Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: How much do i need to compete with vet. WS??
Message Edited by arbee10 on 02-19-2004 02:00 PM
I made master WS several weeks ago, and have begun carving out a nice niche for myself selling advanced melee weapons on tatooine (see signature for details). I took up novice merchant this week to further my cause. My guild helped me get some of the resources that I'm using, but I'd say the most important resources for being a great WS are duranium steel, duralloy steel (you said you have some which is great), ostrine ore, irolumn gas, rhodium steel and ryll amorphous gemstone. these are the mainresources that go into advanced ranged weapon components (blaster power handlers and advanced pistol/rifle blaster barrels). As for melee weapons go, make sure everything you have has high shock-resistance, mainly dolovite iron and ditanium steel for advanced reinforcement cores and advanced sword cores.
Whenever you see a good resource around, stockpile it for future use.
Another thing - patience. You could have massive stockpiles of the top notch resources and it won't make a difference until you get some exposure. I wouldn't get discouraged too quickly if you find you are not making a tidy profit within days, or even weeks, of setting up shop. You can advertise on the forums but a lot of people don't use the forums. It just takes raw time, and maybe some aggressive pricing to draw people away from their steady supplier(s).
Someone once asked me why he wasn't making a killing selling weapons - after some discussion I found out he's been master for 2 days. I don't know why he expected everyone to flock to his store the instant he attained master.
I totally agree with picking a specialization and growing from there. If you're going to be doing ranged weapons which is all I did in the beginning, you've got to get the advanced power handler components! they are essential in my opinion. We've had a decent run of them on Wanderhome but when I first got Master WS there was a drought on and I was dying waiting for them to come around piece by piece.
Another thing, are you mining any on your own? I mine as much of my own as possible and it keeps costs down. Before I made it to MWS I did mining as my money maker. I mined carbonate ore like there was no tommorrow. I knew it was always in demand a little shouting I've got carbonate Ore and you will be selling it pretty quick, the Architects are always aching for it, usually3cpu is easy to get and if you catch someone in a pinch or the UT is high even higher. So what are you doing with that cash...buying Bigger miners. Reinvest in your company just like in the real world, grow it. If you're really lucky you can build up a realtionship with an architect where you trade the ore for miners directly. Keep a little out for maintenace fees of course.
Eventually you want to have heavies at your disposal, minerals mostly but I have one chemical, one gas, and one flora just in case. BTW if you're in a guild and your guildmates want discount guns, then they need to pony up with a lot or two to help you mine.
Good luck with everything it's a great profession, I never got into the holo grind cause I didn't want to give it up.
I just gotta say.. you guys ROCK!! at times when there is nothing but nonsense and finger pointing on most of these forums, its been quite nice to have people actually willing to help! Im forever indebted . I agree i think a specialization is a great idea to start out with, and I guess patience being the next. I just have never been much of a crafter, so I kinda figured only way i standed a chance was to go out buy whatever the best stuff I could find to make the best weapons and try to keep up. I do mine occassionally and am going to need to start doing it again I guess. Thanks again for all the input, its really helping me a lot. Also, does anyone know if there is a WS guide or something that maybe already exists (like a spreadsheet or something) that shows what each component needs and the stats that matter? Just wondering if someone has already done this...
Anyways, thanks again!
Message Edited by arbee10 on 02-20-2004 10:56 AM
arbee10 wrote:
I just gotta say.. you guys ROCK!! at times when there is nothing but nonsense and finger pointing on most of these forums, its been quite nice to have people actually willing to help! Im forever indebted
Anyways, thanks again!
Message Edited by arbee10 on 02-20-2004 10:56 AM
Thats because it was a good question. and for it you got a good answer.
I would to recomend to specialize first on something and then work from there (if you do want to sell many different things).
make a habbit to check SWG craft when you get home (and add some of your help tokeep it updated).
SWG craft recent resource option are your best friend
As Kershakk said patience is very important, especially in how to pace yourself in production. When I started out with ranged weapons I took a look around and checked the most common requested weapons. I had thought I had stockpiled a good amount of materials before I mastered, but when it came to production I realized I was way to low to do massive amounts. Over 50k is the true bare minimum, I'd suggest about 60-70k min. But what this had done was that it limited how much I produced out of the factory. I actually found this helped abit in that I made single crates of weapons and only placed 5 or so of each type on the vendor. I didn't advertise as much to make sure I'd keep stock up and it gives the added ability to check the recent new spawns for better materials than i have in reserve. This helps in that you don't have to deal with a hugh stockpile of what can be considered lower grade weapons when the better spawns happen to pop.Adjust the crate numbers to how you feelyour business should moveand how much advertising you want to do.
Another thing to try, but can be a bit of a pain to start, is to log your materials. I keep a partial written record of what materials i have and their stats for comparisons. It also helps in keeping track of what materials you should be on the look out for when the new spawns hit. Once you have the record started it isn't to hard to keep update if you have the time. Also remeber to check www.swgcraft.com now and then for resource spawns to, not always update but can help depending and whats going on for for server's resource spawns and on planets you might not make it to.
Sigmar Fellhammer - Master Artisan, Master Weaponsmith, Master Droid Engineer
SIGCOR Industries, Coronet City, Corellia, Shadowfire
One tip that I can offer, is to go up in Weapon Crafting Techniques first. That way, you'll have 7 experimentation points right off the bat. I'm only at 0-1-0-4 right now, but I've got a [amazinlgy lucrative] market cornered right now for n00b guns. That's right, I can make pretty decent money just cranking-out good D18's and DL-44's. Most of the experienced WS's don't mess with them, because they're so low-ball for them (why make D18's when you can make Launcher Pistols, right?).
Just my $0.02.