We could just take it slow. Set up a small with as many labs and such as possible, upgrading later as needed.
It's not that simple. For example, if we go with an Amarr small tower, it is only capable of accommodating two labs, whereas a Caldari small is able to accomodate 3. If we insist on going Amarr but need more than two labs then we have to upgrade to a medium, which is able to at most accommodate 5. But if we only need three, we could get a caldari or Gallente small and have three while only paying 3 million ISK/day compared to the 6 million ISK/day we'll pay if we go medium.
And for reasons described earlier relating to standings and the need to boot everyone from the corp with faction standings below 5 every time we anchor a tower, upgrading towers later is non-trivial and something we'd probably rather avoid.
What's the average cost of fuel blocks for a week?
For the Too Long; Didn't Read version, skip to "examples" below.
Daily costs (ballpark, subject to variations by market conditions and which racial control tower we choose)
Small control tower: 3 million ISK/day, 21 million ISK/week
Medium control tower: 6 miliion ISK/day, 42 million ISK/week
Large Control tower: 12 million ISK/day, 84 million ISK/week
CPU resources for control towers: (Powergrid will not be a limiting factor for a lab-heavy PoS design)
Small Amarr: 1375
Small Caldari: 1875
Small Gallente: 1688
Small Minmtar: 1500
Medium Amarr: 2750
Medium Caldari: 3750
Medium Gallente:3375
Medium Minmtar: 3000
Labs CPU costs: * Standard Mobile Laboratory: 500 CPU
* Advanced Mobile Laboratory: 600 CPU
* Experimental Mobile Laboratory: 500 CPU (For T3 research)
* Hyasoda Mobile Labortory: 600 CPU (The one you get from the epic arc missions)
Lab Facilities by type:Mobile Laboratory
* 1 copy slot (0.75 job time bonus)
* 3 ME slots (0.75 job time bonus)
* 3 PE slots (0.75 job time bonus)
* 5 Invention slots (0.5 job time bonus)
Advanced Mobile Laboratory
* 3 copy slots (0.65 job time bonus)
* 2 ME slots (0.75 job time bonus)
* 2 Invention slots (0.5 job time bonus)
Hyasoda Mobile Laboratory
* 4 ME slots (0.75 job time bonus)
* 4 PE slots (0.75 job time bonus)
* 6 Invention slots (0.5 job time bonus)
Experimental Laboratory
* 3 Reverse Engineering slots (1.0 job time bonus)
Defense CPU costs: * Shield Hardener: 250 CPU
* ECM: 50 CPU
* Energy Neutralizer: 25 CPU
* Webifier: 25 CPU
* Warp scrambler 25 or 50 CPU
* Guns (Free. No CPU cost, they take powergrid instead. Complicated, but basically not relevant to this part of the decision)
ExamplesThe "Cheapest option that's probably still sufficient for our needs" solution:
* Caldari Small tower
* 2 basic labs, 1 advanced lab, 4 ECM, 4 Energy Neuts, 2 web, 1 warp scrambler
* Slots: 5 copy, 8 ME, 6 PE, 12 invention
* Fuel costs: 3 million ISK/day
The "We want to make our own fuel, but need more than the cheap option" solution:
* Amarr Medium Tower
* 2 basic labs, 2 advanced labs, 8 ECM, 1 shield hardener, 2 nuets, 1 web, 1 warp scrambler
* Slots: 8 copy, 10 ME, 6 PE, 14 invention
* Fuel costs: 6 million ISK/day (even if we make it ourselves, whatever we make and use is stuff we're not selling, so opportunity cost is similar)
If anyone wants to play with specifics, there's a PoS planner applet here:
http://eve.1019.net/pos/