Hounds are a Minmatar stealth bomber, and one of the most popular ships of that class. They are capable of warping while cloaked, inflicting disproportionate damage for their size, and launching deadly bombs. They also inflict explosive damage, making them much beloved during bombing runs. Minmatar players with an interest in PvP often pick up stealth bombers at an early point in their EVE Online careers, as do some PvE players that want to operate in dangerous areas.

This article makes inventing hounds easy. I list everything you need to train, buy, and do, in order to invent them. If you are unfamiliar with the invention process, please familiarize yourself with how it works before continuing. The second half of this guide will cover the manufacturing portion of the process.

Why Hounds?

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style="font-style: italic;">The Hound might not look like much, but it is considered by many to be the best stealth bomber in EVE Online.

Learning how to produce your own hounds will be an obvious asset to players that like flying them, and in most areas of the game will also be able to act as a significant income supplement. Because the skills needed to make a hound are a bit more laborious than those needed to start flying them, this guide is particularly useful for players that already possess a repertoire of industrial skills who would either like to start PvPing or are looking to supply tech two ships to friends. Making hounds can also be handy for industrial pilots that live in null-sec and would like to produce war ships locally.

Overview Of Making Tech Two Blueprints

In order to produce hounds, you will need a blueprint. The invention process attempts to convert a breacher blueprint copy into a hound blueprint copy. Because there is only a moderate chance of success, many attempts are usually required, especially if multiple blueprints are desired. The invention process requires many ingredients, most of which are consumed in the attempt.

Invention Skills Needed

In order to attempt to invent a hound, you will need the following skills:

  • Minmatar Encryption Methods III or IV
  • Hacking II
  • Science V
  • Electronics Upgrades III
  • Electronics II
  • Engineering II
  • Minmatar Starship Engineering III or IV
  • Mechanic V
  • Mechanical Engineering IV

The total price of these skills is currently about 23mil on the Jita market, though market manipulation attempts often spike the price of some of the skills.

Invention Materials

The following materials are needed for each invention attempt:

  • Cryptic Ship Data Interface (re-usable)
  • Datacore - Minmatar Starship Engineering x2
  • Datacore - Mechanical Engineering x2
  • Breacher Blueprint Copy (1-run)

The data interface is the most expensive item here, costing about 45mil ISK but is completely re-usable, but the other ingredients are consumed regardless of whether the invention attempt is successful or not. Each of these can be purchased at a market hub in high-security space, though most will find it convenient to buy their own breacher blueprint for the purpose of making copies.

The Invention Attempt

Put all of your invention ingredients in a station with available invention slots. Right click on the breacher blueprint and select the invention option. Choose an invention slot to use from the list presented and ignore the other options in the invention window. The job will occupy one of your lab job slots, just like copying or researching a blueprint would.

The chance of the attempt succeeding varies depending on your skills. Use an invention calculator like this one to see your chance of success. A failed attempt will produce nothing, while a successful attempt will produce a 1-run hound blueprint copy.

The Maths Of Invention

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style="font-style: italic;">Looking at the invention tab of a breacher blueprint shows the skills needed to attempt an invention attempt.

Because invention chance is random, it can be difficult to figure out how much ISK you are spending per successful job. Each successful attempt needs to take into account the ISK lost on failed attempts. To do this, add up the cost of the ingredients consumed in each invention attempt, and divide that amount by your success chance according to your invention calculator.

The formula can be expressed as follows:

  • (Ship BPC Cost + Total Datacore Cost) / Success Chance = Cost Per Invented BPC Run

In that formula, the success chance should be mathematically expressed as a fraction. So if you had a 25% success chance, use .25 in the formula.

With the hound prices, Minmatar Encryption Methods III, and Mechanical Engineering III, the formula can be expressed as follows:

  • (.1mil ISK + 1.11mil ISK) / .3461 = 3.496mil ISK cost per successful blueprint copy

Training Minmatar Encryption Methods and Mechanical Engineering to a higher level will increase your profits.

Successes

Now that you have some hound blueprints, you can sell them, make them yourself, or hoard them for when you have better manufacturing skills trained. The actual manufacturing portion will be covered in the second portion of this guide. Until then, I wish you good luck!


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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