Trading, the only way to afford big ships? Was this intended?

[Underhook]

Just watched another excellent video by Kornelius where he explains the cost of purchasing and fitting an Anaconda. Watching this it dawned on me "I will never own this ship or one like it" To earn the 300 million to 1 billion required will take me from 6 to 20 years (real time). That's playing nightly as a bounty hunter.

I imagine pirates would be in a similar position and as for explorers LOL.

Not sure if this is the way FD has intended it to be?

The funny thing is traders will soon be the most powerful force in the game. There are players who already have these ships. Before long there will be CMDR's who not only have multiple large ships but can also afford to lose them. Some traders are saying that they dont want to play open because they risk being pirated or destroyed by CMDR's for no real benefit (i dont blame them). I think I can see a time where not only will traders have the upper hand in firepower but they will have so much cash that the can pay to have any CMDR eliminated at any time they want. Pirates might not want to play in open.

PS. take it easy with personal insults and such. I know how excited some of you get. This is just meant to be a bit of fun.

[video=youtube_share;aLpeyTy4Xkg]http://youtu.be/aLpeyTy4Xkg[/video]

 

[Huita]

Old problem of some silent trader grinding billions for months and then buying the biggest ship around only to go and shoot pirates. Except this time, grinding can be done in solo mode!

Modes really should be separate.

But yeah, i agree with you. Trading is too good compared to other jobs. Don't make me start on exploring...

 

[Commandr Sam]

Problem is not that trading is too good. The rate of earning with trading seems pretty good.

I think the issue is that although all the "professions" within the game start pretty lucrative, trading is the only one that scales up with a better ship.

Bigger targets for bounty hunters and pirates need to be available, but they need to require the bigger ships to deal with them. Allowing progress in these roles as well.

Exploring I am really not sure how to scale, maybe ever increasing value of discovery scanner that give ever increasing returns.

 

[Huita]

Exploring I am really not sure how to scale, maybe ever increasing value of discovery scanner that give ever increasing returns.

Until the planetary landing expansion is out, there should be price modifier based on scanned system distance from Sol and some kind of supplies you need to have on your way out to the deep space, i.e. food, water, etc. Obviously, bigger ships would allow for longer trips. Also, even until landings are out, some special "oxygen scoops", ice mining and melting into water etc. could be around to allow for replenishing supplies.

 

[mdlman]

This is roughly the billionth thread of this kind. To my knowledge FDEV have not weighed in on any of the others.

Yes, trading makes far more money than other sources. Yes, exploration is set up as if they hate explorers. Yes, bounty hunting is .. Well, I have fun with it at least.

You can support an asp with bounty hunting (I do). Some people say they have a hard time supporting running costs of larger ships with bounties. Others say no. I don't think anyone claims they're making any real strides towards being a billionaire in any way other than trading.

If we could sticky one thread talking about the gap in earning, we may be spared another billion of these threads.

 

[Ixnatifual]

I will probably do some trading eventually, but I'm more into dogfighting than space trucking. I'm also a little scared I'll become addicted to having the credits roll in and continually upgrading my trading ships if I start trading. Currently my long term goal is getting a kitted Asp and plenty of insurance.

Maybe the updated mission system will have more favourable options for the non-traders. Once you can kill elite Anacondas there isn't really much scaling you can do, and those missions have tiny rewards compared to what even medium trade ships can rein in.

 

[Zvanya]

Trading isn't the only way to afford a big ship. It's the quickest way.

 

[Underhook]

Exploring would be an easy one to boost income. Rare planet types should pay millions to explorers. Can you imagine the thrill for an explorer finding a planet made of diamond and knowing he/she will get millions when they get the data back. Imagine how nervous they will be on the journey back to sell the data

 

[Huita]

Exploring would be an easy one to boost income. Rare planet types should pay millions to explorers. Can you imagine the thrill for an explorer finding a planet made of diamond and knowing he/she will get millions when they get the data back. Imagine how nervous they will be on the journey back to sell the data

That's what i had after finding an earthlike planet. Well... that system only paid around 100k.

 

[Underhook]

Trading isn't the only way to afford a big ship. It's the quickest way.

What would the other way/ways be? mining? Off the top of my head that's the only one I can think of

 

[mono]

That should hopefully be coming since the stats column is already in place for Level2/Level3 scans. Agree that higher value bounty hunting/assassination missions need implementing.

Exploring I am really not sure how to scale, maybe ever increasing value of discovery scanner that give ever increasing returns.

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They can't be separated though since (as I understand it) solo is basically open without being in a shared instance. So grinding a resource in solo has an effect on that resource in open and vice-versa. Maybe the compromise could be that if you wipe and restart in solo you are locked out of open or if you start in open you are locked out of solo, simply to prevent people hopping back to solo to grind.

Old problem of some silent trader grinding billions for months and then buying the biggest ship around only to go and shoot pirates. Except this time, grinding can be done in solo mode!

Modes really should be separate.

 

[CMDR Saunders]

Im enjoying pirating for a living. Those rares are beautiful. Probably make 5 if not 10x as much per hour trading... but your also as entertained as watching paint dry... unless you trade in a dangerous area.

 

[charognard]

And simply, may be Annacondas and others BIG ships aren't for everybody I don't think i ll buy it, even i have the credits, and i know i ll have it in some mouths...

 

[Telnets]

Trading isn't the only way to afford a big ship. It's the quickest way.

Exactly.. its the more immediate reward for having to sit there for 30+ hours watching youtube and docking your ship once and a while

I do think that exploration should be bumped up however.. They have this amazing world to explore, and dont really give any benifit to those willing to travel 2000+LY to see it.. i think after 1000LY your cart info should be worth a fair ammount and a 4 or 5 hour trip out of civilized space should earn you potentially the same as some rare runs (its fair to say you should come back with 3-4 million in data if using detailed scanners)

or maybe have anomalies to find out there.. when your scanning a system, you could have a 1-50 chance to come across an anomaly, that if scanned could pay out.. a wreckage of an old ship.. maybe an abandoned station.. long lost technology from an earlier time.. an asteroid with some defunct base on it.. that sort of thing. have those add an extra 200k to your return... maybe make some of them missions from factions.. that if scanned, the empire may pay big to get the data from it..

I personalty dont think bounty hunting shouldnt pay out equivalent of credit grinding.. it just doesnt have the "pain" of the other methods.. but it should definitely support ship costs.

Mining needs a boost too.. i dont think it would be unreasonable to make a million an hour from mining... not sure if you can do that now.. ive never done it, but i hear its pretty terrible

 

[Rubbernuke]

Last night I made 320,000 credits bounty hunting in my Cobra around the Lave nav-point. The previous nights rare trading to Kuk for 650,000 credits. Loadsamoney!!!!!! In a week I can afford an Asp or a pimped out T6.

 

[Joe Spivey]

Your are making the mistake of thinking that ED is a competitive game. It isn't. ED is about YOUR journey. You are a pilot in a space ship, that is pretty much all you will ever be. Ok, you might one day lead a wing or something similar but it's still really just you against the galaxy. Killing others, both NPCs and PCs is just something you do along the way, it isn't the destination.

This being the case, then so what if another player has the biggest badest ship? If that player is a trader then the chances are he will have spent all his time trading and so ain't gonna be so hot at the pew pew side of things. Then again, if he IS a trader, you will probably never even meet him. Traders don't want to loose what they have played long and hard to collect so they, and their big ships, will likely be well away from where all the PvP is.

Even this is all just assuming that you are right and that other players are just here to get the best ship the fastest way they can. Many are not here for that single and rather simple objective but instead are here to enjoy the whole game and take things at a more gentle pace. Like I said at the start, ED isn't a competition and it certainly isn't a race.

 

[Doctor Axel]

Most of my current fortune has been made in bounty hunting and piracy, actually. It's definitely not optimally profitable but I don't feel like I'm being held back too much.

I would love to see more excitement behind exploration - not to say that being paid to cruise around the milky way isn't literally the coolest thing, but I think a lot could be gained if the stakes were higher.

 

[Bembledak]

One thing you haven't factored into your equation is that the skill level of your solo traders for flying their expensive fighting ships will be so low it will be comparable to fighting AI without shields! Unless they pay for mercs

I see so many threads like this whilst I recognise its a bit tough in cheek (made me chuckle), credits are not everything. So many players are grinding to get credits at this early point they're not really experiencing the game and what the whole package has to offer. It doesn't surprise me that people whine about already becoming bored.

I've done a bit of everything (even mining!) and for me exploring has to be the worst income stream and also gets boring quite quickly.

 

[Serpentstar]

At some point players are going to learn that it isn't how much money you can make. It's about how much fun they are having while playing. I am having fun running missions, and boosting reputation (even if it is broken) I could be bounty hunting, I could be mining or trading to just earn credits. But then what?

I have a goal and it is to collect system permits. This is something that can't be bought outright, one must earn them. To me, this is the fun part of the game and I happily do it in Solo or private group. Go have fun!

 

[mdlman]

One thing you haven't factored into your equation is that the skill level of your solo traders for flying their expensive fighting ships will be so low it will be comparable to fighting AI without shields! Unless they pay for mercs

There seems to be this pervasive idea that solo traders only ever trade. Trade in solo, go open for bounty hunting and action. Trade in solo and you can afford to throw away eagles, vipers and cobras learning to fly in combat.

Trading in solo also doesn't stop you from flying FA off and learning to maneuver.

You'll have a bit of adjustment when you meet real players with functional loadouts, but you can easily afford the lessons if you need them.