CUEmu - Thread Posts

DangerGlitz

Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:24 pm

This is only to do with lots, but I figured I'd get more responses from people with some experience than on the artisan board.

My question is: What do you guys think the best way of managing a resource business is (with regards to lots)?

I have two characters, both with houses down, and the remaining 14 lots are filled constantly with harvesters. But it never seems to be enough to maintain the volume of business I do.

Now I understand there's basically two options:

1) X-server trade. This seems more secure to me, since the person who's placing your 150k harvesters doesn't play on your server and has very little reason to just steal your resources and harvesters. But something seems...icky about this.

2) Hiring people/renting their lots. The problem here is finding trustworthy people. I've asked around, and my longtime friends have most of, if not all of, their lots tied up.

So which one would work better? Is hiring people enocomically feasable? How can you assure that the people that you *do* hire aren't simply going to take your harvesters and run?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

~*~Morta Moire~Master Doctor~*~

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mhal9000

Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:40 pm

#2

Finding someone trustworthy can be a chore, but I think hiring someone on your server to plant harvesters for you is the best route, especially with the imminent collapse of the holo-grind. Static harvesters are going to become a liability for a large portion of the resource sellers at that point, having dynamic lots is going to be the way to go.

With that being said, if you find a potential leasee or sub-contractor, start them out with mediums at first, they're considerably cheaper, I can get minerals for 25k a pop on my server, and move up from there once you've established they're honest in their business dealings with you.

Another way to free up some more lots would be to ditch one of your houses, and just run everything out of one shop, using your safety deposit boxes for excess storage if need be.

Federated ResourcesHork Haggis, Retired

p4Samwise

Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:12 pm

#3

The people at the top of the economic ladder, from what I've heard (and I know a couple of people who have tens to hundreds of billions of credits), get there by means of cross-server lot trades and massive fields of static harvesters. If you havea thousandheavy harvesters at your command, the fact that only 10% of them are on really good spawns at any given time doesn't matter, apparently. And even after the holo-grind is done, there'll still be a thriving trade in grind-quality resources. In particular, architects go through lots of ore, and quality doesn't matter for most of it.

"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria
Blue glowie.

mhal9000

Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:11 am

#4

p4Samwise wrote:

And even after the holo-grind is done, there'll still be a thriving trade in grind-quality resources. In particular, architects go through lots of ore, and quality doesn't matter for most of it.

I disagree with your assertion that there will still be a thriving trade in grind quality resources for two reasons. These could vary from server to server of course, but after harvesting and selling resources for almost a year, I think I have a fairly good feel for the dynamics of the market.

1. The amount of people grinding new professions will decrease dramatically, and the market will shift from a sellers to a buyers market. It's already happening on my server, which has led to both decreases in grind resource prices and the demand for said resources.

2. Most large architects that I know, already have banks of statics for their own personal use, further decreasing their need for outside resources.

The ability to have movable harvesters is going to be a boon for any resource business at least until JTL hits.Depending on resource requirements, JTL will probably result in another boom, but who can say?

Just as another note, there's a current rumor going around that the Dev's are looking at limiting admin rights for harvesters/factories to the owner and no one else. If something like that goes through, you're going to see those 1000 unit harvester farms go up in smoke.

Federated ResourcesHork Haggis, Retired

SeaRaptor

Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:22 am

#5

mhal9000 wrote:

Just as another note, there's a current rumor going around that the Dev's are looking at limiting admin rights for harvesters/factories to the owner and no one else. If something like that goes through, you're going to see those 1000 unit harvester farms go up in smoke.

I certainly hope this is not the case, as it is the worst possible thing they could do. What is it to them if I pay someone to maintain my harvesters for me, or rent lots from someone to harvest materials? Both of those are perfectly legitimate uses of the admin function (provided that you feel cross-server lot trades are not legit). Why punish everyone for the few that are breaking the rules?

Felton Kel
Master Weaponsmith, FelKel LTD Weaponsmiths
Old weaponsmiths never die, they buy a planet and retire in luxury.
Now on MMORadio - Where Gamers ROCK!

p4Samwise

Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:47 am

#6

If you're renting from someone that's still on the server, you can have them move/maintain the harvesters for you. The only ones that would get burned by that change would be the people using lots from players that never play on that server (cross-server trade).

"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria
Blue glowie.

mhal9000

Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:52 am

#7

SeaRaptor wrote:

I certainly hope this is not the case, as it is the worst possible thing they could do. What is it to them if I pay someone to maintain my harvesters for me, or rent lots from someone to harvest materials? Both of those are perfectly legitimate uses of the admin function (provided that you feel cross-server lot trades are not legit). Why punish everyone for the few that are breaking the rules?

Personally I feel the collapse of the holo-grind market will do more to curb cross server lot trades (in harvesters at least) than anything the Devs could do.

As far as cross server lot trades go, I could really care less. I have a few that I started many many months ago, but most of my harvesters now are dynamic.

Federated ResourcesHork Haggis, Retired

Songe

Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:56 am

#8

I'm split on the issue... But I think it would be a good thing, as the drawbacks currently far outbalance the advantages. Now, how many people will actually bother keeping those harvester fields when nobody needs to grind anymore? I don't know... But I'm convinced that resource consumption is going to decrease a lot.

------

Novice Lekku Stomper

mhal9000

Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:11 am

#9

Songe wrote:

But I'm convinced that resource consumption is going to decrease a lot.

As far as grind resources go, I'm in complete agreement. Quality resources, where having movable harvesters is a key, is going to be the way to generate cash again. In fact even with the decrease in grind resource sales, my total sales for May were up around 10% from April.

Federated ResourcesHork Haggis, Retired

slegger

Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:26 am

#10

the ansewer to many questions about the resource buisness goes

if you can't supply enough materials that u sell for x credits

slowly raise your price to a level where u can confortably sustain the volumes of materials needed

just be careful as you raise and don't get too greedy because there is a breaking point

therefore

Less units sold at a higher price equals the same profit and less hassle

SLEGGER INC.

Slegger - M. Merchant M.Tailor

Slegg - Master Commando Master TKA

Sleggy - Doc 4-4-4-0

Talus , Corabantis

Iplyvi

Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:46 am

#11

Interesting thoughts regarding whether grind-quality resources will be needed or disregarded with the upcoming changes.

I can say, for me, that being able to buy large quantites of grind waulity resources is a must for my business model. Being Master Chef and Master Architect, I have 8 lots to play with. Sometimes all 8 are used for factories. Other times I'm able to get 4-6 harvesters placed. When I do place harvesters, I need to place them on high quality resources because there is a much greater cost difference (.6 if I do it, 10-20cpu if I buy it).

Both profs need grinding resources. I must make thousands of chef components and they do not require stats to make. I can go through almost 500K grind-quality flora pretty quickly and then even some milk/meat as well. For Achitect, the grind-quality resource is needed even more. I need about 250K Ore and 100K steel to just make 100 walls. Since I can go thru 1,000 walls pretty easily, that is millions of grind-quality resources. This is why it makes no sense to me to sit 4-6 harvesters on it and try and mine what I need.

Instead, I have found an independent supplier of resources whose grind quality is 2-3cpu - and I buy 2-3 million credits worth. My price for items goes up only slightly when compared to getting it all myself.

This business model has been very successful. It allows me to have very competitive prices. More importantly I feel,it has allowed me to ramp-up as my sales increase and keep my vendors full even tho I am making more things now than ever. When I started, I could put a factory run up and count on it lasting 20-30 days. Now it is gone in less than a week. (this is from 500K in sales a week to now over 4 million).

I will be L O S T if miners stop providing grind-quality resources at a good price.

Again, just my perspective, FWIW.

Iplyvi Olis
Master Architect, Chef & Artisan
The Jungle Spice Cafe' and ArchTech Designs
1010 -6090 Dantooine, Ahazi
only 600m from the agro outpost
(and as Katyryyhn: Master Heavy Swordsman & Brawler)

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