Introduction
Welcome to the LP Shop series, where we'll take a closer look at how you can convert your hard-earned Loyalty Points (LP) into ISK. LP offers a good source of income but only if you can liquidate it. There are various methods to do it and while ship building is not the simplest one, it generally offers the best LP/ISK ratio (simply put, you get more ISK for each LP put into the process) and fast returns, as faction hulls are in almost constant demand. Keep in mind that the goal of this article is to provide you with an overview of the process and should not be treated as ultimate min-maxing guide - I'm sure that with time you will be able to optimize your production chain!
Finding the LP Store
Before we can do any building, we have to buy the Blueprint Copies (BPCs) first. It is only fitting then that our money-making adventure starts by opening the Wallet menu. In the "My Wallet" tab, click on the "LP Corporations" button found in the top-right corner to get a list of all the LP you managed to gather so far. Aside from the NPC corporation and the total of LP, it also displays the closest station of that corp where the LP can be used to redeem other items (like BPCs). If you would rather find another location, you can right click on the corp name and select "Show Info". In the window that opens, navigate to the "Stations" tab and you will see a list of all the stations where you can redeem the LP. Right click the desired station, set it as the autopilot destination and make your way to it.
Purchasing the BPCs
Now that we are in the right station, we can use our LP. While there are some items where the only cost is LP, most of the transactions will require some ISK and/or additional items like militia insignia. Luckily, the BPCs are simple affair, asking for some LP and small amount of ISK to be redeemed. Browse the store till you find the ship you are interested in, or alternatively set the filters so that it shows you only the goods you are interested in, and click "Purchase". Additional window will show up, allowing you to specify the amount of BPCs you want to acquire. Click "Purchase" in the new window, confirm the total price and that's it! But you can't fly the blueprints, we want to convert them into something more tangible. Grab your BPC and set destination to the nearest trade hub, as the next step involves some shopping.
Purchasing the components
Each navy faction ship is built using minerals, Auto-Integrity Preservation Seals and Life Support Backup Units. To ensure we have all we need for the construction, right click on your BPC and select "Show info". This will bring up a screen with a full list of required items. Fortunately, we don't have to buy them one by one - by clicking "Buy All" in that menu, the game will open a multi-buy menu with the items and exact amounts needed. Keep in mind that this will only work in well supplied station, like the markets in Dodixie or Jita - otherwise some components may be highlighted in red, indicating their unavailability. Assuming that you haven't run into supply issues, click "Buy" to finalize this part of the process. At this point you have your blueprint, along with the ingredients needed to make a ship out of it. All there is left is to start the building process.
Firing Up the Forges
Not all stations have the industrial services available, and those closest to the market hubs tend to have prohibitive costs added to them, so we need to look for a suitable station. Open your Industry window (alt+S) and navigate to the "Facilities" tab. Set the availability filter to "Public", then sort the list either by number of jumps, or by the index rate - the lower the index, the less it will cost to install a production job. Try to find a nearby station with index lower than 4%. Right click it to set destination, pack your BPC and materials and move everything to that place.
When you reach the place, unload everything to your personal hangar, and double click on the blueprint. You will get a summary of what is being built, how much it costs and how long will it take. Now click the "Start" button and go shoot some people while the vessel is being constructed. When it's done, open the "Industry" screen again, go to "Jobs" tab and deliver the completed job. Well done - you have constructed your first faction ship from nothing! Now you can either take it to the market for sale, or use it to gain even more LP.
Summary
While initially it may seem daunting, building ships for profit is quite a simple task, if you know what to look for. To sum it up:
Find a station where you can redeem your LP
Buy the desired blueprints
Go to a market hub and use the information from the BPC to purchase the input materials
Bring it all together to a station with industrial facilities and install the job
Pick the ship up when it's ready
While it may seem relatively simple, you will quickly discover that there are many avenues where the process can be optimized - maybe you will find that bringing the ships to busy low-sec systems offers you better margins on your sales. Or Having a local contact offering you better deals on bulk purchases of materials lets you trim some costs from the process. But that's a story for another article.
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