Everybody should know what a Skill Plan is and what good it can do for you.
Also everybody knows what a Saved fitting is and how it can save time in terms of explaining stuff to others …and clicks.
Let’s take it further and apply this “meta game mechanics as built-in game mechanics” approach to production.
Introducing The Production Plan
It would be a list of steps that need to be executed in a sequence from manufacturing UI.
most steps in a plan would be a manufacturing/reaction jobs.
These would require use of certain BPO/BPC/RF and supplying raw materials or components made by earlier steps of the Production Plan.
Other steps could be:
- start tailored Skill Plan to ensure the produced item will be usable.
- use Saved fitting to fully equip a ship that was produced, along with the produced/supplied equipement.
- fill cargohold with ammunition, fuel etc., that has also been produced in this Production Plan.
- put products into standard/station/freight containers (that could also be made in an earlier step)
- reprocess something (like container containing some of the input components/raw materials packaged for delivery)
- make a BPC to parallelize further production plan steps
- it is tempting to have a step executing a sub-production plan but maybe it would be too much?
Some manual tasks outside of the plan would still be needed, like procuring and supplying raw materials, commodities, components, etc.
A starting template for The Production Plan could technically be generated from top to bottom from the “last” BPO/BPC along with the BOM ofc.
…but it would probably be too much for hardcore New Edenites already looking in horror at any attempt of “to make it easier”. But I hope you agree the auto-generation of BOM is a “must have” and bare minimum?
So maybe manual set up of skill/production steps and additional steps (like fitting or cargo filling) would be alright?
Then you could use such Production Plan for Production projects with one mouse drag?
Or just use it to mass-produce fully equipped ships for your world domination fleet at your Sotiyos?
To allow for more use flexibility (and ability to share?) I would not tie it exclusively with corp build projects.
The Production Plan should have some progress indicator (with milestones?) that could be seen in Corp Project. It could look similarly to skill plan tracking windows?
Maybe it should require new Mass production planning skill allowing for 5 additional steps per level, and new Advanced mass production planning skill adding another extra 5 steps per level?
If there would be a step allowing for execution of sub-production plan, then there should be another skill path controlling the maximum number of Production plans a character can have?
And maybe those skills should be omega only?