Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: My thoughts on pricing in general
Figuring out what price to sell at seems to be a recurring issue among droid engineers. What bugs me is that people who sell at the lowest prices use the number of resources to determine the price. That is completely ridiculous!
If prices were based on raw materials, the computer I'm typing this on would have cost maybe $50. You have to take into account time and difficulty! Both the time you spend searching for resources and trying to move up the skill tree should be factors. Not to mention the fact that the whole point of selling things is to make as much profit as possible.
We are merchants, we want to make profit.
Butmany people dont get that. They want just enough credits to maintain their harvesters, to get the resourcesthey need for grindingto advance in the skilltree.
What do you plan to do once you are master DE I ask you? Start a new character? Get a new game?
Sounds like you don't understand the economics of a player driven economy. I determine what profit margin I want to work on and if you are undercut you will have to lower your prices or not make any sales.
Btw this is a game.
ranaki wrote:Sounds like you don't understand the economics of a player driven economy. I determine what profit margin I want to work on and if you are undercut you will have to lower your prices or not make any sales.
Btw this is a game.
Yup, it's not that we want to make just enough, it's that you want to make it all now. I want to make somewhere between 110% and 200% of just enough, and let the excess accumulate over time. I seem to be acheiving my goals, and I don't have to pay high vendor fees either.
CapnSteve wrote:
Figuring out what price to sell at seems to be a recurring issue among droid engineers. What bugs me is that people who sell at the lowest prices use the number of resources to determine the price. That is completely ridiculous!
If prices were based on raw materials, the computer I'm typing this on would have cost maybe $50. You have to take into account time and difficulty! Both the time you spend searching for resources and trying to move up the skill tree should be factors. Not to mention the fact that the whole point of selling things is to make as much profit as possible.
Well, I'm still in the lower stages, but I think I have a pricing sceme worked out that also uses the resource count as an atribute... and its not that hard to figure... Each droid in the BP tree falls into one of 6 boxes, easy enough. So I do it this way:
Novice = 5cr / resource (MSE base price = 350cr)
BP1 = 10cr / resource (ADV MSE = 1200cr, WED = 3k, etc)
BP2 = 15cr / resource ((ADV DZ70 = 3500cr, ADV R5 = 6k, etc)
BP3 = 20crcr / resource, etc
For modules, I use basicly the same scale but on the other trees. (for you math junkies, you'll notice that after 2k, I round to an even figure) Finding out how many resources total isnt hard (check out http://swg.allakhazam.com/if your not sure). So far, these prices work well, account for alot of the headache of running around gathering the different resources, and still turning an excelent profit. And before someone complains about the cost of the probots at that scale, consider also that in the future, probots will be MUCH more functional then they are currently. the only droid I've seen so far that I consider outrageous at these prices is the power droid, but thats only because its ALOT of resources to make one! (2689 resources x 15cr each = 40,335 credits).
The first is the bazaar cap - those people without Business III or higher have no vendor and are forced to either sell their goods on the street in person or sell via the bazaar (as they probably wont go looking for a merchant). This reduced the max price to 3k (I've seen this happen on alot of high end items that should be worth much more)
Skewed maint rates. Bugged resources shifts (meaning harvester relocation) and bugged maint fees due t server downtime _should_ increase sales prices - in my experience they dont because people only seem to base prices on number of materials needed (regardless of how rare) and pay no attention to maint fees, time taken and failure rates
I work off of asystem somewhat similar to Dromax here (though the droids actually turn out a bit cheaper) and I must say, I'm still getting an insane profit still. It is not uncommon for me to make around 60-70k per day AFTER resource and maintenance cost. I have right now a PA hall (cost me 400k) and about 350k in the bank (plus I've been spending quite a bit of cash playing around with skills and trying out doctor stuff with some expensive resources). On top of this, I get most of my resources from the bazaar and master artisan parts from other people so I'm not getting them too awfully cheap. I may hurt my business by giving away my secret but here it is, DON'T GRIND. I get a skill every 3 days or so (taking a bit longer now that I'm in school) so its not like it takes you forever to get skills. Since I don't waste any resources, I make more money, allowing me to sell droids cheaper, which in turn gets more people to buy them, giving me good xp and business. You guys should try it out sometime, its a whole lot more fun and easy to deal with.
Jenden Morn - Somewhere between Novice DE and Master - Mos Espa, Tarquinas
Founder, Leader, and Owner of DarkStar Inc.
Here is what I wrote in a previous thread on this topic in this forum:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=15029
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.
I've been making a lits of stuff i can make udating as I get new lvls. Next to each item i put (resource count& complexity). space over and put resouce count*complexity. space over and put the last number plus the resource*complexity for any sub parts. space and the sale price adjusted slighty based on many factors. So my list looks like this:
Arakyd Probe droid_____(75-25)____1875____3520____4000
DZ-70_______________(72-18)____1296____2929____2950
DZ-70 - ADV__________(60-22)____1320____3843____3850
Below the droids, I have the sub parts used so when I get a new one, I have the parts listed. When I put a droid up on my vender, the final price is teh sale price plus any modules. And before anyone screems that's too much, don't forget the amount of resources it took making stuff you couldn't sell getting to wheer you can make stuff you can. There is cost of resources, cost of travel getting resources, cost of house to bulid and store stuff in, cost of good tools,....
Vorg wrote:
And before anyone screems that's too much, don't forget the amount of resources it took making stuff you couldn't sell getting to wheer you can make stuff you can. There is cost of resources, cost of travel getting resources, cost of house to bulid and store stuff in, cost of good tools,....
Absolutly. I will only be grinding for my other intermediate levels (at 0-0-0-3 right now). After that, i'm done with the grind! I dont know the exact figure but I know for sure that I've gone through ALOT of cash gettin this far... and I mine my own resources hehe.
But all that aside, I think the primary concern when considering price is the number of DE's, the customer's needs, and (frankly) our honesty and 'out of game" knowledge that we pass on to the customer (i.e. telling them about certain buggs that may affect their droid, keeping up with the message boards, etc.) There's more to customer relations then selling the droid. And droids are quite a bit different then selling (say) a harvestor, or a weapon, where most people already know how to use it. Happy customers come back for upgrades 
This thread spawned from another about someone selling seekers for 250 a piece. What's the point of that? That person could be making more money, and they could be trying to be nice to their fellow droid engineers, but they decided to have an insanely low price just to screw over everyone who was trying ot make a profit.
As for the poster who pointed out that this is a player driven economy, how is that different from the real world economy? Walmart isn't going to suddenly slash their prices to 1/4 of what everyone else charges. You start high and gradually lower your prices, trying to find the perfect balance of number of sales and profit per sale.
Sorry if my selling seekers at 250 annoys you and my selling all droids at roughly 2 times the resources gets on your nerves too. But I'm a master DE and a Pistoleer, I only make droids as a hobby, not for a full time job. I go out and make all my orders at night before I log off, and place them on my vendor or the bazaar. Most people don't get a droid on demand from me, nor do I usually carry around extra deeds, so I see it as only fair to lower prices to those willing to work on my schedule. Plus, selling a normal probot for 15k is ridiculous if a CH can sell a better combat ally at a lower price, which I've seen happen.
As for real world economy, are you familiar with any of the big monopolies before we had our anti-trust laws? Companies would willingly take losses in order to drive other companies out of business, then once they were the only company around, set the prices at what they want.