Droid Engineer Archive

I charge 10k per module and another 15k for the chasis. on everything.

another 5k for personality chips and 10k for each armor component.

Seems to do well. Remember, it's not jus the resources, it's the time to make an item, experiment on it, then make another, exp on it, then combine it to make a module, then do that 3 time to make a cluster, then make a chasis, then a final combine all the time exp and other stuff. Docs take 3 mins per component to make a run of buffs, they charge 8-15k per session and get a TON of uses out of a full run of buffs. I have had to make like 30 different draft schems to make all my components then combine and make more and more. DE has the most combining of any profession and most of our stuff doesn't decay or get used up. We have no comeback, other than batteries and limited use items.

Even my most expensive droids are far less than 1 crate of Vasarian Brandy on my server. I charge 75k for a loaded ADV R3, but I throw in 2-3 stacks of batteries, a customize kit, and/or a repair kit with each sale. I charge this much because it is still competitve with my fellow DE, and because it is a very complex product that will never have to be replaced ever, under the current system. People don't blink at paying far more for high grade armor and weapons that degrade with use, so I don't feel my prices are in the least unfair.

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Boromiere wrote:

I am new to the Droid Engineering profession, and I am not a holo grinder. Over teh course of the last 2 weeks I have been making all needed components so putting everything together at the end will be easy. I have looked around various shops all over my server and find prices to range from 40k all the way to 75k on Advanced R3's with just the basics. (Crafting, Medical, and Storage). These are being sold be good DE's that have been around a while, heck I even bought one a while back.

Anyway, back on topic

After putting everything together and assembling the final product..even charging 5cpu for resources and multiplying the final number by 3, I only comer up with a igure around 28k.

Not objecting to hough prices, just wondering why such a high (600%) markup?

No flames please..just curious

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I think the bottom line on droid pricing is charge whatever you feel like. There aren't enough DE's on each server to worry about competition and undercutting, so just charge what you feel like. All my droids are pretty cheap (fully loaded R3 with any modules is at most 29k)but I enjoy selling droids more than making credits, and I would rather make droids that more people can afford (yes, a lot of the high demand stuff like brandy is insanely expensive, but that is only getting out to a small percentage of the players).

Don't forget to figure in all of your overhead when trying to come up with a cpu price. Shops, vendors, factories, harvesters all need to be taken into account, not to mention your time and your profit margin.

If you are selling yourself, you will make more money than if you sell to a reseller. Remember that the reseller will also need to make a profit AND be competative, price-wise with others.

There is also the Pain-in-the-*** factor to consider. As a Master Armorsmith as well as a Master DE, I have to say that the Droids require way more components than my armor crafting requires, and I tend to add a P.A.I.T. surcharge for the harder to manufacture droids.

Oh, and then there is what the market will support of course, with the old adage of "get it while you can....."

Charge what you feel comfortable charging. Personally I charge 50k for an R3 with any 6 modules, 45k for a probot LE repair or R2 fully loaded.

At these rates, I still make way more money than I can use, even feeding 12 large harvesters cash and energy every day.

Lets face it, theres only so much you can do with your money in this game. And since getting the most cash is not the purpose of this game, why charge more than you need?

When I see a true newbie (rare these days but there are still a few), I usually give them a DZ70 combat droid, and a new weapon or 2 to help them get started. I normally charge 25k for that droid, and about 5K each for the weapons. While it would seem I gave him 35K, in reality all I have given up is about 20 mins of my combined harvester capacity, and about 20 mins of my time.

Just keep things in perspective, make sure you have enough cash to survive, and charge what you want to charge, and dont worry about what other people are doing.

Thanks you for all the responses, they are all very helpful. Setting up shop with a new business is always hard. I choose DE because it was something I have always wanted to try, and I like it very much.

Thank you

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Sunfire1 wrote:

Lets face it, theres only so much you can do with your money in this game. And since getting the most cash is not the purpose of this game, why charge more than you need?

Just keep things in perspective, make sure you have enough cash to survive, and charge what you want to charge, and dont worry about what other people are doing.

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While I agree with your sentiment Sunfire1, there are some people who do play the game to get the most cash. My point being that for each of us we have different goals for the game. So I wouldn't like to categorically say that getting the most cash isn't the purpose of the game, since I know a few people that the pursuit of monetary gain is very important.

I agree that you should charge what you want and not worry too much about what others are doing, though some roleplay the business side and naturally want to know what their competitors are doing.

Well, it's a constant fear of anyone who owns a shop in this game: Are my prices too high? Are they too low? Do people not buy as much because of my prices?

The fact is, the player-run economy is loose enough that huge price disparities are not uncommon. I've seen similar weapons go anywhere from 10k to 100k--and people pay either way. As long as you're not seriously overcharging, you shouldn't have a problem. My basic philosophy has been to provide good customer service (refunds, discounts if late, deliveries when requested, etc.) and build up a loyal customer base through that. I've done no in-game advertising (I despise spamming Coronet, and have no merchant skills), but have been able to get sales up to a decent enough pace over a couple months.

And for reference, I sell Adv. R3s for 50k, Adv. Probots for 45k, Adv. R2s for 40k, Adv. Surgicals for 40k, LE combat droids for 35k, and so on down to Adv. DZ-70 droids for 7.5k and Adv. MSE droids for 5k. It makes me enough money, seems to be a fair enough price, and no one has complained about it yet.

One of my favorite things I've done as a droid engineer was to make 200 crated LE Repair droids (combat-capable) for my guild, free. Was ready to give them out, but then when the patch came out I was ecstatic to find that since they generate when you pull them out of a crate, they had gone from 2,220 HAM to 5,880. Sweet stuff--now I'm one of the most popular guys in the guild. I'm providing a useful service, finally, and I'm at last satisfied with the class.

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Hulksmash90 wrote:

another 5k for personality chips and 10k for each armor component.

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I found the info I was looking for so no reply needed, my apologies.

Message Edited by RomulusOjibwa on 05-02-2004 09:41 PM