Hey guys, I've been playing for a while now and I have about 18 million from conflict zones and I'm wondering if there's something else I can do to earn money faster than I do in combat zones.
Thanks for the help!!!
Thanks for the help!!!
Best way to earn millions of credits?
- Thread starter Theoliverw8
- Start date
Make at least one contribution to each CG, I've netted maybe 20 million from the last 4 or so for very little effort.
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Do you mean buy goods from the commodities market and sell them in another system?
Long-range smuggling, like others have said, is probably the single most profitable activity right now.
Additionally, if you have enough credits to buy and A-spec a Vulture, bounty hunting in HazRES or HiRES can be very lucrative, particularly if you pledge to one of the powers with a bounty hunting payout bonus.
Additionally, if you have enough credits to buy and A-spec a Vulture, bounty hunting in HazRES or HiRES can be very lucrative, particularly if you pledge to one of the powers with a bounty hunting payout bonus.
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+1 for long range smuggling from Robigo/Sothis/Ceos.
I'm allied with everybody in those three systems apart from one faction whom I'm just friendly with and I made 50m from one run tonight (15 drops in 14 systems...) in an Asp which the thread-starter could afford, although a Cobra Mk3 might be a better choice for a first run simply because it has the sheer speed to make avoiding scans easier. It's also a lot of fun now that there is some actual risk involved, playing cat and mouse with the authorities and pirates.
Worth pointing out that you're not going to get those kind of profits immediately but even when I made my first trip out there I was able to get missions paying 2m+ and if you take the low volume ones you can usually stack 3-4 of them in a Cobra at least - you might just need to hang around for a few bulletin board refreshes. Make sure that you check how much time you have to complete missions because it's a long flight back to populated space.
This is my cheap and cheerful smuggling Cobra which I built specifically for Robigo runs. Enough cargo space to stack 4-5 missions, more if you get lucky with the bulletin boards and it boosts at 438 when fully loaded.
http://coriolis.io/outfit/cobra_mk_...y6EYcqQ===?bn=Cobra MkIII Long Range Smuggler
I'm sure a lot of players would prefer a fuel scoop and another class 2 cargo rack in place of the two tanks. Personally I prefer not having to hang around near stars to scoop when I'm carrying contraband and will fail missions on a scan - getting interdicted into a sun gets old real fast. The downside of using tanks is that for a run to Robi you need to stop off on the way out and more importantly on the way back (when you will have a hold full of slaves and narcotics) to refuel. Doesn't bother me because I can check the boards at the stations I stop at for more missions and nothing is scanning me in that ship but I know many players are so attached to their fuel scoops that my build would probably be considered unconventional. There's no right or wrong way of doing it though - just try a few things out and go with whatever works for you.
The single chaff is there just in case anything speedy manages to clip me with a shot or two (not to block scans because it doesn't) but in a ship that boosts at 438 it's not really necessary. For beast-mode, you can also bin the shield generator off completely (it's there in case I have to do a crazy late boost into a station not because I'm worried about getting shot at lol) and stick another class 4 cargo rack in it - that gives you 48 tons of cargo space, will boost at 434 when fully loaded and has a jump range of 167 ly between refueling when fully laden, which is plenty to get to Robigo via Te Kaha and Takurua and then on to Sothis and Ceos. You can even drop the power plant down to a 2C (!) by doing that, which takes the cost down to just over 5 million but it doesn't give you any significant increase in speed or range so it's pointless if you already have a better one.
Any of those options (or the others which players with far more experience and/or intelligence than me will no doubt link) will pay for itself and more after one run.
The most important thing though is to do what you find fun. Just grinding smuggling missions is as boring as grinding anything else to me if I do it to death, but you might love it and do it every day for a month, or you might find you hate it. I would also say as someone else did, keep an eye on the community goals that are created regularly - this thread has details of them as they are created:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=187372
They're a good way of picking up some extra credits (I made 7.5m from the last one for about 2.5 hours work) and as that thread shows, they can also be a good way to hook up with other players in open.
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Long-range missions have a low input cost (A-rated Cobra if cash constrained - or A-rated Asp if you have several mil spare) and a high turn-over potential.
Cobra boosts well beyond constabulary or pirate vipers/ eagles top cruise speed; A-rated Asp will boost just above either (typically neither pirates or cops will boost to give chase) allowing you to boost clear of a scan. There is a certain knack to timing your exit from a station, or entry into (the speed limit is not your friend; speed and sneaking like ninja, is your friend) but once you get the gist of what will happen, it's not complicated to avoid scans/ pirates.
It's also a blast boosting out of a station, or dodging pirates and scoring that sweet 2-5 mil payout on delivery. People have spent a lot of time whining about interdictions; but the reality is, these really amp up the sense of danger/ excitement. The sense of achievement is pretty sweet and it can be a huge amount of fun (even if towards each run you want to take up some sort of self-harm sport, because of the endless "You're a hard one to track down" type messages from so many NPCs).
Oh, and it's a huge benefit if you want to gain naval rank in Empire or Federation, as there are a few Empire and Federation aligned stations, as well as the oft-travelled Robigo (independant).
I still do this, periodically, because there are only so manyslaves migrants and such I can trade in Cutter (which is also a huge money earner, but the entry cost at half-a-billion plus naval rank isn't exactly trivial) before I want to rethink my life. 
Cobra boosts well beyond constabulary or pirate vipers/ eagles top cruise speed; A-rated Asp will boost just above either (typically neither pirates or cops will boost to give chase) allowing you to boost clear of a scan. There is a certain knack to timing your exit from a station, or entry into (the speed limit is not your friend; speed and sneaking like ninja, is your friend) but once you get the gist of what will happen, it's not complicated to avoid scans/ pirates.
It's also a blast boosting out of a station, or dodging pirates and scoring that sweet 2-5 mil payout on delivery. People have spent a lot of time whining about interdictions; but the reality is, these really amp up the sense of danger/ excitement. The sense of achievement is pretty sweet and it can be a huge amount of fun (even if towards each run you want to take up some sort of self-harm sport, because of the endless "You're a hard one to track down" type messages from so many NPCs).
Oh, and it's a huge benefit if you want to gain naval rank in Empire or Federation, as there are a few Empire and Federation aligned stations, as well as the oft-travelled Robigo (independant).
I still do this, periodically, because there are only so many
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No, some lower-income (still a lot comparable to other missions closer to bubble) are available for neutrally-aligned players on the spot.
Just go there, accept few, deliver them and work towards your rep with minor factions that way.
Also, I got friendly with Sirius Corp and got pass to Sirius - which is nice.
Just go there, accept few, deliver them and work towards your rep with minor factions that way.
Also, I got friendly with Sirius Corp and got pass to Sirius - which is nice.
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Not at all. When I decided to give Robigo a try I walked in as a nobody and they gave me 20+mil worth of missions. After the first run got me Friendly with the Cartel the missions improved a bit. I figured the second run would get me up to Allied with the locals but no such luck. I'm currently loading my third run in hopes of coming back Allied with the Robigo Cartel and seeing another mission upgrade.
Elite trade rank would help too but alas I am but an 80% Tycoon at the moment.
If you give Fehu or Aditi a try they will scatter in some charity missions to help you get friendly with the locals as well as help your Imperial Navy progress. Between those charities and running a load of missions you can easily build 10% a run towards your next Imperial ascension. Just remember to focus on missions bearing the Empire symbol for that aspect.
No you have to travel to a system outside of inhabited space. Then you will have to check the bulletin board for long range missions. Here are some systems that I know of that offer long range missions.
Sothis
Robigo
Peregrina (Requires a permit) - also I think this is still a plague system
Almagest
Takurua
Te Kaha
49 Arietis
Fehu
HIP 8396
Aditi
HIP 12424
find a military strike zone. get to rank 5 in power play. I earned 200million in 5 hrs game play. that's the best earning I have found so far. now sitting on a A spec python, 370million in the bank!
Pauper, talk to me again once you reach 1 billion.
You also left out a ton of very important pieces of information on why a military strike zone would be beneficial and how it works in power play. A military strike zone doesn't mean anything if you aren't pledged to the correct power. And the strike zone doesn't actually give you money, just merits to get to rank 5 in the power you are pledged to. Then once you get to rank 5 (which takes 10000 merits, you get 10 merits per kill in a strike zone), then if you are pledged to hudson or ALD you get a huge bonus 150%+ (depending on the current rank of the power) in CZ and bounty hunting. To keep the bonus you will have to keep getting 10000 merits every week. That is a lot of work to stay there. Of course you get 50M a week if you do just from being rank 5.
If you want a ton of money it is one of the best ways of doing it. But realize its not much fun trying to keep rank 5 if there are no strike zones because your power didn't prepare or is in turnmoil. In short don't worry about having a ton of money. Do FUN stuff.
There's also the fact that the ships in strike zones are a lot tougher to kill than regular NPC ships, to earn enough merits to keep your rank 5 is very time consuming. You really need to be in a in a good wing for merit farming in strike zones. I find undermining more fun and 30 merits a kill as opposed to 10.