Planetary Interaction - spreadsheet v0.1

This is a follow on from a previous post : Planetary Interaction Hisec. The spreadsheet referred to in here is a google docs spreadsheet here.

Making some ISK with PI is easy.

• Extract some raw materials (P0); 
• Convert to P1 (one level of processing) and possibly P2 (two levels of processing); 
• Make sure what you are making sells for more than taxes
• Profit.

Conventional wisdom also seems to be make whatever P2 you can on a single planet.  This is simple and will work.  I don't like this conventional wisdom - in part from what I learned with WoW glyphs.

WoW glyphs, like PI, are a multi step process, even if glyphs are somewhat simpler. Raw material -> Intermediate Item 1 -> Intermediate Item 2 -> Final product.  In WoW gatherering and processing are two distinct skill sets and there are reasons not to take both.

There is a lot of WoW glyph trade in Raw Materials, some Intermediate Item 2 and consumers use a Final Product.  There are periods that it is more profitable to take raw materials and stop producing at Intermediate Item 2.  There are times and items that crafters would make more profit my skipping steps (either buy purchasing the intermediate item or not doing the final product).

With that in mind, being an Eve newbie; I am looking for the profitable parts of PI; wanting to skip the non-profitable sections.  If complexity stresses you - stay with the P0-P2.  To get an 'ideal' PI setup - also be prepared to trash a couple of installations.  The first one or two you set up will most likely not be done properly.

So, armed with with the in game PI information and a tool Eve Planetary Planner, I created this spreadsheet, and went of to discover what I could.  Some notes of warning:

• I am a newbie.  I have already discovered one nearly disastrous bug that got the manufacturing costs of P3 incredibly wrong (now fixed)
• The prices are currently Dodixie as at  8 June 2012 but subject to change.  The spreadsheet will specify where my prices are set.
• These are my calcs to make my life easier - provided as is where is.  There will be mistakes.  Please feel free to point out corrections; or improvements.

My spread sheet by default suggests where you should import an item and where you should manufacture; taking only indirect notice of resources.  The market tells me how hard it is to get a raw resource with higher prices.

The spreadsheet currently gives me these pearls of wisdom about Sing Liason's (Dodixie) PI market as at as at 9 June 2012.  Note this is a spot market; with old data, on an 'Alpha' spreadsheet.  It is to provoke a different way of thinking about PI and should not be taken as investment advice (though some of you will anyway.)

Hisec PI tax has a huge influence on the profitability.  The first thing I looked for was what can I profitably import, process and export - and for extraction - what is profitable to sell raw.  I most likely won't do this, but it forms a baseline for multiple step processing.

P0 (raw)

• The P0 items in demand (suggests hardest to find) in Hisec items are Complex Organisms; Autotrophs; Reactive Gas
• The least in demand P0 items are Micro Organisms, Noble Gas; to the point of ISK loss by fulfilling buy orders

P1 (1 level of processing)

• You can make a profit importing Micro Organisms and Noble Gas and processing it once and re-exporting it.
• If you need it for local use, it is worth considering buying Base Metals and Felsic Magma to turn into Reactive Metals and Silicon

P2

• Most items are profitable to make for local consumption; 
• Construction Blocks and Polyamarids seem to be the best for importing P1,  manufacturing then exporting.

P3

• Again most items are profitable to import and consume in P4 factories.
• Data chips and Robotics are the standouts for importing P2, manufacturing. then exporting.

P4

• I had assumed that being the end of the line it would be profitable to make most things here in one step and sell to buy orders.  That assumption appears to be wrong.
• For a 1 step import and manufacture;  sell to buy order, the only profitable item seems to be nano-factories.
• Don't make wetware mainframes
• For the rest, the should make a 1 step profit to sell orders; but so would station trading.

For me, this is only interim investigation. PI is something that I want to get set up and stable.  My crystal ball sees more PI posts in the future.