Shipwright Archive
Thread: *Post your tips for new shipwrights here*
MrHawat wrote:
What I want to know is what are all these credits good for? If you could buy extra lots for an hughe sum I would be interested.
evil
Golrok wrote:
MrHawat wrote:
What I want to know is what are all these credits good for? If you could buy extra lots for an hughe sum I would be interested.
Buying stuff from peoplesstorage vendorsthat is way overpriced because they dont want it to sell.
... good idea, but evilI actually sold a "first patch on engine" Mark 5 engine that had a top speed of 116 but only 50's ypr. For ONE MILLION credits and in went in less then 48 hours. It was the first on the server and I put it up at that price just to get people attention and actually look at the stats. I did not really expect it to sell.
I've had people ignore my wares on the bazaar selling for 6000 for weeks on end but to test things out I marked it up to 10000 and it sold in less then 48 hours.
ok enough of the anecdotes...
My advice...keep a careful eye on your prices.
Sell to low and people automatically ignore your wares.
Occasionally sell something with excellent stats at a rediculouly high price. A lazy person with too much money might buy it. That and it's good advertizing.
Develop a good raport with you client base. Your a shipwight, I suggest you fly in space. It's a good way to kill time while your waiting for harvesters to harvest and it's a excellent way of networking (finding clients for you non busness types).
DO NOT buy resources if you think the price is high. If your patient that person will eventually lower the price on said items because something else better comes along and they spend the money storing the stuff for you.I see them as my un-official warehouse agent. Bargain hunt...you'd be suprised at what stuff are selling for.
My only piece of good advice.
If your no where near a private SW crafting station, use your Datapad to look up what type of resources and what qualities you need.All the schematics are under the schematic pad that you have learned and earned.
Really works great when your in space and your wondering what Astroid you need to attack to make those cool looking wings for you ship.
My other maybe good piece of advice.
If your doing the Y-8 mining quest for space mining and well, heck, the freakin' Y-8. Build yourself a better laser and cargo hold asap, but after you learn how to mine. It will make the quest go a heck ofa lot faster, and its not that long. Don't worry about the tractor beam. Make it after your done questing, it takes more resources to make and well, get the ship first, it will be a lot faster. 
1. If your not already a pilot. Become one ... actualy flying the things you craft is the only way IMO to understand what effect they have in combat.
2. Search out the best shipwrights on your server ... ask a few Master pilots... you'll notice the same names pop up for certain componets. [most shipwrights tend to "specialize" in an area] Use what these shipwrights make as a goal to "beat".
3. NEVER let a harvestor stop running. [I was gone two weeks once and it set me back close to a month in resources...sigh]
4. Find what it is you craft better than anyone else and keep it stocked.
5. Do not let "Faction" interfer with business. Learn whats important to rebel/imperial/Privateer pilots as far as componets go.
6. NEVER put anything on your vendor your not proud of.
Schadwood wrote:6. NEVER put anything on your vendor your not proud of.
well said. can't tell you how many resources wasted making things that go 'poof' in experimentation, then destroying them, as I don't want crap components associated with the {OK} badge (sweet, sweet irony
)
Tartuffe wrote:
evil
Golrok wrote:
MrHawat wrote:
What I want to know is what are all these credits good for? If you could buy extra lots for an hughe sum I would be interested.
Buying stuff from peoplesstorage vendorsthat is way overpriced because they dont want it to sell.
I'm just a product of preCU Valcyn community =P
now to on topic- dont spread yourself too thin. and if sales are getting you down the weekend will soon be here and you'll get that you got mail tone every couple of minutes- my favoite sound FX in the whole game- the creds qare rollin in.
Message Edited by Golrok on 05-12-2005 10:16 PM
1. Ask yourself what kind of Shipwright you want to be. "Best on the server" isn't a good answer. Take what you like and don't like about crafting into account. Personally, I can't STAND running harvestors. It's not my thing. It is, to me, the most tedious thing I can think of doing as a crafter in SWG. Some people don't feel this way, it's a gameplay choice. I discovered at launch that it just irritates me when I have to do it. This means I'd rather strike deals with miners and buy the resources(except space materials. I love space mining, and the prices people think they can charge on Kett is, to be frank, stupid). This also means, that I'm not going to have the best prices on the server, and I'm going to hve to take into account that I'm going to be an "expensive Shipwright", because I value my time and the time I could be spending doing other things than crafting cheap components or rnning harvestors.
2. Once you know what kind of Shipwright you want to be, it's time to work out how you plan to make this work. If you are the sort of shipwright that mines your own materials to lower costs, then you're going to need to work on volume and invest a lot of time crafting and stocking to be successful(in my opinion, but I'm not this kind of Shipwright, so I'm no expert on it-- I'm simply going by the basic principle that if prices are low, you've got to make your money on volume). In my case, I realize that my prices are going to be some of the highest on the server. therefore, I take great pains to make those prices worthwhile. Yes, someone will pay 1.5 million for a fully-loaded YT1300 if you make them feel that they've gotten 1.5million worth of value-- even if your neighbor is selling the same for half the price or less. How do you do this? CUSTOMER SERVICE(there it is again). People pay high prices in my shop for several reasons... they know Everything on my vendor is 90% experimented or better, they know they can order anything they don't see or ask for "This engine, but just a little less mass, please", they know if they want a custom ship from me, I'm going to drag them into my workshop and ask questions to tailor a ship specifically to their needs... they know that if they DON'T like the performance of a part or it somehow doesn't fit in their ship, they can bring it back for exchange... they know that I provide financing for what they can't afford. Back around JTL launch, I sold about 20million in ships and parts on credit of various sorts. Some people paid it back in credits, some in loot components, some in resources I needed. But people who know my shop and my business know that if they're willing to do some legwork, there is no way they're leaving without whatever it is they want, unless it is just flat-out impossible. there are plenty of Shipwrights that sell at 2cpu at varying quality. My pilots tell me they'd rather come spend 20cpu on my parts because they don't have to dig through piles of assorted qualities to find "the good stuff". Everything I make is "the good stuff", and they like that. They also know that all crafted components are priced based on the cost of resources used, rather than some arbitrary value(I've actually, in the past, had a couple customers who sold me resources well under market value specifically because they knew I'd lower prices on anything I crafted with them. It was a great deal for all of us).
3. You can, if you want, hav it both ways. Mine your own uber resources and sell cheap. And that's fine, if you want to do this. Some people do, and that's their choice. But personally I don't understand why one would want to run oneself ragged chasing uber resource spawns to make components at 2cpu when those resources are going for 10 on the open market. It makes sense in that they all cost less than 1 cpu to pull out of the ground, etc, etc. and you're doing people a favor not jacking the prices... it just doesn't make a lot of business sense, to me. But I'd rather be known as a pricy Shipwright that's worth the expense, and have fewer customers that happily pay more for the best product available. Because that frees me up to do more that *isn't* Shipwright.
So, figure out what you want to be, what you need to do to be sucessful, and do it. And don't forget to advertise every way you can. Ad don't be afraid to value your time and expertise. also, as has been stated, know how ships are used, inside and out. Get at least 4444 in a pilot profession. Wear your tag. Experiment with what we can craft and the ranges that we can get. Customer service. Make sure the value the customer receives matches the price they pay-- that's only fair to both of you-- and by matching, i mean that the customer should value what they get from you *slightly* more than they value the credits it costs them to get it. talk to your clients. Factor the customer service time into your pricing. Have fun with it.
1) If you use the server's best resources, charge accordingly, look around and find out what other elite shipwrights with comperable stuff are charging. This varies from server to server, but never underprice yourself.
2) Location. People are lazy and don't like to travel to inconvenient places. You will get more foot traffic and sales if you have a shop set up close to one of the major cities, the closer to the build-zone border the better. I'm, not saying you won't get any sales if you set up shop in the boonies, just that you will get less sales overall than if you picked a better location.
3) Don't be afraid to tell your customers "No" when they get out of hand. The customer isn't always right, some people think if they beg and plead and be obnoxious enough you will cave in to their demands. Custom orders have you too busy to sleep? Cut back the types of custom orders you will accept, maybe limit it to certain ship parts and put a hold on accepting new custom orders if you're already backlogged. Never EVER wear yourself out with custom work, you will get burned out quick if you're not careful.
4) Always use subcomponents in your ship parts, otherwise they won't be anything special, won't pack any punch, and won't be worth much. Yes, it is faster and uses less resources to craft without subcomponents, but few people will want to buy your stuff.
5) Stay away from selling chassis until the experimentation stats are fixed by the devs. I've never produced chassis for the market and I'm doing just peachy.
6) Never try to cheat your customer. If you notice they really don't need that level 5 reactor after looking at their situation, let them know and save them some money. They will never shop anywhere else if they know how honest you are.
7) If you are short on resources do not make chasiss, paint kits, repair kitsor missile packs. Instead focus your resources on ship parts, they bring in the most money per CPU. Making all the other extras when you're resource budget is hurting will only become a resource sink.
Subcriminal wrote:
1) If you use the server's best resources, charge accordingly, look around and find out what other elite shipwrights with comperable stuff are charging. This varies from server to server, but never underprice yourself.
2) Location. People are lazy and don't like to travel to inconvenient places. You will get more foot traffic and sales if you have a shop set up close to one of the major cities, the closer to the build-zone border the better. I'm, not saying you won't get any sales if you set up shop in the boonies, just that you will get less sales overall than if you picked a better location.
3) Don't be afraid to tell your customers "No" when they get out of hand. The customer isn't always right, some people think if they beg and plead and be obnoxious enough you will cave in to their demands. Custom orders have you too busy to sleep? Cut back the types of custom orders you will accept, maybe limit it to certain ship parts and put a hold on accepting new custom orders if you're already backlogged. Never EVER wear yourself out with custom work, you will get burned out quick if you're not careful.
4) Always use subcomponents in your ship parts, otherwise they won't be anything special, won't pack any punch, and won't be worth much. Yes, it is faster and uses less resources to craft without subcomponents, but few people will want to buy your stuff.
5) Stay away from selling chassis until the experimentation stats are fixed by the devs. I've never produced chassis for the market and I'm doing just peachy.
6) Never try to cheat your customer. If you notice they really don't need that level 5 reactor after looking at their situation, let them know and save them some money. They will never shop anywhere else if they know how honest you are.
7) If you are short on resources do not make chasiss, paint kits, repair kitsor missile packs. Instead focus your resources on ship parts, they bring in the most money per CPU. Making all the other extras when you're resource budget is hurting will only become a resource sink.
8) If you are sick and tired of restocking, don't make anything lower than mark 3. If you're going to get carpal tunnel, at least make sure you're crafting things that pay better. Most people squeak by on loot until they can upgrade to mark 3 (level 5) stuff anyhow.
9) Don't fell the need to start a price war. Price what you're worth, if your wares are good customers will come and there's a huge shortage of shipwrights anyway. Don't feel you need to slash your prices to get customers, that's just nonsense.
i disagree with # 4, some SC's have side effects, ect, and i look to make my customers aware of what each subcomponent does, I have both a subcomponented part vendor, and a normal part vendor, I sell more of my normal parts than i do subcomponented ones anyway 
Subcriminal wrote:
8) If you are sick and tired of restocking, don't make anything lower than mark 3. If you're going to get carpal tunnel, at least make sure you're crafting things that pay better. Most people squeak by on loot until they can upgrade to mark 3 (level 5) stuff anyhow.
this is one of the best tips i have heard- i do this too, most of the stuff newbie pilots will find in loot will able to work for them til they can get mark III stuff, yes.