Far too much research time

Things are a little slow this week at work so I have taken the opportunity to read up on my favourite pastime, Eve Online, and more specifically, manufacturing and research. I suspect that it would be possible to pick out the players that come from other games by which route they naturally take. Like a lot of people I entered MMORPG through World of Warcraft. I loved it but in the end it was all a bit shallow. Eve isn’t, at least not yet.

My first paid up character is Slayfoe’s Bull, a Gallentean special forces pilot and a bit handy with a small gun. He is as close to one dimensional as a first time player would get, by this I mean that almost all his skills are about flying ships to shoot other ships. Nothing wrong with this, it makes good money.

There is another approach, that of the industrialist, the maker of ships (and probably encourager of people who shoot up ships – good for business). Simple manufacturing is simply a matter of getting together materials and a blue print (BP), finding a factory and asking the factory to put it all together for you.

Above the simple (tech I) manufacturing is advanced manufacturing (tech II). This requires the player to invent an item (by researching a tech I BP) and combine a tech 1 version, more materials (some of them moon minerals some of them mined minerals) and R.A.M. (Robotic Assembly Manufactory?). it sounds simple until you realise what is required to research (invent) the tech I BP.

This process requires a character to either buy data-cores from the market or have them researched by an R&D agent for a company that has a research department, in Gallente space these companies are Creodrone, Roden and Duvolle. To use their agents you need to build reputation with them then ask them nicely to head us a research project for you that produces data-cores.

What I can’t figure out is why you don’t just research the data-cores and flog them on the market, the whole tech II research and manufacture seems to diminish returns, or I am missing something.

The up shot of this is that I’m thinking of availing of the ‘Power of 2’ promotion. This gives you a 2nd character for 6 months for 50€. I would make this character a researcher and grind rep with Duvolle using Slaybull. That way both would be able to use research agents and make a nice nest egg on the side while doing other stuff.