Science & Industry

It's technically possible. Kudos to you for realizing your time has a cost. The answer is that stuff like mining (unless you've got a Rorqual or two) isn't that profitable. You generally get a better ROI on your time buying the materials from someone else. Another case might be that what you're trying to get is difficult to produce yourself, such as large quantities of high-tier PI materials or moon minerals.

Decide how much your time is worth in ISK/hour. Look at each step of the production process and cut anything that pays out less than that threshold. Pay someone else who values their time less to do it.

There are a lot of links in the value chain for most items. Participate in the ones you enjoy and purchase the stuff you don't have time or interest in harvesting or making yourself.

As a T2 manufacturer, I buy minerals and advanced moon material. I build my T1 and advanced components and harvest my PI. This level of vertical integration works for me, others do things differently.

It's important to remember that Eve is a game - success should be measured in enjoyment, not ISK. If you're having fun, you're doing it right!

I appreciate all the answers and I guess everyone is talking about mining asteroids for resources.
What about PI then? What if a BP needs lets say resources that is available from a planets (oxygen, nanites etc.)
I also thought about maybe applying the "mine-yourself" idea to PI and even though T1 BP might be possible, it seems a very low ISK/Hour or am I wrong? I like arranging the Command centers and mines and launchpads etc. Its just the transport thats a hassle I guess?

PI is fairly low effort. It takes roughly two weeks to train your skills to IV (few people go beyond that), and at that point you can harvest as well as anyone else.

The stumbling block for PI tends to be geographical. You need to find a planet that produces what you want effectively, but that is not already being farmed dry by other players. That probably means a remote planet at the very least, and typically also means you are looking at something in low sec, null sec, or w-space.

I do PI. I think it's great. I clear about 3 billion ISK per month across my single account. But that's because I live in a wormhole, and that arrangement precludes me doing other things (such as mining asteroids or ice belts, or harvesting k-space gas) reliably. I also can't play the markets effectively, or do anything else that requires a constant k-space presence.

So even though the skill cost is low, the game still pushes me to specialize in order to do PI effectively. Just like real life.

You also asked if manufacturing t1 items can be profitable.

It certainly can be! It took me a while to figure out how to calculate my profit, but that's not really hard. From around 100 t1 BPO'S that I had fully researched, I found about 5 could make me profits over 100%, a fair amount around 30 or 50%, but the majority would turn in a loss. So you really have to research the market to figure it out!

One mistake I made in the beginning was not looking at the volumes that were sold, so I produced some stuff that didn't sell.

So yeah, start with t1 to get a hang of researching the market and selling your stuff I would say.

I manufacture simply because I like it. I could do other things with my time that would make me more isk. But I also manufacture because it has me study demand for modules and ships and let's me study the use of the modules and ships in question. This is beneficial for becoming better in eve.

As long as a VNI can make me 100-120 Mil / hour of casual ratting, and a carrier can make me +/- 250 Mil / hour, I am completely satisfied in letting other people do the

...moon mining,
...PI,
...material gathering,
...Exploration miningames,
...salvaging,
...huffing,
...BPC farming,
...Sleeper reverse engineering,
...reaction chaning,
...T2/T3 production

so I can purchase the ships, ammo, and mods that I keep losing becasue I suck at pvp.