Shipwright Archive
Thread: Can you make a living as a SW ?
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Caljostro
Wed May 11, 2005 2:23 pm
#1
Ok, ranger isn't what it used to be pre CU, so I am thinking about a new prof (and I don't mind being a crafter for a change). I like the idea of RE-ing (and not needing any expensive creature resources 
).
Sure, there is always room at the top, but seriously, how is business ? I can't expect to make millions a day like AS or WS, can I ?
From my understanding, most people become an ace or two, and then they mothball their ships, using it only for cheap travelling. Am I wrong on this ? And even if they play occasionally, they won't need a new ship or equipment every week.
So honestly, is it worth it ?
).Sure, there is always room at the top, but seriously, how is business ? I can't expect to make millions a day like AS or WS, can I ?
From my understanding, most people become an ace or two, and then they mothball their ships, using it only for cheap travelling. Am I wrong on this ? And even if they play occasionally, they won't need a new ship or equipment every week.
So honestly, is it worth it ?
IIscandar
Wed May 11, 2005 3:03 pm
#2
It will take you awhile to build your business, and you will need to do a lot of crafting to make a million credits a day. Most of the items you would be selling have to be hand crafted. You can't put a run of engines in the factory and hit "start". Every engine, reactor, weapon, armor, shield,capacitor, etc is made by hand. I've had runs where I did nothing but craft for 3 hours a day 
just to stay stocked. If a pilot becomes your customer earlyon thier way to master and they like doing business with you, they will buy most components from you. There are somethings like missles, subcomponents, paint kits, texture kits and such that you can use a factory for.
just to stay stocked. If a pilot becomes your customer earlyon thier way to master and they like doing business with you, they will buy most components from you. There are somethings like missles, subcomponents, paint kits, texture kits and such that you can use a factory for. I still enjoy shipwright and I've been crafting away since jtl launch. Never thought I'd like crafting, but the way we are setup like custom builders rather than mass producers, it is very rewarding.
Message Edited by IIscandar on 05-11-2005 05:04 PM
Kaleborn
Wed May 11, 2005 3:31 pm
#3
I would say if you're committed to searching out quality resources, learning many of the finer points of both flying and building 'total ship solutions' , and are willing to spend extra time with individual customers, then yes there is certainly a living to be had as a SW.
I grinded duty missions for cash (keeping the good stuff always of course) and once I had about 6.5 million saved up I dumped most of it into resources to go up the SW tree. Combined with some friendly donations and a bit of harvesting I did the grind in a little over a week, basically starting with nothing. Upshot is that after filling up my vendors and keeping them stocked with all the usual items (minus booster, caps and engines...I direct people to my RE vendor for those), I've easily made back what I spent, plus a few million on top of that. It's been about a month-and-a-half since I mastered SWI'd say.
I keep a somewhat low profile, no barking or going door to door hawking my wares. I buy the odd resource when I'm short, but mostly I use myhumble 8 lots to harvestwhat I need. My prices are on the lowish side...about 4-6 cpu for chassis and 5-8 cpu for components. I don'tcraft engines, caps, or boosters (until the patches come through). And shockingly enough I haven't started stocking missles and texture kits yet --> Some of the few items that will usually need to be replaced on an ongoing basis.
But even still. I stock 2 of each ship (not including my plethora of tier 4 grind chassis), I don't stock Master level ships at all. Those are only by request due to their heavy resource use. I try to keep4-6 of every level of component (a mix of 'base' items along with those using the upgrades), and until recently my RE vendor was filled with a wide assortment of every type of item. I need to put down the mining picks and shovels, set aside some RoTW quests and get back to running old-fashioned duty missions for loot lol.
I built my 'Starship Garage' near Theed, and it's vendors are on the map and Vendor Search. Business has had it's ups and downs over the past few weeks. Recently with RoTW there has been a big upswing in sales (mostly tier 1-3 goods) with players needing ships to travel to--and run missions out of--Kashyyk. So that's kept me busy.
Anyway, I think the answer is yes there is a career to be had here. My goalposts weren't set overly high mind you. If your looking for hundreds of millions, that might be tough. I can almost guarantee that if you just ran Tier 4 duty missions twice a day and sold all your loot you'd probably come out ahead interms of cash. But I think there shouldn't be any problem staying on the sunny side of afew million in the bank as a SW (with a few duty missions on the side to keep those RE vendors stocked heh).
At the end of the day doing what I'm doing is how I derive 'Content' out of SWG for the most part. So perhaps I'm not giving you an answer that fits what you want to get out of it. I like RE-ing, looking for the next great loot, I'm even sorta partial to "Asteroids 2005" that mining offers. And of course I just like flying and helping people with space missions. So being a SW is just a natural fit in my situation. YMMV of course.
Message Edited by Kaleborn on 05-11-2005 03:34 PM
jsguttman
Wed May 11, 2005 3:49 pm
#4
It depends how you want to spend your time. I was a slave to my harvesters trying to find high concentrations of the best resources and make sure they were live. Of course http://www.swgcraft.com/ is a huge help. I'm "free" atm because real life doesn't afford me the time for the harvest. Though I have tried space mining ;-)
I still don't sell a lot, though I have repeat business and do custom work. The big problem I found is shipwrights giving components away, I don't even try to compete on pricing. I price as it suits me and leave it up to the customer to decide. Perhaps the bargain pricing is symptomatic of people doing the grind and dumping their stuff. I am often recognized as "the best shipwright in the galaxy" and yet ... it's still more like a hobby for me. Still I'm staying with it and I enjoy it. And there's plenty to learn still. Post CU you'll never be the killer you used to be. I was a TKA master pre-cu, now I'm trying to find my combat prof that fits my artisan way.
I still don't sell a lot, though I have repeat business and do custom work. The big problem I found is shipwrights giving components away, I don't even try to compete on pricing. I price as it suits me and leave it up to the customer to decide. Perhaps the bargain pricing is symptomatic of people doing the grind and dumping their stuff. I am often recognized as "the best shipwright in the galaxy" and yet ... it's still more like a hobby for me. Still I'm staying with it and I enjoy it. And there's plenty to learn still. Post CU you'll never be the killer you used to be. I was a TKA master pre-cu, now I'm trying to find my combat prof that fits my artisan way.
Schadwood
Wed May 11, 2005 4:30 pm
#5
you can make credits?
damm
J/K
Honestly though why worry about credits? What in game bills do you have?
Golrok
Thu May 12, 2005 8:44 am
#6
Caljostro wrote:
Ok, ranger isn't what it used to be pre CU, so I am thinking about a new prof (and I don't mind being a crafter for a change). I like the idea of RE-ing (and not needing any expensive creature resources
Sure, there is always room at the top, but seriously, how is business ? I can't expect to make millions a day like AS or WS, can I ?
From my understanding, most people become an ace or two, and then they mothball their ships, using it only for cheap travelling. Am I wrong on this ? And even if they play occasionally, they won't need a new ship or equipment every week.
So honestly, is it worth it ?
there is a constant flow of new pilots, not always a fast flow but constant, to replace those who aced.
You take them under your wing and milk them dailyof credits until they ace. Then you gofind yourself a new breed to milk.
BonesDragon
Thu May 12, 2005 11:14 am
#7
As others have pointed out, it's all a matter of what you put into it, and what sort of shipwright you want to be. The potential exists to make boatloads of creds, but it may require long hours of crafting and harvesting.
Personally, I'm more of a casual/hobbyist shipwright. I make my money off of chassis (yes, the dead market). My vendor is a "body shop", in that I have chassis and paint/texture kits, and little else. By selling essentially one main type of thing, it keeps my resource needs simple. The markup/margin is small, but I have no real costs of operation either. I keep at least 2 of every chassis in stock (including all of the freelance variants), preferably 3 of each of the non-variant chassis. I keep one of each master ship in stock, with a higher markup than the smaller ships. When these sell, that's when I get a nice financial boost. Sometimes a brand-new ace will come in and buy 2 ships, since they want both the fighter and the POB ship for their faction. Even though I'm not the cheapest source for these ships, I'm close to the cheap end, and have them in stock, so someone wanting a pair can usually find it.
I don't advertise (except for the sign on my house with the coords to my vendor), I keep my title hidden, and I refuse to make components even when asked.
Do I earn a lot? No. But I make enough to keep the harvesters flowing, keep my swoop repaired, buy things I need, and still earn a growing profit.
Personally, I'm more of a casual/hobbyist shipwright. I make my money off of chassis (yes, the dead market). My vendor is a "body shop", in that I have chassis and paint/texture kits, and little else. By selling essentially one main type of thing, it keeps my resource needs simple. The markup/margin is small, but I have no real costs of operation either. I keep at least 2 of every chassis in stock (including all of the freelance variants), preferably 3 of each of the non-variant chassis. I keep one of each master ship in stock, with a higher markup than the smaller ships. When these sell, that's when I get a nice financial boost. Sometimes a brand-new ace will come in and buy 2 ships, since they want both the fighter and the POB ship for their faction. Even though I'm not the cheapest source for these ships, I'm close to the cheap end, and have them in stock, so someone wanting a pair can usually find it.
I don't advertise (except for the sign on my house with the coords to my vendor), I keep my title hidden, and I refuse to make components even when asked.
Do I earn a lot? No. But I make enough to keep the harvesters flowing, keep my swoop repaired, buy things I need, and still earn a growing profit.
pitrik
Thu May 12, 2005 11:30 am
#8
Schadwood wrote:
Honestly though why worry about credits? What in game bills do you have?
I have smallish fleets of static harvs scattered about on 4 planets, not including the mobile harvesters my various alts can place.
When 100+ harvs send in the bill for power and maint, I'm glad I've taken up Armorsmith as well as Shipwright - most of my SW income goes right back into the harvs.
At least I almost never have to buy resources, and I can usually cover even multiple spawns of good stuff at the same time.
Ackew
Thu May 12, 2005 7:02 pm
#9
IF your prepared to WORK at it yes you can make money at s/w not sure about now as most people have quit due to the cu. But from JTL to now I made at least two thirds of a BILLION as a s/w.
Strudle
Tue May 17, 2005 3:13 pm
#10
IIscandar wrote:
I still enjoy shipwright and I've been crafting away since jtl launch. Never thought I'd like crafting, but the way we are setup like custom builders rather than mass producers, it is very rewarding.
Message Edited by IIscandar on 05-11-2005 05:04 PM
no it isnt
Drusan
Tue May 17, 2005 8:51 pm
#11
SW is highly rewarding both monetarily and mentally. After about two months of harvesting and collecting the best comps, my business is finally taking off. I'm making atleast 500k a day during the week and that's with just engines, shields, reactors and boosters. I just don't have time to keep those stocked and craft other lines as well. I'm working on it though for the release this weekend. We should make a killing.
SandLizard
Tue May 17, 2005 9:23 pm
#12
Since the CU/Expansion, I've had a very hard time keeping up with my stock. Over the last two weeks, I've averaged probably about 1.5m a day. It's been crazy. Honestly, the credits flowing like water are nice, but I'd prefer it to slow down a bit so I can actually do other things than craft
BonesDragon
Wed May 18, 2005 8:52 am
#13
SandLizard wrote:
Since the CU/Expansion, I've had a very hard time keeping up with my stock. Over the last two weeks, I've averaged probably about 1.5m a day. It's been crazy. Honestly, the credits flowing like water are nice, but I'd prefer it to slow down a bit so I can actually do other things than craft
Well, you can slow down and let the business go elsewhere. Heh.
Personally I'm happy with my meager sales. I only make chassis, and with a shallow markup I still sell very few of them. However, selling one or two master ships a week lately has been putting enough money in my pocket that I could just quit anytime, and retire to my yacht/houseboat when I get it in about a week and a half.
Considering that my only expenses are typically keeping my ships and swoop in repair, and running my harvesters, a few million in the bank will last me a long, long time. But I do enjoy selling ships.
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