The industrial world in EVE is not well known to many players, but Tech 2 (T2)ships and materials are commonplace in New Eden due to the indyfolk.

Here is an explanation of how T2 items are created. We’ll go step by step through the byzantine process.

As an example, we’ll look at building components for a Falcon, a Tech 2 Recon ship. A key ingredient for the Falcon are Titanium Diborite Armor Plates, one of many components needed.

Here is the basic flow that I will go through, step by step.

A ‘simplified’ flow of the Tech 2 production chain

The first step is mining a moon, done at an Athanor or Tatara. This is the hard work. Miners are at risk in space and the work is time consuming.

A Procurer mining at an Athanor

The second step is reprocessing, sometimes known as refining.

Once the moon ore is brought to a citadel (usually rigged for efficiency bonuses) it is reprocessed into the moon materials, commonly known as ‘moon goo’. The various types of moon ore provide 20 different types of moon materials.

Once the moon materials are refined, they are moved to a citadel, typically an Athanor or Tatara. This is where the reactions take place.

It is important to note that moon ore and the resulting materials are regionally available. Basically, various regions in EVE have more of some moon ores and less of another. In some lucky areas, you can have enough variety of moons that you can locally source all the moon materials, but most have to import from other regions or Jita to be able to build.

The third step is reacting moon materials into Intermediate Materials. There are 21 types of Intermediate Materials.

The reaction uses the moon materials (goo), some fuel blocks, and a specific formula. Formulas are similar to blueprints, but copies can’t be made. You need a formula for each reaction you want to do, so many industrialists have multiple formulas for each reaction.

Different formulas also require different types of fuel blocks, which is driven by different type of ice asteroids (which provide isotopes), again leading to the need to source a variety of isotopes from outside the local area.

Since you can’t research formulas, the amount of materials needed is hard set in the formula, but you can get bonuses from the structure and it’s rigs to reduce the amount of input materials needed and the time to run the reactions.

Intermediate Reaction

Various combinations of the 20 moon materials are used to make the 21 different types of Intermediate Materials.

Moon materials required to make Intermediate Materials, in this case, Titanium Chromide

The fourth step is reacting the Intermediate Materials into Composite Materials. Various combinations of the 20 Intermediate Materials are used to make the 15 different types of Composite Materials.

Reacting intermediate materials into composite materials

Materials need to make Titanium Carbide

At this point, the reactions are complete and the Composite Materials are moved to a manufacturing facility to be made into Construction Components.

The fifth step is using blueprints to build the 34 different types of Construction Components, often known as ‘T2 materials’, from the 15 different types of Composite Materials.

Blueprints are used to build the T2 materials.

Materials need to make Titanium Diborite Armor Plates, a key component in Caldari ships

The sixth step is finally building the T2 ship or module itself. The 34 different types of Construction Components are used to build the hundreds of different T2 ships and modules use everywhere in New Eden. Every T2 item in the game starts out as moon ore and goes through all these steps to finally be made into a usable item.

A Falcon requires 7 different types of T2 Construction Components, a little Planetary interaction material, some Morphite, some R.A.M. (Robotic Assembly Modules), and the Tech 1 version of the item.

Also, a T2 blueprint is needed, which has to be ‘invented’ but that is another whole article on it’s own.

A lot of different things required to build a T2 ship.

Remember that an industrialist is always trying to make and track these hundreds of materials to be able to make what is needed. Some start at ore and do every step. Others simply buy the T2 materials and just do the final step. What most industrialists have in common is lots of spreadsheets and applications to plan and track what to buy, what to make, and what is profitable.

The scope of this kind of work is why many industrialists often are using multiple characters and prefer to work in an indy corp, so they can share materials via corporate hangars. Without corporate hangars, indyfolk make a LOT of contract between their characters.

Consider that every Tech 2 item in the game is built painstakingly like this. From the ubiquitous Damage Control II to a Marauder, indyfolk in New Eden are putting in effort so you can complain about why prices are so high…

I hope this provides a brief look into the basics of Tech 2 production for those not involved.