This skill would go among StM, CA, EE, and MFM - possible bonuses I see would be 1) a reduction in number of commods needed for bulk builds 2) reduction of cred cost of builds 3) reduction of manhours needed 4) increase of max-workforce 5) bonus reductions for having multiple builds going at the same time.

I'm not going to offer stats, percentages, or say what mix of bonuses should be given at the moment- this is just the basic idea. Thoughts?

I don't see anything majorly wrong with it. It is a bit annoying if a prod base is not under ExE specs though.

Does this skill only affect builds with in the Manufacturer's base? Or can, for example, a Manufacturer go to an ExE's base and still have his/her bonuses apply?

I would say it would have to be in the manufacturer's base. The idea would be that you know how to optimize your own factories and facilities, but if you built in someone else's you'd still be subject to their limitations.

This skill would be intended to help make manufacturing a competitive alternative to CA. I'll admit that I am biased - I don't care for making colonies - I like building stuff and would love to see such a major aspect of base building be more competitive with the potential profits of colonies.

I know this wouldn't fully catch it up, but it would make it a more viable alternative.

/signed

It would be pretty cool and the opportunity cost of missing out on colony boosters or extraction kits is quite fair.

If you plan your galaxy wisely then you can easily get off with 4-6 Leviathan+ slaves transporting huge amounts of commodities from an ExE base on a planet to a Manufacturer base on the same planet. Yes, two things that needs to be reduced in this game is build times and travelling distances/times. This solves one of the problems nicely.

Once you're over 4 characters on the account realistically your best option for trade skill is MFM. So thats the opportunity cost you miss out on. Plus one kit on a non-stm or EE character.

fixed /signed.