TL;DR: Manufacturing of items from BPs before combat is needed for market integration with Eve. How will this work?

In Dust we have blueprints for all of our gear: Dropsuits, weapons, modules, equipment, vehicles, etc. When we purchase these from the markets we're buying either a BPO (blueprint original) which allows unlimited uses, or a BPC (blueprint copy), which has limited use (1 per BPC in Dust).

So far as this goes, we're in line with the way Eve Online works. Capsuleers also buy BPOs and BPCs from NPC markets or from each other and they also allow unlimited use for BPOs and limited use from BPCs (BPCs are actually made using BPOs, allowing someone with a BPO to create and sell BPCs).

However, in Eve, there is another step required before you can take the shiny ship you bought the blueprint for out for a spin: manufacturing. You must gather or purchase the required materials needed to manufacture the item, put it in a factory (located for Eve pilots on NPC stations or Player Owned Structures), and wait a certain period before the item is ready to use. For really large items, such as outposts and Titans, the components must be manufactured then taken to a structure in space where they are then turned into the final product (assuming they are not blown up by other pilots. New Eden is a harsh place).

This process is the cornerstone of the much-vaunted Eve economy: Each stage of this process has value: Minerals must be collected and people are willing to pay to have them collected for them; The minerals must be refined and transported; manufacturing must occur. Skills in Eve make some players more efficient at these than others, so there is a profit margin at each stage. A combat player without industrial skills can collect, refine, and transport the materials, then take the blueprint and manufacture the item themselves, but it is a) boring for combat pilots (industrialists love it), b) time consuming, and c) potentially more expensive than just buying the item off of the market.

In order to have true market integration with Eve, Dust will need some sort of manufacturing. But what? We can't collect minerals, so we'd be dependent on Eve for them (not ideal), and in any case, a lot of our gear (basically everything except equipment) is manufactured on the battlefield as needed (at least, I assume that's what's happening, since I can spawn at A or B or C and not have to worry where I left my assault rifles). Vehicles are transported from off-map, so that is probably something that needs manufacturing.

If the spawn process was changed to an orbital drop, then manufacturing makes more sense. Items are manufactured and stored on the warbarge, then you wake up in a clone, suit up, and drop. But that doesn't answer how we're going to get the materials needed to build the stuff in the first place. I'm also an Eve pilot, so I know they can't be trusted

How should this work? Should we be able to access minerals from the Eve market? Should PC districts produce minerals? ideas? comments?

To reiterate, there would be NO manufacturing time. If you had the materials and the blueprints you could make a 'copy package' instantaneously. However, it would take time to research your BPO to the point where you could make a profit selling your copies for cheaper than NPCs.

Please read carefully. Your lead time would come from resynching/researching the BPO. They would be unusable during this process. This mechanic would throttle how many things everyone could manufacture on a daily basis.