Easy profit in the early game (spoiler)

[Blackout]

So I've seen many posts regarding how to make easy money and I've decided to share my own experiences.

SPOILER WARNING

Combat

Don't even bother to capture and sell human pirates - it's not worth the effort. Instead go for the wah Ki system (hai space) and try to make use of disabled ships (the constant battle is a great source of money - assuming you manage to survive there). That's probably the fasted way for you to get money in the earlier stages of the game, but also the riskiest one.

Trading

That one is my personal favourite.
Again, you're looking to go to the hai space. You'll need at least 400 fuel (500 if you don't like asking for fuel)

The hai space is the best area for merchants I've found (considering I've been everywhere...)
Usually the profit range is between 200 - 600 (on rare occasions I've even had a profit of 700/ton)
Again, try to have enough fuel to make 5 jumps, then you'll be able to get almost everywhere without refueling).
A ramscope isn't necessary. Even if you manage to get yourself stuck in one of two empty systems, the hai are a friendly race and will help you out.

You can stay there pretty much forever, investing only in freighter ships as the hai space is completely free from pirates (except for the 4 northern systems)
Note: The hai use ships and outfits that are superior to human's - avoid combat

Downside: the only problem with being a merchant in hai space is that there are only 17 systems you can visit without risk. Which means that the prices will even up when you trade there for too long (only concerns you if you have "too much" cargo space)

Hope this helps some of my fellow captains. Got any questions, concerns, or think I'm wrong? There's enough space for you below this :)

[Belteguesian]

Well, if you read the quide I started writting you'll see that I am more on the people transferring bussiness. twice as profitable than cargo in any space. Try it.

[jafdy]

Trading scales almost perfectly with cargo allowing you to get an effectively exponential increase in money. So if you have enough set up cash trading will always be the most profitable thing you can do.

[TheMarksman]

For a spoiler, the best profit is to do Unfettered tribute missions, they pay well for that.

[DC Zhor]

Indeed the highest profit trade route I found is in Hai space. From Imo Dep to Fah Soom, it's almost always over 600 profit on that run for Heavy Metals, and you can trade food or medical on the other direction. 4 jumps for Jump Drive so I think it's about the best trade available so far, until new things are implemented. For Hyperdrive you can buy Medical/Food in Wah Oh instead and sell in Zuba Zub to maximize profit.

[Belteguesian]

Originally posted by TheMarksman:

For a spoiler, the best profit is to do Unfettered tribute missions, they pay well for that.

Oh yeah!!!!

[Arkhne]

Originally posted by TheMarksman:

For a spoiler, the best profit is to do Unfettered tribute missions, they pay well for that.

I like to use Scram+Reverse Thrust setup for those, insanely fast runs for multi-million profits. I'd argue that this is the fastest non-trading, non-higher-tier-capping in the game, which matters, because while it doesn't scale as well, it starts higher, and can be done with a basic human cargo ship. There's also the problem that the larger your trading fleet gets, the longer it takes to manage their jumps, and then you have the problem of slow-downs (assuming absurd fleet size), so tribute might just be the most stable income source. Usually I move on to capping Remnant Bounties from them, but that isn't THAT much more profit, so Tribute is definitely a solid option.

[Belteguesian]

Originally posted by Warchild:

I like to use Scram+Reverse Thrust setup for those, insanely fast runs for multi-million profits. I'd argue that this is the fastest non-trading, non-higher-tier-capping in the game, which matters, because while it doesn't scale as well, it starts higher, and can be done with a basic human cargo ship. There's also the problem that the larger your trading fleet gets, the longer it takes to manage their jumps, and then you have the problem of slow-downs (assuming absurd fleet size), so tribute might just be the most stable income source. Usually I move on to capping Remnant Bounties from them, but that isn't THAT much more profit, so Tribute is definitely a solid option.

Rremant Bounties is about 4-5 mil each, depending on your empty cargo space and they can be done with a "Fleet" of 4 (Warships, of course) total wages around 30K. What can beat thart?