Truckin'

Well, this time the relapse wasn't exploration...

In what appears to be my destiny of trying everything Eve has to offer, I've been active with one of my alts who recently completed training for flying a freighter.  He bought an Obelisk with his profits from several months worth of Planetary Interaction in an out-of-the-way low sec pocket and hit the trade lanes.

I have a history of this sort of activity.  Prior to playing Eve I played on a Star Trek mush called Among the Stars - http://www.trekmush.org/.  It's like Eve but without the pretty pictures.  Without any pictures in fact.  It's a text based multi-player game that includes pvp and an economy of sorts.  I used to buy goods from NPCs in one station and haul to to another station where the NPCs were offering to buy the goods for a higher price.  I remember some of the routes being very long - like 8 or 10 hours - and I'd get up at 2am (much to the chagrin of my wife...) to unload cargo and grab some new cargo for another run.  All of this was using ascii text - no pictures.

So when my hauler alt finally was able to fly a freighter, I thought I'd give it a try.  And it's worked out pretty well.  I'm enjoying finding contracts to haul - especially since I can load up the freighter and send it off on autopilot while I'm doing whatever else I'm doing.

From these two weeks of hauling cargo I've learn some things about contracts and hauling that might help others when they want to move things around the Eve universe.  I know that I was always confused about what I could have hauled and how much to pay them...

First off, when you set up your courier contract (it's an option on the contracting screen) be sure to move things in reasonable units.  860,000 m3 and 1 Billion ISK in collateral are the magic numbers - keep your cargo under these two limits (one because of the size of most freighters and the other because of the danger of freighters carrying valuable cargo getting ganked).  If you have to, break up your cargo so that it fits these two limits.  Don't underestimate the value of your cargo and set a lower collateral - the hauler can see exactly what he's hauling and you're tempting fate if you have 2 billion in implants insured for just 1 billion isk...

And to answer one of the most often asked questions, you can have anything hauled - including assembled and rigged ships - just as long as the cargo fits the size limit.  I've had jobs hauling orcas, battleships, piles of battlecruisers, full loads of minerals, piles of miscellaneous loot, etc.

If you are within the two limits (860k m3 and 1B isk) then you need to decide how much to pay for the hauling.  Again there are a couple magic numbers.  500k isk per jump and 1m isk per jump.  For instance, if you want to haul something from Jita to Amo (the high sec system closest to my home in Auner) then it's a trip of 21 jumps.  A contact with a 10 or 11 million isk reward for the hauler - about 500k per jump - will get picked up relatively quickly - probably within an hour.  A contract with a 3 or 4 million isk reward - 150k or 200k per jump - will sit a while, maybe even for a day or two.  And a contract paying a reward of 20 or 21 million isk - a million isk per jump - will probably get picked up in a matter of minutes.

If you want something hauled quickly (remember "quickly" is a relative term when you consider how slowly these freighters go...), consider a million isk per jump.  If you want it done today, then 500k per jump will probably work.  And if you don't care when it arrives - throw out a smaller number.  You might want to be on the high side of these numbers if you expect to have the cargo hauled to some out of the way location in Khanid or Aridia - the person hauling the cargo won't have any good options for a return load.  On the other hand, if you are sending something from one trade hub to another (or from near one trade hub to near another trade hub) - then you might want to save some money and go with a lower reward because the hauler will probably be able to get a contract for a return trip and will take yours with that in mind.

The size and value of your cargo doesn't really come into the equation (at least for me).  Personally, I consider any contract that's under 860,000 m3 and with collateral of 800 million or less (I'm still a bit leery of ganking and don't want to tempt fate hauling a glittering cargohold full of shiny loot).

Those numbers are only valid for high sec to high sec trips.  They do not cover trips to high sec islands surrounded by low sec!

For low sec, the number of jumps doesn't matter quite as much.  Then it's a question of cargo size and the number of low sec jumps required.  Look at some of the other orders for low sec (including to high sec stations located in pockets surrounded by low sec) and get a feel for how much you need to offer.  A round number like 20 million or 30 million or 40 million might be worth trying.  The hauler will be using a blockade runner (3,500 m3) or deep space transport (35,000 m3) or jump freighter (320,000 m3) - so it's a totally different economy and there's not afk hauling...  Definitely no afk hauling...

Hopefully that helps un-confuse you about hauling.  I've been amazed at how many people are running cargo around Eve and how quickly jobs will pop up and then disappear as someone accepts them.

And I promise that I'll be back to Pirate Jack Dancer's mayhem soon...