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Mass Production


mrfrazz

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I was wondering about how if you wanted to avoid selling blueprints all together and only sold ships from your "factory". I have a feeling this would increase their price because of it's uniqueness. I know if you wanted to you could have a bunch of player build the same ship over and over again. But it would be cool if we could semi-automate the process. I doubt players a really going to get behind filling their build queues or however blueprints work.

I recently came across a futuristic TED talk where machines are farmed, not built. What if we could build 'Replicators' That allowed us to print these ships like the video at a cost of power, resources, and a little longer build queues than what the player has. Then you're coop-mates are free to use their build queues for other things and/ or can enjoy more of the game. What do you think about this idea? 

 

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be aware though, such factory units might only be able to produce smaller parts/elements/single seater ships. For bigger ships you still have to organize all the logistics and manpower

 

We have to see in alpha/beta how they implement building such things

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The thing about mass production is that it should not give you an unfair advantage over new players… players that want to “craft all the little parts” can do so, and still be able to compete against ships from the production line.

 

Using a factory unit should help you save time to build a ship, but it should also be more costly. So the factory should have high maintenance costs. Also the higher the core-unit-level the more expensive the factory unit…

Being able to produce smaller elements with “sub-blueprints” would also be a neat idea. Then you would have to manage the logistics of a whole line of suppliers to build a capital ship.

Maybe there could be a sub-factory only specialized in producing different capital-class engines from sub-blueprints.

This system will probably not be in release, but could add another level of depth to the industry-game. ;)

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I'd imagine that all elements (engines, guns, cockpits, etc) will be made in factory units from BP's or BPC's. There may be different-sized factory modules to produce the diff sized versions (small, medium, large) of these elements.

 

Once you've hand-built and entire construct, you then create a Master Blueprint. Copies (BPC) of that MBP can then be made, and either sold to others or used in your own factories.

 

The MBP or BPC is then loaded into a factory unit, along with all the elements and materials required, and after a set time the factory spits out an assembled construct.

 

I cannot imagine how you would use a MBP or BPC unless it's loaded into a factory unit.

 

In EVE, your industry skills give various benefits to factory production. I'd imagine it working similarly in DU.

 

I also expect that everything described above will be there at release.

 

From the KS page: "Mass-produce your custom designed ships to sell them in-game"

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The problem with selling fully-built ships in DU will be finding a place to put them while you wait for them to sell. Since things on market in DU don't disappear to some magical place where they sit until they're sold, if you want to sell a ton of ships, you're going to need a big field or space station to put them in while they're listed on the market, like a car dealership. The problem there is that I could easily come along and blow up a bunch of these un-piloted, un-powered ships while you're not around, and boy would that hurt profit margins :)

 

That being said, I really hope such things happen in game, because that would be really cool to see. However, selling blueprint copies will almost certainly be a better and easier solution in most cases. I can only see full ships being a viable solution in situations where people need it right now, or they're in a situation where they can't get the materials necessary to build the ship, like an active war zone. 

 

...So in retrospect (assuming the construction process takes more than an hour or so), I'm sure there'll always be a small market for pre-built ships, but I don't see it being the dominant means of selling them. 

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1 hour ago, Vorengard said:

The problem with selling fully-built ships in DU will be finding a place to put them while you wait for them to sell.

Build them to order. Someone places a build order (contract), you construct it, and either you deliver it or they pick it up

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22 hours ago, mrjacobean said:

Build them to order. Someone places a build order (contract), you construct it, and either you deliver it or they pick it up

 

Delivery may be tricky, how will you get back ? :D

So many things to consider in DU...

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Prepare a system for return and follow a SpaceX philosophy, I want to see Massive freighters designed to send huge loads of ships to people. It forces people to build for carriers, small and easy to transport. Maybe factions will send their blueprints off to factories to build. Maybe there will be massive dealerships with huge depots. with a Capitol Landing pad so that we can easily load them. Who knows. Possibilities are endless.

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