What products to produce?

[Frontier]

I have accumulated 70 million and I want to build my stations. What is best to produce, so that the demand for the goods is always there?

[Harrison]

Every game is different. I have three recommendations.

First you can pull up the trade info on the map and then start checking what products are in heaviest demand.

Second, you can use the encyclopedia and look at the info in there on each sector, it will tell you what items in that sector are most in demand and what it's selling. From there you can decide what you should start with.

Third, basic resources are usually a sure bet, even energy cells occasionally. You won't get rich on them but they'll usually turn a good profit if placed in the right sectors. Look for ones that have a resource available, like Ore, but none of the relevant refineries.

[Kreon91 [GER]]

Scan the cargo modules of a shipyard. Produce the lowest commodity and sell to them.

[jerryfanfan]

It's expensive to build, but every game I see a shortage of Advanced Electronics.

[Gregorovitch]

I'd say the most reliable wares to produce are those consumed by shipyards, warfs and repair docks. I'd say the most effective strategy is to diversify each station's product range steadily rather than max out on one or two wares currently in high demand because demand is continuously changing.

Anything that ships are made of is worth producing and will eventually be bought and more importantly bought in quantity and often for top dollar.

I tend to start a station with smart chips, then put in hull parts, engine parts and weapon components, then move on to advanced electronics, shield components, stuff like that.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by Frontier:

I have accumulated 70 million and I want to build my stations.

Calculate the total outlay for a completed station.
That will include:
The plot license.
The hire cost of the Construction vessel.
The blue prints for the station modules.
Also, if it is a wharf/shipyard, then don't forget all of the blueprints for every ship specification.
The cost of building materials.
The trading and operations capital.
When you add all of that up, it may well be hundreds of millions and your 70 million is a little too optimistic ;)

I wouldn't worry too much about the profitability of any type of station you build, because it is easy enough to secure buyers or sellers if your reputation with other factions is good and if you price your goods sensibly.
The real money making will come from sales of ships and so make S/M Wharf or L/XL Shipyard your goal.
With that goal in mind, then when considering what sort of production station you want to start with, think about what your own Wharf/Shipyard will need in terms of supply for your ship production chain.

[Tilen]

I found the most profitable ware being Claytronics, but it's also very expensive to build.

[LittleBlueDuneBuggy]

You should build a small claytronics factory. Not to sell them, but to supply them to yourself for future factories. They are far and away the most expensive part of building stations, and you'll save a ton of money by having your own, instead of having to buy them.

A factory with four modules will run you around 30 million, but it will save you a lot more than that in the future.

After it's built, advanced electronics and smart chips are great. But the real moneymaker is a shipyard. Mine only has two S/M, two L, and on XL bay. I dropped it's funds down to 50 mil. I took a quick shower. When I came back, I was at 161 mil. That's 111 mil in about twenty minutes. And it never stops.

Edit: I know you don't have the money to buy the ship producing modules right now, but look at that as the goal. Start with claytronics. Then advanced electronics and smart chips. Then hull parts and food/medicine. And just keep going down the line building stations to support your eventual shipyard. Let them sell their finished wares in the meantime, and that will bankroll all your future stations. As long as you build each ware in it's own station, instead of one "super station", you'll be able to have multiple builders working at the same time, so everything goes faster.

Once you have your production chain complete, buy the S/M ship blueprint. Build a shipyard with a pier, a few docks, 12 L container storage, and two S/M ship production modules. When it's done, go to all your stations and set them to restrict faction trade. Do the same at your new shipyard. Assign three traders to each station. You'll never want for money again.

[Draa]

Field Coils are a good choice. They have a simple production chain and they make almost as much money as claytronics and they only require methane and helium to produce.

Field Coils / Plasma Conductors - Quantum Tubes / Graphene - Superfluid Coolant / Heilum - Methane

Here's a handy tool for designing stations and quick reference.

http://www.x4-game.com/#/station-calculator

[Zalzany]

Where I am at microchips, and advanced electronics was damn good money, now I am at stage with xenon and other wars getting nasty, weapon componets, sheilds, turrets, and drone componets all are great investments.

Basically thanks to EMP BP theft I am gonna eventually build every single damn thing I need to build my own ships at my HQ from scratch lol. Which is good it will help me cover the BP cost to get the wharf and shipyard BPs :P

Like right my station buys nothing all the basic resources are toggled to not buy from any one but myself so my mining fleet is only thing dropping those off, and rest I actually got suprluss of so I set up a manual sell threshold incase my mineral/gas get a hiccup and slow down low tier production. But since my manager hit 4 star honestly had no production hiccups in fact I need more trade ships for her, to sell my excess mats lol