The Squirrel Effect

It's a lesser known concept, much like the butterfly effect, but it's something every new pilot will experience most of their first months as a capsuleer. It's something I like to call the Squirrel effect...

You may be asking, "What the Hek is a Squirrel?" They're small rodents from ancient earth who climb trees and eat nuts. They would be a constant distraction for people who used to walk their pets called "Dogs". Everything would be fine and quiet, then the dog spotted the said squirrel and it would hold it's interest as it chased down the squirrel. When it would disappear, another would appear and pull the dog off in another direction.

Why is this relevant? It's a lot like how a new pilot gets interested in one thing, starts training towards it, makes plans, and invests towards that goal. Then after a while pursuing that goal, something else comes along that piques their interest and they end up turning around and training off in another direction, usually in something that was unrelated to what they were after before. How many of you wanted to be a Hulk pilot, then got to Mining IV and thought, "You know what? I wanna try being a covert ops pilot." Then start training towards that and then change to wanting to be a freighter pilot. It's happened to me lots of times. Like now...

I've spent money on somewhat expensive skill books to train to be able to research Tech II drones, then I wanted to try and make some Tech II frigates. I'd make a T2 BPC or three, then look at them for a bit, realizing how much money it would cost to actually use them and build the item. I realized that most things are cheaper to just buy than it is to make by materials alone, not mentioning the time it takes to put into it. In fact, very few things are worth manufacturing. I don't get it. Why do people manufacture if it loses them money? Maybe I'm doing it wrong or not getting the concept or something.

This time it was Maya to come knocking on my door. My time was spent running back and forth to the Corporation POS in the system in my Thorax getting BPC's and bringing data cores to research T2 stuff. I wasn't in the belts making money and it was getting her worried about income. It was a wake up call to realize I had been wasting time training outside of Mining, into an apparent money sink. I think I just don't have the skills yet to make manufacturing profitable. For now, I will refocus on mining skills and soon Maya can upgrade to fly an exhumer and maybe I can get my Orca out in the fields as she fills it up.