Architect Archive

Hey, folks. This is probably my last post on the architect forum. You guys just don't get it, well some do, but people just ignore what they say.

First of all there are a few misconceptions about the economics involved. People on the forums are comparing profits to economic gains/losses. I could sell my resources on the bizarre for 4-5 credits per resource and make a killing or I can make a house and sell it for 3-4 credits per resource. If I sell the house, according to "economic loss" I am losing money because I could make more if I just sold the resources. Economic loss measures the best case scenario and if you don't take that path, then you are losing money.

In reality, selling resources for 2 credits per unit will ALWAYS* generate a profit if you harvest it yourself. Even on a vein of 25% of a resource, the cost is just over 1 credit per unit, depending on your power source. If you sell the resources for 2 credits per unit or 5 credits per unit, you are making a profit.

*when I say always I am assuming you are not harvesting at low rates, wasting time (1-20%)

Ok, now for some tips on making a living as an architect:

1) Don't waste time thinking you're going to sell thousands of small houses and make a fortune. Any architect can make them. There are usually so many, that a player can just pick an architect with the lowest prices and buy from him/her.

2) Don't think that by explaining how many resources or how much risk there is involved will make someone buy YOUR houses when OTHERS are selling them for less.

3) Get the names of those selling for less. If the customer cannot give you real names, then he or she probably read the price somewhere on the forums. You can explain that yes, that may be the going rate on OTHER galaxies, but "you are here and those architects are not"

4) Horde resources in times of slow sales. Make sure you do whatever you have to to keep up the maintenance. Run missions if you must. I've never had to do this, but i know that i could have been much better off if I did.

5) Make FURNITURE. Prices of furniture is rarely discussed in the forums and people really do not know the going rate. If you are the only architect in your area, people will most likely buy from you. Markups on furniture are incredible and well deserved. This is where the architect can stay compeditive with armorsmiths and weaponsmiths. I sell items for 10-15 credits per unit and I can't keep up with demand. If I raise the price more, I will still sell these items, but I don't because I'm not a gouger. People will pay more for furniture than they will for the house they put the furniture in. I don't know why, but it's a fact.

6) Make sure you have a good location for your shop. Make sure there are a lot of customers in your area and little or no other architects. I've also noticed that when it comes to furniture, usually the fighting professions will buy them. Other craftsman, like DE or weaponsmiths tend to focus on the harvesters and more practical items.

7) Learn to be a merchant. Get the NPC vendors. Right now, NPC vendor maintenance is nearly nothing, whereas the droid and terminal vendors have skyrocketting costs and these costs go up as you put more expensive items inside. 10 small houses selling at 10k in a droid or terminal would cost more than 100 credits per tick while in an NPC it'd cost around 1 credit per maintenance tick... you do the math...

8) Don't grind once you reach architect. Sell everything you make, and don't focus on the housing. Yes, houses provide better exp, but you won't sell them as quickly as furniture. In the last 3 days, I've sold 300+ pieces of furniture and 2 houses.

I hope this advice helps out those struggling architects.

Have fun; that is the key to the game...