Hey all,
I was wondering if you all had any favorite traderoutes you might want to share.
Since I asked, I start off with a few of mine. I use a Freelancer MAX, but Connies, Freelancers, or even Cutlasses can run these as well. Just remember that your profits won't be as high.
1) Simple, but Trade Diamonds between Tram and Meyers on Cellin and Grim Hex. If you have a medium sized ship like the MAX or even a smaller large ship like the Connie, this can make decent cash. 18k for each round trip or so with a MAX.
You need at least 70k to fill your cargo hold.'
2) little more complex (3-4 jumps)
Start and end at Port O.
Agricultural supplies (12k) to Terra Mills or Gallete farms on Cellin. Profits from this pay for your entire run (repairs/Refuel/etc) About 1.8k profit give or take.
Buy Distilled Spirits (50k), First choice - run to Deakins or Hickes and sell 9-10k profit. Second choice, go to one of the Crusader stations (L1 and L4 are best) and sell (10k profit).
If you go to Deakins, buy stims and either go back to Port O to sell and repeat, or head to an Lx Station to buy Scrap.
If you went to an Lx station, buy Scrap and go back to Port O and sell there. about 3.6k profit. With repair and other costs, this gets you around 14k profit. It's less than the diamond run, but it also has a max funds needed of 50k vs 70k. Depending on how much you are willing to risk, this means you only need a total stash of 100-200k vs 140-280k. Try not to risk more than half, and a quarter of your funds is even better.
Now, you can also mix in a little medical supplies, but they are heavily over-traded. I would not carry more than 50 SCU of medical and 50 of Stims to anywhere but a major port. As a reminder, Port O does not buy medical supplies. Loreville buys them for a lot, but only 20 scu at a time and there is a 6-12 minute reset for that.
Finally, you can add in other destinations like mining outposts. Most outposts seem to buy a lot of spirits, but there seem to be more outposts with limits on stims and med supplies. If you do it that way, you can add in things like Fluorine, or even diamond to your route, which are more profitable than scrap.
If you are comfortable with landing at Area 18, there are some mineral runs that make a nice profit, but you have a lot of time getting to and from orbit, plus the whole landing issue. Note: Hydrogen fuel is the biggest fuel cost, so going up and down out of ArcCorp's or Loreville's atmosphere can really add up. In a MAX, I usually spend about 6-800 UEC to top of the last quarter of my hydrogen fuel tank.
Finally, you are in the middle of your trade run and you find yourself on a server where people are doing pad ramming at Port O, a nice secondary destination is Levski. They buy for almost as much and all their hangars are nice and big. Don't be fooled though. Even though you see NPCs in the hangar without helmets, there is no atmosphere there. Keep your helmet on at all times.
now, as with any trading, there is risk. Someone in a Caterpillar may have come by 5 minutes before you got there. That means you may not be able to buy or sell any amount of cargo for a long time. Fortunately for you, Grim Hex buys almost everything so you can always to there to unload or switch to a different ship.
Some of the stations I mentions are not armistice zones. You can be at real risk going to some of these. For those, keep alert and be ready to hide or defend yourself.
There are a lot of good trading websites out there, with some that have great tools for suggesting routes, while others let you find your own routes. Don't be afraid to take risks and go to new outposts. You might just find a hidden gem.
If you've made it this far, tell us some of your routes.
I was wondering if you all had any favorite traderoutes you might want to share.
Since I asked, I start off with a few of mine. I use a Freelancer MAX, but Connies, Freelancers, or even Cutlasses can run these as well. Just remember that your profits won't be as high.
1) Simple, but Trade Diamonds between Tram and Meyers on Cellin and Grim Hex. If you have a medium sized ship like the MAX or even a smaller large ship like the Connie, this can make decent cash. 18k for each round trip or so with a MAX.
You need at least 70k to fill your cargo hold.'
2) little more complex (3-4 jumps)
Start and end at Port O.
Agricultural supplies (12k) to Terra Mills or Gallete farms on Cellin. Profits from this pay for your entire run (repairs/Refuel/etc) About 1.8k profit give or take.
Buy Distilled Spirits (50k), First choice - run to Deakins or Hickes and sell 9-10k profit. Second choice, go to one of the Crusader stations (L1 and L4 are best) and sell (10k profit).
If you go to Deakins, buy stims and either go back to Port O to sell and repeat, or head to an Lx Station to buy Scrap.
If you went to an Lx station, buy Scrap and go back to Port O and sell there. about 3.6k profit. With repair and other costs, this gets you around 14k profit. It's less than the diamond run, but it also has a max funds needed of 50k vs 70k. Depending on how much you are willing to risk, this means you only need a total stash of 100-200k vs 140-280k. Try not to risk more than half, and a quarter of your funds is even better.
Now, you can also mix in a little medical supplies, but they are heavily over-traded. I would not carry more than 50 SCU of medical and 50 of Stims to anywhere but a major port. As a reminder, Port O does not buy medical supplies. Loreville buys them for a lot, but only 20 scu at a time and there is a 6-12 minute reset for that.
Finally, you can add in other destinations like mining outposts. Most outposts seem to buy a lot of spirits, but there seem to be more outposts with limits on stims and med supplies. If you do it that way, you can add in things like Fluorine, or even diamond to your route, which are more profitable than scrap.
If you are comfortable with landing at Area 18, there are some mineral runs that make a nice profit, but you have a lot of time getting to and from orbit, plus the whole landing issue. Note: Hydrogen fuel is the biggest fuel cost, so going up and down out of ArcCorp's or Loreville's atmosphere can really add up. In a MAX, I usually spend about 6-800 UEC to top of the last quarter of my hydrogen fuel tank.
Finally, you are in the middle of your trade run and you find yourself on a server where people are doing pad ramming at Port O, a nice secondary destination is Levski. They buy for almost as much and all their hangars are nice and big. Don't be fooled though. Even though you see NPCs in the hangar without helmets, there is no atmosphere there. Keep your helmet on at all times.
now, as with any trading, there is risk. Someone in a Caterpillar may have come by 5 minutes before you got there. That means you may not be able to buy or sell any amount of cargo for a long time. Fortunately for you, Grim Hex buys almost everything so you can always to there to unload or switch to a different ship.
Some of the stations I mentions are not armistice zones. You can be at real risk going to some of these. For those, keep alert and be ready to hide or defend yourself.
There are a lot of good trading websites out there, with some that have great tools for suggesting routes, while others let you find your own routes. Don't be afraid to take risks and go to new outposts. You might just find a hidden gem.
If you've made it this far, tell us some of your routes.
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