RuneScape is a Massive Multi-player Role Playing game that has been very popular in the last few years. With the recent addition of the grand exchange, RuneScape is a changed world. After discussing initial moneymaking strategies and a couple quests to jump-start the skills, I will deal with the next step, what I used to get my smithing from level 30 to level 48.
After raising about 50k from the aforementioned strategies, I did a little RuneScape market research. Iron ore cost 95 coins, coal 186, iron bars 216, and steel bars 606 coins. I believe iron bars are at 227gp and steel 616gp now. So I will crunch the current numbers.
The first formula, the cost of a steel bar is 80% coal and 20% iron ore. It takes two coals and one iron to make a steel bar. So out of the 467gp, 372gp is spent on coal. That is pretty close to eighty percent. Using that formula, I was able to calculate with accuracy how much material I would need to make the steel bars without a shortage of either coal or iron.
The second formula was this, if a steel bar sells for 616gp and it costs only 467gp to buy the raw materials (assuming I buy the iron rather than mine it) that’s a profit of almost 150gp per steel bar made. And since steel bars are in high demand from players who don’t want to take the time to smelt them, they should sell within a few minutes. Steel bars give 17.5 points of smithing experience to smelt and 37.5 to hammer out. So I’m basically trading 37.5 points of smithing experience for 616gp, which will buy 2.7 iron bars. Hammering out iron gives 25 points of smithing experience per bar. So if I take the 616gp and buy 2.7 iron bars, 25×2.7=67.5, for a net profit of 40 points of smithing experience per sold steel bar.
Eventually, I had 300k, which I invested in iron bars. I made chain bodies, plate legs, and plate bodies, which I withdrew in notes. Then I went to the armor shop just east of the center of Varrock, where I pulled off a short cut to sell them all for the maximum price.
The way the shop works, like any shop in RuneScape, is that it will pay a lot for items if none are in stock. As the stock increases, the shop will pay out less. I find it does not make sense to sell any if more than 11-13 of the armor is in stock. So what I do is log out and transfer to another RuneScape world. I look for RuneScape worlds with less people in them. When you sell a lot of an item in a RuneScape shop, the number in stock will decrease by one about once a minute. Basically, RuneScape eats the item. So if there are fewer players in a RuneScape world, there is less of a chance somebody cashed out on armor. I find that usually if one iron item is well stocked, it is plate bodies. Hence if I make 100 plate bodies, I will usually make 140 plate legs and 140 chain bodies. I sell until there is 11-13 of each in the shop’s player stock, then switch to another RuneScape world and wait the 25 seconds or so for RuneScape to transfer me. Usually, for every six to eight coins spent on bars, the armor will return a coin. But it’s better than no return at all.
So between the Knight’s sword quest and smelting steel, you can be well on your way to becoming an accomplished smith in RuneScape.