Empty Skill Implants or ESI’s are an important part of Entropia Universe. Most people do not fully understand how they work. Let’s take a look at this comprehensive guide to better understand them. When we are done you will know more about skills than most players. Let’s get started and see what we can learn!
What Is An Empty Skill Implant
An Empty Skill Implant is exactly what the name implies. It is an implant created to hold skills. This is what allows people to put skills into, or take them out of, their avatar. One fact that we need to clarify is that this term is actually not 100% accurate.
The more proper term, which I will use, is Skill Implant. It may be empty in which case skills can be loaded onto it. This is where the in game term comes from. But it may already have skills loaded onto it. In this case it is not empty at all.
When a Skill Implant already has a skill loaded it takes the skills name. If you look at the in game auction you will see this. There are Rifle Skill Implants. Evade skill implants, Aim Skill Implants and many more. Each Skill Implant starts out as an Empty Skill Implant. Once loaded with a skill it is no longer empty so it takes on the name of the skill it has been loaded with. I will try and be as accurate as possible in this respect.
Item Basics
Skill Implants are Limited items. They do not function exactly like other Limited items. But having this designation is very important. You can not place an Auction Order for Limited items. This means you will never see an Order for ESI’s. Given the extremely high markup Empty Skill Implants have this does effect the prices and market cycles.
Skill Implants have a weight of 1kg. They can only be found through looting a creature while hunting. Empty Skill Implants are very rare, valuable and highly sought after!
They have a Maximum TT value of 1,250 PED. When hunting you can loot an Empty Skill Implant with a TT value of anywhere from 10 PED to 1,250 PED. They typically do not have a minimum trade terminal value. The smallest Empty Skill Implant would be 10 PED TT value. That is also the condition limit of 0.8% for an Empty Skill Implant.
Theoretically a filled implant could have a TT value as low as 0.01 PEC. This would be extremely uncommon. It wouldn’t make any sense to create one so small but it could be done.
Using An Empty Skill Implant
First let’s look at how we can use an ESI. Then we can look at the process in more detail. The first thing you will need is an ESI. It can be one you looted or one you purchased. You will also need the Payn-Inc Implant Inserter which can be purchased from the Trade Terminal. The price of the inserter is 15 PED. You can keep it or sell it back to the TT for slightly less when you’re done.
Once you have both of these items you can get started. You will drag and drop the Empty Skill Implant onto the Inserter. Then you equip the Inserter. Next you use the interact or use function to use the Inserter. Once you do this the skills window will pop up.
You will see a warning message warning you’re about to remove skills from your avatar. Next you select the skill you wish to remove from your avatar. This is the skill that will be loaded onto the Empty Skill Implant. Finally there will be a mini window where you can select how many points you wish to remove from your avatar. This window will only allow you to select enough points to completely fill the Empty Skill Implant. You can not over-fill it even if you have the available skill points.
The Skill Implant can only hold a certain amount of points so that is the limit. You can decide to use less skill points. This would result in the implant only being partially filled. Now you hit the button to proceed and watch the process unfold! Your avatar will struggle and groan. Success, you will be presented with a filled Skill Implant!
ESI Very Important Information
Things are a little more complicated than they appear. When filling and Empty Skill Implant you ALWAYS want to make sure one of two things happen. Either fill it completely with the absolute maximum amount of skills you can. Or you MUST make sure that you leave a 10 PED TT value left over.
Remember that it is possibly to only partially fill a Skill Implant. When you do this you are given a Filled Skill Implant and a smaller Empty Skill Implant as long as the remaining value is more than 10 PED TT. If the value dips below 10 PED TT you receive that value in PED.
ESI’s have about a 900% Mark Up at the time of this writing. That means the smallest ESI you can get (10 PED TT) is worth 90 PED. If you screw up and split an ESI and the remaining value is less than 10 PED TT you lose all of that Mark Up. You definitely do not want to fall below that 0.8% item condition limit.
How To Determine Skill Value
If you read my recent article on Skills you know this a bit complicated. Each point is worth more than the point before it. And worth less than the point after it. This makes it very difficult for some people to figure out how to use and ESI. Good news is there’s a little help!
A long time player Jdegre created the Online Entropia Skill Calculator. This guy is a true math whiz. I’ve seen some of his more in depth work. I love math but even I was seriously impressed. And the online calculator works REALLY well and is pretty freakishly accurate. You may have to play with it a little but it’s a great tool for helping to determine skill values.
Once you play with it you will start to memorize certain values. The first 1900 skill points you earn for any skill is about 10 PED TT. Just enough to fully fill the smallest ESI. A player who has 10,000 skill points and earns 7 more will have the same 10 PED TT in those 7 points. This is why more experienced players are more likely to chip out. Going from 10,007 points to 10,000 is also 10 PED TT. It just doesn’t impact your game play as drastically.
This is why in normal circumstances you will want to chip out later in the game. It’s also why you seem to get the most use from chipping in early on. But we’ll get more into that in a moment.
Chipping Out Empty Skill Implant Examples
Let’s look at a few examples to help us better understand filling an ESI with skills.
Example 1 Complete Fill
You’ve purchased a 21 PED TT Empty Skill Implant from auction. The TT has provided you a Payn-Inc Implant Inserter for a cost of 15 PED. You want to completely fill the ESI. First you drag the ESI onto the Inserter. Next you equip the Inserter. Now you hit use or interact.
The warning pops up along with the skill window. You want to take Anatomy Skills out of your avatar and fill them on the Empty Skill Implant. From using the online skill calculator you know that 21 PED TT is the first 2,589 Skill Points for any skill.
Since you’re a newer player this saves you having to do math backwards because you happen to have 2,642 Anatomy Skill points. You simply move the skill value window to 2,589 via the arrows in the window. Finally you hit proceed and watch your avatar struggle. A loot window pops up and you now have an 18.9 PED TT Anatomy Skill Implant!
Example 2 Partial Fill
You again have a 21 PED TT Empty Skill Implant and the Inserter. This time you only want to partially fill the Empty Skill Implant. This means that you want to receive back a smaller Empty Skill Implant with a value of AT LEAST 10 PED TT. You will also receive a filled Skill Implant. Being aware that you want to stay above 10 PED TT so you get an item with 900% MU instead of PED you are extra cautious.
You currently have 3,561 points of Evade Skill which is what you want to remove. Playing with the online calculator you find that if you remove 8 PED TT it will leave you with exactly 3,390 points of Evade Skill. In this case the numbers are dead on. You can remove exactly 171 points of Evade Skill and create an 8 PED TT filled Skill Implant.
First you drag the Empty Skill Implant onto the Inserter. Next you equip the Inserter and hit use or interact. The warning window and the Skills window pop up next. Now you select Evade Skill and continue. When the window pops up allowing you to select the number of points to remove you select exactly 171 points. Finally you proceed and watch your avatar struggle.
The result is success! You see a loot window and you now have a 7.2 PED TT Evade Skill Implant and also receive a 13 PED Empty Skill Implant! Aren’t you smart making sure you got back a 10+ PED TT ESI with 900% Mark Up! Some people would have over filled the Empty Skill Implant and got back 9.99 PED or less. Losing 900% MU not knowing what you are doing is devastating.
WAIT The Numbers Are Wrong
No they aren’t. When you take skills out of your avatar and put them onto an Empty Skill Implant you lose 10% of the value. This is common knowledge. The pop up window even warns you of that. But not many people understand where this loss occurs.
Notice in example 2 we wanted to create an 8 PED TT Evade Skill Implant. Given the number of skill points we had that meant 8 PED was exactly 171 points. Also notice that we took out exactly 171 points. But the chip we ended up with was a 7.2 PED Evade Skill Implant.
In those moments of watching the avatar struggle we lost 10% of the value. This means that between leaving the avatar and entering the Implant 10% of the skills vanished. This resulted in the Implant being worth 10% less. Also notice that this did NOT effect the size of the smaller Empty Skill Implant we received.
When you chip out you are losing 10% of the skill points you remove. This is easily seen as the final Skill Implant size will be 10% smaller than your initial calculations. You are also giving up the MU on that 10% of skills which are lost.
POINT of Reference
When you chip out it is the highest point which is taken first. The system works backwards. You are giving up your most valuable skill point. Then your second most valuable. Followed by your third most valuable. This is why you MUST use the online calculator to be sure your numbers are dead on.
To calculate the numbers for our second example I did the following: First I made up the number of skill points we would start with 3,561. I opened the online calculator and selected the Calculator tab. Under Initial Skill Level I selected 3,000. In the area designated Skill Implant Size I selected 8 PED. Then I hit go. It did not get me to 3,561.
I kept raising the Initial Skill Level number until the result was 3,561. I could then see that if you started with 3,390 skill points and add an 8 PED implant you end up with 3,561 skill points. Finally I subtracted 3,561 – 3,390 = 171. If you have 3,561 skill points and remove 171 of them that is exactly 8 PED TT and leaves you with 3,390 skill points.
I’m not sure if this is the best way to use this calculator. But this is how it’s worked for me. I have used it MANY times when chipping out and it has always been dead on. How accurate is it? I was able to do a partial fill and receive a 10.05 PED TT Empty Skill Implant. It’s that accurate. If I had been off by a single point I would have missed out on 900% MU.
Chipping In With Skill Implants
Chipping in is much easier than chipping out. When you chip in you do not lose 10% of the Skill Implants value. Simply select the Skill Implant you want to use. Drag and drop onto the Inserter. Equip the Inserter and use or interact. Watch your avatar struggle as your skills grow!
When you chip in you get larger point gains early on. Later in the game the same Skill Implant will give you less skill points. This is because skills are valued in PED TT value and not points. The problem is chipping in early on can be a big mistake.
When you chip in you make progress quickly. But you give up the ability to skill naturally. This is a big oversight. When you skill naturally everything should rise in sync. Natural skilling awards several different skills instead of just one skill.
In addition to keeping everything in sync you will also see your attributes grow. Attributes are similar to skills. The major difference is you gain attributes at a MUCH slower rate. You also can not implant or remove attributes. Attributes become incredibly important later in the game. If you chip in early on you may be giving up an opportunity to naturally skill some attributes you will need later.
The More You Know
You now know more about Empty Skill Implants than most players. This information will be very valuable as you play Entropia. Be sure and double check your calculations before chipping out. Also take time to really consider if you should chip in. Often times it’s better to skill naturally.
Also be sure and check out all of the Offers and Videos that help EarnPED members grow their PEDCards! Not yet a member? Membership is FREE so be sure and Sign Up today!
