A bit more of trading

Apparently, the BD+03 2338 conflict is done. It also appears the discount-rewards of the community events are bugged and do not work at all at the moment.

Re-reading my cash levels, they do not show much without knowing about all my assets. E.g. I did a lot of shopping in the outfitter in between. I discovered that the rightmenu gives you an overall view of your wealth.

Also some information I gather from forum discussions; considering the cooldown of the frameshift drive after an interdiction, the mechanics seem to differ depending whether you are interdicted by a CMDR or a NPC ship. The cooldown is removed when interdicted by a CMDR, apparently to make up for the increased difficulty to get away from the unchained human intelligence and skill.

Before the Elite: Dangerous, I launch Slopey´s Best Price Calculator. But suddenly, it self-updates automatically and I curse as I see that it re-applies the default settings, which is set to "auto-update". I cannot interrupt the process, so I am now saddled again with the full galaxy wide database as it is gathered by all participants. If I delete it, again, then my hand typed data will be also lost. With this, my attempt to play with only my own notes is destroyed; there is no way that I am going to start to re-take notes from scratch, again. However, this is a coincidence of a sort, because I was planning to check for alternative route gathered by the swarm, anyways, in order to gauge and verify which profit ranges are in general possible. For example, Thrudds website shows this:

Gliese 868, Reilly Enterprise (Palladium)- Tsim Binba, Kopal Orbital (Prog.Cells) 3023  (40 ly)
Timbarichs (Fischer Orbital) 112ls Gold → Atfero (Patry Dock) 187ls Imperial Slaves 3011 (20 ly)

When I ask Slopey´s database, these routes do not appear. Instead, I can find e.g. this
Atfero (Patry Dock) (Impereal Slaves) - Graudika (Kidd Plant) Beryllium, total 348k CR (17 ly). However, this one is in Emire space.

Sigh. Ok let´s play the game and skip the part which causes work and frustration.

Naddoddur Terminal, Yembo. The bulletin board has a surprisingly well payed fetch mission: 76,000 CR for 3 ton of palladium. Take this, as I know exactly from where I can buy it cheap.

 - good source of palladium there











After resolving the mission, I am headed back to Yakabugai, looking out for "wanted" ships on my way. Instead, I am intercepted myself by a Cobra classified as "dangerous", shortly before Serebrov Station. This enemy does not only fly better, it for sure has more fancy maneuvers in its repertoire, amongst them the dreaded "I-go-into-instant-reverse-thrust", where it is practically bound to get me into its firing arc. While this moment is only brief, if you realize this in time and boost quickly ahead, even a brief moment is dangrous for the Eagle with its paper-thin shield (even class A3 shields are ripped like said tissue). Thus, the Cobra gets me into its firing arc one time, dealing high damage, but thanks to a fast initiating of boost, the shields hold, barely. After that, I manage to stick to its tail, target the power subsystem with my three gimballed multicannons, and some moments later (really thick armor it has, too), the Cobra explodes at 18% hull and I have a 30k bounty voucher (kill scanned).

 - boom











Back in Serebrov Station, Yakabugai, I realize that my Asp already values 8.5 million Credits with the installed upgrades. As a warm up, I do a few trade runs. According to Slopey´s database, it is 276k CR per roundtrip.

The news have a new community goal, where we are asked to transport basic medicines to Furbaide, Effinger Port. But first, I want to work for a better frameshift drive, i.e. I need to accumulate 6 million Credits.

Since I have now the full database from Slopey´s, I should test it. GAT 2, Thomson Vision (performance enhancers) and Amahu, Cliffort Station (palladium) should bring 348k CR profit for a round trip. Let´s see, they are only about 27 ly out. But first, I want to sell my Eagle. No use to uselessly tie up my wealth when I start to go out into the galaxy! Entering Serebrov Station, a hasty CMDR collides with me. Since I have no shields, I am down to 88% hull and receive a hefty repair bill of 38k Credits. That´s the price for flying risky with a no-shield setup, I guess.

Arriving first at GAT 2, I have to laugh. Thompson Vision is 19.000 ls out there, almost 10 minutes flight times in supercruise. It seems I have to adjust the seach paramenters in Slopey´s Best Price Calculator! So... how about: Una, Godwin Port (progenitor cells) - Amahu (Clifford/Burbank/Kondratyev). So be it. I take performance enhancers with me to fly not empty, and they bring in nice 930 Cr/unit at Clifford Station, Amahu.

But my real choice starts with palladium from Amahu, Clifford Station, which bring 1587 CR in Una, Hoard Orbital (which, though, requires a travel of 2145 ls); the retour is only 970 Cr/unit, though.

- a fellow trader











CMDR Kytar is on my route, at least he docks or is blocked docking at Clifford Station. He docks before me, and, well, he takes his time. He is from Russia, if this explains anything (jesting). After a while, I explain to him that there is only room for one ship on those small outposts; he then wishes me good luck and apparently logs out; I can finally land. In hindsight, it comes to me that he lives in a country which is not exactly in line with our ideals in the western world. Suddenly, I feels kind of creepy; here in the internet, in the game, we are all equals in an equal world, a kind of comrades and friends; while outside there is so much problems and difference. It is easy to forget this; maybe even good to forget? Maybe the internet, and games like this, slowly teaches humanity that their squabbles over resources does not really matter, but the advancement of civilisation as a whole? That would be my wish, at least. Strange thoughts, this is probably what I deserve when I set myself willingly on repeated 2100 ls trips...

Actually, concerning the distance of Hoard Orbital in Una, I do not mind the longer travel time of 2100 ls. It is the perfect distance for a short switch to the desktop, to analyse data, write notes or read some news in between.

An alternative route would be from Clifford Station (which has high supply in both gold and palldium) to LTT 15278 (Zholobov Enterprise). It requires 3 jumps with my current frameshift drive, but once I upgrade it, it should be also a mere 2-jump route. I check this already because the supply in Una is only medium, and that alternative route should still have high supply (if the data from Slopey´s tool is current).

After some round trips, my cash is about 5 million Credits and another game session has to end. A pity that time doesn´t allow to both trade for a while and then check out some events. Yes, real life can sometimes be annoying! My current cash is 6.4 million Credits, my wealth overall is 15.8 million Credits.

A bit of grind and I have my Asp

Boltzman Gateway, LTT 7548. There are no news about the Yembo-project anymore. Maybe I should go there and check for mission rewards. By a mix of routine and a hunch, I update my notes on the commodity market here, and behold, the buy price for resonating separatros are very low. Running the numbers via Slopey´s Best Price Calculator, it spits out a new top selling occasion in Levi-Montalcini City, of all places! Together with bringing back gold from there, I have a new record profit round trip of about ~200k CR!

Since I feel a bit passive, a little grind along this newly discovered opportunity cannot hurt. And since the whole reason to do so is to have a maximum income, I might as well use every method available to further maximise the profit, i.e. increase my cargo hold capacity as much as possible. With my current hold of 100 ton in my Lakon Type 6 ship, only 20 tons more would mean +20% profit per run!

So, I do the daring approach and remove even my shield generator and cram in cargo racks. This ups my cargo hold capacity to a total maximum of 112 tons, which translates into +12% profit per trip.

Cruising to my target station, a hollow blip zips close by, an Anaconda at that. It identifies as CMDR Chrypher: "STOP! CONTROL!" Now, this is a bit weird, to be commanded like this while being still in supercruise. This guy is either drunk or very inexperienced. So, where did he get his Anaconda from, then? I conclude: Probably a younger child who grabbed the account of his dad for a while. So, I engage him in distracting friendly talk. I think he realizes this at some point and he tries to get close for an interdiction, but I am already well ahead and drop safely out at the station.

After three or four runs, a new possible way to maximise my cargo comes to me: A no-shield ASP can carry even 128 tons of cargo. And I have the cash by now to afford it. Before I can start musing whether I should ditch my faithful Lakon 6, I just do it. Brief sadness of goodbye, but then I am already excitetly working on the new Asp´s outfit. However, there is not much to ponder about, my cash is only enough to buy a class 5C frameshift drive, a 3A power coupling and cram cargo racks into every generic internal slot. So, now I can have +28% profit, compared to my setup at the start of this game session.

- long time since I had flown that ship during beta 2 ...








Unfortunately, once I loaded my new ship, I have to realize that the data from EDshipyard is not accurate; the 5C frameshift drive should have been sufficient in order to cross 15.7 ly to Yakabugai, but in reality its range is falling short of 0.6 ly. This makes me go back to a 2-jump route. I have no money left for a class 5B drive; 5 mio CR! I try to relieve mass by selling all guns and downgrading the fuel tank, but it is still not enough. Oh well, I guess that in comparision to my no-shield Lakon 6, 16 tons more per run will make up the time loss of an additional hyperjump.

- ... however, the new Asp does not have a sufficient jump range








Grinding a trade toute is almost like a meditation. At some point you do not remember anymore which station you are currently docking, you are running kind of on autopilot. Supercruise maneuvers become more and more refined as your subconscious analyses different actions and picks together the most efficient ones. Indeed, trying to consciously describe how I approach stations in supercruise is difficult. Here a try:


It saves a lot of time when you maintain the fastest possible approach to the station. The best indicator of your relative speed towards the station is the countdown, which shows the time until arrival, located unter the targeting reticule. I maintain a direct heading under maximum speed until the counter shows 0:05 ls. Then I slow down one notch (mouse wheel) all the while the countdown shows 0:04. This would be too fast for a direct approach so I start a looped approach, dipping a bit down until the station is in above the upper cockpit view and then I try to keep it gauged there. Like this, I can maintain a fast speed and control the risk of overshooting by contolling the length of the curved approach.

Once the planet, which is orbited by the station, is clearly visible in about the size of a small pearl, I change again to a direct approach. The countdown can accelerate to 0:03, sometimes even 0:02. With this, you would normally badly overhoot the station, however, I discovered that coming close to a planet causes a strong decelaration. Using this effect, I can pass very close to the planet and thus decelerate to the point, sometimes I even have to re-accelerate a bit when I got too close to the planet.

- this is my usual perspective while spiraling towards my target station





 



An indicator of the success of this method is of course the subjective feeling of being faster, plus the countless lights from the other ships headed also to the station, which I overtake on my way.

After almost 2 hours like this, I am content. My cash jumps up by at least 100,000 Credits each time I dock, on average I think every 8 minutes, and I am again comfortable with an Asp and 3 million Credits cash.

Now I would like one or two little fights and then call it a nice calm game session for tonight. Docking at my ship store in Serebrov Station, my Eagle need a little bit of outfitting since I removed the scanners. A upclass the frameshift drive from B to A, add again an interdictor... aaand realize that I probably have overburdened the powergrid with 114% of the load. So, out go the pulse lasers for some less grid intensive gimballed multicannons. The 111% grid burden can be compensated by setting priorities off for frameshift drive (6%), cargo hatch (3%) and interdictor (3%).

Like this, I start some cruising around, but there are only "clean" ships, amongst them a lot of CMDRs in Sidewinders. So I decide to make an excursion to Yembo, in order to get my reward from the community event; it is shown in the rightmenu under transactions that that over 8 million tonnes have been collected and I am going to receive 7500 Credits and a 5% discount on station services. In the meanwhile, a new news article has popped up which says that the station is being built and underway to its new location in HIP 101110. Which reminds me that I wanted to visit that system just once before the station has arrived.

 - a nice perspective on the Impereal Clipper






 

On my travels, I finally encounter a more valuable "wanted" ship, an Asp. It shows a bounty of about 20k Credits. My Eagle should be nimble enought to stay out of its firing arc, so I fearlessly interdict it. However, I am probably more lucky than skilled. The Asp´s piloting rank is rated "harmless", but it still achieves some twists and turns which bring me under its fire. Which is, thankfully, totally "harmless", consisting only of one multicannon. In the end, I am a bounty of 27k CR richer (a kill scan reveiled some higher worth because it was wanted by two parties from the same system).

After a pit stop for refulling in Huilliche (taking notes of the commodity prices of the outpost Lee Enterprise, you never know), I arrive in Yembo and dock at Naddoddur Terminal and turn in the community mission. Then I check whether the 5% discount on station services also includes shipyard prices. However, the Asp there seems to be still the same price, 6,6 million Credits. What a pity, I could have saved some 500.000 Credits if I sold my Asp and rebought and outfitted it here with a discount.

Time to call this session quits. I have about 2 million Credits cash and am finally, for already a second time (I still remember the grind pre-gamma to get my Asp then), have become the proud owner of the Asp.

Action around Yembo

Sinclair Platform, Karetii. It seems I have missed some opportunity. In the ED forum, CMDR Ben Ryder was so friendly to do a summary of the two ongoing community events, which are hinted at via the in-game News. With this, I finally understand how they are supposed to work. Yembo requires and apparently pays well for metals of all kinds. And Tanmark apparently pays well for land enrichment systems. This is on top of the news about the military engagement in BD+03 2338, where you are supposed to meet Matteucci Terminal in Khasiri, or Antonio de Andrade Vista in Banki. Time to scout this out!

After three jumps, I am at Noddodur Terminal, Yembo. Ok, the event seems to be still on. And accoding to the hint from the forum, Virannen Hub at Brani is a cheap source of palladium. Bringing the stuff back to Noddodur, I can confirm, yes its profitable, with 1466 CR / unit! Yeah! Now a return trip? There starts the caveat; as I start to take down the prices, I note that the supply of most items is exhausted. Surely this is a testament to the strain of many CMDRs looking for the same thing as I am now. Which means in the end that profit is halved due to an empty flight. I would need to find a system with a demand on robotics or auto-fabricators, i.e. an industrial world. I nevertheless start already a single-trip profit tour. After I am back and sell the palladium, I realize that I did a mistake; I should have accepted the according community mission on the bulletin board first! Once you accept, it is shown with a little checkmark in the upper right corner. Sigh, ok once more I go fetching palladium.

- Piercy Gateway has a nice scenery, but nothing more for me









I will check for Huilliche, an industrial system along the way if it is suited to be included in a three-point route. Unfortunately, the station there, Piercy Gateway, is 4800 ls out. And the outpost Lee Enterprise a freaking 320,000 ls! Not good for a pit stop. Once I arrive there and took all prices, it also becomes clear that this is not a viable route point. So, onwards to Brani again, load palladium and back to Yembo. It is not good profit but one or three runs for the sake of the community goal should do it.

Yembo, about 10 ls before Naddoddur Terminal, PIRACY! Despite my attempt to really zoom in fast during supercruise, CMDR God Zilla manages to interdict me. At first I attempt to evade the interdiction, but then I remember the "submit & engange immediately" trick. However, this CMDR has done his homework. He sits in an Asp and goes into close range and wails away my shields. I very well engage frameshift immediately, but I am severely mass locked. This surprises me a lot, but in hindsight, it makes sense to pirate in an Asp and use its big mass to actually successfully mass lock freighters effectively, compared to the smallish combat ships.

I am hapless prey. Thank god this CMDR is an "honorable" pirate; he politely asks for my cargo amd knocks friendly on my hull until it is down to 77%. As soon as I see his message "drop 20 cargo", I oblige immediately, still dumbfounded that "the trick" did not work as expected. I tip my hat to you, CMDR! And finally some action, if at a cost.

And, do you believe it!? A second interdiction follows before I am at the safe haven. Oh my gosh, now I am tanking hard. I already consider some whining to let me go, but then I see this particular CMDR is in a Cobra, and he first scans me. I am not severely mass locked and can engage frameshift as planned. Huff. So, this is the difference between a pirate who has done some homework and one who dawdles too long.

 - not a good snapshot of the unsuccessful CMDR Fermion Alpha, but at least I remembered to try one






Let´s see. Profit not high enough, piracy along the route, I lost 7k CR due to repairs. And I dropped only 15 cargo instead of 20, hoping that he would not realize this before I was away in supercruise. So I lost "only" about 180,000 Credits worth of cargo instead of 240,000 Credits. Nevertheless, this corresponds to one full high profit return trip on my best trade route.

The rationale tells me now, get away from here, nothing to be gained. The player tells me, go on, try again, slap some guns on you can probably tackle a CMDR in an Asp, finally some action!!! First action: Upgrade my shield from class C3 to A3. Second action: Get some guns!!! I try gimballed cannons. Not sure if that is the right choice, they probably got made a bit weaker since the beta and are not strong against shields.

Three more tours, where I also try to grab the scrapes which are left in Noddodur Terminal for maximum cash efficiency, and I am interdicted again by a CMDR Phaeton in a Cobra. I am a bit exasperated; I have tried to evade interdictions by approaching the station at different angles and as fast as possible in supercruise. I am pretty sure there was no ship behind me, yet that CMDR just got me somehow. No idea, I think I need to observe more before I can fully analyse this.

CMDR Phaeton asks me of 6 units. This is reasonable and I am tempted to give in. But I bought guns! And a class A3 shield! Let´s see how I fare against a CMDR Cobra...

Bad, as it turns out. The cannons barely dent his shields, and I am pretty sure he activates his shield banks to completely mitigate the damage. Then I try a fancier maneuver with flight assist off - and achieve the opposite, namely coming into the pirate´s firing arc. Not a problem for my shields yet; even though he is firing beam lasers. But unfortunately, the second side effect of this screwed maneuver is that I actually frontally collide. My shields are gone, his are still almost full.

Some more desperate circling, but the situation does not change to the better. By the time CMDR Phaeton gets in his third salvo, my shields are gone and my hull is at 50%. I yield and jettison those 6 cargo units. Well deserved! It is a pity that I am not cool enough yet in such engagements in order to drop some greetings or do an EVE-slangy "GF" at the end. Not even a screenshot for this blog! I just want out of there!


Pirating seems to be frustrating when you are on the receiving end, but I think it is not very easy to catch a CMDR, lest extort something from him. The cash/hour ratio should not be very high, so those guys do it out of passion. As I have enough cash left, I can shoulder the setbacks and enjoy the challenge.

It seems that without shield banks on my own, daring a fight against a combat equipped ship does not make sense. With a slower and tumber freighter, I am bound to come under fire now and again, and if shield banks are in the game only on my opponent´s side, I basically have already lost from the go. Next time, I could try to run, to see if a Cobra can actually mass lock me long enough. I want to add a shield bank myself, but Naddoddur Terminal does not offer one.

Repair  costs are 15.555 CR, and I lost 75k worth of cargo. I won´t go out of this session with a positive impact on my cash, I suspect. I commit to two more runs and then end this session.

Right the next trip back, I get pulled out of supercruise again. I swear there was no ship behind me, yet, from one instant to another, there is a red hollow triangle. I can target it before I throttle down and get pulled out of supercruise and identify an Asp.

This particular CMDR Bangfish wants me to halt for a scan. I try to run this time; with full pips to engine I should get quickly some distance to an Asp which has its power distributed to weapons. Boy, am I wrong with this assumption! I boost three or four times, try some sorry excuse for an evasive barrel roll, and my hull is already down to 50%. Before I can fully realize and decide that yielding is the only way to still save my ship, my hull is at 11%. "Wow, ok you got me" I chat quickly while I throttle down to zero. "Prepare to be scanned", the pirate transmits. I nevertheless hit frameshift activation, ready to use the first moment of distraction to accelerate and jump away. Ship heat builds up...

Then, in a moment of rare fate, the cards change. Hope has appeared in the form of a new blip on the radar. Hope, because it could as well be just another pirate. But my hopes is fulfilled that same instant. "OMG - You are so lucky today", the pirate lets me know while his Asp turns and accelerates quickly away. It turns out that the approaching triangle is hollow and consists of a fully armed Python! I am saved! Rarely did I feel as relieved and gleeful, and both at the same time! But I don´t wait how the encounter turns out and go into supercruise; CMDR Dinkleberg in his Python might as well be another pirate.

- me poor damsel in distress










Back in supercruise, I regret that I cannot contact the helpful CMDR. But then I see a holow blip appearing far behind me from where the interdiction must have taken place, and, flip-targeting it, it is a Python. A thankful text message is sent, and in answering, CMDR Dinkleberg reveils his identity again. After a bit of chat, he mentions that he was looking for that particular CMDR Bangfish already for a long time, not the least because he sports a bounts of over 1 million Credits!

Flushed with excitement about how this piece of drama had played out, even with a happy end, I bid him farewell and good hunting as I draw close to Noddodur Terminal. Maybe I should not try my luck anymore and get out of here, going again for my better profit route, bit away from the jungle of pirate raptors around here. Repairs cost me this time 28,000 Credits. My contribution to the community quest is about 500 tons of metal. I am within the 70% of CMDRs who contributed most. Selling my cartographic data which I had accumulated with my scans during the last and the current session net me 100k CR. With about 2.2 million Credits cash, I did not gain much here, but neither did I loose.

Back in Yakabugai, only four jumps away thanks to the superiour range of my class A frameshift drive, I am interdicted once more, and "traumatised" as I am from the last few misfortunes, I am relieved to see that it is here only a security vessel. At this occasion, I observe that the "throttle-down trick" seems to have been fixed. I am interdicted two more times by security ships and each time I have to wait the normal cool down period, even though I submitted immediately to the interdiction.

Some more quiet time holds reign while I ride some well-trodden paths. Some more time later, my cash is at about 3.4 million Credits and this game session has to end.

Rare travels

So, here are my notes on my extended tour via systems which are known to offer rare trade commodities.

- Xihe, Zhen Dock; 2 jumps; nice lavender glowing ring planet Zhen 1; 8tons "Biomorphic Companions"

- Zhen 1, a nice lavender glowing ring planet









- Chi Eridani, Steve Masters; 3 jumps; lots of conflict zones and named planets; 15 tons "Marine Paste"
- Kappa Fornacis, Harvestport; 2 jumps; Panem is a named planet there, was part of a community even "Fed vs, Onionhead distribution"; no "Onionhead" to be found here anymore; news tell about Yembo project to contruct a spacestation in HIP 101110;
- Tanmark, Cassie-L-Peia; 1 jump; 8 tons "Lucan Onion Head" (815 CR); "Tranquil Tea" (1814 CR); it seems I have missed quite a story here!
- Witchhaul, Hornby Terminal; 3 jumps; 5 tons "Kobe Beef" (4520 CR); news about a rebel war in BD+03 2338 and Banki, probably almost over
- Fujin, Futen Spaceport; 1 jump; 1 ton Tea (992 CR), 7 more after 10 minutes waiting;
- 39 Tauri, Porta; 1 jump; 7 "Chimes" (938 CR)
- Momus Reach, Tartarus Point; 3 jumps; 5 "Bog Spaniels" (1825 CR) - cargo hold starts to fill up!
- Damna, Nemere Market; 4 jumps; 15 tons "Carapaces"

And a problem, the last jump to the next target seems to be out of range... I have to take a stop at Dalevard; my fuel tank was at 1/3 and the next two systems do not have a name and thus could be without stations. Better safe than sorry! And the mystery is solved; the last jump to Ethgreze turns from a dotted line to a normal line after I have refueled. Good to know that the pathfinder takes into account your fuel capacity! So, finally crossed roughly the 120 ly from Damna to...

- Ethgreze, Bloch Station; 7 jumps! 5 tons "Tea Buds"

- on my path, LHS 2522 is a weird system; two brown dwarves which behave like planets, one even has a ring.







Also on my path, GD 319 is another big system, with extraction sites and some ships zipping around; maybe there is some profitable mining here?

- Eranin, Azenban City; 3 jumps; 7 tons "Pearl Whisky" (1633 CR)
Ah, anybody who participated in the beta will get soft feelings when seeing those. I wonder if the conflict zones are still there? It seems like an eerily forsaken place. Even though the traffic report mentions 732 ships passing through, it seems to nothing compared to the buzz which used to be here. The Eranin civil war for sure has ended, although I do not know how...
They should place some kind of monument in this area; something like "Here was the beta phase!" Looking at the map, I had not realized how close it is here to the realm of the Alliance. I am itching to zip around a bit here. Maybe later. Onwards, upwards!



-  I still remember the name of all those constellations here









- Helvetitj, Friend Orbital; 4 jumps, because I am almost on full cargo by now; 4 "Pearls" (3620 CR)
- Heike, Brunel City; 3 jumps; 3 tons "Ceremonial Tea" (1920 CR), and my cargo hold is now full!
- Karetii, Sinclair Platform; 4 jumps; "Couture" (5225 CR).

Together with the fuel costs and repair costs (I also for the first time noted "integrity damage", due to the mere act of traveling/using the ship), my cash is down from 1.2 million Credits to  974k Credits. After selling off every commodity which is worth >16k CR, I have reached 2.3 million Credits and 27 tons of rare goods from the closer range systems is left in my hold. Scanning along the way has brought me roughly 70k Credits, but I did not use the surface scanner anywhere else than on the primary star.

With this result, I can take a step back and review my activities so far. I am not sure if I want to continue like this. I am aware that this route was not proposed for maximum profit, yet it yields a rough equivalent, maybe a bit less, than if I had done my standard trade route. Maybe if I identify two spots to travel back and forth, I could increase profits and make this type of trading more worthwhile. And it seems, due to the low numbers of commodities, that this kind of trading is more suited for courier transports, not the bulk freighting I can do with my Lakon Type 6. The many jumps are a bit tiresome, though. Also, the sightseeing aspects were rare. Maybe I should instead go out into the unknown if I want to find at least something which "has been never seen before"; and with maybe some good financial surprises attached to my discoveries.

 - milky way, sun, planet, space station; what more do you need?








 
For a while, I had the impression that the News change according to where you are. However, they did not change anymore since the last 10 stations, so they seem to cover large regions nevertheless.

The galaxy map shows me that I am very close to the border of civilisation, sitting in the "upper left corner" (point of view towards the galactic center). Unsettled space starts just 60 ly away. I could go and look up the system which is going to be settled according to the News (HIP 101110); it is 214 ly away, roughly 10 jumps. There was also a thread in the ED forum, where a CMDR discovered a system with three earthlike planets (IC 4673 (HEN 2-333)); visiting there would be cool, but this one is 13,316 ly away from here, oh my gosh!

However this session comes to an end now. I have to admit; this session was not so exciting as I had hoped for. Well, at least I could collect close-up shots of some nice blazing stars...

... just missing the green ending, now ;*)

Start small

Well, start small. I want one or two million Credits more as a financial cushion. I can then think about either buying an Asp and go out there exploring (according to EDshipyard, the Asp has the best jump range of all ships) or equip my Type 6 for a rare-goods-tour and travel through the civilised bubble of space. So far, my best game moments happened when I was just going along, doing whatever I felt like doing.

Funny enough, the ships I like by their appearance I don´t feel comfortable to fly. The Adder looks great, but the cockpit view is abyssmally bad. I think the Lakon Type 6 is plain ugly, but it has a great sound (like a Learjet), a big cargo hold and one of the best jump ranges except for the Asp. The Asp is hands down the best privateer ship, but I hate its looks and sounds (like a Turboprop). The Python looks really great but it is super expensive and mediocre outside combat. And so on and so on. Well, we already got a peek on the Fer-de-Lance and a Corvette which is even bigger than the Anaconda. Let´s see how they are going to feel. Bottomline, I have not found my favourite ship yet.

Back in the game, I am still in front of Levi-Montalcini-City, where I dropped out of the waiting queue at the end of my last session. The pad is occupied again, this time by a fat Python. This surpises me a bit, I thought this ship type was too large to land on a small outpost. Good to know, anyways.

The Python thankfully takes off soon and I can land, dop off my auto-fabricators from last session and re-engage into my trading route. I am in the flow, have a little pause in the sun´s atmosphere after the jump in order to let my scoop refuel, using the break to ponder options and complete my blog notes.

Levi-Montalcini City is quite a busy spot; not doubt due to being one of the few places where you can acutally obtain gold from. Again, I am forced to wait while a Viper sits on "my" landing pad. For the first time, I consciously note faint bar music coming from the outpost. Funny. Not so funny is that this waiting cuts down my profit/hour ratio from this trade route!

And I am waiting, waiting, waiting...

 - can I shoot it, please? Please?










Alternative, from my notes via Slopeys Best Price Calculator: Yakabugai, Serebrov -> Eravate, Ackerman (60k, marine equipment), -> Shatalov Gateway, BD-11 4932 (tobacco, 80k) -> Yakabugai, Serebroc (150k, indite). Seems my taking notes was worth something, after all.

Ok, I am fed up, let´s try this one! My auto-fabricators sell as well at Serebrov, so I can head directly there. I might also remember to sell that advanced scanner from my Eagle in order to have more cash liberated for actually buying those trading goods.

A bit of unfocusedness lets me enter the wrong menu command and I am complimented me back out of Ackerman Market instead of entering the menu. Arrrrgh! Re-requesting docking is not possible for a while. In the navigation tab, I suddenly see a nav point named "seeking goods". I might as well try that one!

- Nav points called "seeking goods" and "checkpoint"










Arriving at the nav point some 150ls out there, near McMahon Dock, they seem to want "local goods" and they do not relieve me of my marine equipment. What a pity. As I am already 10ls close to McMahon Dock, I want to pass by there, since I skipped taking notes on the commodities there. Alas, again a waiting queue there, and I am fed up with queues. I already hate queues in real life!

Back to Ackerman Market. I hope those ships stay a bit, so I can find out about the profit range. Shortly before arriving, CMDR Teamkills contacts me, but he is not clear about what he wants, so I continue.

There are also some nav points called "Check Points"; what is this about? But, first, I want to try "local goods", namely tobacco. I buy them for ~4100 CR. Let´s see. Nope, they do not buy it. Looking it up via Google on reddit, apparently you have to scan their cargo to know what they want. But I do not have a cargo scanner. So, onward with my original plan.

It turns out that I have to do a three-jump in order to reach BD-11 4932, vial LTT 7548 and Alrai Sector DL-Y- D85 (the one with the brown dwarf); which is very uneconomic. My tobacco for once yield very nice profits of 1031 CR/unit. However, my trip back to Yakabugai, Serebrov reveals that I apparently mistyped the price for Indite; I make still a profit, but with ~500 CR/unit it is too low to be competitive. Sigh.

Since normal trading like this is a bit boring anyways, I want to try once more this "seeking goods" thing. Back in Eravate, I buy a cargo scanner (and an ECM while I am at it, cannot hurt) and launch once more for that nav point. Narcotics. All three Lakon Type 9 ships in the nav point have narcotics on board. Low-price item, I can get it from Russel Ring in this system for 77 CR/unit. I wonder if this is worth the hazzle but follow through.

As I fly close, they buy my cargo hold, 100 units, for 30,600 CR. I have payed 7.700 CR = 22,900 CR profit = 229 CR/unit. Nope, not worth the hazzle at all! Good to know, but I also feel frustrated. This is the worst kind of fetch quest you can have in a game, and it is not even rewarded properly. While it is wonderful to have that immersive galaxy to cruise around, the game wants to troll us with red herrings all along the way, it seems!

Back to my old trade route, I guess. At Levi-Montalcini City, I am greeted again by a "docking request denied". This time, a fat Lakon Type 6 sits on the pad. Behind me, an Asp moves into waiting position; I blink at him with the ship lights and then we chat a bit. We have the time, after all... CMDR Thegreatemu can also only shrug as to the reasons why we cannot dock.

- again a blocked landing pad; this gets a bit too repetitive...









In the meanwhile, I search and find on reddit some more data about those "seeking goods" nav points. Apparently, you can be lucky and  they buy off the more expensive goods like performance enhancers. Also, they do buy stolen goods, which is probably the best use for them.

After 20 minutes of waiting, I give up. If it is not a bug, it is a stupid feature. This trade route is probably not meant to be used on weekends or Sundays specifically, when a lot of CMDRs are online. I will go on am alternative route from Ackerman Market, same profit but three jumps required (tobacco / marine equipment) and hope that Shatalov Gateway, also an outpost, is not as crowded as here!

- had to drop from supercruise to apreciate this; not stars, but the night side of a planet lit with city lights






 
Well, it is not, and some trips later, I have about 2.6  million Credits cash. However, both systems are independent, so my bad reputation with the Feds does not profit from trading gains as on my old route did. Time to think about my next options. If I sell my Eagle and my Lakon Type 6, I could afford an Asp by now, probably even equip it a little bit.

Hmmm.. not yet. I will try now a rare trade route, taking the suggested list from this thread in the ED forum. Xihe is the closest system to my current position, so I am going to start there and work my way around. For maximum efficiency, I buy a class A4 frameshift drive, available at the high tech system LTT 7548, Boltzmann Gateway, for 1.6 million credits. And off we go.

STOP! Forgot something; scanners! It would be not very efficient to leave potential income from during my travels aside... So a quick stop in Yakabugai, Serebrov Station, selling the scanners from my Eagle, re-buying them for my Lakon Type 6. I now have 1.2 million Credits cash. Let´s see what this tour is going to bring in! And the sightseeing, I hope there is some.

More in my next post.

Options, opions galore!

And sometimes too many options can be quite suffocating, it seems.

I could continue to live here, where I started at launch, becoming intimately familiar with every freaking moon and every CMDR zipping around here, thus making it a kind of virtual home.

I could start doing some missions and work on getting a good reputation with the Federals, seeing where this would lead me, mission-reward wise.

I could start doing one of those huge trading tours with rare goods, which would lead me through most of the part of the galaxy which is settled by civilisation.

I could work on building a perfectly equipped exploration ship and take off into the unknown - and get some systems named after me as long as there are still some in reasonable range.

I could follow the news-trail and get into the systems where those community events are happening. Maybe even help building one of those Empireal battleships, or turning over a system.

I could find that new space station which will switch locations every week and travel through the galaxy with it.

I could just trade and bounty hunt cash grind and collect every starship and weapon which there is in the game.

I could wait a bit more until the "wings" update is out and find a partner to go out there together and do mayhem.

I could start going into video-ing my ventures, bringing the finest art of dogfights and stories to the community like this. While I already did some videos, it unfortunately is very tedious for me to do; no good video editing software and a small bandwith for uploads (two hours for a 5 minute video, seriously!??).

I could look out for a guild or alliance and go with the social flow there, as I already had a bit with the folks from TEST: Mostly Harmless.

Or I could just do everything, given enough time, the completionist in me whispers. Sigh.

Gathering trade data and some bounties

From BD-11 4932, Shatalov Gateway, it is a 13 ly jump to LTT 7453; a high population Agri/Industry system. Right 2 ly next to it Zaragas, a high-population, high tech/refinery system. This should yield some synergies for trade profit. I commit to writing down all commodity data for those two systems. This will take a while.

First stop Clervoy Port, then, hm... Gidtzenko Ring, second of four stations in LTT 7453 sounds familiar. I am sure I have already seen a station with this name some long time ago in my beta travels. Random name generator horray!

At England Terminal, I spot a fight going on. Three security vessels versus a "wanted" Cobra. I am undecided and turn away. Then I turn back and scan and check its bounty. Hmm... 13,454 CR... worth it. Deploy weapons. Am I out of the no-fire zone? Does it matter when the target is wanted? No, and no. As it turns out, I am still in the fire zone and I get fined for shooting at the "wanted" Cobra, 300 Credits. You know what? I can shoot quite a while before the bounty would not be worth it! But I change tactic; I let the security vessels whittle it down. Then finally, the Cobra reaches 25% hull. However, I is on a course directly to the station. Nonono, no firing now, if I hit the station, I will be in big trouble! Instead I try to adjust my heading so that my firing position is free of the station. Then, finally the Cobra is at 10% and amongst the now concentrated fire from the three security vessels on it I am lucky enough to score the kill. Or, maybe, Frontier changed the rules here a bit; there had been quite some complaints about AI ships stealing kills from CMDRs. All in all I get fined for 700 fine and receive a considerable bounty voucher; deal!

- hold fire, hold fire...











Zaragas clearly is also an extraction system. There are two ring planets with stations close by which have extraction zones. To have some diversification, I drop into one of those. I am rewarded with freqent appearances of "wanted" Cobras; their fines are all in the 10k-range. After I have bagged two bounty vouchers, a hollow triangle makes its appearance, closing in. A CMDR Cobra. What I do not like on these occasions is when they point their guns at me. So I repay in kind and start circling around him, however, he still manages to finish a scan on me. I return the favour, but he is clean, too. So, after about two minutes of circling around and supposedly getting into the best firing position (the Eagle clearly is superious in that regard), I send him a message "You are clean! Move on citizen." We both then break off and continue our bounty hunting business. Once I realize that we tend to kill steal (it is notable because CMDR ships usually hit the enemy much more accurately and consistently), I move a bit farther away.

 - in competition with another bounty hunter










Since I had forgotten to turn off the option in the rightmenu "report crime against you", more and more Federation security ships appear. They hunt the "wanted" ships, too, and as it gets more trafficy, they do collide with me on quite some occasions. It is perhaps time to leave this crowded festival. So, with roughly 100k CR worth of bounty vouchers later, my bow points up towards the stars and my Eagle streaks away. Back to documentation duties.

Some times later, having finally finished my registration duty, I check the new entries, from altogether five systems and numerous stations within. It seems I am a lucky guy; the trade route I did last session still is the most profitable one. Also, the appearance of empireal slaves as a trade good is more common as I thought; however, the profit ranges I found so far are bad.

Not believing yet that there is no better trade profit to be found, I cross check this data with Thrudds Website. I also check with the famous trade of rare goods, as e.g. suggested in this thread. I have to realize that a profit of ~900 CR/unit per jump (15ly range assumed) is already one of the best profits to fare. Sure, there are higher profits shown on said website, but you also have to jump farther for it, so measured on a per-game-time level, I might as well turn back to my old trade route and fare resonable good credits/hours. How long, I ask myself, did all those CMDRs play who already own an Anaconda or Dropship? Maybe I am something missing here. Maybe a higher jump range, coupled with some trading of rare goods, yields somehow still higher credits/hour?

Not content with my findings, the next stop is Eravate. The last system to note down, I swear! Back in gamma, there was some good supply to be found there. And, yes, Ackerman Market still has that supply for doing a tobacco trade route, however, it still yields less profit than the one I used in my last game session. I even try to find three- or four-stop routes, but nothing is more efficient than what I have already. So, basically, I have spend all of my game session tonight taking notes, just to find out that it was useless to do so. Profit this game session, so far; about 150k CR in bounty vouchers Sigh. I resign myself back to my old route so that I at least have some closure.

As I make way, I check my status with the factions in Yakabugai. It shows a red arrow down on my Federal reputation. I have no idea why that is. Maybe because I shot at that "wanted" Viper which was cheekily interdicing me shortly before Serebrov Station before it fired on me? Sigh. I wish a message would show when what happened, reputation-wise (e.g. "Federation acknowledges emergency call from vessel xyz").

To go back on trading, I have to go to Serebrov Station and fetch my Lakon Type 6 there and then fly empty to Levi-Montalcini-City; there is virutally nothing to trade with on the former station. Once I arrive at the latter, I realize that I do not have enough cash to fill my cargo hold. I should have sold that advanced scanner on my Eagle again! Fed up as I am, I decide to start trading anyways with what I have. The auto-fabricators on my trip back are cheaper so that my cargo space will be fully used. Again, lost profit per hour. My investments this session really payed off poorly. But at least, my experience about what profit ranges to expect on markets has increased and my fighting skills should be good to go again.

 - this guy sits there and blocks the landing pad indefinitely
 








Then again there is a waiting queue at Levi-Montalcini City. While I sit there and start to ponder whether I should try a relog, CMDR Aramis in an Eagle greets me. I think I faintly remember him, even though it seems ages ago; ashamed I have to admit that I apparently did not log his name in my blog entries, so I cannot look up when we would have met last time. He asks me whether I still was trading, so we for sure chatted about that. Concerning him, he is mainly mission running and could not convince himself to become trader. Yeah, after this night, I somehow sympathise and look forward to the next patch where we will finally be able do jointly accept and complete missions.

I always wondered about those pecks of small clouds in the distant stars. A kind of scattered nebula. While waiting the queue, I use the galaxy map to zoom over there and locate a system close to it, so that one day I might travel there; Pipe (Stem) Sector GW-W C1-26. Then I wait a bit longer, typing on this blog entry. But the landing pad is still blocked by that hauler! I start to wish I could fire off that guy who is blocking the landing pad! Maybe you even can, but I have removed all guns from my freighter. There is no need for guns, since I can escape any interdiction, anyways. I just yesterday learned this on the forum; thanks to a design-flaw, when you submit to an interdiction, your frameshift drive does not have a cooldown time. So, all I have to do is to submit by throttling down to zero and I can immediately re-engage my frameshift drive without any cool down period. I learned this from the forum, because naturally quite a lot of CMDRs are not content that interdictions and pirating of other CMDRs are practically useless like this.

 - not a background painting, but acutally reachable; fascinating again and again








After about 20 minutes of waiting in the queue, writing for my blog here and pondering things, I am fed up. That goddamn hauler still sits there. Log out. It is late, anyways.

Well, at least during the forced wait, I gathered two interesting sources of information from the ED forums. One guy posted a link to a ship calculator called Edshipyard. And another guy pointed the community towards a great organized data collection on rare commodities in a google spreadsheed.

I use the former to check for maximum jump ranges for each ship type, and the later I might use at some point to try out rare goods trading; maybe I am wrong and there actually is more profit/hour by doing those?