When I started out doing T2 invention/production I was looking at it from a micro point of view: What's my profit margin? How much will I make per hour? Etc.
As my T2 invention/production capable characters grow I run into a different set of questions: How many assembly lines can I keep going at full tilt? How many invention jobs can my POS support? And so on.
This isn't a basic T2 invention guide, so look for that stuff on the Eve wiki. It's complete and explains all the basics.
Also, if you're not using a POS for invention and production, you're missing out.
An important metric to consider is the copy/invention to production ratio: or, will my production time be lower than my time to produce the blueprint?
For all but the small frigate stuff this isn't a concern. T2 ships on the other hand typically have a 1:1 ratio or close to it.
Why is this important? There's a hard limit on BPC output. Mobile labs are fine by themselves for T2 ship invention as the single run BPC copy to invention time ratio is heavily skewed in favour of the BPCs, so it's a nonissue: You can keep as many assembly lines working full time as you have invention slots.
So for item BPCs, the source is Advanced Mobile Labs. Now, the output for a single Advanced Lab with a Science V character is approximately 650 max run BPCs per month.
Now, take the T2 items you're interested in and figure out how many runs a single line will require in order to be running full time. This is simply (24x30)/production time in hours. Multiply this number by the number of production lines you intend to keep running full time. For me this number is five for a given item.
Next factor in how many invention runs you'll need to do in order to have enough T2 BPCs. This is the above number divided by your invention success rate.
This final number is the number of BPCs you'll need to churn out each month to meet the production demand. This number can vary anywhere from 80 to over 600 depending on the T2 production time.
So, what does all this mean? There's a hard limit on the number of BPCs you can produce in a given month, which means that there's some planning involved with a POS (Advanced Labs, Assembly Arrays, etc) that goes hand in hand with the items you wish to churn out.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
What should I fit my ship with?
"It depends".
Before fitting up a ship, or even buying the hull, the question "what am I trying to do with this?" needs to be answered. Purpose is the ultimate overriding factor in how you fit your ship, or if you should be using that ship at all.
For example, if I want to fly fast tackle for a small frigate gang, everything from the ship (Rifter, Atron, etc), to the mods I fit (Nos, TD, dual prop) must have its purpose in mind in order to be successful. Taking out a DCU tanked, speed fit, short point Rifter and trying to tackle any of the various kinds of Thrashers is probably not going to end well.
So, choose your ship and fittings based on what you intend to do with it.
This includes what you choose to fit over another module, be it tank, gank, E-war or fitting mods. Opportunity cost is very, very real and is most apparent in a 1v1 situation.
Consider the match up between a standard 200mm plate+SAR Rifter versus the cap boosted, dual rep Incursus, both afterburner fit. The Incursus has an amazing active tank, no added buffer, and moderate DPS. The Rifter has a fairly weak tank, some buffer thanks to the 200mm plate, and excellent range control with its combination of after, scram and web. Assuming equal pilot skill, there's really only two outcomes available to this encounter. The Rifter destroys the Incursus by causing enough structure bleed damage, or the Rifter successfully disengages from the fight because the Incursus has no web and cannot dictate range. Similar outcomes occur with a dual ASB Merlin versus anything with a web and/or is faster. The lack of range control is crippling versus anything that has equal or superior range control.
More on the subject of range control later on.
Sufficient to say there's a great deal of planning and thought, whether consciously or unconsciously, that goes into any pvp encounter.
Before fitting up a ship, or even buying the hull, the question "what am I trying to do with this?" needs to be answered. Purpose is the ultimate overriding factor in how you fit your ship, or if you should be using that ship at all.
For example, if I want to fly fast tackle for a small frigate gang, everything from the ship (Rifter, Atron, etc), to the mods I fit (Nos, TD, dual prop) must have its purpose in mind in order to be successful. Taking out a DCU tanked, speed fit, short point Rifter and trying to tackle any of the various kinds of Thrashers is probably not going to end well.
So, choose your ship and fittings based on what you intend to do with it.
This includes what you choose to fit over another module, be it tank, gank, E-war or fitting mods. Opportunity cost is very, very real and is most apparent in a 1v1 situation.
Consider the match up between a standard 200mm plate+SAR Rifter versus the cap boosted, dual rep Incursus, both afterburner fit. The Incursus has an amazing active tank, no added buffer, and moderate DPS. The Rifter has a fairly weak tank, some buffer thanks to the 200mm plate, and excellent range control with its combination of after, scram and web. Assuming equal pilot skill, there's really only two outcomes available to this encounter. The Rifter destroys the Incursus by causing enough structure bleed damage, or the Rifter successfully disengages from the fight because the Incursus has no web and cannot dictate range. Similar outcomes occur with a dual ASB Merlin versus anything with a web and/or is faster. The lack of range control is crippling versus anything that has equal or superior range control.
More on the subject of range control later on.
Sufficient to say there's a great deal of planning and thought, whether consciously or unconsciously, that goes into any pvp encounter.
Back to Basics
I'm a believer in efficiency of effort.
When someone asks how a FW plex works, my answers is "read the eve wiki".
When the question is "target painters, how do they work?", my answer is "read the eve wiki".
When the umpteenth newbie asks "how do I get standings with ?", my answer hasn't changed..."READ THE DAMN EVE WIKI".
The follow up to that sentence depends on the person asking and goes something like this "look, you're not the first person to ask this question so chances are the answers are on the Internet that can be found with a little google-fu. There's an Eve wiki that a lot of people have put a lot of effort into thr explains the basics of this game and how shit works. Don't waste the time of people around you by asking them to explain the basics of this game. The resources are there. Go find them".
A pragmatic reason for why I wouldn't bother with that last paragraph is the conservation of effort: I could spend fifteen minutes, thirty, an hour, explaining the basics to someone who might not become a part of the community of pilots I fly with. Why waste the effort?
Now, it occurs to me that if someone were to ask "can a Rifter take on a Thrasher and win?", the answer is a very definite "it depends". There's a lot of variables based on how the two pilots in that situation chose to fit their ships and pilot SP/competence. This is pretty obvious to anyone who has a solid grasp of the basic game mechanics and understands the principles of various E-War. Even then it may be a simple lack of experience and/or creativity.
So, one of the goals I have for this blog is to:
1) expand on the basics to application,
2) focus on more advanced subjects such as which TD script to use in a given situation, knowing ship types and capabilities,
3) Specific match ups and how the fight might progress based on ship fittings.
Chock full of good stuff to come.
The follow up to that sentence depends on the person asking and goes something like this "look, you're not the first person to ask this question so chances are the answers are on the Internet that can be found with a little google-fu. There's an Eve wiki that a lot of people have put a lot of effort into thr explains the basics of this game and how shit works. Don't waste the time of people around you by asking them to explain the basics of this game. The resources are there. Go find them".
A pragmatic reason for why I wouldn't bother with that last paragraph is the conservation of effort: I could spend fifteen minutes, thirty, an hour, explaining the basics to someone who might not become a part of the community of pilots I fly with. Why waste the effort?
Now, it occurs to me that if someone were to ask "can a Rifter take on a Thrasher and win?", the answer is a very definite "it depends". There's a lot of variables based on how the two pilots in that situation chose to fit their ships and pilot SP/competence. This is pretty obvious to anyone who has a solid grasp of the basic game mechanics and understands the principles of various E-War. Even then it may be a simple lack of experience and/or creativity.
So, one of the goals I have for this blog is to:
1) expand on the basics to application,
2) focus on more advanced subjects such as which TD script to use in a given situation, knowing ship types and capabilities,
3) Specific match ups and how the fight might progress based on ship fittings.
Chock full of good stuff to come.
Industry: Beginning
Last night Khori handed me a review of current industrial and research capability of my corp, Those Once Loyal.
I had chosen the corp name shortly after I left The Black Company a little over a year ago. The concept of loyalty had been an important one to me, however the betrayal of the Caldari command during my time as a ground pounder and subsequent disillusionment with Company direction had raised some fundamental questions to me. By tradition Company leadership had transferred from Captain Bloodpetal to...words escape me to describe him. A man who'd been at the founding of the Company during its incarnation in the space surrounding New Eden; had been Captain for a time; stepped down and assumed the role of Archivist; somehow, through ways I am not aware of, appointed as the Master Sergeant; then during a closed meeting was appointed the Captain. An appointment that stank of the betrayal of Company founding values and principles.
But that story is for another time.
Right now I was focused on the meager scientific and industrial capacity of my corp.
It didn't look good. A handful of production capability and twice that Tech II blueprint invention.
Enough to pay for Khori's pilot license and have some profit leftover.
I'd hired Khori sometime ago based on her sales pitch of industry work. She'd showed me that she was worth the investment and maintenance of her pilots license which was good enough for me to take her aboard.
I'd had a taste of what industry done right could do and I wanted more.
The cash wasn't easy. Half the time it was more of a logistical pain in the ass than any real difficulty in the manufacturing.
The other half of the time was dealing with the inevitable market hounds and competition. This was where I had a crash course in retailing and what return on investment really meant.
Early in Khori's career, she'd been manufacturing and retailing ship rigs. While rigs are easy to make, the margins weren't stellar and tended to move slow.
Having a couple hundred million sitting on the market did no good things for my mood. The best situation is where Khori was able to liquidate the entire stock in one bulk sale at a discount. Sure, it cut into margins but it also freed up that capital to reinvest.
Given my headquarters distance to Jita and current status fighting for the Minmatar Republic, relying on that trade hub for supplies was out of the question...until I heard about Push Industries.
Push was a relative newcomer to the courier market long dominated by Red Frog Freight. I'd given one of their lower rate specials a shot and never looked back. Outstanding service, reasonably fast, it's been nothing but a good experience.
This development led to the hiring of a sales and acquisition agent in Jita. One that has paid off extremely well. The ability to acquire certain, rarer materials in bulk quantities has easily justified my agents hiring.
For obvious reasons I will not divulge my agents name.
Back to those numbers. I'm going to be rapidly expanding my operations soon, upgrading the corp POS to a medium and acquiring more labs and manufacturing arrays as well as hiring more pilots and agents to keep said facilities running 24/7.
Friday, August 17, 2012
(Re)Introductions
Welp, time to give this blogging thang another try. Goals? Modest. One well written post per week (maybe my horribad engrish might improve in the process). I intend this to be a split between RP and informative posting with some theorycrafting tossed in for good measure.
I'll toss up a couple posts that I've been saving later on today.
I'll toss up a couple posts that I've been saving later on today.
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