The Union are technologically specialised in defensive and special ship equipment, the Federation in ship construction and ship drives whilst the Empire is technologically specialised in weaponry.

The Backbone of an Economy

Each faction can benefit in multiple ways through the use of their specialisation. One such benefit for the Empire is the humble 140MW Particle Laser.

It is not out of the question to expect a profit of 3,500,000 credits to 3,750,000 credits per week

The 140MW Particle Laser retails at Imperial planets for a solid 1,400,000 credits. It represents a very good choice in weapon – albeit limited to Empire pilots who have achieved the rank of Earl and above. However this weapon is particularly appealing to the Imperial starbase owner not because of the damage it deals, but the remarkably low cost of production.

Let’s break it down for a moment. It takes a total of 4.25 days to complete… that is 34 starbase ticks. During that time it requires a total of 102t Battleweapon parts, 68t Energy and 289,000 credits to complete production. Battleweapons buildings sell their output at 3,330 credits per ton in The Waistelands’ economy and player starbases buy the Battleweapons parts at 3,780 credits per ton, and Energy is inexpensive. So the cost of production is about 670,000 credits.

The starbase owner could opt to sell the 140MW Particle Laser at “full price” and clear a huge profit. This may work once or twice… but it’s not sustainable. You cannot sell one every 4.25 days for instance.

Another option is to sell the 140MW Particle Laser for less than it’s “scrap price” of 700,000… say 696,000 credits, allowing the buyer to scrap the weapon and get 700,000 credits “refunded” to them from the game. The buyer pockets the difference of 4,000 credits – he’s happy to get that for 10APs effort. The starbase owner makes a profit of 26,000 credits – and he is happy. The trader made 40,800 credits profit selling the Battleweapons to the starbase – and he is happy.

What if the starbase owner was also the trader?! He’d be very happy having just cleared 66,800 credits profit in that case! Now you can put 10 Weapons factories into a Starbase easily… so every 4.25 days the trader/starbase owner could be making 668,000 profit. Over a week that averages out to a little over 1,100,000 credits profit.

But it doesn’t stop there… whilst trading the Battleweapons from the buildings, the trader/starbase owner would be stocking the Battleweapons buildings… and likely doing the same to the Electronics, Smelters and Optics Labs that would be visited to gather the upkeep needed to make Battleweapon parts. Within our economy a profit of about 850,000 credits would be achieved through stocking and trading the buildings required to feed 10 Weapons Factories for the week.

But Wait – There’s More!

If the starbase owner was able to buy the 140MW Particle Lasers then he’d be clearing another 65,000 credits a week. Combined with the profit from the 140MW Particle Laser production, and the stocking of the buildings, this already accounts for more than 2,000,000 credits profit a week.

They will own 3 x level 8 buildings, each returning 140,000 per week profit. These, combined with the starbase profits, equate to in excess of 2,420,000 credits profit per week. Not to mention the fact that this activity actually supports many other buildings in the economy along the way – helping make a return for alliance mates as their buildings make them a profit.

It is possible to have 16 factories in a Starbase (15 weapons factories and a repair bay would probably be the optimal configuration). This could conceivably raise profits by a further 1,000,000 per week.

Income is also possible from population income tax (50,000 population generates 560,000 credits a week in income tax), ship repairs and mission jobs completed can be included as well. It is not out of the question to expect a profit of between 3,500,000 credits to 3,750,000 credits per week.

All this would still leave a pilot with over half their APs per day – allowing them to trade a whole sector and profit selling high end commodities to a planet whilst ranking as well.

The 140MW Partical Laser has a lot to offer us as Imperials!