Creating an Alt Hauler

Stuck in station, unable to purchase the items you need?
Looking at hauling as a means to running trade routes?

Hauling can be a great way to earn ISK doing profitable trade runs. By reading this guide, you will learn how to create the quickest, most efficient hauler. This guide can be considered a current, text version of the Alt Hauling 101 audio class.

Our goal is to be able to haul the greatest volume of cargo (measured in m³) in the least amount of training time from a new character's perspective. This guide shows you some basic skill training plans that you can customize using a program such as EVEMon.

Note: You cannot train the skills for any of the Industrial ships on Trial accounts.

Hauler Table

Here is a table of suggested haulers, showing their cargo capacity in m³ and approximate training time. Firstly with all low slots filled with Expanded Cargohold IIs, and then with both Cargohold Expander IIs and Medium Cargohold Optimisation I rigs (these modules increase a ship's cargo capacity) Training times assume the bare minimum skills needed to fly the ship and fit the modules, when trained from a new character whose race matches that the ship.

		With Expanded Cargohold IIs		With both Cargohold Expander IIs and Medium Cargohold Optimisation I rigs
Ship	Race	Cargo m3	Estimated Training Time (With Remap)	Cargo m3	Estimated Training Time (With Remap)
Bestower	Amarr	13,319	~9h 27m (~7h 33m)	20,257	~22h 24m (~17h 55m)
Badger Mark II	Caldari	12,514	~1d 2h 40m (~21h 20m)	19,032	~1d 15h 37m (~1d 7h 42m)
Mammoth	Minmatar	17,838	~4d 13h 27m (~3d 15h 33m)	27,129	~5d 2h 25m (~4d 1h 56m)
Iteron Mark V	Gallente	25,270	~24d 1h 46m (~19d 6h 13m)	38,433	~24d 14h 44m (~19d 16h 35m)

Weighing Training Time Against How Much You Want to Haul

A major concern when choosing which race and ship to go for, will be how much extra time is required, to train additional levels of the racial Industrial skill, needed to unlock access to each ship.

If you truly want to maximise your cargo capacity while minimising training, then the Amarr Bestower is the Industrial ship to go for, for industrial skill levels 1-3, as at those levels of training it has the highest possible m³ for all the industrials. If you are hauling cargo such as ore, or lots of small items, it may even be worth training the Amarr Industrial skill to level II, as this will increase the ship's capacity to just over 21k m³. That will allowing 7 Giant Secure Containers to fit in the hold, for a total haling capacity of 27,300m³. This will add just ~2h 35m to training (~2h 4m with remap).

If you don't mind spending the time to train an industrial skill to level IV, then the Mammoth will give you the highest capacity at that training level, and if you don't mind the long train to get a racial industrial skill to V, then the Iteron V will have the highest capacity with that training level. The Iteron V is also a good choice if you want to move up to freighters, as the train for them is short when you already have Gallente Industrial level V (compared to what you may have trained to make use of the other race's industrials), and you will also be able to use the tech 1 industrial with the highest possible capacity in the game, when not using your freighter.

(See also [1])

Preparing for Training

It is important to read this section as it will save you a lot of time and frustrations. Before you even create a character, there are many things to consider: The race of your character, whether you have other characters in the account and if you want to do a neural remap.

Racial Characters

Obviously, since we want to fly your ship of choice most quickly, it is recommended to create the same racial character as the ship. Reason being the character will already have its Racial Frigate skill trained to two. Meaning that it will save us both time and ISK as we do not have to buy and train those skills from the start. Your choice of bloodline and ancestry will have no effect on the training time, especially if you perform a neural remap.

Pause Training

If you are creating an alt on an account with other characters, it is important to note that only one character can be training skills at a time. Attempting to add skills to the training queue will result in an error, so you will need to pause training on your currently training character.

Neural Remaps

You can decrease the training time required by remapping your attributes. You get 3 remaps total in your first year, so you can afford to remap Int/Mem and train any core skills you need followed by a remap to Per/Will to train the spaceship command skills to fly your ship.

Creating a Bestower Pilot

The best route to take is to create an Amarr character to fly the Bestower, which can haul over 13,000 m³ with a minimally trained set of skills!

Skill Books

Now, your new avatar will start out flat broke. Therefore, you will need to send the alt some ISK to buy the following skillbooks in the starting station:

• Amarr Industrial (270,000)
• Hull Upgrades (54,000)
• Jury Rigging (54,000) (optional)
• Astronautics Rigging (18,000) (optional)
  • Total: 324,000 (with optional: 396,000) ISK

Training Plan for Bestower

Without a remap, you should be able to pilot a Bestower around 9 hours 26 minutes. With remaps, it is around 7 hours 33 minutes.

1. (Optional) Remap Int/Mem
2. Hull Upgrades I
3. Hull Upgrades II
4. (Optional) Remap Per/Will
5. Amarr Frigate III
6. Amarr Industrial I

When it is done, you will be able to pilot a Bestower that can fit Expanded Cargohold IIs for 13000m3 of cargo space.

Training Plan for Rigged Bestower

Without a remap, you should be able to pilot a rigged Bestower around 22 hours 24 minutes. With remaps, it is around 17 hours 55 minutes.

1. (Optional) Remap Int/Mem
2. Hull Upgrades I
3. Hull Upgrades II
4. Jury Rigging I
5. Jury Rigging II
6. Jury Rigging III
7. Astronautics Rigging I
8. (Optional) Remap Per/Will
9. Amarr Frigate III
10. Amarr Industrial I

When this is done, you will be able to pilot a Bestower that can fit Expanded Cargohold IIs and Cargohold Optimisation rigs for 20000m3 of cargo space.

Creating a Mammoth Pilot

Although Bestower is a great hauler with a short training plan, its cargo capacity falls far short of fitting a full jetcan of ore. Meaning that it requires additional trips, therefore wasting time when you could do other things. This is where the Mammoth comes in, with just rigs and Expanded Cargohold IIs, it has around 27,000m³ cargo capacity. Although it is a few hundred m³ fall short of a full jetcan, you can easily exceed that with GSCs.

Skill Books

Now, your new avatar will start out flat broke. You will need to send the alt some ISK to buy the following skillbooks in the starting station:

• Hull Upgrades (54,000)
• Minmatar Industrial (270,000)
• Jury Rigging (54,000) (optional)
• Astronautics Rigging (18,000) (optional)
  • Total: 324,000 (with optional: 396,000) ISK

Training Plan for Mammoth

Without a remap, you should be able to pilot a Mammoth around 3 days 15 hours 58 minutes. If you use a remap, around 2 days 17 hours 34 minutes.

1. Hull Upgrades I
2. Hull Upgrades II
3. (Optional) Remap Here
4. Minmatar Frigate III
5. Minmatar Industrial I
6. Minmatar Industrial II
7. Minmatar Industrial III
8. Minmatar Industrial IV

When it is done, you will be able to pilot a Mammoth that can fit Expanded Cargohold IIs.

Creating an Iteron Mark V Pilot

As you can see in the Hauler table Iteron Mark V has the largest cargohold of all industrials. But on the flip side it also takes the longest to train for. Therefore if you are into piloting the biggest, most spacious ship and don't mind the longer training queue, Iteron V is the ship for you. Furthermore, when you are done training for Iteron Mark V, you are within a week's training to the Gallente Freighter Obelisk.

Skill Books

Now, your new avatar will start out flat broke. You will need to send the alt some ISK to buy the following skillbooks in the starting station:

• Hull Upgrades (54,000)
• Gallente Industrial (270,000)
• Cybernetics (67,500) (optional)
• Jury Rigging (54,000) (optional)
• Astronautics Rigging (18,000) (optional)
  • Total: 324,000 (including optional: 463,500) ISK

Using Implants

Since the training queue can extend over two weeks even with a remap. Therefore it might be worthwhile to consider plugging in some implants. The type of implants that gives maximum benefits are implants that gives bonuses to Perception and Willpower. For hauler alt, you will most likely only plugging in one Perception and Willpower implant as other types of implants only has minimal effect on the training queue. Here is a table with rough estimates comparing different implant bonuses:

Bonuses	Time Reduced (with remap)	Training Queue Time (With Remap)	Estimated total cost of implants
+1	~1d 17h 58m (~20h)	~19d 18h 27m (14d 8h 32m)	~575k
+2	~3d 5h 29m (~1d 14h)	~18d 6h 56m (13d 14h 26m)	~8m
+3	~4d 11h 55m (~2d 6h)	~17d 30m (12d 22h 14m)	~20m

Note that the table does not include implants beyond +3s, it is because the additional training time and cost does not justify the benefits.

Training Plan for Iteron Mark V

Without a remap or implants, you should be able to pilot a Iteron Mark V around 21 days 12 hours 26 minutes. If you use a remap with no implants, around 15 days 4 hours 54 minutes.

1. Cybernetics I (optional)
   • Only train Cybernetics if you wish to use implants. When it is done training plug in the implants before continuing to maximize the benefits.
2. Hull Upgrades I
3. Hull Upgrades II
4. Gallente Frigate III
5. Gallente Industrial I
6. Gallente Industrial II
7. Gallente Industrial III
8. Gallente Industrial IV
9. Gallente Industrial V

When it is done, you will be able to pilot a Iteron Mark V that can fit Expanded Cargohold IIs.

From Iteron Mark V to Obelisk

As mentioned earlier, from Iteron Mark V it is an easy train to be able to pilot an Obelisk, a freighter. Do note that a freighter is very expensive (1.2 billion+) and cannot haul cans in space, therefore strictly limited to station to station hauling. But if you choose to train further to be able to pilot the Obelisk, you will need the following skillbooks:

• Advanced Spaceship Command (45,000,000)
• Gallente Freighter (67,500,000)
  • Total: 112,500,000 ISK

Training Plan for Obelisk from Iteron Mark V

If you continue to train to Obelisk from Iteron Mark V, it should take 5 days 2 hours 15 minutes without remap or implants or 3 days 12 hours with just remap to complete.

1. Spaceship Command IV
2. Spaceship Command V
3. Advanced Spaceship Command I
4. Gallente Freighter I

When it is done, you will be able to pilot an Obelisk.

Creating a Badger Mark II Pilot

The Badger Mark II is somewhat overlooked out of all of the racial haulers. Reason being, it requires more training and has a smaller cargo capacity than a Bestower, making somewhat unworthwhile. But if you choose train for a Badger Mark II, it requires slightly less than a day of training and its performance is only slightly less than a Bestower.

Skill Books

Now, your new avatar will start out flat broke. Therefore, you will need to send the alt some ISK to buy the following skillbooks in the starting station:

• Caldari Industrial (270,000)
• Hull Upgrades (54,000)
• Jury Rigging (54,000) (optional)
• Astronautics Rigging (18,000) (optional)
  • Total: 324,000 (optional: 396,000) ISK

Training Plan for Badger Mark II

Without a remap, you should be able to pilot a Badger Mark II around 1 day 1 hour 52 minutes. If you use a remap with no implants, around 19 hours 34 minutes.

1. Hull Upgrades I
2. Hull Upgrades II
3. (Optional) Remap Here
4. Caldari Frigate III
5. Caldari Industrial I
6. Caldari Industrial II
7. Caldari Industrial III

When it is done, you will be able to pilot a Badger Mark II that can fit Expanded Cargohold IIs.

Optional Training: Rigging

You can increase the carrying capacity of your hauler significantly by fitting it with three Medium Cargohold Optimization I rigs.

It is important to note that you do not need rigging skills to use rigs that are already installed in a ship. You only require rigging skills to install rigs on ships. Therefore, you can either train the skills yourself or give the ship and rigs to someone you trust with the required skills to install the rigs for you. If you choose to train the required skills then you will need to train the following skills:

• Mechanic III
• Jury Rigging III
• Astronautics Rigging I

Fitting Haulers

Haulers are relatively straightforward to fit.For ore hauling, you will want to have maximum cargo capacity, meaning you want to fit Expanded Cargoholds in low slots and Cargohold Optimization in rigs.

For courier missions, you might want to have faster align and warp speed, so you might want to fit Nanofiber Internal Structures and Inertia Stabilizers in low slots and Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer in rigs.

If you wish, you can train skills to equip shield mods such as Shield Extenders and Invulnerability Fields in the mid slots to tank belt rats for a short time. It is also worth while to train skills for these modules to give some basic protection against high-sec ganking.

Optimize with Giant Secure Containers

There are items called Giant Secure Containers (GSC) which take up 3,000 m³ in your cargo hold. The interesting thing is that you can actually put 3,900 m³ of stuff in a GSC - which means you get a 30% space bonus.

With rigs and cargo expanders, that brings a Bestower total close to 25,400 m³, Mammoth up to 35,100 m³, and the Iteron Mark V with 12 GSCs up to a whopping 49,233m³.

Note: To use these, you do not need to train the skill Anchoring, unless you plan to place ("anchor") them in space. This skill has no prerequisites but is a 3x skill, so it will probably take about half an hour to train if you do plan to anchor your GSCs. However not having them anchored (in space) will enable other people to flip the can and even scoop the entire GSC to their cargo hold.

Note : Giant Secure Cans are great but with a minor limitation, they cannot store some goods like frozen food, livestock. So keep this in mind if you are using these containers to haul goods.

Advanced Hauling and earning ISK via Hauling

The next step after mastering industrial hauling (especially the Iteron Mark V) are Freighters and Transports. This section will discuss training toward flying these sorts of ships, including how fastest to train toward them.

You can use outside databases, such as EVE-Central, to find profitable trade routes.

To take the first steps in making ISK with your new hauler, you might consider playing the market or running Level 4 Cargo Missions.

Credits

Raddick Tseng for suggesting this, and giving some interesting statistics.