Capital vs Subcapital ME Levels

While working on some profit numbers for various items, I found that ME levels affect the build costs a little differently for Capital ships than other items such as Battleships or Modules.

A simple example is a battleship like the Maelstrom. For every additional ME level, the material requirements level off. Less Tritanium, Pyerite, Isogen, etc. are required for each additional ME level.

There is a diminishing return with each ME level as it is a logarithmic trend. For a Maelstrom the ‘optimal’ ME is around 15, which is about 2 months worth of research.

Capitals however, are made from Capital Components which are made from minerals.

The material requirements for the Obelisk only change at ME 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 16, and so on. You don’t get any benefit by researching a Obelisk BPO to ME4. You might as  well get it to 5 to remove another Capital Component from the requirements.

I have found the ME charts on games.chruker.dk to be invaluable for this type of information.