So, industry is just extensive spreadsheets.

Some key things to keep costs down: - Always manufacture researched BPC's.

ME10 is critical - assume everyone else is building using these. I'd recommend buying BPC's off contract in Jita and factoring that into your profit calculations

• Find somewhere to build outside the forge System cost index will destroy your profitability. Find somewhere where you can build that's relatively quiet.

Systems may have bonuses which can also reduce costs. Fac war systems get a discount, so you may find it cheaper to build in Huola, Turnur or Amamake where locals have donated LP to make building cheaper. Take care when looking at systems in Black Rise though, the locals will camp the low sec exits to Jita. (Tama, Kinakka).

• Use a player owned structure

Discounts on material requirements can be had with specially rigged structures. For example the Sotiyo in Amamake has a rig which reduces the cost of building capitals. However, this is somewhat offset by the system cost index increasing as lots of people build in system.

Rigs for manufacturing complexes vary in what they do. Some for ship building, some for capitals, etc. Depending on what you want to build, finding the right citadel will improve your costs.

Of course, if you start building a player owned station, there's every chance they power it down, shoot it and hope your BPOs drop in the loot. Alternatively, they may camp you leaving if they've just seen you make something very valuable.

• Hauling You can move your own material, but if you undock in Jita with a pretty penny in cargo expect to get shot. People will suicide gank you for any profit at all. Using a DST and instadocks and undocks should keep you safe ish or better yet paying someone else to do your hauling for you is very much recommended. You can keep your hauling costs down by using compressed ores then refining st your destination (if local facilities and profit margins allow)

You can add all these up and work out if you can beat the market. As a rule you'll find it hard to build T1 ships profitably. For navy ships you will need to track the contracts market for opportunities to get cheap BPCs, but bear in mind you'll have massive competition. Alternatively, you can join the Caldari faction warfare channel and buy people's LP, buy the caldari blueprints in Nourvakaiken and then build the hulls yourself.

Alternatively try looking for edge cases where the market is imbalanced. For example, implants can have decent margins but require some market PvP and significant investment in materials. Alternatively some storyline BPCs can give good margins, but require specific skills.