best way to make money for a new player?

[76561198055083273]

just started the game

[Dreamer]

Missions.

[Elleve]

The fastest way to get cash early is ninja looting!
When the game starts factions will clash that are in war which each other. Especially during the first 1-2 H in the game there will be mayor battles between the factions.
You just need to watch the impressive firework and scoop the remains. Especially Spacefly Eggs and Programmable Field arrays are super profitable to sell (don’t forget to craft Caviar before selling)
Placing a few satellites will help with locating ongoing battles
The systems where empires regularly collide are:

Second Contact Flashpoint (SCF): ANT/ARG vs. HOP and XENON this is a great starter system for ninjalooting, its also less dangerous than most others. Regularly check gates for battles!

Hatikvah’s Choice I (HC I): Check the gate to xenon space, there will be never-ending incursions and TONS of loot but its also very dangerous to be there. Save early and often!!

There are more systems like that but these two are the best ones.


Spacefly Egg Scooping:
Spacefly Eggs spawn when large ships are destroyed or asteroids are mined (Spacefly like to lay their eggs there.).
Locate a big npc mining Operation and follow them to a belt. Once they start mining - wait for the roids to pop and scoop the remains. You will get eggs, unstable crystals and lodestones which can be sold well at stationtraders,

If you have discovered a Black market trader (Advanced!) you may consider crafting spacesuit bombs and emp and sell them there instead.

Good systems are Argon Prime (AP), SCF, Holy Vision (HV) and many others. Just lookout for a system with very high mining activity (can shift over time)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2788767070

[Acuerate]

Droprates of Programmable Field arrays in 7.0 are nerved to the ground.
If you send a fighter to Hatvicas choice, and let him scoop up the loot with repeatable orders for an hour,... in the past you could get 25 to 50 Programmable Field Arrays.
now its down to maybe 5.
Each one is worth arround 165k
I mean its still worth to do it, and get the loot for modding your ships, but its not the moneymaker it was before
Try to build a Silicon Carbide Factory in Terran Space (Asteroid Belt), and a Energy Cell Production ( maybe in Venus) as soon as possible.
Its by far the best Money Maker early game. With 10 Production Modules it gives you 9 mio credits per hour. And thats without Workforce. With workforce even more

[heckypecky]

Missions until you can afford your first ships. Then buy M miners and set them to local auto mine in sectors where there is both the resource and a refinery station for it. Once you have 10 or so, you have enough passive income to start working on your first station.

[Konril]

There are a few lucrative money makers out there if you know where to look for them. But the real catch is "if you know where to look for them." What I like to do in a new game is to start mapping first. I use my long range scanner to quickly locate the stations in the system, as well as the jump gates, accelerators, superhighways and such. While I'm at it, I will pick up and do any easy mission that is offered. It isn't a lot of money, but the jobs are usually quick to do. Once you know all the stations in the sector, move on to the next sector and keep going until you know where the ring highway is. Circling around the ring highway will pass a lot of stations very quickly, so you can pick up new easy missions a lot to build up a credit balance if you want to. But I will keep on exploring at least until I know where all the core wharves, shipyards, equipment docks, and faction representatives are. Also I like to put down resource probes in those sectors with resources to mine.

Phase two there are multiple paths available, and they aren't mutually exclusive.
Mining: If you found an ore or silicon refinery in a sector with an ore or silicon field, you can purchase a medium miner from a wharf which you can then order to local automine that sector. Mining is a very lucrative way to make money until the Kha'ak decide to intervene.
Production: After 7.0, all the starts give you all the blueprints you need to make a simple solar power plant. Identify a place with good sunlight, invest in a plot and build the station there, and once it is built it will provide a passive income practically forever.
Piracy or counter-piracy: You might want to look for a guide on how, as it is very risky and takes a bit of skill. However, it is possible to get a lot of money very quickly by bullying small and medium ship captains into abandoning ship, claiming the abandoned ship for yourself, then stripping it of equipment and selling it off at a nearby wharf. This can make factions mad at you if you do it to their ships. But the Duke's Buccaneers and Scale Plate Pact pirates have your reputation with them fixed in place, so pirating the pirates can be done without long-term consequences.
More missions: There is also the option to join up with a trade guild with the Antigone, Teladi Company, or Seagaris Pioneers. Pay a little bit up-front to get in, and they will offer lucrative mission chains for you do do while you are in their territory. War missions for the Terrans, Argon, Godream of the Paranid, and Holy Order of the Pontifex are high-risk, but pay out very well. You'll get the option to sign up by getting your reputation with these factions to 10 or better.

That should probably get you started. Any specific questions?

[trooperrob]

buy a couple of cheap fighters.
Put sats in combat areas
give fighter orders to dock at a safe station nearby.
when the coast is clear order it to collect wares in the area and dock again.
may be better at collecting inventory items than cargo unless you get a bigger ship though
but miners is good, easy and makes money.

piracy or cap pirates is good, but can be risky for a new person.

Always have a spare crew member in case you ... come across an abandoned ship...

[Kackstift]

auto-mining at oorth cloud(TER)

[Lastman]

Get the ownerless Odysseus Vanguard - sell
Buy advanced satalite <50k (mostly from equipement docks) and sell >70k to shipyards/wharfes - repeat as much as you like

Build up passiv income miner/trader (if you like to use mods)
Build own stations

[Talby]

There are some unclaimed ships just floating around

https://roguey.co.uk/x4/help/unclaimed-ships/

I grabbed the drill miner and set it to auto-mine as well as the courier and frigate to get the hang of manual ware trading, the elite vanguard became my first scout to auto-update station prices. I sold the destroyer since I was low on cash and was quite a boost.