Purchase Times
Purchase Times
| ITEM |
TIME (Hours) |
TIME (Days)
|
| All Personnel |
72 |
3
|
| TRITON |
72 |
3
|
| BARRACUDA |
96 |
4
|
| Craft Weapons |
48 |
2
|
| Craft Missiles |
48 |
2
|
| Gas Rounds(×50) |
96 |
4
|
| SWS |
96 |
4
|
| SWS Ammo |
48 |
2
|
| All Weapons |
24 |
1
|
| All Ammunition |
24 |
1
|
| All Equipment |
24 |
1
|
Non-Manufacturable Prices
Non-Manufacturable Prices
| ITEM |
Buy Price ($) |
Sell Price ($)
|
| Aquanaut |
40,000 |
0
|
| Scientist |
60,000 |
0
|
| Technician |
50,000 |
0
|
| TRITON |
500,000 |
0
|
| BARRACUDA |
600,000 |
0
|
| Ajax Launcher |
16,000 |
12,000
|
| D.U.P. Head Launcher |
17,000 |
12,750
|
| Craft Gas Cannon |
30,000 |
22,500
|
| Ajax Torpedoes |
3,000 |
2,400
|
| D.U.P. Head Torpedoes |
9,000 |
7,200
|
| Gas Rounds(×50) |
1,240 |
1,012
|
| Coelacanth/G. Cannon |
420,000 |
340,000
|
| Solid Harpoon Bolts |
200 |
100
|
| Coelacanth/Aqua Jet |
480,000 |
360,000
|
| Aqua Jet Missiles |
3,000 |
2,250
|
| Dart Gun |
800 |
600
|
| Dart Clip |
70 |
52
|
| Jet Harpoon |
3,000 |
2,250
|
| Harpoon Clip |
200 |
150
|
| Gas Cannon |
6,400 |
4,800
|
| GC-AP Bolts |
300 |
225
|
| GC-HE Bolts |
500 |
275
|
| GC-Phosphorous Bolts |
400 |
300
|
| Hydro-Jet Cannon |
13,500 |
10,125
|
| HJ-AP Ammo |
500 |
400
|
| HJ-HE Ammo |
700 |
560
|
| HJ-P Ammo |
650 |
520
|
| Torpedo Launcher |
4,000 |
3,000
|
| Small Torpedo |
600 |
480
|
| Large Torpedo |
900 |
720
|
| Phosphor Torpedo |
1,200 |
960
|
| Magna-Blast Grenade |
300 |
240
|
| Dye Grenade |
150 |
120
|
| Particle Disturbance Grenade |
500 |
400
|
| Magna-Pack Explosive |
1,500 |
1,200
|
| Thermal Tazer |
1,260 |
945
|
| Chemical-flare |
60 |
40
|
Manufacturable Prices
Table
Manufacturable Prices
| ITEM |
Start Price ($) |
Sell Price ($) |
Tech Hours |
$Profit/hr |
Payback
|
| HAMMERHEAD |
400,000 |
0 |
14000 |
- 82
|
| MANTA |
600,000 |
0 |
18000 |
- 82
|
| LEVIATHAN |
900,000 |
0 |
34000 |
- 66
|
| Gauss Pistol |
8,000 |
20,000 |
300 |
40 |
15 mon
|
| Gauss Pistol Clip |
1,000 |
1,050 |
20 |
2.5 |
(never)
|
| Gauss Rifle |
20,000 |
36,900 |
400 |
42 |
10 mon
|
| Gauss Rifle Clip |
2,000 |
1,950 |
45 |
- 1
|
| Heavy Gauss |
32,000 |
61,000 |
700 |
41 |
11 mon
|
| Heavy Gauss Clip |
4,000 |
3,220 |
70 |
- 11
|
| Sonic Pistol |
56,000 |
84,000 |
600 |
36 |
16 yrs
|
| Pistol Power Clip |
2,000 |
4,440 |
60 |
- 43
|
| Sonic-Blasta Rifle |
88,000 |
126,500 |
820 |
39 |
19 mon
|
| Blasta Power Clip |
3,000 |
6,290 |
80 |
- 84
|
| Sonic Cannon |
122,000 |
171,600 |
1,000 |
43 |
9 mon
|
| Cannon Power Clip |
6,000 |
9,590 |
80 |
-143
|
| Sonic Pulser |
6,700 |
14,850 |
200 |
- 9
|
| Disruptor Pulse Launcher |
90,000 |
144,000 |
1200 |
40 |
16 mon
|
| Disruptor Ammo |
8,000 |
17,028 |
220 |
- 27
|
| Thermal Shok Launcher |
78,000 |
120,000 |
900 |
39 |
17 mon
|
| Thermal Shok Bomb |
7,000 |
15,200 |
200 |
16 |
(never)
|
| Vibro Blade |
7,000 |
1,500 |
150 |
- 70
|
| Thermic Lance |
12,000 |
1,800 |
220 |
- 92
|
| Heavy Thermic Lance |
20,000 |
2,000 |
300 |
- 93
|
| Particle Disturbance Sensor |
34,000 |
45,600 |
220 |
53 |
4 mon
|
| Medi-Kit |
28,000 |
46,500 |
420 |
44 |
8 mon
|
| M.C. Reader |
262,000 |
304,000 |
1200 |
25 |
(never)
|
| M.C. Disruptor |
160,000 |
194,700 |
500 |
36 |
6 yrs
|
| Gauss Cannon |
182,000 |
211,000 |
300 |
97 |
33 days
|
| Gauss Cannon Ammo |
200 |
200 |
5 |
0
|
| Sonic Oscillator |
226,000 |
267,300 |
500 |
- 67
|
| P.W.T. Cannon |
242,000 |
281,100 |
400 |
81.5 |
44 days
|
| P.W.T Ammo (craft) |
28,000 |
53,300 |
600 |
9 |
(never)
|
| Coelacanth/Gauss |
500,000 |
594,000 |
1200 |
78 |
48 days
|
| Displacer /Sonic |
850,000 |
980,000 |
1200 |
- 44
|
| Displacer /P. W. T. |
900,000 |
1,043,000 |
1400 |
- 24
|
| P.W. Torpedo (SWS) |
15,000 |
31,500 |
400 |
-151
|
| Ion-Beam Accelerators |
130,000 |
250,000 |
1400 |
5 |
(never)
|
| Magnetic Navigation |
150,000 |
80,000 |
1600 |
- 56
|
| Aqua Plastics |
3,000 |
6,500 |
100 |
35 |
(never)
|
| Plastic Aqua Armor |
22,000 |
54,000 |
800 |
7.5 |
(never)
|
| Ion Armor |
42,000 |
85,000 |
1000 |
- 15
|
| Mag. Ion Armor |
58,000 |
115,000 |
1400 |
- 40
|
Notes to Table
NOTE: Profit is measured in $ per technician hours. It is calculated
by taking the difference between an item's selling price and its
total build costs (including manufacturing start costs, and any
exotic component costs) and dividing that by the technician hours
required to build it. The profit is simply how much money you make
in one hour with one technician building a particular item just to
sell it. Payback is the time required for profits to repay all
initial costs. So there is no "true profit" until after the
Payback period has passed.
Further Notes
- The profit levels calculated above include the lost resale value of all manufactured/recovered components (Zrbite, Aqua Plastics, Ion-Beam Accelerators, Magnetic Navigation) used in their manufacture. In many cases this reduces the profit considerably.
- Also, keep in mind that that each technician costs $36/hr in salary, Living Quarters maintenance, and Workshop space maintenance. Any "profit" less than $36/hr is not really a true profit, it's just a subsidy to reduce your outgoings on Technician costs and overheads.
- In addition, before a true profit is made, you must recover the initial costs of hiring the Technicians, building their Living Quarters and their Workshop. Recovering these initial outlays will cost the equivalent of $67/hr per Technician for one month (or just over $11/hr for six months, etc). The Payback period shown above is the time taken to repay these costs (assuming multiples of 50 Technicians).
- As in the real world, fixed assets (such as workshops and living quarters) need to be fully utilised in order to be the most profitable. Whenever you use and hire Technicians in less than multiples of 50, the overhead costs are proportionally even higher, and the payback period on initial costs is longer.
Analysis
- The most profitable item to produce is the Gauss Cannon. The (craft) PWT Launcher and the Coelecanth/Gauss SWS have similar profitability to the Gauss Cannon. The Gauss SWS can be discounted since the Gauss Cannon must be researched before the Gauss SWS, which also has the requirement of Manta research.
- Whether the Gauss Cannon is likely to be researched before the PWT Launcher probably depends on the individual Commander's preference (or not) for Gauss weapons on the battlefield. For a Commander who generally avoids Gauss development, the PWT could provide an alternative route to profitability, as well as a usable craft weapon that is quicker to research than a Sonic Oscillator (if expensive to operate in terms of Zrbite and manufacturing time).
- The next most profitable item is the Particle Disturbance Sensor, which has the advantage that it can be successfully researched very early in the game, and also requires no Zrbite or Aqua Plastics.
- Almost all of the profitable manufacturing activities would be considered very good commercial investments. A Gauss Cannon factory, with an annual Return on Investment of nearly 1100%, would be considered an economic miracle. Even the Particle Disturbance Sensor (RoI just over 300%) would have investors beating down the doors. The only tricky part would be insuring the factory site against Alien attack. The simple explanation for this would be that X-com has a monopoly, and is selling something that is rather close to contraband, has the government paying tribute to it, has unlimited demand for it's products, and does not pay for advertising. For comparison, imagine what Pepsi would be worth if there were no other soft drinks in the market and their budget for annual advertisements became pure profit. Or a pharmaceutical company which didn't have to pay for R&D, patenting, safety tests, red tape, bribes, etc. A Chinese take-away could in theory achieve 1100& returns though, assuming each dish costs $1.50 in ingredients and labor, and sells for $5, assuming it sold food as fast as they could cook it.
Alien Sub Recoverable Prices
Alien Sub Recoverable Prices
| ITEM |
Sell Price
|
| Zrbite 1 |
5,000
|
| Alien Corpses |
20,000
|
| Alien Sub Construction |
20,000
|
| Alien Cryogenics |
5,000
|
| Alien Cloning |
40,000
|
| Alien Learning Arrays |
20,000
|
| Alien Implanter |
38,000
|
| Examination Room |
9,000
|
| Alien Re-animation Zone |
100
|
1 Zrbite can only be acquired through salvaging from UFOs and Alien Colonies. As such, you are strongly advised NOT to sell it.
See Also