For all you cargo haulers or wanna be cargo haulers

[Steel_Monkey]

I'm always looking for some new routes so I'll share some of mine...

Low money or starting off...
Levski running Hydrogen to CRUL5
CRUL5 running Scrap to Levski

If you have money
Titanium from either base on Ariel to Lorville

If you have lots of money
Same run as above but Laranite

How about you?

 

[Schmunkel]

Got this from PeppaPigKilla in this thread:

PO - > Terra Mills HydroFarm (agriculture, shit profit but starts the run)

Terra Mills Hydrofarm -> R&R CRU-L4 ( distilled spirits )

R&R CRU-L4 -> PO ( scrap)

Rinse - Repeat

 

[Steel_Monkey]

I'm curious, anyone doing multi leg runs vs back and forth? Like 3 or 4 hops?

 

[Vavrik]

I'm curious, anyone doing multi leg runs vs back and forth? Like 3 or 4 hops?

I do that regularly but I don't have a set route, and I don't have a "take this... to there" route. Problem is I can't remember what I take, kind of depends where I am to start and where I'm heading. My motivation is mostly that I don't want to get bored playing SC. It's possible to double your money every say 4-6 hours, up until your largest ship is full of Laranite, and you can absorb a total loss with a shrug.

 

[Cherokeedog]

Just like Vavrik described, I also do runs with multiple hops only to take a stroll through the system and have a reason to do it. I basically open up a trading sheet I found online, see who sells what and who buys what and set my next destination. I do that with small cargo ships, usually a Freelancer. Not a lot of profit, but it doesn't matter.

For an actual profit, I use larger ships and only on short runs, because the cargo costs a lot and a crash or a bug may leave me a poor man. So I do either Astatine from Ita to Loreville with a Cat (about 100k profit), or Laranite from Arial to Lorville with a Constellation (around 50k profit). No point takin' a Cat for Laranite because the shop is always short on product to sell (also it would take about 1.5M to fill one up).

There are other profitable products out there, but I found that they always sell in short batches, which basically affects your profit by heavily enlarging your time for the whole operation. That's why I quit also running drugs, the problem with them being at the other end: the console only buys them in small batches (15min to bring them in, 3h to get rid of them).

 

[Vavrik]

There are other profitable products out there, but I found that they always sell in short batches, which basically affects your profit by heavily enlarging your time for the whole operation. That's why I quit also running drugs, the problem with them being at the other end: the console only buys them in small batches (15min to bring them in, 3h to get rid of them).

Exactly, and you can make more profit with that ship by running legal trade in the 3 hours.

BTW yesterday using a Freelancer Max, I found ArcCorp 53 56 (Edited: keyboard must have moved) had not been visited for a while... It had enough Laranite that I filled 75% of a Freelancer Max with it. No idea what the profit was, I was still in shock at so many things (no game crash, no interdiction, landing pad at Area 18 worked) I forgot to look.

 

[stockish]

I have just been filling up on what I can at Port Olisar for now and going to either R&R CRU-L5 or Lorville and then bringing a full load of scrap back to PO, I am sure I could make a more effective route, but making ~20k UEC from scrap isn't terrible with a full Caterpillar.

 

[Radegast74]

I have just been filling up on what I can at Port Olisar for now and going to either R&R CRU-L5 or Lorville and then bringing a full load of scrap back to PO, I am sure I could make a more effective route, but making ~20k UEC from scrap isn't terrible with a full Caterpillar.

Scrap is the new WiDoW!

Same, I got tired of running Laranite from Wala, so I started doing scrap runs from various R&R's to PO. I can make $14k per run in my Starfarer, or 28k when using a Cat. So far, no problems with any asshats at PO, and it is nice to just run in and sell, not have to take a train or tram to the city, and then leave atmosphere.

Of course, everything is supposed to change in 3.8, no more PO, right?

 

[Vavrik]

Scrap is the new WiDoW!

Same, I got tired of running Laranite from Wala, so I started doing scrap runs from various R&R's to PO. I can make $14k per run in my Starfarer, or 28k when using a Cat. So far, no problems with any asshats at PO, and it is nice to just run in and sell, not have to take a train or tram to the city, and then leave atmosphere.

Of course, everything is supposed to change in 3.8, no more PO, right?

Those trains and planetary atmospheres are certainly a very large PITA. I get the atmosphere though, it's more realistic than it used to be - but I do not get forcing us to take one of those trains into the city just to have an automatic system empty your cargo hold 13.9 Km away. It does not add to the gameplay, and it does not make me want to visit shops and spend money, or admire the architecture yet again. But fortunately (I hope) this is just for working out game play mechanics.

 

[Bambooza]

I'm still doing the HDMS-Woodruff to Port Olisar shipping Astatine in a StarFarer nets 45k profit or just over 3k a minute, I'm sure a Caterpillar would be even more profitable as it doesn't seem to price flux much nor have caps on the supply or demand.

 

[Bambooza]

Those trains and planetary atmospheres are certainly a very large PITA. I get the atmosphere though, it's more realistic than it used to be - but I do not get forcing us to take one of those trains into the city just to have an automatic system empty your cargo hold 13.9 Km away. It does not add to the gameplay, and it does not make me want to visit shops and spend money, or admire the architecture yet again. But fortunately (I hope) this is just for working out game play mechanics.

They said in 3.8 or 3.9 that most of the planets will have trade hubs stations so you will not have to go to the planet to buy and sell goods.

 

[Vavrik]

They said in 3.8 or 3.9 that most of the planets will have trade hubs stations so you will not have to go to the planet to buy and sell goods.

yeah... but I'm not going to hold my breath till it actually happens. But there is a series of game play loops that is possible once the larger cargo ships that don't look like it'll be profitable (or even possible) to land on a planet are in the game. Imagine a Hull E arriving in planetary orbit. My feeling is it's going to depend on smaller ships like the Freelancer series, and even the Caterpillar and whatnot to get to a moon or planetary surface to do trade transactions. Then the whole kit and kaboodle can move as fleet to their next target market. Handled correctly, which just means everyone doing their part, such a fleet would even be able to provide funds for escort fighters, without even trying.
- THIS- is some of the gameplay I'm waiting for.

 

[stockish]

Those trains and planetary atmospheres are certainly a very large PITA. I get the atmosphere though, it's more realistic than it used to be - but I do not get forcing us to take one of those trains into the city just to have an automatic system empty your cargo hold 13.9 Km away. It does not add to the gameplay, and it does not make me want to visit shops and spend money, or admire the architecture yet again. But fortunately (I hope) this is just for working out game play mechanics.

This is why I kind of wish there were trade kiosks in the hangars, or the main trade areas had landing pads which you would be close to while on a planet and you could choose to land in the trade area or main location depending on your visit.

 

[maynard]

Those trains and planetary atmospheres are certainly a very large PITA. I get the atmosphere though, it's more realistic than it used to be - but I do not get forcing us to take one of those trains into the city just to have an automatic system empty your cargo hold 13.9 Km away. It does not add to the gameplay, and it does not make me want to visit shops and spend money, or admire the architecture yet again. But fortunately (I hope) this is just for working out game play mechanics.

900 years in the future I would expect to sell my shit just by thinking about it

but seriously folks, it's not realistic gameplay if a load of scrap is profitable after calculating the energy cost of escaping a planet's gravity well

goods should move between planets and orbital stations on space elevators or the 2949 equivalent

manufacturing of goods from materials sourced off-planet would happen in orbit, with only finished products going down the gravity well

we should be selling and buying as we approach, dock at an orbital station, unload , load, and be off again

 

[FZD]

My trade runs tend to go like this:
Make money running random routes.
Make lots of money with bigger hauls.
Make LOTS of money with full hauls.
Decide to mix it up a bit, go to a drug lab.
Fill starfarer full of drugs.
Go to GrimHex to sell.
Sell some of them, shop inventory full.
Switch server.
Realize the starfarer inventory became unavailable for GrimHex kiosk and starfarer can't be spawned in GrimHex.
Start over.

 

[Esctasy]

Don't forget diamonds! They are shinny and pretty, but most important they almost never vary in price (not sure why). Oh and they generate the highest profit/cargo space out of all the legal stuff. I stay away from Drugs and Laranite as both always cap me around 400k making Titanium & Astatine more attractive.

err, not the highest profit/cargo but the highest profit per spent aUEC.

 

[Bambooza]

yeah... but I'm not going to hold my breath till it actually happens. But there is a series of game play loops that is possible once the larger cargo ships that don't look like it'll be profitable (or even possible) to land on a planet are in the game. Imagine a Hull E arriving in planetary orbit. My feeling is it's going to depend on smaller ships like the Freelancer series, and even the Caterpillar and whatnot to get to a moon or planetary surface to do trade transactions. Then the whole kit and kaboodle can move as fleet to their next target market. Handled correctly, which just means everyone doing their part, such a fleet would even be able to provide funds for escort fighters, without even trying.
- THIS- is some of the gameplay I'm waiting for.

Not sure you'll need the whole fleet to effectively do trades. But you are right Tony has already said that the hull coming into a trace station orbiting a planet and offloading its cargo will spawn missions to ship that cargo to the orbiting moons and planet centers in need of that cargo type. That this opens up opportunities for traders in smaller slower QT ships to make a profit on short-haul trips.

 

[Cherokeedog]

I don't get the Hull series. All that cargo out in the open makes me nervous. They're like huge space pinatas.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

I was taking a load of scrap in my Starfarer to Olisar and it stopped being able to turn. Nearly had kittens and it's only 14k profit or a 39k loss.

Did the MobiGlas, got in the seat and out the seat, none of the pilot Inner Thought buttons were working at this point so I got out, threw myself into the cargo bay as stairs are for squares when you can just throw yourself over a railing, hurt my ankle and opened the back door and closed it again. Went back to the pilots seat as some things physics does not allow, and was able to turn the power off and on again. Ship suddenly fully responsive, get to Olly, sell scrap.

I was contemplating having to quit out or hit the self destruct and swallow the loss. Glad I didn't have to.

I'm really hoping the 'Farer gets those swap-outable cargo pods for when I don't feel like going fuel finding. I also hope one day we can swap the tanks out for 6 MOAB's (Mother Of All Bombs) turning the 'Farer into the heaviest bomber in the game.

 

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

I'm still doing the HDMS-Woodruff to Port Olisar shipping Astatine in a StarFarer nets 45k profit or just over 3k a minute, I'm sure a Caterpillar would be even more profitable as it doesn't seem to price flux much nor have caps on the supply or demand.

Because of you, I tried the route myself in a CAT and it's great. Real smooth, straight forward and quick. Thank you.