Trading ships don't have Auto trade option

[shihankisay]

I have made argon and split trading ships, after going into default behavior there is no option to auto trade. Visit known stations and some other options are available. Auto trade option is greyed out. What do I need to do to make auto trading available? I tried visiting known stations in the sector. All stations have been found in sector. That did not open the option to auto trade.

[Dav]

You need trading software in the build/refit menu And a pilot with 3 star piloting skill to auto trade. Though you can always start with manual trading if you want.

If you don't have a pilot that skilled yet, better to start with small mining ships. They will mine and trade what they mine, and gain experience with each cycle. Then you can move them to a trade ship.

Training seminars( sold by the station traders at the desk or quest rewards) will also help level up a pilot. As will riskier combat experience.
Also you might find better pilots to hire in person if you just walk around on busy stations, but they will cost more. I'm not sure if that's reputation gated or not though.

[shihankisay]

Ok, I have the trading software installed. What is a good way to get the pilot to level 3, just have him fly around or maybe have one on my ship that I fly and then move him to the trade ship, or a different way?

[Dav]

I edited that in above while you were typing.

[shihankisay]

Thanks, I have 3 Medium miners out, I will move one of them when one is at level 3, that helps, now I know the process

[Inixus]

Originally posted by shihankisay:

Thanks, I have 3 Medium miners out, I will move one of them when one is at level 3, that helps, now I know the process

Hehe, good luck on that, im 6 days into my game and all my miners (i have more then 40) are still all 2* to 2 and a half, best thing you can do is lvl pilots tro fighting.

[Dav]

Originally posted by Inixus:

Originally posted by shihankisay:

Thanks, I have 3 Medium miners out, I will move one of them when one is at level 3, that helps, now I know the process

Hehe, good luck on that, im 6 days into my game and my miners are still all 2*, best thing you can do is lvl pilots tro fighting.

Are you training them on small fast ships. It's by transaction iirc, Not by load size.
Slower bigger ships would earn more but will level your rookie pilots slower.
System taken as a whole is working fine for me. Combination of seminars, hiring experienced pilots on stations, and training with fast miners, combat, or distribute wares.

[Wraith]

Originally posted by shihankisay:

Ok, I have the trading software installed. What is a good way to get the pilot to level 3, just have him fly around or maybe have one on my ship that I fly and then move him to the trade ship, or a different way?

The best way is seminars.
you can easily get any pilot to lvl 2 for distribute wares because basic and one star seminars are sold everywhere at station trader.
To get level 2+ seminars though you should look at all the missions during your travel as they have a good chance of being seminars.
I once saw a level 4 seminar as a reward for slapping down a satellite lol.

[Dav]

Yep seminars are best. You have to go out and obtain them in the mean time.

[Inixus]

Originally posted by Dav:

Originally posted by Inixus:

Hehe, good luck on that, im 6 days into my game and my miners are still all 2*, best thing you can do is lvl pilots tro fighting.

Are you training them on small fast ships. It's by transaction iirc, Not by load size.
Slower bigger ships would earn more but will level your rookie pilots slower.
System taken as a whole is working fine for me.

Mostly a mix of S and M, with a couple Ls

[Dav]

Originally posted by Inixus:

Originally posted by Dav:

Are you training them on small fast ships. It's by transaction iirc, Not by load size.
Slower bigger ships would earn more but will level your rookie pilots slower.
System taken as a whole is working fine for me.

Mostly a mix of S and M, with a couple Ls

I wouldn't put rookies in a slow ship at all if you want them to progress through trading or mining. Only 3 star pilots and above.
Combat XP is OK to go bigger though.

You might benefit from some more Training seminars though.
Like wraith said, always bump them up to 2 stars when hiring with the easy to obtain basic and 1 star seminars. Then you can send them out to train for that one more star to get to 3 stars for autotrader or do quests to get better seminars to fill the gap.

[Dav]

FYI Since 3.10 I've even seen hireable 4.5 star pilots, engineers, marines, and managers just walking on the stations.
I just outfitted a ship last night with all experienced marines and a pilot.
It wasn't cheap though.

[Inixus]

Originally posted by Dav:

Originally posted by Inixus:

Mostly a mix of S and M, with a couple Ls

I wouldn't put rookies in a slow ship at all if you want them to progress through trading or mining. Only 3 star pilots and above.
Combat XP is OK to go bigger though.

You might benefit from some more Training seminars though.
Like wraith said, always bump them up to 2 stars when hiring with the easy to obtain basic and 1 star seminars. Then you can send them out to train for that one more star to get to 3 stars for autotrader or do quests to get better seminars to fill the gap.

All my mining and trade pilots are bumped up to 2* with seminars, none of my miners gain exp, not even the S pilots, the traders get to 2* and 3/4 and then they are stuck at that lv, but i gave up on that route to lvl them, for the most part i use stations, for those that i want to get to 3* i use the fighting route, not my first post about this problem btw, but ty for trying to help.

[Jan]

Originally posted by ;2269193447678283465:

Originally posted by Dav:

I wouldn't put rookies in a slow ship at all if you want them to progress through trading or mining. Only 3 star pilots and above.
Combat XP is OK to go bigger though.

You might benefit from some more Training seminars though.
Like wraith said, always bump them up to 2 stars when hiring with the easy to obtain basic and 1 star seminars. Then you can send them out to train for that one more star to get to 3 stars for autotrader or do quests to get better seminars to fill the gap.

All my mining and trade pilots are bumped up to 2* with seminars, none of my miners gain exp, not even the S pilots, the traders get to 2* and 3/4 and then they are stuck at that lv, but i gave up on that route to lvl them, for the most part i use stations, for those that i want to get to 3* i use the fighting route, not my first post about this problem btw, but ty for trying to help.

Yep but now you can buy more trained pilots too (for a lot of money)^^

[Dav]

Originally posted by Jan:

Originally posted by ;2269193447678283465:

All my mining and trade pilots are bumped up to 2* with seminars, none of my miners gain exp, not even the S pilots, the traders get to 2* and 3/4 and then they are stuck at that lv, but i gave up on that route to lvl them, for the most part i use stations, for those that i want to get to 3* i use the fighting route, not my first post about this problem btw, but ty for trying to help.

Yep but now you can buy more trained pilots too (for a lot of money)^^

Yep.

[Dav]

Originally posted by Inixus:

Originally posted by Dav:

I wouldn't put rookies in a slow ship at all if you want them to progress through trading or mining. Only 3 star pilots and above.
Combat XP is OK to go bigger though.

You might benefit from some more Training seminars though.
Like wraith said, always bump them up to 2 stars when hiring with the easy to obtain basic and 1 star seminars. Then you can send them out to train for that one more star to get to 3 stars for autotrader or do quests to get better seminars to fill the gap.

All my mining and trade pilots are bumped up to 2* with seminars, none of my miners gain exp, not even the S pilots, the traders get to 2* and 3/4 and then they are stuck at that lv, but i gave up on that route to lvl them, for the most part i use stations, for those that i want to get to 3* i use the fighting route, not my first post about this problem btw, but ty for trying to help.

Sorry I couldnt help I guess. It works for me. As discussed there are multiple routes that can be taken now to either train or hire better pilots which is good, and there are higher level seminars, but they are mission rewards.