Droid Engineer Archive

I train other DEs skills for free.

I train merchant skills for free.

I give advice and help. I'll tell you anything you want to know.

Recently, I trained someone in one of the level 4 DE boxes.

The next day I got a message asking me what my price would be to sell him level 4 armor modules.

I'm conflicted.

1) It's not really worth my time / resources to make them to sell for a reasonable price when they are worth 10 times that as part of one of my droids for sale.

2) If I sell him these then he can make droids that compete directly with mine long before having to earn the same level of skill that I had to attain to sell viable droids.

What are your thoughts?

I sell quite a few parts for droids to DE's who can't make it (including level 6 armor and other modules). I've got a couple reasons for this.

1. (no longer applies, but did for quite a while) I got xp for it. seeing as how many of the droids I was building gave you little to no xp for the droid itself selling just the parts was more xp for the profit.

2. It was easy money. I've never been lacking in resources so it was just amatter of making a few extra parts and selling them, I charged more for the individual parts than the cost they added to the droids I put them in so I made more money off of them selling them apart.

3. I remeber being a novice DE that couldn't build much, call it a stroke of pity

4. I will do just about anything to get more DE's actually selling droids as they go up the tree instead of just grinding, this gives them more knowledge of droids and how they work and mean less questions from people who buy droids from other people fro me.

5. I'm not lacking for busines. I can afford to lose a couple sales a day and not miss them

6. The people buying the parts have to sell the droids for more (and I tend to sell mine for cheaper than most other DE's anyway) so there is still more incentive for people to buy from me.

Jenden Morn - Master Droid Engineer - Mos Espa, Tarquinas

Owner, Operator, and Founder of DarkStar Inc.

When climbing up the tree, myself and Brill did that. He went one direction, I went another... I bought armor off of him, and I think I sold him higher level modules. It worked great. We also trained each other.

Recently, I made 3 or 4 food/chem/110 med module clusters for a novice DE.

Basically do it and help a guy out. Good karma.

It really depends on the reputation you want to establish. WHy would it not be to your benefit to be helpful to other DEs that are just novices? Just think, you help them, they'll help you. I used to do this all the time when I was but a wee novice (I'm 4,3,4,4 right now). Anything I could not make, I would refer them to the Master DE who was training me and giving me parts for things I couldn't make (like stations and armour).

That's now got to the point, that even as a non-master, I'm making and selling parts to at least half a dozen other novices on my server. That's simple, free cash to me. Once I hit master, I'll even make these items in crates for them too. I don't right now, because I need the XP from making them to complete the climb to master status

For myself, my whole pricing structure is actually based on the idea of selling components back to myself.

To give a rough approximation of how I handle is, I figure that every resource is worth 3 credits. I don't actually worry about it being a rare resource or not. Then when I sell it I double the price (which is a very standard markup IRL).

So if I make a Control Unit for someone (which needs 31 resources) then I sell it for 186cr.

Now, this also means if I were to buy a Control Unit I would pay 186cr for it (I figure), so if I make an Advanced Motivator then the cost to make the motivator is 43 Resource + 1 Control Unit, which translates to 43*3 + 186 = 315cr for my cost, meaning I sell an Advanced Motivator for 630cr (and would pay about 630cr to purchase one). Eventually, when I build a droid I wind up doing something along the lines of 180*3 (raw resources) + 630 (advanced motivator) + 1320 (advanced frame).... to get my 'cost' to build the unit, then I double it to get what I sell it for.

A few modifications to the formula, if a component -requires- that it be factory built (because you need 4 identical components to make an advanced droid brain and the like) then I add and extra 50% to the charge to deal with the overhead for the factory. I do this because it means that I can't just simply whip up that item purely from scratch but I have to do multiple factory runs. I'm thinking of doing away with that charge, however, as I pretty much always use a factory anyway. Also, I only multiply the cost of an Advanced Chassis (not Advanced Frame) by 1.5 instead of 2 because otherwise the Advanced versions of most droids become outrageously expensive.

Finally, I don't actually use x2, x1.5 and 3cr a unit. I have it all in a spreadsheet so I can tweak the numbers until some of my 'baseline' units line up about how I want them to. It also lets me adjust to deal with the changing economy without re-adding everything.

So anyway, having taken this attitude I have no real problems with selling Level IV armor or Level VI Medical modules to another DE. Sure, I only get around 1500cr for the module rather than the 3000cr I would get if I installed it into something (or even more if it goes into a GMSC), but I am saved the time and trouble of finding a customer, installing the module, and potentially crit failing and losing the module. The money goes in my pocket now, the new DE gets something that is easier for him to sell, and everyone wins. I may not become as rich as some of the other DEs on my server, but I do well enough.

I would, without a doubt.

It was done for me and allowed me to get things moving at a time that was important for me. And besides, we ahve it bad enough as it is, ANY help, we as DEs can get is a Ghodsend, IMHO.

I ahve enought cash to buy anything in game my heart desires. I have more cr actually, then I know what to do with and cash has never really been an issue for me. It's just a game and if I can improve someones else enjoyment of it and help them to achieve the goals they ahve, I feel I am better becasue of it.

Keep the discussion coming guys, and I appreciate the feedback so far.

Obviously, the main reason to do it is just to be nice. I should have said thatin the first post. Clearly, I recognize that, and as I said I do train for free, just as Tallin did for me. I don't need AP so I do this simply because it's a nice thing to do. However, I don't do everything just to be nice. Sometimes I do things to turn profit. That's my personal challenge to myself at this stage of the game.

I'm still unsure though. I already do a lot of things to be nice.

I spend enough time running factory parts and making droids already that my game time is filled when I'm online. If it were a symbiotic relationship I'd be more inclined to do it, but I'm not sure it is.

He gets to craft good droids before his ability really allows it.

I get less profit than I would by not doing it.

Maybe I'll figure out what it would cost to make it worth doing and see if it's what he wants to pay. Then it could be worthwhile for both of us.

i make schems of stuff other DE's need using thier materials....

I've done this a number of times, and base it off the same formula.

All of my prices are based on the resources involved (be it parts or an entire droid), and the quantity of the order. If a DE wants to buy parts, I look at the resources and give the normal mark up, then kick a discount of 20-25% (gotta give some love to the fellow DE).

Sly, here's how I would handle it....

If they want just one or two of the level 4 Armor Modules, go ahead and sell them to him. In thatcase, you can presume that it's just one customer order that they want to fill. Maybe it's for a friend of theirs, or maybe it's a really good customer that they've gotten to know and they want to accomodate.

But as soon as they start asking for bulk quality, I would say no. I know it sounds harsh and we were all once novices, but the fact is that if they can't build it, they need to accept that they aren't a part of that market.

If he can only make level 3 Modules, let him make those in his Probots and sell those at a cheaper price than what you sell your Armor 4 Probots for. They have a market for discount "newbie" Probots, and you have a market for the more advanced-player Probots. (It's one reason why I miss when you would lose old "lesser" schematics as you grew). It's good to be nice and help people out, but if he can't build the Armor 4 modules yet, then he isn't quite ready to move up to that market. Keep in mind the modules, by themselves, are worthless; they only add to our schematics, which everyone can create at the same quality. Indeed, it might even be said that the customer isn't buying a Droid, they're actually buying the modules.

So if he wants to buy one or two, go ahead. He has a single customer order that he'd like to fill for the sake of building customer relations. But if he wants them in bulk, then he's basically saying that he wants to compete directly with you, but instead will use you to do so since he isn't at the skill level himself to be self-sufficient in the market. Politely say that you would rather not do that, and that he should focus on the market for the probots that he can make, and be patient about selling the "high end merchandise" until he is able to craft them himself.

Dang lack of edit...

Anyways, another thing to consider is this: you really are being nice as it is. You train them for free. You give advice and whatnot. Isn't it a little bit greedy and selfish of them if they want you to pump out modules for them so they can compete at the exact same level as you? Why not, when they get an order that they can't fill, have them recommend your name to the customer? I mean, you train them for free, it's the least they can do. In return, you can do the same for them; when you get an order that is below you (say, less than 10k), why not send them to the lowbie DE? Each of you stays to your own customer base, him doing the novice-to-intermediate droids, and you doing the intermediate-to-master droids.

Perhaps decline the request for bulk modules, but instead offer suggestions on where they can go for business? Hospitals are great to sell "Basic Medical Droids" to newer Medics who'd like to heal anywhere. It's only the more advanced medics that begin to care about Medical Rating on their droids and Food/Chem Crafting Stations. And Probots themselves aren't too expensive to make (Extrusive Ore can be rough though), and if you pop in an Armor 2 or 3, you can sell them as a "Discount Battle Companion" for the beginning combat class. There's a lot of lower level markets for newbie DE's to tap.

Help them out with training, suggestions, advice, and resource locating. But as far as supplying them with the very things that keep you in business....I'd suggest you pass on that request.

Yeah Sigma that's exactly the other side as I see it.

I asked Tallin for training, and go it. However, I would never have asked him for crates of modules. Why not just buy all the parts from other DEs and just stay a novice DE ?

Yeah, that's the part that has me conflicted.

When I was a novice, I had a master that would train me for free. Occasionally I would request an advanced component for a personal droid or a friends droid.

Now that I'm master I do the same for novices. I have 3 or 4 novices that come to me once every week or so to be trained. While they're with me (they all live a good distance from me) I usually give them a few advanced modules. Nothing I would call 'bulk' - I usually give them a couple Lvl6 Items, Meds and Armors. It makes their day and they can't wait to put them in a droid.. and I give them to them for free as I know it sucks being a novice.

However, I would not sell components. The fact is, they're not masters. It sucks, but what can you do? There is a market for lower level droids. Granted, they won't sell as many lower level ones but they'll sell enough to pay for the steel and fiberplast harvestors.

Thats my $0.02 on the subject.

-Norax