Muacha
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Posted - 2003.07.16 23:28:00 -
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Sanru, it's actually worse than you are describing. 1) mining for the required minerals makes your cost effectively zero. Yeah, I know the arguments about opportunity costs...but I'm talking about cash flow. There is no cash outlay to mine. 2) When you go to sell the item, your competitors have put exactly the same item up for sale for dirt cheap. WhY???? Because the NPC pirates drop common items like they are going out of style. Therefore, in order for combat pilots to sell anything, they have to undercut the market further.
Is this bad, yes for the manufacturer, no for the combat pilots. If you build your own ammo, and mine the minerals for that ammo, your effective cost is again zero. Take damage in combat, no prob, pick up some hull and armor repairers from the pirates and your fine....again....no cash outlay. So all that loot that you are selling dirt cheap...effectively costs you nothing!
First week of retail, I postponed picking up that rifter so I could buy small arms BP and start a small arms MFG business. I got all the small proj weapons BP (except the 280mm Howitzer...still haven't seen that on the market) and all the small proj ammo BP. We were going to use these to make some money and branch out into other areas hopefully moving up to ship building in no time.
We were having some trouble selling the items and originally thought that EVERYONE else had the same idea as us. Until we gave up MFG and started hunting. Then we saw the incredible amounts of common loot that was dropped by the NPC pirates. This put our small little arms MFG business into moth balls. Now, we only MFG a little ammo for RP, but mostly it's for our use.
To say I'm a little disappointed is an understatement. I spent a lot of time and hard work acquiring an inventory of BP because I thought it would help us grow into a very large corporation. THey do still have value but nothing like what I imagined. And I really never wanted to play a combat role.
However, I really love this game and adjusted my game play to fit the reality of what's going on in the universe. I'll keep playing hoping that manufacturing and industry will become a more profitable playable role in this game. As it is, I can make so much more by hunting there is just no reason to MFG....well...except for the RP aspects.
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