I sometimes feel like a non-profit organisation
23rd February 2009 – 10.44 amCurrently in EVE Online I have a plan. Yea, it is a good plan, as it has a short-term goal that not only doesn't encroach on my previous aims but encourages me to spend more time in New Eden, in order to make enough profit to afford the new ship.
So it is that I log in with the intent to run a mission or two and rake the rewards and bounties in to my wallet, plumping up my ISK. Before I get started, particularly as I am in my Badger Mk II away from my mission base station, I check my science and industry interface to check on my running jobs. I'm not expecting much to turn up beyond mostly 'pending' jobs and maybe a couple that are 'in progress', so it is surprising and a little exciting that a blueprint (BPO) has come out of material efficiency (ME) research, ready to be manufactured with a significant reduction in waste. I can't quite have a job running for so long and then ignore it in favour of mission-running as soon as it becomes available, that would be bordering on irresponsibility.
My Badger undocks and I start the journey of a couple of jumps to collect my freshly researched BPO. As I am warping through space I check my open orders idly, wondering if another chunk of bargain missiles has sold yet so that my newer batch of missiles can sell for a good profit, only to find that my missiles never reached the market and are still sitting in the station's hanger. I must have got distracted or mis-clicked just when I had set my price. Regardless of the error involved I shall have to put them on the market during this session. Whilst it is true that I cannot make the missiles as quickly as I can sell them, it is far from a remedy to that problem not to sell them in the first place.
With my Hornet I BPO picked up I look at the bill of materials required to manufacture the drone, happy to see my level is not far from the 'perfect' level, which will be improved further once I pull my finger out and finish learning Production Efficiency V. Now it is simply a matter of getting enough minerals to make a good quantity of drones and get everything installed in to a manufacturing slot. I still have some minerals stockpiled back at my home base, which will help defray some of the production costs this time and the journey there will also let me check the prices of minerals across two regions instead of one, an effort I should probably make more often.
I pick the best priced minerals in suitable quantities across the two regions, not even stumbling when jumping in to Jita, and end up making two trips to haul everything back to my manufacturing station, stopping off to set up a sale order for the misplaced missiles. The production line offers me a suitable quote for the manufacture of the drones, which I accept, and I also throw in another batch of expanded cargoholds to be made whilst I am there. The cargoholds sell steadily and being cheap as chips to manufacture makes this extra job almost risk-free. In a few days I'll be able to pick up drones, missiles and cargoholds fresh for the market.
Having got the manufacturing jobs out of the way I am just left with one more opportunity. As the BPO came out of ME research I have a newly freed research slot open. Whilst I am aiming to get my research performed in a low-sec station—the very basis of my new plan—a quick check of ME research availability shows that, in this case, it will be quicker, and perhaps ultimately more profitable, to install another BPO for ME research in a high-sec station whilst I am training to pilot the Crane blockade runner. Whilst I will be zooming through space in the Crane before this new ME research finishes, if I install it today it will be ready sooner than if I wait to install it in the low-sec station, which is risky to get to and thus less utilised.
My decision is made to install the Salvager I BPO for ME research. After hauling tonnes of minerals all over the place I switch from the Badger Mk II to a more agile and swifter shuttle to deliver the BPO to the research station to save a little time. Okay, my researched BPO has been picked up, minerals bought and collected and the BPO is now in for manufacturing; the missiles that accidentally weren't put up for sale are now on the market; another BPO has been selected and put in the queue for ME research, making use of my maximum allowed research job slots. It looks like it's time to start running missions for profit!
Sadly, my current time in New Eden has expired. Instead of causing huge explosions and collecting ISK rewards to boost my wallet I end up getting involved in all my industry jobs and have a wallet a fair bit lighter than when I started. However, it is all progress! I am quite happy that I can get so involved in industry operations, it bodes well for my future concerns. I can catch up with some missions soon to start saving for the Crane.
2 Responses to “I sometimes feel like a non-profit organisation”
Don't forget you can use the corporate research POS as well. It doesn't have nearly the wait or cost of using a station.... :)
That sounds like a great idea, thanks! I may selectively ignore its existence until I'm flying my first Tech II ship, though.
I'll check to see how much shorter the trip to the coproration's POS is when not avoiding going through low-sec, maybe I could justify the Crane that way.