Making Stuff for Fun and Profit (well profit anyway)?

[Endie]

I decided to finally try and make some stuff last night on my alt.  So I started looking at the price of various things on the market, and the material cost of making them, as well as associated costs of building and selling.  For merlins, for instance, it was clear to me that in order to break even on the opportunity cost of just selling the ore I had stockpiled that I'd have to be selling at about 15-20% above the floor price in the regional market.  I would never be able to work off the cost of the BPO, and I didn't even price my time into the equation.

How do people make money on this?  I have production efficiency at 5 (as well as a bunch of other industrial and mining stuff at 4 or 5, and now a few trade skills).  What am I missing?  Or is trying to make money off frigates, for instance, in empire space just dumb?  Do I have to run them down into 0.0 space and somehow get the rights to dock somewhere before it's even worthwhile?

[Reg]

Mineral prices have been insanely high since the last expansion because of demand for all the new ships. If you look at the sell orders you'll probably see that most of them are old from before the price spike. I've stopped producing Vexors and Brutixes because I'd have to sell at a loss. Once all the old cheap ones are sold I'll put some up at a price high enough to make money.

This is probably not the best time to get into manufacturing. Give it a week or two for prices to settle down and you'll have a much better idea of what's profitable and what isn't.

[ajax34i]

Eh, T1 you're competing with players who've had enough time to research the blueprint to good mineral efficiency levels, and are skilled in Production Efficiency too.  It's been hard (read "almost impossible") to compete in the T1 market in Empire for a long time now (years).  At the same time, good luck getting a T2 blueprint.

[Endie]

Ho hum. New servers, plz

[Vedi]

Move to some planet just on the edge to 0.0. Near a pipe to an area with lots of fighting is ideal. Probably the planets just off the pipe to the new regions in the east might be a good idea right now. I sell Merlins for 370k or something where I am, for instance. Cruises have margins of 20-50%, and battlecruisers perhaps 20-30%. This might mean that you have to deal with low-sec though.

If the ship prices are really well below the cost of the minerals where you are at, start buying them, recycle them and sell the ore.

[Viin]

Also, I recommend getting BPCs of items you are creating. They don't cost that much to get a good ME (material efficiency) rating, and they will save you quite a bit in minerals.

The only things we own BPOs of are Drones, Ammo, Missiles, and a few other tiddly modules. All ships and bigger items we typically buy BPCs of.

[Raging Turtle]

There's still a LOT of money to be made on the t1 market.  You just have to hunt a little harder for a place that isn't already being fought over, and for the mods/ships that aren't already being sold.

[WayAbvPar]

T2 BPOs are being reseeded on the 13th. If you have the skills, I would suggest getting hooked up with as many research agents as you can to at least throw your hat in the ring.

[dwindlehop]

If you don't have the skills, roll a research alt. They have lab operations V.

[Morat20]

If you don't have the skills, roll a research alt. They have lab operations V.

How does research work for the T2 lotteries?

[WayAbvPar]

If you don't have the skills, roll a research alt. They have lab operations V.

Goddamn it. Between my 2 accounts, I figure I got screwed out of 2 months of training by not starting now!

[WayAbvPar]

If you don't have the skills, roll a research alt. They have lab operations V.

How does research work for the T2 lotteries?

Read here. And/or here.

[dwindlehop]

Now that this thread has been hijacked for research, which are the fields that aren't completely overstuffed with research points? It'd be cool to have a T2 Extender BPO or T2 Nos BPO, something low key but useful. Money hats are nice and all, but I'd settle for a decent supply of T2 tanks.

[Morat20]

If you don't have the skills, roll a research alt. They have lab operations V.

How does research work for the T2 lotteries?

Read here. And/or here.

Thanks -- had exactly what I needed (specifically, I can't take the R&D missions without Science V).

[Endie]

If you don't have the skills, roll a research alt. They have lab operations V.

I couldn't see a way to get science up above three.  Unless I'm misunderstanding the system that surely means that rolling a character for research still leaves you gimped for about six days unable to do what you want?

[ajax34i]

Yeah, because "research" isn't just the T2 lottery, technically it also includes improving blueprints for material efficiency, which is what the character can do out of the box.  For the T2 lottery, even if you have the skills right out of the box, my guess is you won't have the faction with the agents.

[dwindlehop]

I seriously thought you got Science V. Boo to that. I will go blow something up now.