Gas cloud harvesting

This page should be updated due to game changes.
Reason: Major re-write needed due to December 2021, Version 19.11 changes

Gas cloud harvesting is the process of collecting gas from interstellar clouds, for use in combat booster and Tech III production.

Players harvesting (or "huffing") gas locate a "nebula" in known space or a "fullerite reservoir" in wormhole space, and collect it with a gas cloud harvester module. Note that although the in-game probing window classifies "chemical labs" as a type of gas site, they are actually combat-and-hacking locations, and should be avoided by gas harvesting ships.

Types of gas

The three types of gas are all found in cosmic signatures which need to be probe scanned down in order to harvest.

Mykoserocin

Mykoserocin is used to produce synth variation of combat boosters, and neurolink enhancers, which are part of faction and capital ship production chain. Nebulae with Mykoserocin can be found in high, low and null security space. All of them reside in non-deadspace areas and are not guarded by NPCs.

Please note that list of locations where each Nebula site spawns is not exhaustive. It was expanded and new data is still being added.

Gas Flavor	Nebula Type	Location	Units per Cloud	Total Number of Units
Lime /Frentix	Sister Nebula	Derelik	1000, 1000	2000
	Helix Nebula	Derelik	2000, 2000, 2000	6000
Malachite /Mindflood	Wild Nebula		1000, 1000	2000
	Blackeye Nebula	Khanid	1000, 1000, 1000	3000
Amber /Blue Pill	Sunspark Nebula	Outer Passage	1000, 1000	2000
	Diablo Nebula	The Forge	2000, 2000, 2000	6000
Golden /Crash	Smoking Nebula		1000, 1000	2000
	Ring Nebula		2000, 2000, 2000	6000
Celadon /Exile	Calabash Nebula		1000, 1000	2000
	Glass Nebula		2000, 2000, 2000	6000
Viridian /Drop	Bright Nebula		1000, 1000	2000
	Sparking Nebula		2000, 2000, 2000	6000
Azure /Sooth Sayer	Ghost Nebula	Heimatar Molden Heath	1000, 1000	2000
	Eagle Nebula	Derelik Metropolis	2000, 2000, 2000	6000
Vermillion /X-Instinct	Flame Nebula	Derelik Heimatar Metropolis	1000, 1000	2000
	Pipe Nebula	Derelik Metropolis	2000, 2000, 2000	6000

A long, long time ago...

Mykoserocin used to spawn similarly to Cytoserocin, highly concentrated in a specific constellation of a specific region. This was changed on 2021-04-13, when its spawn locations were significantly extended to accommodate increased demand. List of old spawn locations is below: Amber: The Forge (Mivora) Golden: Lonetrek (Umamon) Viridian: Placid (Amevync) Celadon: Solitude (Elerelle) Lime: Derelik (Joas) Malachite: Aridia (Fabai) Azure: Molden Heath (Tartatven) Vermillion: Heimatar (Hed) Now, these areas don't seem to be special when it comes to gas harvesting. But, each constellation always has a synth booster laboratory, a hacking site which drops synth reactions, among other things.

Cytoserocin

Cytoserocin is used to produce stronger variations of combat boosters. It is used in neurolink enhancers' production just like Mykoserocin, but amounts needed for that are much more modest. Unlike most exploration sites, nebulae are not randomly distributed throughout space. Each flavor of gas will be concentrated in one constellation of one region, and some regions will never have a cytoserocin nebula appear.

Majority of Cytoserocin nebulae are unstable. Every time a Gas Cloud Harvester finishes its cycle there is a chance that the cloud will "explode", dealing some damage to your ship. For exact numbers and damage types refer to the table below. There, each row represents an individual possibility. Bear in mind that damage area seems to be defined separately from gas cloud area. Depending on nebula type, damage area center might not coincide with the gas cloud center, and damage radius might be bigger or smaller than the cloud's radius as well.

Gas Flavor	Location	Nebula Type	Units per Cloud	Total Number of Units	Cloud Damage	NPCs	Deadspace
Lime /Frentix	Derelik (low security systems)	Emerald Nebula	200, 300	500	None	No	No
	Catch	Cheetah Nebula	1000	1000	1000 thermal	No	No
	Catch (9HXQ-G constellation)	Duo Nebula	2500, 500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	No	No
		Leopard Nebula	9000	9000	1400 explosive	Yes	No
		Rimy Nebula	1000, 2000	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	No
Malachite /Mindflood	Aridia (low security systems)	Crimson Nebula	500, 500	1000	None	No	?
	Delve	Cobra Nebula	100, 100, 100, 100, 100	500	?	No	?
		Crab Spider Nebula	400, 280	680	?	No	No
	Delve (OK-FEM constellation)	Hazy Nebula	9000	9000	800 EM + 700 thermal	Yes	No
		Hidden Nebula	1500, 1500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	No	No
		Whirling Nebula	1500, 1500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	Yes
Amber /Blue Pill	The Forge (low security systems)	Bandit Nebula	500, 500	1000	None	No	No
	Vale of the Silent	Fluttering Nebula	100, 100, 100, 100, 100	500	1000 thermal	No	No
		Rocky Nebula	166, 166, 166, 166, 166	832	2500 thermal	No	No
	Vale of the Silent (E-8CSQ constellation)	Dewy Nebula	1000, 2000	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	No
		Foggy Nebula	1500, 1500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	No
		Shimmering Nebula	9000	9000	1400 thermal	Yes	No
		Spacious Nebula	500, 500, 1000, 1000	3000	No damage 1000 EM + 1000 thermal	No	No
Golden /Crash	Lonetrek (low security systems)	Profiteer Nebula	200, 300	500	None	No	No
	Tenal	Swarm Nebula	200, 200, 200, 200, 200	1000	1000 thermal	No	?
	Tenal (09-4XW constellation)	Lion Nebula	3000	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	No	No
		Shiny Nebula	1500, 1500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	No
		Gaseous Nebula	9000	9000	700 EM + 700 thermal	Yes	No
Celadon /Exile	Solitude (low security systems)	Phoenix Nebula	200, 300	500	None	No	?
	Fountain	Flowing Nebula	1000	1000	1000 Thermal	No	?
	Fountain (Pegasus constellation)	Diamond Nebula	800, 2200	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	No
		Massive Nebula	14,224	14,224	700 thermal	Yes	No
		Peacock Nebula	3000	6000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	No	No
		Thick Nebula	1000	1000	?	Yes	No
Viridian /Drop	Placid (low security systems)	Forgotten Nebula	200, 300	500	None	No	No
	Cloud Ring	Frosty Nebula	200, 800	1000	None	Yes	No
		Goose Nebula	150, 150, 200, 250, 250	1000	1000 thermal	No	No
	Cloud Ring (Assilot constellation)	Icy Nebula	500, 2500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	No
		Pale Nebula	500, 2500	3000	1000 thermal	No	No
		Polar Bear Nebula	9000	9000	800 thermal	Yes	No
Azure /Sooth Sayer	Molden Heath (low security systems)	Rapture Nebula	?	?	?	No	No
	Wicked Creek	Crystal Nebula	50, 200, 250, 250, 250	1000	400 thermal	No	No
		Snowy Owl Nebula	1000	1000	None	Yes	No
	Wicked Creek (760-9C constellation)	Arctic Fox Nebula	9000	9000	700 EM 700 thermal	Yes	No
		Glistening Nebula	1500, 1500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	No
		Murky Nebula	1500, 1500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	No	No
Vermillion /X-Instinct	Heimatar (low security systems)	Saintly Nebula	200, 300	500	?	No	No
	Feythabolis	Boisterous Nebula	1000	1000	1000 thermal	No	?
	Feythabolis (I-3ODK constellation)	Cardinal Nebula	1000, 2000	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	Yes	?
		Red Dragonfly Nebula	9000	9000	700 EM 700 thermal	Yes	?
		Wispy Nebula	1500, 1500	3000	1000 EM + 1000 thermal	No	Yes

Fullerenes

Main article: Wormhole gas sites

Fullerenes are used in Tech 3 production, and can only be found at sites in wormhole space. It comes in several different flavors of varying value. Fullerite gas sites spawn in all classes of wormhole, but the valuable Instrumental Core Reservoir and Vital Core Reservoir will only spawn in C5 and C6 wormholes, or shattered wormholes of any class.

Most fullerene sites are empty when first warped to, but will spawn several Sleepers after a certain amount of time, usually about 15-20 minutes. Thus, it is possible to "ninja harvest" wormhole gas sites by harvesting gas until the sleepers arrive, and then warping away before they can attack. However, the Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir starts with 5 sentry drones, which will blow up any  Venture that warps there, and should be avoided until they are cleared.

Most fullerenes are very profitable, though dangerous to harvest.

Name	Volume (m3)	Found in			Value
		Primary	Secondary
C50	1	Barren Perimeter Reservoir	Sizable Perimeter Reservoir	Low
C60	1	Token Perimeter Reservoir	Barren Perimeter Reservoir	Low
C70	1	Minor Perimeter Reservoir	Token Perimeter Reservoir	Mid
C72	2	Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir	Minor Perimeter Reservoir	Mid
C84	2	Sizable Perimeter Reservoir	Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir	Low
C28	2	Bountiful Frontier Reservoir	Vast Frontier Reservoir	Mid
C32	5	Vast Frontier Reservoir	Bountiful Frontier Reservoir	Low
C320	5	Instrumental Core Reservoir	Vital Core Reservoir	High
C540	10	Vital Core Reservoir	Instrumental Core Reservoir	High

Harvesting process

Harvesting a gas cloud is very similar to mining an asteroid. Equip the appropriate harvesting module to a ship, locate a gas cloud, approach and target it, and activate the harvesting module. At the end of each module cycle, gas will be deposited into the cargo hold or ore bay. The visual effect of the harvesters is much more subdued than mining lasers, requiring you to zoom the camera very close to the ship to see.

Make sure you have gas clouds displayed in your overview, as they are not selectable by default. To do this, right click the overview, select open overview settings, select the filter tab, open the celestials folder, and check the Harvestable Clouds box (see screenshot right).

Gas can be stored in the ore holds of specialized mining and hauling ships even though it is not technically an ore. Units of mykoserocin and cytoserocin are bulkier than individual ore units at 10 m³, while the various types of fullerite gas range from 1 to 10 m³. The range of the harvester module is much shorter than a mining laser at only 1.5 km, but the clouds are large and non-collideable.

Skills

Gas harvesting has very few skills related to it. The primary skill is Gas Cloud Harvesting, which can be bought for 30M ISK from the specialized NPC vendors, or marked up PC sell orders. This skill is trainable by alpha clones to level II. This skill requires Mining IV. You can only use one gas cloud harvester per trained skill level. Note that this is very different from normal mining, where the number of mining lasers is not determined by skills. Getting the skill to 5 allows for Tech 2 harvesters to be used, which have 50% increased yield over Tech 1. Gas Cloud Harvesting should be trained either to 2 (to equip two harvesters on a Venture or Prospect) or 5 (to use T2 harvesters).

Additionally, Ventures and Prospects decrease their gas harvesting cycle duration with the Mining Frigate skill. This is the only other skill that increases gas harvesting yield.

General fitting and tanking skills are also recommended in order to safely fly a well fitted harvesting ship.

Equipment

To get gas, you need gas cloud scoops/harvesters and a ship to put them on. There are very few real options in fitting a gas harvesting ship. Unlike regular mining, there are no modules or rigs to increase yield. There are no gas equivalents to the Mining Laser Upgrade. For each level of the Gas Cloud Harvesting skill you can fit one additional gas cloud scoop/harvester(up to a total of 5 at skill level V); all gas cloud miners have a range of 1.5 km

Gas cloud scoops

Gas cloud scoops are placed in the high slots and require a turret hardpoint each. These modules are intended to be used with Mining frigates, but can be fit to any ship that has a turret hardpoint.

Module	Tech	Meta			Cycle	Yield per cycle	Yield per minute	Residue Multiplier	Residue Probability	Skill
Gas Cloud Scoop I	I	0	60	2	30	10	20	0 x	0 %	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
'Crop' Gas Cloud Scoop	I	1	48	2	40	20	30	2 x	100 %	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
'Plow' Gas Cloud Scoop	I	1	60	2	40	20	30	4 x	100 %	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
Gas Cloud Scoop II	II	5	70	5	40	20	30	1 x	34 %	Gas Cloud Harvesting V
Syndicate Gas Cloud Scoop	◇	6	26	2	30	20	40	0 x	0 %	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
Click on the column headers to sort the table; mouse over them for a more detailed explanation. More information: Skills - Tech and Meta levels.

Gas cloud harvesters

Gas cloud harvesters are placed in the high slots. These modules are restricted to be used with Mining Barges and Exhumers. Harvesters mine a larger amount but with a longer cycle time.

Module	Tech	Meta			Cycle	Yield per cycle	Yield per minute	Residue Multiplier	Residue Probability	Skill
Gas Cloud Harvester I	I	0	60	10	200	100	30	0 x	0 %	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
Gas Cloud Harvester II	II	5	66	10	160	200	75	1 x	34 %	Gas Cloud Harvesting V
ORE Gas Cloud Harvester	◇	6	50	10	160	200	75	0 x	0 %	Gas Cloud Harvesting V
Click on the column headers to sort the table; mouse over them for a more detailed explanation. More information: Skills - Tech and Meta levels.

Ships

While gas cloud scoops can be mounted on any ship with turret slots, only the  Venture and  Prospect have bonuses to their use. A Venture with two harvesters and  Mining Frigate trained to 4 has the equivalent yield to an unbonused ship with five harvesters. Additionally, it is far more agile than any ship that could fit five harvesters, and has a specialized ore hold for the gas. Thus it is by far the most common ship to use for harvesting gas.

The Prospect has the ability to fit a Covert Ops Cloaking Device, giving it more safety in the hostile environments in which the more valuable forms of gas are found. It also has a larger ore hold for the gas, and a larger regular cargo hold allowing for a mobile depot to be carried. However, it harvests at the same rate as an equivalently skilled Venture, and is considerably more expensive.

Implants

Main article: Skill Hardwiring

The Eifyr and Co. 'Alchemist' Gas Harvesting is the only implant range which affects gas harvesting. It reduces gas harvester cycle time, and is available in 1%, 3%, and 5% varieties. They are sold in most LP stores.

Gas value

Gas does not have to be refined in order to use it, as ore and ice products do. It can be used in Tech III production by turning it into a polymer using a Standup Hybrid Reactor I (see Tech 3 Production § Hybrid Polymer Reactions). The difference in value between gasses can be extreme, due to the scarcity of the gas and the value of the end products. While C320/540 is highly valuable, the risk versus reward is often too high for beginners. Many find that a more manageable target is to harvest C50 as the risk is low and the reward is decent. Harvesting C320/540 will normally require several people working together, which usually means using haulers and a dedicated scout.

External links

• Fuzzwork - The Forge Gas prices - measured in isk / Venture load.
• Wormhole Gas Sites (Google Spreadsheet)