Profit Account for January 2012

Evekill statistics for January 2012:

• Kills: 17
• ISK destroyed: 0.48 billion
• Losses: 2
• ISK lost: 0.3 billion
• Efficiency: 93.19%
• Kill/Death ratio: 9/1

Battleclinic Rank: 20,201 (+1,902)

It's been a pretty good month for me. Although I've had higher kill counts, almost all of these kills were solo. My losses were part of my early drive to really push the Crow to the edges of its engagement envelope, and otherwise I've not lost a ship.

I've also been going on longer solo roams as I get back to my nomadic roots. I don't always find something, but it's great to get out and really shake the dust off. Now that Interceptors V has finally finished, I'm hoping to reach some even more distant areas of low sec before T2 Launchers finish and I try and get in on some BC shield gangs at the end of the month.

The December/November figures can be found here.

 

Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 24,867,025

Ransoms

Nil. 

Nil.

Total Solo Income

ISK 24,867,025

Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 19,400,000

Malediction et alia v Vargur (ISK 19,400,000); the final payment.

 

Ransoms

Nil.

Nil.

Total Group Income

ISK 19,400,000

Total Income

ISK 44,267,025

Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 26,225,764

Crow (ISK 13,112,882) - Crow v Slicer.

Crow (ISK 13,112,882) - Crow v Bellicose.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

Nil.

Nil.

Other expenses

ISK 352,081

Repairs (ISK 339,131)

Ransom CSPA (ISK 2,950)

Contract fees (ISK 10,000)

Total Solo Expenses

ISK 26,577,845

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

Nil.

Nil.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

Nil. 

Nil.

Total Group Expenses

Nil. 

Total Expenses

ISK 26,577,845

Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income

ISK 44,267,025

Less

Total Expenses

ISK 26,577,845

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)

ISK 17,689,180

Appendix 1: Comments & Criticism

A modest profit, although if I'm honest, it would have been a small loss if I had not had some delayed payments from last month's Vagur kill come in.

Even so, I would not have been terribly unhappy with the results. If that's what a bad month looks like, I'll take it. In exchange for that small loss, I would have spent hours on roams all over low sec, and generally having a good time.

That's not to say that I'm taking my focus off profitability. Not at all. It's simply that we have to keep these things in perspective. An hour or two of ratting would have put me back into the black. As it is, it's been more than six months since I've had to do any kind of pve at all.

It's a good life.

Income

Income was low, as I was primarily soloing T1 frigates, destroyers and cruisers. None of my T2 attacks resulted in a successful kill, but that's something I hope to keep working on.

I did have a few opportunities for ransoms, but all my potential ransoms got themselves podded for being too slow to pay. I loathe time wasters.

Expenses

My losses are the result of my stress testing a new ship, and while I prefer not to lose ships, I'm fairly relaxed about this month's losses.

Improving Performance

I've (finally) trained Interceptors V, so I hope to take on more ambitious targets. My Drake's T2 weapons should come online mid month, so I may get some BC gang action happening too.

Appendix 2: Explanatory Notes

Accounting basis

This profit account has been prepared on the basis of income received and expenses incurred. That is, income is only recorded when the ISK has actually been deposited in my wallet and the expense of purchasing a ship is recorded only when the ship has been destroyed.

All accounts have to make decisions about when, and how, to record income, and each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages. I prefer the income received basis because it takes the guesswork out of preparation, but I recognize that this means that there will be cases where a profitable month may show a loss, simply because the bulk of the faction loot is still on contract in Jita. The reverse is also true. However, as long as the accounts are consistent, long term trends in profitability can be reliably monitored, especially if we remain alert to the possible biases.

All figures are rounded to the nearest ISK, and are derived from character and alt wallets unless otherwise stated.

Capital & Liquidity

These accounts also do not address issues of liquidity or capital. Although I may be profitable, for example, I may have no ISK in my wallet because I have converted those funds into ships and modules.

I have chosen not to address capital or liquidity for two reasons. First, this adds a great deal of additional work to the accounts, for very little additional gain. Capital and liquidity matter in the real world, where a corporation's ability to offer security for debt (capital) and meet the interest payments on that debt (liquidity) are critical issues. New Eden, mercifully, does not work like that.

Second, it would provide just a little too much information about me. If I ever have to pay a ransom, I'd really prefer that whomever is ransoming me cannot see, to the nearest ISK, how much money I have!

Notes

Note 1: "Reasonable losses" includes all losses where it was reasonable for me to engage the target and no fundamental play error occurred during the fight. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Manual adjustment sometimes occurs where modules have been overvalued compared to the actual price paid.

Note 2: "Avoidable losses" includes all losses where it was unreasonable for me to engage the enemy or a fundamental play error occurred during combat. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Manual adjustment sometimes occurs where modules have been overvalued compared to the actual price paid.

Note 3: In this line, a figure in brackets indicates a loss rather than a profit.

Profit Account for November & December 2011

Evekill statistics for Nov/Dec 2011:

• Kills: 55
• ISK destroyed: 5.56 billion
• Losses: 6
• ISK lost: 0.15 billion
• Efficiency: 97.3%
• Kill/Death ratio: 9/1

Battleclinic Rank: 22,103 (+1,654)

As I mentioned last month, problems with the patch prevented me from selling my loot, making any accounts I prepared for the that month and this misleading. Instead, I decided to roll them together into a single accounting period, so that the discrepancies cancel each other out.

Given that these accounts cover a two month period, my kills are fairly low, but then I was unable to log on at all for two weeks, and then holidays also cut into my play time. I'm pleased with the efficiency I maintained, however. Battleclinic API reader has not yet picked up my last four kills, so my rank is lagging a little.

October's figures can be found here.

Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 75,956,248

Ransoms

ISK 8,000,000

Jimmy English (ISK 5,000,000)

Shin VanKaundur (ISK 3,000,000)

Total Solo Income

ISK 83,956,248

Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 203,000,000

Malediction et alia v Vargur (ISK 190,000,000)
Purifier 1.3 (ISK 13,000,000)

Ransoms

Nil.  

Nil.

Total Group Income

ISK 203,000,000

Total Income

ISK 286,956,248

Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 47,542,568

Malediction (ISK 14,535,324) - Malediction v Bellicose.

Vengeance (ISK 33,007,244) - Vengeance v Bellicose.
 

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

Nil.

Nil.

Other expenses

ISK 609,323

Repairs (ISK 517,523)

Ransom CSPA (ISK 11,800)

Contract fees (ISK 80,000)

Total Solo Expenses

ISK 48,151,891

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 30,410,648

Malediction (ISK 14,535,324) - Malediction v Harbinger; disposable fleet tackler.
Malediction (ISK 14,535,324) - Malediction v Bubble Camp; trying to get home after roam. 
Pod (ISK 1,340,000) - See above Bubble Camp.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

ISK 25,614,150

Purfier (ISK 25,614,150) - Fleet Purifier; small micro error at wrong time.

Total Group Expenses

ISK 56,024,798

Total Expenses

ISK 104,176,689

Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income

ISK 286,956,248

Less

Total Expenses

ISK 104,176,689

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)

ISK 182,779,559

Appendix 1: Comments & Criticism

Another month, another profit. And what a profit! I've already spent most of it, buying a Drake, a Caracal and a handful of Crows. It's allowed me to splurge a little on some Caldari ships, and start the new year off on the right foot!

That said, I was lucky. I would have ended the year with quite the loss if not for the fluke Vargur kill that covered my losses - and then some!

Still, I'll not complain about a little good luck.

Income

Aside from the Vargur, my profit arose mostly from my solo exploits; the usual collection of loot and salvage that I haul back to Jita. I like to think that there are a few items that keep finding their way back to me; sort of a lucky penny, if you will.

I did manage to pick up a few very small ransoms, which was nice. While not the big bucks, getting ransoms at all is a pretty good feeling, and if I go too long without finding a ransom I worry that I'm doing something wrong.

Expenses

My losses come in two flavours, bad luck and bad flying. Dying to gate camps, for example, is usually bad luck, and I had my share of that. Some of my other losses were just due to being rusty (Malediction & Vengeance) or unfamiliar with the ship (Purifier). November was was an expensive month.

Improving Performance

I've stopped flying bombers for the minute; the Tuskers seem to have stopped doing black ops as soon as my bomber training finished, so I've not had much opportunity to fly in a group, which is where I need to be while I'm still developing the relevant player skills.

I've also been flying Interceptors more, which brings the value of my losses down. The Crow, in particular, has made me very happy as a solo platform, and I expect that my performance will improve as I max out the relevant skills.

Appendix 2: Explanatory Notes

Accounting basis

This profit account has been prepared on the basis of income received and expenses incurred. That is, income is only recorded when the ISK has actually been deposited in my wallet and the expense of purchasing a ship is recorded only when the ship has been destroyed.

All accounts have to make decisions about when, and how, to record income, and each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages. I prefer the income received basis because it takes the guesswork out of preparation, but I recognize that this means that there will be cases where a profitable month may show a loss, simply because the bulk of the faction loot is still on contract in Jita. The reverse is also true. However, as long as the accounts are consistent, long term trends in profitability can be reliably monitored, especially if we remain alert to the possible biases.

All figures are rounded to the nearest ISK, and are derived from character and alt wallets unless otherwise stated.

Capital & Liquidity

These accounts also do not address issues of liquidity or capital. Although I may be profitable, for example, I may have no ISK in my wallet because I have converted those funds into ships and modules.

I have chosen not to address capital or liquidity for two reasons. First, this adds a great deal of additional work to the accounts, for very little additional gain. Capital and liquidity matter in the real world, where a corporation's ability to offer security for debt (capital) and meet the interest payments on that debt (liquidity) are critical issues. New Eden, mercifully, does not work like that.

Second, it would provide just a little too much information about me. If I ever have to pay a ransom, I'd really prefer that whomever is ransoming me cannot see, to the nearest ISK, how much money I have!

Notes

Note 1: "Reasonable losses" includes all losses where it was reasonable for me to engage the target and no fundamental play error occurred during the fight. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Manual adjustment sometimes occurs where modules have been overvalued compared to the actual price paid.

Note 2: "Avoidable losses" includes all losses where it was unreasonable for me to engage the enemy or a fundamental play error occurred during combat. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Manual adjustment sometimes occurs where modules have been overvalued compared to the actual price paid.

Note 3: In this line, a figure in brackets indicates a loss rather than a profit.

Where are the November accounts?

For the two of you that actually follow the monthly accounts I post, I thought I'd provide an explanation regarding the lack of accounts for November.

Because my patch problems started before the end of November, I've not actually had he ability to log in and sell any of the loot that I accrued over the course of the month. This means that preparing the accounts now would have simply resulted in a large (and misleading) loss figure, followed by a (hopefully) large (and misleading) profit figure for December once I am actually able to bring the loot to market.

Rather than produce two meaningless sets of accounts, I've decided to roll November and December's accounts into one, which means they should be coming out at the beginning of January.

I'll also be posting a one year character review around that time.

Profit Account for October 2011

Evekill statistics for September 2011:

• Kills: 29
• ISK destroyed: 2.13 billion
• Losses: 3
• ISK lost: 0.12 billion
• Efficiency: 94.61%
• Kill/Death ratio: 10/1

Battleclinic Rank: 23,757

Another month without as much time online as I would like, in this case because of travel. Not getting to play much is something of a trend these past few months, and to be honest I don't think that's going to change for a while. Times are tough.

Still, my efficiency is up, largely because I spent the first part of October flying point for some of Suleiman's BC roams. Sule's roams are awesome for effeciency, because we mostly crush everything we engage, which is pretty much anything that has fewer than two logi's or E-war boats. Managing to avoid stupid deaths has also helped.

I've tweaked the format of the accounts again, moving the Explanitory Notes (which change very little from month to month) to the end of the accounts, with my comments following right after the statement of profit/loss. I think most people will find that a bit more accessable.

I have also taken to manually adjusting the Evekill values; while better than Battleclinic, it's still crediting my lost deadspace modules as three times more than I actually pay for them. I'm erring on the side of too expensive, but the scale of the error needed to be dealt with. In future, I may break down each loss into parts so that any changes I make are transparent.

Last month's figures can be found here.

Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 57,575,961

Ransoms

ISK 101,500

Bounty on Jethro Tchull (ISK 92,500)
Bounty on Mike Avery (ISK 9,000)

Total Solo Income

ISK 57,677,461

Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 35,000,000

Malediction et alia v various; fast tackle on a BC roam (ISK 5,000,000)
Malediction et alia v various; fast tackle on a BC roam (ISK 16,000,000)
Malediction et alia v various; fast tackle on a BC roam (ISK 10,000,000)

Malediction & Jaguar v Merlin & Rifter (ISK 4,000,000)

Ransoms

ISK 2,500,000 

Kodoz Tokar (ISK 2,500,000)

Total Group Income

ISK 37,500,000

Total Income

ISK 95,177,461

Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 37,017,323

Vengeance (ISK 37,017,323) - Vengeance v Curse; a gate camp.

 

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

ISK 37,161,950

Vengeance (ISK 37,161,950) - Vengeance v Dramiel & Loki; was lured off gate and then forgot to overheat my prop mod when burning back.

Other expenses

ISK 949,148

Repairs (ISK 936,248)

Ransom CSPA (ISK 2,900)

Contract fees (ISK 10,000)

Total Solo Expenses

ISK 75,128,421

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

Nil.

Nil.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

ISK 18,934,789

Malediction (ISK 18,934,789) - Malediction v Vagabond; forgot to overheat my prop mod when fleeing (again).

Total Group Expenses

ISK 18,934,789

Total Expenses

ISK 94,063,210

Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income

ISK 95,177,461

Less

Total Expenses

ISK 94,063,210

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)

ISK 1,114,251

Appendix 1: Comments & Criticism

In theory, I turned a profit this month.

In theory.

Of course, that "profit" doesn't even pay for the month's ammo, an expense not included in my accounts because it's so hard to track. I'm clearly not going to get rich like this.

Not that getting rich was a real priority.

Income

Acting as fast tackle for a BC gang may be fun, but it's not the big bucks. There are too many people involved for things to be really profitable, especially as tech 1 BCs typically engage other tech 1 BCs. No decent ransoms. No decent salvage. And then split 5-10 ways.

Solo roaming was more profitable, but I did not do much of it due to real life commitments and travel.

Expenses

The good news is that I'm dying less. My maxed out Vengeances are much harder to kill, and there have been several encounters that I have managed to escape simply on the basis of my resilience. However, when I do lose a Vengeance, it's about twice the cost of my basic fit.

That said, I'm flying the Vengeance less these days; the Malediction is just better at navigating low sec safely. I'm thinking of putting together an AB brawler fit for solo work while I keep the mwd fits for fleet work.

Improving Performance

Last month I set a goal of a 10/1 kill ratio, and I achieved that goal. I want to try and keep that ratio up, but I also need to actually turn a profit here so I can afford to expand my range of ships.

Bombers are a big unknown here. I finally get into a decent SB at the beginning of this month, and with the potential to take on larger targets I should theoretically become more profitable. However, I also recognise that getting into a new hull is a learning curve, and I may well see my profitability nosedive as I find all the different ways that SB don't work.

Appendix 2: Explanatory Notes

Accounting basis

This profit account has been prepared on the basis of income received and expenses incurred. That is, income is only recorded when the ISK has actually been deposited in my wallet and the expense of purchasing a ship is recorded only when the ship has been destroyed.

All accounts have to make decisions about when, and how, to record income, and each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages. I prefer the income received basis because it takes the guesswork out of preparation, but I recognize that this means that there will be cases where a profitable month may show a loss, simply because the bulk of the faction loot is still on contract in Jita. The reverse is also true. However, as long as the accounts are consistent, long term trends in profitability can be reliably monitored, especially if we remain alert to the possible biases.

All figures are rounded to the nearest ISK, and are derived from character and alt wallets unless otherwise stated.

Capital & Liquidity

These accounts also do not address issues of liquidity or capital. Although I may be profitable, for example, I may have no ISK in my wallet because I have converted those funds into ships and modules.

I have chosen not to address capital or liquidity for two reasons. First, this adds a great deal of additional work to the accounts, for very little additional gain. Capital and liquidity matter in the real world, where a corporation's ability to offer security for debt (capital) and meet the interest payments on that debt (liquidity) are critical issues. New Eden, mercifully, does not work like that.

Second, it would provide just a little too much information about me. If I ever have to pay a ransom, I'd really prefer that whomever is ransoming me cannot see, to the nearest ISK, how much money I have!

Notes

Note 1: "Reasonable losses" includes all losses where it was reasonable for me to engage the target and no fundamental play error occurred during the fight. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Manual adjustment sometimes occurs where modules have been overvalued compared to the actual price paid.

Note 2: "Avoidable losses" includes all losses where it was unreasonable for me to engage the enemy or a fundamental play error occurred during combat. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Manual adjustment sometimes occurs where modules have been overvalued compared to the actual price paid.

Note 3: In this line, a figure in brackets indicates a loss rather than a profit.

Profit Account for September 2011

Evekill statistics for September 2011:

• Kills: 40
• ISK destroyed: 1.6 billion
• Losses: 8
• ISK lost: 0.16 billion
• Efficiency: 91.01%
• Kill/Death ratio: 5/1

Battleclinic Rank: 26,610

Although I don't have nearly as many kills this month as some fellow Tuskers, September has been particularly busy for me; only July had more kills, and my efficiency was far worse. This is particularly surprising when I consider how little time I have actually been able to devote to Eve - there were a couple of week long periods where I was not able to log on at all. Despite the high kill count, though, there has been a shortage of treasure ships; those big kills that make you rich for a short while. Instead, it has been a bit of a grinder, with my losses eating away at what little profit I have been able to scrape together.

I have also made some changes to the way losses are valued. Until recently, I was using Battleclinic cost listings, but Tsubutai suggested that Evekill has more accurate valuations. When I compared the values attributed to my faction repair system (Battleclinic - 12 million ISK; Evekill - 5.45 million ISK) to what I actually paid for it (4.25 million ISK), I decided it was worth making the switch. This will mean a slight inconsistency between loss values when compared to the last few months.

For those interested in a comparison, last month's figures can be found here.

Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 106,414,402 

Ransoms

ISK 30,800,000

Bounty on Stoakes (ISK 800,000)

"Ransom" from toothslayer (ISK 30,000,000)

Total Solo Income

ISK 137,214,402

Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 14,515,880

Vengeance et alia v Falcon et alia (ISK 8,515,880)

Vengeance & Rifter v Cyclone (ISK 6,000,000)

Ransoms

ISK 10,000,000

Dariaz Taron (ISK 10,000,000)

Total Group Income

ISK 24,515,880

Total Income

ISK 161,730,282

Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 79,589,357

Vengeance (ISK 17,077,984) - Vengeance v Sabre.
Vengeance (ISK 17,510,527) - Vengeance v Gate Camp.
Vengeance (ISK 17,304,505) - Vengeance v FW Gang.
Capsule with four +2 implants (ISK 12,930,000)
Malediction (ISK 14,766,341) - Malediction v Thrasher.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

Nil

Other expenses

ISK 1,842,018

Repairs (ISK 790,218)

Ransom CSPA (ISK 11,800)

Contract fees (ISK 40,000)

Donation to Joshua Baker (ISK 1,000,000)

Total Solo Expenses

ISK 81,431,375

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 17,696,556

Vengeance (ISK 17,696,556) - Vengeance et alia v Cyclone et alia; a gang action.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

ISK 39,860,493

Malediction (ISK 16,718,436) - Malediction et alia v Vagabond; I was fast tackle, and I tried to hold on too long while the rest of the gang caught up. Should have bailed.
Vengeance (ISK 23,142,057) - Vengeance et alia v Ashimmu; what the hell was I thinking?

Total Group Expenses

ISK 57,557,049

Total Expenses

ISK 138,988,424

Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income

ISK 161,730,282

Less

Total Expenses

ISK 138,988,424

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)

ISK 22,741,858

Appendix 1: Estimated Income Pending

Unsold solo roam loot

ISK 5,000,000

Total Income Pending

ISK 5,000,000

Appendix 2: Explanatory Notes

Accounting basis

This profit account has been prepared on the basis of income received and expenses incurred. That is, income is only recorded when the ISK has actually been deposited in my wallet and the expense of purchasing a ship is recorded only when the ship has been destroyed.

All accounts have to make decisions about when, and how, to record income, and each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages. I prefer the income received basis because it takes the guesswork out of preparation, but I recognize that this means that there will be cases where a profitable month may show a loss, simply because the bulk of the faction loot is still on contract in Jita. The reverse is also true.

However, as long as the accounts are consistent, long term trends in profitability can be reliably monitored, especially if we remain alert to the possible biases. Additionally, estimates of carried over income will appear in appendix 1.

All figures are rounded to the nearest ISK, and are derived from character and alt wallets unless otherwise stated.

Capital & Liquidity

These accounts also do not address issues of liquidity or capital. Although I may be profitable, for example, I may have no ISK in my wallet because I have converted those funds into ships and modules.

I have chosen not to address capital or liquidity for two reasons. First, this adds a great deal of additional work to the accounts, for very little additional gain. Capital and liquidity matter in the real world, where a corporation's ability to offer security for debt (capital) and meet the interest payments on that debt (liquidity) are critical issues. New Eden, mercifully, does not work like that.

ISK, how much money I have!

Notes

Note 1: "Reasonable losses" includes all losses where it was reasonable for me to engage the target and no fundamental play error occurred during the fight. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Loot from previous fights, if any, are excluded from the total costs - no ISK was spent on obtaining these items, so no ISK is lost when they are destroyed.

Note 2: "Avoidable losses" includes all losses where it was unreasonable for me to engage the enemy or a fundamental play error occurred during combat. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Loot from previous fights, if any, are excluded from the total costs - no ISK was spent on obtaining these items, so no ISK is lost when they are destroyed.

Note 3: In this line, a figure in brackets indicates a loss rather than a profit.

 

Appendix 3: Comments & Criticism

Somehow, I actually managed to turn a profit again this month. Of course, that profit gets me about one T2 frigate, but I'll take what I can get.

Income

Solo roaming was again my primary source of income for this month, despite the fact that my killboard says I engaged in a fair amount of gang activity. The truth is, some of this activity was pure overkill, with a number of nearby Tuskers getting together to take on a target we could have dealt with solo or in a smaller group. Groups are only profitable when directed at high end kills, and these were not high end kills.

Expenses

My expenses shot up this month, with 8 losses. While my efficiency is over 90%, that's cold comfort to my wallet.

In addition to my usual Vengeance builds, I also lost some experimental Malediction fits, but I have to accept that testing new ships is going to come with some element of expense.

Improving Performance

As I mentioned in this post, a significant number of my recent losses occurred when I was unable to escape a no-win situation; gate camps and the like. I can improve my profitability simply by improving my situational awareness and avoiding those kinds of situations.

I would also like to improve my kills/death ration; my goal would be a 10/1 ratio, and I will be keeping that in mind when I am selecting targets.

Profit Account for August 2011

August has been a less active month for me (as I suspect it has been for most players in the northern hemisphere), but not a less profitable one. In addition to flying more conservatively and (with one exception) more sensibly, I was fortunate enough to recover modules and salvage on all my losses, which helped minimize my monthly expenditure. 

It's worth remembering that this approach to piracy was inspired by Kishin's blog, which is very much worth checking out if you have any interest in the financial side of piracy, or sustainable pvp generally. I am happy to take suggestions about the kind of data I should be looking for, as well as ways of presenting that data.

Finally, for those interested in a comparison, last month's figures can be found here.

Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 68,587,658

Ransoms

Nil

Total Solo Income

ISK 68,587,658

Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 110,758,750

Loot split from Assault Ship roam in July (ISK 69,508,750)

Vengeance et alia v Curse loot split (ISK 5,500,000)

Vengeance et alia v Hyperion (ISK 4,600,000)
Vengeance et alia v Jaguar & Ishkur (ISK 24,250,000)
Vengeance et alia v Typhoon (ISK 5,000,000)
Vengeance et alia v Hurricane (ISK 1,900,000)

Ransoms

Nil

Total Group Income

ISK 110,758,750

Total Income

ISK 179,346,408

Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 15,179,174

Vengeance (ISK 7,679,174) - Vengeance v Wolf; awesome fight. Mods recovered.
Capsule with two +2 implants (ISK 7,500,000)

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

Nil

Total Solo Expenses

ISK 15,179,174

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 9,600,979

Vengeance (ISK 9,600,979) - Vengeance v Harbinger & Navy Stabber; was acting as bait and could not hold out until the cavalry arrived. Mods recovered.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

ISK 6,574,660

Malediction (ISK 6,574,660) - Tuskers v Stone Circle & Back to Yarr. Death via station guns. Mods recovered.

Total Group Expenses

ISK 16,175,639 

Total Expenses

ISK 31,354,813

Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income

ISK 179,346,408

Less

Total Expenses

ISK 31,354,813

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)

ISK 147,991,595

Appendix 1: Estimated Income Pending

Tuskers v Stone Circle & Back to Yarr (Tengu) loot split

ISK ??,???,???

Unsold solo roam loot

ISK 5,000,000

Total Income Pending 

ISK 5,000,000

Appendix 2: Explanatory Notes

Accounting basis

This profit account has been prepared on the basis of income received and expenses incurred. That is, income is only recorded when the ISK has actually been deposited in my wallet and the expense of purchasing a ship is recorded only when the ship has been destroyed.

All accounts have to make decisions about when, and how, to record income, and each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages. I prefer the income received basis because it takes the guesswork out of preparation, but I recognize that this means that there will be cases where a profitable month may show a loss, simply because the bulk of the faction loot is still on contract in Jita. The reverse is also true.

However, as long as the accounts are consistent, long term trends in profitability can be reliably monitored, especially if we remain alert to the possible biases. Additionally, estimates of carried over income will appear in appendix 1.

All figures are rounded to the nearest ISK, and are derived from character and alt wallets unless otherwise stated.

Capital & Liquidity

These accounts also do not address issues of liquidity or capital. Although I may be profitable, for example, I may have no ISK in my wallet because I have converted those funds into ships and modules.

I have chosen not to address capital or liquidity for two reasons. First, this adds a great deal of additional work to the accounts, for very little additional gain. Capital and liquidity matter in the real world, where a corporation's ability to offer security for debt (capital) and meet the interest payments on that debt (liquidity) are critical issues. New Eden, mercifully, does not work like that.

Second, it would provide just a little too much information about me. If I ever have to pay a ransom, I'd really prefer that whomever is ransoming me cannot see, to the nearest ISK, how much money I have!

Notes

Note 1: "Reasonable losses" includes all losses where it was reasonable for me to engage the target and no fundamental play error occurred during the fight. Battle Clinic costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Loot from previous fights, if any, are excluded from the total costs - no ISK was spent on obtaining these items, so no ISK is lost when they are destroyed.

Note 2: "Avoidable losses" includes all losses where it was unreasonable for me to engage the enemy or a fundamental play error occurred during combat. Battle Clinic costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Loot from previous fights, if any, are excluded from the total costs - no ISK was spent on obtaining these items, so no ISK is lost when they are destroyed.

Note 3: In this line, a figure in brackets indicates a loss rather than a profit.

 

Appendix 3: Comments & Criticism

Despite less time online, I actually turned a higher profit - almost seven times last month's profit, in fact. Before I get too excited, however, it's worth observing that roughly half my profit for the month was an unpaid loot split carried over from July.

I've immediately rolled my profit into another batch of Vengeances and mods; to just have the money sitting there would temp me to do something stupid, like buy expensive implants or a faction ship. Instead, it has been well and safely invested (insofar as anything invested in pvp can be called "safe").

Of course, there is a limit to how many Vengeances one pilot needs, so if next month is this profitable, I make no promises...

Income

This month, solo roaming generated about 38% of my total income, which is consistent with last month's figures. However, if I correct for the Assault Ship roam (which was earned in July, though paid in August) that proportion jumps to 62%!

It's also quite interesting that August did not generate even a single ISK in ransoms (there was one joke ransom, but I did not include this in the accounts).

Expenses

While my income numbers in the same ballpark as last month, I had far few losses, and therefore lower expenses. This is in line with the goal I set myself last month of reducing unnecessary losses, but the cynic in me suggests that I simply did not have enough play time to lose many ships.

Unlike last month, my one really stupid mistake (the avoidable loss) occured during a group action (I'll be posting about it later). While I am more "on my toes" in a group, and wild ideas are subject to a sober second thought, group actions can also be far more complicated, and I really fell down on this one. Fortunately, nobody else paid the price for my idiocy - something I don't have to worry about when flying solo.

Improving Profitability

Last month I set myself some goals for improving profitability. It's time to review those.

1) Minimizing avoidable losses. This is probably the easiest (and one of the most lucrative) changes I can make to the way I pirate. Cutting out just half of these needless expenses would have more than doubled my profitability for the month, not to mention helped me feel like less of an idiot. Minimizing these losses means staying alert and maintaining target selection discipline.

There was a sharp reduction in avoidable losses in August, so I think I've met this goal. Of course, this is an improvement I need to maintain if I hope to remain profitable.

2) Embrace opportunities for group work. Tuskers have formal roams only infrequently. However, we do like to gang up on above class targets. Keeping alert for these opportunities is likely to improve my profitability. Equally, putting aside a ship purpose fit for group work, (such as a fleet tackler) will improve the likelihood of the groups success, and the chances of snagging the pod. Although my interceptor skills are fairly limited I will put together a dedicated fleet tackler for group work.

I did embrace group activities, and I did use (and lose) a fleet tackler, so goal achieved. However, this months numbers do not show a huge uptick in group income, so I'm hardly about to abandon solo work in favour of group roams at this stage.

Profit Account for July 2011

Kishin's blog has really changed the way I think about piracy. Rather than "just" being fun, it's also a business, and like any business, you can succeed at it, or you can fail. I can't think of any truer test of a pvper's skill than their ability to actually support themselves from the proceeds of their crimes.

Piracy, as a business, is more than just a series of fights. The wins and losses, individually, don't mean much. It's the profitability that makes or breaks a player's ability to focus exclusively on pvp. This, then, is the first of what will become a monthly report on my financial gains (and losses) as a pirate. I've prepared a set of accounts using the same format that a small business would use, with some modifications to reflect the realities of New Eden.

While I don't see myself changing the basic format (a formal set of accounts), the way the data is organised is very much up in the air. Whereas Kishin has broken the data down by ship type, I have tried to break the actvities into either solo or group actions, with a number of sub categories. If anyone has better ideas for organising the data, please don't hesitate to make suggestions.

Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 67,293,620

Ransoms

ISK 1,500,000

Tawa Suyo (ISK 1,500,000)

Total Solo Income

ISK 68,793,620

Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 70,716,022

Bounties from Assault Ship roam (ISK 8,216,022)
Vengeance & Dramiel v Tengu & Navy Caracal (ISK 26,500,000)
Tuskers v BANE (ISK 36,000,000)

Ransoms

ISK 28,300,000

Andreas Mennon (ISK 3,300,000)
!!R4MBO!! (ISK 25,000,000)

Total Group Income

ISK 99,016,022

Total Income

ISK 167,809,642

Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 54,349,264

Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance v Cyclone; better module management would probably have allowed me to survive the fight.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance v Thorax & Pilgrim.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Massive gate camp. It happens.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance v Merlin et alli.


Avoidable losses (see note 2)

ISK 40,761,948

Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Wrong turn into high sec; destroyed by npcs.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Took on destroyer under station guns; was slow to warp out.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Misunderstood gate gun mechanics when fighting Dominix.


Total Solo Expenses

ISK 95,111,212

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 37,872,666

Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance lost on Anamake roam. Totally worth it.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Death by blob.
Vengeance (ISK 10,698,034) - Tuskers v BANE. Totally worth it.


Avoidable losses (see note 2)

ISK 13,587,316

Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance & Wolf v Rifter et alli. I badly mismanaged my modules and died as a result.

Total Group Expenses

ISK 51,459,982 

Total Expenses

ISK 146,571,194

Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income

ISK 167,809,642

Less

Total Expenses

ISK 146,571,194

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)

ISK 21,238,448

Appendix 1: Estimated Income Pending

Assault Ship roam loot split

ISK 40,000,000

Unsold solo roam loot

ISK 3,000,000

Total Income Pending 

ISK 65,000,000

Appendix 2: Explanatory Notes

Accounting basis

This profit account has been prepared on the basis of income received and expenses incurred. That is, income is only recorded when the ISK has actually been deposited in my wallet and the expense of purchasing a ship is recorded only when the ship has been destroyed.

All accounts have to make decisions about when, and how, to record income, and each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages. I prefer the income received basis because it takes the guesswork out of preparation, but I recognize that this means that there will be cases where a profitable month may show a loss, simply because the bulk of the faction loot is still on contract in Jita. The reverse is also true.

However, as long as the accounts are consistent, long term trends in profitability can be reliably monitored, especially if we remain alert to the possible biases. Additionally, estimates of carried over income will appear in appendix 1.

All figures are rounded to the nearest ISK, and are derived from character and alt wallets unless otherwise stated.


Capital & Liquidity

These accounts also do not address issues of liquidity or capital. Although I may be profitable, for example, I may have no ISK in my wallet because I have converted those funds into ships and modules.

I have chosen not to address capital or liquidity for two reasons. First, this adds a great deal of additional work to the accounts, for very little additional gain. Capital and liquidity matter in the real world, where a corporation's ability to offer security for debt (capital) and meet the interest payments on that debt (liquidity) are critical issues. New Eden, mercifully, does not work like that.

Second, it would provide just a little too much information about me. If I ever have to pay a ransom, I'd really prefer that whomever is ransoming me cannot see, to the nearest ISK, how much money I have!


Notes

Note 1: "Reasonable losses" includes all losses where it was reasonable for me to engage the target and no fundamental play error occurred during the fight. Battle Clinic costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Loot from previous fights, if any, are excluded from the total costs - no ISK was spent on obtaining these items, so no ISK is lost when they are destroyed.

Note 2: "Avoidable losses" includes all losses where it was unreasonable for me to engage the enemy or a fundamental play error occurred during combat. Battle Clinic costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Loot from previous fights, if any, are excluded from the total costs - no ISK was spent on obtaining these items, so no ISK is lost when they are destroyed.

Note 3: In this line, a figure in brackets indicates a loss rather than a profit.

Appendix 3: Comments & Criticism

I am surprised to find myself turning a profit in my first recorded month, but, with the exception of a one week period in the second half of the month, I was profitable throughout.

Of course, profit as a concept is a relative thing. My overall gain, across a whole month, is about what a dedicated pve player will make in an hour. At the moment, at least, piracy is not a road to riches; I'm about 1 T2 frigate richer than I was at the start of the month.


Income

Interestingly, solo roaming generates about 40% of my total income. I was not expecting this, but all those modules add up to a decent profit over the course of the month. The income would be even higher if I had not managed to lose a few modules by getting blown up with loot still on board.

Of course, group roaming generates higher income, as groups are able to take on more lucrative targets. But not so much more lucrative than that it completely outshines the slow-but-steady solo roaming. This means that anyone docked up waiting for a gang to form is missing out on significant income.

Expenses

Solo work is far riskier, and hence far more expensive, than group work. No real surprise here; it's one of the reasons that bad pvpers resort to gate camps so often - it simply makes economic sense.

It's worth noting, however, that my really stupid mistakes (the avoidable losses) occur almost exclusively when I'm flying on my own. In the past I have seen Tuskers remarking that they are making poor engagement decisions, and that a roaming partner who will override their poor decisions would be appreciated. I had assumed these were purely humorous remarks, but there is clearly an element of truth in what was being said.


Improving Profitability

Breaking down the elements of my income like this should, in theory, help me come up with action plans to improve profitability. This month, I hope to do that  in the following ways:

1) Minimizing avoidable losses. This is probably the easiest (and one of the most lucrative) changes I can make to the way I pirate. Cutting out just half of these needless expenses would have more than doubled my profitability for the month, not to mention helped me feel like less of an idiot. Minimizing these losses means staying alert and maintaining target selection discipline.

2) Embrace opportunities for group work. Tuskers have formal roams only infrequently. However, we do like to gang up on above class targets. Keeping alert for these opportunities is likely to improve my profitability. Equally, putting aside a ship purpose fit for group work, (such as a fleet tackler) will improve the likelihood of the groups success, and the chances of snagging the pod. Although my interceptor skills are fairly limited I will put together a dedicated fleet tackler for group work.

While not the only ways of improving profitability, these changes should be easy to implement, and I should see immediate returns.