Starting research
6th April 2009 – 10.18 amIn-between running mining missions and being a courier to raise my standing with Core Complexion, Inc. I found a local R&D agent I could access with the corporation. He is only a level two agent, so I believe any research point gains will be relatively slow, but being able to begin the research process early can only be a benefit to my aspirations to invent Tech II blueprints.
With a corporation colleague informing me that agents can be dropped at any point, as long as I remember to exchange the research points for datacores before cancelling the research, I am happy to start with the level two agent and upgrade my research once I have access to higher-level agents in the future. I hop in to a shuttle and make the few jumps to the agent's system and ask him to start working for me in electronic engineering.
It is also important to know that research agents can be dropped because only a single agent can be employed at a time, unless training in the research project management skill is undertaken. As I haven't trained in the skill I needed to be sure that I am not limiting myself with a level two agent early on.
The research project management skill book costs about forty million ISK, which still seems like an awful lot of currency to me. As my wallet never seems to get particularly stuffed I am a little concerned that not only will I not be able to afford the invention process but that my industrial efforts are not making ISK. However, although my wallet is remaining at a fairly constant ISK level I need to remind myself that over a short period recently I have spent about forty million ISK in other skill books, BPOs and other materials, learning about encryption methods and a couple of engineering disciplines.
I clearly must be making good profits if I can spend tens of millions of ISK and still see small gains in my balance. So whilst my wallet doesn't seem like it is accruing wealth what is actually happening is that I am reinvesting the healthy profits I am making back in to my industry. It is interesting to see how quickly I can recover a ten or twenty million ISK purchase, although I am a little reluctant to spend forty million ISK without a bit more of a cushion.
Hopefully it won't be too long before I can afford the research project management skill book. I still need to increase my standings with Core Complexion, Inc. significantly before I can get access to level four agents and I am working on that. I think there is only one level four agent that works in the field of mechanical engineering for the company, but before I can work with him I can still take advantage of other research agents for different datacores and it makes sense to maximise the number of datacores I can accumulate.
2 Responses to “Starting research”
Totally agree about the money increasing the amount spent. Its happening for me not just in Industry, but in combat also. So despite having 500mln before the weekend, I now have only 50, and admittedly although I do have some T2 ships and some other toys, my wallet is saying "stop this".
I spent > 100mln this weekend on blueprints. But fact is every BPO I've spent out on has eventually made me cash. Thats the way I look at EVE. I wouldn't have dreamed of spending 400mln on ships (some just for backup) in a weekend before - now its just a normal occasion.
I've been quite lucky in 99% of the invention skill books so far I've got as drops - and am starting to learn them now. But I have other things on my mind right now such as setting up my first high-sec POS - it all takes time/research....
That's a lot of ISK to drop in a weekend!
I will need to expand my BPO portfolio at some point, to keep industry interesting and to continue my progress. Tech II production is a good aim but it can't be my sole focus.
Luckily, I found a glaring hole in the market for the missiles I've been manufacturing and exploited it recently. All my missiles sold within a couple of days and boosted my wallet significantly. I have two more batches due out of production shortly, so maybe I can afford the expensive skill book sooner than I thought.