Custom Producers and Science Factories
What are Custom Producers, and what should pilots use them for? And how can I do Science in Jumpgate?
Custom Producers and Science Factories are free-floating buildings found across the Jumpgate galaxy, most commonly in station sectors. When in radar range, they can be targetted like other buildings. Each of them specializes in the production of one specific item, which can be a piece of equipment or a commodity.
This is the Custom Producer at Ekoo’s Stop sector. The building name tells you what item it produces - in this case, Docking Computers - and the lines below contain the code for each of the ingredients. Here, RAM and CPU, which are self-explanatory, and ‘Op’, which is the code for Optics. It would be rather inconvenient if you had to fly out to see what ingredients you need, but normally this is just the same list as the item recipe.
I will now explain how you can use a Custom Producer, but Science Factories function in exactly the same way.
How the Custom Producer works
A Custom Producer building will you use 1 unit of each ingredient in the recipe, and transform them in 1 unit of the commodity or equipment it is for. As you may guess from the screenshot above, my cargo reads ‘3.000’ because I brought exactly one of each ingredient.
As with Ore Depots, Custom Producers have a pinhole fly-through tube, which you can see on the building’s top. There are no docking guides, so line up carefully, and stop when you can see space through the building on the other side.
Once lined up, enter the tube at low speed. You must come to less than 1V towards the middle of the tube to initiate the transaction. The transaction will take as many multiples of the recipe as available in your cargo hold, and replace this with the produced item. So with 1 of each CPU, RAM and Optics, I would receive 1 Docking Computer, but if I bring 100 CPU, 100 RAM and 100 Optics, I will receive 100 Docking Computers in a single transaction.
The Custom Producer will also compensate you for the ingredients you brought, as seen above. And I now have 1 Docking Computer in cargo…
If you visit without what’s needed, you’ll get a different message and you’ll be pushed out without any change to your inventory, as seen here.
So now, can I Get Rich ?
The answer is no, unfortunately. In most cases, you should not use Custom Producers or Science Factories as it is much more worthwhile to let stations produce items.
Custom Producers and Science Factories will charge you for items where the value of the item is greater than the cost of the commodities.
The commodity compensation uses the item base price, meaning the building purchases them for less than a station might.
Note that this was not always how these buildings worked. Early days, there was a fixed charge or payout for usage, allowing profits in certain cases. It was changed in Patch version 1.0077, which released August 14th 2003 - only 20 years ago so you’d be forgiven for having missed it! You can get a glimpse of the old set up in Odiche’s guide.
Additionally, Custom Producers and Science Factories only make 1 unit for each ingredient unit brought. In many cases, stations use only a fraction of an ingredient when manufacturing.
This screenshot from blommaskog.net shows an example of a Station producing multiple units of an item using a single unit, or less than a unit of ingredient commodities. This is a pretty common scenario, so even though there’s a Custom Producer for Chemicals at Quantar Core, you’re much better off to get Quantar Core, Hyperial, or one of the many other Chemical-producing station make them instead.
This is even more true as you will be able to complete cargo missions to and from stations, while there’s no mission with buildings (except Ore depots).
So unfortunately, in the absence of any other associated bonus, there’s no real reason to use Custom Producers or Science Factories most of the time. There are, however, cases where no station manufactures an item, and in these cases, visiting a building is your only option.
Notable Custom Producers
Please note that buildings in Jumpgate can change over time as a result of storyline events and faction missions. This list is accurate at the time of writing, and represents the situation on the private server, not what was at any point prior, or on the official servers.
Ekoo’s Stop - Docking Computer
Docking Computers are currently only made at Ekoo’s Stop. Since they are usually well-stocked, and most often fitted on non-combat ships such as Tows and Freighters, their stock remains pretty constant, especially since every newbie accounts bring a new one to market. It’s usually best to buy one from station, but if this were to change, you can visit Ekoo’s Stop.
Solrain Wake - RB-3
Repair Beam guns are not produced in any station, and so if you want one, your best options are to look for a Public Player-Owned Station with one in stock, or bring ingredients (including an UC9 artefact component) to this Custom Producer.
Amananth - Antiflux
This Custom Producer is reportedly non-functional. Don’t waste your time visiting it, and try the Science Factory in Hyperial instead.
Notable Science Factories
Hyperial - Antiflux
This is probably the most controversial recipe change in effect, since this factory will take one of the extremely rare Artefact Component UC15, along with a few other bobbles, in exchange for one Antiflux. Visiting this building is currently the only way to procure the Antiflux beyond trading with other players, or the occasional event giveaway prize.
Octavius Great Pillars - RB-1
Repair Beam guns are not produced in any station, and so if you want one, your best options are to look for a Public Player-Owned Station with one in stock, or bring ingredients (including an UC4 artefact component) to this Science Factory.
Quantar Core - RB-2
Repair Beam guns are not produced in any station, and so if you want one, your best options are to look for a Public Player-Owned Station with one in stock, or bring ingredients (including an UC8 artefact component) to this Science Factory.
Amananth - RB-4
Repair Beam guns are not produced in any station, and so if you want one, your best options are to look for a Public Player-Owned Station with one in stock, or bring ingredients (including an UC12 artefact component) to this Science Factory.
Other Buildings Facts
Like other buildings in the game, Custom Producers and Science Factory have on occasions been the target of Conflux or even player attacks. As a result of storyline events, buildings may be damaged or disabled. You can follow UUNN reports about such events. When a building is damaged, you can see that it is using one of the Scanner ModX. Damaged buildings can be repaired with a ship equipped with repair beams, which gives PR rewards with the faction the building belongs to.
Production buildings (Custom Producers, Science Factories and Nano Assemblers) are known to be affected by a bug causing the recipe to display incorrectly or not at all. This is just a display bug and does not impact the building’s functionality.
