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Market Speculation In The Incursion Patch For EVE Online

Any time a new expansion is announced for EVE Online, thousands of players rush to log in and buy or sell commodities that they expect will change in value, once the expansion hits. The Incursion expansion is slated for release in November and offers a plentitude of opportunities for speculation.

Disclaimer: The information in this guide is speculative, and based on information released by CCP in developer blogs. Speculation is always a gamble, even if it seems like a sure thing. The five topics below are the most surefire market changes that I think merit discussion, either for profitable hoarding, or to ward off people that might invest unwisely.

Tech Two Ammo

The tech two ammo changes are pretty close to sure money. The only risk is if prices spike too high because of speculation, and you buy in at this inflated price.

Last week, CCP Chronotis announced that close range tech two ammunition would be getting a once over, saying "We are focusing on the short range versions of the tech two ammo, such as Gleam, Conflagration, Hail, Quake, Void and Javelin. We are removing various negative effects from each, focusing on the drawbacks which penalize your ship itself and also stack per hardpoint loaded with the ammo. This means the ammo will be a good alternative to the faction ammo and, without such focused and sometimes crippling drawbacks, will be much more useful." In short, cha-ching.

How are you going to make ISK on this? Potentially, by doing any of the following:

• Buy the Rocket Science and Electronic Engineering datacores, that are used to invent tech two missiles. Their value will almost certainly increase as rocket launchers are used more for missions and missions.
  
• Other likely datacores for speculation Hydromagnetic Physics, Laser Physics, Molecular Engineering, Nuclear Physics, Plasma Physics, Electromagnetic Physics, and Graviton Physics.
  
• Buy tech two ammunition that is unpopular now, while it is cheap, and stockpile it for after the expansion.
  
• Begin manufacturing (or training the skills needed for manufacturing) tech two ammunition, but do not start selling until a month or two after the expansion goes live and people are using the ammunition.

For your reference, the ammo types mentioned in the developer blog are presented below, along with the tech one blueprint used to invent them and the datacores used:

• Gleam: Multifrequency (Hydromagnetic Physics and Laser Physics datacores)
  
• Conflagration: Xray (High Energy Physics and Laser Physics datacores)
  
• Hail: Uranium (Molecular Engineering and Nuclear Physics datacores)
  
• Quake: Titanium Sabot (High Energy Physics and Nuclear Physics datacores)
  
• Void: Antimatter Charge (Electromagnetic Physics and Plasma Physics datacores)
  
• Javelin: Iridium Charge (Electromagnetic Physics and Graviton Physics datacores)
  

Faction Ammo Bust (Except Rockets?)

You may want to sell faction ammunition if you have a huge stockpile and think, as I do, that new tech two ammo types will decrease faction ammunition's value in general. I certainly would not recommend spending loyalty points on faction ammo until will after Incursion has gone live and the dust has settled.

The only faction ammunition that I think could possibly recover is faction rockets, which may see more use post-patch. Even so, I am unconvinced that rockets are viable for PvP, and even more unconvinced that they will be in high enough demand to cause a price jump. The market in Jita seems to show some people buying into Caldari Navy Thorn Rockets, though, and I am inclined to agree that it is the safest bet for a price spike. I'm buying a bunch, even though I think I may have missed the bus on this one. If had any loyalty points with the Caldari Navy, I might do some maths to see whether obtaining some of these would be a worthwhile endeavor, though faction ammunition is not usually a cost effective use of loyalty points.