Gas cloud harvesting

Gas cloud mining is the process of collecting gas from interstellar clouds, for use in combat booster and Tech III production. It is accomplished by finding a nebula in known space or a fullerite reservoir in wormhole space, and mining it with a gas cloud harvester module.

Types of gas and where to find them

The two types of gas are both found in cosmic signatures which need to be scanned down in order to harvest.

Mykoserocin and cytoserocin

Main article: Scanning:Scan Results#Gas Sites (Known Space)

Mykoserocin and cytoserocin, which are used to produce combat booster drugs, are found in nebulae in known space. Mykoserocin, which is used to make the milder, legal, and less profitable Synth boosters, are found in high and low security space, while cytoserocin, which can make the more effective but illegal forms of boosters, is found in low and null security space. Nebulae are rare in high sec, and more common in low and null sec. Mytoserocin and cytoserocin are further broken down into seven "flavors", each which produces a different effect in the booster they create.

Unlike most exploration sites, nebulae are not randomly distributed throughout space. Each flavor of gas will only spawn in one region, and some regions will never have a gas site appear. Additionally, within the gas type's region, there is one 'hot spot' constellation where at least one site will always be present.

Mykoserocin tends not to be very profitable to harvest, as demand for synth boosters is low. Cytoserocin, however, is fairly profitable, although hazardous to acquire.

Gas clouds might be found in level 4 mining missions, as well. (need confirmation)

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.

Most fullerene sites are empty when first warped to, but will spawn several Sleepers after a certain amount of time. Thus, it is possible to "ninja harvest" wormhole gas sites by harvesting gas until the sleepers, and then warping away before they blow you up. However, Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir start 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.

The process of gas cloud harvesting

Harvesting a gas cloud is very similar to mining an asteroid. You 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 your 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, 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).

The gas units are bulkier than individual ore units at 10m3, and fit into the ore holds of specialized mining and hauling ships. The range of the harvester module is much shorter than a mining laser at only 1.5 km, but the clouds are some what bulky and non-collideable.

Skills needed

Gas harvesting has very few skills related to it. The primary skill is Gas Cloud Harvesting, which can be bought for 24M isk from the usual NPC sellers. This skill requires Mining 4 to inject. 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 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 needed

Gas cloud harvesters

For each level of the Gas Cloud Harvesting skill you can fit one additional gas cloud harvester (up to a total of 5 at skill level V); all gas cloud miners have a range of 1.5 km (the shortest of any of the mining modules by quite a margin). Note that the table below lists yield per minute (to make it easier to compare modules), while most in-game sources will list yield per cycle.

Module	Tech	Meta			Cycle	Yield	Skill
Gas Cloud Harvester I	I	0	60	2	30	20	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
'Crop' Gas Cloud Harvester	I	1	48	2	30	20	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
'Plow' Gas Cloud Harvester	I	1	30	2	30	20	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
Gas Cloud Harvester II	II	5	70	5	40	30	Gas Cloud Harvesting V
Syndicate Gas Cloud Harvester	◇	6	26	2	30	20	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
Click on the column headers to sort the table; mouse over them for a more detailled explanation. More information: Skills - Tech and Meta levels.

The two meta 1 gas cloud harvesters have lower fitting requirements than the meta 0 module, however, even an average-skilled pilot should have no problem fitting a Venture with two meta 0 gas cloud harvesters. The tech 2 module has 50% more yield than its tech 1 counterparts, and is therefore a very worthwhile upgrade despite the long skill training time (and the slightly more demanding fitting - although it should still not cause problems for most miners). The Syndicate harvester (obtainable from the Intaki Syndicate LP store), is very rare, expensive, and almost never worth using unless you need every last drop of CPU fitting for other modules.

Unlike regular mining, there are no modules or rigs to increase yield. There are no gas equivalents to the Mining Laser Upgrade.

Ships

While gas cloud harvesters 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 is another option. It has the ability to fit a Covert Ops Cloaking Device, giving it more safety in the hostile environments that the more valuable forms of gas are found in. 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: List of Skill Hardwiring Implants

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.

See also

• Known space gas sites
• Wormhole Gas Sites
• Boosters

External Links

• Fuzzwork - The Forge Gas prices - measured in isk / Venture load.