Armorsmith Archive

I was going to write this up today anyway, might as well. Hope it's of use to someone, somewhere.

It's time to take a deep look into the resource and time costs of producing armor before and after the combat upgrade is implemented. Special thanks to those who helped me get figures in this thread.

First of all, we need to take a look at the resource requirements for making armor:

Let us take a look at the resource requirements of making 20 suits in the current system, using kinetic layering (the least resources req'd for tripple layered composite) we use up the following resources:

300 Aluminum
220 Beryllious Copper
515 Intrusive Ore
515 Solid Petrochemical Fuel
260 Nabooian Fiberplast
210 Wooly Hide

336 Colat Iron
168 Kiirium Steel
105 Polysteel Copper

340 Fiberplast
85 Inert Petrochemical
45 Metal

1260 Metal
504 Amorphous Gemstone
504 Polymer

Which adds up to:
3,968 minerals
1,189 chemicals
210 Organics
5,367 Total

Of those resources only 20% are named specific resources. And a small fraction are hard to aquire harvested resources.

Now in the new system, if we wanted to make a max energy armor suit, we would use:
220 Bone
235 Metal

196 Fiberplast
35 Inert Petrochemical
49 Metal

468 Dantooine Wooly
495 Dathomirian Fiberplast
495 Intrusive Ore
440 Kammris Iron
440 Mythra Copper
385 Amorphous Gemstone

330 Steel
165 Iron
495 Polymer
165 Scaley Hide

2640 Ferrous Metal
1584 Polymer
1320 Plexite Amorphous Gemstone
1848 Alantium Carbonate Ore

Total:
8,347 minerals
5,805 chemicals
853 Organics
15,858 total

Now let's compare these numbers to see what sorts of increases we have.

Minerals:
8,347 - 3,968 = 4,379 difference, a 210% increase
Chemicals:
5,805 - 1,189 = 4,616 difference, a 488% increase
Organics:
853 - 210 = 643 difference, a 406% increase
Total:
15,858 - 5,367 = 10,491 difference, a 295% Increase.

Basically, we are trippling the amount of resources required. But more importantly, organic consumption, the most expesnive resources of the armorsmiths is quadrupling!

Now what about a price increase? with a nearly 300% increase in required resources, we can expect at least a 300% increase in the cost of the armor, possibly more. Especially with the higher amount of named resources.

The following is an example of the average costs of resources on a live server. Now these prices could change from server to server, but they generally keep a similar ratio from one resource to the next.

Resources requried for current composite:

Phrik Al ... 15cpu
BeCu ... 15cpu
Intrusive ... 20cpu
SPF ... 10cpu
Nab FP ... 25cpu
Wooly ... 90cpu

Colat Fe ... 10cpu
Kiirium Steel ... 5cpu
Polysteel Cu ... 5cpu

Kammris Fe ... 5cpu
Amorphous ... 10cpu
Polymer ... 15cpu

Total resource cost for a full suit? 72,275cr

estimated prices for a CU suit:

Bone ... 30cpu
Metal ... 5cpu

Dant Wooly ... 100cpu
Dath FP ... 3cpu
Intrusive ... 20cpu
Kammris Fe ... 5cpu
Mytrha Cu ... 15cpu
Amorphous Gem ... 10cpu

Steel ... 5cpu
Iron ... 5cpu
Polymer ... 15cpu
Scaley ... 60cpu

Ferrous Metal ... 5cpu
Polymer ... 15cpu
Plexite ... 5Cpu
Alantium ... 20cpu

Total resource cost: 178,930

Comparing the totals:

178,930 - 72,275 = 106,655 a 248% increase.

While this figure is completly speculative, a 250% increase in the cost to produce armor can see a rather large spike in the cost of armor on all servers of at least doubling, if not trippling in price. So if you are used to paying 100k for a suit of armor, expect to be paying 250, possibly 300k for the same suit of armor.

Factory times:
The factory time for creating armors in the current systems breaks down, to make 20 suits of armor total factory time (if you where using one factory to make everything)
PVP Tripple Stun Layerd Composite........195.3 hours
PvE Tripple Kinetic Layered Composite....135.3 hours
PvE Single Kinetic Layered Ubese.........56.8 hours

In the new system, there are three types of armor, basic, standard, and advanced. They would take the following times to make 20 suits of armor:
Advanced........345.9 hours
Standard........241.9 hours
Basic...........137.9 hours

Divid that time per suit and we get:
PvE Tripple Stun Layered Composite.........9.75 hours/suit
PvE Tripple Kinetic Layered Composite......6.76 hours/suit
PvE Single Kinetic Layered Ubese...........2.84 hours/suit
CU Basic Armor.............................6.90 hours/suit
CU Standard Armor..........................12.10 hours/suit
CU Advanced Amor...........................17.30 hours/suit

So comparing the best we can make, compared to the best in the new CU
17.30 - 9.75 = 7.55 hours/suit differece, a 177% Increase

So, ontop of a increase in the cost of producing armor, we also will get a time increase as factories will take even longer to produce.

Conclusions:
In the new CU, expect the costs of armor to sky rocket through the roof. An increase in resource requirements of all types, an increase in the cost of aquirng the new named resources, and an increase in the amount of time it takes to produce a similar number of armor will all result in a large leap in the costs of armor for everyone.
Suggestions:
First and for most, cut down the factory times of producing armor to bring it in line with the current system. Some argue it already takes too long to produce large runs of armor. And now it will be even longer. I think a goal of 10 suits/hour on the factory is a good goal for fully layered advanced armor. Resource requirements need to be scaled back at least a bit to keep with current prices, other wise the prices of armor will become uncontrollable. Also there needs to be further focus into the effectiveness of armor in the CU to see if it is worth the cost of all this effort. If the potential for gain for armor is less then the cost of armor, the armorsmithing profession will shrivel up and die. If armor is not as good in the combat upgrade as it is now, then it should not be more expensive and harder to produce then it is now.

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Quizz wrote:

excellent post

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*AGREE*

I have no idea why they would make these changes.

awesome post, but i think it falls on mostly deaf ears.

still fighting for us!!!!!

This is why your our Corr! I Dont care what the devs say

Hey, Devs, that was a really good post! I bet that person would do a great job as a correspondant....

*FLAIL AT DEVS!*

thanks for posting this. One would imagine (there in lies the problem I guess) that these changes would be pretty easy to make. I only hope we can get some of them in.

Another huge issue that will greatly increase costs is FP requirments for Faction armor. The Devs have promised us Faction armor from day one and now that we have something that is usable combat we are almost priced out of being able to produce it.

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sharpenedstick wrote:

I think the prices of armor and other goods might actually rise by even more, with the increased difficulty crafters have to go through to get to their harvesters. The dev's flippant "get a PSG or hire bodyguards" comments at the HoC make it clear that they don't care if crafters risk death and one-shot dismemberment thanks to level based CU damage calculations.

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yes, which is why the price increase is purely speculative. We also do not know how much of a change we will see with an influx or deflux of new scouts/rangers to supply organics, as well as competing with chefs and BE's to get them to hunt organics for us instead of them.