Weekend Update

Crunched on some work this weekend.  Getting dangerously close to complete on the spreadsheet front, and pushed some updates out.  Just posting this as a quick update for those that may have missed them.

Crius Industry Tools for Google Drive - Update

I pushed some updates to the script this weekend.  This should address some bugs with the getPOS() routine, as well as some features that @CCP_Nullarbor added to the Teams CREST feeds.

• Fixed issue with getPOS(): Was trying to fetch location names with the wrong function call.  This issue has been resolved and all valid TQ corp keys should return good data now
• Fixed issue with getIndustryJobs(): Was not fetching personal jobs correctly.  Changed key validation to be correct now.  Can fetch corporate or personal jobs automatically off a single key/vcode
• Added teamName/activity to Teams and TeamsAuction feeds: Were "TODO" placeholders.  Now reports in-game names and valid activity information

Go fetch a fresh copy from either source, and continue reporting bugs

• Demo Sheet
• Github repo
• Bug Reports
• Use Guide

I still need to clean up some errors and hanging bits.  I'd like to push this tool to proper add-in status, but I am a little unclear on what to do between what I have now and what it takes to be considered "release ready".  Also, probably time to bite the bullet and buy some icon/banner designs.

More Crius Utilities for Devs

This one won't be as useful for the veteran 3rd party devs, but should be invaluable to the amateurs.  I put together some SQL queries and the resultant CSVs into the github.  If you're trying to update your spreadsheets with new data, these feeds should help you save a boatload of time.  If you're not sure what to do with the CSV files, I suggest you read up on pivot tables.

Let's Build a Spreadsheet Series

I did a pretty long set of streams on Sunday.  The goal was to help show off the spreadsheet fu and help people learn to build better spreadsheets with the tools at hand.  I will have the raw streams up on YouTube and Twitch tonight, but I want to boil down the lesson plans into 5-15min function lessons.  I still need to write up lesson plans and get my hands around video editing, but it's a goal for this August to put together a series that will help people build their own calculators.

Building Better Spreadsheets - Crius Toolset

Crius releases on Tuesday, and most industrialists are scrambling to replace their spreadsheets (I know I am).  What's worse, the job-cost equation requires live data from the game, which can be difficult for someone relying on spreadsheet feeds.  Fear not!  I have great news!

Crius Feeds In Google Spreadsheets

These functions let you read in the CREST/API feeds of common calls and import them directly into your spreadsheet.  Furthermore, the triggers are set up to automatically refresh the data periodically so your spreadsheet will always be up-to-date.  Though this is not an exhaustive API tool, and still could use some more features, it should be a huge leg up for any spreadsheet jockey.

Most of the feeds are designed to dump the entire feed, and don't offer much filtering in the call.  Instead, they were designed to be used in a reference sheet that could then be leveraged using VLOOKUP() or QUERY().  This might lead to some issues with complexity down the line, so I intend to eventually add some finer calls that will just return single-line kind of data.

Getting Started

Method 1: Clone the Master Spreadsheet

This will give you the tools and triggers, but will not stay up-to-date with the master sheet.  Until I can wrap up the code as a stand-alone Drive app, this will be the most stupid proof way to get a copy:

1. Open the spreadsheet
2. Go to File -> Make a Copy
   
3. Set the name of your copy (do not share with collaborators)
   
4. Remove any extra sheets/calls you need to and start developing your spreadsheet

This method is the easiest to start with, but has the issue that it will not keep current with updates.  

Method 2: Copy-Paste from Github

The codebase is free and open source, and is designed to be copy-pasted into the gdoc script interface.  This method is a little more tedious, but will be easy to copy updates as they come out.

1. Get plain-text code from the GitHub repo
2. In your spreadsheet, go to Tools -> Script Editor...
   
3. This opens a new window.  Select "Blank Project" from the initialization prompt
   
4. Copy the raw code into code.js space
   
5. Set the name of the project
6. Save the changes
7. Configure the app triggers.  Set get/All functions to 1hr timers
   
   

This will give you all the utilities in a fresh, or existing codebase.  Also, configuring the triggers appropriately will keep the data up-to-date automatically.  It's technically optional, but without time triggers, it will require a fresh open to pull fresh data.

Also, as updates come out, you'll be able to drop in the new code.  I expect to keep this project backwards compatible, so each drop in should ADD features.  Though, of course, if you go editing the code, you will need to be more careful about dropping in changes.  

Function List

• getPOS (keyID, vCode, header_bool, verbose_bool, test_server_boo l)
• getFacilities (keyID, vCode, header_bool, verbose_bool, test_server_bool )
• getIndustryJobs (keyID, vCode, header_bool, verbose_bool, test_server_bool )
• getAvgVolume (days, item_id, region_id )
• getVolumes (days, item_id, region_id )
• AllItemPrices (header_bool, test_server_bool )
• AllSystemIndexes (header_bool, test_server_bool )
• AllTeams (header_bool, verbose_bool, test_server_bool )
• AllAuctions (header_bool, verbose_bool, test_server_bool )

The functions are designed to be referenced as simply as possible.  CREST feeds like AllItemPrices and AllSystemIndexes can be referenced without arguments if desired.  Also, the classic API feeds are designed to return as much information as they can, with internal switches to try and use the /corp/Locations feeds if possible.  Also, most feeds come with a "verbose_bool" trigger to add/remove ugly or useless raw ID kind of data.  Lastly, the test_server_bool has been left in the release.  For TQ this value can either be blank or false.

Function guide below the cut

Crius stuff - Getting Ahead in Code Development

http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/upcoming-api-changes-for-industry/

Crius isn't that far off, and I'm starting to get a little anxious about getting started on new industry tool code.  Though CCP_Foxfour has been extremely outspoken on Twitter and Reddit about API rollouts, it's been harder to get the other base math information needed to make calculations.

Beta Data Dump

Thanks to FuzzySteve and CCP_Nullarbor for dropping this pro-tip in my stream.  You can take a look at the current BPO data inside the Singularity client files:

<sisi client path>\bin\staticdata\blueprint.db

 There you can find a SQLite db of the individual BPO data roughly the same format as will be delivered in the SDE when Crius launches.  I had a little trouble exporting the whole thing because I'm a noob and SQLite TEXT/BLOB rules are weird.  I ended up whipping together a little Python script to dump as csv.  The final version will be published as YAML, but should still be the JSON-string type for extraction.

Just to reiterate, we probably won't have a real set of tables for attributes like before.  Instead, each blueprint will be an individual object with all the attributes inside it.  There's nothing stopping you from expanding/transforming this data back into tables, but don't expect CCP or Fuzzwork to do it for you (EDIT: maybe after release, but will be custom project).

New APIs

The API is dead, long live the API

Until SSO rolls out, we're still going to have the classic-API for private data, and CREST for public/global data.  I will need more time to whip up real guides, and I will probably just update dev wikis rather than post wall-o-text here on the blog.

Classic-API Feeds

• [char|corp]/IndustryJobs: updated format, will break classic tools
• [char|corp]/IndustryJobsHistory: updated format, will break classic tools
• corp/Facilities: will list corp-controlled facilities like POS/Outpost

CREST Feeds

• /industry/
• more info soon(tm)

Personally, I continue to use Entity's eveapi Python module for classic API queries.  Mostly because Python + XML kinda sucks.  Thankfully CREST is JSON and much easier to handle.  I still haven't seen an all-in-one CREST module, so you're gonna be stuck writing handlers for each new API feed.  This shouldn't be too much trouble, since the only things that need to change between requests is address and perhaps HTTP request headers.

Crius Industry - Features You May Have Missed

On Saturday, I had my stream, and crashed +Ali Aras's stream afterwards along with Mynnna, Salpun, and a few others I didn't immediately recognize.  Also, +Chella Ranier dropped into my Friday stream (and I will have her segment isolated into its own video soon).  It's been exceptionally helpful to get all the various perspectives on the industry changes, and we're still only scratching the surface.

If you're relying purely on the dev blogs for info about the changes, you're going to have a bad time.  Mynnna showed me how grossly out of sync I was by missing important information about CCP Grayscale's BP migration on the forum.  Also, I almost missed some of the POS stuff in the most recent devblog.  Lastly, it's worth messing with the UI on all the devices you expect to play EVE on.  It's a pretty big window, and I anticipate issues with shorter form factors such as laptops.

Note, none of the following are set in stone yet.  Provide feedback if you don't like the changes!  It's also worth noting the entire CSM is incredibly active on this Crius front.  Feel free to reach out to your personal favorite(s) and include them in your feedback!

Invention Math Changes

EVE-O thread here

There are three big changes for Invention that might have gone unmentioned elsewhere.  

• Invention will only consume 1 run off a copy per attempt
• Invention times are far more dynamic to match up with manufacturing times
• Copy + invent = 0.5x T2 build time (roughly research = build for T2)
• Invention results will all be +ME/+TE.  No more negative results
• Base materials will be increased to keep prices roughly flat

Both of these changes are pretty big for T2 producers.  Reduced copy consumption clears up two problems for most inventors: BPC clutter, and reduce errors with T2 outcomes.  Though copy-time vs build-time is being reduced, this results in a big increase for module copies.  This ends up being balanced out by the one-run/invent feature.  You will still need multiple copies for parallelism, but that supply should last for quite a while.

Personally, I find the invention time balance far more interesting.  The goal is noble, to make invention time a far more meaningful choice, but I think this change misses the mark in its current state on Singularity.  For periodic gaming, I imagine a few different time groups:

• <=1 hr: multiple per session, up to 6x/day
• < 3 hrs: once per session, up to 3x/day
• < 10 hrs: twice per day
• < 22hrs: once per day
• n-days - 2hrs: once per n days

Lastly, the ME/TE changes should make the T2 BPO tinfoilers jump for joy.  Until the material quantities balance out (using a modified refining equation, causing weird material costs) and the SDE comes out to better run the bulk numbers, this will be a very hard thing to judge.  BPOs will still have a slight advantage due to the requested runs cost scaling, but I think you will be able to get better ME/TE than most BPOs in the end.  I'm particularly interested in how decryptors will drive the margins, since we probably won't see the big savings factors at 6-8% savings like we saw between -ME steps.

What I Don't Like

Personally, I only care if something is >2hrs, because I won't be able to do more than 1/day at that rate (without mobile app).  Also, I care that jobs hit at 22hrs rather than 24, because it can be hard to keep up with a strictly 24 or 25 hour cycle time.  Though the whole spectrum is interesting if you're going to optimize to share BPs over timezones, as long as jobs are a per-character mechanic, the times can be blocked into the above categories IMO.  

Also, I'd rather that the invention time balance be 0.4x or 0.35x to account for specializing in the science skills.  I'd like to put a tangible benefit for taking some of the obscure science skills to 5.  Lastly, another "between the lines" message here will be wider decryptor-type use, because of the reduced research-time/run.

Currently POS math is broken, so I am not sure how this will wash out in the end.  Also, I still need to play with some of the corners to check the balance.  Lastly, the decryptor math is going to be something worth checking with a fine toothed comb.  On TQ today, decryptors pay for themselves off the ME savings, and the difference between positive steps is much smaller than the difference between negative steps.  I have a hard time imagining that better research/build ratios or lowered datacore costs will drive consumption.

POS Changes

Feature Refinement Dev Blog

There are a bunch of little things that changed between pre-Kronos and now.  

• Additional labs/arrays will reduce job install costs
• "Invention" and "Research" labs have been split:
• Design Lab: able to copy/invent
• Research Lab: able to ME/TE research
• Hyasyoda Lab = meta Research Lab
• Lowsec love
• Intensive refining array = mid-grade null outpost refinery
• Lowsec-only Thukker component array
• ME better than outpost
• Built from ghost site materials?
• EDIT: moon mining/reactions will be available in 0.4 sec systems
• See Mynnna's analysis

As I covered previously, the people crying the biggest tears were solo capital producers.  With the new POS array changes, the playing field becomes much more even between LS/NS.  There's still the risk v reward metric, and a supply chain bottleneck for compressed ore, but the ability to participate in the capital game is still there (even if it's not entirely solo any more).  

Also, I really like the flat differentiation between "invention" and "research" labs.  This makes POS design far more direct for the amateur.  It's still hard to judge the job-cost benefits (in general) because of math and UI elements not being better solidified yet.  I'd also like to see the fitting requirements for both arrays be equivalent (or swapped) and a meta Design lab to match the Hyasyoda offering.  With the BP@POS rules, I'd like the choice to utilize blingy equipment for both Design and Research labs.  

Other Notes

The features are designed for an incredibly wide swath of EVE to participate in industry.  Though I am not wholly convinced it's great for high-powered and cooperative industry, it's a big step up from TQ historically.  Also, a lot of the bigger scale horsepower will rely on +Regner Blok-Andersen getting CREST/API/SDE stuff out for developers to start moving some of the every-day calculations outside the client.

Lastly, I have this grandiose idea that job fees will be the bar that separates the men from the boys.  Though right now, costs still account for <5% of business.  I can see where taxes + fees start to eat your lunch, but it's still a death-by-inches mechanic, and that makes it hard to justify a lot of effort to minimize it.  Also, with the job cost UI lacking a lot of the promised breakdown, it's hard to feel like it represents a meaningful choice yet.  If the costs are going to be this complex, I need to have a fighting chance to make good decisions.

Crius Industry Stream - June 11th - Initial Impressions

I cheated and dropped in on Ali Arias's day-of stream to get a first look before my first scheduled stream.  Thanks to Salpun and Ali, got to work through the biggest bugs.

The goal of this first stream was just to stretch out and try the new features.  No particular stress test, no grandiose goals... just see how it works, and jot down some first impressions.  Also, it's been quite a while since I've done any significant beta testing, so it was an exercise in getting notes set up out-of-game.

Bug Report

Being so fresh, everyone should expect the experience to be a little choppy.  I'm going to keep my report to the things that might stop you from testing something yourself, or is otherwise a glaring known issue.  To keep up on rollout, I suggest EVE Manufacturing's blog

Numbers Are Wrong

:Math: is not to be trusted right now.  Currently everything is in a "does it work" status.  I ran into a bunch of hilariously wrong numbers, but don't take those values as truth.  I expect that as the mechanics work themselves out, the devs will focus on the actual balance of stuff.  Also, I noticed things like POS bonuses were not applying, but that might be fixed sooner than the rest.

Also, it's worth noting the job cost equations are not properly seeded either.  I have an expectation that the "earn more geckos" event in May was to seed the internal databases with activity levels.  We should see "mostly right" numbers coming to Singularity.  I wouldn't cry fowl about the price of things being screwy due to Singularity prices being 100isk for everything.

Installing Personal Jobs Is Broken

There is a bug that personal industry jobs can't be installed due to wallet weirdness.  I expect this bug to be fixed very soon.

Teams Are Not Usable Yet

The Teams UI is in the industry tool, but bidding/acquiring/using teams is not enabled yet.  Also, utilizing Teams with the math is broken does not give us enough useful data right now.

First Impressions

The new UI is very pretty.  I think it's by-and-large a step up.  There are a lot of little weirdness that I can't tell if it's bug or feature, but I expect the mechanical portions of installing jobs to solidify rather quickly.  I am hoping they smooth out a lot of the asset update hiccups, because last night's build did not like moving things around.

Compared to the old UI, I'm extremely impressed.  Most of the 1-step kind of work is a much improved.  There is a lot of information available for the amateur or tinkerer.  I still worry that high activity industry is going to be obnoxious.  I want to push through the initial novelty and put the new UI through its paces so I can better judge how industry will feel in the long run.

Also, I'd like to put kudos out there for the facility selector.  I liked how it slurped in POS equipment, and shows everything everywhere with a pretty simple HUD.  Again, I am worried how it will play with heavy-activity work, but at first glance it's a big step up from the old UI.

As for things I didn't like; the job UI is huge.  It doesn't fit well in a minimum-height window layout, and will make industry on a laptop kinda obnoxious.  Also, I would like to see a few more readouts for price information.  They are currently hidden in mouseover tooltips, but I would prefer if the estimated value was displayed along with the charges.

Feature Requests

Didn't get a chance to push all of this to the forums like I intended, but I'll go ahead and post my notes.

• “In use” BP’s should filter to the bottom?
• Need better means to force refresh on the industry pannel
• Design Lab: Copy/Invent
• Research lab: ME/TE research
• Hyasyoda: ME/TE research
• Moving BPOs around is painful:
• Cannot start job with BPO in container
• Cannot update inventory when BPO moved to another hangar location
• cannot “drag and drop” BP’s around inventory
• Facility infopane:
• Don’t like the text being so small
• Also don’t like the spacing between icon/text
• Would like click to highlight in facility list
• Skill requirements:
• Shows green book when zero skills are required
• Does not show affect of skills on outcome (does on mouseover)
• T2 outcome selection
• Not a fan of drop down. Perhaps side-by-side icons?
• Would prefer if ME/TE adjustments happened in circle like the outcome probabilty
• Decryptor icons are ambiguous. Should show text in BOM window
• Skills should differentiate between ‘required” and “current”
• Jobs report: should show materials being used (help differentiate jobs)
• Jobs report: should still have text of output, not just BP icon
• Install delay is pretty long (>10s). Should be <1s
• Invention needs an “outcome” column
• No way to sort original/copies in blueprint view
• Would like sort-by-valid-activity
• Would prefer view to show both mfg/research jobs utilized/remaining

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Crius Industry Streams - Take2

Note: Dates are subject to change due to CCP release schedules or IRL conflicts

I know I fell off the wagon lately for streaming, but when CCP announced they were delaying the Kronos Industry Changes to Crius, I kinda lost the reasons to stream.  Now, with Crius test release strongly scheduled for June 10th, I can revamp the schedule and deliver direct commentary about the brave new world being released.

Again, the loose schedule is:
Mon: 0100-0300
Wed: 0100-0300
Fri: 0200?-0300
Sat -or- Sun: 1800-?

Officially, make sure to subscribe to the calendar below for any last-minute changes or conflicts.  Lately, I've been expecting to start EVE activities at 0200 rather than 0100, but I can rejigger my work schedule as long as there is content to actually stream.

Also, keep tuned to the calendar and my twitter (@hlibindustry) to see if I can score special guests or special theme nights.  I won't know the more specific schedule until I really get my hands around how much work there is to do.  Expect more information as it becomes available.

UPDATE: CCP Nullarbor has promised to be handy in the chat channel in the streams.

Tune in live at: http://www.twitch.tv/hlibindustry
Broadcasts will be available on YouTube after each stream



Calendar Ical
Calendar xml
Calendar API: sba58uk9hk74r2s9fuiaivnlrg@group.calendar.google.com

Reinventing the Wheel - Industry Tools

As I have repeated in my previous postings, EVERYTHING is changing in industry.  Though some of my existing tools could probably be re-kludged to work going forward, this is as good a chance as any to get off the crutches and move forward into a real sustainable tool.

If you don't believe me, it's worth watching the Industry and Economy panels together:

Bringing Lessons Forward

I am still immensely proud of my zkb.py module.  It remains a touchstone for me of how to design something that is actually maintainable and easy to drop into new projects.  I can easily drop KB scraping into any project, and spend time leveraging the data rather than fighting the API.  Going forward, I want to repeat this slim and modular style, so I can mix and match parts going forward.

I am terrible at learning these lessons on the first pass.  I usually opt for a "make it work" mentality over a "make it pretty" and I have paid for it over and over.  Thankfully I have a lot of good parts and (hopefully) enough experience to try and avoid the straight-path pitfalls that have left me with so much unsustainable, bloated, spaghetti code in the past.

The theme for the next set of tools will be "building blocks".  I've achieved a lot of these prototypes in my spreadsheets, and I need to be bringing those pieces forward rather than writing custom tools for everything.  The added benefit of modules rather than monoliths is recyclable code.  As and example, if I can get a sustainable BPO module class set, I can tie it together with kill data for "materials destroyed" reporting.

Fortune Favors the Bold

https://github.com/lockefox/EVE-Prosper/tree/master/Kronos

BPO Handler

As I said, the goal is "building blocks" and as such, I will first focus on rebuilding my blueprints handler.  The day-0 goal for Kronos is to replace my terrible kit builder, because the first need moving forward is accurate cost/material-quantity reporting.  Those two functions represent the largest player-time investments on my plate as an industrialist.  

Previously, I had tried to make a SDE scraper that could be run per-expansion and output a middle layer file that could be slurped into a bigger tool set.  I am not sure if this is still the most sustainable thing going forward, because a read-only DB should be relatively cheap... but with BPO material requirements becoming MUCH simplified, I may also include this method again.

System Handler/Teams Handler

The next immediate goal will be to accurately estimate install costs.  Since resources will be system-level, it will be useful to design a system object to track these inputs.  I expect to write both a gdoc JS script and a Python module for this data.  The men will be separated from the boys on quick, accurate, and reliable cost predictions.  

Teams will be largely manual in REV0, but I am hoping @RegnerBA lives up to his promises of an API dedicated to Teams.  I expect the initial prototype to be largely discarded for a more extensive REV1.

Front End?

Marcel has opened up Aideron Robotics tool development to corp members.  I am hoping to take a little time between getting a stable base tool and developing a front end to really hammer on some UI stuff.  I have an unnatural fear of UIs that I should really overcome, and D3JS + Bootstrap should allow me to finally leave the spreadsheet nest and upgrade my graphpr0n prowess outside of JMP.  But until I have some foundation and am able to spin up heavy industry to a point I like it, I doubt I will spend much time on front end stuff.

Kronos Stream Log - May 5th

For those who were not able to tune in, and don't really want to watch a ~2hr raw recap, I'm publishing stream minutes here as a TL;DR service.  The header will be sources of information (devblogs, eve-o forum, tweets, etc), the body will include minutes covered, and the post will conclude with opinions and a link to the raw stream.

Dev Blogs

• Reprocessing
• Manufacturing
• UI
• ME/PE/TE
• Job Costs
• Teams
• Ore Yields

Dev Posts

• ME Bonuses at POS
• POS Breakdown
• API For new data (Teams, job multiplier): Follow @RegnerBA

Stream Minutes

Kronos build was not released to Singularity yet.  Instead, I walked through each of the devblogs and my personal reactions.  Below are some boiled down explanations.  I tried to keep each section to 10mins.

Reprocess All The Things

This blog sets the tone for all the changes:

1. There will no longer be such a thing as "perfect" in any segment of industry
2. Every method/trick of industry will need to be reevaluated
3. Not every activity should be sustainable in every type of space - Grayscale

These are the points you should keep in mind when evaluating the industry changes as a whole.  Reprocessing stands to break "solo capital" building and much of solo mission running.  It also stands to boost most of traditional mining.  The new compression mechanics are the most interesting part; these will lead to a compressed ore market that functions only loosely based on the raw mineral market.

Building Better Worlds

The manufacturing changes are, again, a place that turns the entire industry paradigm on its head.  With the end to slots, factory needs become much flatter.  NPC space vs POS space will become a much more transparent choice, rather than a "if you want to do X, you MUST use a POS".  For more of my direct feelings see my post on the matter.

Industry UI

Honestly, I glossed over this devblog.  I have no business designing or talking about designing UIs, so I feel completely inadequate reviewing them without putting my hands on the process.  The interesting thing to note is any job installed can be reinstalled with one click.  Said another way, invention becomes much less of a click fest.

Though, I'd like to raise some argument against CCP's evaluation that traditional Science & Industry ("Building Things") is a purely solo activity.  I strongly believe that T2 manufacturing benefits from cooperative gameplay.  I am biased, having run two cooperative T2 corps in my tenure, but it's laughably inaccurate to not include at least a half-circle for T2 industry.

Researching the Future

If I may gush for a second, I REALLY like these changes.  Much like when Learning skills were removed from the game, I was hesitant at first, but I have really come around to the changes.  The mechanic fits better into the world, the math is far more transparent, and the quality of a BPO is now completely obvious.

It was pointed out in the chat room that a research/build/research cycle methodology is going away.  With exponential time per level, it will be a lot less prudent to research this way.  Also, with the levels getting longer, it presents a larger POS risk, since that +1 might cost 30 days, and it will be painful to cancel that kind of job.  On the other hand, NPC research is going to actually become a thing, so high-value research might return to NPC space, at a premium cost.

The Price of Change

This one is a doozy, and I'm going to need to fiddle with it live to completely solidify my ideas about it.  Simply put, EVERY job will cost something to install, and that cost will be related to the raw-material cost of that product.  It will behoove builders to spread wide away from hubs to save money on install costs.

The install equation should make lowsec capital producers cheer though.  With the "activity multiplier" being balanced against "system build resources", lowsec stands to have some wins in this equation over nullsec.  

Also, it was pointed out that this is a significant ISK sink.  I am no traditional economist, but this makes me worry slightly.  My calculations point to this being bigger than all the other sinks combined.  I agree that CCP needs more levers to destroy ISK from the game, but this stands to be a bludgeon, not a scalpel.  

Industry Teams

I know that a lot of the community was eagerly anticipating this to be a cooperative mechanic.  Instead, CCP delivered a rather weird modifier mechanic.  Again, since this is such a weird mechanic, I have to hold off full reactions until I get my hands on them.  I can sum up my reaction as: "I like them... but".

As they are proposed today, Teams stand to be weirdly leveraged at release.  Highsec people might have the largest bidding power, but nullsec will have the greatest utilization potential.  Through organization, the best teams will most likely be shipped out to nullsec, with middle/low teams being slurped up by really ambitious industrialists.

The iteration targets have me filled with hope, but the release as-is is a little lacking.  Without a means to have exclusive control, or to groom teams for my actual needs, these are going to be a weird mechanic to leverage in the short term.

Stream Notes

The theme I'll be beating into the ground on these streams is "Everything you knew is wrong."  The changes are so sweeping and broad, it's easiest to consider industry independently in Pre-Kronos vs Post-Kronos terms.  Trying to talk about these changes as "just tweak X and continue as normal" is not going to fly.  If you want to prosper going forward, you will need to redesign your industrial operation from the ground up.

This episode is just meant to be a top-level view of the changes.  Since we're treating the changes as a completely new process to industry, you can't optimize what you don't understand.  In the following episodes, we will dig down into specifics as they become available.  In my own notes, I am writing more specific schedules and priorities for the future streams up to release.

Where to Watch

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Stream Notes on Google Docs

New Math: Breaking Down Industry Changes - Part 1

The announced industry changes have been a whirlwind of drama across every media.  I wanted to save this post for when ALL the blogs were released... but most of my peers have jumped the gun.  There is a lot to cover, so I will be breaking up my response as well.  Let's focus on the first two devblogs for now.

Devblogs:

• Reprocess All the Things
• Building Better Worlds - Manufacturing Changes
• Industry UI 
• Researching the Future - ME/PE(TE)/Copy Changes
• The Price of Change - Job Cost Devblog
• Industry "Teams"

Other Blogs: as of Industry UI devblog release

• Data Based Contempt - Mynnna (CSM)
• Effects on Lowsec Capital Production - FunkyBacon (CSM9 candidate)
• Traitor - Ripard Teg (CSM)
• Historical Profits by Solar System - K162space
• I Wait in Hope, So Far - Neville Smit
• Le Devblog - EVE-Fail
• Let CCP Make the Case - Nosy Gamer

Before I start working things through, let me highlight something for the non-industrialists.  There are two inescapable limits to production: Hours per week, and weight of freight.   

Everything You Knew Is Wrong

To analyze these changes, we really need to throw out all our classical assumptions around production.  Most of the shortcuts and tricks are going away, and we're going to be faced with a new paradigm.  Those who are barking most (lowsec capital producers) really are missing the entire scope of how the environment is changing.  And the demise of highsec industry is greatly exaggerated.  

The biggest cries are coming from lowsec capital producers.  In an effort to address the loudest dissenters, I want to walk through the changes from their perspective step for step.

full res: imgur

I've highlighted the widely used flow chart most independent capital producers use.  The point in this flow is that it's extremely linear.  For the uninitiated, the primary bottleneck for capital production looks like freight.  For the capital producing professional, T1 compression moves that bottleneck to BPO count.  Compression makes the freight step nearly trivial, compressing a supercarrier into two JF trips.

The announced reprocessing changes break the compression link in this chain.  Without compression, freight becomes an enormous bottleneck.  With a large library of BPOs, builders are scrambling to figure out how they will meet the same throughput.  The short answer for the vast majority of these producers is: they won't be able to produce the same number of capitals they are used to... without some serious logistical horsepower.

Then The Fire Nation Attacked

Without compression, large-scale/solo capital producers are left in a lurch. This really changes up the build cycle for these producers.

full res: imgur

To keep heavy capital production running, ore compression is the only reasonable tool left for the builder.  This will completely change up the cost scheme for production.  Rather than basing final costs off raw minerals, like they are today, savvy capital builders will be required to balance compression with added costs of compressed ore.  Very simply: compressed ore will not cost the same as the sum of its parts, if it has a favorable compression ratio.

Next, we get to why low sec capital producers are so annoyed.  With reprocessing changes, it will take different amounts of those compressed ores to get the raw materials required.  Somewhere around 5% more ore will be required to build a capital, using compression, in lowsec.  Also, low sec producers will be forced to use POS to get the best refining rates, which will add another cost to the chain.

Lastly, there are the changes to production costs.  With the removal of slots, station-builders will be forced to pay up to 14% surcharge on their jobs.  CCP has hinted that outpost owners will not be able to zero this cost out, meaning those lowsec producers have an opportunity to make back that 5% loss they had to spend on their POS.  There will still be a considerably heavy freight step to get capital parts out of a POS, which could prove to either be too much effort to justify the ISK/hr, or too much risk to even start the process.

It's also worth noting that with copying becoming far more viable, that these low sec factory POS start to look half way worth it.  Even if that adds another step to the chain, most capital producers will have spare research time available on their toons, and copy mules are reasonably cheap.

It's Different, I Hate It

Before writing your farewell post and giving away all your assets, let's think through the whole chain.  Though null gets an obvious boost from this change, putting teams of miners to work in rental corps across the frontier, it's not simply a nerf-lowsec/boost-nullsec change.  There are a lot of steps being added to the chain.  The more steps in a process, the more opportunities for added value:

• Miners will be compressing their materials rather than refining them
• This incurs POS/fuel costs to the raw minerals
• Compressed freight is worthless until it gets in the hands of a producer
• Refining low-ends for shipping will be discouraged in null
• High-end supply to hubs should remain mostly flat
• Trit/Pyre will come mostly from inefficient high sec
• Demand for efficient compressed ores (ABC) will drive added value for ores
• POS required for most miners and producers, for best reprocessing yield
• Production line fees could kill profits.  POS required for mitigating cost, at additional risk

The point: there are a lot more permutations in production than before.  As such, there should be a much wider margin on complicated products for the mid term.  I think valuations will settle near the production costs of lowsec, meaning anyone still in the game will need to be very diligent to keep their profits.  But, also note that now with the difficulty curve increased, many capital builders have given up the market.  This is a great opportunity to get your hands on researched BPOs, and if you have a diligent plan, could still stand to profit.  May require some help though.

Author's Note: This post was written before the the Research changes were officially announced.  More to come soon(tm)

Everything Is Changing

http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/building-better-worlds/

Looks like the summer expansion is gearing up to be a big shake-up for industry.  First, big reprocessing changes, and now big manufacturing changes.

Most of the major points are easy to understand.

• Damage Per Job is going away for R.A.M. and R.Db items
• Extra Materials are being removed, all materials will be affected by reprocessing/production efficiency the same
• Market groups are being reorganized to make a little more sense
• Industry slots are going away, replaced with a demand charge
• POS standings requirements are being removed
• Remote BP access will not be shared between POS and NPC station.
• Copy speed is being reduced to make it easier to distribute copies.

The unifying theme to watch in these devblogs is nothing will be free in industry any more.  Refining will have variable yields depending on space/equipment, but never be 100%.  NPC manufacturing will have meaningful costs to production above-and-beyond raw materials.  There are no more free lunches.

Before I get into my review, I want to start with a TL;DR: The proposed changes are bad for cooperative industry and strongly incentivize solo industry as-is.  Though the changes aren't a catastrophe for corp-level/frontier industry, a lot of the changes will make many of the tools people use difficult.  I will cover my complaints in depth at the end of this post, but changes as they exist in the dev blog have me worried.

Death to Slots

Slots, as we know/hate them, are going away.  They will be replaced with a "cost scaling system".  TL;DR: you will be able to install a job anywhere that has science/industry services today, but will have to pay varying fees as a % of base cost.  What hasn't been explained yet is how this will affect POS.  More info will come out soon(tm) I am sure about the POS design.

Personally, I'm a fan of this for the most part.  Outside a few corner cases (newbie systems, outposts), I think the change is good.  NPC slot scarcity has been an unnecessary bottleneck on production.  It has pushed a lot of casual players out of the market, and left a "POS or GTFO" attitude.   Also, with a raw ISK cost, it should be obvious to producers what is impacting their bottom line.  This should stomp down some of the "time is free" attitudes out there.  I'd still like to see a time efficiency mechanic in station lines... as the lines get more crowded, overall productivity drops, but I can take what is given here.

Death to Standings

In a one-two-punch, not only are in-station industry resources going to become less constrained, POS ownership is going to become much easier.  All limits to anchoring a POS are being removed.  This means a tower can be dropped by a corp in any security (except special systems, same as POCO restriction), with no standings requirement.

I am a pretty big fan of this change.  It means we should see a dramatic decrease in moon-holding POS.  It will be much easier to get a moon, and use it or lose it.  There will still be a war requirement to clear towers, and regions with hubs will still be prime real estate, but those willing to compromise should be able to get POS a lot easier.

The unintended consequence here is when you remove slots, what will that do to industry POS?  POS layout has been a game of getting the slots you need and paying with CPU... if equipment needs are being decreased, will there be more dickstars?  Less POS?  More info about POS changes are promised in a later devblog, so we'll see.

BPO Risk

This is the crux of my unease with the proposed changes.  BPs in stations will not be accessible in POS.  Though this increases the risk to loss in a war (net good change), it makes corp theft a MUCH LARGER problem.  With how little control corp roles give you at a POS, if something needs to be moved between labs for work (Copy-->Manufacture, Invention-->Manufacture, Research-->Manufacture) then people need take rights.  And either you're stuck with a wild-west "anyone with POS access can take" rights scheme, or "only ultra-trusted members can move crap around for people".

With copy bandwidth/availability going up substantially, it's easy to say "just risk copies", but there are a bunch of unintended consequences with those changes.  Imagine my T2 component library: 10x of each component BPO.  That library took a long time to research.  Should I be spending money/time on copies or put the library at risk in a POS?  If I go with copies, I could very easily blow past the 1500 items/hangar limits, leaving me with more logistical headaches than security.  If I am spending my time copying all these BPOs, when will there be time to invent the T2 stuff?  My choice is to bring in help for copy bandwidth, or lock out people for BPO security.

If you put your BPO in the POS, you could be out those originals.  If you put a pile of copies there instead, you could have that time stolen from you.  There is no good way to keep a modicum of security at a POS without a lot of overhead for managers.  Couple this headache with the very low bar to owning a new POS, it stands to be much easier to give yourself a solo corp where those BPOs can't be stolen than cooperate with internet strangers at the risk of a library that could have years of research in it.

What Should Be Changed

Let me boil it down again: I should not be afraid of my corp members.  A properly configured corporation should be able to secure its assets to view/take at appropriate levels.  What made this work up to now is that anything super-valuable could be secured using the Lockdown mechanic.  This meant the BPO was still usable from station for research/mfg, but it couldn't be moved without a corporate vote.  As CEO, I can volunteer my pricey BPOs, but sleep well at night knowing that only I can unlock them for moving. 

With this change, I can risk my BPO at POS to wardec, but the much greater risk is the team that needs access to them.  If I can get to a sufficient level of pseudo lockdown (pw protected, or no need to move prints around the POS) to keep my members from taking those BPOs, then I'm more than happy to share.  If I am stuck with a mountain of copies as my only recourse, then I will opt not to share, instead locking my friends out of my POS with the tools at hand.  

Also, time will tell, but I am not super enthusiastic about the new UI spoiler... unless batch install is part of the feature.