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'''Research''' is the process of improving a [[Blueprint Original]] (BPO). Two types of research are performed: ''Material Efficiency'' research and ''Time Efficiency'' research, also known as ME and TE. Material Efficiency research decreases the number of materials required for the production of the blueprint, whilst Time Efficiency research decreases the production time of the item produced.
  
(The Information provided in this guide was pulled from [http://www.eveonline.com/iNgameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=434899 Halada's Complete Miner's Guide])
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Research may also involve blueprint copying, which produces Blueprint Copies (BPC). As the blueprint is researched and copied, the ME and TE levels of the original blueprint will be transferred onto the blueprint copy.
  
'''Research''' is the process of improving an [[Blueprint|Original Blueprint (BPO)]]. Two types of research are performed: '''Material Efficiency Research''' and '''Time Efficiency Research'''. Material Efficiency Research decrease the amount of materials required for the production of the blueprint while Time Efficiency Research decrease the production time of the item produced. Research may also involve blueprint copying, which produces Blueprint Copies (BPC). As the blueprint is researched and copied, the materials and productivity level of the original blueprint will be copied onto the blueprint copy.
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== Skills ==
  
==Research==
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None of these skills are actually ''required'' for any research. However, they will all make your research operations far easier and quicker and are very worthwhile training if you intend to do a lot of research.
===Skills Required===
 
* Laboratory Operation I <br>
 
* Research I (5% bonus to blueprint manufacturing time research per skill level) <br>
 
* Science 1 (5% Bonus to blueprint copying speed per level) <br>
 
* Metallurgy 1 (5% Bonus to material efficiency research speed per skill level)
 
  
===Helpful Skills===
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* {{sk|Science|mult=yes}} - reduces the time required to copy a BPO by 5% per level<br>'Science is the basic skill in the Science section of the character skills. This skill will reduce the time required for blueprint copying by 25% at maximum level. This skill is also the prerequisite for almost all the other skills in the science section.
* Advanced Laboratory Operation (+1 lab slot per level) <br>
 
* Cybernetics 5 (allows to plug in special implants that speeds up the research process)
 
  
===Implants===
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* {{sk|Advanced Industry|mult=yes}} - reduces all manufacturing and research times by 3% per level<br>This skill will reduce the time required for manufacturing and research by 15% at maximum level. Requires {{sk|Industry|III}}.
* The Beancounter Hardwiring series
 
  
==Introduction==
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* {{sk|Research|mult=yes}} - reduces the time required for Time Efficiency research, by 5% per level<br>This skill will reduce the time required for TE research by 25% at maximum level. Requires {{sk|Science|III}}.
Research is the process of increasing the ME and PE level of a BPO to reduce their production waste or decrease their production time.  
 
  
Wastage is always added to the base mineral amount of what you are producing, and no matter how good your skills are or what equipment you use, you will never reduce the amount below the basic requirements. To figure out what the basic or “perfect” amount is, either look up the BPO on the Eve Database or using an application such as [http://sites.google.com/site/evemeep/ EVE-MEEP].
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* {{sk|Metallurgy|mult=yes}} - reduces the time required for Material Efficiency research, by 5% per level<br>This skill will reduce the time required for ME research by 25% at maximum level. Requires {{sk|Science|IV}}.
  
There has been a lot of confusion and many posts on the forums about what incompetence waste really is. In fact, CCP has changed the way ME and PE affects a BPO a few times already, making it really hard to understand the actual system. Production Efficiency skill says you get a 4% reduction per skill level to the material requirements needed for production, however the player guide says 5%.
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* {{sk|Laboratory Operation|mult=yes}} - allows you to perform one additional research or copying job per level<br>Every character starts off with the ability to run a single research or copying job without needing to train this skill. Laboratory Operation gives you an extra research/copying slot for each level trained: if you train it to V, you can run 6 research or copying jobs at once. Requires {{sk|Science|III}}.
  
According to the skill’s description, which suggests 4%, you should end up with a 5% waste with your skill at level 5 (25% base incompetence waste – (4% x 5) = 5%). However testing in games have proven you get a 0% incompetence waste at level 5, therefore the skill’s description is wrong. Regardless of what it is, '''you should have Production Efficiency trained to level 5 before you even start producing'''.
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* {{sk|Advanced Laboratory Operation|mult=yes}} - allows you to perform further additional research or copy jobs per level<br>Once you have trained Laboratory Operation to V, you can then train this skill to increase still further the number of concurrent research or copying jobs you can perform to a maximum of 11 jobs.
  
When you reach Production Efficiency level 5, you are no longer incompetent at producing, so you are not personally inducing waste onto your production job. However, as already stated, a brand new BPO has waste embedded in its design and you will need to research it to increase the ME level to reduce that waste. Note that the Production Efficiency skill (PE) has nothing to do with the Productivity Level (PE) attribute you see under a BPO’s information window. The PE attribute affects the SPEED of the production whereas the PE skill affects the wastage. Easily confused, easily explained.  
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* {{sk|Scientific Networking|mult=yes}} - allows you to start research jobs at range, without needing to be in the same system with the facility.<br>Requires {{sk|Laboratory Operation|IV}}. Without training this skill, you can start jobs anywhere in the current system. Each level in this skill gives you the ability to start research jobs an extra 5 jumps away to the maximum of 25 jumps at level V (this may include other regions).
  
You can reduce this waste by researching the Material Level (ME) of the BPO. You can see the design waste on the BPO under Wastage Factor. This is always 10% (0.1) except for some rare items that have a 5% (0.05) Wastage Factor. Drones used to have a 5% wastage factor, but apparently they don't anymore. By researching the BPO we can reduce the design waste using the following formula: 1 + Base Wastage / (1 + ME level).
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'''Other helpful skills:'''
  
Using the above formula on a BPO with 10% base wastage, we can calculate our production waste (assuming PE skill at level 5) to be:
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* {{sk|Cybernetics|mult=yes}} - allows the use of implants.<br>The Zainou 'Beancounter' line of implants boost research & copying speeds. A dedicated researching character would benefit greatly from one or more of these implants.
  
ME0 - 10% <Br>
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== Material Efficiency Research ==
ME1 - 5% <Br>
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[[File:Mineral rounding 1.png|thumb|The ME increase is not big enough to have any effect on the amount of tritanium needed for single run.]]
ME2 - 3.3% <Br>
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[[File:Mineral rounding 2.png|thumb|The same BP as in above image but this time in a job requiring multiple runs. Since the ME is applied for the job as a whole the tritanium amount is now reduced.]]
ME3 - 2.5% <Br>
 
ME10 - 0.9% <Br>
 
ME50 - 0.2% <Br>
 
  
As you can see, training your ME level from 0 to 10 reduces the waste from 10% to 0.91%, thus reducing the waste by over 9% in simply 10 levels, whereas training a further 40 levels (11-50) only takes off 0.7% (from 0.9% to 0.2%). The following graph can better illustrate the effect of training ME to higher levels.
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Material Efficiency (ME) research reduces the number of materials required to manufacture the item from the BPO. It can clearly be seen that the fewer materials you require to build an item, the more profitable selling your item is likely to be. New BPOs bought from the market will have an ME of 0%, but you can often find BPO sellers in contracts or on the [https://forums.eveonline.com/c/marketplace/sales-ads Sell Orders] forum, that will sell you pre-researched BPOs (or BPCs) for your manufacturing business. You can also find blueprints ingame through contracts.
  
[[Image:MEGraph.png|500px|center]]
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The current ME level of a blueprint can be seen by looking at the info on a blueprint, or by opening the Industry window and browsing your blueprints. Each time you perform ME research on a BPO, it will reduce the materials required by -1%. You can do ME research 10 times in total, for a total reduction of -10% on the materials required. Though blueprint copies with higher ME can be received as a reward from COSMOS missions.
  
It should be clear that the more you research the less you gain from that research. How does this affect you?
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Materials will always round up to the next whole number, so you will never need 23.75 units of tritanium to build a module, for example, or you will never need 0.75 [[Atron]]s to build an [[Ares]].
  
A general rule of thumb used by the producers is that 30 days of research is usually sufficient.
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It is important to note that material rounding happens ''after'' you have multiplied by the number of runs. Here's an example, the Scourge Rocket BPO. You can see that at 0% ME, the Scourge rocket requires 31 Tritanium and 26 Pyerite to build. If you researched it to 2% ME, it would require 30.38 Tritanium and 25.48 Pyerite. Because minerals round up, if you only did a single run to build a single batch of rockets, the amount of materials required would not actually change.
  
==How far do you go with research?==
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However, if you did 100 runs to build 100 batches of rockets because material rounding occurs ''after'' you multiply by the number of runs, you would need 3038 Tritanium and 2548 Pyerite to build 100 rocket batches. In this way, even researching to -1% or -2% ME can be worthwhile if you intend to mass produce items.
[[Image:MobileLabInfo.png|thumb|right|Mobile Lab Information]]
 
When you’ll research either the ME or PE level of a BPO, you’ll want to do it at a POS. The main reason being the 0.75 time multiplier. Saving 25% off your research time (30% if you were smart enough to train cybernetics 5 and have those nifty Beancounter X60 implants in your head) means a lot. '''How far you are going to take it depends entirely of what you will do with your BPO:'''
 
  
===Manufacturing business===
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However, no required materials can be reduced to less than one per run. If your 0% ME blueprint requires 1 unit of a material to build, even ME -10% will not reduce that amount of materials at all. This is most obvious in T2 ship manufacturing where you will always need one T1 hull for one T2 product even with high ME and multiple runs. For example, you will always need 10 [[Rifter]]s to build 10 [[Jaguar]]s, never 9, even if your Jaguar blueprint is fully researched.
If you’re going into production, then you won’t be taking your research to crazy ME levels that even Amy Whinehouse would not consider had she enough brain cells left to actually play the game. But let me explain myself further.
 
  
I will use the beloved Raven, mother of all ratting ships, as my example.
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== Time Efficiency Research ==
  
The build cost of a Raven these days, at:
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Time Efficiency (TE) research reduces the amount of time required to manufacture the item from the blueprint. It can be seen that the faster you can build an item, and thus re-use your production slots for more items, the more profitable your business is likely to be. New BPOs bought from the market will have a TE of 0%, but you can often find BPO sellers in contracts or on the [https://forums.eveonline.com/c/marketplace/sales-ads Sell Orders] forum, that will sell you pre-researched BPOs (or BPCs) for your manufacturing business. You can also find blueprints ingame through contracts.
  
ME0, is ~85.2mil ISK <Br>
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The current TE level of a blueprint can be seen by looking at the info on a blueprint, or by opening the Industry window and browsing your blueprints. Each time you perform TE research on a BPO, it will reduce the time required by 2%. You can do TE research 10 times in total, for a total reduction of -20% in manufacturing time required.
ME10, is ~78.1mil ISK <Br>
 
ME20, is ~77.7mil ISK
 
  
Remember that graph? The more you research, the less you get out of it. This is where my “30 days worth of ME research is enough” comes from.
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[[File:Research-info2.png|left]]{{example|This BPO for a '''Nuclear S''' shell - small projectile ammunition - has been researched twice for Material Efficiency, for a -2% material requirement; and five times for Time Efficiency, for a -10% time requirement.}}
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{{clear}}
  
For a battleship BPO, with max skills (in this case, Metallurgy 5), it would take close to 27 days to research a Raven BPO from ME0 to ME10, at a POS, of course. So for about 1 month of training for the first 10 levels, you shave more than 7mil ISK off your production costs.
 
  
However, another month worth of research would only shave another 400,000.00 ISK, not even a million! Considering it takes 4 hours to produce a Raven at PE0, you’d need to sell several hundred Raven to make your second month of research worth it!
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== How long does research take? ==
  
My personal rule of thumb for ME and PE levels for BPO I use for producing is:
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ME and TE research both take the same time to perform. The duration depends on the rank of the blueprint and the current research level.
  
ME100:PE30 for Ammo <Br>
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Note that ME and TE levels and research duration are counted separately. So improving the ME level will not have any effect on how long TE research will take.
ME10:PE5 for Ships <br>
 
ME50:PE10 for Modules
 
  
This of course has been the source of many debates, which, to be honest with you, is not worth arguing about. I usually never go above 30 days except for special circumstances, which are explained later in the guide.
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All BPOs have a Rank (not visible in-game) which determines how long they take to research. Rank 1 blueprint is the "baseline" blueprint. The table below shows the research times needed for a baseline blueprint.
  
===BPC business===
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[[File:Research time.png|thumb|500px|The research time grows exponentially as the research level increases. (Click to enlarge)]]
A BPC business is something a lot of people do, mostly because it is a fantastic way of passively generating income. The premise is actually very simple: you purchase a BPO, research it to crazy Amy Whinehouse levels, then produce copies (BPC) 24/7.
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{| class="wikitable"
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|-
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! Research Level !! Seconds !! Approximate Time
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|-
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| 1 || 105 || 1m 45s
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|-
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| 2 || 250 || 4m
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|-
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| 3 || 595 || 10m
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|-
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| 4 || 1,414 || 24m
 +
|-
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| 5 || 3,360 || 56m
 +
|-
 +
| 6 || 8,000 || 2hr
 +
|-
 +
| 7 || 19,000 || 5hr
 +
|-
 +
| 8 || 45,255 || 12hr
 +
|-
 +
| 9 || 107,700 || 1 day
 +
|-
 +
| 10 || 256,000 || 3 days
 +
|}
  
Why is it more important to research your BPO to crazy levels? Because other crazy people did it before you, and since the BPC market is competitive, if someone has a choice between a ME10 BPC or ME50 for the same price, they will pick ME50. And why wouldn’t they? They probably don’t even fully understand the insignificant savings between the two of them, but it’s the same price, and ME50 is bigger than ME10.
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Research times for blueprints of higher rank are simply base duration multiplied by the blueprint rank.
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:: <math> \displaystyle \text{ Research duration } = \text{ Base duration } \times \text{ Blueprint rank } </math>
  
This is especially important for:
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The table below shows the blueprint ranks for various blueprint groups. <br>
*Capital Components BPC
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''(Note that while T2 categories are listed below for completeness, T2 BPO's are no longer obtainable and T2 BPC's cannot be researched.)''
*Ships BPC (all types)
 
  
If you intend to go for a BPC business, you’ll need to put in 3, 4 and even 5 extra months of research to guaranty a good flow of sales. A good rule of thumb, at least for me, is:
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{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed sortable"
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|-
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! Rank !! Items
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|-
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| 1 || All T1 small ammo, T1 small drones T1 mining crystals
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|-
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| 1.6 || All T2 small ammo, T2 mining crystals
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|-
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| 2 || All T1 medium ammo, T1 medium drones, subsystems
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|-
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| 3 || All T1 large ammo, T1 large drones, T1 lowslot/frigate modules, fuel blocks
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|-
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| 3.2 || T2 medium ammo
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|-
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| 4 || T1 capital ammo, capital T2 components
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|-
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| 4.8 || T2 large ammo
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|-
 +
| 5 || T2 small drones, T1 small rigs
 +
|-
 +
| 6 || T1 medium/cruiser modules
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|-
 +
| 7 || T1 deep core/strip/ice miners
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|-
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| 7.8 || T2 small/frigate modules
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|-
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| 9 || T1 large modules
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|-
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| 10 || T2 medium drones, T1 medium rigs
 +
|-
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| 12 || T1 Warfare links
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|-
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| 15 || T2 large drones, proto cloaks, T1 large rigs
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|-
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| 15.6 || T2 med/cruiser modules
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|-
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| 18.2 || T2 strip/deep core/ice miners
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|-
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| 20 || T1 frigates, T1 capital rigs
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|-
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| 23.4 || T2 high/battleship modules
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|-
 +
| 30 || T1 destroyers
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|-
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| 31.2 || T2 warfare links, Improved cloaks
 +
|-
 +
| 39 || Covops cloaks
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|-
 +
| 40 || T1 cruisers, fighters/bombers
 +
|-
 +
| 50 || T1 battlecruisers, T2 small rigs
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|-
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| 60 || T1 battleships, capital components
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|-
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| 80 || Old-style POS Arrays
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|-
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| 100 || Medium T2 rigs, Old-style POS Small Control Towers
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|-
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| 120 || T1 Capital High-slot modules
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|-
 +
| 150 || T2 large rigs
 +
|-
 +
| 180 || Special-purpose Capital modules (e.g. Clone Bay)
 +
|-
 +
| 200 || Non-super capitals, Old-style POS Medium Control Towers, Upwell station components<br>Customs Office, Territorial Claim Unit, Old-style Outposts, Rorqual and Orca.
 +
|-
 +
| 240 || Capital Doomsday Weapons
 +
|-
 +
| 300 || Old-style POS Large Towers
 +
|-
 +
| 312 || T2 Capital Tractor Beam/Remote Cap Transmitter
 +
|-
 +
| 400 || Supercarriers, T2 frigates, Infrastructure Hub
 +
|-
 +
| 468 || T2 siege/triage
 +
|-
 +
| 600 || Titans, T2 destroyers
 +
|-
 +
| 800 || T2 cruisers
 +
|-
 +
| 1000 || T2 battlecruisers
 +
|-
 +
| 1200 || T2 battleships
 +
|-
 +
| 4000 || Jump freighters
 +
|}
  
ME150:ME30 for Capital Components <br>
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For example Carriers and Dreadnought BPOs are rank 200, giving them a time to research to ME from 0% to 1%: ''105 seconds × rank 200' = 21,000 seconds'', or 5hr 50m. In general, the bigger or more expensive a thing is, the higher rank its BPO is, and the longer it takes to research.
ME50:ME10 for Battleships <br>
 
ME3:PE0 for Capital Ships <br>
 
ME500:PE100 for Ammo <br>
 
ME150:ME75 for Modules <br>
 
  
I have had a lot of success with these levels in the past. Of course it is TOTALLY unnecessary but people will buy your BPC. The higher you go from there, the better your sales will be.
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== The cost of research ==
  
Note, however, that you lose a lot of profit if you copy over manufacturing. The difference is significant. A BPC business is a great way to make ISK passively without too much effort: with just one POS, a few labs and perhaps 2 or 3 alts, you can make ISK AFK. All you need to do is log in 30 minutes each week to oversee the copying jobs.
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Installing research jobs is not free. Installing a ME or TE job will have the following cost:
  
===Ready-to-go BPO packages business===
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:: <math> \displaystyle \text{ Job cost } = \text{ Process time value } \times \text{ System cost index } \times \text{ Structure bonus } </math>,
This is a favorite of mine. The profit margin is bigger than that of a BPC business, and if you find the right market, you can make a pretty penny. People will pay well to save even just a month of research, much more so for a few months. It became a trend to sell BPO packages that are already pre-researched with at least a month’s worth lab time, such as
 
  
* Drones BPO package
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where Process Time Value is a number derived from the material cost of producing the item, blueprint rank and blueprint research level (ME and TE handled separately) and the system cost index is a number derived from the amount of work done in that system.
* Ammo BPO package
 
* Rigs BPO package
 
* Tech 2 components package
 
  
A good business, if you got the capital but not the time, is to research capital components BPO, or even Capital Ships BPO. On that market, you can make about 100mil ISK per 30 days of lab time.
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The system cost index is calculated as
  
Example: A Thanatos BPO at ME1 will easily sell at 100mil ISK above the NPC price, and requires just about one month of research.
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:<math> \displaystyle \text{System cost index} = \sqrt{ \frac{ \text{Work hours done in system in past 28 days} }{ \text{Work hours done in universe in past 28 days} } } </math>
  
You can easily have 10 labs on a large POS, which is a good 30 slots of Material Level research. 30 slots x 100mil of income is 3bil ISK in income per month. One large tower costs about 175mil ISK per month in fuel in Empire space, so 2.8bil ISK in profit each month, passively generated.
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The process time value for researching from level ''n-1'' to level ''n'' is calculated as
  
Of course this entails a huge ISK investment into those BPO, but if you have it, it’s an easy way to make ISK without the effort, is almost risk-free and in less than a year you’ll be even and start making money!
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:<math> \displaystyle \text{Process time value} = ( \text{Base duration}_n - \text{Base duration}_{n-1} ) \times \frac{0.02}{105} \times \sum_{\text{all materials}} \text{Material quantity} \times \text{Material adjusted price} </math>
  
==The how-to part of this section==
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where the ''base duration<sub>n</sub>'' is the job duration of researching a rank 1 blueprint to level ''n'' in seconds as listed in the above table for base research times. The sum term is usually very close to the price estimation of the raw materials of the blueprint but the exact value can only be found from ESI [https://esi.evetech.net/latest/#!/Market/get_markets_prices /markets/prices/] endpoint.
[[Image:MEResearchScreen1.png|thumb|right|Material Research Screen]]
 
[[Image:MEResearchScreen2.png|thumb|right|Pick Installation Screen]]
 
  
The process itself is very easy. And if you do it well, it is totally safe and impervious to corp theft.
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In case where you are researching an unresearched blueprint to level ''n'' the process time value is slightly simpler
  
Skill that will help…
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:<math> \displaystyle \text{Process time value} = \text{Base duration}_n \times \frac{0.02}{105} \times \sum_{\text{all materials}} \text{Material quantity} \times \text{Material adjusted price} </math>
* Scientific Networking I
 
  
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You will additionally need to pay the facility tax which is
 +
:: <math> \text{ Facility tax } = \text{ Job cost } \times \text{ Facility tax% } </math>
  
The Scientific Networking skill is required if you want to research your BPO at a POS without having to physically put the BPO in the lab itself. All you really need is level 1. What this allows you to do is to lock the BPO in a corporate hangar (coming up next) so no one can take it out of there. Therefore, your BPO remains safely locked in a secure place, impossible to steal, while you take full advantage of the POS speed bonus.
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== Copying ==
  
To use a POS lab, the BPO absolutely must be in the corp hangar. You cannot use a POS lab from your personal hangar, since POS equipment is considered a corporation asset.
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Copying a blueprint original produces a number of blueprint copies with a specific number of runs. For example, in the image below we have chosen a [[Blackbird]] BPO, requested 5 runs, and each resulting copy would have 10 runs. The final output would produce 5 BPCs with 10 runs each, from which you could build 50 total Blackbirds.
  
Once the BPO is in place, right-click as you would to produce, but choose either Material Research, or Time Efficiency (PE) Research. You’ll get a familiar looking window.
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[[File:Copying.png]]
  
It is pretty straightforward from here on out, except perhaps finding the POS lab installation if you have never done this before.  
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Once you have used up all the runs on a BPC, it is destroyed (you simply won't get it back after the last manufacturing run). You cannot research BPCs, so make sure your BPO is researched to the ME and TE levels you require before you copy it.
  
To do so, click on Pick Installation, to open yet another familiar window.
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Different BPCs have a different maximum number of runs you can set. Ship BPCs for example can only be given 10 runs, whereas most modules and ammunition can have up to 600 runs. You can see the maximum runs per copy in the information of a BPO.
  
The trick here, is to select Corporation under type. This will show all installations available to your corporation only. Hopefully you labeled your labs in such a way you can recognize them. Look for Mobile Laboratory (or the Advanced kind) under the Installation Type and you’ll have found your labs!
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[[File:Copy-info.png]]
  
Pick one, choose a free slot, then click on Use Assemblyline! Voila! You’re done!
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=== How long does copying take? ===
  
==Locking down the BPO==
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As well as the maximum runs per copy, you can also see the base copy time - a.k.a. time per run - in the information of a BPO.
[[Image:Votes.png|thumb|right|Corporation Vote Screen]]
 
Locking down the BPO can only be done by someone who either has:
 
  
* CEO roles
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Copying of a BPO always takes 80% of the build time, on a per run basis. Note that this is before applying bonuses for skills and POS facilities - because manufacturing and copying have different skills & facilities affecting their duration, your personal copy time may not be exactly 80% of your personal build time. Copy time is also NOT affected by the level of TE on the BPO. For example, small ammunition and drones, and basic modules, typically take 5 minutes to build and thus will take 4 minutes to copy.
* Director roles
 
* Shares in the corporation
 
  
Take note that regardless of who initiated the lockdown process, the CEO will required for the final step.
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This base copy time is then multiplied by the number of runs and the runs per copy value. Or, in other words, the total duration of your copy job is the base copy time, times the number of items you could build with the output copies. For example, whether you want five 10-run copies or ten 5-run copies, the total copy time would be 50 times the base copy time.
  
The process involved three steps:
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=== The cost of copying ===
*1) A Lockdown vote is proposed
 
*2) 24h is allowed for shareholders to vote
 
*3) The CEO sanctions the action if the vote passes.
 
  
===Step 1===
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The cost of copying a BPO is
Right-click on a BPO, and select Propose Lockdown Vote. This option will only appear if you satisfy one of the three criteria mentioned earlier (CEO, Director or shareholders).
 
===Step 2===
 
Directors and shareholders will receive an eve-mail notifying them a vote has been initiated. The CEO and directors will need to navigate to the corporation window via the corp button. Then find the Politics tab, Votes, and Open Votes.
 
  
As you can see here, my corporation currently doesn’t have any open votes.
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:<math> \displaystyle \text{Job cost} = \text{System cost index} \times \text{Copies} \times \text{Runs per copy} \times 0.02 \times \sum_{\text{all materials}} \text{Material quantity} \times \text{Material adjusted price} </math>
  
Shareholders will not have access to this window. Instead they must open their wallet, find the Shares tab, right-click the name of the corporation in which the voting is ongoing, and click on the Votes option.
+
where the system cost index is calculated in the same way as it was for researching but with work hours done on copying jobs.
  
A similar window will open, where they will be able to vote either Yes or No.
+
=== Why should I copy my BPOs? ===
  
The CEO should be able to follow the progress of the voting in the politics window, seen on the left.
+
# Security
 +
#* Well-researched BPOs take a lot of time to produce, especially for bigger ships such as capitals. Putting your BPO in a [[POS]] - for a facility reduction in materials and time - makes it vulnerable to attack. For this reason, you can first copy the BPO, and then take only the BPC out to the POS for manufacturing, leaving your BPOs safely in station.
 +
#* In-corp security can also be increased using BPCs. If you don't trust your corp mates with your BPOs, you can instead keep a personal copy line running and release frequent BPCs for corp usage.
 +
# [[Invention]]
 +
#* Creating a Tech 2 BPC can only be done using a Tech 1 BPC - not a BPO. This process is called invention and requires a T1 BPC of the item you wish to invent (for example, if you want to invent a 425mm Autocannon II, you need a BPC for a 425 Autocannon I).
 +
# Multiple manufacturing jobs
 +
#* You can only run a single manufacturing job at a time from a BPO. Using the BPO to create multiple BPCs, and then manufacturing from those BPCs instead, can increase your productivity.
 +
# Copying as a business
 +
#* Selling well-researched BPCs, for other manufacturers to build from, can be a lucrative business in itself.
  
===Step 3===
+
== External links ==
After the 24h voting period has ended, the CEO will need to head to the Closed Votes tab, and sanction the vote for it to go into effect.
+
* [https://eve-industry.org/export/IndustryFormulas.pdf Formulas for EVE Industry (pdf)]
 
+
* Dev-blog: [https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/eve-industry-all-you-want-to-know EVE Industry - All you want to know]
When this is done, the BPO is fully locked down, and can only be unlocked via another vote.
+
* Dev-blog: [https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/industry-3rd-party-developers Industry & 3rd Party Developers]
 
 
Note: The process of voting has never been very clear to me. As soon as you propose a lockdown vote, the BPO will lock instantaneously even before the voting period ends, and if a majority of people voted yes, it will remain locked without the CEO having to sanction it.
 
 
 
The reverse however, is not true. If you initiate an Unlock vote, the vote will need to be favor of yes and the CEO will need to sanction the vote for the BPO to become unlocked. I am unaware whether this is a feature or a bug, but regardless of what it is, your BPO are secured and you don’t have to worry about a director going rogue and unlocking your BPO while you flew away to Barbados with your girlfriend for a week of hot lovemakin’ on the beach.
 
 
 
==Copying==
 
[[Image:AdvancedMobileLabInfo.png|thumb|right|Advanced Mobile Lab Information]]
 
Copying is the process of making a BPC out of a BPO. As it was said a little earlier, this is better done in a POS lab, due to its faster speed. If you were ever going to use Advanced POS labs, this would be the time, as it has 2 more slots and is even 10% faster than a regular mobile laboratory.
 
 
 
Coupled with the appropriate Beancounter implant, you shave a total of 40% off the copying time. If you’re running a BPC business, this is quite a significant timesaver.
 
 
 
The process is pretty straightforward. Note that there is a limit on how many runs you can give a BPC, which can be found under Production Limit on the BPO itself. Note that this Limit has nothing to do with how many runs you can make if you are building using the actual BPO.
 
 
 
Some copy job might require materials (such is the case for tech 2 BPO, for example). If
 
this is the case, while the BPO can stay in the corp hangar, you will need to put the material in the POS lab itself.
 
  
 
[[Category:Industry]]
 
[[Category:Industry]]

Latest revision as of 11:40, 26 January 2023

Research is the process of improving a Blueprint Original (BPO). Two types of research are performed: Material Efficiency research and Time Efficiency research, also known as ME and TE. Material Efficiency research decreases the number of materials required for the production of the blueprint, whilst Time Efficiency research decreases the production time of the item produced.

Research may also involve blueprint copying, which produces Blueprint Copies (BPC). As the blueprint is researched and copied, the ME and TE levels of the original blueprint will be transferred onto the blueprint copy.

Skills

None of these skills are actually required for any research. However, they will all make your research operations far easier and quicker and are very worthwhile training if you intend to do a lot of research.

  • Science (1x) - reduces the time required to copy a BPO by 5% per level
    'Science is the basic skill in the Science section of the character skills. This skill will reduce the time required for blueprint copying by 25% at maximum level. This skill is also the prerequisite for almost all the other skills in the science section.
  • Advanced Industry (3x) - reduces all manufacturing and research times by 3% per level
    This skill will reduce the time required for manufacturing and research by 15% at maximum level. Requires Industry III.
  • Research (1x) - reduces the time required for Time Efficiency research, by 5% per level
    This skill will reduce the time required for TE research by 25% at maximum level. Requires Science III.
  • Metallurgy (3x) - reduces the time required for Material Efficiency research, by 5% per level
    This skill will reduce the time required for ME research by 25% at maximum level. Requires Science IV.
  • Laboratory Operation (1x) - allows you to perform one additional research or copying job per level
    Every character starts off with the ability to run a single research or copying job without needing to train this skill. Laboratory Operation gives you an extra research/copying slot for each level trained: if you train it to V, you can run 6 research or copying jobs at once. Requires Science III.
  • Advanced Laboratory Operation (8x) - allows you to perform further additional research or copy jobs per level
    Once you have trained Laboratory Operation to V, you can then train this skill to increase still further the number of concurrent research or copying jobs you can perform to a maximum of 11 jobs.
  • Scientific Networking (3x) - allows you to start research jobs at range, without needing to be in the same system with the facility.
    Requires Laboratory Operation IV. Without training this skill, you can start jobs anywhere in the current system. Each level in this skill gives you the ability to start research jobs an extra 5 jumps away to the maximum of 25 jumps at level V (this may include other regions).

Other helpful skills:

  • Cybernetics (3x) - allows the use of implants.
    The Zainou 'Beancounter' line of implants boost research & copying speeds. A dedicated researching character would benefit greatly from one or more of these implants.

Material Efficiency Research

The ME increase is not big enough to have any effect on the amount of tritanium needed for single run.
The same BP as in above image but this time in a job requiring multiple runs. Since the ME is applied for the job as a whole the tritanium amount is now reduced.

Material Efficiency (ME) research reduces the number of materials required to manufacture the item from the BPO. It can clearly be seen that the fewer materials you require to build an item, the more profitable selling your item is likely to be. New BPOs bought from the market will have an ME of 0%, but you can often find BPO sellers in contracts or on the Sell Orders forum, that will sell you pre-researched BPOs (or BPCs) for your manufacturing business. You can also find blueprints ingame through contracts.

The current ME level of a blueprint can be seen by looking at the info on a blueprint, or by opening the Industry window and browsing your blueprints. Each time you perform ME research on a BPO, it will reduce the materials required by -1%. You can do ME research 10 times in total, for a total reduction of -10% on the materials required. Though blueprint copies with higher ME can be received as a reward from COSMOS missions.

Materials will always round up to the next whole number, so you will never need 23.75 units of tritanium to build a module, for example, or you will never need 0.75 Atrons to build an Ares.

It is important to note that material rounding happens after you have multiplied by the number of runs. Here's an example, the Scourge Rocket BPO. You can see that at 0% ME, the Scourge rocket requires 31 Tritanium and 26 Pyerite to build. If you researched it to 2% ME, it would require 30.38 Tritanium and 25.48 Pyerite. Because minerals round up, if you only did a single run to build a single batch of rockets, the amount of materials required would not actually change.

However, if you did 100 runs to build 100 batches of rockets because material rounding occurs after you multiply by the number of runs, you would need 3038 Tritanium and 2548 Pyerite to build 100 rocket batches. In this way, even researching to -1% or -2% ME can be worthwhile if you intend to mass produce items.

However, no required materials can be reduced to less than one per run. If your 0% ME blueprint requires 1 unit of a material to build, even ME -10% will not reduce that amount of materials at all. This is most obvious in T2 ship manufacturing where you will always need one T1 hull for one T2 product even with high ME and multiple runs. For example, you will always need 10 Rifters to build 10 Jaguars, never 9, even if your Jaguar blueprint is fully researched.

Time Efficiency Research

Time Efficiency (TE) research reduces the amount of time required to manufacture the item from the blueprint. It can be seen that the faster you can build an item, and thus re-use your production slots for more items, the more profitable your business is likely to be. New BPOs bought from the market will have a TE of 0%, but you can often find BPO sellers in contracts or on the Sell Orders forum, that will sell you pre-researched BPOs (or BPCs) for your manufacturing business. You can also find blueprints ingame through contracts.

The current TE level of a blueprint can be seen by looking at the info on a blueprint, or by opening the Industry window and browsing your blueprints. Each time you perform TE research on a BPO, it will reduce the time required by 2%. You can do TE research 10 times in total, for a total reduction of -20% in manufacturing time required.

Research-info2.png
This BPO for a Nuclear S shell - small projectile ammunition - has been researched twice for Material Efficiency, for a -2% material requirement; and five times for Time Efficiency, for a -10% time requirement.


How long does research take?

ME and TE research both take the same time to perform. The duration depends on the rank of the blueprint and the current research level.

Note that ME and TE levels and research duration are counted separately. So improving the ME level will not have any effect on how long TE research will take.

All BPOs have a Rank (not visible in-game) which determines how long they take to research. Rank 1 blueprint is the "baseline" blueprint. The table below shows the research times needed for a baseline blueprint.

The research time grows exponentially as the research level increases. (Click to enlarge)
Research Level Seconds Approximate Time
1 105 1m 45s
2 250 4m
3 595 10m
4 1,414 24m
5 3,360 56m
6 8,000 2hr
7 19,000 5hr
8 45,255 12hr
9 107,700 1 day
10 256,000 3 days

Research times for blueprints of higher rank are simply base duration multiplied by the blueprint rank.

[math] \displaystyle \text{ Research duration } = \text{ Base duration } \times \text{ Blueprint rank } [/math]

The table below shows the blueprint ranks for various blueprint groups.
(Note that while T2 categories are listed below for completeness, T2 BPO's are no longer obtainable and T2 BPC's cannot be researched.)

For example Carriers and Dreadnought BPOs are rank 200, giving them a time to research to ME from 0% to 1%: 105 seconds × rank 200' = 21,000 seconds, or 5hr 50m. In general, the bigger or more expensive a thing is, the higher rank its BPO is, and the longer it takes to research.

The cost of research

Installing research jobs is not free. Installing a ME or TE job will have the following cost:

[math] \displaystyle \text{ Job cost } = \text{ Process time value } \times \text{ System cost index } \times \text{ Structure bonus } [/math],

where Process Time Value is a number derived from the material cost of producing the item, blueprint rank and blueprint research level (ME and TE handled separately) and the system cost index is a number derived from the amount of work done in that system.

The system cost index is calculated as

[math] \displaystyle \text{System cost index} = \sqrt{ \frac{ \text{Work hours done in system in past 28 days} }{ \text{Work hours done in universe in past 28 days} } } [/math]

The process time value for researching from level n-1 to level n is calculated as

[math] \displaystyle \text{Process time value} = ( \text{Base duration}_n - \text{Base duration}_{n-1} ) \times \frac{0.02}{105} \times \sum_{\text{all materials}} \text{Material quantity} \times \text{Material adjusted price} [/math]

where the base durationn is the job duration of researching a rank 1 blueprint to level n in seconds as listed in the above table for base research times. The sum term is usually very close to the price estimation of the raw materials of the blueprint but the exact value can only be found from ESI /markets/prices/ endpoint.

In case where you are researching an unresearched blueprint to level n the process time value is slightly simpler

[math] \displaystyle \text{Process time value} = \text{Base duration}_n \times \frac{0.02}{105} \times \sum_{\text{all materials}} \text{Material quantity} \times \text{Material adjusted price} [/math]

You will additionally need to pay the facility tax which is

[math] \text{ Facility tax } = \text{ Job cost } \times \text{ Facility tax% } [/math]

Copying

Copying a blueprint original produces a number of blueprint copies with a specific number of runs. For example, in the image below we have chosen a Blackbird BPO, requested 5 runs, and each resulting copy would have 10 runs. The final output would produce 5 BPCs with 10 runs each, from which you could build 50 total Blackbirds.

Copying.png

Once you have used up all the runs on a BPC, it is destroyed (you simply won't get it back after the last manufacturing run). You cannot research BPCs, so make sure your BPO is researched to the ME and TE levels you require before you copy it.

Different BPCs have a different maximum number of runs you can set. Ship BPCs for example can only be given 10 runs, whereas most modules and ammunition can have up to 600 runs. You can see the maximum runs per copy in the information of a BPO.

Copy-info.png

How long does copying take?

As well as the maximum runs per copy, you can also see the base copy time - a.k.a. time per run - in the information of a BPO.

Copying of a BPO always takes 80% of the build time, on a per run basis. Note that this is before applying bonuses for skills and POS facilities - because manufacturing and copying have different skills & facilities affecting their duration, your personal copy time may not be exactly 80% of your personal build time. Copy time is also NOT affected by the level of TE on the BPO. For example, small ammunition and drones, and basic modules, typically take 5 minutes to build and thus will take 4 minutes to copy.

This base copy time is then multiplied by the number of runs and the runs per copy value. Or, in other words, the total duration of your copy job is the base copy time, times the number of items you could build with the output copies. For example, whether you want five 10-run copies or ten 5-run copies, the total copy time would be 50 times the base copy time.

The cost of copying

The cost of copying a BPO is

[math] \displaystyle \text{Job cost} = \text{System cost index} \times \text{Copies} \times \text{Runs per copy} \times 0.02 \times \sum_{\text{all materials}} \text{Material quantity} \times \text{Material adjusted price} [/math]

where the system cost index is calculated in the same way as it was for researching but with work hours done on copying jobs.

Why should I copy my BPOs?

  1. Security
    • Well-researched BPOs take a lot of time to produce, especially for bigger ships such as capitals. Putting your BPO in a POS - for a facility reduction in materials and time - makes it vulnerable to attack. For this reason, you can first copy the BPO, and then take only the BPC out to the POS for manufacturing, leaving your BPOs safely in station.
    • In-corp security can also be increased using BPCs. If you don't trust your corp mates with your BPOs, you can instead keep a personal copy line running and release frequent BPCs for corp usage.
  2. Invention
    • Creating a Tech 2 BPC can only be done using a Tech 1 BPC - not a BPO. This process is called invention and requires a T1 BPC of the item you wish to invent (for example, if you want to invent a 425mm Autocannon II, you need a BPC for a 425 Autocannon I).
  3. Multiple manufacturing jobs
    • You can only run a single manufacturing job at a time from a BPO. Using the BPO to create multiple BPCs, and then manufacturing from those BPCs instead, can increase your productivity.
  4. Copying as a business
    • Selling well-researched BPCs, for other manufacturers to build from, can be a lucrative business in itself.

External links