Lord Byron
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Posted - 2005.05.18 11:03:00 -
[1]
I donŠt know if my post about TECH2 will reveal some new aspects since this thread is very long but maybe youŠll enjoy reading it anyway.
Long, long ago, almost in another life it seems, the first dev blog about Tech2 was posted. It was at a time when flying a BS still was a privilege and Techell the No.1 adress for people with lots of ISK to spend. Month before the first research agents were available people allready started the debate weŠre still discussing today. And even then most people i know agreed that itŠs not the best way to introduce BPO through a lottery but have failed to come up with a more practicable idea.
A limited number of blueprints means that only a limited number of people would be lucky enough to get one, and alltough we all hoped to be one of them we knew that the chances were close to zero.
So, what are you going to do if you know that there is something really huge coming your way , but you just cant reach out far enough to touch it ?!
The answer is, if there is no direct way to reach your goal, start looking for a bypass.
In many cases EVE is very different to real life because many things have their limitations and nobody can possibly expect a real life imitation with the technology we have today.
Many things in EVE are compromises and allways will be - as is the TECH2 lottery system.
But the most interresting aspect of the game matches life standards 100% , and thatŠs us, the living aspect of EVE.
Knowing how a systm works is the first step to achieve your goals.
In fact, the solution to our problem was all around us, we just had to realise it and find a way to make use of it.
It should be obvious by now that this solution was the EVE community itself, the most valuable asset this game has.
This was the "bypass" i was looking for, the magic hat so to say.
The result is STEPSTONE, one of the most productive and efficient TECH2 enterprises this game has ever seen - and no, there is no doubt about it whatsoever .
The key to this success definitely is the community.
Even before the 1st TECH2 print was given to a player, Tzadkiel and i had hundreds of conversations and discussion with different corporations about potential partnerships.
At that time , NAGA had only 2 active members and we spent most of our time promoting our idea and knocking on doors.
Since we knew that it wasnŠt very likely to receive a TECH2 BPO from our own agent(s) we had to convince as many people as possible to give us their TECH2 BPO in case they would be lucky to get one.
Now that was, and still is, not easy. But it was the only way we saw to enter the TECH2 business.
The decision was clear; even though we might never receive a TECH2 BPO from an agent, we definitely wanted to make the step forward and enter at least the Tech2 production market because of nomerous reasons.
Just to make it clear - NAGA started the STEPSTONE project without owning a single TECH2 BPO. WeŠre offering construction and research services nicely wrapped into a package called STEPSTONE.
Now, 1,5 years and 150 TECH2 prints later, the POS industry increased the difficulty level of beeing a TECH2 producer once again.
Our total component needs per week is around 250,000 .
In the "old" days, when agents were the only source of TECH2 components there was a constant struggle to get everything needed to keep the factories running.
One can imagine that such a small corporation like ours - a few month ago we were still only 6-7 active members - just canŠt handle such a huge workload.
We decided to outsource market analysis and component trading and set up a so called "Component Team" to actively trade components.
We sponsored this team with up to 3bill. ISK and in return we had
the right of preemption and a decent discount.
I think they still made a fortune selling the rest of the components to our competitors - sorry guys 
At that time, many asked themselves how on earth we could offer such low retail prices and actually make a profit.... well, there you go.
As mentioned above, POSes changed the whole situation - for the good.
Now , the whole potential of TECH2 production unfolded.
But again, time, dedication, money and the most important ingredient, people, is needed to make it work and keep it running.
And again we had the same supply problems , just on a different level.
We knew, if we really want to be independent, we have yet again to search for new solutions.
Outsourcing and a partnership program was our answer to this problem. ItŠs fully operationsl now, involves more than 20 corporations and a chain of around 80+ POS .
Many of those POS were sponsored by NAGA allowing smaller , not so wealthy corporations to be a part of the TECH2 industry.
Mnay of those corporations may not own a TECH2 BPO but are still making good profits and have a good potential for the future.
I hope youŠll find the answers youŠre looking for 
N.A.G.A Corp | NeoCom Site
Lord Byron - Burnt Head
Desire is most likely the shortest road to destruction - but who cares |