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So, I originally made “2nd Anomaly From the Left” back when there weren’t very many bloggers out. Sure there were the staples like Kirith Kodachi (who probably can be considered one of the grandfathers of both Eve Blogging and Eve Podcasting), but there were simply just a few blogs at all to be seen. Some of the blogs just showed their latest ship fits with a short explanation of “they got X kills”, and as such it must be an awesome fit.
Which seemed rather disingenuous at the time because the “X” of kills seemed to be either a.) Their fleet PVP fits going against solo PVE fits, b.) Their fleet PVP fits going against miners, or c.) Their solo PVP fits going against noobie ships. Not really a good comparison. At the time the only other places to find ship fits were “Battleclinic”, which was ripe with old and “wishful thinking” fits and the Eve Online forums which required weeding out a few trolls here and there.
2nd Anomaly from the Left was set up with the fits I used and, more distinctively at the time, the scenario in which they were used. The reason was that there are some fits that in some situations were great, but in other situations were crap and those situations had to explained so that the reader didn’t get the wrong idea about how successful or unsuccessful a particular fit is.
You’ll of course notice that I don’t do that much any more for two simple, and good, reasons: The first is that there are more and better ship fitting blogs out there. Their writers PVP more than I do and are in organizations that PVP more than I have time for. It sucks because I liked doing those informative posts, but when it comes down to “put up or shut up”, it is decidedly time to shut up and let the more expert folks be experts.
The second reason is that I don’t have time to PVP as much as I used to. I took on the job of Industrial Director for Wraithguard. and my time has been divided up mainly between shipping goods to our home station in LJ-YSW out in Curse, building up an industrial foundation for myself and all my two characters (on the same accout), exploring wormholes and local space for data, relic, covert, and now sleeper sites, and putting together various fits on the local market for our alliance. All this stuff I do so that our alliance has more ability to refit and return to the fight.
And that takes lots and lots and lots of time. I set up my first POS a month ago, and am looking to expand it already. I’ve spend all my training time on Trade skills (well, except for the Confessor train anyways). I am trying to manage BPO research, ship construction, module construction, mineral buy and sell orders, Tech 2 buy and sell orders. Wrote my own Excel spreadsheet and calculations to keep track of costs along with levels of profitability. And still it will be another month or so before the foundation industry system I am building will actually have some real return for my corporation and alliance.
So My Friends Are My Enemy and My Enemy Are My Friends
As a PVP player, it is real easy to get into the mindset that your enemy is always your enemy. You shoot them, you deny them fun, you deny them resources, you harass their industrial capabilities, crush their POSes, etc. As a PVP player you think you are helping your industry guys because you are making your space safe for them to operate.
As an industry player, I now realize that its not exactly true.. and in fact, wiping out an enemy might be the worst thing that could happen to your industrial abilities. And the problems that might result are dependent entirely on a particular industrialist. For example, an industrialist who makes their ISK from PI products might want to have enemy POCOs destroyed because they charge too high of tax. On the flip side, an industrialist who builds locally might NOT want the enemy driven out because they might be the ones actually selling him necessary minerals to his buy orders.
The other thing that happens, and I really see it a lot now that I am on the other side of this fence is the lack of emotional understanding of profit. As a PVP player, I remember getting mad at the local indy guys because the products on the market were so much more expensive than in Jita. Granted, some of them were WAY over priced and at times I did clearly see war profiteering. But now that I am doing industry.. I understand why it is necessary to put prices higher than Jita.
The first reason is that the returns are longer. Much, much longer. When you shoot a ship in PVE or in a lot of other isk making tasks in the game, the reward is near instant. And its ALL profit. When I put things up on market, I get only a sliver of the sale price as profit, as I had to buy the minerals or buy the item outright at a trade hub. That profit covers the time I put into the whole industry thing.. and I might see it in an hour, or in three months.. or never.
The second reason is that I live in a competitive market area.. so I have to increase the price of some goods that I know there are fewer of, in order to cover the costs of other items that I put on the market because I know we use them and we need them.. but the situation is such that I have to sell them at a loss.
The third reason is that most of my isk is tied up into the market, and any profit I get goes back into getting more things for the market or the alliance. Essentially a portion of the profit I rightfully earn goes back to the alliance or corp in the form of free ships or modules for either newer players or players down on their luck. I consider it a fair form of taxation because Eve really needs to have a way where industrialists can be tracked or be monitored and have some of that profit intercepted before it goes to market. Personally I’d like to see the broker costs be tied to the corporation rather than to the station.
Anyways, it is real hard to blog about the stuff you are doing when you barely are sure what you are doing is right. So far the pace has been positive and it hasn’t been intrusive nor disruptive. Special orders and supplies are being regularly delivered and built, and even a barely profitable Tech 2 operation is in the works.
We’ll see how it unfolds.
2nd Anomaly From the Left 
Good luck with the T2 stuff. I would be curious to learn more about how you’re handling it, and what range of stuff you’re offering. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of T3s or how the market in your location is for those …
I hope you didn’t create your T2 spreadsheet from scratch. I still have my old one that I gladly would’ve passed to you to modify and adapt as needed, so you didn’t have to. And we’ve talked often enough in the past that you might’ve remembered I have the experience … 😉
It is a very good and a very valid experience that the more marketplace work you do, the more capital gets tied up in it. Your actual value is something that can only be expressed on paper, really. Even when considering tangibles like inventory/stock.
One thing I might’ve noted in regard to your pricing and the need for higher prices out in null is that at least some of the associated costs of marketing stuff out there are higher.
I’d be happy to have an extended private convo with you on all these things, unfortunately I cannot find your email to do so.
Send an e-mail to me at bu11fr0g@hotmail.com. I couldn’t find your e-mail either.
Done.
So glad I saw this, thank you for writing it! Your reasoning on pricing is clear and concise and needs to be stapled to the foreheads of every narrow-minded PvP-centric player who whines about prices in low- and null-sec.