This is a thread supposedly helpful for many players, so for the interest of others if definitely should be pointed out that the cutter beats the corvette both on range and on capacity. If you have an anaconda and either both ranks or neither, it makes more sense to work towards a cutter if you want a trade ship.
Corvette is actually a better trader ship than an Anaconda
- Thread starter _Dastardly_
- Start date
Thanks.. That's exactly where I'm coming from
The cutter has higher jump range & cargo hold, it's obvious that it's going to be better at A<>B trading. However the Corvette has higher cargo at the expense of jump range over the anaconda, and people are saying that it's worse than the anaconda. I'm just pointing out that it's not true.
That 92 honurs and 54 hours assumes the Anaconda is not does it not trading
Start the Anaconda pilot at Zero
Start the Corvette Pilot at Negative 92 million
Start the Cutter Pilot at Negative 163 million
Add to each their hourly income
At what point doe the Corvette over take the Anaconda? Hour and Earnings?
At what point doe the Cutter over take the Anaconda? Hour and Earnings?
At what point doe the Cutter over take the Corvette? Hour and Earnings?
Since this game has basically no depreciation then the only thing that matters is your total assets
Lets say we do what you say and a fixed 100 hrs trading for each of the pilots.
| Starting Point | 100 Hours Trading | Total Assets (Credits+Ship) | |
| Anaconda | 0.00 | 819,888,000.00 | 819,888,173.00 |
| Corvette | -92,000,000 | 1,046,064,000.00 | 1,046,064,224.00 |
| Cutter | -163,000,000 | 1,251,036,000.00 | 1,251,036,336.00 |
(Based on the figures from my table for trading for all three ships)
Just so you can also see...
| Anaconda | Corvette | Cutter | |
| Hours | 0 | -92,000,000 | -163,000,000 |
| 1 | 8,198,880.00 | -81,539,360 | -150,489,640 |
| 2 | 16,397,760.00 | -71,078,720 | -137,979,280 |
| 3 | 24,596,640.00 | -60,618,080 | -125,468,920 |
| 4 | 32,795,520.00 | -50,157,440 | -112,958,560 |
| 5 | 40,994,400.00 | -39,696,800 | -100,448,200 |
| 6 | 49,193,280.00 | -29,236,160 | -87,937,840 |
| 7 | 57,392,160.00 | -18,775,520 | -75,427,480 |
| 8 | 65,591,040.00 | -8,314,880 | -62,917,120 |
| 9 | 73,789,920.00 | 2,145,760 | -50,406,760 |
| 10 | 81,988,800.00 | 12,606,400 | -37,896,400 |
| 11 | 90,187,680.00 | 23,067,040 | -25,386,040 |
| 12 | 98,386,560.00 | 33,527,680 | -12,875,680 |
| 13 | 106,585,440.00 | 43,988,320 | -365,320 |
| 14 | 114,784,320.00 | 54,448,960 | 12,145,040 |
| 15 | 122,983,200.00 | 64,909,600 | 24,655,400 |
| 16 | 131,182,080.00 | 75,370,240 | 37,165,760 |
| 17 | 139,380,960.00 | 85,830,880 | 49,676,120 |
| 18 | 147,579,840.00 | 96,291,520 | 62,186,480 |
| 19 | 155,778,720.00 | 106,752,160 | 74,696,840 |
| 20 | 163,977,600.00 | 117,212,800 | 87,207,200 |
| 21 | 172,176,480.00 | 127,673,440 | 99,717,560 |
| 22 | 180,375,360.00 | 138,134,080 | 112,227,920 |
| 23 | 188,574,240.00 | 148,594,720 | 124,738,280 |
| 24 | 196,773,120.00 | 159,055,360 | 137,248,640 |
This shows when each pilot would in theory have the credits to overtake the anaconda pilot, however it really makes no sense as it does not take into account the pilots total assets and we cant get loans in this game anyway.
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*Cough* Cutter not Clipper *cough*
Edited.. *mutter* stupid similar names *mutter*
I stopped factoring in the cost of ships into comparisons for profits long ago. The modules can be sold back at 100% value at any time and are no different to a deposit. If you have a credits target and money is everything, you can recoup the "lost credits" on the Corvette whenever you want, meaning the difference in price is only the hull cost.
If you don't have a credits target then it's irrelevant anyway, because you will eventually pass the value and make more profit.
I still wouldn't use a Corvette to trade over an Anaconda though. Simply because jump range controls where you trade by a significant margin, particularly in large ships. My trade Conda had about 19ly fully laden and that dramatically opens up routes.
Not that I'm ever going to trade again.
If you don't have a credits target then it's irrelevant anyway, because you will eventually pass the value and make more profit.
I still wouldn't use a Corvette to trade over an Anaconda though. Simply because jump range controls where you trade by a significant margin, particularly in large ships. My trade Conda had about 19ly fully laden and that dramatically opens up routes.
Not that I'm ever going to trade again.
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I think you missed the whole point. In any trade route where you can trade with one jump in an anaconda.. BUT you can do the same with 2 jumps with a corvette (ie. Anaconda A -> C -> A or Corvette A -> Mid Jump -> C -> Mid Jump -> A) the corvette will out trade the anaconda by 10%. If the stars dont align so you have to make three jumps to do the 19ly with the corvette then it's worse. But most of the time it would be better.
Gah all these numbers! At the end of the day which is the nicer to fly (more manouverable/fun). Boom! Thats the one to pick! This is Elite Dangerous not Monopoly, can I get a hell ye pilots of the Milky Way!
Spreadsheets aside, if you play this game to analyze maximum profit margins, or time versus income graphs, you're doing it wrong.
You can have (and sorry for this mods, but I'm going to use the "F" word here) fun trading in a Cobra with 32T of cargo space. The larger ship you fly, the more you have to lose, literally.
There is no end game in Elite, so what's the rush trying to get there?
You can have (and sorry for this mods, but I'm going to use the "F" word here) fun trading in a Cobra with 32T of cargo space. The larger ship you fly, the more you have to lose, literally.
There is no end game in Elite, so what's the rush trying to get there?
Play less so that you have more fun? Makes no sense. It's like giving someone a ferrari and telling them that they should go round a racetrack at 20 miles an hour because then they will be in the car for longer and that will be more 'fun'. My opinion is that they set the bar WAYYYYY too low for the elites if they wanted to make the journey the thing.
Anyway it's not about the way the game is played (thats in other threads.. quite a lot of them at the moment). It's just to show that a short jump range does not make the corvette a bad ship for trading.
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If you're that into your trading then ye but at that point if you enjoy it that much isn't it becoming Eve territory? From what i've seen flying with the Corvette turns alot better than the Anaconda, plus they seem to be having more lol
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I agree its a good ship for trading but you've opened a can of ship worms with this topic haha. But no original point equals a good one.
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I agree its a good ship for trading but you've opened a can of ship worms with this topic haha. But no original point equals a good one.
No, I didn't miss the point, I just gave my opinion on why I still wouldn't choose the 10% bonus. I had a similar conundrum when I tried the t9 out. My calculations told me the t9 was better under similar circumstances (if I could find a certain route). But I chose the Anaconda because it opened up more options due to its superior jump range.
Obviously, if you have a perfect route ready to go (that never dies), then I agree with you. I was actually agreeing with you that cost of the ship is irrelevant.
I was going to make this point as well. I didn't do the math, but when it was time for me to decide, I chose to go for getting the Cutter first and then use that to make the credits needed to purchase a Corvette later when I had more than enough credits.
I think the OP's point is valid and was worth starting the discussion. It points out that the profits scale up and the analysis is a good one. He put numbers to paper whereas i made my choices based on intuition and the fact that i just thought the Cutter was really cool. It is. Damn fun to fly as all the Imperial ships are. The Cutter's raw speed, power, and cargo capacity put it in a different league from the rest of the ships. Throw in the reasonable jump range and it just has too many pluses to ignore.
Still, I think the OP did a nice job of analyzing the topic and getting a rational discussion started and deserves some rep.
Thanks OP
It also is relevant for players who have to answer the question for themselves when the time comes. "I have enough for a Corvette. Should I just keep trading up a bit for a Cutter or should I buy the Corvette now." I chose to go for the Cutter, but others may come to a different conclusion based on the analysis in this thread.
FLY safe all.
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Actually, I find this to be the most effective approach. First, find the route you want to trade, then buy and outfit the ship you want to take advantage of it. Depending on the distance and jump range needed you can then customize the outfitting to come up with the best build for the route based on your current available funds. In my trade Conda, for example, I run without weapons and have a route that is 20ly that I can one-hop in the Conda with 452T of cargo. When i bought the Cutter, i found a route that was well within its min jump range, so I added a decent weapons load out making it more of an all arounder yet still more profitable than my Conda.
Find the route, then build the right ship for it.
No, its saying, who silly enough to kit out a corvette for trading when at the jump distances youre using a corvette for, is going to get much more in far less time. The price difference at those levels is minimal, 20mill is barely a few hours grind.
Simply put if your doing short trade jumps a cutter will do more. Once your past the anaconda stage you know enough on how to make real profits. Using a corvette is simply nerfing yourself.
If you want to really compare the corvette vs an anaconda then you need to take in what makes the anaconda so good at trading. Having a 18ly jump range LADEN. An anaconda (with shield and decent weapons) can take on routes in 3 jumps what a corvette would do in 5, maybe 6. Thats where the anaconda always shined previously. It would carry less than a T9 but jump less and handle better (handling issue is moot vs a corvette though).
On your very specific particular route it works in favour of the ship you want it to. But routes dry up etc so having the flexibility is where an anaconda shines. Profit per hour etc is the only part thats important with number crunching.
I dont think anyone has ever said you CANT trade in a corvette, the point is WHY bother when theres far better alternatives for short and long distance trading. Might aswell be arguing over an asp vs a clipper for the pointlessness of this.
I'm not sure you read the whole post. What I'm saying is that on *any* route where the anaconda's full jump range is used (19ish ly each way) a corvette can beat the anaconda by around 10% (As long as it can do the 19ly in 2 jumps which in my experience is most of the time). That's not a pointless increase that's significant. Anyone that buy's stuff, makes 3 full jumps and then sells it may be having fun.. but the trading is going to be far below 19-20ly 'loops'. In 5 minutes of looking I found a 3.2k/ton route and 5 or 6 routes that ranged between 2700 and 2900 cr/ton.
Anyway. Not everyone can have every ship, or have the time to GRIND the way all the way up to the rank required to get either ship. The corvette is a fun ship and the point is that if you want to get it for fun.. but also want to trade.. You can.
Doing charity missions you can get this ship in about 8mil credits and 2-3 days depending on how much time you spend. But if that gets fixed (read nerfed) then yes the choice between corvette/cutter will become even more important as it will take a lot longer to get to the ships and you will be stuck with just one or the other for much longer.