A105 Hyper/LR1/B8/ExtendP15 (66.4%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): GeoTrek H21 Scrof (L) + A103/LR1+B8/B4/ExtendP10 (63.8%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 520.78 PED (+18.84 markup)
Armor/FAP decay: 18.18 PED (Phantom + 4C)
Total ammo spent: 2180 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 2737.80 PED

Hunting run duration: ~ 7.5 hours
Globals/HoFs: 50, 50, 76, 55, 51, 56 & 56
Items looted: Aurora Thighs (M,L), Kinetic Nano 4 (L) and Neopsion 10-A (L)
Items TT value (~markup value): 74.65 (+2.69 markup)
Stackables: 2549.35 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 2626.69 PED or 95.9%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 64% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: -15 PED/hour

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I'm sitting at 3096/5k now, on this Iron mission, I was at 2028 when I started, which means I killed 1068 Allo/Estos in 7.5 hours, or 142/hour, which is my fastest so far (getting a bit impatient). Returns are getting better but there are definitely some really dry periods in between globals where every mob is just 1-2 ped loss...

Acquisitions: ArMatrix LR-35 (L) for ~113%

Hunting style: I'm mostly using the LR-35 now, and only use the H21 Scrof to finish off the L14 Allos sometimes to save a bit on overkill.

Defense: Same as previous, Phantom with 4C plates is plenty and no fapping required. If it wasn't for the occasional hits from the Old I'd probably take the plates off and save a bit more, but I'm worried I'll just end up having to FAP sometimes, which would end up costing more.

Notable: Some other hunter came and just plowed right on through all the mobs, must've been quite a bit of overkill on his weapon.

What I learned: I'm getting a bit impatient with this and not having as much fun as I did when I started out. I have to somehow take a step back and make this interesting again or else this is just going to feel like work.

Achievements: level 21 Animal Looter, level 13 Mutant Looter. Also took first place in Entropia Life for Weekly Estophyl Globals. I'll probably take first in Monthly before I'm done with this Iron mission.

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Achievements:Also took first place in Entropia Life for Weekly Estophyl Globals. I'll probably take first in Monthly before I'm done with this Iron mission.

estophyl_globals.jpg

Your Mother In Law isn't far behind though....


Maybe you need a laugh, maybe you dont. Your call. :)
 
Creature: Feffoid (L17-L19)
Location: Fort Fury
My Mutant Looter level: 13.25
My Evade level: 21.27
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): ArMatrix LR-35 (L) + A103/LR1/B8/ExtendP15 (67.3%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Isis Project Zero-Two (L) + Bull Tac30/LR1+B8/B4 (56.3%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 163.07 PED (+5.78 markup)
Armor/FAP decay: 4.89 PED (Phantom + 5D)
Total ammo spent: 791 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 964.83 PED

Hunting run duration: ~ 2 hours
Globals/HoFs: 74 and 106
Items looted: none
Items TT value (~markup value): N/A
Stackables: 1040.47 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 1040.47 PED or 107.8%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 71% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: +38 PED/hour

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Just had to go hunt something else for a while after killing almost 3k Allo/Esto. The Feffoids had been taunting me for a while, kept seeing them pop up in global chat the last few days so decided to go hunt them for a couple of hours. Was short and sweet, nice to have a positive run for a change.

Acquisitions: Bull Tac30 (L) for ~104%

Hunting style: Just your typical Eco hunting, trying to squeeze out as much as possible while spending as little as possible.

Defense: Phantom + 5D for these guys. It's more than I need but that's fine, defensive costs only accounted for 0.5% of total hunt costs, can't argue with that.

Notable: no items in the loot, some Surface Hardener Components but I'll have to stockpile those until I have enough where it's worth putting on the auction house.

What I learned: My Mutant Looter went up quite a bit. When I was hunting the Allo/Esto, I would get around 0.32 Skinning experience points, but when hunting these Feffoids, I'm getting at least 0.61 Scourging but most of the time 1.01. That would be due to the larger disparity between my level and the mob's level. Something I'll have to consider if I want to increase my Looter skills faster.

Achievements: I took Longblades after finishing Stage 6 on Feffoids, my Swordsman (Hit) went up 3.5 levels :)
 
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Tabulated Results
MobAvgEff%ShrapDef%MU-inPED-inLoot-outTT%MU-outNet AmtNet-%
Berycled59.5%--3%0.56508546107.5%5+43108.5%
Foul59%57.4%1%0327.5029088.5%1.00-36.5088.8%
Drones59.5%77.4%1%1.00623.550681%1.75-11581.5%
Allo/Esto65.2%58.8%0.9%10.5013401536114.6%12.50+208115.5%
Allo/Esto64.4%71.4%0.9%5.7014321604112%7.32+179112.5%
Allo/Esto65.1%68%0.74%9.841385116083.8%0-22583.8%
Allo/Esto65.1%64%0.66%18.842738262495.8%2.70-11195.9%
Feffoid61.8%71%0.5%5.789651040107.8%0+75.5107.8%

* some of the numbers in this table have been rounded to conserve space
** the markup values shown here are only on the items looted, i.e. armor parts, guns, chips, ...

17 February 2020 Edit:

I have gone back through each of these hunts and adjusted for shrapnel conversion rates. The way in which I have chosen to account for the extra 1% in Universal Ammo is different then most probably, rather then adding it to my Net Returns, I just deduct it from my expenses on the next run, which effectively just makes the extra 1% disappear. The reason I'm doing it this way is because I think that's what makes the most sense, since you have to convert the shrap to get that extra 1%, and the Universal Ammo is untradeable so there is no other choice but to use it in order to get the extra 1%. So if for example, the stack of Universal Ammo I started with was 1010 PED, I will just show 1000 PED spent on ammunition instead, since there is an extra 10 PED of ammo in there that was never accounted for anywhere and that didn't come from my PED card.

TOTALs:

Hours of hunting: ~33.5 hours

Amount of PEDs cycled: 9,319 PEDs
Spent on markup: 52.22 PEDs

TT value of loot: 9,306 PEDs
TT value Returned: 99.86%

Markup on items looted: 30.27 PEDs
Net Returns w/markup: +18 PEDs
Net Returns: 100.2%

Profit/Cost per hour: +0.50 PED/hour
 
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Creature #1: Allophyl (L14-L18)
Creature #2: Estophyl (L20-L23)
Location: Livas Heights
My Animal Looter level: 21.64
My Evade level: 21.27
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): ArMatrix LR-35 (L) + A103/LR1/B8/ExtendP15 (67.3%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Isis Project Zero-Two (L) + Bull Tac30/LR1+B8/B4 (56.3%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 337.34 PED (+12.27 markup)
Armor/FAP decay: 18.78 PED (Phantom + 4C)
Total ammo spent: 1750.61 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 2119 PED

Hunting run duration: ~ 6 hours
Globals/HoFs: 71 and 59
Items looted: Phasing Essence MF01
Items TT value (~markup value): 1.00 (+3 markup)
Stackables: 2095.15 PED (incl. 4.60 Focus Lens & 5.40 Surface Hardener components)
Net returns (w/mu): 2099.15 PED or 99%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 66.6% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: -4 PED/hour

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At 3927/5k now after this run. 831 killed in 6 hours, that's about 139/hour. Slowed it down a little. Loot was looking pretty grim and I was certain I would see a huge loss once I stopped and figured out the results. I was really amazed and had to check my math twice to make sure I didn't make any mistakes cause I only had 2 globals during this run, and they weren't big. But I know for a fact I had nothing in my 'Materials' tab when I started so the numbers are indeed correct. I'm being optimistic here thinking I can get 10 PED for the MF01, I might only get 5 PED for it, but in the larger scheme of things, 5 PED less return on a 2.1k PED hunting run doesn't really make much of a difference anyway.

Acquisitions: ArMatrix LR-35 (L) for ~113%, Bull Tac30 (L) for ~104%

Hunting style: Eco and slow, to mitigate volatility. Using the handgun on L14/16 Allos only.

Defense: Relying solely on armor, no fapping.

Notable: Holy cow, got a 300% skill boost, was the first time I ever got one of those. Was beginning to think they were a myth. I took Electrokinesis after completing stage 8 Estophyl and went up 3 levels in Electro Kinetic (Hit).

What I learned: I'm going a completely different direction now with the Codex Rewards and I'm going to create a separate post about this soon to explain my reasoning for the change.

Achievements: level 41 Laser Sniper (Hit), level 40 Ranged Laser (Dmg) and level 35 BLP Pistoleer (Hit).

They really DO exist!!

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Creature: Kerberos (L2-L6)
Location: Boreas
My Animal Looter level: 21.96
My Evade level: 21.41
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): Corrosive Nano 2 (L) + Kinetic 1 (L) - (~62%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Electric Nano 4 (L) + Kinetic 1 (L) - (60.3%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 28.57 PED (+1.63 markup)
Armor/FAP decay: 6.90 PED (Phantom)
Total ammo spent: 580.77 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 617.87 PED

Hunting run duration: ~ 5.5 hours
Globals/HoFs: 10, 17 and 134
Items looted: Combustive Nano 4 (L)
Items TT value (~markup value): 37 PED (+1.85 markup)
Stackables: 601.21 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 640.06 PED or 103.6%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 59% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: +4 PED/hour

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Thank god for that 134 Global towards the later part of the run, otherwise this would have been a pretty bad run.

Acquisitions: Neopsion Kinetic Amplifier 1 (L) x3 for 120%

Hunting style: Skilling. Was using the Corrosive Nano 1 on the youngs only.

Defense: Wearing only 5 parts of armor so as to take advantage of free health regen. No fapping required.

Notable: My whole purpose for this run was to skill up Mindforce and I think it was well worth it since I've come up more then 2 full levels on the Electro Kinetic Hit and Damage professions.

What I learned: the Electric Nano 4 is too strong for the youngs and too weak for the Dominants & Alphas, I'll try to find a stronger Mindforce chip to use, or just use a gun.

Achievements: level 12 Electro Kinetic (Hit), level 21 Electro Kinetic (Dmg) and level 22 Animal Looter.

I'm really glad I took Electrokinesis skills as a Codex Reward, otherwise in order to skill up Mindforce, I would have had to go all the way back to punies, and it would have taken several days just to get to where I am now.
 
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Creature #1: Allophyl (L14-L18)
Creature #2: Estophyl (L20-L23)
Location: Livas Heights
My Animal Looter level: 22.07
My Evade level: 21.43
Rings: Athenic (L) and Aeglic (L)
Weapon #1 (efficiency): ArMatrix LR-35 (L) + A103/LR1/B8/ExtendP15 (67.3%)
Weapon #2 (efficiency): Isis Project Zero-Two (L) + Bull Tac30/LR1+B8/B4 (56.3%)
Weapon #3 (efficiency): Isis LBC 25 (L) + Bull Tac30/LR1/B8 (57.5%)
Weapons decay (incl. attachments): 224 PED (+8.12 markup)
Armor/FAP decay: 12.44 PED (Phantom + 4C)
Total ammo spent: 1187.13 PED
Total spent on hunt (w/mu): 1431.69 PED

Hunting run duration: ~ 4:15 hours
Globals/HoFs: none :(
Items looted: none :(
Items TT value (~markup value): N/A
Stackables: 1244.16 PED
Net returns (w/mu): 1244.16 PED or 86.9%
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel: 68% of loot tt was shrapnel
Profit/Cost per hour: -44 PED/hour

--
Mediocre run... I was actually looking forward to today, Saturday, try my luck on the Allo/Estos and see if maybe with all the activity in game I could have the best run yet. So much for that theory, instead I got no globals whatsoever, pretty sure that's a first for me on 4+ hour runs on this mob.

Acquisitions: Isis LBC 25 (L) for ~104%

Hunting style: Eco and slow, to mitigate volatility. Using the handgun on L14/16 Allos only.

Defense: Relying solely on armor, no fapping.

Notable: Some other guy came, hunted around me for about an hour, got a global and left. I kept going for another 2 hours or so and still didn't get one lol. Weird how these things go sometimes.

What I learned:

Achievements:
level 38 BLP Sniper (Hit).

I'm at 4502/5k now, the next run I do on these will be the last for now. This is what the options are for the reward:

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