Bio Engineer Archive

poddrifter - the resource map "shouldn't" change in 15 minutes... IIRC it will only possibly change with asystem reset. I know the map and resources available between last night and this morning before the maintenance were exactly the same. I imagine once maintenance is done the resources will then change and possibly the map.

Unfortunately this does create a dilemma, but one that has already been addressed many times in this forum. We need a way to either have harvesters move on to a different resource if the original one gets depleted or reset, or they need to shutdown and stop consuming resources when that happenes. Both would be nice (move on to the next highest resource and if none are available shotdown).

If we can't come up with a Price Guide, maybe what we need is a Resource Guide. Start compiling a list of what resources are needed, by which specialist, and what properties are of interest that would add value to that resource.

As an Artisan working toward being a Weaponsmith, I know I need Metal with high Conductivity and Quality but I know little about what other Artisans might be looking for in resources.

Interested to know how BEs determine a selling price for their creations.

I'm a merchant and my BE friend has asked me to sell his creations on my vendor but between the 2 of us we dont have much idea what they are worth.

Can anyone offer any pointers/benchmarks?

Thanks

It varies from server to server. A good standard has been Creature Level x .5 x 1000.

So a Level 10 creature would be 5000 credits with this formula and a level 50 would be 25000.

It just depends on competition and demand. I started out with my level 50's at only 15000 and slowly raised prices until I found a good balance with demand and my ability to keep up with it.

Some people sell their level 10's for 1000 and level 50's for 50000. Just need to find out at what price you can keep up with demand. I found selling them cheaper actually made me more money per day, but it also required me to craft twice as much. At one time I crafted for 16 hours a day and still sold out everyday.

I am almost a master armorsmith now and am about to start making armor to actually sell, instead of just grind out and i was wondering if anyone had a good formula for figuring out pricing for the different armors.

I use this formula:

p = (r * k) + (c * l) + (e * m)

p is price
r is # of resources in the schematic
k is a constant in the range of 3-6 depending on how hard the resources are to obtain
c is the cost of components I can't make (Reinforced Fiber Panels, etc)
l is a constant in the range of 2-3 depending on how hard the components were to find
e is the number of experimentation points used
m is a constant in the range of 85-100 depending on current slicing rates

Just fiddle with the constants and this formula will work for any crafted item, not just armor.

m is a constant in the range of 85-100 depending on current slicing rates

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So does this mean you are factoring in the armor being pre sliced? You could probably also use this as a "markup" value too I suppose.

Not to knock it, but this seems to be generating numbers a little low. I got 3400 for an advanced ubese jacket. That should be more like 10k or so.

I do 2k per piece of Mabari, 3k per piece of Chitin, 4k per piece of Tantel, 5k per piece of Ubese

I haven't sold any Padded (because I don't feel like making any yet) and I'm not a Master so I can't make Composite.

I normally would double the price per piece for Adv Armor, but Adv Mabari isn't worth it since I don't see an increase in quality unless you're going for Heat (and I sell Adv Mabari for Heat at 2.5k on the Bazaar).

It depends on your ethics and goals most off all. If you're a merchant trying to get rich, there is no formula, you just gotta feel the market and see what you can squeeze ot of it and where.

If you're looking for an honest way to calculate your costs and add a decent markup on that for profit (wich is what I try to do) that would be pretty hard. I'd say first calculate the costprice, wich will be about 2 credits for every inorganic you use plus about 6 credits for any organic you use. Add 10% for critical failures and about 5% for maintenance of shop and vendors and then whatever profit you deem fit. Let's say you want 35% profit (wich is a lot less then most armorsmiths are getting) then you would have to add a total of 50% to that costprice. So the actual formula would be

3 * inorganics used + 9 * organics used

Maybe tweak a little for armor that requires rare components like Padded or advanced segmented armor.

So no, an advanced Ubese shirt does not have to cost anywhere near 10k, it is a rip off, or excellent merchant-skill, whatever way you look at it. You can sell that Advanced Ubese Jacket for 3400 and still make a profit. If you want to, that is up to you.

Generally my Ubese costs 2500 for jacket, Chitin chest is 2250. Helms and leggings are 500 less then bodyarmor for both, boots and armpieces are 1000 less and gloves 1250 less. Advanced armor depends on the availability of the components required and is not fixed in price. I can't make composite, don't make Padded, Tantal and Mabari except on request. These prices give plenty of margin for me, although I must add I have pretty good deals with suppliers (for tailored components and hides and bones) and share factories and shops with them as well, wich is essential to my pricing.

My pricing is based on what the market will bear. I charge around 75k for a 70% set of kinetic ubese, sometimes if I'm in town I will yell 200k per set and get some takers . .sometimes I'll sell it for 40k. It depends on the customer and what people are willing to pay. Run through a town yelling prices, if you get a lot of takers, your to low. . if you don't get any, your to high. Thats a good judge.

Hate to rain on anyone's parade here, but if you want to maximize your sales and credit intake over the long haul, there is one fact you need to understand.

Crafters do not set prices. The market does.

For the longest time, I kept trying to balance my prices based on cost, resources involved, etc. And to some extent, it works, but only if you're still a non-master. Low prices are about the only incentive people have to purchase from a non-master smith, and there is value in that.

However, once you get that master title, do a bit of investigating. See what other masters are selling their wares for, and price accordingly. It may be best to undercut a bit in the beginning to generate a customer base, but you can slowly raise your prices all the time. When people ask why, just cite growing costs (your time is invaluable) and growing demand.

Don't feel tied down to a particular price. The amount of credits in the game are ever-increasing, and so the value of an individual credit declines steadily over time. To counter this inflation, you may need to raise your prices.

Also, it is better to have somewhat higher prices that allow you to maintain a regular stock on your vendor(s) than it is to have items sell out very quickly. People are more likely to re-visit your vendor if you have a regular selection on it than they will if you're always empty.

Bottom line? Continually re-evaluate your prices. Sometimes things may need to go up, othertimes things may need to go down. I'd rather set my prices a bit too high and then lower them than set them too low and have to keep raising them to find the equilibrium. You'll make more profit that way.

I agree with most of the posters here. Go with the flow. Going with a percentage over cost will generate numbers that are fine for non-masters but the demand for master level armor is just too high for those number to work. Price your wares too low and you'll find you're sales will be high, but work involved too much. Wanderhome has seen many a master burn out due to being overworked by charging too little.

My prices on Adv Chitin is fairly high since I really don't want to waste resources on it. But the resists are good (50/18) and at 60k is cheaper than advanced kinetic ubese.

Adv Kinetic Ubese is in fairly high demand with 66/19 resists. At 90k a suit, my customers seem pretty pleased. Especially since it's still lighter than a full suit of chitin.

Don't get too much call for Standard Composite, but it sells well at 120k a suit with 46/38 resists.

My most popular seems to be Adv Composite at only 180k with resists of 56/48. (god i need better wooly!)

At these prices I don't sell a dozen suits a day but it sells at a comfortable rate for me. My customers usually tell me I'm pretty low and that my customer service rocks