Archive:Solitude StarCraft Enterprise

Template:New Work in Progress The StarCraft Enterprise is a Solitude member run project to create Carriers and similar large fitted ships for other Eve University campuses, characters, and out of corp customers. It is a joint venture that is designed to give newer and older players the chance to work together and enjoy various aspects of the game while making a reasonable profit.

The project includes joint and solo fleets that allow characters to mine, rat, and haul for a purpose other than missions or PvP. Additionally, it provides a paid output for minerals and ore in region to help local players from needing to run to major hubs for item sales.

Contribution to the projects are as simple as dragging items to the named container in Boystin. Payments for contributions are calculated weekly during the collection stage of the project.

The Beginnings

Origins of the Idea

This project originally began under the name of Lets Build a Carrier, TOGETHER ~ when MMan Themen and Aren Tivianne came up with the idea to unify Solitude under a common project and accomplish something that individual players cannot effectively complete alone.

The first Archon

After launching the project, and in conjunction with a large influx of new players, the first Carrier began material collection on 12 November 2013 and was finished and launched by 20 December 2013. The first carrier built was sold to a member of the LSC and he had requested modules be built for it as well. The members collected the materials and manufactured the requested modules in a record time of 3 weeks, including some of the rarer salvage items required for the rigs.

Continuing the Trend

After this project gained visibility on the Nullsec Campus and Low-Sec Campus forums, additional requests and orders were hinted at, and the team sat down to try and make the process more streamlined and improve the logistics behind it.

Known issues with the first run

Some of this issues found in the first project included:

1. Lack of ISK incentive for the haulers and the manufacturers involved in the venture.
2. Share system that needed some balancing to fairly distribute the profit.
3. The Archon market dropping over the course of the project, and the inflated sale price to the LSC customer brought up issues with calculating if this project actually made a profit.
4. The difficult logistics situation in tracking donations and managing shares
5. All of the ISK generated was not distributed to the contributors until the final sale was complete.
6. Lack of project security in its current state, making it easy to have flown off with over 300 million in materials.

Aren Tivianne and Mman Themen then put these issues to the forums, and out of the discussions and debates, the project was replanned and reborn as The StarCraft Enterprise.

StarCraft Enterprise

Addressing the Issues

1. Lack of ISK incentive for the haulers and the manufacturers involved in the venture:
   • Preproject planning was simplified with a series of spreadsheets that handle all of the market and efficiency calculations for the project as a whole.
   • The hauling aspect of the project was broken into a series of hauling contracts.
   • Manufacturing jobs were given a value based on the total ISK generated by this step, and either payments or contracts will be used to compensate the characters for their time.
2. Share system that needed some balancing to fairly distribute the profit:
   • Eliminated the shares system, instead performing weekly counts of the contributed material, and paying the contributors immediately for the value of what they donated. Instead the shares system will be used to determine the recipients of the end of project prizes.
3. The Archon market dropping over the course of the project, and the inflated sale price to the LSC customer brought up issues with calculating if this project actually made a profit:
   • New planning spreadsheets take into account the market fluctuations and track the progress of the project in real time, with updated market values. This allows the managers to monitor the profitability of building a carrier, and stop the manufacturing if the members will make more by selling the materials.
4. The difficult logistics situation in tracking donations and managing shares:
   • Audit templates and Station Container log sorting spreadsheets can automatically pull out the contributions of any character, and generate a payment list based on current prices, simplifying the previously manual process of determining shares.
5. All of the ISK generated was not distributed to the contributors until the final sale was complete:
   • Payments for contributions are processed every week on Saturdays to give the members of the project a shorter term profit.
6. Lack of project security in its current state, making it easy to have flown off with over 300 million in materials:
   • Access to the storage container is protected, and the password is only known to those that have repeatedly demonstrated that they are trustworthy and long term members of campus. The hauling is now done with equivalent collateral for all goods, so if any theft occurs, the collateral will cover the loss. Manufacturing will only be performed by vetted builders, and the final build only by the Master Builder.

Project Goals

1. To build from scratch, a Amarr Archon with basic fittings for the purpose of selling it, with primary rights going to fellow E-UNI members.
2. To bring together the members of Solitude and facilitate fleet operations, interactions and community activities.
3. To provide easy to join opportunities to those in Solitude looking for a way to generate ISK, try out new activities, and become familiar with fleet and game mechanics.

How to Get Involved

There are many ways to join in and contribute to the project. It was designed to make it easy for both the managers and the members to run. The easiest way to get involved is to drop into Solitude.E-Uni chat and ask if anyone is running an "Archon" Fleet. Additionally, the Solitude Project has began the Solitude Standing Fleet, a fleet designed along the lines of Operation: Fortress, to provide operational security, quick response, and ease the task of finding fleet members for any aspect of the game.

However, even if fleet activities aren't for you, individual work is still rewarded, and all contributions are tracked.

Ways to Contribute

• Fleet Events to Contribute:

1. The Solitude Standing Fleet has an easy to use mining squad, and a booster is never far away in region. There are at least 3 Orca pilots in the Solitude Community willing to boost.
2. Shared Can Mining Fleets are held periodically. These fleets are designed to help the newer players make ISK and contribute to the project. The tracking sheet is a custom edition of the standard AMC Shared Can Spreadsheet, so anyone with practice using that will know the basics of running an op. These fleets can be in High, Low, Null or WH space and not only do they include mining, but also any loot from running combat or exploration sites nearby, and payments for the scouts, fleet security detail, haulers and salvagers.
3. Locust and Spider Fleets: Since salvage components are required to manufacture the rigs, even mission runners can collect and contribute. Running a few missions with a salvager along can generate salvage, and with the help of reprocessing, even the modules can be donated when broken down into minerals.
4. Exploration Fleets: With high sec relic sites being full of T1 salvage, getting a group of exploration frigates together makes scooping up cans much easier. 3 ships can easily get all of the loot from a canister when working together. While not all of the salvage is needed for the project, some of the higher value salvage can only be obtained this way due to the rats seen in Solitude Space.

• Individual Methods to Contribute:

1. Solo Mining: Any ore but Mercoxit is accepted for this project, as well as any mineral other than Morphite.
2. Mission Running: As mentioned above, certain salvage is needed for this project. And modules can be reprocessed into minerals.
3. Exploration Sites: Again, salvage is the primary reason to run sites. The required Melted Capacitor Console is not common in the Solitude area.
4. Hauling: All of the required material hauling will be done by contract inside the EUNI. Contracts will be sized and split based on total collateral, with a minimum collateral of 10 million ISK.
5. Manufacturing: If you wish to become a manufacturer for the project, please contact the contract manager via forum or in game to be added to the trusted builder list.

What to Contribute

• The project is currently accepting the following materials
  • Ores : All ores (minus Mercoxit) are accepted, and the status of collected minerals can be found on the tracking sheet for the current project.
  • Minerals : All minerals (minus Morphite) are accepted.
  • Salvage : Currently the project only requires 3 specific salvage materials
    • Burned Logic Circuit
    • Melted Capacitor Console
    • Tripped Power Circuit

Currently, anything else that is contributed will be returned to the owner via contract. So please limit contributions to items of the above type.

• Other Actions to get involved
  • Hauling: Once the collection phase of the project is done, Courier contracts to haul the materials to the manufacturing station will be issued to EUNI members. Contract Collateral ranges between 10 and 50 million. With the hauler earning a percentage of the isk they put up for collateral.
  • Manufacturing: After the Hauling phase is complete, registered builders will be using the materials and provided BPCs to make the capital parts. Each part gets an isk amount based on the Value added during the manufacturing process. These will either be managed by the master builder, or made into contracts.

How to Contribute

Contributing is easy. All materials going toward the project just have to be dropped in the station container titled "StarCraft Enterprise" in the home station Boystin V - Moon 6 - Federal Intelligence Office Assembly Plant. The contributions will be counted on Saturdays, with the weeks payments going out shortly after.