Ship shortages are a big part of EVE Online, and probably the biggest logistical problem that affects individual corporation members while living in dangerous space. The unsafe transport of goods to your null-sec or low-sec port of call, shortage of minerals, and bulk of ship hulls all make things difficult.

Fortunately, there are ways to reduce the mineral and bulk problems. Minerals can be turned into particular kinds of modules and ammunition that occupy significantly less cargo space. These are then refined back into minerals at the destination, and used to build the ship hulls that would otherwise be too large to effectively transport.

This guide covers what is required to make "battlecruiser care packages" that contain everything needed to assemble a battlecruiser within a single, easy to transport giant secure container. In each case there is extra room in the container for ship modules, ammo, and other accoutrements, or other goods needed at your destination.

What Is Mineral Compression?

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style="font-style: italic;">Battlecruisers are a popular ship class due to the ease that newbies can get into them, and their low price.

Large amounts of the raw minerals needed for making ships occupy an impractical amount of space, especially if goods are not being moved by a jump freighter. When made into certain modules, the same minerals can be transported while occupying significantly less cargo space. The minerals are thus "compressed" and can then be refined back into minerals at the destination station (or nearby) and assembled into a battlecruiser hull.

Some modules have better compression rates than others, especially for particular sets of minerals. Many are not useful for compression at all because they occupy more space than the raw minerals would. The idea when compressing is to try to have as close to the needed minerals as possible, so as not to waste space carrying unnecessary ingredients.

What Is A Care Package?

A care package is a single giant secure canister that contains everything needed to assemble a particular ship. In the case of battlecruisers, this means compressed minerals and a blueprint copy, with the possible addition of whatever fittings you deem appropriate. The actual package need not include the container, but it is often helpful to have everything partitioned thus prior to being moved, to ensure that the correct amounts of each ingredient are present, or for contracting on the far end.

Due to the not quite exact compression rates, there are often small amounts of minerals left over. These can be retained as a sort of "petty cash" cache of minerals, to be used for inevitable mineral overruns from sub-par blueprint efficiency or refining tax losses.

Decompressing A Care Package

Decompressing and assembling a care package requires perfect or near-perfect refining skills (Scrapmetal Processing IV), perfect manufacturing skills (Production Efficiency V), and access to a refining station that will not tax your mineral refining too much.

[protip]If your skills are not quite up to snuff for getting a perfect refine rate, consider investing in a Hardwiring - Zainou 'Beancounter' H40 implant. It is very cheap, and even a +1% refining yield difference can make a world of difference.[/protip]

The station to be used for refining must have a high enough base refining rate that no minerals will be lost. With regards to player-controlled outposts, a Minmatar Service Outpost is best.

When in doubt about the refining rate, try using your refining character to refine a random module and see what the "unrecoverable" and "we take" columns say. Ignore the total percentile refine rate listing, as that is bugged and does not take into account the Scrapmetal Processing skill. Just look at the minerals listed, and see if you are losing very much. Note that if an outpost is upgraded, or is a conquerable station with an especially high refining rate, then it may be possible to get a 100% efficiency refine rate even without very skills. Taxes are another matter, though, and in conquerable stations they are determined by the controlling corporation.

Because it is impractical to guess at varying skills and taxes, these care packages assume a perfect refine, a 0% tax , and a well-researched blueprint for the purposes of calculation.

In practice, this is possible only if you are a member of a very generous alliance that allows 0% refines (though this is not quite as rare as you might think) or access to an NPC station with whom you have high enough corporation standings (6.67 to that NPC corporation) to not be taxed. Make up any difference with your pool of "petty cash" minerals. As long as your skills are not too lacking and the taxes are not too arduous, things should be all right.

Drake Care Package

The following is needed for making a drake care package under ideal conditions:

• x1 Drake Blueprint Copy (1-run)
• x14 425mm Railgun I
• x9 350mm Railgun I
• x1,300 Doom Citadel Torpedo I
• x100 Fusion XL
• x10,320 Tritanium
• x4,462 Nocxium
• x1737 Zydrine
• x309 Megacyte

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style="font-style: italic;">Drakes and hurricanes are probably the most in demand of the battlecruiser hulls in any given area of space.

 

Hurricane Care Package

The following is needed for making a hurricane care package under ideal conditions:

• x1 Hurricane Blueprint Copy (1-run)
• x18 425mm Railgun I
• x2200 Doom Citadel Torpedo I
• x1 350mm Railgun I
• x5,990 Tritanium
• x6170 Pyerite
• x3,158 Isogen
• x1,107 Zydrine
• x511 Megacyte

Harbinger Care Package

The following is needed for making a harbinger care package under ideal conditions:

• x1 Harbinger Blueprint Copy (1-run)
• x20 425mm Railgun I
• x2,700 Thor Citadel Torpedo I
• x8 800mm Repeating Artillery I
• x100 Doom Citadel Torpedo I
• x23,400 Tritanium
• x2,488 Zydrine

Myrmidon Care Package

The following is needed for making a myrmidon care package under ideal conditions:

• x1 Myrmidon Blueprint Copy (1-run)
• x12 350mm Railgun I
• x17 800mm Repeating Artillery I
• x3 425mm Railgun I
• x2,000 Thor Citadel Torpedo I
• x13,943 Pyerite
• x12,530 Mexallon
• x5,102 Nocxium
• x1,270 Zydrine
• x239 Megacyte

Assembling and Selling Your Care Package

If there is such a shortage of ships that your corporation or alliance is finding it difficult to maintain an adequate fighting force, it may be best to sell your ship hulls with contracts, rather than on the market. The contracts may be set to only be available to members of your corporation or alliance, thus ensuring that your enemies will not re-list or otherwise harm your ability to get them to the people that need them.

Be sure that you also have the appropriate modules and ammunition to sell, with them. You may also wish to import the ammunition, nanite repair paste, synth boosters, and rigs.

Final Thoughts

The best part about having an effective way of getting ships to the front lines, wherever that may be, is that you can help your corporation and alliance alleviate a shortage, while still turning a profit. Don't feel guilty about any markup that you charge; after all, it is far better to pay a bit of a premium on a ship, than to not have the option of buying one.