Tier One Manufacturing, Building T1 and other commonly used items

Industry Skill

This skill is the number one must have skill for all forms of manufacturing. This skill not only gives you the ability to build but for each level, it also reduces the amount of time it takes for items to go from minerals to finished product. While you can begin building at level 1, it is highly recommended that budding industrialists wait until level 4 before starting. Level 5 is optimum and should be a top priority in the skill training schedule.

Mass Production Skill

For each level this skill is trained, you are allowed +1 factory. At Level 5, you can operate 6 factories simultaneously, and thus should be one of your top skill training priorities, especially when you consider that most T1 ships take 3+ hours to build.

Advanced Mass Production Skill

Introduced with the release of RMR, this skill picks up where Mass Production leaves off giving you +1 factory per level. At level 5, this skill combined with Mass Production 5 will allow you to operate 11 factories simultaneously.

Production Efficiency Skill

Also known as PE, this skill reduces the amount of minerals it takes to build items. If you look on a blueprint original or copy, you will see under Bill of Materials a list of minerals needed to build each single run of the item. If you have any PE skill level under 5, you will also see how many minerals it will take for you to build according to your PE level. BPO vs BPC

Blueprint Originals (aka BPO) are those that have no limit to the number of production runs and can also be researched for Mineral Efficiency (ME) and Production Efficiency (PE). Right of the market BPO have 0 research done on them. To increase ME and PE, one would have to invest time in training Lab Operations Skill and Science Skill or hire someone with those skills to do the research for you. The general rule of thumb is the higher the ME the less minerals required and the higher the PE the less time it takes to build. BPC (aka blueprint copies) are limited in the number of production runs can be made before the bpc is destroyed. BPC are copies made from a BPO and thus cannot be researched. The advantages of having a BPO are you never have to worry about running out of production build blueprints and you can ME and PE research them to your preference. The disadvantage is that they vary in price range from a few thousand isk to some such as battleships costing a few billion. The disadvantage of BPC are that they are limited in how many you can build before you need to purchase a new one. How you approach purchasing BPO and BPC is up to you and your wallet.

RMR Factories in a Nutshell

RMR brought a huge change to how factories are operated. When you bring up the factory screen, choose MANUFACTURING from the drop down menu. Then in the location box, choose the station you wish to build at. On the bottom half of the screen you will then see a list of factories in that station along with those that are ready (NOW) for build orders. After selecting a factory, at the bottom right hand corner of the screen you will find the install button, choose that and a small ingame popup screen will appear, where you then choose the blueprint to install, the hanger where your materials are located (input) and the hanger where you want them to be delivered (output). Special Note * when you go to choose your blueprint to install, it will show you every single blueprint that is loose in your hanger or corps hanger if you have corp hanger access. So it is best if you keep all that you are not building with at the moment stored in cargo or station cans kept in your hanger. This will save you a ton of headaches. After you have chosen your input/output, you will then choose how many runs you wish to build followed by pressing the OK button. You will then be greeted with the material and build costs quote screen where you can review how much material is needed for the build as well as how much the factory job fees with be. Fees are based on the factory job rental plus time needed and vary from job to job. After reviewing the quote screen, choose INSTALL and your build begins. Unfortunately, the factory installation screens are slow right now and sometimes appear to hang. CCP is aware of this issue and are looking into it so for now if this happens just press the button a second time and wait 30 seconds as that usually clears up the installation lag. Build status is located in the JOBS tab on the factory screen. Just choose your search and hit go and it will bring up your chosen search string. The green READY status means it is ready for pickup. Simply highlight the ready build by clicking on it in the JOBS window and in the lower right corner the DELLIEVER button will appear, choose that and your build pops out in the output hanger you specified when starting the job.

With the right skills and knowledge of basic factory operation, you will be well on your way to becoming a T1 building master. And don't forget to train those skills to level 5, because you cannot begin T2 builds without them.