can anyone explain how to use trading subsystem effectively?

[VladK02]

I never really traded in avorion 1.0 or 2.0

MNost i did was in avorion 1.0, bought a bunch of accelerators, and ferried them to research stations - made hundreds of millions.

But thats no longer viable looks like.

I perma-installed the trading subsystem for the lols, it has a lot of fatures.

I know how to use 'suggested trade route' tab. I have a hard time figuring out how to use galactic controls - price differentials, demand/supply, hot/cold maps...

I understand in principle what all of the above means, but in practice - how to find which good to ferry where?

Obviously stay away from bulk low-margin garbage like water or wheat.. stick to high-value components... but specifically, how to determine which stuff is worthwhile?

update - so, i played for a week or so with it. How to use it properly - find a high-value tertiary good (computer parts, accelerators) that is produced in a region that is cheap. Looks Cold (-30% price) on galactic map. ideally, when you ally with a faction, you buy their galactic map, it reveals all their factories, you will find a place that has 3-4 teleporter factories, or accelerator factories, or anti-grav...whatever. Point is, a high-value factory hub. Check that on galactic map, it will be likely Cold. Or just randomly scroll through a list of high value products, find whatever is Cold. Send your freighter captain to buy that good in that region. It will take many hours. Freighter will have to be adequately protected and escorted, you dont want to lose progress on a 5 hour job, for example, due to ambush. Anyways, your captain Procures the good on a galactic map on area where the good is Cold. Then you manually fly your captain to a different region, where demand for that good is Hot. And order him to sell. Also takes many hours.

So, under ideal circumstances, you buy at -30%, and you sell at +30% prices, each 100mil chunk of investment takes the captain a few hours to buy and then another few to sell...

So in a day you can +60% to your capital, if you let the client run in the background on your computer. No limit as far as I can tell on how much to invest - all depends on freighter cargo size.

So, trading system looks complex, but its not.

The heat maps are also useful for at-a-a-glance placements of your own factories and mines. Oh, this region is Hot for energy ? Bam, a few solar factories, print me my passive income profits!

[Bobucles]

The trading subsystem was never particularly useful. It tracked the last handful of systems a ship jumped into, which is pretty meaningless out of the thousands of systems and countless trade routes. The map pricing tracker is also cumbersome to use, and generally requires a huge amount of personal input to get anything useful.

Just use the trade mission. It does all the heavy lifting and lists actual tangible trade routes inside the chunk.

[DivineEvil]

Well, the system allows you to see the trading routes along the systems you've went through since installing the system. That means you can see some opportunities to earn on trades between stations limited to a an area you're flying across and quickly spot best locations to buy goods efficiently, for example when stocking for turret production.

You can also see percentage values for all trades within the sector, meaning that you can buy cheap without the prior knowledge of the good sell area. Something you can do with a large freighter and sufficient credit reserves.

Galaxy Map overlay allows you to search for supply/demand areas so that you can approximate good trade routes, including captain orders. Those zones are also useful for planning for your own mines/factories, as you can build them to meet the demand and get higher profits, and also see potential products that would also trade well.

[MaceX]

I find myself using it for 2 main things mostly now. If I need an item or got junk from salvage, I can use it to check if anyone it buying or selling the items. I also use it to check the supply and demand for when building stations or if I want to build on a claimed asteroid.

[Raxos149]

Trading subsystems are good for a few reasons.

1) The "percentage of cost above average" value tells you when you are buying low and selling high. Generally when you encounter those magical areas where there are a lot of the same factory, then you can buy low there. You then need to look around for a good place to then dump the goods you buy for a 30-60% profit (if you are fortunate). Percentages ensure that you don't need to whip out a spreadsheet to know that you are succeeding in making money.

2) The trade routes are a quick way to know what to sell where when just travelling around. I don't use it much.

3) The map highlighting of the general value of goods is great for finding HIGH percentage areas (ANGRY RED for selling) and LOW percentage areas (Cool Blue for Buying). If I find a great area with a lot of factories producing the same good (meaning that availability of that good is high and price is extremely low), then I will look around the map and look for areas where that good is a higher percentage cost. Chances are high that there is some station in the RED areas of the map where I can sell the good for a tidy profit.

4) Knowing what kind of mines/factories to build in a particular area for the most profit. Is plat and gold dirt cheap in a particular area? I will avoid wasting money on that mine there. Is there a particular area with a lot of stations demanding some high price good for ludicrous profit? Build a factory there and watch the money roll in.