My work at increasing my faction with Ishukone Corporation has had me flying all over empire space, seeking out the highest level, best quality agents that will work with me.
And so it came to pass that I ended up many jumps from home in Amarr space to work with a specific agent.
One of the first things I noticed about Amarr space was that it seemed to be much more sparsely populated. I flew through several low sec systems where nobody was home but me and the NPCs.
Now, in an MMO, low population does not seem like a desirable situation. That is, unless you’re a lone… well… I was going to say “wolf,” but I’ve written about my combat record here… lone sheep? A veritable rogue merino?
Anyway, if you are more the explorer type, like myself, then being in a thinly populated area feels more natural.
Then I started exploring the market.
Opportunities abound!
The regional market around Amarr is also not very well attended, leading to wide variations in price, scarcity of supply, and low competition. Just the sort of thing a budding manufacturer wants to see!
And unlike the market in the thick of Caldari space, buy orders for many of my standard items of trade are nonexistent. I am going to have to go invest in the wholesale skill to up the number of open buy and sell orders I can have.
The situation reminds me of the difference between the horde and alliance markets on my server in World of Warcraft. The alliance side is heavily used and very competitive. Supply is high, margins are thin, and there is always somebody out there willing to undercut your price.
But on the horde side, with a much smaller population, the market is not so fierce. I have made more money on the market with my main horde characters than any three other characters of mine.
And I see something of the same market conditions in Amarr space.
Still, that is not enough to make me pack up and move everything 25 jumps. No, there was one more thing.
(cue Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” as performed in “A Clockwork Orange”)
Kernite!
Luminous! Fiery! Regular!
I flew through system after system and investigated asteroid field after asteroid field, and I found an abundance of sweet, sweet kernite.
That was enough to get me to start hauling stuff those 25 jumps to set up a new base of operation.
Fortunately, a Hulk, when broken down, fits in a Badger with cargohold expanders, so I did not have to fly the barge itself 25 jumps.
I have not left Caldari space. The pricing differentials and the opportunities for arbitrage will keep me commuting between Amarr and Caldari space.
But my missions, my morning mining runs, my production, those are all going to go on in a new location.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 