The following is a post from around February of 2006 describing a different point in Binary's history. Many details are different today, which will be further elucidated if I ever post more.
Today on This Old Ship we're talking to Binary Logistics, a small industrial corp which operates out of the 0.2 security system Brin. Binary has a core group of miners and producers who often PvP and run missions. In order to safely operate in such insecure space, they have to provide security to their miners, haulers, and ratters. Each member that operates out of Brin has a Cyclone battlecruiser. Each of these members' ships have been manufactured in house. So how does Binary do this, with minimal cost to their members? It's a multi-tiered process, invlovling several members with skills to create, craft, and deliver the finished products.
Well here we are in the Thukker Mix Factory here in Brin, and we're talking to the lead ship manufacturer, Scynscapaene. So what are we looking at here, Scyn?
"Well, this is the place where we build the Cyclone. I get the minerals from our hangar, I take my blueprint, set up the factory slot, and the station techs take it from there. We call this phase "In the Oven" over in Binary. It will take about three hours in the oven to build a complete Cyclone."
So where these minerals come from, Scyn?
"Our core group of miners, Taron Nelgaroman, Nolan Stone, Ganeus Blancus, and Zuberi mine materials, and they go out to the asteroid belts in Brin, and mine the Hedbergite rock. Hedbergite is useful bec
ause it contains the expensive mineral
Zydrine, which is used in a high volume in Cyclone production."
Well, we're going to head out to one of Brin's asteroid belts and take a look at the kind of haadware needed to extract the massive amounts of minerals needed to construct a Cyclone.
We're now here at one of Brin's asteroid belts, and we're here with one Ganeus Blancus, one of Binary's barge pilots. What kind of ship is that you're driving, Ganeus?
"This is Retriever, a ship specially developed by the Outer Ring Excavation Corporation for utmost volume in ore extraction. It's fitted with two strip mining modules, and I currently have them trained on a few choice rocks of vitric hedbergite. Using this ship, I can usually get around 4000 units of hed in 30 minutes. To put that in perspective, it takes around 32,000 units of ore to get enough Zydrine to build a cyclone. So I've got a lot of work ahead of me."
That sure is one nice piece of equipment, Gan. How much does that cost? "Well, with this setup, this barge costs around 8 million ISK on the open
market, with the strip mining modules costing around 3 million each." That's some expensive equipment there, Ganeus. What kind of defenses does this ship have against pirates, since you are operating in such lawless space? "Well, that's the thing. This ship is threadbare in almost every respect. It is one of the flimsiest ships in space, and if taken by surprise, this ship would be among the easiest of targets for a pirate, player or NPC. With that in mind, a lean overview and a close eye on Local will keep you safe, and also on larger ops we will have people like Scynscapaene and Cipher Khadaffi flying security. Attention is of the utmost importance." Of course, all of this hedbergite is heavy, and the volume
mined exceeds the cargo capacity of Ganeus' retriever. That's when Binary calls in the Haulers. Ganeus is now piloting one of these haulers, the massive Mammoth. It's not a speedy ship, and Gan here is actually finishing up a game of chess as he pulls up to the canister filled with ore jettisoned from his Retriever. "This ship can hold around 4000 units of hedbergite from the belt to the station. On larger ops someone else such as Bythe will drive the hauler while the barges stay in place, to create more efficiency. "
So now we've got massive amounts of ore, now how do we get that into a form we can use to build a Cyclone? That job is left to refiners such as Binary CEO Skylitha. Sky, using alts, can get very high efficiency at an ore refinery right here in Brin. We're going to get in the Probe and fly to the Republic Justice Department
Tribunal and talk to Sky. The Mammoth has just docked and is sitting at the bay, being unloaded at the refinery facility.
Skylitha, this is a rather odd facility to have a refinery. What does
the Minmatar Republic's Justice Department use this refinery for? "It's primarily a financial reason. The fledgling Minmatar Republic is very resourceful, and takes every chance to get money for govermnent business. For every ore refining operation here, the Justice Department will take a cut. For us, we have some connections with some high-ranking RJD officials, and we have done them several favors, so they will not take as much minerals from our shipments as they will just anybody running around Brin. What we do is load the ore from the hangar to the refinery, and then they process it and deliver us the minerals. The load that Ganeus has just brought in has put us just over the threshold needed to build a Cyclone." Well, Gan, load those minerals into the Mammoth and let's head back to Thukker Mix. Now that we have all the minerals we need, Scynscapaene is using the industry interface, renting out a factory slot, and loading the blueprint and minerals into the factory. After it is done, Scynscapaene fits it with several modifications that she and the other corp members have collected from NPC pirates and bought on the market, increasing its combat efficiency. After it is properly fitted, the cargo hold is loaded with ammunition, the artillery cannons loaded, and this Cyclone is ready for flight, providing cover to miners or chasing out rival corps by force.
Well, that's all the time we have today for This Old Ship, join us next week when we take a look into all the inner workings of Deadspace Complexes.
This Old Ship was underwritten by:
The Minmatar Republic
The Caldari State
Loot from The Angel Cartel
The Brutor Tribe
Republic Fleet
and Generous contributions from Viewers Like You. Thank You.
