EVE New Citizens Q&A

Manufacturing ranges from incredibly simple to incredibly complex, depending upon what it is that you buy.

T1 manufacturing, for example, is very simple. You simply have your basic minerals which you use to build *everything* T1 related:
Tritanium, Pyerite, Mexallon, Noxcium, Isogen, Zydrine and Megacyte.

T1 manufacturing has very low profit margins, so the only way to make it a worthwhile activity is to manufacture in bulk. Or in other words, instead of working at it on an hourly basis, you buy a months worth of minerals at a time, and set up your manufacturing jobs for a month's time and then ignore it until your cookies are ready to come out of the oven.

T2 manufacturing, on the other hand, is much more complex. T2 ships/modules require T2 components (along with trade goods and/or PI goods). The T2 components must be manufactured separately and require complex reaction products. Complex reaction products must be made from a reaction POS, and require simple reaction products (which also require a POS). These simple reaction products in turn are reacted from "moon goo" which must be mined from a mine (generally by a large sov holding 0.0 alliance). Many of the steps in the T2 manufacturing process require daily maintenance. On the other hand, profits with T2 manufacturing are generally much larger (presuming you know how to use a spreadsheet). On the other hand, it is possible to lose a LOT of money with T2 manufacturing if you don't do your homework, or if you get killed while hauling a load of technetium.

You can actually start building Ammo right now. A max run build job for ammo will only last a couple of days, so the month long build job strategy doesn't apply to it.

Ammo is generally considered the best item for a manufacturer to start with, as it gives consistent profits and is low-risk. The down side is that the amount of profit per slot per day is woefully low. But manufacturing is a semi-passive income, so that shouldn't stop you from taking advantage of it right now.

The most important thing to understand about Manufacturing is that Trading is the most important thing you do.

The production process is:

Mine > Refine > Produce > Transport > Trade*



*Trade is the only part that isn't optional ... unless you are just making things for yourself.


So, you want to be aware of a few things.

1) Know the mineral value of the things you produce. That is to say - would you make more money simply selling the minerals than selling the product you made? This is one of the places spread sheets come in handy. Set the thing up for each item you want to build - plug in the current values for the minerals it uses and you can see a ready comparison between what you could sell the minerals for vs. what the product sells for.

2) Know the Opportunity Cost of each step of the process. That is to say - what else could I have been doing in the time I spent on this? Now here - don't lose sight of the fact that this is a game and having fun is the most important part. It is far more important for you to have fun than to make money. Of course - ideally - you'll be able to have fun and make money too.

3) Don't just decide it would be cool to make something - and after you've made some - THEN try to sell it. FIRST - determine what it is you can make money with - then make THAT.

4) Making Ammo and shuttles is a good way to start and gives you some blue prints to play around with. You can get the blue prints for cheap and use what you make yourself - so you're not really out anything if you give up on manufacturing as a way to make money. Being able to make things yourself has a certain convenience factor that makes it worth while. You just keep a few blue prints and some minerals laying about and when ever you need something you use a lot - you can just make it - instead of having to go track some down on the market. Shuttles BPO's are convenient to have - as it takes up less space to transport the blue print and the Trit than it does a shuttle. Thus, you can fly a ship somewhere with the BPO and trit in it's hold - drop the ship off - make a shuttle and fly it back. Conversely - you can fly out to pick up a ship - reprocess the shuttle when you get it and just carry the Trit back with you. Or - you can just sell the shuttle or the Trit.

5) Play around with it some, such as with the Ammo or Shuttles, try selling the things you make - and see how you like it. For some people there is a certain joy to creating something out of nothing and then providing it to other people for their use. Sometimes, the money isn't actually the issue, though you do need to get paid or you can't keep doing it. But some people just like the idea that they made something that others are now flying about the game making use of. If making things is fun for you - then it's going to be worth the time and expense of getting to where you can really make some money at it. If it turns out it's a grind and you're just in it for the money ... there's probably more money to be made just buying and selling things others have made.

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Thanks fellas.

Eh, this is a little more involved for my liking at the moment. I'll stick with the making of ammo and drag some out to low sec when I go on exploration runs, but I don't see myself making a living off this. I do like the complexity, but I simply don't have the time to commit to this just yet. Perhaps when winter rolls in I can give it a shot. For now I'll think I stick to simplified T1 crap, missions, and nul sec exploring.

Thanks mates.