Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Pricing for Droids
This is from another thread here... but I thought it warranted it's own posting so that others can maybe share their own methods for establishing droid prices.
Advanced R2 - 20000c
- food/crafting module - FREE
- medical VI module - 6000c
- armor VI module - 10000c
- data VI module - 6000c
- storage VI module - 8000c
GRAND TOTAL 50000c
Well... I only make custom ordered droids. With so much variety available at Master level, it's virtually impossible to pre-make any and just keep them in stock. I actually get very few orders for the higher level droids because I explain to all of my customers that functionality is exactly the same... regardless of the droid type. I do make most of the sub-components ahead of time in factory crates... but even that. I will break down for you the making of this droid and why I think those charges of 50000c are justified.
Requirements for making this Advanced R2:
280 Chemical
R2 Advanced Droid Chassis
- 210 Chemical
- 1 Advanced Droid Frame Unit (*)
150 Steel
70 Fiberplast
- 1 Advanced Droid Brain
25 Copper
10 Inert Gas
10 Siliclastic Ore
12 Chemical
4 Identical Elect. GP (*)
10 Metal
7 Polymer
3 Low-Grade Ore
3 Copper
3 Inert Gas
4 Identical Elect. Mem (*)
8 Metal
5 Polymer
2 Low-Grade Ore
3 Copper
2 Inert Gas
- 1 Manipulator Arm Package Set (*)
65 Metal
18 Ferrous Metal
15 Chemical
60 Extrusive Ore (slightly rare)
- 1 Advanced Droid Motive System
15 Copper
15 Metal
3 Steel
5 Chemical
5 Low-Grade Ore
1 Control Unit (*)
10 Metal
5 Polymer
5 Low-Grade Ore
3 Copper
3 Inert Gas
5 Polymer
- 1 Droid Sensor Package (*)
10 Steel
4 Copper
2 Low-Grade Ore
5 Chemical
2 Inert Gas
1 Metal
1 Droid Brain (*)
14 Copper
5 Inert Gas
8 Siliclastic Ore
8 Chemical
4 Metal
General Droid Module Socket Cluster
52 Metal
7 Chemical
7 Low-Grade Ore
Food Droid Crafting Station Module
35 Metal
25 Inert Gas
40 Metal
Level 6 Droid Medical Module
25 Duralumin Aluminum (somewhat rare)
20 Metal
1 Elect. GP (*)
(see above)
3 Identical Elect. Memory (*)
(see above)
Level 6 Droid Data Module
25 Beyrllius Copper (very rare)
10 Dioxis Inert Gas (extremely rare)
12 Low-Grade Ore
8 Fiberplast
1 Elect. GP (*)
(see above)
3 Identical Elect. Mem (*)
(see above)
Level 6 Item Storage Module
20 Neutronium Steel (somewhat rare)
12 Lidium Extrusive Ore (extremely rare)
8 Inert Gas
10 Metal
1 Elect. GP (*)
(see above)
3 Identical Elect. Mem (*)
(see above)
Level 6 Droid Armor Module
70 Duralloy Steel (somewhat rare)
20 Ferrous Metal
25 Link-Steel Aluminum (very rare)
10 Fiberplast
1 Composite Armor Segment (made my Armorsmith with Padded Armor capabilities) (*)
* - Made ahead of time in factory crates
Now... considering that if made from scratch you have 13 separate combines each with a chance of failing... you must use at least 17 items which have been made in a factory... you must keep in stock the enormous variety of resources required.... and there is always that chance (around 10%) that you can fail your final combine... it would take around 30 minutes to create this particular Advanced R2 unit from scratch. Throw in the time required to actually obtain the various resources... time and expense requried for the necessary factory runs... time and expense required to obtain the Composite Armor Segment... time and expense required to have obtained the ability to craft this droid.... and I honestly think my prices are very in-line with what one can expect to earn otherwise in this game for a simliar amount of time invested.
It is my time and abilities (mostly time) required that I generally cosider when establishing prices for various droids. Not to mention, I am usually earning credits otherwise running missions and such (you really outta get some pets... they are fantastic) and have to interrupt that to craft the droid, then return to my house to place it for sale on my vendor. If you compare the amount of time it takes to earn 50000c otherwise in this game... you'll actually find my prices a little low. 
Its called integrity.
Some of us follow the spirit and intentof things and not the letter.
Not that I am a perfect angel, mind you,just making a point.
ArlanTH wrote:
My question is why use a level VI module that uses a lot of rare resources when 2 stacked level 4 modules will give you the same result?
Are you sure about this?
I believe a Dev posted long ago that stacking didn't change anything - but I've never tried.
I'll do so right now.
Audio
I'm still very new to the DE profession, but I have to ask... Have you ever sold one at that price?
Just about anyone can make 30k in an hour. I guarantee you if you calculate all your time in surveying, placing harvesters, shopping for resources, collecting resources, making components, building the Droid and marketing the Droid you have a LOT more than an hour in it.
That's part of the game for me...I guess I don't consider it work. Honestly, I don't see how it would be any fun to just stay put in your house while people bring you materials and just deal with crafting tools and tons of credits all the time.
Seriously though, you guys have MILLIONS in the bank even without your costs and other investements...and I'm sure it keeps growing. I honestly don't think they'll price anything that high in the future...even ships/vehicles..and, if they do, you could probably get one crafted anyway using guild crafters etc...
No..when it's all said and done there are those that play the game because they enjoy being a droid engineer..and there are those that play the game to make as many credits as possible. I'm not judging anyone, they can do what they like...but I really hope those that are rolling in the money think about their own end-game: what's next when you have more money than anyone else and nothing to spend it on ..hehe.
Of course, many of you that are charging SO much have the first customers on whatever server. Those hardcore players that know how to make tons of money and know how to exploit anything that can be exploited. Those customers are limited, however, and that's why you find one or two DEs per server charging a TON and then the rest chargng more reasonably.
Mahja wrote:
Sure you are getting your money back for your resources, but your TIME in getting the skill and most importantly making the Droid is going for free. Your time may hold no value, but mine does.
I agree with charge for time (construction, factory time mainly), but not our time required to get the skill. Charging people for my time grinding advanced droid frames doesn't sit well with me.
Charge for the product. The time manufacturing, the time it went to assemble, the resources that went in; that's reasonable. Charging for the time it took for you to hit enter, double click twice,and hit enter 3 more times isn't.
my cost for resources i harvest myself include my labor in getting those resources, reedeeding and scouting new locations after a shift happens. If i didn't primarly on cost alone, I could sell probots for 500 a piece.
I factor in 10K an hour.. why cause from what I gather.. thats what the devs intened the income to be.. all the high paying missions combatants do are exploitable. Admitdly thats not the case and they need to come up with some short term cool stuff that can eat up the money from the exploiters if the economy will ever get to where the devs intended.
(They need to fix corpses so insurance means something and sucks money out. heck i think you should be 10% of what you have money wise each time your killed .. short term.. that will suck the money out quick. most games you loose 10% of your xp when you die.. but i digress)
you sell for high.. let me ask you something, what do you really do with all that money you gipp outta people? An Advanced R4 unit is no different then an Advance MSE droid. the R2 and R3 with the clusters of 3 are additional functionality.
Persoanlly i couldn't sleep at night if i charged too much for my droids. besides i wouldn't know what i would do with the money.
My post got eaten!! GRR!
Anyway, please understand these aren't flames and I do appreciate you masters taking the time to discuss this. At my current rate of play it will take me 3 to 6 months to reach the level you're at, and all of this is very helpful information.
Regarding resource my flooding comments: What I meant is that some people duped and sold resources, thus giving them unusual amounts of money, which then dissipates into the economy because they are willing to pay extremely high prices on a whim because money has little to no value to them. There was also the ability for lower level players to exploit bugs (aka the Baz Nitch scene) and get lots of money. Money is devalued currently almost across the board in the combat character world. For me I'm a poor musician / DE, but the people in general are not.
See also this comment by Mahja:
Most players don't value 30k anymore than they value 10k, the difference for them is 30 minutes.
Exactly. However, if the economy were right they would.
So that being said, I'm not saying your time has no value, but I am saying that assigning an arbitrary number to that value will only work while the other factors exist. The time value will reach equilibrium as the economy stabilizes and competition occurs. I'm not quite sure yet what it will be, but it looks a bit high in your calculations. Just an opinion here, and as I say, whatever works works. 
Now, since your formulas say a lot about crafting items in factories and stockpiling them for DE success at the high tier... I wonder if you could point me to some resources about how this works. Or explain it here if you want to. I know nothing of the factory use / cost / aquiring etc, because as I have said I'm still very very low on the totem.
Jabetha wrote:
Actually... if you had read some of my other previous postings here you would know that anything beyond an MSE Mouse droid is a waste. Right now you can insert a General Socket Cluster into any General Module slot... thus allowing you to actually embed clusters within themselves. The 'essence' of this is I can take every single General Service Module and ultimately squeeze them all into 1 single cluster... I can then take that cluster and put it into a basic MSE Mouse Droid. And... yes, it works (everything except the multiple crafting stations... but that's a different issue entirely).
I have.. but thats a bug or should be heh.. so I'd feel bad loading up an MSE with all those then the devs do s tealth fix and makes it unusable... besides i can't make the general clusters yet...