Continuing missile production

More missiles roll off the production line, over a million-and-a-half this time. Despite manufacturing so many I immediately start the next production run. The reasons for this are two-fold. First, even though there is an initial set-up fee for the production run it is minor compared to the hourly cost when running for days at a time, so it can be more prudent to run smaller batches and get product out on the market to recover costs and make profit than run a single large batch. Second, I over-bought the tritanium required for my last run and have almost a million units sitting around unused, which means I don't have to hunt around for cheap stocks and jump half the region to pick them up; my next production run is ready for immediate installation.

I felt a bit foolish buying so much tritanium when getting the just-finished run ready. On the one hand, I had found a good price and bought all the stock, rather than only what I needed, allowing me to continue to take advantage of the low price. On the other hand, I spent millions on minerals that I wasn't going to recover at least until a second production run had completed, leaving a discouraging dent in my wallet. Having seen the price of tritanium continue to rise my decision to buy plentiful tritanium stocks has paid off for me this time, but I can't always assume that to be the case. Mind you, the price of tritanium at the moment is almost making me want to hit vacuum and mine my own ore.

Not wanting my Six Nations Rugby viewing to be interrupted I swap my skill training around a little, so that I can finish learning Lab Ops V to coincide with the missiles coming off the production line. This allows me to set my next skill training whilst actually in the game—the limited ability to queue skills in the next expansion will make this even easier—and poke around the certificates some more on the off-chance that I have actually gained one. Surprisingly, I find that completing Lab Ops V allows me to claim the Caldari Business Engineer basic certificate, which then lets me claim the same certificate at the standard level.

The more interesting aspect of completing my training in Lab Ops is that I can run an extra manufacturing slot. As profitable as missile production can be it is far from interesting to churn the same item off the production line all the time and I am quite looking forward to when my material efficiency (ME) research jobs finish and I have more researched BPOs to play with. The extra manufacturing slot lets me install another BPO for ME research before my current jobs finish, speeding up the process a little more.

Having noticed the different base and run costs of various installations I search the region for a competitive quote that has a slot that will start within the month. I find an installation with a low running cost and a slot in the next three weeks and wonder why it is being underutilised, until I realise the installation is sitting in a low-sec system and cross it off my list. Even so, I end up picking an installation different from where my current ME research is scheduled.

Whilst making my way to the new system I investigate ME research a little more and find a short guide to ME values and wastage levels. I still need to get a feel for what values of ME I should aim for with each BPO, as I am probably over-researching some. If I pay attention to the initial and researched wastage levels of my BPOs I hope to be able to apply my knowledge to future ME research jobs.

In the mean time, as my missiles are being produced, blueprints are researched and training plan is adhered to, I ought to take on a few more missions. This will bolster my wallet with useful ISK, help my standings with various factions and get me more involved in the galaxy. Although it seems like a lot has happened recently I haven't spent more than a couple of hours as a capsuleer in achieving the above.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: eve online, industry, mmorpg, penny ibramovic