I put some of this into a PM thread with HHour, but let's lay out my thinking before I get too far on this:
- It has been determined by UFO:AI's powers that be that they are not interested in having manufacture for profit be a significant source of income for the game. Therefore, what I propose won't, in net, result in manufacture for profit contributing to the game's economy. However,...
- At present, after engineer salaries and monthly workshop maintenance costs are accounted for, manufacture of Terran technology is a net /loss/ compared to simply purchasing items in the open market. This strikes me as counter-intuitive.
- I'll dig through some of the scripts to see if I can work out what this might look like. I have, however, been cautioned that the game's code may not have a way to implement what I'm suggesting.