Trader or Miner build viable ?

[willixx]

I know this game is more about fighting , small and fast ships and so on. Still I wonder if a Trader or Miner build is viable for more than early game levels .

-> Did anyone already make it to late game levels in a big, slow trader/miner vessel ?

I mean, you cannot run away from most enemies, nor can you gunkill them aside from very early levels.. . And hires are expensive and incometent as far as I red in other threads.
On the other side as trader/miner you should be rich early to buy hundreds of missiles to spam on enemies...

[WeaverSong]

Yes, I have made it to endgame with traders and miners. The trick is to not care about the sector level. For miners I tend to try to stick to lower level sectors, razing asteroids fields anywhere I can sell the loot, and upgrading my ship size and gear as I can. I do die once in a while, but a lot less than as a fighting build; oh, and I never, ever, ever hire mercs.

As a trader I ignore sector level entirely. Abuse loops in the first sector until I leave with a ship 2-3 sizes higher than I began, and repeat until I've got a dread in the first 10-20 sectors. Then find stations with better gear as I repeat my trading abuses, slowly heading up the sector levels.

[willixx]

So I should give it a try and see what happens.... ;-) .
For staying in low level sector to mine asteroids: as far as I read, asteroid fields don't respawn, once scavenged. And I suppose we do not get THAT rich by then. Wouldn't that mean, we do have to go to higher level sectors to find new asteroid fields ?

[WeaverSong]

Yes, you do have to keep moving to find more fields. But as you get to out of the very earliest sectors you start to get large sectors, which often have a number of fields. The bothersome part of it is finding the next sector which will buy at least most of the stuff you mine. PMC tends to be the best bet for that, so it works best to find their area and stick to it.

[willixx]

Ok, thanks. Inbetween I gave it a try.

Started with the first corvette, mining two small asteroid fields. Not even done with it 2 red scull fighters warped at me and shot away halve my health before I mangaged to escape via warp gate to the next sector (don't have a warp drive yet). There I just had about 10 secs before another 2 red sculls warped in again and finished me off.

So after this very short time I get the feeling mining/trading as main task is not my cup of tea. Just to much running away (later with warp drive) without the peace to slowly do your main work... .

The other thing I didn't like was the slow speed of my vessel. I mean as someone who has to travel a lot of area to find new asteroid fields it's quite boring to slowrun sectors (with the only "thrill" to be hunted and having to flee every other minute .. ).

So my personal conclusion would be, Star Valor (still) is a combat focused shooter game and should be played as such. A tiny bit of extra trading and mining might be fine as a break now and then, but probably is not the most satisfying thing to do as main goal.

Still, thanks a lot for your advice.

[WeaverSong]

Yeah, star valor is focused on combat. One tip I would give, though: Don't start in a big ship. Even for combat it's a bad investment. Big ships rely on their large equipment banks to be powerful, and early on they're too slow and weak to be meaningful, either at fighting or at running.

[Laious]

If you go to a controlled sector (not independent as the starter one), your chances of being attacked by marauder warp-ins are much lower. So I'd advise finding the PMC sector, which probably also has a higher mineral level. If you manage to get rid of the marauder hideouts in a controlled sector, the chances of random spawns are zero. Of course occasional red skull might still fly by, but you'd be much relaxed.

And yeah, I'm still improving on this.

[Laious]

Another tip is to pick Renown (social skill), which will diminish the enemy spawn rate.

[willixx]

Ok, thanks... I already had picked Reknown level 1 (or already 2 ?) . Maybe I was just on bad luck with my red skulls. I started with the trader corvette for it's big storage - but of course it's slow as hell as consequence.

[MrPurple33]

Mining is VERY Viable- the best Mining I've done in a Space Game- my first Profile I wanted Mining, and it's still my favorite at Level 50

Sounds Like you already have a good Mining ship- I started with the Bolder, a PMC Yacht, gave it extra Cargo Space (and it has a Lot to start with anyway) with the weapon Load of 3, yet 2 gun port/barrels, I craft 2 better Mining Lasers and then do 2, 0.5 Point Defense guns- Lasers are easiest, but you can also do Cannons, which the Bolder will rearm and make ammo for if you have any Iron, which you will have Mining all the time - Point Defense Cannons are actually quite good, take out drones well, have to aim a bit for missiles- kinda odd when you fight though- you basically Ram the Bolder straight into the target then unload point black with Cannons and Mining Lasers- You have more Armor than most Yachts as well, and the Shields, slap on a Repair Drone, or 2, and you're very survivable- when starting out I get that Bolder, then some cheap Mercenairies to cover as I Mine (builds that early Fleet Command Skill as well)- then get 2 Yachts of my own as escorts, or to switch into when I want a faster ship for fighting

Myself, once I had the Bolder and two Escorts, found I was making so much money, I skipped the Corvette stage and went straight for the Scourge, the PMC Frigate- not only does it have that rugged Miner Look, it's one of the best Mining Ships in the game, if not THE Best ( I think it is) - the other PMC Frigate, the Mule, is good as well, but I treat that more as a Cargo Hauler (more on that in my Trading section below)

I actually go sector to sector, clearing out the Pirate Hideouts, then Mining everything I can- seldom take Combat Missions besides the "Clear Out Pirate Hideout" ones, which I'm doing anyway to Mine without as much hassle- I have other Player Profiles to do Combat with

With Mining it's actually VERY profitable, and in many cases, especially early to mid game, more steady income that Fighting/Bounty Hunting, it's just, well, Slower- One big reason is the more you Mine, the more your Geology skill goes up, which Lets you find more valuabale metals, which you then Mine, then more Geology, more metals, more profit- it cycle Loops pretty quickly


Trading is good and viable too, but it's tricky- most other games you get "X" trade goods and sell for profit or a "Y" trade goods, then back and forth- in Star Valor there is Less sector-to-sector trade and more in-sector station-to-station trade- when you find those good deals Load up all you can and go back-and-forth between stations as much as you can- BECAUSE unlike some other games, the more you trade, the stations start getting a surplus of goods, and the prices start becoming Less- I've found on average, with 3 good Cargo Ships you can do 5 or 6 back-and-forths before the price drops where it's not worth it anymore- then you move on to another sector

Because of that, my other trading strategy is to have at Least 3 Cargo Ships and Load them 1/2 full or more with trade goods that SHOULD be more valuable in most other sectors- you;ll find what you'll Like, but for me it's things Like Wine, Coffee, Medicine, for some reason Titanium has a cheap buying price then ramps up big at places, I guess every Faction needs it for ship building

Also, with all that Cargo Space, swap out for some Mining Lasers and get random metals and crystals- they're all "free" to Mine and sell well - Trading and Mining overlap well, so my Traders sometimes Mine, and my Miners sometimes Trade, because Mining ships have Large Cargo Space as well- 70% you store metals and ores, 30% occasionally grab Wine, Medicine, etc if found cheap, and haul it until you find a good price to Trade for it

There's a bunch of choices for Cargo Ships, but for me, I went for the Hauler/Corvette first- you can start as Outis and have that as your starter ship, or Later, start as Trader with a Yacht and buy a Hauler- they're fairly inexpensive for a Corvette- it doesn't have much for weapons, but it has a 1 slot, 360 turret- craft a good PD Beam Laser, get a good Gunner for it, and a few escort Shuttles or Yachts for further protection, and away you go

Another good Trader/Miner synergy is that 2 of the PMC ships, the Mule and Donkey, aren't as good as Mining as they are at Trading/Cargo Space- and the Mule and Donkey have pretty good defensive capabilities with 2 to 4 slot, multiple 360 Turrets- my Trader startegy was to get 3 Haulers, then trade up my main ship for a Mule- 1 Mule, 2 Haulers- then 3 Mules, then 1 Donkey, 2 Mules, then 3 Donkeys- That's 3 Cruisers technically, but the Donkeys are slow, Lots of Cargo Space, yet nice Armor and plenty of defensive weapons- add escort Yachts or Corvettes, and treat you're Pirate and Maurauder defense Like WWII Bomber Groups- all the big, slow Cargo Ships overlap fire close to each other with the Turrets, and escorts intercept and engage- Fleet Size wise, you get 1 Donkey/Cruiser, your main ship, as "free" / zero points, 2 more Donkeys/Cruisers at 20 each, for 40/50, and the remaining 10 for a mix of escorts- and there are starting perks, and skills that can get the Fleet Points higher- right now I'm at the 3 Mule part of my strategy, and profits are flowing

As for other Cargo Ships, find what you Like, the Thessus, an Independent Frigate, has the most Cargo Space for it's size, and really any ship- but I find it Quite Ugly and Clunky, plus all your weapons are in a single turret at the rear, although you can place multiple weapns in it

You'd think the Syndicate would have great Cargo Ships/Traders, but their ships, while having decent Cargo Space, pale next to the Hauler, Mule, and Donkey- plus those 3 LOOK and ACT as Cargo Ships- Philosophically, as a Faction, the Syndicate actually provide good Protective Ships FOR Cargo Traders, and have the best Stations for Trading



Final Thing, 2 BIG Tips-

Once you start selling big payouts, you'll have a window pop up asking if you want to switch to the "White Collar" background, it's one of the few Perks you can decide to say Yes r No too- DO NOT take it right away- it gives you better bonuses for Trading and Mining, but it also attracts more enemies/pirates/marauders, and they'll be tougher as well- say NO for some time until you've built up a good Fleet with defenses and escorts- don't worry, "White Collar" will pop up again and again, every time you sell a Lot of Goods or Metals- once you say YES, you can't switch back- In fact, I've always said NO with my Mining Fleet, as the Miner Background is better- "White Collar" eventually IS the way to go with Trading however

2nd Tip- hunt around or train good Supervisors- they boost a Lot of stats for you, particularly in regard to Mining and Trading- Supervisors boost Cargo Space, Mining Speed, and Trade Prices, and with whatever skills they have/get can give you bonuses for a variety of Mining and Trading skills



Hope this was helpful- really, I'm quite new to Star Valor myself, only been playing since July, but this is all stuff I Learned, or was tipped off to by other players- Weaversong, Moon Shadow, and Phoenix 54 are all people who regularly give good advice here, and as you can see, even the developer, Laious will come on and help us- I know all 4 of them have given me key tips in the past, and still do

[MrPurple33]

Another thing I forgot to mention- on the Skill Tree area, you'll probably want to put a Lot of points into the 4th area, Business

With my Pirate and Combat/Bounty Hunter Profiles, I put hardly any points in there, but you can Boost Up useful Skills for Trading and Mining- the entire Right Half is more for Trading, and the entire Left Half is more for Mining

Mining I maxed out the Left Half, and then the entire Business Skill Slot, it's all useful for Mining- for Trading I maxed Bargain, Trading, Cargo Optimization, and Hidden Compartments (10% more Cargo) and did a good amount on the Left Half, but didn't take Refinery Master

[The Pollie]

At some point I have to mine asteroids in a storm.

[willixx]

MrPurple33 - thanks for all that information. Should be helpful for everyone interested in Miner/Trader builds.

[MrPurple33]

Groovy