Pros and cons of the grey market

[Mudtowner]

So what's the down side? I keep running out of money and requests for bodies that I have stacked up is mighty lucrative. So far, I haven't run into anything except for my Lead Scientist complaining to me verbally. That, I can put up with unless there are other nasty repercusions later.

[Mandemon]

No, there are no repercursions for selling stuff. You can freely sold your entire stock and nothing bad will happen.

Your only concern is whenever or not you can get more of the stuff you sold.

[Krayola]

This one time I thought I had plenty of expendable alien alloy. I was wrong and it slowed progress. Just sell a little bit of everything (expendable at the moment) and not a whole lot of one material.

[Bindal]

Usually, you won't need more 15 to 20 bodies of anything. Also, anything noting "no research value" has the sole purpose of being sold (that's usually destroyed equipment).
However, if you sell something, you can't get it back and you might need it later.

[Traul]

Try to keep some of everything, including Muton and Thin Men corpses that have no engineering value: you might get a formal request for them, those pay off more than the grey market.

[Dazalenko]

DONT sell fusion cores, ever

[plaYer2k]

imo you shouldnt sell most ship components, dead bodies and weapons (those you researched already) are pretty okay.

But i never ran into money problems, just restart and buy satellites asap so you cover the most dangered countries. I lost brazil and everything else is on panic level 1.
Should take you 2-3 hours too see if it works.

[Bindal]

Originally posted by plαYer2k:

and weapons

You can't sell weapons.

[ronald.friedrich]

well, you need alien alloys for building laserweapons and first armors. elerium u need to build plasmawaepons and titanarmors etc AND you need them for researching stuff. Waepon fragments u need also for researching and many gießerei projekts(sry dont know the english word for it) Alien computers and energy sources u need for new interceptors and for researching them. And the alien corpses help u build adantege for air combat, so they can help u shot down bigger ufos with standard interceptors with weak weapons.

So if you desperetly need money sell some stuff especially in the begining you will have no other choice but think twice. Some stuff has absolutely no use for you and can be sold anytime like broken alien computers and some other things... there is a tooltip if this is the case.

[Milk]

Here's the rule of thumb: Keep 4 corpses max (keep all chryssalid corpses though for chitin plating) of sectoid/floater, converting their bodies to interceptor upgrades OR selling the excess, depending on your money situation. Sell all Drone, Thinman, and Muton corpses that have no more research/foundry value, as by the time the council offers you rewards for them, you'll be rolling in dough. Cyberdisc corpses... I don't know. I never sell them, but I never use them either. Do what you want with them.

Early on, sell ALL UFO COMPONENTS. They are not needed til about mid game, and they net you tons of cash. If you need their parts for a firestorm later, just shoot down another UFO. The only one's you can't take down with a plasma cannon on an interceptor are the Overseer ship and the Battleship.

Sell elerium early on, but not after mid game. Alloys only if you are desperate. I would say never sell fragments ever, but... if you even need to consider selling them, you've done something wrong.

Make sure that you are placing sats each month. That's your big money earner.

[Alistar2013]

In terms of what stuff to sell I have made a list of corpses that you can sell without too much hesitation. You only need the initial corpse for the autopsy, some may be useful for other projects. You may decide to sell corpses anyways, but consider carefully. Always keep 5-10 of each corpse where possible. This includes the EW corpses as well. You may also sell if you are sure you have enough for the projects they are needed for.

Sectoid Corpses ($5) - I would try not to sell too many of these if possible, especially on higher difficulties due to AIM module. 2 Guaranteed hits during an interception is no joke! You will need 4 for Xeno-Biology and 3/AIM module.

Thin Man Corpses ($5) - They are always around so sell! Almost every Council mission you will undertake will have Thin Men in them. You will need 4 for Improved Medikit and 2/Gas Grenade(don't like these).

Floater Corpses ($5) - Used for DODGE module so try not to sell too many. Guarantees 2 Missed shots against you during interception. You need 3/DODGE module.

Muton Corpses ($5) - After you have Ammo Conservation sell these off. You will need 6 for Ammo Conservation.

Chryssalid Corpses ($5) - DO NOT SELL! Don't sell these or give them away to the Council, unless they are offering something you need desperately, you have way too many or it's too good of a deal to pass up. These are used to make Chitin Plating, which is one of the best items for your soldiers. You will need 4/Chitin Plating and 2/Needle Grenade(although I don't really like those grenades either).

Seeker Wrecks ($5) - DO NOT SELL IMO! They are used for Ghost Grenades which I find so useful. You need 4/Ghost Grenade.

Cyberdisk Wrecks ($7) - DO NOT SELL! I find you don't get a lot of these. Not enough to go around if the Council asks for them. They are used for BOOST module, which adds 5 secs to your timer during interception and Advanced Flight. You will need 2 for Advanced Flight and 2/BOOST module.

Drone Wrecks ($2) - Don't sell at first. You need 11 of these total before you can start selling them like mad. You need 2 for Advanced Flight, 4 for Drone Capture and 4 for Improved Arc Thrower.

Mectoid Core ($10) - SELL SELL SELL SELL SELL!!! No real uses for them. I don't even know if they are requested by the Council, but assume that they are.

Berserker Corpses ($5) - Either sell or don't sell. Depends how much you like combat stims. You need 1/Combat Stim.

Heavy Floater Corpses ($6) - After the 2 major projects you can sell them off, which are Advanced Flight and Advanced Repair. You will need 6 for these two projects.

Sectoid Commander Corpses ($10) - SELL! OMG! SELL! These don't have any other uses after they are autopsied.

Muton Elite Corpses ($8) - GUESS WHAT!? SELL!!! Same deal with the Sectoid Commanders and Mectoid Cores.

Sectopod Wrecks ($10) - Sell after you finish Advanced Construction. You Will need 2 For Advanced Construction.

Ethereal Corpses ($15) - DO NOT SELL! Mind Shield is too good to pass up. If you do want to sell these make sure you have at least 6 Mind Shields. You will need 1/Mind Shield.

EDIT: Grammar

[skiddlywibble]

I used to sell one or two weapon fragments if I needed to make up a difference of 1 or 2 bucks. Big mistake. Fragments can actually be a lot harder to get ahold of in bulk than alloys or even elerium, especially in the late-game.

Mostly UFO parts and corpses are expendible in the early game, unless you have a specific research strategy in mind (ie, if you want to upgrade MECs asap then you'll want to hang on to those UFO generators).

[kknd]

Originally posted by Bindal:

Originally posted by plαYer2k:

and weapons

You can't sell weapons.

EXALT weapons fetch a suprisingly high price on the market considering they aren't any better then XCOM's own.

[Twelvefield]

For sure. An airplane costs, what 20? An EXALT rifle costs 1. So, go to the gun shop, buy 20 rifles, and then take that bundle to McDonnell-Douglas and trade them in for something that launches vertically, flies transcontinental in a minute or less, and can shoot you down a flying saucer. Sweet.

Also, @Draiman: great post!

[Cyber Nyran]

Originally posted by plαYer2k:

imo you shouldnt sell most ship components, dead bodies and weapons (those you researched already) are pretty okay.

But i never ran into money problems, just restart and buy satellites asap so you cover the most dangered countries. I lost brazil and everything else is on panic level 1.
Should take you 2-3 hours too see if it works.

I start to run out of money on higher difficulty levels.

[Cyber Nyran]

Depends on what difficulty your playing it on really. If you are playing it on normal, you shouldnt have to sell anything or very little ,but youll have more leeway for experimentation. But if you are playing on classic or higher and ironman, this is where it becomes tricky. Because if you sell to much, you run the risk of getting behind in research and manufacturing. you need alloys and weapons parts to build sht. So be aware, selling everything gives you tons of money and loads of competed buildings and manufacturing, however you wont be able to research or manufacture technology without the resources and you could get behind.

As soon as you get behind in X-COM, its almost over. Assault weapons, will not kill a mutant. So if you are sellign sht off, bare in mind, you are selling things you will need for research and manufacturing at some point.