Trade Loops Made Fast, Easy and Profitable

[Mr_PeaCH]

The last time I sank a couple hundred hours or more into NMS I got all the recipes and grew all of the ingredients in the correct proportion and would make units like that. Kind of boring but I did like going to all the Manufacturing facilities and raiding them for the recipes. But picking all the plants and crafting all the pieces to be put together is a bit exhausting.

This time I decided to take a closer look at Trade Loops. There are many guides and posts about what I'll call the Trade Loop Basics so I won't cover them here. But using that info I came across what I think may be a slight wrinkle to this Trade Loop business that I don't think I've seen others mention or recommend.

TL:DR - when I find a Trading Post in a wealthy system I am putting down a Base Computer, claiming it, then putting down a Base Teleporter. Keeping track of the names / renaming the bases and charting the routes (4 trades loop, 3 trades loop) I can quickly hop directly from Trading Post to Trading Post and rapidly buy and sell all of the available Tier 1 Trade Goods and most of the Tier 2. No hopping in and out of the ship, no flying off and on planets and bases.

The initial effort to create a loop or two is the most time consuming part. Once you have a fully fledged Trade Loop you can use it over an over (once every two hours of game play, time needed to restock). Having more loops extends the amount of trades you can consecutively run yielding you more units whenever you want a break from gaming to fatten your account. I initially made one loop each of the 4 trade loop and the 3 trade loop and then I made another loop of each for a total of 8 and 6 Trading Posts with Base Computers and Base Teleporters or 14 in all. I can hit each TP, sell and buy goods and teleport to the next in about 2 minutes. I'm making about 50 Million Units in a half hour (maybe more).

Like I said, there are a lot of different guides out there that can explain the basics. Get one, print out the Trade Loops, the 7 types of Economies, the names of Wealthy Economies, and the order for the routes. Use a pen and paper or spread sheet to record the names of your bases, which Economy, maybe even what Buy/Sell percentages if you're looking to upgrade Trading Posts as you go with more profitable versions. However, I find that not being picky and just going to the first systems I find of each Economy type (always "Wealthy") and finding a Trading Post - any/all of them are pretty profitable; 50% vs 80% buy or -15% vs -30% sell doesn't interest me.

To create your loops, when you first arrive in a new system, head to the Space Station and in addition to the other things you always do when visiting a new system chat up the locals at the station and have them direct you to a point of interest. Hopefully one will be an out-and-out Trading Post. But even if you only get directed to a small habitation (1 pad buildings with Trade interface) that will do. If nothing else once you get two or more points of interest it will probably tell you which of the system planets is the most heavily populated and there you will have a better chance of stumbling on a full 7 pad TP even if you have to put down a Signal Booster and burned a module to locate one.

At the TP (or smaller 1-pad stops) put down a Base Computer (40 Chromatic) and right away open it up and claim it. Now you can put down a Base Teleporter in the immediate vicinity (50 Ionized Cobalt, 1 Ion Battery). Yes, you can put them directly on the Trading Post, right on the walkways. I like to rename the Base Computer with the original name of the base, followed by the planet, the star system (abbreviated) and finally by TP (trading post) and The economy type and color (coded per Economy Scanner). Take good notes!

You repeat that on a TP in each system, one each for the four loop economies or three loop. Making more loops is optional but also very easy, very cheap. To start a loop, if not already at a suitable location, get to the nearest Teleporter and just go straight to the first TP Base on your list. Don't worry about where your star ship ends up; it's never on one of the working pads but either stuck in the building or on the ground underneath.

Finally, a lot is written about doing loops with a 48 port hauler and I think that's overkill. I disregard the storage on the ship as I'm doing these loops as fast as I can. I have my exosuit just about maxed out however and I keep this as clear as I can when looping. Also the cargo slots. Combined I want about 35-45 free slots; I don't need more than that. Consider that, in the wealthy systems, at Trading Posts, the Tier One Trade Goods (most expensive to buy ~ 50k units ea.) are typically stocked between about 100 and 150 units. They always only stack in fives. For 150 units I need 30 slots. After buying out Tier One I buy the Tier Two Trade Goods (@ 20k units ea. but better buy/sell percentages) until I have no more space in my exosuit and cargo combined. (As I said, I leave the ship storage out of it. Time consuming to have to keep swapping goods out of Exosuit to Ship to either make space when buying or selling. Plus, if you have over 30 slots in your Exosuit you can generally get all of the Tier One goods which is where the biggest bang for your buck is.

Warp to 1st TP Base in loop. Buy. Warp to 2nd TP Base in loop. Sell, then Buy. Warp to next TP Base, rinse, repeat. Profit. By eliminating the use of the ship storage to be able to buy more Tier Two or Three goods (at better margins but lower units per cargo space over all) you significantly speed up this already rapid process. Direct TP to TP via Teleporting. Buy and Sell only out of Exosuit storage. Profit.

Please correct me if you think I have it wrong. But conservatively I think, by running my chain of 14 total Trade Bases, I can earn probably 50 Million Units in less than 50 minutes; probably closer to 30 minutes if I'm not being distracted; @ 2-3 min per base inc. Teleporting.

[knighttemplar1960]

That works perfectly fine. I've been doing something similar except that I skip all the steps of building the teleporters, base computers, and renaming them. I just use my discoveries list. It gives the economic info of all the systems you have visited and gives it to you in the order you visited. I start at my main base, put every thing into my storage containers and use the space station teleporters and go to and from the galactic trade terminals there, yes you don't make as much per transaction doing it this way but once you have a sufficient number of systems mapped out this is MUCH faster. I just have a piece of paper that I keep tick marks on with the names of the systems and the order to visit them in.

caveat: It gets boring fast. I found farming more interesting even though I made units slower by farming.

[Asmosis]

I started a new game and have found digging up bones is more than enough to get all the basics covered, plus its a good way to get all your base stuff via salvaged tech.

I've just finished my anti-matter fabricators in my freebie freighter base, so i'm all ready to start system hopping to gather guild missions and upgrade backpack as i wander the stars.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Asmosis -

I made my seed money by digging up bones; I that style of play better for sure. But I'm picky about these planets. If they require modules for extended stay or have aggro sentinels I'm moving on. Best if they have no weather issues and lots of small land-dwelling fauna. Whenever I find a good one though for sure I'm marking it and coming back when I have some idle time and a ton of kill tasks (both fauna and sentinels) I go back, land, start walking toward a pile of bones and killing everything in my path. :-)

[Mr_PeaCH]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

That works perfectly fine. I've been doing something similar except that I skip all the steps of building the teleporters, base computers, and renaming them. I just use my discoveries list. It gives the economic info of all the systems you have visited and gives it to you in the order you visited. I start at my main base, put every thing into my storage containers and use the space station teleporters and go to and from the galactic trade terminals there, yes you don't make as much per transaction doing it this way but once you have a sufficient number of systems mapped out this is MUCH faster. I just have a piece of paper that I keep tick marks on with the names of the systems and the order to visit them in.

caveat: It gets boring fast. I found farming more interesting even though I made units slower by farming.

With respect, how is this much faster? Except for the first time going down to a TP and setting up the Base Computer and the Base Teleporter it's the same to warp from TP/base to TP/base as it is from Star Port to Star Port. And it really is a massive difference in the prices (both buying and selling) at the planet-side trade terminals than at the Star Ports; well worth the investment in time and resources to trade at the Trading Posts if you want to sustain it.

[knighttemplar1960]

I made my seed money mining salt. A stack of 250 sold for 75,000 units and it was as easy to come by as carbon or ferrite dust. As soon as I had found 2 suitable planets I used my seed money to start trading. I would do a trade run the first thing when I signed on for the day. Just doing it that way I had amassed 50 million units in a little less than 20 hours on that save.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by Mr_PeaCH:

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

That works perfectly fine. I've been doing something similar except that I skip all the steps of building the teleporters, base computers, and renaming them. I just use my discoveries list. It gives the economic info of all the systems you have visited and gives it to you in the order you visited. I start at my main base, put every thing into my storage containers and use the space station teleporters and go to and from the galactic trade terminals there, yes you don't make as much per transaction doing it this way but once you have a sufficient number of systems mapped out this is MUCH faster. I just have a piece of paper that I keep tick marks on with the names of the systems and the order to visit them in.

caveat: It gets boring fast. I found farming more interesting even though I made units slower by farming.

With respect, how is this much faster? Except for the first time going down to a TP and setting up the Base Computer and the Base Teleporter it's the same to warp from TP/base to TP/base as it is from Star Port to Star Port. And it really is a massive difference in the prices (both buying and selling) at the planet-side trade terminals than at the Star Ports; well worth the investment in time and resources to trade at the Trading Posts if you want to sustain it.

I didn't have to use my time or resources (or the time it took to gather resources) setting any of that up and as a result have a longer list of systems to loop through in the same amount of play time. I thought you would be open to that since you didn't care about the buy and sell numbers of the systems just their wealth levels and ignoring those things is just as significant a ding on units earned as buying/selling at the space stations. I also didn't have to waste any time renaming and my list of teleport locations is much smaller.

It was more than fast enough this way. I had enough cash to buy my first nice ship and multi-tool long before I had the nanites to upgrade them. So I spent more of my play time earning nanites instead.

[Johnny in the Clouds]

Originally posted by Mr_PeaCH:

...when you first arrive in a new system, head to the Space Station and in addition to the other things you always do when visiting a new system chat up the locals at the station and have them direct you to a point of interest. Hopefully one will be an out-and-out Trading Post.

When in space, you can now use the Quick menu to simply scan for a 7 pad Trading Post.
I don't remember if you need the Economy Scanner fitted for it to be an option, I don't think so.
Chatting to locals can send you to a 7 pad Trading Post when doing delivery missions or finding a missing alien mission. Doing those delivery missions will automatically deposit a Defence Chit into your inventory.

[dphipps3]

You do need the economy scanner to find the trading post without asking the aliens, or taking a delivery mission. I like the OP's idea of setting the teleporter inside the trading post. Save a lot of time. On my normal game, I just hopped from starbase to starbase without worrying about the profit margin. Cash is pretty easy to come by.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Originally posted by dphipps3:

You do need the economy scanner to find the trading post without asking the aliens, or taking a delivery mission. I like the OP's idea of setting the teleporter inside the trading post. Save a lot of time. On my normal game, I just hopped from starbase to starbase without worrying about the profit margin. Cash is pretty easy to come by.

Thanks. I realize that 95% of what I was saying has been done before - it is the part about putting teleporters (and base computers) right inside the Trading Posts that is newsworthy. (Also - that I don't need a large Hauler...)

[Mr_PeaCH]

Originally posted by Johnny in the Clouds:

When in space, you can now use the Quick menu to simply scan for a 7 pad Trading Post.
I don't remember if you need the Economy Scanner fitted for it to be an option, I don't think so.
Chatting to locals can send you to a 7 pad Trading Post when doing delivery missions or finding a missing alien mission. Doing those delivery missions will automatically deposit a Defence Chit into your inventory.

Aha! I'll look in to that for sure; thanks for the advice. For real, in theory finding an actual Trading Post is by far the most time-consuming part of setting up a loop. In practice, Trading Posts will come; either by way of another mission (e.g. delivery) or just a random fly-over. And also, in theory, you really want them to be full 7 port TPs for when you want to find that S-Class or Exotic since you're already on a "wealthy" system planet...

[Mr_PeaCH]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Originally posted by Mr_PeaCH:

With respect, how is this much faster? Except for the first time going down to a TP and setting up the Base Computer and the Base Teleporter it's the same to warp from TP/base to TP/base as it is from Star Port to Star Port. And it really is a massive difference in the prices (both buying and selling) at the planet-side trade terminals than at the Star Ports; well worth the investment in time and resources to trade at the Trading Posts if you want to sustain it.

I didn't have to use my time or resources (or the time it took to gather resources) setting any of that up and as a result have a longer list of systems to loop through in the same amount of play time. I thought you would be open to that since you didn't care about the buy and sell numbers of the systems just their wealth levels and ignoring those things is just as significant a ding on units earned as buying/selling at the space stations. I also didn't have to waste any time renaming and my list of teleport locations is much smaller.

It was more than fast enough this way. I had enough cash to buy my first nice ship and multi-tool long before I had the nanites to upgrade them. So I spent more of my play time earning nanites instead.

Fair points; thanks for the response.

You know, just for my own edification; I think I'm going to do a quick comparison next time I log in; buy a small amount of trade goods at the Star Port and the same amount at a Trading Post on a planet. Go to the next looped system and sell some at the Star Port and some at a Trading Post and try and see what the actual difference is. Because you're right; my system should be more productive AFTER it is put into place. But it does require some patience getting it set up. Making your way faster 'out of the box'.

[Johnny in the Clouds]

You can build Save Points, signal boosters and refinery machines on Trading Post floors.

[Bandy]

very interesting thread, thank you, never 'peeled the onion' as far as some of you have.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by Mr_PeaCH:

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

I didn't have to use my time or resources (or the time it took to gather resources) setting any of that up and as a result have a longer list of systems to loop through in the same amount of play time. I thought you would be open to that since you didn't care about the buy and sell numbers of the systems just their wealth levels and ignoring those things is just as significant a ding on units earned as buying/selling at the space stations. I also didn't have to waste any time renaming and my list of teleport locations is much smaller.

It was more than fast enough this way. I had enough cash to buy my first nice ship and multi-tool long before I had the nanites to upgrade them. So I spent more of my play time earning nanites instead.

Fair points; thanks for the response.

You know, just for my own edification; I think I'm going to do a quick comparison next time I log in; buy a small amount of trade goods at the Star Port and the same amount at a Trading Post on a planet. Go to the next looped system and sell some at the Star Port and some at a Trading Post and try and see what the actual difference is. Because you're right; my system should be more productive AFTER it is put into place. But it does require some patience getting it set up. Making your way faster 'out of the box'.

I checked a bit ago. Where I was for tier 1 goods the difference was about 10%. The lower the tier difference the higher the percentage though. I have always used the top tier goods except for building my starting grub steak. So I didn't really notice until I realized that I was making monetary units faster than I could buy the upgrades for the things I was purchasing.

If you are accumulating money just as one of your goals that's fine just be aware that the cap on units is the highest number that can be expressed in 32 bits.

[Mr_PeaCH]

I got 12% difference buying price between Space Station and Trading Post terminals. I'm sure there is a corresponding gap in selling price at next system but I didn't have the patience to check.