Can you be SCAVENGER living from salvage in this game as the main profession?

[droid_orat]

As title says

[bloodymonarch]

Originally posted by droid_orat:

As title says

Now you can as part of the new DLC.

[lnomsim]

I highly doubt it.
Scrap metal is sold for around 100cred/unit, and with the scrap sectors being far from scrapyards, that's a lot of worktime for very little profit.

Plus, pilots need to be two stars to use auto scrap and believe me, you don't want to micromanage them, I tried, it's a waste of time.

Plus, the ships are extremely expensive. The cheapest scrap flagship cost 13M to be fully outfitted, and a single Manticore cost around 2.5M, I think it's actually closer to 3M.

With a scrap cube being worth around 80k, it would take forever to begin turning a profit without an economy already running with something else behind you.

In comparison, a Teladi M mineral miner costs around 1.5M to buy, making them mine silicon, and they will bring in between 150k to 180k, meaning they need only 10 runs with a 0 star pilot in sector auto mine to turn in a profit.

On the other hand, that I know of, only the PIO and RIP have scrapyards stations (I might be wrong here, feel free to correct me).

There is no scrap field near the PIO, and the RIP has the tides, and when a tide comes, the Manticore will drop its scrap when fleeing.

[Shotta]

Originally posted by lnomsim:

Plus, pilots need to be two stars to use auto scrap and believe me, you don't want to micromanage them, I tried, it's a waste of time.

Go to a trading center on any station and buy pilot seminars, you can level 2 stars up easily.

[lnomsim]

Yep, that means you need to spend more money on your venture, and more micromanaging, which makes living from scrapping even less viable.

[Shotta]

Originally posted by lnomsim:

Yep, that means you need to spend more money on your venture, and more micromanaging, which makes living from scrapping even less viable.

Seminar cost >500 credits... u really must be barely scraping by if that's an issue! Also it is less mirco than doing whatever you do to get them to 2 stars before.

[lnomsim]

Saying it's less micromanaging is the same as saying losing a finger is less than losing an arm.

Which is the best way to make money?
Hire a 0-star pilot, put it in a 1.5Million ship that will bring you 160k credits every 15 minutes without having to hunt for seminars?
Or buy a 13M ship to transform wrecks into cubes, and an army of 2.5M tugs that each will require around three seminars, and only will bring you 80k every 30 to 45 minutes?

Yes, with losing only one finger you can still use your hand, which you can't do by losing an arm, but personally, I like my hands with ten fingers.

I'm not saying it's not possible to live from scavenging, I'm saying, with the time it takes to set up a scavenging fleet and for it to turn in a profit, it will take a lot of initial capital, time and hindrance, so better have an economy already set up before doing so.

[bloodymonarch]

Originally posted by lnomsim:

Saying it's less micromanaging is the same as saying losing a finger is less than losing an arm.

Which is the best way to make money?
Hire a 0-star pilot, put it in a 1.5Million ship that will bring you 160k credits every 15 minutes without having to hunt for seminars?
Or buy a 13M ship to transform wrecks into cubes, and an army of 2.5M tugs that each will require around three seminars, and only will bring you 80k every 30 to 45 minutes?

Yes, with losing only one finger you can still use your hand, which you can't do by losing an arm, but personally, I like my hands with ten fingers.

I'm not saying it's not possible to live from scavenging, I'm saying, with the time it takes to set up a scavenging fleet and for it to turn in a profit, it will take a lot of initial capital, time and hindrance, so better have an economy already set up before doing so.

The point is that it's possible. OP didn't ask if it was efficient. Some people want to do things in a "roleplaying" way. You can certainly do that, but like all limitations it makes things harder.

[McMuffin]

Originally posted by lnomsim:

and a single Manticore cost around 2.5M, I think it's actually closer to 3M.

Just to mention that you don´t need to use high preset. If you drop the the MK3 engines thats 1.6 mil gone.
A Manticore with MK1 Thruster and Engine goes <800k, just sayin :)

@OP:
It is not the best/fastest way but it is very much possible. You can also try to "liberate" some Tugs since they are M-Ships if you don´t want to buy them.
If you go up a bit further you can build a factory to process the scrap yourself, although I don´t know if that still fits your definition of a scavenger.

[droid_orat]

Originally posted by Grumpy:

I average 30-40 Millions every few hours with few of my M ships collecting the dropped loot. Its more than enough and its faster money than building stations, plus it doesnt add all the cpu processing with running my own stations.

I am a newbie - where do you loot?

[droid_orat]

Originally posted by bloodymonarch:

Originally posted by droid_orat:

As title says

Now you can as part of the new DLC.

Which DLC is it?

[bloodymonarch]

Originally posted by droid_orat:

Originally posted by bloodymonarch:

Now you can as part of the new DLC.

Which DLC is it?

Tides of Avarice.

[droid_orat]

Originally posted by bloodymonarch:

Originally posted by droid_orat:

Which DLC is it?

Tides of Avarice.

Got it. thanks. checking it now.

[Syl]

you can sit right next to a scrap station and just steal cubes and wrecks from approaching ships atleast, doesnt seem to have any reprecussions lol

[Sel Und Irae]

They call me the trash man
Because i make a makeshift castle out of Scrap Cubes and hide inside of it with my little tug.

[Old Man Gibb]

OP, Yes is the answer. You can do whatever you want. If you want an empire you can have it. if you want to just roam around and salvage, you can do that also. It's your game. your Imagination is your wall.