Publication and delivery
This course is published for study. Publication does not confirm an available class, appointed instructor or completed practical validation. Before booking, obtain a session brief naming the organiser, instructor and assessor, equipment access and any independent review arrangements.
Discussion and written work may be prepared independently; assessed completion still requires an appointed assessor and evidence against the published criteria. A material game update calls for a check of affected tasks, not cancellation of earlier academic achievements.
Your brief
For industrial planners comparing resource commitments and expected returns.
The industrial school carries Case IO–4 beyond counting: the second trip and the receiving work belong in the choice, not outside the cost sheet.
The higher sale price is not the better job
Practice case · IO 160 · 2956 teaching edition
- Case currency is training credits, not a live price quote. Job A returns 100 and costs 20; Job B returns 130 and costs 60.
- A needs four spaces; B needs six. Initially six spaces are assumed available.
- The session capacity check confirms only four spaces. Additional-trip cost has not been supplied.
Before you begin: entry and equipment
Complete these courses
Bring or arrange
The course price and capacity assumptions, a calculator and worksheet.
The organizer must confirm equipment access before booking. No ship purchase, pledge tier or donation is required.
Technical knowledge and game skills
Practical instruction revision 1 · 9 October 2026
Calculate a real industrial return
Use executable quotes
Read the commodity, unit, available quantity and destination price from the relevant terminal. Record time and location; a community price table is a scouting aid, not a promise of stock or demand. Distinguish profit on cargo you own from a hauling fee for cargo supplied by a contract. Do not charge the supplied cargo’s full market value as your purchase cost.
Count the complete operating cycle
Include acquisition or contract fee, fuel, repairs, refining, loading and sale travel. Record active crew time separately from a refinery’s elapsed processing time. In a teaching example, proceeds of 120,000 aUEC less 80,000 purchase and 10,000 operating costs leave 30,000 before other costs. If the complete cycle took ninety minutes, that is 20,000 per hour, not the rate implied by a ten-minute flight.
Protect working capital
Retain enough funds and capacity for recovery and the next viable job rather than filling every available SCU with the highest quoted margin. Compare a smaller confirmed sale with a larger load dependent on uncertain demand. Recalculate using a lower sale price and an extra trip; explain which change makes the job unattractive before committing funds.
Practical drill
Price one hauling job and one owned-cargo or refining cycle using observed terminal values. Record complete cycle times and rework both accounts after a receiver quantity reduction.
Observed-skill checks
- Units and actual quoted quantities are consistent.
- Net return includes the full cycle rather than flight time alone.
- The learner identifies the price or delay that reverses the recommendation.
Use these checks to document the technical evidence supporting the course outcomes in your agreed role. Record what you personally performed, what assistance you needed and what remains unobserved. A discussion or simulated action does not certify live equipment handling; Crew Support evidence does not confer Pilot qualification.
Game references and build-sensitive details
The linked pages were read for this revision. Community references mix release eras; each source note identifies what is used and what is excluded. Technical explanations below are an Academy synthesis, and drills and performance checks are Academy-designed. Before practice, compare the named actions with the installed LIVE build and actual equipment. Bind actions by name rather than copying old default keys. Research is not an in-game validation.
- Star Citizen Wiki — Cargo
SCU, container geometry, grids and ownership. The page also contains obsolete automatic-loading descriptions and future design intentions; these are not instructions for the present cargo interface.
- Star Citizen Wiki — Mining
Mass, resistance, instability, fracture, extraction and refinery workflow. Historical prices and proposed Orion specialist systems are excluded from the practical.
- Star Citizen Wiki — Salvage
Component recovery, hull scraping, fracture, disintegration and material processing. Validate the selected vessel’s processing chain and capacity before use.
Check the official LIVE release notes and record the session build, equipment and observed limitations before practical sign-off.
Learn the method
1. Show where the figures came from
List prices, quantities, travel assumptions and capacity beside their source and date. Mark case figures as assumptions, not market quotes. A reader should be able to replace one changed value and see what happens to the decision.
Choose the accounting boundary before collecting figures. Include the stages from accepting the job through recovery, transport and sale or receipt. Separate cash costs from time and unavailable capacity. Training credits are case units; a current in-game quotation needs its own location and observation time rather than being inferred from the teaching example.
- Practise
- Build an input sheet for two jobs.
- Ready when
- Every value has a source and date or is clearly a case assumption.
2. Compare the same work
Subtract the included costs from each expected return, then compare time, capacity and recovery needs. Do not compare one job’s gross receipts with another’s net return. State any cost you have left out so it is not mistaken for zero.
Compare return per completed job and return over the same period where duration differs. A job leaving 80 credits after included costs over two hours produces 40 per hour; one leaving 70 over one hour produces 70 per hour. Neither figure alone captures an unconfirmed receiver or a recovery exposure the crew cannot accept.
- Practise
- Compare two jobs from dispatch through receipt.
- Ready when
- The comparison uses consistent scope and a calculation another learner can repeat.
3. Set a decision limit
Choose the cost, capacity or delay that would make you reconsider. Name who will make that call and when it will be checked. When a figure changes, recalculate before defending the original choice.
Test the recommendation against one adverse change at a time, such as lower sale proceeds or an extra transport leg. Identify the point at which the preferred option changes. This is sensitivity analysis: it shows which estimate deserves checking before commitment, rather than disguising an uncertain forecast as an exact profit.
- Practise
- Revise the choice after transport capacity falls.
- Ready when
- You apply the stated limit or explain why it needs a documented change.
A worked decision
Job A returns 100 training credits and costs 20; Job B returns 130 and costs 60. Before other constraints, A leaves 80 and B leaves 70.
- Calculate 80 remaining for A and 70 for B with the supplied costs. State that these exclude any additional-trip cost.
- Apply the four-space limit. A fits; B cannot be executed as costed, so do not compare its original return as if nothing changed.
- Recommend A or request a new B estimate. Record the capacity result and the missing additional-trip figure that would be needed to reopen the choice.
Try it yourself
Show the comparison and update it after the capacity check. A second learner must be able to reproduce the calculation without asking what you omitted.
What changes during the exercise
Checked cargo capacity is lower than the input sheet assumed.
Keep this record
- Option / return / included costs / source and date
- Capacity / travel assumption / excluded costs
- Net comparison / decision limit / revised recommendation
Plain-text worksheet with this case, your working fields and the assessment criteria. Fill it in privately; downloading does not submit work or record completion.
Check your reasoning
If Job B has the larger sale total, why might the planner choose Job A?
Compare your reasoning
With the stated costs, A leaves more after costs. Then check whether time, capacity or risk changes that advantage. A larger sale total is not the same as a better job.
Answer first, then compare. In a later session, explain the decision using a changed case without referring to this answer.
How completion is judged
An input sheet, reproducible comparison and revised decision.
The assessor checks your own work against all three “Ready when” criteria above. Use the observed-skill checks in the technical chapter to establish the applicable game-handling evidence in your agreed role. A successful team result does not replace an action they did not observe.
Findings, another attempt and review
- Demonstrated
- Your observed work meets the criterion in the agreed role.
- Further practice required
- The assessor identifies the observed gap and the specific practice needed.
- Interrupted
- Equipment, staffing or personal circumstances prevented a valid assessment. This is not a failure.
- Not assessed
- There is not yet enough evidence for this outcome.
A fresh attempt
Keep capacity at six but add a supplied recovery cost to A. Require a fresh calculation and decision limit.
Reassess the missing outcome, plus any linked skill that needs new evidence. For prior learning, compare existing work with the same criteria and observe any missing practical action.
Ask for the reasons behind a finding. Reviews must be handled by someone independent of the original decision; defer the review if that person is not available.
Read the Academy Ordinance and review rulesFor instructors
Session setup and coaching
Prepare the session
The course price and capacity assumptions, a calculator and worksheet.
Assign crew stations and tell each learner what they will practise. The instructor must be able to hear the calls and see the action being assessed. Brief the callsigns, channel, route and expected duration. Replace the example locations with the places you will actually use.
- Ask the learner to explain the relevant earlier procedure without notes; correct any gap before the practical.
- Teach and demonstrate the technical chapter using the actual game indications. Run its drill with feedback before connecting those skills to the three methods and worked decision. Use the observed-skill checks to identify missing handling evidence.
- Let the learner complete the normal procedure first, then introduce the change described in the exercise. Give them time to respond without coaching. Keep unrelated failures out of this attempt.
- Record the learner's action against each criterion. Give one specific next step for any gap and transfer unfinished operational work before closing.
What to watch for in IO 160
Probe the scope of “cost.” Check whether both options include the same movement and receiving work before discussing which number is larger.
If another attempt is needed
Keep capacity at six but add a supplied recovery cost to A. Require a fresh calculation and decision limit.
Running the exercise
Give the learners the brief and the source documents before the discussion. Ask them to explain what they would do, then change one condition and hear their revised decision.
Brief the command “Stop exercise” before starting. On that call, cease the drill and tell the instructor what needs attention. For weapons practice, identify the participating ships and crew; anyone else entering the area is a reason to hold fire.
Session administration: use player handles in your notes. Ask before recording voice or video, and agree when the recording will be deleted. Academy rules and review procedure.
Sources and edition
Lex Astra · School of Applied Industry
Course IO 160 · edition 2956.3 · 2956 teaching edition · revised course text.
Case IO–4: the incomplete delivery
Applied Industry case issued by CDR Tobias Wren in 2956, drawing on the 1968 Neuhaus freight record. The older waybill belongs to the family freight business, not to Lex Astra; the course quantities are new teaching examples.
Professional references and instructional revision
Instruction revised 9 October 2026. Lex Astra cases supply the teaching situations. Professional references inform communication, decision-making and instructional design; they do not confer external qualifications. LIVE capabilities remain subject to the recorded session check.
Editorial context and teaching basis
The lessons are current Academy teaching, not newly discovered historical records. Lex Astra opened in 2891. Historical sources keep their original issuer and date; all case callsigns, quantities, times and conditions are supplied for practice.
Your session brief names the instructor, the crew assignments and the equipment provided. Contact the teaching office above to arrange a place.
Course-text revision: 8 October 2026. Educational references were reviewed for the framework on 8 October 2026; they inform the teaching approach, not external accreditation or current game-capability claims.
Teaching research and its limitsWhere this leads
Industrial Operations requirementsCourses that use this work
Course records retain the edition and role assessed. New teaching text does not erase earlier achievements.