Elite: Game talk

02 Sep 2016, 8:04pm
2301
Dragon DarkoAnyone know the best place to mine Praseodymium?



Any pristine metallic ring will do. If you can't find one, and you're nearby, HIP 16607 has plenty.

Cheers mate!
03 Sep 2016, 5:53am
James Hussar
K1eaner
I hear you and agree with you. Got my T6 last weekend and agreed can only play an hour or so in weekdays cause of work, been doing shallow trade runs that net not more than 250,000/-. Barely made a mil. If it's not too much trouble would you suggest some stations to go to for some of those high paying missions? Delivery/trading....anything. I'm in Carpaka: Whitney Dock right now. Stopped there as I had to close the game and hit the sack.

I've got an A-Grade T6 with all the bells and whistles, plus got a few mil to spare for buying commodities. The specs of it listed below should give you an idea of what I've got in it.

T6: https://coriolis.io/outfit/type_6_transporter/0p5taFal8das8f4--00020404040303402o01.Iw1-kA==.CwBjEZzbwZmkAmeQ




SMUGGLING:

For the smuggling (goods and data) you'd do well to head out to Robigo, Ceos and Sothis. The latter two are very close to each other, so stacking missions from both can add up on the profits if you're quick. All these systems are about 500 ly away from the bubble and offer missions to smuggle contraband goods (usually slaves (non-imperial) or data to locations back in the bubble. In some cases (usu Robigo) the missions will fail if you are scanned while attempting delivery. You need to be fast and evasive. There's strategies and tactics I've picked up over time that I'd be happy to share. I would prefer to share them with a Wing member, but I don't mind helping out a fellow Pilot in private. Evading or surviving interdiction with missions intact, and sneaky docking so station patrol don't ruin your day takes some skill and practice. Ceos and Sothis missions are more fault-tolerant, so they typically fail only on ship destruction (or running out of time), but getting scanned can still get you a salty fine for hauling contraband.

Sothis, Ceos and Robigo missions can be "stacked", so you can pile on quite a lot of profit. Once you're in good standing with the factions in these systems (always take legal, valuable cargo out there to sell and build rep) missions can pay over 1Mill/ton smuggled, and data weighs nothing. I've made runs that stack over a dozen missions, sometimes several to the same delivery location, and paid out in the 40-50Mil range. This was before the 1.6/2.1 update at which the stackability was somewhat nerfed, but even for a few million per run, it's worth it. You'll need a good smuggling ship - I've not flown a T6 so can't say if you're there already or not. I use an Asp Explorer built out for 80t cargo and long jump range (30ly) that cost me about 6 million; easily paid for in one mostly-successful run.

Sometimes, some miscreant will bomb these stations by selling Unknown Artifacts there, which shuts down station services and ruins everyone's fun until enough people show up with enough meta-alloys to fix things, so be aware that these stations may be there for you one day and then gone for a while the next.

TRADING:

For the less risky legal trading profits, I use online tools to find and research routes. Inara's Market is very handy for finding nearby opportunities - set your "search range" to a comfortable distance in your user settings and then go to the Market page and chose the station you're at now. One the right of the price sheet you'll see "Export from" and "Import to" sections. (Artie is a god among us mere mortals for making this site). Here you'll see Best Profit opportunities within the search distance you've set up for yourself. So, given you're at Whitney Dock in Carpaka, you can take Medical Diagnostic Equipment to Selous Relay | HAOKIPI, which is 43LY away - a surface post, so you'll need to have Horizons, but you can make 3k/t on the trip. If you don' thave Horizons, selling Advanced Medicines at the Amundsen Vision | TIRIKU orbital platform (Medium pad max) is the best price within 60 LY (33ly from your current location).

The "Import to" section shows you where you can go to fetch goods back to Whitney Dock in similar fashion, and you can use the Market to search for best nearby buy/sell prices for any commodity by just clicking on the commodity. This way if the station has a mission to source some commodity, you can easily know where to go and get it at best cost.

By clicking through the Import/Export a few times and keeping some notes on the side, you can find a pretty profitable "circuit" and milk it for a while, until demand/supply changes or you get bored. What I will sometimes do is find the most profitable commodity in an area (often Imperial slaves) and research the area. Right now, for example, the best Buy price on Imp Slaves(12,542) is Kepler Terminal | TAU-2 GRUIS A; a platform station, medium pad, 158.45ly from where you are, so 5 - 8 jumps for your current build, depending on whether you bring cargo or not. The best known current Sell price (17,484) is Robinson Settlement | BASSES; also a platform, so medium pad, 178LY from GRUIS A, so about 9 jumps, but the profit is nearly 5k/t. BUT - Robinson outpost data is STALE on Inara, over a week old. Also, the station seems to be 0ls from the star, which is highly unlikely. Checking other sources of info tells me Robinson is actually 15kls away from the star which is a HUGE interdiction risk with expensive cargo...

But hopefully you're getting a sense of the sort of research you can do to plan out your route and profit. Having a small, fast ship with good jump range (i.e. aforementioned smuggler asp) is good for validating the data Inara and other sites give you, and once you can see that the data is valid and the route is viable, you can bring in more of a pack mule/workhorse ship to exploit the route.

Besides Inara, I tend to use https://eddb.io/ and http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/ to check out the same routes, and if the three data sets are consistent I can risk the route without first scouting it out. EDDB is usually the most current since just a bout everyone else gets their data from there, and EDDB gets their data from players who have the ED: Market Connector tool installed. The Connector gets the station data (commodities, outfitting, shipyard) whenever and wherever you doc and sends it to EDDB for the benefit of the player community. The sites above have decent loop-finding features and will help you find opportune trades along the way to a destination also, so if you're dilivering less than a full load or relocating for a CG or another reason, you get get extra profit out of the trip.

With limited time to play, researching an optimal route may not be an options, so again, I'd say leverage the Market feature of Inara, go to popular systems whose data is pretty up to date and then use the Import/Export to find short, tight circuits, and while running those, build up rep and take sourcing/delivery missions that pay better than the commodity trades to keep from getting bored. Going to Sol can get you over 4k/t on one way jaunts (to LHS 2037 for example, 37ly, 2 jumps for you) and can likely net 500,000 for the loop with your 100 tons of cargo. Multi-million credit ships like the T-9 or Python, or even an Anaconda are between 50-150 mill, and with a few decent trade routes to mine these ships are a few weeks of grinding away - and once you've got such a cash cow, other ships become very affordable.

Joining a wing will also give you access to that group's collective experience, researched trade routes, tips and tricks, and even systems where the group manages the background simulation to optimize trading opportunities, by causing war, boom, etc states.


Thank you mate
03 Sep 2016, 5:02pm
K1eaner
James Hussar
K1eaner
I hear you and agree with you. Got my T6 last weekend and agreed can only play an hour or so in weekdays cause of work, been doing shallow trade runs that net not more than 250,000/-. Barely made a mil. If it's not too much trouble would you suggest some stations to go to for some of those high paying missions? Delivery/trading....anything. I'm in Carpaka: Whitney Dock right now. Stopped there as I had to close the game and hit the sack.

I've got an A-Grade T6 with all the bells and whistles, plus got a few mil to spare for buying commodities. The specs of it listed below should give you an idea of what I've got in it.

T6: https://coriolis.io/outfit/type_6_transporter/0p5taFal8das8f4--00020404040303402o01.Iw1-kA==.CwBjEZzbwZmkAmeQ


 
SMUGGLING:

For the smuggling (goods and data) you'd do well to head out to Robigo, Ceos and Sothis. The latter two are very close to each other, so stacking missions from both can add up on the profits if you're quick. All these systems are about 500 ly away from the bubble and offer missions to smuggle contraband goods (usually slaves (non-imperial) or data to locations back in the bubble. In some cases (usu Robigo) the missions will fail if you are scanned while attempting delivery. You need to be fast and evasive. There's strategies and tactics I've picked up over time that I'd be happy to share. I would prefer to share them with a Wing member, but I don't mind helping out a fellow Pilot in private. Evading or surviving interdiction with missions intact, and sneaky docking so station patrol don't ruin your day takes some skill and practice. Ceos and Sothis missions are more fault-tolerant, so they typically fail only on ship destruction (or running out of time), but getting scanned can still get you a salty fine for hauling contraband.

Sothis, Ceos and Robigo missions can be "stacked", so you can pile on quite a lot of profit. Once you're in good standing with the factions in these systems (always take legal, valuable cargo out there to sell and build rep) missions can pay over 1Mill/ton smuggled, and data weighs nothing. I've made runs that stack over a dozen missions, sometimes several to the same delivery location, and paid out in the 40-50Mil range. This was before the 1.6/2.1 update at which the stackability was somewhat nerfed, but even for a few million per run, it's worth it. You'll need a good smuggling ship - I've not flown a T6 so can't say if you're there already or not. I use an Asp Explorer built out for 80t cargo and long jump range (30ly) that cost me about 6 million; easily paid for in one mostly-successful run.

Sometimes, some miscreant will bomb these stations by selling Unknown Artifacts there, which shuts down station services and ruins everyone's fun until enough people show up with enough meta-alloys to fix things, so be aware that these stations may be there for you one day and then gone for a while the next.

TRADING:

For the less risky legal trading profits, I use online tools to find and research routes. Inara's Market is very handy for finding nearby opportunities - set your "search range" to a comfortable distance in your user settings and then go to the Market page and chose the station you're at now. One the right of the price sheet you'll see "Export from" and "Import to" sections. (Artie is a god among us mere mortals for making this site). Here you'll see Best Profit opportunities within the search distance you've set up for yourself. So, given you're at Whitney Dock in Carpaka, you can take Medical Diagnostic Equipment to Selous Relay | HAOKIPI, which is 43LY away - a surface post, so you'll need to have Horizons, but you can make 3k/t on the trip. If you don' thave Horizons, selling Advanced Medicines at the Amundsen Vision | TIRIKU orbital platform (Medium pad max) is the best price within 60 LY (33ly from your current location).

The "Import to" section shows you where you can go to fetch goods back to Whitney Dock in similar fashion, and you can use the Market to search for best nearby buy/sell prices for any commodity by just clicking on the commodity. This way if the station has a mission to source some commodity, you can easily know where to go and get it at best cost.

By clicking through the Import/Export a few times and keeping some notes on the side, you can find a pretty profitable "circuit" and milk it for a while, until demand/supply changes or you get bored. What I will sometimes do is find the most profitable commodity in an area (often Imperial slaves) and research the area. Right now, for example, the best Buy price on Imp Slaves(12,542) is Kepler Terminal | TAU-2 GRUIS A; a platform station, medium pad, 158.45ly from where you are, so 5 - 8 jumps for your current build, depending on whether you bring cargo or not. The best known current Sell price (17,484) is Robinson Settlement | BASSES; also a platform, so medium pad, 178LY from GRUIS A, so about 9 jumps, but the profit is nearly 5k/t. BUT - Robinson outpost data is STALE on Inara, over a week old. Also, the station seems to be 0ls from the star, which is highly unlikely. Checking other sources of info tells me Robinson is actually 15kls away from the star which is a HUGE interdiction risk with expensive cargo...

But hopefully you're getting a sense of the sort of research you can do to plan out your route and profit. Having a small, fast ship with good jump range (i.e. aforementioned smuggler asp) is good for validating the data Inara and other sites give you, and once you can see that the data is valid and the route is viable, you can bring in more of a pack mule/workhorse ship to exploit the route.

Besides Inara, I tend to use https://eddb.io/ and http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/ to check out the same routes, and if the three data sets are consistent I can risk the route without first scouting it out. EDDB is usually the most current since just a bout everyone else gets their data from there, and EDDB gets their data from players who have the ED: Market Connector tool installed. The Connector gets the station data (commodities, outfitting, shipyard) whenever and wherever you doc and sends it to EDDB for the benefit of the player community. The sites above have decent loop-finding features and will help you find opportune trades along the way to a destination also, so if you're dilivering less than a full load or relocating for a CG or another reason, you get get extra profit out of the trip.

With limited time to play, researching an optimal route may not be an options, so again, I'd say leverage the Market feature of Inara, go to popular systems whose data is pretty up to date and then use the Import/Export to find short, tight circuits, and while running those, build up rep and take sourcing/delivery missions that pay better than the commodity trades to keep from getting bored. Going to Sol can get you over 4k/t on one way jaunts (to LHS 2037 for example, 37ly, 2 jumps for you) and can likely net 500,000 for the loop with your 100 tons of cargo. Multi-million credit ships like the T-9 or Python, or even an Anaconda are between 50-150 mill, and with a few decent trade routes to mine these ships are a few weeks of grinding away - and once you've got such a cash cow, other ships become very affordable.

Joining a wing will also give you access to that group's collective experience, researched trade routes, tips and tricks, and even systems where the group manages the background simulation to optimize trading opportunities, by causing war, boom, etc states.



Thank you mate


Worth noting that the smuggling missions are no longer fail on scan. Your mission bonus is reduced if you get scanned but you are still able to complete the missions. Each time you get scanned the bonus drops a bit more.

Smuggling doesn't hold nearly the same excitement levels as it used to.

For straightforward credit earning, head to Sothis and Ceos, grind your rep up with all the local factions (which really doesn't take long due to the close proximity of the systems and the large number of data missions to run between them) and then high paying haulage missions will appear.

Stack these long range haulage missions back to the bubble - you can afford to be choosy with something like a T6 - go for the lower amount of cargo missions, they give you more credits per tonne. The mission deliveries will almost always be in an area of the bubble where all of the drop off points are no more than 40LY apart so dropping off isn't too bad, just time consuming with all those dock/undocks.

Seeing as you're flying a T6 - don't forget about Sothis Mining as well as you can land on medium platforms.

Also worth remembering - it's not necessarily A-spec you want for hauling. You may be better D rating some components in an effort to drop weight and increase jump range. Trust me, the less jumps back to the bubble, the better!
03 Sep 2016, 6:46pm
Random question, but does the Python make for a good armed trade vessel? I know it can carry more than a Type 7 but I have also heard that its jump range is awful. I went from a Type 6 to a Keelback back to a Type 6,and now after that CG in Morai, I'm trading in an Asp Explorer,which so far I think was worth the sacrafice of 4 tons...If all goes well with this current CG in LFT 133, I may have enough to consider a Python...which if anyone can suggest how much I should have in my account to equip one for trade, I appreciate it.

I find myself trading in Open Play a lot more which, without Horizons DLC is probably dumb since the new engineers mods will make my vanilla ships moot...but I think thats why I keep searching for a survivable trader...Although I still have my T-6 which can probably run away fast enough I should just stick with that...
03 Sep 2016, 6:57pm
Woodbane[quote=K1eaner][quote=James Hussar][quote=K1eaner]

Worth noting that the smuggling missions are no longer fail on scan. Your mission bonus is reduced if you get scanned but you are still able to complete the missions. Each time you get scanned the bonus drops a bit more.

Smuggling doesn't hold nearly the same excitement levels as it used to.

For straightforward credit earning, head to Sothis and Ceos, grind your rep up with all the local factions (which really doesn't take long due to the close proximity of the systems and the large number of data missions to run between them) and then high paying haulage missions will appear.

Stack these long range haulage missions back to the bubble - you can afford to be choosy with something like a T6 - go for the lower amount of cargo missions, they give you more credits per tonne. The mission deliveries will almost always be in an area of the bubble where all of the drop off points are no more than 40LY apart so dropping off isn't too bad, just time consuming with all those dock/undocks.

Seeing as you're flying a T6 - don't forget about Sothis Mining as well as you can land on medium platforms.

Also worth remembering - it's not necessarily A-spec you want for hauling. You may be better D rating some components in an effort to drop weight and increase jump range. Trust me, the less jumps back to the bubble, the better!


The thing is I sold the T6 like an hour ago and got an Asp explorer (A grade). Can't upload the specs as of now, but getting it to be at near 30Ly jump range so taht I can minimize the time for travel, added a big fuel scoop and an extra fuel tank for longer jumps without worrying about fuel.
03 Sep 2016, 7:45pm
Zomb LeeRandom question, but does the Python make for a good armed trade vessel? I know it can carry more than a Type 7 but I have also heard that its jump range is awful. I went from a Type 6 to a Keelback back to a Type 6,and now after that CG in Morai, I'm trading in an Asp Explorer,which so far I think was worth the sacrafice of 4 tons...If all goes well with this current CG in LFT 133, I may have enough to consider a Python...which if anyone can suggest how much I should have in my account to equip one for trade, I appreciate it.

I find myself trading in Open Play a lot more which, without Horizons DLC is probably dumb since the new engineers mods will make my vanilla ships moot...but I think thats why I keep searching for a survivable trader...Although I still have my T-6 which can probably run away fast enough I should just stick with that...


Python is excellent armed trading ship i've used it for quite a while
03 Sep 2016, 9:11pm
Zomb LeeRandom question, but does the Python make for a good armed trade vessel? I know it can carry more than a Type 7 but I have also heard that its jump range is awful. I went from a Type 6 to a Keelback back to a Type 6,and now after that CG in Morai, I'm trading in an Asp Explorer,which so far I think was worth the sacrafice of 4 tons...If all goes well with this current CG in LFT 133, I may have enough to consider a Python...which if anyone can suggest how much I should have in my account to equip one for trade, I appreciate it.

I find myself trading in Open Play a lot more which, without Horizons DLC is probably dumb since the new engineers mods will make my vanilla ships moot...but I think thats why I keep searching for a survivable trader...Although I still have my T-6 which can probably run away fast enough I should just stick with that...


It's very, very good. Yes, the jump range is crap, but if you have a profitable route, it's worth the extra few jumps for the peace of mind being able to hold your own against nearly everything can bring.
03 Sep 2016, 9:59pm
James Hussar
Zomb LeeRandom question, but does the Python make for a good armed trade vessel? I know it can carry more than a Type 7 but I have also heard that its jump range is awful. I went from a Type 6 to a Keelback back to a Type 6,and now after that CG in Morai, I'm trading in an Asp Explorer,which so far I think was worth the sacrafice of 4 tons...If all goes well with this current CG in LFT 133, I may have enough to consider a Python...which if anyone can suggest how much I should have in my account to equip one for trade, I appreciate it.

I find myself trading in Open Play a lot more which, without Horizons DLC is probably dumb since the new engineers mods will make my vanilla ships moot...but I think thats why I keep searching for a survivable trader...Although I still have my T-6 which can probably run away fast enough I should just stick with that...



It's very, very good. Yes, the jump range is crap, but if you have a profitable route, it's worth the extra few jumps for the peace of mind being able to hold your own against nearly everything can bring.


The Python is an excellant Armed Trader for medium range trading.... With a 224te cargo capacity  you get a 13.46 ly jump range .... 17.82 empty with a full tank of gas.
An armed A rated Python will cost you 170 million with a buy back of of 8.3 million ...but you can go D rated and work up.
The best thing about the Python is its ability to visit and trade at Outposts [medium pads]  Goes to places the big boys can't.

Also makes a great Miner.....


Last edit: 03 Sep 2016, 10:16pm
03 Sep 2016, 10:47pm
K1eaner
Peregrinus19
OzramSo, borrowed this image from the CG thread:
[img=1366x768]http://i.imgur.com/N8c0ldr.jpg[/img]
For your consideration.




Just as an F.Y.I.
For the "More Imperial Warships" CG
Tier 7
TOP 75% (current payout of 43,243,200credits at the end of the CG ) = 42t to 56t



Hello Peregrinus19,

How do you calculate that? I've contributed 306 already. How many more do I need to do to get into the top 50%?


Hello K1eaner,
Sorry for the late reply, I have been away from ED for a few days (darn RL )
Anyways the "calculation" I did was selling the cargo in small batches & waiting for the game to update 2 to 5 min on a good day (up to 25 min on really bad day for ED servers)
I write down what TOP % I have entered or left & at what amount of contribution it took for me to enter or leave.

Then I share my info to help out others

Zomb Lee
Peregrinus19


Just as an F.Y.I.
For the "More Imperial Warships" CG
Tier 7
TOP 75% (current payout of 43,243,200credits at the end of the CG ) = 42t to 56t



Wait, so I just dropped off 200 tons of Tantalum in the last few runs, does that mean I'm considered to be in the Top 75% and will receive 43 mil?! Or do we have to keep contributing, lest we be knocked off the board?

Hello Zomb Lee,
Sorry for the late reply, I have been away from ED for a few days (darn RL )
For the time you wrote that I belive so yes, however as a general rule with the CGs (Community Goals) it is a good idea to keep contibuting to the CG.

... especially if it get popular & more CMDRs start contributing to it (and in the ealy hours/days of the CG just starting), the contribution amounts that get you into certain TOP % levels will change as the CG progresses.
04 Sep 2016, 1:57am
Ashpoker
Python is excellent armed trading ship i've used it for quite a while


James Hussar
It's very, very good. Yes, the jump range is crap, but if you have a profitable route, it's worth the extra few jumps for the peace of mind being able to hold your own against nearly everything can bring.


Hachiman
James Hussar
It's very, very good. Yes, the jump range is crap, but if you have a profitable route, it's worth the extra few jumps for the peace of mind being able to hold your own against nearly everything can bring.



The Python is an excellant Armed Trader for medium range trading.... With a 224te cargo capacity  you get a 13.46 ly jump range .... 17.82 empty with a full tank of gas.
An armed A rated Python will cost you 170 million with a buy back of of 8.3 million ...but you can go D rated and work up.
The best thing about the Python is its ability to visit and trade at Outposts [medium pads]  Goes to places the big boys can't.

Also makes a great Miner.....


Wow, thanks everyone, I appreciate the information! Sounds like that's my next logical step, then. My T-6 has about 18 ly jump range when it's loaded down, so to pull over 200 tons while having such an excellent vessel sounds well worth the trade off, especially since I have been considering mining as well, to supplement the times when I don't want combat but don't really want to run trade routes.

I'll probably run less cargo racks than optimal and replace the empty space with hull structure reinforcements or leave them empty for the added jump range, but anything around 200 tons is more than I could hope for, especially with the ability to fight and still land on outposts. D rating for sure, as 170 million is well beyond me. By about 100 million, lol.
04 Sep 2016, 10:39am
The Python is perfect for trading and ficghting
160 cargo hold also Engineeering modded to grade 5.current jump range is 27 L7

greetings from the Asgard
04 Sep 2016, 10:42am
P.S i did have it to 28 Ly but tryed to get that little bit more and ran out of rares(dataminedwake)
05 Sep 2016, 7:21am
BilisknerThe Python is perfect for trading and ficghting
160 cargo hold also Engineeering modded to grade 5.current jump range is 27 L7

greetings from the Asgard
....

P.S i did have it to 28 Ly but tryed to get that little bit more and ran out of rares(dataminedwake)


Thank you for the info! Wow, all I have heard is wonderful things about the Python, it's a real shame I pretty much ignored them up until now. The Gold in LFT 133 Community Goal put me around 65+ million credits total, and I was half-heartedly crunching the numbers and adding the funds from selling off my fleet to afford it, and even then it still seems like I need a lot more cushion in the bank.

Looks like I have some more trading to do before I can get into a Python, but at least I have a very clear goal now.
05 Sep 2016, 7:27am
Zomb Lee
BilisknerThe Python is perfect for trading and ficghting
160 cargo hold also Engineeering modded to grade 5.current jump range is 27 Ly

greetings from the Asgard
....

P.S i did have it to 28 Ly but tryed to get that little bit more and ran out of rares(dataminedwake)



Thank you for the info! Wow, all I have heard is wonderful things about the Python, it's a real shame I pretty much ignored them up until now. The Gold in LFT 133 Community Goal put me around 65+ million credits total, and I was half-heartedly crunching the numbers and adding the funds from selling off my fleet to afford it, and even then it still seems like I need a lot more cushion in the bank.

Looks like I have some more trading to do before I can get into a Python, but at least I have a very clear goal now.


If you are going to upgrade the bulkheads start thinking 100M upwards
06 Sep 2016, 2:01am
I had a 100m in the bank, so i bought a Python and kitted it out for a combat trader. What I found was that it was terrifying taking it out because I did not have enough rebuy buffer, so I sold it. Too much ship too soon. I'm going to wait until I have 250M in the bank and then get another one.

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