Expanding my invention prospects
9th July 2009 – 5.25 pmI may not have been able to manufacture many drones and modules from the two Tech II BPCs I was able to invent but the few I am able to produce all sell quite quickly at prevailing market prices, which seems to offer me a decent enough profit to consider my first Tech II opportunity a success. Ever one to be distracted I start to think about what other technologies I can try to invent.
The limiting factor for invention at the moment is the supply of datacores. Although I could buy any required datacores from the market they would really cut in to the profits, particularly considering the luck involved in the invention process. Ideally, I am looking for modules that use the same datacores and skills that my current invention jobs use, or at least share one of them so that I don't need to diversify my R&D efforts too widely. Or maybe not a module, but a spaceship.
I have two Caldari ship BPOs in the research facility at the moment having their material requirements examined, and both BPOs require the mechanical engineering datacore for invention, which I am already accumulating. Both ships also only need the Caldari starship engineering datacore as the secondary datacore, which means I will only need to work on one more source of datacores to increase my invention opportunities further. On top of that, because of the time it is taking to research the ME of the BPOs I may be able to invent and manufacture a Tech II variant of the ships before a standard Tech I can be built efficiently.
Lai Dai, the Caldari starship designers, seems the obvious choice to work with for datacores. Being of Caldari descent myself has already been a benefit as I've had a Lai Dai R&D agent working for me on mechnical engineering for a while, and it is quite simple to find a second agent who will start accumulating Caldari starship engineering datacores for me. I visit the low-level Core Complexion, Inc. R&D agent working on electronic engineering for me, grab all the datacores I can from him and then cancel the research. I have been working on electronic engineering for the longer than other research areas and still have dozens of those datacores ready for use, as well as a new level four agent working in that discipline, so I am happy to switch my limited access to R&D agents to one that produces starship datacores.
It is only when I make it to the Lai Dai agent that I realise my omission. I don't just need access to the R&D agent but I also need the relevant research skill, otherwise I won't understand any of the results. It's a bit of a slip but probably a good one, as cutting off research with the previous agent pretty much obliges me to get the ten million ISK skill book, so that I can start on the new field of research, rather than dithering about spending the ISK. I splash out on the skill book, quickly training to level one before talking to the agent again, who is now happy to start researching Caldari starship engineering.
I'll get some BPCs of my two ships, so that I have them handy, before continuing their ME research for general manufacturing use. A bit more work with Core Complexion, Inc. should see my standings rise to allow access to all their level four R&D agents, after which I can move my attentions towards improving my standing with Lai Dai. I may have got the inventing bug.
4 Responses to “Expanding my invention prospects”
Enjoy that inventing! Though one thing I didn't really get about your post is the fact that you said buying your datacores will hurt your profit margin.
Why? Whether you research your cores, or buy them...they are still worth the same amount of isk...so your profit calculation shouldn't change. Even if you don't buy them off the market, they still 'cost' you the price that you would have paid for them, since you could just sell them on the market rather than use them for that price.
You're absolutely right, it may eat in to my costs but it shouldn't affect my profit margin.
Hey, remember that we industrial girls need to stick together. I have all the Caldari Starship d'cores you'll likely ever need. I'm sure we can work out an agreeably advantageous arrangement to swap/share cores for invention.
Also, are you able to do the invention at the POS or are you outsourcing that?
I'm outsourcing the invention jobs at the moment. I have a local installation that seems cheap and has enough available slots at the moment, which is all I need. I also don't know if I'll need physical access to the POS for invention, like I do for copying.
As for cores, we can certainly talk about that. I'll be delighted to help you out where I can.