Bio Engineer Archive
Thread: Why are Bio's giving away chef schematics?
The value of the actual schematic must be considered. To any chefs (or whichever profession) who take the argument that it takes very little effort to make the schematic, I would have to say, "Then you go ahead and make one. It takes very little effort, after all." The truth is, of course, that they can't make one with any amount of effort, if they are not also a bio-engineer. The question that should be asked is not "how much effort does it take to make it," but "how much effort does it take to be able to make it?" The answer to that is a huge amount, being the time and money spent working up the BE skill tree.
If any chef ever asks me for a manufacturing schematic, my honest response will be yes, and the price is a manufacturing schematic for Vasarian Brandy. I can't think of anything that would be a fairer exchange, or a more certain way of knowing you're getting equivalent value for what you're giving away.
Mapai wrote:
I even asked a chef for a supplier discount. He laughed at me.
Mapai, if you are willing to make the items I need for my chef, I will give you a supplier discount, basically you will get some free food for selling me the enhancements. I will do that to keep the flow of production happening.
Isn't this argument dead by now? No such luck..
Oh, I think the armorsmiths started the "schematics should be free" trend, way before BE additives were worth anything.
The only problem with assuming that every additive goes into over-priced brandy is that the market is saturated with brandy now. So, additives are going in other foods that won't be worth nearly as much. The additives will also go into foods that have a set quantity, rather than drinks where casks to multiply the quantities. A crate of BE enhanced brandy has 450 to 525 uses, a crate of BE enhanced veghash has 125, and BE bivoli has 50 - 75. A big difference there.
I'm still very glad I make my own additives.. my BE bivoli sells for less than the 115K credits my neighbor is asking for a crate of 112 strength intelligent nano-nutrients.
Message Edited by AnitaSWG on 04-29-2004 07:36 AM
That's very true, but I think it is still useful to understand just how much benefit a schematic can have to a chef. To set an "upper bound" as it were before you quickly fall into the "5 min of my time is worth a 1k tip" trap.
AnitaSWG wrote:
The only problem with assuming that every additive goes into over-priced brandy is that the market is saturated with brandy now. So, additives are going in other foods that won't be worth nearly as much.
Message Edited by ArthurDentOnBria on 04-29-2004 01:53 PM
a customer of mine (a rather annoying one who orders pets and doesn't buy them)
is (or was) getting chef...... he wanted me to make him some BSN's and i said they're 45k a crate, etc..... he wanted to know "what if i supplied the meat" i said well 35k a crate..... and he said well what if i supplied EVERYTHING and i said it would probably be like 500cr per item for each schematic..... ie. a schematic of 1 would just be 500cr, a schematic of 100 would be 50,000, a full schematic, 500k
he laughed and said he would probably find some hologrinder to give him schematics for free and that he was "a lazy chef"
i'm sorry but self-proclaimed lazy people don't deserve the time of day from me, or should pay me WELL for my services.......
also a side-note:
sure it takes two seconds to make a schematic for someone...... but it doesn't take two seconds to master BE..... it takes a LONG time.... and LONG, LONG time
so that schematic is not going to be 5k.... i didn't grind out BE to just whore myself out for 5k an item
Dsabre,
The only comment I'd make to what you wrote (which I agree with) is that how to price tissues that you make and how you price schematics (or the decision whether to make them at all) are really very different issues. What I'm seeing these days is a complete unwillingness on chefs to buy tissues at all.
Of the last 6chefs that have contacted me about tissues, 5 of the 6 have requested (or more often demanded) a schematic before even persuing whether of not I in fact sell them or what sort of price I charge. The sixth guy was an unpleasant fellow that was obviously just spamming every BE on the search engine, trying to figure out what strength of BSN we "could make" (whatever that means). This is definitely a change from a month ago or so, and I attribute it to the fact that brandy prices on Bria have fallen about 50% in that time.
chef side:
-BE vendors selling tissues are often empty
-many reasons for this...the resource costs involved, factory time, availability of meat, etc.
-often times a BE vendor does not have a "full run" (40 identical crates)
-chefs prefer to purchase, or create a "full run" in order to take maximum advantage of amazing results
-there are less BE's willing to make chef tissues than there are chefs wanting tissues
-not all chefs will "price gauge" or act badly when dealing with BE's...tho often the "nicer" chefs will feel the effects that the "evil" chefs cause by demanding things from BE's.
-chef tissues are probably the only thing you may actually want to seek out a specific customer for...
-selling only to chefs you feel are reasonably priced is a way to deflate brandy prices...amongst other things
-brandy is pretty much the only thing that is so highly priced...pricing tissues higher forces the prices up on all foods/drinks...not just brandy.
BE side (as best as I understand it):
-chefs make a huge profit on brandy
-granted each server has its own unique economy...but brandy prices tend to be disporportionately high, whether due to volume of sales, greed, or cost of resources.
-some chefs make outrageous demands
-these people will always be around in some form...and are not limited to the chef community...just add them to your ignore list...and please do not take this as an example of how all chefs act
-BE tissues sell too quickly to keep a vendor stocked, but I keep getting yelled at by angry chefs...
-BE's are not alone in this...every crafting profession suffers the same problems, chefs, WS's, DE's, etc all have to deal with similar customers (some people more than others based on location)
I probably missed a bunch of points...but in general the issue of selling/giving away schematics is your personal choice. and of course giving away schematics and such to PA mates/friends is completely different from giving them away to anyone who happens to ask...I doubt anyone would ever object to someone giving away something to a friend, or a PA mate...
some people will use the reasoning of wanting to drive down brandy prices...truthfully the chefs who are interested in making credits...will take those free schems, and make even more...and since they're soooo loaded now, they will pay the meat hunters 20+ cpu for above average meat...driving prices up beyond the range of the more moderately priced chefs...
the chefs that are less interested in credits than in maintaining stocked vendors etc, will likely lower prices...but not by all that much (since they still have to use one of their factories for the tissues...and a full run takes a long time to finish).
many chefs would actually perfer to purchase reasonably priced (note: to determine this it is best to find a single chef, and enter into a long term partnership) full factory runs of finished tissues...saves the chef time, effort, and factory space. absent this, buying/receiving free schems is the next most attractive option...again coming down to the chef preference for getting full factory runs.
prices are less affected by the cost of obtaining components from other professions...than the prices of resources...tho not everyone seems to realize this. what makes free schems sooo attractive to chefs...is the high cost of good meat...and now that berries/fruits (both resources needed for brandy) are going through the roof for quality spawns...some brandy prices are naturally going up to match the increased costs.