There are options. The main thing you want to do is educate yourself on the mistakes others have made. That's where EntropiaForum comes into play. Seeing as how they are not moderated by Mindark, a lot of information is placed there.

I'm not a miner, so I'm not fully qualified to answer your question here, but from what I'm understanding, mining as a whole right now is down. With high skills and high end equipment, it's easier to break even because you're pulling harder to get--therefore more sought after by crafters--minerals and enmatter.

When it comes to mining, technique is *KEY*. I've found that minerals travel in veins and double bombing usually leads to higher finds. Also mining on Neverdie's asteroid adds a completely different dynamic to the system; higher concentrations, further apart, but bigger overall finds.

A one time deposit of 1000 PED (100USD) has allowed me to profit enough to enjoy my high end longblades for indefinite amounts of time because I found a method that works *for me*. It's possible to work the game so you can play, but it's often not the same for everyone.

Sweating starts off slow but the higher the skilltree progresses, the bigger the mob you can sweat, yielding more of it. Not to mention the skills you gain...that you can then sell off, but it takes time.

:)

I should also mention one thing I've noticed about Entropia, every time there is a major development in the game (CryEngine 2 in this instance) Mindark pulls PED back into the system (effectively increasing their revenue, and lowering the loot pool return) until the development process is complete.

You will notice return isn't as friendly before a major release.

First off, huge congratulations to Timon "Stuka" Miles, for making such a find and getting the most out of it. (Insert "results not typical" disclaimer here.)

Let's be honest. Entropia is designed to make profiting as hard as possible. It has to be, otherwise Mindark, the company running it, couldn't survive.

As far as Mindark is concerned, breaking even is profiting, since that would mean they can't keep any of your money.

I look at Entropia this way: No other game (that I know of) will let me play for a year or 3 until I get tired of it, sell my stuff to other players and LEGALLY withdraw what's left. (which can be much more than you expect.)

In other words, no other game is designed to give me a huge rebate when I'm done with it. :) Currently, were I to sell out now, I'd get ~75% of everything I gave to them for the past 2 years. I'm quite ok with them keeping the other 25%.

However, with that in mind, Colin, let me just say that making any profit or breaking even at the beginning is almost impossible. However, as your avatars skills and equipment improve and you get better, it does become easier (but still quite hard) to break even.

Like I said, just enjoy the game, deposit only as much per month as you are comfortable playing, and when you decide you're done, cash out and enjoy your rebate.

Happy hoffing.