Weaponsmith Archive

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Bynder wrote:


1) So two accounts is basically mandatory? Even at my low skill I'm pressed for lots (2 for power, 2 for the shop, 4 sitting on a nice 89% conc of grinding metal, 2 for stuff that I just can't pass up). Anyone think it's possible to pull off a decent WS without 20 lots?

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Join a PA and get combat classes toplace harvesters/factories for you, or get an assload of money and buy all your resources. After placing house and factories, you're not going to have enough lots to deal with harvesting if there's more than one good resource in-shift.

My 2-credits, regarding sliced weapons. I'm a master weaponsmith/master smuggler. When I started I specialized in selling only sliced pistols (no other weapons), though I quicly added a non-sliced pistols vendor as well. About 60% of my sales are on sliced pistols. I charge 2-3x base rate for a good (30%+) damage slice, and I can't keep them in stock; I'll probably raise my prices on these really good damage slices.

The downside is,pistols with a speed slice, even a really good speed slice, hardly move at all. They just sit on the vendor, and I'm not sure what to do with them. In certain respects they are worth even less than an unsliced pistol, because at least an unsliced pistol holds out the promise of getting a decent damage slice on it at a later time.

This isn't an issue for all types of weapons; from what I hear speed slices are highly prized for heavy weapons. But I think it's an issue that applies to most types of weapons, even rifles. Just another thing to consider for any WS thinking of selling sliced weapons.

Slim Vargo, Corbantis

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EdOWar wrote:

The downside is,pistols with a speed slice, even a really good speed slice, hardly move at all. They just sit on the vendor, and I'm not sure what to do with them.

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Look at what people have in their hands. If you see something that resembles a CDEF, give them a low-level pistol WITH the good speed slice. Hopefully when that person's ready to buy, they'll remember your name. I've had it happen before.

Thught I would put in my 2 cents

Great points in this thread, actually excellant points.

I just made Master this past weekend, and I have been workin on it for a while. I didnt just sit dwon and grind my way too it and go "Ok, What now?". With that said I have learned quite abit about smithing and what peeps want in there weapons, plus it gave me the chance to build resources and not come in too it totally blind. As Far the Alt charecter goes, I would say its a must unless you want to spend your entire SWG experience crafting and making only custom weapons, because without and Merchant xp your dead inthe water for sales.I didnt start an alt with the addtl lots in mind, I did it to create myself a break from crafting all the time and/or just crafting only. The addtl lots were nice though allows me to run a few more harvesters.

Again excellant points in the thread. I would say there is a "need for heed" for all weaponsmiths in this thread.

Overstock. Overstock. Overstock. Putting 100 items on a vendor makes you look weak, in my opinion. When someone who knows how to work a vendor is browsing your wares and they see you have 50 of almost every single weapon in stock, they know you're for real and that you're not messing around. When I see a vendor with a page of items the first thing I wonder is if this merchant is active or not? Or if they're dedicated?

I'd have to agree with you.I think it's better to overstock and educate people on how to use the vendors/bazaar than to understock and constantly have to restock it.

I don't agree with the opinion someone put earlier that if you have 3-5 pages of stuff that people will think you're not selling items. When I walk into a store and see aisle upon aisle of one particular product, I think "Well this store expects to sell a lot" - not the other way around where I think "Poor saps have too much. They'll never move it"

For instance, I went to Best Buy and must have seen 3 to 4 rows of 50 Cent's Get Rich Or Die Trying - ughhhh - While I dislike the album, I realized they did that because they KNEW they were going to sell 'em.

It all depends, Ace was on constantly back when my pistoleer used to buy from him (before a minefield incident in his fine city). So when he says "only stock one page of stuff", he means that because when he sold 4 items he'd go get 4 out of the storeroom and put them back on the vendor

He probably more intends you to hear that as "always have 100 items on your vendor..at all times"

If you don't live next to your vendor them more than 100 would probably be a good idea.

Somesmall tips I'd like to toss in....

get yourself a droid for storage. it can hold 10 items. I put in crates of some of my better moving stuff, like VKs, scouts, scatters, ect.. Not a lot in each crate, maybe just 4 or 5 plus some weapon repair tools. When i'm waiting at a starport or somewhere else in public and folks want a weapon, presto! its right there. And by keeping it in my droid, i don't use up valuable space in my inventory, and i won't accidently put the 'reserve' items on my vendors.

If at all possible, make someone come to your shop for weapon repairs. Take your time doing the reapir, and they will browse your vendor while they wait. 70% of the time in my experience, they buy something.

Undercutting doesn't work very well. If you're charging 50-60% less than other smiths, people think there's something wrong with your product, even if they are looking at the stats! Its odd, but i've found people WANT to pay more for weapons. It gives them a sense of security.

this is a great thread! wish it were here when i started out!

Nice post, some good ideas, most of which Im happy to say I put into practise. Here are some other ideas.

• I know some might jump up and down, but pick 3 classes of Weapons, and stock those only. This is beneficial in that you can cut your stocks of resources down, and become known as a specialist in that particular field. Seek out another weaponsmith that makes the items you dont, and negotiate setting up a shop together, you selling your ranges, they selling theirs. Its what Ive done, as youll see in my sig, I only make Pistols, Carbines and Rifles, and Soar (/tackle /tag) makes Heavy, Melee and Munitions.

• This one works pretty well for us I like to think (current sales indicate as much) but Soar and I have a total of 8 vendors placed in our shop, all of which are Mon Cals, all dressed identically, black robes with a red belt/sash around the waste, and black shoes. This gives a uniform look to the store, and goes really well with the varying shades of Mon Cal skins.

• Dont Overstock! Hehehe. Yes, I know, theres great arguments on both sides of the fence. I run a seperate vendor for Pistols, Carbines and Rifles. I keep my pistol vendor stocked at around 90-95 items. With 13 types stocked (which I think is all of them, except CDEFs), I keep around 5-10 of each type, depending on popularity of that particular Pistol. Strikers and Tangles are gimmicks more than anything else, so theres only five of each of those, but theres extra FWGs and Republics. Carbines are kept at around the 45-50 item mark, and Rifles at the 55-60 item mark. I'll never lose a sale from people not turning the page, and my customer can see EVERY weapon type I stock. Except ones that have sold out

• If you are going to stock a range of Pistols, then stock EVERY type of pistol. Even if the final product turns out to be a bit rubbishy, stock it. Tangles and Strikers for example are a good one, horrid weapons, yet they sale fairly well. D18, DH series, and DL44 pistols, all lowbie models, but very good sellers, with great profit potential. The same applies for any weapon catergory, if youre going to do it, do it properly.

Im sure theres more things to add, but I cant think straight, its lunch-time and Im hungry damnit.

I hope these tips help.

Considering I just had to deal with one uber shift appearing a week aftera formerlyuber shift, I'm glad I don't overstock.

Justafew tips:

Once your established jack your prices up 200%. Otherwise you will be burned out in a month or out of needed resources.

Be dedicated to you class. Dont even consider silly things like holo hunting.

Also Consider getting a Partner to share the workload.

Create a awesome shop. Check mine out in Braxis on Naboo in Starsider

-CSA Weapons-

Trust me , I know what Im talking about here ) I run 3 shops galaxy wide and average around 6 - 8 million credits per day in sales.

Your piece has really inspired me.

Resources are my biggest scare. I'm working on both tailor and weaponsmith. I chose tailor because resource quality doesn't matter nor is it very difficult to make the stuff. I then chose weaponsmith because quality does count, and because quality counts not ever weaponsmith is the same. As where with tailors, what one tailor can make the other can make an exact copy.

Right now I'm 0100 WS. I heard to grind on either them metal staffs or rifle barrels. I don't know, they both take extremely long. Also, all the resources I have gathered are really good quality. I have alot of this steel with 4 stats over 900. Copper with over 970 conductivity. I really hate to use these resources for mindless grinding. I feel I should save them for when I actually need the quality. But if I save them I am left with nothing to work on.