Yep.
I like where you guys are going, but the profits we will be making will not come from selling things to ourselves at cheaper prices.
The profits come when an asteroid made of pure gold is discovered in dangerous Vanduul space. Only an active org with 200 mining ships ready to deploy, and 28 Javelins to protect them can do and quickly grab that chunk of rock before anybody else can mobilize.
How we make our money will depend on how we utilize our assets to our greatest advantage.
Jack selling to Bob at a 5% discount is not how money is made! Think bigger! Not smaller!
Montoya is correct in his statement and I was wrong in my *deleted* part of my post above.
First Example:
I mine and produce ore. When I am running flat out, I make 50 UEC per unit after production costs (number makes the math easier) Fuel runs me 10,000 UEC/run of 384 SCU of cargo. Fuel for a Hull B (same cargo capacity as the Orion) is 5000/run. Escorts costs 200,000/hour (same for the Hull B) all said.
I can mine 38400 units every 30 minutes
However, it's a 30 minute run from the mine, back to the station/warehouse, unload the ore, and then come back to the mine. That means for every hour I play, I am mining 30 minutes. Now, he can get 2 runs an hour with his hull's improved cargo handling mechanism.
Normally, I make 1,920,000/hour-10,000-200,000 = 1,710,000 UEC per hour.
How, if I was just mining, I remove the fuel costs, but still keep the escorts so my costs/hour only go down by 10,000. However, my mining round the hour, my UEC/hour jumps to 3,840,000/hour-200,000= 3,640,000 UEC/hour. If I split the difference, I can pay the hauler 532,500/trip. That means the hauler makes 532,500-10,000-100,000=422,500/trip out to me. That hauler could make 845,000/hour and employ more escorts giving another 200,000 UEC/hour to test pilots.
Now, that means I haul in 3,840,000-1,065,000 =2,775,000UEC/hour. Now, before everyone gets up in arms about how I am shorting the hauler....
I have a crew of 4 that I am giving equal shares (remember, this is profit after ship running expenses). So that means I am making 693,750/hour, as is everyone on my ship. So the hauler will actually make more than I could since the Hull B is a 1 person ship. So, by making a reduction in my price by having the buyer come to me, I make more/hour as does everyone else but the escorts who got a flat fee no matter if I made money or not.
Second example:
There is usually a difference in the buy and sell prices or a commodity. In some markets, the difference is very small. Maybe 10 cents/share between what someone wants to pay for a stock, and what someone wants to sell it for. If they meet, then a transaction occurs and a different price appears. In SC, the price gaps are pretty big at a station. For some there may be a 10-20 UEC gap/unit between what you can buy a product for, and what you can sell it for.
So, if I mine some Gold and haul it to the station, I might have a selling point of 15 UEC/unit. Another Test member is hauling Gold from that station, to another, where he can sell it for 40 a unit. However, the station I am selling to is selling to him at 25/unit.
We can both benefit if I sell directly to him at the station for 20/unit, giving me 5 more UEC/unit profit. He can then move that gold to station two where he makes 5 UEC/unit more. So if I bring in a load of 40000 units, we both make 200,000 more UEC. This profit comes out of the NPC station cut, so both of us benefit. So I am selling to him above market rates, but he is buying below market rates.
math fixed