Manufacturing on Arkadia
Manufacturing is an important profession on Planet Arkadia. It is the pathway to convert refined resources from Hunters and Miners into the valuable products and equipment that colonists need in order to go about their daily lives on Arkadia. There are hundreds of different items to be Manufactured, many of which don’t last forever (see Limited Items), and there is an ongoing varying demand for them.
For example, Hunters need weapons and armour, and Miners need mining equipment. They often don’t have the skills, time or resources to Manufacture their own equipment, and this gives you an opportunity to apply your skills and knowledge to meet their demand.
Some people own a shop to sell their items from, while others use the in-game Auction or have their own personal contacts who come directly to them for supplies. If you’re smart about it, perhaps you’ll find a niche to Manufacture something that’s hard to find, but in strong demand. The opportunity is here to be a virtual entrepreneur, and there are many different approaches you can take.
How to Manufacture
Manufacturing is done by interacting with an Arkadia Manufacturing Terminal, and you never know what sort of exciting results you might get. If you’re lucky you could loot something extraordinary!
Blueprint
To Manufacture an item, you first need to have its Blueprint. Some basic Blueprints are available from the Technician Terminal, and there are plenty of more advanced ones out there to find. They can be looted while Manufacturing, and/or purchased from other players.
Blueprint Book and Ingredients
Next you need to store the Blueprint in the correct Blueprint Book, and have that Blueprint Book in your Inventory. You will also need to have in your Inventory, the required ingredients as listed on the Blueprint, which you can see by looking at the Detailed Information section of the Blueprint’s Item Info Panel. You may be able to find all of these ingredients via the in-game Auction, or you may have to go to greater lengths to find or even manufacture them. Some resources are quite common, and some can be very rare.
Arkadia Manufacturing Terminal
When you have the Blueprint in its Blueprint Book and the ingredients all ready, and made sure they’re all in your Inventory (not your Storage), find your nearest Arkadia Manufacturing Terminal and operate it.
The Manufacturing interface now appears.
Open the Blueprint Book in your Inventory (by right-clicking it and selecting Open).
Find and select the Blueprint for the item you wish to Manufacture. This Blueprint will now appear in the top left of the Manufacturing interface.
You can now add your ingredients by dragging them from your Inventory to the middle panel of the Manufacturing interface.
The panel on the left now shows what ingredients are required for one attempt, and the panel on the right shows which ingredients you have added.
If you are Manufacturing clothing or armour, there will also be a small panel at the top which allows you to select the appropriate gender of the item.
Quantity vs Condition
In the case of non-stackable items, the slider at the bottom of the Manufacturing interface allows you to choose between Quantity and Condition. If you move it, you will notice changes in the “Success Rate” bar that curves around the left hand side of the Manfacturing interface. There are three things that influence your success rate:
1. Your relevant skills and professional rank (which increase the more you Manufacture items).
2. The Quality Rating of your particular Blueprint. This increases gradually, the more the Blueprint is used.
3. The position of the Quantity/Condition slider. As you move it toward Condition, the quality of your loot will increase as your Success Rate decreases.
Ready to Manufacture!
When you’re all set, click the Manufacture button to attempt to manufacture the item. There are three possible outcomes:
1. Success. This is when your attempt is succesful, and the desired item appears in your inventory.
2. Near success. This is when you almost succeed, and some of the ingredients you used are recovered and returned to your inventory. Time to try again!
3. Fail. In this case, all the ingredients are consumed, and it’s time to try again!
If there’s anything further you would like to know about Manufacturing, the best way is to talk to your friends and fellow colonists, or to experiment for yourself. Good luck!