Architect Archive
Thread: PLEASE READ THIS ONCE, IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME!
ThePhantomPoster wrote:More than want everyone to change their prices, what I wanted was for people to just take a look at what the real value of a harvester is.I just wanted this kind of thinking out in the open.
Again, we appreciate it, I'm sure. It's just that this discussion occurs every 1-2 weeks - the issues haven't changed since day 1 - and neither have the practical issues.
I find this a VERY tough topic to discuss. I'm torn between a few views: 1. yeah we get very ripped considering people are willing to pay more for a stim that is a 1 time use,but wontinvest in a long term investment such as a harvester.2. Yes, if you want more business, charge less.
All in all, it comes down to what you can handle, what people are willing to pay, and starting to gain a reputation.If you charge 25k for a 10 BER medium harvester on my server(corbantis), you will be totally bogged down 24/7 with tells and emails of people asking for them. People pay 40k easy for a 10 BER but you won't have people notice you. If you start out somewhere in the middle, say 35k, you will get a fairly good response from customers, as well as a few, "oh great prices sir!" Word goes around and you've got yourself a fulltime job in SWG lol. I know i do!
Now it has alwasy been my theory that to make money as an architect, you kinda have to stock up for a long time on resources before you start producing, or you are already rich from another profession, be it AS or WS, what ever. It costs a fair amount to make a single heavy harvester nowadays, not sure right now off the top of my head but i know its pretty pricey, and not to mention risky. I get this sometimes, (me)"ok sir, i have the materials and I'm constructing the harvester now". (customer) "great!" Now what the customer doesnt see is: OMG **edit** critical failure my ass! lol (me again) "its going to be a longer wait, i just failed on the experimentation process." (customer) "ok" (me) "ok the harvester is done and its 13 BER, that'll be 140k sir/ma'am" (Customer) 'sounds a little high but ok" You see they don't realize what it takes to make a big harvester like this. 7 walls, gen turbines, crated components, etc etc. They only see a deed and a price tag. Its all perception of the consumers. They dont see it so they dont know.
My 2 credtis
Greed begets Greed. If we start charging alot more for harvestors people will start chargin alot more for resources. They want to make back their investment fast.
On Starsider, I use a 3 cpu billng for everything. I do double duty as a miner so i buy the resources from myself at 3cpu, a price i pass along to my customers. How does the architect make money then? If a wall modules costs 9k to make, you tack on a 10% assembly fee. 10k per wall module.
Right there you get medium minerals at around 15k, with med chems and floras around 45k. Tack on another 10% profit margin and you're making a decent credit while providing structures at a fair rate. Plus the added bonus of being able to explain exactly why a harvestor costs a certain amount.
Down side is that i can't keep anything in stock in my shop. Usually what is in stock are 'rejects', if i'm working on an order for ber 13 floras and i screw up on experimenting and get a 12, that 12 goes onto the vendor at normal retail price. Sure enough its gone by the next day.
There is always some talk of archs uniting to regulate prices and get a better handle on the market, but i'm a capitalist and believe that if someone is willing to make a smaller profit just to get more business, thats their right. And the opposite is true too, if someone wants to charge double everyone else for their stuff, they can and should.
G
Zarcath wrote:I've seen these threads come and go, from profession to profession, from server to server and even from game to game. This will never work. Sorry
True, I also dont thing this will work but ... I'll try to give my contribute.
I'm not an Arch and I dont plan to be one. I'm on the armor business and I have to buy my harvesters but I agree that arch prices are way too low.
The problem is not with the harvesters and the calculation should not be based on what people get back when they use it because a good weapon killing Krayts give back alot more and the prices is not based on that.
But we can do some calculation based on weapons. How can a house cost the same as a standard weapon ?
The worse armor I can produce costs more than a house.
The harvesters, specialy the high BER ones are a piece of master engenieering. They cant be sold at lower prices like they haev been.
I've always ask my self why do the Architects go through the work of making them for sale if they can do them for themselfs, harvest good resources and then sell them for a much higher price.
Lets take the Heavy Mineral. Last time I check it took almost 30k of resources to make. Most of the Archs sell them for 100k . If they sell the resources used on the build at 3cpu they endup with the same profict and now work at all.
Even if they sell the Heavy BER 13 at 150k its still 5cpu so its very easy to find good resources to sale at that price.
The Devs should have never removed the critical failures from the Arches. They should have increased the rate to force them to raize the prices.
In conclusion, RAISE THE PRICES AND START MAKING MONEY FOR YOU WORK OR JUST SELL RESOURCE.
Have fun