EVE Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

Invention is one of the most active areas of EVE industry, yet there are many misconceptions about the various aspects of how it functions. This EVE guide will clear up some of these invention-related questions.

5. What is the best decryptor to use in an invention job?

Each race has five decryptors associated with their invention jobs. These decryptors modify the chance of an invention job succeeding, the number of times any successful jobs can be used, and the amount of ingredient materials required. Decryptors can add millions or even tens of millions of ISK to the cost of a job, so they are not always a good idea, but can work to your advantage if you choose your ships and decryptors carefully. Which decryptor best meets your needs for a given job is something that takes a little time and a spreadsheet or invention profitability calculator to consider. Further complicating this is the fact that nearly all tech II ships are unprofitable to invent, unless a decryptor is used. This is something that a lot of rookie inventors have discovered to their chagrin, as they end up with blueprints for ships that require ingredients that are more expensive than just buying a finished ship on the market.

Some general guidelines:

• To the best of my knowledge, decryptors are never practical to use for non-ship invention. It is possible that some items may be exceptions, such as Large Mobile Warp Disruptors, but I haven't done the math.
• The -40% success rate decryptors that give +9 runs seem to be practical for some tech II frigates and interdictors, but not all.
• The decryptors that do not modify your success chance, but give +2 runs on a successful job seem to be optimal for inventing tech II cruisers of all races. The down side with this method is that the blueprint copies used in the invention job need to have the maximum number of runs.
• The really expensive +80% success chance decryptors are only useful for the expensive attempts like those used to make jump freighters.
• The rest are useful for some ships but not others, and the only way to figure it out is to run the numbers.

4. Is it true that tech II blueprint originals wreck the invention market and prevent inventors from making a profit?

With a few notable exceptions, this is completely untrue. For newer players that might not be aware, the original way that tech II goods were introduced to EVE Online was via a random lottery of blueprint originals. Though CCP have long since replaced that method with invention, many of the original blueprints are still out there. While there are quite a few tech II blueprint originals around for ammunition, modules and ships, and also true that most of them are capable of producing goods in a much cheaper fashion than invention, they are completely unable to scale up or meet market demand.

This means that, aside from the exceptions that I will note in a second, the market price is determined by what the costs associated with invention, not tech II blueprint originals. This is a good thing, since invention is designed in such a way that the blueprint originals could out-compete them in a heartbeat, due mostly to their superior material efficiency. But consider that even if a blueprint were producing 24/7, it is still only a single slot of production. That player's other slots cannot somehow utilize that blueprint unless, perhaps, time was wasted making copies of said blueprint. Nor is EVE Online's ever-growing economy able to be supplied by a couple dozen blueprints, here and there.