Lorna, at A Scientist's Life In EVE, challenged the CCP Devs to actually do industry in null sec without their 'super powers'. It's a good challenge and one that they should follow through with because I find it hard to believe anyone at CCP actually is an industrialist who has first hand experience with the Industrialist features of mining, manufacturing, invention and research.
As far as I'm aware Lorna hasn't received any word from CCP that they've accepted or even read her challenge but she herself has moved back into Null Sec with a large collection of blueprints (originals and copies) and is setting up shop (so to speak) and aims to produce goods and services with little to no need of working in High Sec.
It's an admirable step to take, it could all end in failure but equally in success. Lorna is nicely plotting her course and success/failures in the blog. Her latest post on the subject nicely explains the problems faced by having many industrialists wanting to use the same, limited, slots provided by Player Owned stations.
Challenge Accepted
Although not a CCP Dev I have decided to accept part of the challenge thrown down and see if I can move at least part of my industrial base to NPC Null where there should be better supplies of goods and more slots for me to use.
Of all my industrial activities I've decided to move all of my T1/T2 module and T2 ship production to null sec with the aim of producing all the modules I sell and only having to import materials that I cannot either source locally or within my alliance; or cannot be found where I am.
Packing and Moving
I've packed up all my BPO's and my current collection of T2 BPC's and moved them to my new base of operations. I have counted 122 T1 BPO's and almost 2000 T2 BPC's of modules and ships that I will be working through for this attempt. I may buy more BPC's later but initially I will be limiting myself to what I have bought in.
Minerals and other components used in manufacturing I have been shipping in for a few days via JF runs. It's actually been very convenient having a full load leaving null sec (usually moon goo/finished materials) and then returning with components for manufacture.
I have been fortunate that I've had several hauler spawns whilst in NPC space and I've managed to collect a sizable collection of minerals that are supplemented by mining.
Planning, Planning and Planning
Where I'm located there are the following slots available to the public:
- 10 Copy
- 20 Invention
- 50 Manufacturing
- 20 Material Research
- 20 Time Efficiency
The ME slots are fully in use at the moment and judging by the time left on these they will be in constant use, it's a good thing my T1 BPO's are ME/PE researched as 'perfect' so I will not need to use these slots. Manufacturing seem to be used but there are always a few slots open for use and I can always queue jobs. The Invention and Copying slots could be useful, I don't have an immediate use for them but they seem to always have space and aren't in demand.
Overall I've got what appears to be a good station and resources, it helps that I know a lot of the people already using them so I can barter and get access when I do need them.
What to Make
I'll start by making T2 modules that I know will sell on the local market, things such as proplsuion jamming modules (warp distruptors, stastis webifiers), shield and armour modules (adaptive invul. fields, armour hardners) and guns.
Guns especially sell very well very but I'm going to start with production runs in the 20 - 30 range and then only manufacture more when I get down to single digit units remaining (5 as a starting point). I don't want to hold too much stock and producing on a, semi, just-in-time system should allow me flexibility and not be an ISK sink.
Ships I will produce, I've bought around 100 T2 BPC's of different ship types but I have also bought all my T1 BPO's for each sub-capital ship and I will be producing runs of these at some point in the future. I see a lot of T1 frigates moving around the area so having these on hand should be good. Producing them is quick and easy even if the profit margins aren't massive.
I don't want to be running JF's in/out of system every day so my production schedule is going to be fixed, I will produce items as I need but I want to aim for a JF run only once or twice a week bringing in materials that I will need. This will help with costs as the less I jump the less fuel I use but also it should make it so I'm looking to the local markets and people for my materials instead of running off to high sec trading hubs.
What I Won't Be Making
I'm not going to be making capital ships here, I pulled out of that work a month ago due to the increased competition I saw where I was based and I'm still not convinced I should return as both k162space and EVE-Fail have noticed shrinking profits. If I did I would need to find new buyers and local ones at that but I would also be stepping on the feet of an friend who makes capital ships where I'm now based.
I certainly don't want to do that so I'll be avoiding the capital market and just focusing on my T1/T2 production for sale on the local market with perhaps a small number of capital modules being offered.
Current Status
I've only been at this for a few days, all my BPO's/BPC's are moved along with 70% of the materials to make all the T2 BPC's I have. I'll move the rest over the next week and then start on production using the slots I have.
I'd rather have everything in place than keep running to/from high sec for stuff I've forgotten and then I can sort it out. Freight and Station containers allow me to sort stuff in a basic way but I'd really love to use something like the Corporation Hangers but at a personal level. Being able to separate my assets without the need for containers would be so much more convenient, but hopefully that'll be in a future release.
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