Elite: Dangerous. I broke down.

[Father Ted]

This game absolutely replicates my experience with its predecessor 20 years ago:  spend a shed load of time understanding how it works, then on my first live trip infringe some rule I didn't know existed and get zapped.  An uncanny experience.  I shall persevere however.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I had the same experience.  I was hunting pirates and found one already being engaged by Federal security ships.  I joined in the fun and during the dogfight, I collided with a Fed ship.  Next thing I knew, they were all firing at me and I had a big, red WANTED icon on the right of the main HUD.  Thankfully I was able to run to an independent station and pay a 300cr fine to clear it.

[jomni]

Sigh all your earnings report make me jealous.    :-\
What's the first purchase of a newb.

[undercovergeek]

answer the following youngling

1. how much money do you have
2. how much hold space do you have
3. what is your maximum jump distance
4. where are you

[jomni]

answer the following youngling

1. how much money do you have
2. how much hold space do you have
3. what is your maximum jump distance
4. where are you

Default Starting Sidewinder
1. 6k
2. 4
3. 7.5l
4. Chamunda

[undercovergeek]

ok, you can take 2 crop harvesters from chamunda to lhs 3447 Dalton Gateway, the journey to Dalton will be epic but its the only profit worthy run you can manage for now - this gets you just under 1000 credits. Enough to refuel and buy 4 animal meats at Dalton, fly these to Ngaliba, the Nordenskiold Landing and sell for 1300. Youre now on 7500 ish after refuelling, now buy 4 aluminium and jump to LTT 7421 Fancher Ring and sell for 1000, buy 3 crop harvesters here and fly to Clayakarma - 2 jumps and sell for 1300 - thats got you near 10k

before buying any stock, check all bulletin boards for a mission going your direction that will pay more than your trade route.

before selling any stock, check all bulletin boards for a mission that wants what you just brought. Theres nothing more annoying than arriving at a station and selling your wares only to go to the bulletin board and see a mission paying 5 times the value for what you just brought and sold

As soon as you can - even now, get rid of your discovery scanner and buy an extra 2 or 4 tonne cargo hold, if youre scared of combat, sell your guns, you wont get money but it will lighten your load and give you extra jump distance

[jomni]

ok, you can take 2 crop harvesters from chamunda to lhs 3447 Dalton Gateway, the journey to Dalton will be epic but its the only profit worthy run you can manage for now - this gets you just under 1000 credits. Enough to refuel and buy 4 animal meats at Dalton, fly these to Ngaliba, the Nordenskiold Landing and sell for 1300. Youre now on 7500 ish after refuelling, now buy 4 aluminium and jump to LTT 7421 Fancher Ring and sell for 1000, buy 3 crop harvesters here and fly to Clayakarma - 2 jumps and sell for 1300 - thats got you near 10k

before buying any stock, check all bulletin boards for a mission going your direction that will pay more than your trade route.

before selling any stock, check all bulletin boards for a mission that wants what you just brought. Theres nothing more annoying than arriving at a station and selling your wares only to go to the bulletin board and see a mission paying 5 times the value for what you just brought and sold

As soon as you can - even now, get rid of your discovery scanner and buy an extra 2 or 4 tonne cargo hold, if youre scared of combat, sell your guns, you wont get money but it will lighten your load and give you extra jump distance

How do you know this? Is it the elite trader website?  Don't know how to use it properly.

[Jarhead0331]

Personally, I respectfully disagree with UCG's approach. I think the far better way to start earning real money is to look for courier missions and bounty hunt in between jobs. Go to bulletin boards and look for one shot courier missions in a sidewinder you can haul ones that will earn you 3,000 - 5,000 credits regularly. Here, you do not need to worry about profit margin. You get paid the contract rate regardless of supply and demand. You are just the courier so you need not acquire the goods, they are loaded onto your ship by the customer.  Then, when in transit start looking for low level wanted criminals, attack them and then cash in the bounties. Before you know it, you'll have enoh to buy something better.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I went with Jarhead's approach.  I earned about 10k in just a few courier missions and picked up another 18K in bounties along with way.  I spent my money on some fancy new gimbal mounted pulse lasers but I think I need better power supply/capacity because they're only good for about 3-4 shots of continuous fire before they're depleted and have to recharge.

[undercovergeek]

http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/

enter your start location, leave destination as any, cargo capacity and cash are pretty obvious and then you can either add the minimum profit you want to earn from a run or leave blank, id suggest 500 as a minimum as it cuts out the rubbish

this will bring up a list of trades in profit order, but the columns are sortable if you want to go by distance for example

thats the basic screen, it can get more convoluted later if youve got a mission and youre looking where to buy gallium within 25 light years but its easy enough

i have a route planner stored somwhere too so if you eventually (like i recently have) thought 'im trading in slaves', you can search for the highest and lowest price paid for the exchange and fly to there

someone also recently sent me the 'rares ratrun' which is a galaxy wide circuit of what rares to buy where and where to take it and the stops on the way to make it richer, but youre not there yet with a sidewinder!

Personally, I respectfully disagree with UCG's approach. I think the far better way to start earning real money is to look for courier missions and bounty hunt in between jobs. Go to bulletin boards and look for one shot courier missions in a sidewinder you can haul ones that will earn you 3,000 - 5,000 credits regularly. Here, you do not need to worry about profit margin. You get paid the contract rate regardless of supply and demand. You are just the courier so you need not acquire the goods, they are loaded onto your ship by the customer.  Then, when in transit start looking for low level wanted criminals, attack them and then cash in the bounties. Before you know it, you'll have enoh to buy something better.

JH has a valid point too, my only concern there was if you have no reputation and no clout with the system, sometimes youll only get runs for tiny amounts of money until your rep increases, which is instantly after the first run i hasten to add, so soon the lucrative stuff rolls in - this and with a 4 spot cargo hold you wont be able to take many of the missions

and theres the magic of the game - you want to trade, or zzap baddies?? the choice is yours

[jomni]

Well the courier missions are sometimes hard to come by.
how do I attack bandits? Investigate unidentified signals?

[republic]

The quickest way to make a fortune is trade, but its also the quickest way to lose a fortune.

The cost to replace your ship is miniscule, but your cargo is completely unprotected.  In a Cobra, it takes about $400,000 - $600,000 to fill up on a money making cargo item to make about $60,000 in profit.

So I'm often carrying $600,000 in cargo with no shields, no ability to boost, and no weapons because I've stripped it down as much as I can so I can jump farther and carry more cargo.

I could lose cargo and add a shield, and I could lose jump range and be able to defend myself....but where's the fun in that?  :)

[GDS_Starfury]

Kommander P3n12 is hunting you.

[Gusington]

Is it realistic to split time 50/50 between trading and hunting?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I thought I saw a tab on the right hand HUD that said cargo insurance.  Can you insure cargo?