Beacons, trade-net and trading outposts

[gurugeorge]

Just a PSA heads-up for anyone forlornly googling who might have the same puzzlement as I did. So there's a beacon set up already in the starter system, and and I bought and set up a beacon (by attaching it to one of the FTL jump points when near it, using the purple icone bottom left) in the system many light years away where an old friend has a station and adjusts your trade-net system.

I was pleased to find that I could translocate between the two systems (saves that long journey!) But I was puzzled why I was only getting trade information from the starter system.

Turns out it's because you have to set up beacons in systems with a station with "trade port" in the name to get trade-net information from that system (things like "outpost"alone won't do) - I had a hunch that would be the case, and tried it, and it is so.

[Kreutzmark]

So, beacon are useless in outpost/refinery/forge/etc... systems... I guess that 0 population systems are useless too (no population , no business).

[gurugeorge]

Originally posted by Kreutzmark:

So, beacon are useless in outpost/refinery/forge/etc... systems... I guess that 0 population systems are useless too (no population , no business).

Not useless in the sense that you can still use them to translocate so long as they have an FTL buoy in them, but systems don't give any Trade-Net info unless they have a "Trade Port." Makes sense, it' just not immediately obvious.

[Zod Rau]

What's required for trade-net is a populated system AND any kind of populated orbital station. Not restricted to trade ports.

Also, no system trades in everything, which is why trade-net options are so limited with just 2 beaconed systems. I've got 50 in mine and can buy or sell anything.

[gurugeorge]

Originally posted by Zod Rau:

What's required for trade-net is a populated system AND any kind of populated orbital station. Not restricted to trade ports.

Also, no system trades in everything, which is why trade-net options are so limited with just 2 beaconed systems. I've got 50 in mine and can buy or sell anything.

Well as I say, I dropped a beacon in the far-flung station you're sent to for info from an old friend, and it has an outpost (I forget which type, definitely not a trade post) and it didn't give any trade-net info.

I've started building up my network, got 8 so far, 4 around the starting station 4 around that other station, and the trade info is starting to build. Judging by the trickle of viable trades that are starting to show up, I reckon I'll probably need treble that amount to really get started - it's another bit of sand in the sandbox :)

[Zod Rau]

The smuggler station is a plot device. By populated stations, I mean ones with vendors and (or perhaps or) a workbench, which includes several types which are not named 'trade port'. Also, if a system has such a station in it, that can be seen on the sector map by mousing over the system.

[mrsisk]

Beacons are not useless in systems w/out stations at all.

First of all, I drop a beacon in EVERY system I visit while looking for mining drone nodes. I do this not just to build up my Trade Network, but also to mark the systems I've scanned so that then next time I go looking for new mining drone locations I'm not traveling to systems already scanned. (You see an * after the name of systems you've got Beacons in when you're in the star map; so dropping Beacons as markers gives you a clear picture of where you've been).

And, secondly, if you've got Beacons all over the place then when you take a ground combat mission from one of the factions, you're more likely to be able to Jump to or near where your mission is. There's noting worse than having a mission in some far flung area that you've got no Beacons nearby.

Regarding setting up your Trade Network ... you're unlikely to be very effective at trading or smuggling until you've got well over 50 systems in your network. Smuggling is the fastest way to make money in the game as long as you have 1) enough systems in the network so you can find lucrative trades, 2) a cargo hold big enough to hold the goods, and 3) enough $$ on hand to buy the goods to fill your cargo hold.

I just checked my own game ... not sure how many Beacons I've dropped but I have 170 systems in my Trade Net right now, having played somewhere in excess of 500 hours. For any given smuggling item there are somewhere between 0 and 20 systems Selling the smuggling goods at a decent price, and about the same number Buying at a good price. On average, though, I'd say there's more like 5 to 7 systems with good prices in the Sell and Buy. So even with a Trade Net this size you fairly quickly run out of decent transactions and have to let the market recover a while before going off and smuggling again. With a decent sized cargo and funds in the 20 Million range you should be able to make something like 1.7 Million profit on good runs and down as low as 300 Thousand on poor runs.

[reeldeal99]

@Mr Sisk - I read your post twice. I get confused with the structure of it all. Although your post is quite detailed.

Assuming proper credits and cargo space....

So I open trade-net. I find something I wanna buy, I make the purchase. Then what? Do I need to travel to that system and rendezvous with someone at a trade port (orbital space station) and pick it up? And then what? Look on trade net again for a buyer...accept...then travel to that system and then go to the orbital space station in that system...find the person and sell it to them? Step 3 profit?

Is that how it works?

Can you clarify and and then recommend a decent cargo hold ship that can still wreak faces in space fights? I have starter ship AK-7 with legendary equipment which pwns 2 ships at a time, but no cargo hold. Forget price, whats a fast ship, good in fights, and has several thousand spaces for cargo?...assuming you have a recommendation.

thanks in advance!

[mrsisk]

Originally posted by reeltempting:

...So I open trade-net. I find something I wanna buy, I make the purchase. Then what?

The way I do it is this:

-Open Trade Net
-Find what I want to trade
-Click the SELL tab. (This gives you the prices of the item and where the item is located) Items in GREEN are selling at below average sales price (i.e. they're good deals)
-Check the AMOUNT that is for sale of all the green items, note the cheapest sales price and amount on sale.
---Compare the AMOUNT with how much free cargo space you have. There's no point buying more than you can carry because if you do, you'll have to make multiple trips to shuttle it from selling location to buying location).
---Also calculate how much $$ it's going to cost you to fill your cargo hold. You obviously can't buy more than the $$ you have on hand.
-Click the BUY tab. (This gives you a list of who's buying that commodity, their location, the number they want to buy, and the amount they will pay for it.) Again, GREEN items are the good deals. In this case they are offering to buy at ABOVE average market.
-Choose the Buyer who pays the highest price and who wants an AMOUNT that you can provide.
-In the SELL tab again, click your selected seller and enter the AMOUNT you can afford to buy and then click ACCEPT. You'll see a note in the bottom telling you that you've agreed to buy X amount from a particular location. The location gives you not only the star system name, but the planet #. There will be a space station at that location where you need to go pick up the goods from. As soon as you ACCEPT, the $$ will be deducted from your current total.
-In the BUY tab, click on your selected buyer and enter the SAME AMOUNT that you just bought. Click ACCEPT. Another note will show where you need to take the goods after you pick them up.
---Note that both your BUY and SELL locations will show up now in you missions window. So if you forget where you need to go, just look at your Missions list.
-Travel to the seller's location and dock with the station orbiting the indicated planet.
-Look for the computer terminal where you can buy storage space. Click on it and you'll see your purchase listed there.
-Transfer the purchase to your cargo hold.
-Travel to the buyer's location and dock. Again, look for the computer terminal, and then ...
-Transfer the goods from your cargo hold to storage.

At that point you'll see a note telling you you got paid and you will once again have $$ in your account.

I must say, though, that aside from smuggling goods there do not seem to be really any good quick money trade opportunities. The profit margins are so small it's unlikely you'll want to spend time doing it.

As for decent cargo ships ... I opted for the Light Merchant ship Heron MRCH-3. Its standard cargo hold is 6.700 units (the starter ship only has 350), and it carries 2 Light Weapons Turrets, one Light Missile Turret, and 2 Heavy Missile Turrets. You can upgrade the cargo to over 8,000 units, which is more than enough to make in excess of 1.6M per smuggling run with the right cargo (but you need like 17M or more to buy the goods in the first place). With upgraded weapons it can easily handle all but the heaviest fighters and biggest Carriers ... but it's not very good at disabling ships for boarding. The bulk of its fighting capability is in missiles, which bypass shields half the time causing too much hull damage. And with only light turrets for Ion or Plasma weapons, it can't take out weapons, engines, and systems fast enough. Meaning the enemy usually have time to bring their shields up before you can board. I mean you CAN do boarding with it, but it takes more time than with a ship that has better turrets.

Other people I've read skip over the Light Merchant class and go for something like the Exarch CG-5 Medium Merchant . Much more cargo space (17,000 stock) and 4 Light Weapons Turrets (no missiles). That would probably do pretty good at boarding if you upgrade the light turrets to a bunch of decent Ion weapons.

But the Heron MRCH-3 did me fine until I was able to move to the only Heavy Merchant ship in the game: the Fortune CG-5. 56,000 cargo space stock and 3 Heavy Weapons Turrets, two Light Missiles. I've never had the $$ to fill that bad boy up with trade goods. But most of the time the sellers and buyers don't want that much stuff anyway. Which means I can carry around a bunch of ores and looted ship modules without sacrificing trade good space ... cost like 65,000,000 to buy, though, so it took a while to get that kind of cash.