Architect Archive
Thread: Novice architect, help me!
Hey,
I just hit novice architect 2-3 days back. I have harvesters setup getting ore and steel for me. But i seem to be having a real hard time making any money from this! At the moment i cant afford the maintenance on the harvesters so have no choice but to let them run down.
How on earth do you make money from this profession! I find it really hard to drum up interest from people to buy a deed.
any tips?
The only way to make money is to go around and convince people to destroy their pre-existing structures and replace them with yours. Since that probably won't happen, you're SoL. Sorry.
We ALL feel your pain though.
10 archetects will give you 10 answers, so you are probably going to get a lot of tips.
I will start with the easy 4
Tip# 1 Making finsihed product in Archetecture is not the fastest way to make money, do it becasue you love it, not becasue you want to get rich fast.
Tip#2 If you are totally strapped for cash sell resources at the bazzar, go to the most populated city on your planet, the larger the economy of the area the faster they will sell. Price is up to you, I generally sell resources between 2.5 and 3 cr per unit.
Tip #3 Sell furnature ( I leanred this one very late ) It sells fast and at unbelievable profit margins.
Tip#4This is the big one, find a Master Archetect that is willing to go into a contract with you for walls. They will often pay between 8K and 10k per wall, you make tons of experience makeing walls, they get walls they hate making but need so much, and you make lots of money while you grind.
I made houses. and when i made 2 or three i would go to the planet and shout in a city over and over until someone bought it. sometimes they would go quick, sometimes it would take longer, but they always went.
I've read on the forums that some people get annoyed and call it spamming. Whatever, I'm just trying to sell some product and make some cash.
I do quite a bit of crafting missions when I'm bored to build up some credits for harvester maintenance. But I have to agree with everyone else. The Novice Architect tag under your name is your best friend. I didn't know how to do it for the first week I was novice (ok, I've been a novice for a week and a half), but last night I figured it out and changed it. By the end of the night, a Master found me and made me a deal to make walls. I was really hoping for a deal like that, so now I'm just trying to harvest the resources needed to start making the walls and stuff. Keep at it, but make sure you're doing it because you want your character to do it, it's the only reason I ignored the numerous "the architect profession is dead" comments I read. Heheh.
Do it cuz you think its fun, but turn your novice arch title on.
--Kaladin Lister
--Novice Architect
--Bria Server
I regret to say I'm in a similar position as Turkeh. It doesn't matter how much I advertise my shop in the capital, people simply seem too lazy to walk and have a look, much less buy anything(why anyone would walk X km to check out a shop is beyond me anyway, but that's how some economy genius designed it.) Not to mention the fact that it's rather embarrassing peddling expensive, high-tech machinery by yelling. For the hours I've spent 'advertising', I've sent out 3 waypoints and made no sales. I have to disregard the fact that it's UBS (Unsolicited Bulk Shouting) and that I should be fined for littering the air. I suppose what I should do is have my vendor on a cart behind me as I walk around town. That way I can at least bring all the merchandise with me.
I'm now at the brink of having to shut my harvies down and look for some other way to earn cash (yes, currently all my game time is spent tending to harvies, crafting and advertising. But not selling!) Before I do I'll try to:
- Make specific sales ads in town, instead of just advertising my trade and shop.
- Try to find a Master and set up a 'wall deal.'
Of course, I always relied on selling resources on the bazaar when things where tight, but what kind of a living is that, and how does that make me a more 'attractive' Architect?
Sorry about the rant. I was letting all the frustration out in one blow. 
Oh! And has anyone had any real use of Merchant skills? Yesterday I got curious from the mentioning of shop signs in the patch notes (no comments about what happened :smileywink and decided to get the Management skill. After hours of looking for a Merchant who had the skill (I found two merchants total, neither of which had it), I gave up and paid the NPC trainer. I go home and change the sign, and walk outside, full of anticipation...Turns out I paid 6k for a **edit**ing cone!?!?!? 
Well, to sum it up, I am and will remain an Architect because I want to. But sometimes it's just really hard to find the motivation.
If I'm not mistaken, one of the merchant skills is the ability to place a waypoint (read: advertisement) on the planetary map. I believe you have to pay for this placement but it might be worth it.
I have to say that the mental image of us pushing our vending carts through town hawking our wares is a funny one. I can see us all now.... haha
Turkeh wrote:
Hey,
I just hit novice architect 2-3 days back. I have harvesters setup getting ore and steel for me. But i seem to be having a real hard time making any money from this! At the moment i cant afford the maintenance on the harvesters so have no choice but to let them run down.
How on earth do you make money from this profession! I find it really hard to drum up interest from people to buy a deed.
any tips?
First thing you need to do is decide which matters more to you, running an architecture business or skilling up. It sounds like a funny question, I know. But architecture is the one trade that "requires" no grinding unless you want to. I'll give my tips for going the grind route as well as my tips for going the business route both assuming you have noone else helping you and that you do not want to pad your income with missions...
Grind route:
At Novice -- make structure modules and walls. These only require ore and metal and will allow you to concentrate the mining end of your operation as much as posible. Figure out what your harvesters are costing you and set aside enough metal/ore to sell to cover those costs. Sell that metal/ore on the market at about 3 per. Use what's left to make the walls and structure mods. Keep an eye out for master architects looking to buy walls. But even if you don't find one you can use the walls later. You should be able to get the exp to attain Installations 1 or building 1 fairly quick.
At Installations (or building1)1 -- continue the same thing as at novice. It should take very little time before you have both building 1 and installation 1.
Once you have building1 and installation1 -- You can start stocking up on generator turbines along with your walls. This will require more complicated mining. Just remember to sell off the resources you need to break even. At this point its often helpful to sell a few small harvesters on the bazaar depending on the market prices of your server. You may find you can put em up cheaper than the market yet still at more than 3 per resource. Take factory orders at this point. I don't recommend making them in advance (you'll end up having the one noone needs). If you are not getting orders for factories just keep making gen turbines, structure modules and walls. You will find yourself at installations 2 quickly.
At installation 2 -- medium harvesters and solar generators. Again its best to make them to order. But these are the only deeds worth making ahead of time. worst case you use them yourself and have many more resources to sell. From this point on if you are grinding fill the installations tree first then furniture, then buildings, construction last. If you are intent to grind its much better for you to grind on componants you can use later (and selling your surplus resources) than deeds you feel you have to give away to make ends meet. Then use those componants for deed orders when the price is right for you.
Business route:
Nearly the same as the grind route (which is why I boggle at folks griding architect) You still want to do structure mods and walls and sell surplus resources (or small harvesters). The major difference being you may want to take a different path up the skill tree, perhaps going furniture first and getting business 3 to make a vendor. You also never EVER want to make a deed that isn't already sold and sold for a profit. The exception being if you are fairly up the tree, and have established your vending business. But chances are if you are that well known you won't have time to pre-make deeds anyway. The key to going the business route is to make what you know will sell (raw resources, furniture, small harvesters) to cover your costs (with little or no exp) Then patiently wait for orders for what you LIKE to make or WANT to make at a price that YOU like. If you do it right you can use that wait time to make componants for those items.
This is not a profession you will make gobs of profit in. You can be successful but if being richer thn God is a priority don't be an architect.
Beginning as an architect is definately somewhat of a struggle. Once you get past the hump though, it does become fun and profitable. You may be in a bit of a struggle now, but with a little pain you can get yourself to the point where all of your large harvesters are powered and fed for a month, and your shop is closed because you feel like fishing for a week. It does help to have friends, or to make partners, or to score an apprenticeship, but it will still be a little work, though once you start making the big stuff, it gets to be a lot of fun. I got through the first couple levels just running missions and selling personal harvesters on the bazaar. Most of the time it kept all of the harvesters running. My first move was into installations, so I could produce more resource. With double the output of personals, you get yourself in a place where you arent building anything so huge that you couldnt sell a couple thousand resources to keep everything maintained. From there, you are getting a decent output, and all you need are a few good sales to get a nice buffer on your bank account.
Then from there its marketing and business plans, and there are a billion ways you can do that. Make sure you are labeled as a Novice Architect, build yourself a house, and try and get things built up around you. You can accomplish that several different ways, and any architect can debate the way that works best for them. If you get a few neighbors with houses built by you, they bring in more traffic, and before you know it everything in your clip plane is something you built. If you are still broke, you probably should have charged a little more, but if you had fun and now are well on your way to Master Architect, you still have time to figure out whats going to make you a profit.
The apprentice thing is a great idea too. I buy walls from my apprentice for 6k, but I supplied him with he medium harvesters. I asked for 20 walls at 6k, so plus the mineral harvester cost, it averages out to about 9k a wall. Now Im reffering factories and smaller stuff to him, and just working on large harvesters, houses and PA halls. AND I have one more order before the 'gone fishing' sign is up on the vendor as I look for some nice beachfront property. This is with no PA, and the first two week theory is garbage since I haven't been an MA for much more than a month now. So my advice is to run missions, harvest hides and meet people. That and a little luck and you will have a nice little business going.