Production of resources

[ojwk]

I started playing yesterday as a freetrader and for the most part thought I understood the game.

After completing many quests and missions (which have been very well made) I still feel very confused with regard to the harvesting of resources.

In the port of Bartica I have a warehouse, a lumber camp, a gravel pit and a gold mine. The most recent addition of the gold mine occurred when I bought an advanced mining recipe and wanted to put it to use.

If I want to produce gold it will cost me 1800 doubloons to execute the mining recipe which will give me 10 gold ores. That means each gold ore is worth 180 doubloons. Looking at the auction house however shows me that gold ore retails for as low as 45 doubloons a piece!

This means that I could buy 40 pieces of gold ore at the price it cost me to produce 10!

Not to mention the fees I incurred in the acquisition of the gold mine deed, the advanced mining recipe and the weekly maintenance of 1000db - am I missing something or is harvesting your own resources much harder and more expensive than simply buying it off other people?

I've known people on other MMORPGs to sell so close to the profit threshold that it becomes too time consuming to bother but this just seems obscene. If I were to sell the ore at the going rate I would be selling it at a quarter of the production cost in recipe execution alone.

I can't help feeling that I'm missing something or not understanding something so if someone could please enlighten me I would be very much grateful.

[LawLessOne]

Gold Ore has very little demand. In fact, all you can do with it is make Gold Ingots. Gold Ingots are only used is a few things too. A lot of people probably have gold ore and just want to get some DB's for it.

Also, gold Ore is available as loot. People selling gold from drops can sell it for anything and still get a profit.

I think you need to write-off gold mining as a poor investment.

[ojwk]

Ugh.. can you suggest anything that may be more profitable? Logging or tobacco plantations for instance?

[Beilo]

You have unfortunately entered one of the 'dead' markets in the game at the moment. Gold is used sparsely and the supply available from loot is much more then the demand. The next patch will try to fix this by removing items that can be produced from loot drops.

[ojwk]

Is it the case that many resources are more expensive to produce than they are to buy? I've certainly noticed it with gravel and common wood.

[Ed Anger]

see what sells in your auction houses. first see what sells often, and at decent qualities. then figure out what the markup for those items are (by figuring out production costs) and make what will give you a decent profit.

this site can be helpful: http://www.tradersoftheburningsea.com/

[Spinnaker Sam]

Talk to the Euro Traders they will trade your gold for other products. In some cases it is cheaper to run one gold mine rather than 3 or 4 structures to produce the goods they will trade. However, you need high standing to get the discounts that make it worthwhile. Then there is also the transportation issue.

[Anna]

Originally Posted by ojwk Is it the case that many resources are more expensive to produce than they are to buy? I've certainly noticed it with gravel and common wood.

I think that will always be the case with gravel and common wood. Since everyone who does the econ tutorial gets deeds for gravel and common wood for free, there will always be an insane surplus of those two particular resources.

I think it really all boils down to supply and demand. As others mentioned, there just aren't that many uses for gold, so the demand is low. If I were to suggest something to invest in, I would suggest iron. Everybody needs iron. Don't expect huge profits, but at least on my server... everything I produce always sells. Get yourself an iron mine and a limestone quarry, then use what you produce there to make iron ingots with a forge. If you want to go a step further, start making ammo with your iron ingots. Again, not a huge profit... but everyone needs ammo.

[LawLessOne]

Originally Posted by Spinnaker Sam Talk to the Euro Traders they will trade your gold for other products. In some cases it is cheaper to run one gold mine rather than 3 or 4 structures to produce the goods they will trade. However, you need high standing to get the discounts that make it worthwhile. Then there is also the transportation issue.

Unfortunately the Euro Traders will only accept Gold Ingots, not Gold Ore. You could construct a Forge and turn your Ore into ingots but as the OP pointed out, you can purchase the gold ore for cheaper than you can mine it.

[LawLessOne]

Originally Posted by ojwk Ugh.. can you suggest anything that may be more profitable? Logging or tobacco plantations for instance?

You have noticed that Common Logs dont sell but Oak, Fir, Teak, and Ironwood logging camps can make nice profits. Tobacco Plantations dont sell well for me, your milage may vary because there is some demand to tobacco. General Plantations are pretty good, they produce 4 different products. It is hard to go wrong when you can supply 4 different products.

My first profitable business was Granite. Granite sells pretty well and any excess you may make can be turned into Ballast.