Rhokar
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Posted - 2004.04.09 19:27:00 -
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Edited by: Rhokar on 09/04/2004 19:33:52
Ok. It appears that part of the problem is the ease (or percieved ease) in which anyone can manufacture an item given a BPC. What we need is a solution that doesnt destroy the "licensed production" model. Here is my proposal.
In the "Real World"(TM), manufacturing requires some sort of capitol outlay. For example, making cars requires a one time retooling cost at the plant. Its one of the reasons new models often look very similar to old models... less retooling required. This seems to be missing in part from EVE online manufacturing. I see two areas that could improve this. The first is charging a "Retooling Cost" in the factories. One possible mechanism would be to require a non useable prototype to be built FIRST. It should take the same ammount of time, factory cost and resources to produce as a useable item but not count against the "limited uses" of a BPC. (otherwise, single use BPCs become totaly useless.. maybe thats what we want though?) Thus, if you are just building ONE for yourself, it will cost you double time and resources... not very efficient. If you plan on building a run of 10 or 100 then the cost of the prototype can be offset by raising the selling price of individual pieces appropriately. Obviously, if you can affort to make 100 items then you will be able to spread the prototype cost out better and make your items cheaper on the market (or have a higher profit margine if thats what you want). I think the implementation of this shouldnt be too difficult with the current Factory system. Just keep track of the last blueprint used in the factory. If the item being made is from the same blueprint as the last one, then its OK.. if its different then its a prototype item. You could also make the prototype salvageble if you think that doubling the cost of the first item is too severe. At least then you could recover some of the minerals used. Notice that this will hit the BIG TICKET items the hardest.. and probably not even be notice by people building small items like ammo. Who cares if the first round of AC ammo you make is wasted as a prototype.. your making 2000 units anyway.
Second idea. I think this was mentioned elsewhere on this thread but here it is again. Manufacturing skills need to be diversified. It should require Industry 4 / Ship Production 4 / Minmatar Battleship Construction 1 to USE a Minmatar battleship BPO or BPC and even then, only having Min BS Producion 1 should cause the time and resource cost to be pretty high compared to someone with skill level 4 or 5. This will bring the "Manufacturing Professions and specializations" back into the game similar to how refining works.. or science or even combat works. As things stand now, any yahoo with level 1 skill in Industry can build ANYTHING even though it will cost them extra to do so. By having a few weeks worth of time investment in character skills involved in the manufacturing process, you will reduce the "I just build for myself" crowd by a large margine. Also by having a lot of diversification in the Manufacture skills, you can encourage specialization. You will start to see players who are Master Starship Manufacturers... and other players who are Master Projectile Weapon Manufacturers.. and they wont always be the SAME person :)
As you can see from my arguements, I don't think that BPCs are necessarily the problem here.. it simply the fact that the Manufacturing model in EVE is not fleshed out as it should be. Not like the combat and mining/refining models are at least. Although, I do agree that infinite run BPCs should probably be removed...
Rhokar
Shattered Star Confederation.
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