Elite: Dangerous. I broke down.

[JudgeDredd]

I'll give them a go and see how they pan out.

Yskonyn - you know we were talking about me losing money last nigh? Prime example - I saw 3 chemical containers floating around and thought "What the hell". I picked them up and flew to a station - no black market. I took off and flew to another one. Sold them on the black market. 20cr each!!!

Worse than that was the 100cr fine. So I lost 40cr just on that wee incident.

What was annoying about that was at no point was I scanned. I flew into and out of the stations at over 200 - not scanned once and yet I still had a fine.

I'm done picking up goods until it's fixed changed...however you want to put it.

[GDS_Starfury]

JD didnt chose the thug life...

[JudgeDredd]

I wanted to be a trader. Unfortunately - I'm finding it painfully slow and I am often losing money. Maybe I'm expecting too much from it. Maybe I should be expecting to go far. Maybe I should even rtfm to garner an idea of the different systems and where I might likely sell goods instead of buying at A, flying to B and not being able to sell, flying to C and selling at a loss...etc, etc, etc.

It is my lack of understanding and investigation that causing my frustration and causing me to lose money. I've only got myself to blame. 

[republic]

I wanted to be a trader. Unfortunately - I'm finding it painfully slow and I am often losing money. Maybe I'm expecting too much from it. Maybe I should be expecting to go far. Maybe I should even rtfm to garner an idea of the different systems and where I might likely sell goods instead of buying at A, flying to B and not being able to sell, flying to C and selling at a loss...etc, etc, etc.

It is my lack of understanding and investigation that causing my frustration and causing me to lose money. I've only got myself to blame. 

When you stop at a port and look at the commodities, you'll see on the right where its imported or exported from.  If you don't want to use the trading tools, that import/export info is your best bet to find a profitable trade.  Of course the more expensive the item the more profit to be gained, but you may need to start just making 100 credits per ton ferrying animal meat.

One thing I did in the beginning was take a screenshot of the prices because prices vary even station to station within a system.  You can sometimes find some low profit per ton routes even within a system.

Another option would be to take up mining.  Its pure profit, and if you find a source of Platinum, you'll be rolling in the dough.

[Jarhead0331]

I don't understand why some people always try to swim upstream?

[jomni]

^I've been doing that.   I look at what has oversupply in the base and buy it, then fly elsewhere.  Big chance of turning a profit. But not the optimal / maximum income that you can get out of it unless you purposely go to somewhere which has so much demand for your goods.  But I don't have money to trade big ticket stuff.  So margins are small now.  I really need to hunt down bad guys.

BTW, how do I get stuff floating in space?  Came across some valuable stuff.

[JudgeDredd]

I don't understand why some people always try to swim upstream?

I seldom make things easy for myself - I've been with the same woman for 26 years  it's how I roll 

[Jarhead0331]

I don't understand why some people always try to swim upstream?

I seldom make things easy for myself - I've been with the same woman for 26 years  it's how I roll 

LoL!!! She is probably saying to herself the very same thing. 

[Jarhead0331]

^I've been doing that.   I look at what has oversupply in the base and buy it, then fly elsewhere.  Big chance of turning a profit. But not the optimal / maximum income that you can get out of it unless you purposely go to somewhere which has so much demand for your goods.  But I don't have money to trade big ticket stuff.  So margins are small now.  I really need to hunt down bad guys.

BTW, how do I get stuff floating in space?  Came across some valuable stuff.

For the 12th and final time DO NOT PICK UP CARGO FLOATING IN SPACE. It is not worth the risk and it will ALWAYS END UP COSTING YOU MONEY. It's like gambling. THe house ALWAYS wins in the end.

That being said, to pick up cargo, you have to open your cargo scoop and align the object in the target scanner on the left mfd and slowly fly into the object.

I understand that the allure of free stuff is almost Irresistible to some of you, but trust me, it ends up having a hefty price. I won't say that the way it currently works in the game is broken, but it should be changed how space cargo is categorized and viewed by law enforcement. Until it is changed, just don't do it!

[Great Ajax]

If you are in an anarchy system with a black market on an outside docking platform, it can be worth it.  I use the Tuan Orbital in Potriti regularly to sell stolen cargo.  Those are the only type systems that I would attempt this.

Trey

^I've been doing that.   I look at what has oversupply in the base and buy it, then fly elsewhere.  Big chance of turning a profit. But not the optimal / maximum income that you can get out of it unless you purposely go to somewhere which has so much demand for your goods.  But I don't have money to trade big ticket stuff.  So margins are small now.  I really need to hunt down bad guys.

BTW, how do I get stuff floating in space?  Came across some valuable stuff.

For the 12th and final time DO NOT PICK UP CARGO FLOATING IN SPACE. It is not worth the risk and it will ALWAYS END UP COSTING YOU MONEY. It's like gambling. He house ALWAYS wins in the end.

That being said, to pick up cargo, you have to open your cargo scope and align the object in the target scanner on the left mfd and slowly fly into the object.

I understand that the allure of free stuff is almost Irresistible to some of you, but trust me, it ends up having a hefty price.

[Yskonyn]

^I've been doing that.   I look at what has oversupply in the base and buy it, then fly elsewhere.  Big chance of turning a profit. But not the optimal / maximum income that you can get out of it unless you purposely go to somewhere which has so much demand for your goods.  But I don't have money to trade big ticket stuff.  So margins are small now.  I really need to hunt down bad guys.

BTW, how do I get stuff floating in space?  Came across some valuable stuff.

For the 12th and final time DO NOT PICK UP CARGO FLOATING IN SPACE. It is not worth the risk and it will ALWAYS END UP COSTING YOU MONEY. It's like gambling. He house ALWAYS wins in the end.

I disagree! ;) But you shouldn't be doing it the Jarheads way! Lol!
You need to carefully pick an Anarchy system with an outpost where you can land outside on a pad instead of inside a station.

Scan for feds. They have patrol orbits around the station and once you see a gap, quickly fly in high speed (full power to engines) and land asap.

I have made several successful deliveries this way netting 20k per cargo unit every time in my Sidewinder.
Thats on par with bounty hunting, but far less work involved.

Just stay away from the low grade stuff like scrap and waste.
But art, mineral containers, etc might very well be worth it. Especially if you have a delivery point nearby.


.

[Jarhead0331]

^I've been doing that.   I look at what has oversupply in the base and buy it, then fly elsewhere.  Big chance of turning a profit. But not the optimal / maximum income that you can get out of it unless you purposely go to somewhere which has so much demand for your goods.  But I don't have money to trade big ticket stuff.  So margins are small now.  I really need to hunt down bad guys.

BTW, how do I get stuff floating in space?  Came across some valuable stuff.

For the 12th and final time DO NOT PICK UP CARGO FLOATING IN SPACE. It is not worth the risk and it will ALWAYS END UP COSTING YOU MONEY. It's like gambling. He house ALWAYS wins in the end.

I disagree! ;) But you shouldn't be doing it the Jarheads way! Lol!
You need to carefully pick an Anarchy system with an outpost where you can land outside on a pad instead of inside a station.

Scan for feds. They have patrol orbits around the station and once you see a gap, quickly fly in high speed (full power to engines) and land asap.

I have made several successful deliveries this way netting 20k per cargo unit every time in my Sidewinder.
Thats on par with bounty hunting, but far less work involved.

Just stay away from the low grade stuff like scrap and waste.
But art, mineral containers, etc might very well be worth it. Especially if you have a delivery point nearby.


.

If you think 20k justifies the risk, be my guest. We are talking about new pilots here who are having trouble making money and getting started. I don't think the risk justifies the rewards for new pilots. Just my own personal opinion.

[JudgeDredd]

It most definitely hasn't been worth it for me. I've not made anywhere near that on anything, nevermind stolen goods and even when I have made money, it's been a few thousand after the fine has been paid.

I pretty sure I wasn't scanned when I picked up those 3 chemical containers and yet I received a 100cr fine. When I say pretty sure, I mean I'm positive.

But - I'll be honest in that I haven't tried a black market on an anarchy outpost. I did find one - there is one near me. So maybe I can give that a go tonight.

I do wish there was some way for you to rescue cargo and not be fined. As long as you didn't kill the recipient. But then again, maybe some unscrupulous bunch would get together...one person kills the poor sod and the other runs in and grabs the loot and then change for the next outing...

[mikeck]

don't fight the game that's easiest and best advice I can give. When you first start out in your Free side winder, you're not supposed to be able to trade in smuggle goods and destroy the universe as Boba Fett the bounty Hunter. you're supposed to barely be making it by learning the game, hiding from the big boys and the big fishes in the sea and just doing a couple missions until you make some money to upgrade to a better ship.

Stay in your lane when you have a sidewinder at the beginning take some missions maybe grab some easy brownies here there until you can afford a viper or I'll holler to trade depending on whether you want to collect bounties or trade.

You can fight and a sidewinder it's just not the easiest thing but no matter how hard you try you're never going to be able to make money trading or smuggling in the thing so don't even bother

[jomni]

There just are so many ways to play this game.