Gas cloud harvesting

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

Types of gas

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

Mykoserocin and cytoserocin

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 and less profitable Synth boosters, are found in high and low security space, while cytoserocin, which can make the more effective but dangerous 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 eight "flavors", each used to create a different booster effect.

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 more hazardous to acquire.

Cytoserocin gas clouds can also be found in level 4 mining missions as well, but the varieties present have no use beyond turning in to complete the mission.

Gas prefix	Booster (attribute)	Empire region (constellation)	Null region (constellation)
Amber	Blue Pill (Shield boosting)	The Forge (Mivora)	Vale of the Silent (E-8CSQ)
Golden	Crash (Missile explosion radius)	Lonetrek (Umamon)	Tenal (09-4XW)
Viridian	Drop (Tracking speed)	Placid (Amevync)	Cloud Ring (Assilot)
Celadon	Exile (Armor repair)	Solitude (Elerelle)	Fountain (Pegasus)
Lime	Frentix (Optimal range)	Derelik (Joas)	Catch (9HXQ-G)
Malachite	Mindflood (Capacitor capacity)	Aridia (Fabai)	Delve (OK-FEM)
Azure	Soothsayer (Falloff range)	Molden Heath (Tartatven)	Wicked Creek (760-9C)
Vermillion	X-Instinct (Signature radius)	Heimatar (Hed)	Feythabolis (I-3ODK)

Nebulae

Nebulae are gas sites that contain either mykoserocin or cytoserocin, and are found only in known space. Once spawned, they will despawn either when fully harvested, or after three days elapse. Rarely, nebulae may include loot cans containing blueprints or skillbooks related to drug use or manufacturing. See also Chemical Labs.

Nebulae found in nullsec may spawn hostile pirate NPCs. Additionally, nullsec nebulae are unstable. Everytime a Gas Cloud Harvester finishes its circle there is a chance for 1000 damage to harvesting ships in the area. For some clouds at least, this damage is pure thermal. But this is not confirmed for all types of clouds.

Nebula Type	Region(s)	Security Level	Contents
Blackeye Nebula	Aridia	High/low	3,000 units of malachite mykoserocin (verified)
Boisterous Nebula	Feythabolis	Null	1,000 units of vermilion cytoserocin (unverified)
Bright Nebula	Placid	High/Low	1,000 units of viridian mykoserocin
Calabash Nebula	Solitude	High/low	1,000 units of celadon mykoserocin
Hidden Nebula	Delve	Null	2 clouds of malachite cytoserocin (1,500 units each)
Cobra Nebula	Delve	Null	5 clouds of malachite cytoserocin (50 units each)
Crab Spider Nebula	Delve	Null	5 clouds of malachite cytoserocin (total of 750 units)
Hazy Nebula	Delve	Null	Has NPCs - 1 cloud of malachite cytoserocin (9000 units)
Whirling Nebula	Delve	Null	Has NPCs - 2 clouds of malachite cytoserocin (1,500 units each)
Crimson Nebula	Aridia	Low	500 units of malachite cytoserocin (minimum; full quantity unknown)
Crystal Nebula	Wicked Creek	Null	5,000 units of azure cytoserocin (unverified)
Diablo Nebula	The Forge	High/low	3,000 units of amber mykoserocin (unverified)
Flame Nebula	Heimatar	High/Low (Unverfied)	2 clouds of Vermilion Mykoserocin (500 Each)
Forgotten Nebula	Placid	Low	2 clouds of veridian cytoserocin (200 units and 300 units)
Ghost Nebula	Molden Heath	High/low	2 clouds of azure mykoserocin (quantity unknown)
Glass Nebula	Solitude	High/low	3,000 units of celadon mykoserocin
Helix Nebula	Derelik	High/low	3 clouds of lime mykoserocin (quantity unknown)
Emerald Nebula	Derelik	Low	1 cloud (500 units) or 2 clouds (200 + 300 units) of lime cytoserocin
Phoenix Nebula	Solitude	Low	celadon cytoserocin (2 clouds 200 + 300 units)
Flowing Nebula	Fountain	Null	celadon cytoserocin (1 cloud 1000 units)
Pipe Nebula	Heimatar	High/?low	3 clouds of vermillion mykoserocin (570, 1000, 1000)
Profiteer Nebula	Lonetrek	Low	500 units (200 + 300 units) of golden cytoserocin
Red Dragonfly Nebula	Feythabolis (I-3ODK)	Null	9000 units of vermillion cytoserocin
Saintly Nebula	Heimatar	High/low?	1 cloud of vermillion cytoserocin (500)
Sister Nebula	Derelik	High/?low	1 cloud of lime mykoserocin (unconfirmed)
Smoking Nebula	Lonetrek (not verified)	High	1 cloud of golden mykoserocin (quantity unknow)
Sparkling Nebula	Placid	High/low?	3,000 units of viridian mykoserocin
Sunspark Nebula	The Forge	High/low?	1,000 units of amber mykoserocin (unverified)
Wild Nebula	Aridia	High/low	1,000 units of malachite mykoserocin
Dewy Nebula	Vale of the Silent	Null	Has NPCs - 2 clouds of amber cytoserocin (1,000 + 2,000 units)
Foggy Nebula	Vale of the Silent	Null	Has NPCs - 2 clouds of amber cytoserocin (1,500 units each)
Fluttering Nebula	Vale of the Silent	Null	5 clouds of amber cytoserocin (50 units each)
Rocky Nebula	Vale of the Silent	Null	5 to 6 clouds of amber cytoserocin (between 166 and 167 units each)
Shimmering Nebula	Vale of the Silent	Null	Has NPCs - 1 clouds of amber cytoserocin (9,000 units)
Spacious Nebula	Vale of the Silent	Null	4 clouds of amber cytoserocin (2 x 1,000 + 2 x 500 units)
Gaseous Nebula	Tenal	Null	Has NPCs - 1 cloud of golden cytoserocin (9,000 units)
Lion Nebula	Tenal	Null	1 cloud of golden cytoserocin (3000 units)
Shiny Nebula	Tenal	Null	Has NPCs - 2 clouds of amber cytoserocin (1,500 units each)
Swarm Nebula	Tenal	Null	5 clouds of golden cytoserocin (200 units each)
Wispy Nebula	Feythabolis (I-3ODK)	Null	2x 1500 units of vermillion cytoserocin

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, 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 (# of units)			Value
		Primary	Secondary
C50	1	Barren Perimeter Reservoir (3000)	Sizable Perimeter Reservoir (1500)	Low
C60	1	Token Perimeter Reservoir (3000)	Barren Perimeter Reservoir (1500)	Low
C70	1	Minor Perimeter Reservoir (3000)	Token Perimeter Reservoir (1500)	Low
C72	2	Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir (3000)	Minor Perimeter Reservoir (1500)	Mid
C84	2	Sizable Perimeter Reservoir (3000)	Ordinary Perimeter Reservoir (1500)	Mid
C28	2	Bountiful Frontier Reservoir (5000)	Vast Frontier Reservoir (1000)	Mid
C32	5	Vast Frontier Reservoir (5000)	Bountiful Frontier Reservoir (1000)	High
C320	5	Instrumental Core Reservoir (6000)	Vital Core Reservoir (500)	High
C540	10	Vital Core Reservoir (6000)	Instrumental Core Reservoir (500)	Very 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 harvesters and a ship to put them on. There 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.

Gas cloud harvesters

Gas cloud harvesters are placed in the high slots and require a turret. 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 per cycle	Yield per minute	Skill
Gas Cloud Harvester I	I	0	60	2	30	10	20	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
'Crop' Gas Cloud Harvester	I	1	48	2	30	10	20	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
'Plow' Gas Cloud Harvester	I	1	30	2	30	10	20	Gas Cloud Harvesting I
Gas Cloud Harvester II	II	5	70	5	40	20	30	Gas Cloud Harvesting V
Syndicate Gas Cloud Harvester	◇	6	26	2	30	10	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 two meta harvessters are in practice like storyline modules with low fitting and are only available from specific static sites. 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.

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 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: 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#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)