Entropia Universe is unique, in that there is no easy money here. Every PED (short for Project Entropia Dollar) has a real World value, and thus is not easily attainable. There are, as mentioned in
Part 1 of this guide, certain free methods of making PED. You can either gather Vibrant Sweat from mobs (which is something I'd recommend all new players do, until you've gathered 10k), or stand in line at the "Newb Rig" to get some free oil.
There are also, however, more expensive ways to make PED... In fact,
any of the three main professions can be profitable in the long run! However, keep in mind that, just like in the real World, you can only make money by providing some sort of service. Thanks to the in-game auction system, this service doesn't mean you even have to interact much (or at all) with other players. With that said, here are the main ways to make money in Entropia Universe, from the three professions:
1. Hunting
If you're just starting out in Entropia Universe, you probably aren't going to be willing to bring in the roughly $500 you'll need just to skill up... If, however, money isn't an issue, you'll find that there can eventually be profit from hunting. The trick is to look at Entropia Universe as a casino, where the house takes roughly 10%. See, just like in a casino, the only way to win is to have an advantage-your "edge"-over other players. This is where markup comes in. With hunting at low levels, you won't get hardly anything that has a markup above 110%, and typically what you get has a markup more along the lines of 100.5%. This is due to supply and demand-anyone who wants to can go hunt really low level mobs, and thus there isn't any demand for their loot. So then, how do you "beat the system"? By skilling, skilling, and more skilling. You have to get to a point where you can kill mobs that drop
items frequently, because items are the entire key to hunting. People are willing to pay a lot for guns and armor that they can't easily get themselves, and so by supplying that need in the market, you can eventually turn profit.
2. Mining
Mining is awesome, because you don't need to put a lot in to get a lot out. With hunting, you need to spend an incredibly long time getting to a level that's profitable, but with mining you can easily get to a profitable level. The trick is to find a spot that drops ores (and enmatters if you want to go for those too, though I find those typically don't have a high enough markup to make it worth it) with a markup of at least 112%. You need 110% to cover 'the house', roughly 1% to cover decay, and 1% to be profitable in the (very) long run.
Keep in mind though, that there's a trick to mining which will help you mitigate your losses to 'the house', and increase your profit with markup, and it's dead simple: You have to be in the right place and the right time. This means that you have to find a spot that drops stuff with an average MU of at least 112%, in order to be "in the place" when the right time rolls around.
Once you've found your particular spot (and every good miner has several), you'll notice that it doesn't always drop the same stuff. A place that dropped igni and niks one day, will suddenly drop lyst and copper the next day. Likewise you'll notice that certain times you have an excellent hit rate (you're looking to hit at least once every two to three drops, depending on the claim sizes, when you're mining for ores only, and once
every drop with both ores and enmatters), and sometimes you wont be able to find a claim for miles. I good practice is to get into the habit of not mining whenever you're finding junk (mu below 112%), and to stop when you haven't hit for between 4 to 6 drops (depending on the mu, if available, of the last hit).
There is also an immensely useful tool called, "
Little Big Mining Log." I really can't stress how good this tool is! It keeps track of your hit rate for you automatically, and keeps you from over-lapping your last claim with your drops. It is an absolute
MUST HAVE for any dedicated miner. There's no reason not to, because it's totally free, and also really easy to set up.
3. Crafting
Crafting is right up there with hunting-you need to skill, skill, and skill some more to make it profitable. Most players come into the universe expecting that every-time they try to craft something, they will succeed, but unfortunately that isn't the case. Your "success" rate depends on your skills, and on the quality rate (QR) of the blueprint you're using, unless it's a limited (L) blueprint, in which case QR doesn't matter.
The trick to making crafting profitable is the same as making hunting profitable. You have to find what it is people will pay a lot of mark up few (e.g. hard to craft weapons, mining amps, etc..) and only craft those items. A crafter friend of mine once estimated it would take around the lines of $300 to make crafting profitable, and so while it is cheaper technically then hunting, I would not recommend it for new players. It's not even as fun as hunting can be for most people, and you really are giving money away until you get to a high enough level.
