I’m a VR player, and I find it breaks immersion having to lift the headset up and look at the 3rd party tools all the time, I wondered if there was another way. So, I’ve tapped into the EDDN and started saving all the commodity data. Over the last few days I’ve collected over 4.5m datapoints for the prices of minerals; I’ve done some analysis on this dataset which I would like to share. None of the following takes into consideration the time it takes to mine, this is all about the price you get per tonne.
Hypothesis:
Commanders who contribute data to the 3rd party tools are only a subset of the commanders who use these tools to mine and sell minerals. As this maybe self-fulfilling, only a subset of stations that have high prices will ever be seen within the tools.
Therefore, can we identify likely stations that will buy minerals at relatively high prices, through in game tools and exploration alone?
Findings:
What are these charts all about?
The rest of the analysis specifically focuses on Void Opals, Low temperature diamonds, Painite and Benitoite.
How does Station Economy affect price?
How does the type of station affect prices?
How does the controlling faction’s government affect prices?
How does the factions allegiance affect prices?
How does the factions current state affect prices?
Conclusion:
Low Temperature Diamonds consistently offer the highest price per tonne, the places to sell your LTD’s are;
Benitoite offers high and consistent prices in a variety of locations, these include:
Painite can be sold in many locations with the following criteria:
But what does this all mean for Void Opals?
Next Steps:
My plan is to start book marking some of the stations for LTD’s and Benitoite that are closest to my favourite mining hotspot for that mineral, and if there is a good market price check on the 3rd party tools to see if it is there.
I will rerun all this analysis once I have more data, maybe a months’ worth and do some trend analysis based on the above criteria.
Future analysis to include trade runs, maybe with a travelling salesman approach and black market trading, there must be a way to make money here.
Hope you found it interesting.
o7
Hypothesis:
Commanders who contribute data to the 3rd party tools are only a subset of the commanders who use these tools to mine and sell minerals. As this maybe self-fulfilling, only a subset of stations that have high prices will ever be seen within the tools.
Therefore, can we identify likely stations that will buy minerals at relatively high prices, through in game tools and exploration alone?
Findings:
What are these charts all about?
- These box whisker plots show the prices of minerals for each quartile by volume, i.e. 25% of the prices sit within the Grey box and 25% within the orange box.
- This can be a better representation of the true value of the mineral, as the upper and lower quartiles are less skewed by extreme prices.
- You may also find these are closer to the actual prices you'll see when travelling the galaxy.
- Over the last week, Low Temperature Diamond prices have far exceeded Void Opals.
- Both Void Opals and Low Temperature Diamonds have unusually long upper whiskers, indicating the 25% of the data they cover is spread over a much larger price range. Making it difficult to find these high prices.
- Void Opals and Painite having a much lower average and price distribution over other minerals. Is this an effect of the player community.
- Benitoite has the 3rd highest max price, it also has the 2nd highest upper quartile price and the 2nd highest average price. This should be much easier to find a market with a high price.
- Metaalloys although being relatively low in price have a very consistent range in which they sell for, suggesting these minerals are not affected by supply and demand.
The rest of the analysis specifically focuses on Void Opals, Low temperature diamonds, Painite and Benitoite.
How does Station Economy affect price?
- Refineries offer the best price for LTD however they also have the lowest average, the variation is too extreme to find a consistently high price.
- Industrial and Extraction offer high upper quartiles, suggesting these economies could be the best place to sell your LTD’s.
- High Tech and Tourism offers the most consistent price however this means there is little chance of getting a very high price for your LTD’s
- This picture is very different for Void Opals, High Tech offer some of the lowest prices with the occasional high extremes.
- Tourism economies have the best upper quartile price but relatively low extremes. However, based on this view Void Opals should be avoided.
- Painite and Benitoite follow a similar pattern indicating they can be sold together.
- High Tech and Industrial Economies have both strong upper quartiles and strong high prices.
How does the type of station affect prices?
- Except for Benitoite, Asteroid bases seem to the place the sell your minerals, if you can find one.
- Although Bernal’s or Ocellus Stations are rare, they do provide a good consistent distribution of prices for your minerals
- With Orbis stations standing out for consistently high prices for your Benitoite.
- Void opals should be avoided.
How does the controlling faction’s government affect prices?
- The Corporate governments seem to pay the best prices for LTD's
- Benitoite can be sold almost anywhere just avoid Democracies and arguably Patronage.
- Painite can also be sold anyway although you won’t get a high price at dictatorship.
How does the factions allegiance affect prices?
- LTD’s show some differences between allegiances, Empire offers the best prices most of the time with Independents offering extreme high prices.
- Void Opals should be avoided.
- Benitoite and Painite can be sold anywhere.
How does the factions current state affect prices?
- Expansion states are the places to sell your LTD’s
- Void Opals should be avoided.
- Benitoite and Painite can be sold anywhere, maybe avoid factions in investment states for Painite.
Conclusion:
Low Temperature Diamonds consistently offer the highest price per tonne, the places to sell your LTD’s are;
- Industrial and Extraction Economies
- Asteroid and Bernal/Ocellus Stations
- Corporate Governments
- Empire Allegiances
- In my sample of 1,148 stations, 23 meet the above criteria, 3 of which are Ocellus stations.
Benitoite offers high and consistent prices in a variety of locations, these include:
- High Tech and Industrial Economies
- Orbis Stations for Benitoite
- Not Democracies or Patronage.
- 71 Stations meet the criteria.
Painite can be sold in many locations with the following criteria:
- High Tech and Industrial Economies
- Not Dictatorship.
- Not Investment
- 464 Stations meet the criteria.
But what does this all mean for Void Opals?
- You can’t use the above method for finding stations to sell your Vopals.
- This doesn’t mean you should stop mining them, you just need to use the 3rd party tools.
Next Steps:
My plan is to start book marking some of the stations for LTD’s and Benitoite that are closest to my favourite mining hotspot for that mineral, and if there is a good market price check on the 3rd party tools to see if it is there.
I will rerun all this analysis once I have more data, maybe a months’ worth and do some trend analysis based on the above criteria.
Future analysis to include trade runs, maybe with a travelling salesman approach and black market trading, there must be a way to make money here.
Hope you found it interesting.
o7
