New Player Industry Career Path Roadmap

Indeed there will be.

I’ll give you the bad news, and then offer some encouragement :slight_smile:

Industry in general actually breaks down into several different elements, some of which are required, some of which are arguably optional:

Production : you need this, since this is what actually makes things

Science: Needed to research down TE/ME on BPOs, run more jobs, engage R&D agents to get data cores, and do Invention of T2 BPOs

Those are pretty much required for industry to be possible/profitable. The other skills needed are related to getting the stuff to make other stuff, and these could be considered optional since you can potentially procure these materials in other ways.

Mining: This is both the ships and the modules/drones to mine. This forks a bit, since you can focus on things like Orcas and/or Exhumers, and those paths differ a bit. Of course, you can do both if you want, but skilling up a miner can take a couple of months depending on what you want to fly (and what/how you want to mine).

Reprocessing: Got to turn that ore into minerals, but this overlaps a bit with mining skills, since reprocessing skills also affect the use of mining crystals.

PI: This is something that is always a good idea to do, since you can sell the stuff, but you need PI materials for T2 production.

Moon Mining/Reactions: You also need these materials for T2 production, but you need to have access to the actual moon ores to make use of this. A lot of people simply buy these materials.

Trade: Buying materials and selling what you make will be affected by these skills. Tax rates, number of orders, remote order placement, etc.

OK, the bad news is that each of those topics is broken down into individual skill trees that can take weeks or months to go all the way through. That requires time, ISK to buy the skills (the moon mining skill set is about 100M by itself), and opportunity cost for not training other things during that time. This is one reason why a lot of people use alts for industry (and even specific aspects of industry- mining, science, trade/hauling, etc.)

The GOOD news is that you don’t have to go all-in on each and every one of these. You can buy materials, for example. And you don’t need all 5s in everything.

So, here’s what I’d suggest. Get your feet wet by building things that you (or your friends/corp) will use. Drones, ammo, that kind of thing. That will let you get familiar with the process, see how you like building stuff, will save you money on not having to buy these items, and start easing you into this all.

Once you’ve started to do that, you’ll begin to identify parts of industry that you need to work on or refine (supply chains, markets, etc.) and you can try your hand with some T2 items. Again, I’d suggest trying things that you will use- build some stuff, use some of it and sell some of it. If that works out for you, keep moving ahead.

Remember, you can stop at any point that you are satisfied with what you are doing- you don’t need to do it all, and you don’t need all 5s in all skills. As you progress keep in mind what the “next step” would be and if you really want to go there.

I’m really not trying to be negative or discouraging here. But, I know that feeling of training like hell to get a skill to build something…only to try to do it and realize that you’re still missing a bunch of skills and materials to do what you need. That feeling sucks and is more discouraging than anything, so I’m just trying to help you go in with your eyes open.

Good luck! Let us know if you have questions.

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