Hi. I am trying to figure out how to find out where to go for getting certain materials to make things whether it is from blueprints or something else. I was wondering if there is a feature in the game that brings up a window or something that lets me search for a material item and it would tell me where I need to travel (as long as it is near my current location). Or if there is a website to that for me. So is there a feature that is like a material finder?
Sorry if this seems so specific. I am used to a website called EDDB. A website that had that purpose but was for a different game.
OK. The answer to the question is very long and variable.
The info window on any Blueprint will tell you the materials it needs - and the info window for each of those materials will tell you more about how that material is obtained. There is a lot of variety.
A very simple answer is “all the materials are available on the market - you can just buy them”. But I know people find satisfaction in DIY…
So, basic modules, Forbes and ammunition - T1 stuff such as Damage Control I modules. Made from materials refined from ores mined from asteroids. Different rocks contain different proportions of materials. https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Asteroids_and_ore
More advanced manufacturing cases require materials sourced from a wider range of places.
Fuel for citadels and capital ship jump drives uses materials refined from Ice which is mined in a different way to asteroids and in a more limited number of locations.
T2 modules (such as Damage Control II) require a material than can only be mined in nul-sec space - and requires specialist mining units. It also requires stuff made in reactions in industrial citadels, stuff that also has its own manufacturing chain. It also takes planetary materials. https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Planetary_Interaction https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Reactions
Boosters need materials refined from gas mining in wormholes and a few other places.
T3 ships need stuff found in sleeper sites in wormholes - and they don’t like giving it to you.
Triglavian ships require Triglavian materials that come from their wrecks and Abyssal sites.
It’s deep and complex.
There are a bunch of tools at
Others are available. Google “Eve industry tools” is a good start.
I make a steady profit buying materials on the market to manufacture with then selling the products. You don’t have to do everything yourself.
Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” is useful here…
You are absolutely right - I stand corrected.
I’m a T2 invention and manufacturing specialist: I leave the drugs business to others.
For the OP: one of the common things a new player thinks is “I can mine everything and make the stuff I need for free!!!” - firstly, the modules you make are the basic T1 modules, the variations (such as “compact” or “enduring” or “scoped”) are better and are loot from mission and other wrecks. Secondly, with low skills you have a lot of refining losses. The market is dominated by players with better refining and industrial skills - you may find it more profitable to sell the ore and buy the materials you need. You’ll often get a better conversion rate of ore to materials that way, and the materials you buy will be what you need rather than having piles of “stuff I’ve ended up with too much of” left around.
Oh, and “free” does depend on how much you value your time.
Only if your time is worthless are minerals “free” - I’d like to believe you had better self value than that!
As others have indicated, the value chain in Eve is long and complex. Odds are you’ll only participate in a few links yourself and purchase the rest from other players through the market. As a T2 manufacturer my supply chain includes:
Minerals. Somebody mines and refines the ore and puts the minerals on the market for me to buy. I use these to manufacture T1 products that are used in the T2 manufacturing process.
Advanced moon materials. Again somebody else mines and reacts the moon ores to produce these and puts them on the market for me to buy. I then manufacture the advanced components myself.
Planetary materials. I harvest some of these myself but am not self sufficient.
Blueprints. Used to make T1 and components. They also need to be copied and the copy is then used to invent a T2 blueprint. This process also requires datacores that can be sourced from faction warfare LP stores, research agents or exploration sites. I do my own invention and source some of my datacores from research agents. Most are purchased on the market.
Once you have all these materials you’re ready to manufacture a T2 item which then needs to be transported to market and sold. I also do most of my own hauling and all of my sales.
You’re not me are you? you’ve just described my operation…
Couple of differences:
I manufacture at the market to minimise hauling at the cost of higher install rates (I’m time poor).
I normally buy the T1 component as it takes up production capacity to make them. Some T1 components are worth making though as half the value can be in that step, where that is the case I’ll do it.
The trick is to understand the value chain rather than just viewing it as a material supply chain.
I’ve never actually checked to see if I could buy the T1 cheaper than making it - it’s mostly an inventory consideration - I’d rather stock nine minerals than 40 different T1 modules & drones!
I haul in blockade runners. They’re fast, as safe as you’re going to get in highsec, and will easily carry half a billion ISK worth of advanced moon material - which is getting close to the edge of my comfort zone!
Completely agree. It should be read - or at least in a summarised form.
The most significant publication of 1776 (bait!)- and it had some competition: Adams’ Thoughts on Government, and the first part of Gibbons’ Decline and Fall while significant are more limited in their impact and scope.
For those that don’t know it: Wealth of Nations basically describes and works through the economic theory of a Capitalist Economy: ownership, manufacturing, division of labour, productivity, the free market, moral and ethical imperatives (that’s Scottish Presbyterian for you!), trade, the development of industrial economies, monetary theory, and the nature and role of Government.
It’s one of the foundational works of Economics.
An awful lot of it applies to Eve; especially productivity and the idea of added value in manufacturing.
