Eric Raeder
No Fee Too High
102
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Posted - 2015.04.11 04:42:08 -
[1] - Quote
It is very difficult to specify a particular PI setup as being best. There are a LOT of variables. Planet type, security status of system, draw rates that vary from planet to planet of the same type, the class of command center you can drop, radius of the planet, how far you are willing to move goods to market, what ships you have available for hauling, wether you have friends that can help you evade ganking. Access to low or zero tax POCOs makes a huge difference.
And all profits depend on the market. Shifts in supply and demand can result in dramatic shifts in market prices.
There are basically three types of PI colonies. Extraction colonies, that extract the R0 raw materials, then usually convert them up to tier 1 or tier 2 commodities, which are then exported. Factory colonies, that don't extract anything, but import low tier commodities, usually tier 1 and/or tier 2, and process them into higher order tier 3 or tier 4 commodities. Then there are mixed colonies, basically factories but extracting one of the inputs and importing the others.
Which are best for you are a matter of tax rates you have to put up with, acceptable risk, and how willing you are to do continued market research.
Pure factory planets are hopeless in highsec. Even should you find a POCO whose owner will give you a zero tax rate, the unavoidable npc tax will kill you, at best your profits will be tiny, and all too often you will run at a loss. Pure factories are for places you can get really low tax rates, ideally zero, 2 or 3% can work, but that's about it. Think null or wormholes or if you really enjoy evading gankers, lowsec.
Keep in mind that any kind of factory is highly dependent on market conditions for profit. If your low tier inputs rise in price, or your high tier end product drops in price, profits go down, and profits can go negative in a hurry. Running factory planets means committing to continued market research. it is also inherently a little risky. But if you do it on a large scale it can be the most profitable type of PI.
Mixed colonies are almost as dependent on low tax rates as pure factories. But by extracting one input yourself, you give yourself a lot more protection from market swings. You can't make as much isk as at a pure factory, but they are much less likely to run at an actual loss.
Extraction colonies are the easiest to understand and set up. I always advocate converting your R0 resources to tier 1 before export. Converting a further step up to Tier 2 can be attractive, but it is by no means always worthwhile. In highsec I think it's pointless, you use too many colony resources setting up a second ECU to pull two different resources, and it limits your planet choice. Converting up to tier 2 is more attractive in dangerous space, where reducing output volume makes it easier to avoid gankers due to fewer needed trips, and higher draw rates mean fewer extractor heads to keep the processors busy.
I would recommend a PI newbie start with an extraction planet in highsec. Identify a Tier 1 product worth selling, identify the R0 you need to make that, and what planet types spawn the R0. Find a good spot. You want a planet close to the market you will sell at, hopefully fairly close to whatever system you like to base at for other stuff, and as low a security status as possible without actually going into lowsec, usually 0.5 or 0.6 (lower security status systems have higher draw rates).
Build your colony with these buildings. The number I am giving is power grid used. CPU doesn't matter on extraction planets, you will never use it all.
Command center [0]
Extractor control unit [2600]
launchpad [700]
storage facility [700] (optional)
extractor heads [550 each] (up to 10)
basic processor [800 each]
If you put down 10 extractor heads and 3 processors, this adds up to 16900 powergrid, on a small planet you can just barely get in minimum length links for everything in the remaining 100 supplied by a level 5 command center (which takes level 4 command center skill and supplies 17000 powergrid). If you're even slightly sloppy, or the planet is large, you'll have to drop an extractor or processor or the storage facility to get all the links in. Or just train command center 5, of course.
Depending on the resource you start with, you may need to adjust the ratio of extractors to processors. Your ECU should dump its R0 into the storage facility. The processors pull from the storage facility and dump their output to the launchpad. The storage facility is not strictly needed, you can just use the launchpad as storage for everything. I don't like doing this because if the launchpad becomes full with the R0 resource, your processors will stop running since they can't send their output anywhere. But if you check the colony frequently you can stop the R0 extraction if you start running out of room.
I have a particular favorite Tier 1 product I like to sell, but I am not going to tell you what it is. I will say you can do pretty well making water on ocean planets (imagine that), precious metals on barren or better yet plasma planets, or electrolytes on storm planets. |