Architect Archive

For anything bigger than a small house I ask for a deposit. I am not spending my whole night digging and running my harvestors for someone who may back out. I have only done this a few times, but one on saturday the guy gve me 10 K i had quite a bit from selling houses so I ran around and go thim the resources in one night. Sunday someone asked me to them a factory, nothing up front and I let them know that if anyone came along with the credits I would sell to that person first and they understood. Saturday I bought about 10 worth of stuff form bazaar, but I did get xp and in the long run made about 12 K, not too bad. I dug in the dirt and even had the person who wanted this helping in the dirt. After I was done i see i needed to charge more and I have since but I also want to get the stuff with out the bazaar, which has led me to make the generic stuff I need instead of deeds. make structure peieces and have them in my shop, get the materials together so I can get that next contract and keep more of the cash.

I really dont think anyone is going to pay 25 K for a small house, they would rather wait and by that math the factories would be outrageous. When you get a caontractor in real life you pay for them to colllect the material plus the construction, this is the same as SWG. In fact i was told a guy i first sold a huose to for 10 K bought one for 6 and he was kind of jerking me around this weekend, but i told him he is also paying for me NOT to be building factories and he needs to take that into account. They are paying for our time our expertise and our resources, and if they have to wait or you need to get stuff from the bazaar then thats what it means. Kinds of sux but I made my money and got some goos XP in the long run.

I'd like to see us able to make more of a profit. The risk is too great for the small amout WE have set as the going rate. I'm not going to feel guitly about charging a price that is fair either. If you won't buy my structures for more than I can sell the resources for on the bazaar, then you are welcome to look elsewhere. For me, it's easy because I'm already master. If you're not, I would still recommend this, and here's how.

An architect needs money to keep harvesters running so they can get the materials needed to build components so they can get experience. Nowhere does it say you have to make a single finished structure, so why put your resources at risk if you don't have to? A small house takes around 3400 resources. If you build all the components (with no mistakes), hit the assemble button and aren't greeted by the critical failure screen, you may then sell your house for around 3c per unit of resource. If you sell it on the market, you may get 4c or more. Why bother? Besides the experience, there's no reason to make any structures.

If I were starting out again, here's what I'd do. The basics you need as an architect are a small house, a structure workstation, a wind generator, and 7 personal harvesters. Build them yourself, and that's around 8k of structure building experience. You now need 47k more. Your next big goal is a structure factory. In order to make one yourself, you will need a component from houses 1...don't get sidetracked for one part though...spend a couple hundred and buy it from another architect, because you're heading right to installations 1. The components for a structure factory will give you around 25k more experience...build them, stockpile them, and get to work on the components for your next goal...medium harvesters. You now have 22k experience more to go for your factory, so look at what you will want to replace.

Your house will still be fine as a shop and warehouse, but you will want to upgrade any mineral harvesters to mining installations and your wind generator to a solar. Let's say you have a chemical and a gas harvester, a wind generator and 5 mineral harvesters. You will need 1 solar and 5 mining installations. Components for those will put you over the mark for installations 1, and put you well on your way to installations 2. After your (hopefullly successful) factory build and the components for your next 6 buildings (around 35500 exp), you'll need a little over 63000 exp more to hit installations 2. Now that you have a factory, most of your components will be critical error free, and you can spend your time on other endeavors. Use this time to take a look at what you can build next and pump out the components for them.

When you aren't crafting or checking your harvesters, if you really want to stay ahead, go run missions for cash. Heck...it may even bea good idea to just go out and buy your first structure factory. Just go build up the cash first. Make a couple of wind harvesters and let them build up power until you're ready to start crafting. You'll be way ahead and save yourself a ton of hassle if you have a stockpile of power ready to go when you start your operations. When you do get your harvesters up, you'll only need to sell a few thousand units in order to keep your harvesters happy, but just like the power, it's best to start with a good stockpile of cash before you delve to far into the trade.

You got all the way to Master Arch before realizing this? Man that's why I don't care if people buy anything from me right now. I use every resource I mine just building stuff for myself. I tell people my price too and if they aren't happy with it, more power to them to find someone else. People are usually happy though when they want to buy 10 medium harvesters and you tell them it can be done within a few hours.

Alzyre, your deposit story is just the kind of inspiration this concept needs to take off. Even if you can't see people paying full price for a factory now, if we push and stablize the economy eventually you will see it happen.

I just realized that I might have posted this argument twice here today; I apologize, I posted the first one early in the morning and probably forgot I did it.

-Pogo

I have a great idea in theory for architects, but it seems SO unlikely to implement it would need strong support from our community.

Even when I prepare and stockpile parts for orders, as an architect I'm constantly stuck in a bind: I don't want to run 10 harvesters but I never have resources when the orders come in. I recently stockpiled on generators but an (uncertain) order for four medium harvesters has me 18,000 credits away from my next paycheck.

In real-life terms though this doesn't seem right - as the builder I shouldn't be paying out of my own pocket for other people's projects. In fact, it isn't right at all to charge a person for the next customer's project either. So who's really paying the architects?

Perhaps the problem with all these architects is really a matter of love - they're so determined to get the next level they're pouring their own resources into experience, making their exploits doubly difficult.

Well as an architect I've got a love for money. Running to the bazaar I thought, if only I could get a cash advance I could finish this job quick. That's when it struck me - we should be making contracts with customers for deeds!

Picture this: customer Deez wants a small house (3388 resources).I meet him at the bank and tell him I'll have the house in a few minutes but we need a contract. I tell him I'll need about 4000 resources' worth to make the house, which (in current market terms) runs about 25,000 credits. Deez gives me the payment up-front then and there, andI get my resources off the bazaar. Five minutes later I have the house for Deez, I've got experience for construction, and we both save hours of waiting for harvesters.

For skeptics:

1. This both rewards and limits the Surveyor as an actual profession. Look at the cycle: the surveyor harvests (no credits or maintenance fees). The surveyor posts resources (right now about 2800cred return per 500 units). The architect collects materials off the bazaar (the surveyor gets paid). The architect crafts and sells a contracted item (the architect gets paid).

2. Those who balk at the sudden jump in prices, crafters and customers alike,must be informed that this is the next step in balancing the economy. I hear the same reason over and over: "I could have sold your house in raw resources for 10 times as much." The old rebuttals only become more valid if we contract properly - those who charge 3k, 5k for small houses are most likely scrambling for resources themselves if not backed by a PA that could cover their expenses anyway.

3. When the architecture market crashes the surveyor's market should follow - less architects buying in a contract environment will impact surveyor's sales. The days of 10creds per resource might vanish, at least in lower-grade materials.

The next time somebody approaches you for a factory or a harvester, meet them in a bank or at your house. Lay out the details, tell them you need X cash and X time to complete their project. Guarantee them your priority and good service, and let them know that they're helping to save a failing market. If contracts take off than this profession will finally be doing what it's meant to be doing - building.

-Pogo