[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 403: Price of Performance

Still, even if he solved this issue, that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to charge an affordable price for his rifleman mechs. Even with a hundred percent success rate in producing the crystals, the fact that it gobbled up a lot of pricy exotics added up a hefty amount to the total price tag.

"It's not cheap to implement these gimmicks." He frowned as he looked at the breakdown of the production cost of a single copy of the Crystal Lord.

The gold label mech with a full-sized chest crystal cost 10 million credits more than a mech that left out this boondoggle.

The cost became much more generous if Ves shrank its size as he planned to do with the bronze and silver label versions of the same model. The extra costs would only amount to 4 to 5 million credits.

The total estimated production cost was hard to determine due to the constant fluctuation in the price of raw materials. For the gold label Crystal Lord, Ves carefully estimated that it cost around 45 to 50 million credits to reproduce a single copy.

Ves couldn't help but wince when he finished his calculations. "This is already more than the Blackbeak."

Many people would scratch their heads if they saw the difference in costs. Rifleman mechs always cost less than knight mechs. Only rarely would the reverse be true, especially with models that shared so many commonalities with each other.

"Well, the Blackbeak is a basic mech that looks beautiful on its own while the Crystal Lord needs a big fat jewel in order to feel appreciated."

The Blackbeak product line competed in a fairly niche market segment. The competition wasn't as intense, allowing Ves to focus on its fundamental attributes and rely on them to drive its sales.

The Crystal Lord faced a much more brutal environment. It was not enough to compete on an even playing field. It needed a step up in order to stand out from the dominant models in the market.

Ves relied on several unique advantages to increase the appeal of his Crystal Lords. "The specs, the gimmicks, the X-Factor and my Mastery should all be powerful draws in unison."

He didn't let his design's shiny toys distract him from his core goal to deliver a well-performing design.

As the System's evaluation attested, the performance of his rifleman mech by and large surpassed its equivalents by a modest margin. As Ves called up the Superpublished design and compared it to the pre-published version, he spotted various subtle but ingenious improvements.

"It's truly worth it to Superpublish this design!"

If he hadn't gone for this extra step, then he wouldn't be able to justify the prices he planned to charge for his mech. His own thoughts combined with the consultations he held with the Marketing Department allowed him to come up with a tentative pricing scheme that would slightly put the Blackbeak to shame.

"The bronze label variant should cost 65 million credits while the silver label will still look appealing if I charge 75 million credits for it. As for the gold label Crystal Lord, only a price of 90 million credits will do it justice."

The premium he charged for the bronze label version that the LMC would rely on third-party manufacturers to produce looked very reasonable. It cost a bit more than a Blackbeak, but its performance combined with the value that the gimmicks brought to the table should lead to a brisk amount of sales.

The LMC mass produced the silver label version in-house, therefore they cost a fair bit more. In exchange, buyers would receive a Crystal Lord with the same crystals as the bronze label versions, but activated with the help of the crystal cube.