Science & Industry

When I attempt to research a t2 veldspar mining crystal bpc from a t1 bpc it tells me the components needed are 2 data cores of one type and 2 of another type. Going on the Jita price, this is approx 500k worth of components.
To make things worse, I then have about a 1/3 chance of making the t2 bpc. So on average it's going to cost me 1.5m to make a t2 veldspar mining crystal bpc (1 run).
Then once that's done I have to actually make the crystal which is more stuff still.

How is it that people are selling the crystals for 100k at Jita when it costs me 15x that mucch just to make the bpc?
I'm obviously missing something. Can someone tell me what please.

Does that make them 'free'?

i thiiiink you'll end up with 10 run BPCs as the default result of an invention process without decryptors in this case

can't check ingame right now, only online on my phone

the other possibility is that one run produces 10 T2 crystals. but i'm relatively sure it's the former. been a while since i did invention.

I know that 1 run of a t1 bpo produces 1 crystal.
So presumably each run of a t2 bpc produces just 1 crystal too.

If you get a 10 run bpc then that makes more sense, but the mats are still costing you 1.5m on average to make a bpc for items worth 1m. Plus whatever it costs to actually make the 10 crystals.

So the maths is still out. Which could well be the case. The products dont necessarily have to be worth more than the components. I still think I may be missing something.

There is the possibility that the market is skewed by people with t2 bpo's too.

Well, there is also a little bit of that, but considering the quantity of T2 BPOS of that given item, not nearly as much as you'd think. It's more of a reality that, people can be and quite often are, idiots and will sell just to sell not really thinking about how much it cost them to make. It could be that they get the stuff given to them and they cant sell it unless it's a finished product. It could be that someone is effectively attempting to corner a market and push people out of it so they buy up everything, put it back up for a loss price and keep driving people out, then jack up the prices and make a hefty sum quickly before the market corrects. There could be any number of reasons.

Looking at this, I suspect it's BPOs skewing the market.

Each run creates only a single crystal
(Each invention run creates a 10 run BPC)

Each crystal sells for around 100,000 isk
Materials come in at around 55,000 isk.
a successful invention run (max skill, probability included) comes in at 1,068,000 isk, producing a 10 run BPC. Which means you're spending more than the BPC is worth to make it.

Looking at the market history for the forge ( https://www.fuzzwork.co.uk/market/link/10000002/18618 ) and the fact a single BPO can produce around 300 a day in a station (or 400 in a pos, if you want to risk it) it'd only take 4 or so BPOs to meet the market demand.

There are a HELL of a lot of items on the market that are actually being sold at a "loss". Ships (battleships) are a primary example.

Also if you mine etc, your materials are "free" right?

Use the app in my signature in the future if you want to see some more details to the prices. Looks like only Crokite crystals are profitable right now.

Old research points can still be used (and the system is still fully functional) but the ISK cost is higher. It's only worth using them if the datacore spikes to 150k or higher.