Whats the best trade route in human space?

[Pew Pew]

Im trying to make a massive trading empire out of frieghters to get myself a infinite amount of money and I was wondering what the best trade routes (in human space) were

(also whats the best type of frieghter for this?)

[Avior]

There is no (permanent) best trade route, as trade is dynamic.

[Pew Pew]

Originally posted by Avior:

There is no (permanent) best trade route, as trade is dynamic.

what do you mean?

[Anima]

Unfortunately for you, the game now has dynamic trade. When you run one trade route for too long it flattens out. No such thing as the best route anymore :P

[Pew Pew]

well then :I but can anyone tell me what the best ship for trading would be?

[Anima]

Originally posted by Pew Pew:

well then :I but can anyone tell me what the best ship for trading would be?

Star Barge / Earth Shaper

[Pew Pew]

Originally posted by ¬°Kryes Omega:

Originally posted by Pew Pew:

well then :I but can anyone tell me what the best ship for trading would be?

Star Barge / Earth Shaper

really? star barges are kinda weak

[Anima]

Originally posted by Pew Pew:

Originally posted by ¬°Kryes Omega:

Star Barge / Earth Shaper

really? star barges are kinda weak

They are the second most cargo efficient ship in the game, with a 50:1 stock cargo to crew ratio.

[Anima]

Correction, the Bulk Freighter actually has the highest with 66:1
although Im sure there are better ones with proper outfitting.

[S.CoolShooter]

wander freierther best freighter

[Tyr Lion]

I have to agree with "Kryes Omega" that Earth Shaper has the highest cargo to crew ratio - but there are more aspects to a good freighter than simply cargo/crew ratio. Both Star Barge and Earth Shaper have very limited fuel, maneuverabiltiy and almost no space for equipment. And since I prefer my fighters to be able to withstand anything I can encounter in Human/Hai/Wanderer space (instead of randomly dying to bandit Falcons like Earth Shaper loves to do) I usually run Deep Rivers with 1 Large System Core, no guns and Atomic engines.

Currently I'm trading with 23 Deep Rivers with 18800 cargo total and I'm pretty satisfied with the cash I'm getting. It's already beating Korath Tripple-Plasma-Core raiding strategy (Especially after the newest storyline that adds annoying AIs with horrible loot) and I'm looking forward to even more fun with my Jumping Trade-fleet... also special thx goes to Pugs who supply me with cheep drugs and Jump Drives. Couldn't have done it without you

[[DBH].Whismerhill.{SSgt}]

early on I like the "freighter" it has decent space to price ratio (particularly with devaluation & whatnot)

as for dynamic routes, I don't know for how long you guyz run routes over & over, because I have yet to exhaust a single trade route by more than 30 to 60 on the price tag,
+ trade routes are dynamic even if you don't use them
prices will change without my intervention, I saw that on multiple occasions,
however it's true that I :
-try to also get missions that have the same stops as my traderoute
-will dynamically change trade cargo when two products are competing for best money.
-won't trade a single 2 points trade route forever & ever:
that is if I'm going to make more than 20 trade runs I'm going to try to get a multi-destination route

Anyways, back on topic, for best trade route here's my advice :
-explore a little bit.
-make some money until you have a decent ship/travelling speed
-explore MOAR
-now look at your map with "ports" filter, click one of the products :
two things happen A) the map gets colored by price B) you get a legend that tells you which color correspond to which price
-now B) is kinda important cause you can deduct the maximum money difference between two points
-trade MOAR & explore MOAR ;)

this is how I work out my traderoutes
2nd tip : one of the most profitables materials is heavy metal, who has the highest price difference in my game at least. but the return trip is equally important.
3rd tip : location : syndicate space has some "more dangerous" nice 2 points traderoutes going through uninhabited systems

[Sinsling]

Stop STOP STOOOOOOOOP

Me and Kiko already had a very long, very detailed discussion about this. I can save you all the trouble and tell you for the cost the star barge is the best freighter in the game. For most cargo on a single ship, its baccy, but you will pay a much higher price (although negligible) in crew wages.

That aside, if you have a jump-drive pew pew I can give you a cheese route that nets 800 profit per cargo ton and only involves one jump. If not, I won't spoil the future for you.

[[DBH].Whismerhill.{SSgt}]

dude, calm down will you ? and what is it we are supposed to stop ????

the problem of the star barge is how quickly it is dispatched by anything if you happen to be unlucky, with my trade start, I bought 4 star barges then upgraded to freighter, because at this point piracy was invading my usual routes.

also kiko isn't the be all end all of endless sky just because he's a moderator, he's just a player like you & me.

the thing is ... by the time you get a jump drive, trading becomes a side project unless you have like 100 000 tons of cargo capacity

[warp_core]

Kiko isn't the be all and end all but as @Sinsling stated, they have determined, using maths, that the star barge has the highest cargo capacity to cost ratio. Of course, if your issue is that it gets destroyed too easily, then I'd recommend a Deep River. They are extremely expensive in comparison to human freighters but are extremely tanky and can carry a lot of cargo. Not as efficient as a star barge but it doesn't suffer from the main issue I see you're having with a star barge.

[Sinsling]

Just to simplify things:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/404410/discussions/0/365172408529808748/

This discussion was pre-depreciation though, so the star barge into freighter cycle now actually costs more money than it is worth. As now it takes ~4-5 star barges depending on how low they get instead of the original 3.

It also depends by what method you get a jump drive. And for the record, I abuse absurd numbers on a regular basis anyways. 18000 boxwings FTW.