Earning a crust in 3.0.3

[Coolts]

I’d like to know how some people are luxuriating in the warm glow of bank accounts with 10,000,000+ credits earned in B3.0.x. (unless they don't work and spend 20+hrs a day playing elite )

Back in PB, I traded as that was the only way to earn.
In B2 I bounty hunted as that was the only way to earn.
In B3.0.x I’m not so sure anymore. Viper / Cannon / Bounty hunting is a no go for me now as cannon ammo costs as much as the bounties and the Viper handling is now pretty bad and all the decent upgrades are 5,000+ credits

Missions combined with trading in a cobra seem the way to go for now till mining and exploring are made worthwhile in terms of cold hard cash.

I’d love an Asp, but don’t fancy DHL trucking for weeks like I did in PB for my lovely Annie.

This is not a moan, and yes, its beta. I’d just like to know if there's a B3.0.x money beat I've missed.

 

[Grayman]

I make a half mil in an hour and a half trip mining out of a Cobra with 32 cargo spaces, you have to know where to look and what to take. Metallic asteroid clusters with Pristine Reserves, usually found in the more remote systems, and only take Platinum, Palladium and Gold.
Other than that, I'm also working my way toward an Asp but I appreciate the time it takes to get everything now. IMO it's much better now than in B1 where you could get into a Type-6 and rake in 300k for 2 jumps doing trade routes and hop into a Type-9 a couple days later to do the same thing times four and an Anaconda a few days after that. Just before the B2 wipe I had 10 million in my account and I wasn't even playing that often, I very nearly had the Anaconda and all fittings plus enough for the insurance and that just shouldn't have been for the amount of time I was playing the game...
Have fun playing, the money will come.

 

[Elessarus]

Have fun playing, the money will come.

Best advice there is

 

[Dr Zachary Smith]

I make a half mil in an hour and a half trip mining out of a Cobra with 32 cargo spaces, you have to know where to look and what to take. Metallic asteroid clusters with Pristine Reserves, usually found in the more remote systems, and only take Platinum, Palladium and Gold.
Other than that, I'm also working my way toward an Asp but I appreciate the time it takes to get everything now. IMO it's much better now than in B1 where you could get into a Type-6 and rake in 300k for 2 jumps doing trade routes and hop into a Type-9 a couple days later to do the same thing times four and an Anaconda a few days after that. Just before the B2 wipe I had 10 million in my account and I wasn't even playing that often, I very nearly had the Anaconda and all fittings plus enough for the insurance and that just shouldn't have been for the amount of time I was playing the game...
Have fun playing, the money will come.

Basically this... actually 16 cargo is still awesome. but you need a good refinery with at least 5 slots 6 is even better I was doing 200k in around an hr and wasn't being picky about what I mined, just filled the thing with lots of "stuff" it all adds up obviously palladium, gold, silver etc but I honestly found that the time it takes just to seek out one or 2 metals you can fill your hold pretty randomly with bertrandite etc and still be making a tidy sum I did find that when a palladium asteroid ran out, if i exited and saved then came back into game the closest asteroid to me was 9/10 palladium, I guess that's just a bug.

 

[Coolts]

When the game releases, I will be pootling about in the sidewinder gawping at the Twin suns of the iBootis system then heading out into he void. I wont be worrying about credits per hour like some demented accountant.

But this is beta and I'd like to test one of the new bigger ships and don't have 6+hrs every day to play.

Going to ditch my viper and go back 'home' to a cobra for now. More flexibility in trade, missions, mining, etc.

 

[Duckfather]

I made cr1M this morning in 45 minutes, trading in my Asp between two stations with good profit trade goods in each direction (160 cargo gives ~cr190,000 in one direction and ~130,000 in the other, although these are dropping as the route gets played out). A full round trip trade run can be done in less than 10 mins due to the short distances between the stations in question and the Frameshift drop in point.
.
Trade routes are out there, but you need to find them (haven't checked the trade map for a while but last I looked it consistently gave incorrect info, making it a trial and error approach with some good guesswork). In fact, this is my 3rd trade route of this type in Beta3. I'll move on when this one is exhausted and find another.
.
Hint : this is nowhere near the starter areas

Edit : I don't use any 3rd party tools like Slopeys to find routes

 

[Coolts]

Yeah, back when I had my Anny, I used slopeys because the trade map was pretty useless. I'd hoped it would be working now. I guess its a pen and paper exercise, (annoying with a rift on your face!!) like it was on my Amiga.

Does anyone know if the reputation system gives better paying missions if you stick to the same factions as its designed to do? I've not tested that thoroughly yet. That's on my to do list.

 

[zamalek]

If you find making money fun you need a route that nets 1500CR/ton/run. On top of that you need a route with missions that can be completed using only the stations you visit. The stations need to be close to the star (500Ls max).

For example, on my route I get about 1800CR/ton/run from just the trade. However, the two stations often have haulage missions to the other. In addition, one station frequently spawns Superconductor and Semiconductor missions and the other station supplies both (fetch missions typically reward you with twice the galactic average). So if those missions do spawn, about 10 - 20 tons of my cargo space is double-profit.

Next because I am only interacting with two systems my reputation increases very quickly. I am now "allied" with both systems and sometimes get a tier 3 18ton haulage mission with 180KCR reward.

Another bonus is to be near some high tech systems for upgrades as you can afford them. When hauling time is literally money and you don't want to be dilly dallying finding upgrades all over the universe.

 

[Calsus]

Don't know about you but I sometimes make nealy half a mill sometimes half an hour to 40 mins through bounty hunting, and i've stuck with my viper since day one of beta 3.
Kit it out with 2 class one lasers and 2 class two multi cannons, they shred them quicker than just 4 multis.
kit it out with two fuEL scoops in the class one and two compartments, upgrade your coupling first then just practice makes perfect, i barely ever get my shields taken down unless im against an Anaconda..
Plus my viper does 14ly jumps.

 

[Coolts]

Don't know about you but I sometimes make nealy half a mill sometimes half an hour to 40 mins through bounty hunting, and i've stuck with my viper since day one of beta 3.
Kit it out with 2 class one lasers and 2 class two multi cannons, they shred them quicker than just 4 multis.
kit it out with two fuEL scoops in the class one and two compartments, upgrade your coupling first then just practice makes perfect, i barely ever get my shields taken down unless im against an Anaconda..
Plus my viper does 14ly jumps.

The viper lost its shine for me last night when I pulled out 2 x C2 beam lasers and everything shut down! Haha. I shouted "they've turned it into a sodding eagle!".
I need to find one of those little hidden gem trade / mission / faction areas with 2 or 3 systems feeding each other I guess.

 

[Glock_17]

I’d like to know how some people are luxuriating in the warm glow of bank accounts with 10,000,000+ credits earned in B3.0.x. (unless they don't work and spend 20+hrs a day playing elite )

Back in PB, I traded as that was the only way to earn.
In B2 I bounty hunted as that was the only way to earn.
In B3.0.x I’m not so sure anymore. Viper / Cannon / Bounty hunting is a no go for me now as cannon ammo costs as much as the bounties and the Viper handling is now pretty bad and all the decent upgrades are 5,000+ credits

Missions combined with trading in a cobra seem the way to go for now till mining and exploring are made worthwhile in terms of cold hard cash.

I’d love an Asp, but don’t fancy DHL trucking for weeks like I did in PB for my lovely Annie.

This is not a moan, and yes, its beta. I’d just like to know if there's a B3.0.x money beat I've missed.

Its possible to make credits anyway you want really. Ive tried several things in beta 3, i only consider exploring to be more of a hobby then a ''proffesion'' at the moment.
The thing is, if you focus on one thing in particular you need to do a bit of observing.
for example, if you trade then you have to pay attention to traderoutes, system populations to give you a rough idea and then take a look at some of markets.
If you want to make a big haul in mining its possible, but you have to find a good system with metal rich rings and plenty reserves and you need decent mining lasers.

But if anything is profitable in Elite at the moment, in my opinion it would be to be versatile. Just get a decent ship that can defend itself well, has good range and cargo capacities.
Ive made the most profits by simply stumbling over a oppurtunity. Come a across a metal rich ring? Drop down and mine it. see a 100k+ fetch, haul or kill mission? go for it. See a station with large stocks of berylium? Find someplace close to sell it. Trading alot between 2 systems? Keep an eye on the BB for fetch or haul missions.

Playing like this is also simply more fun for me

For example, now im roaming around in a Asp with a 6 bin refinery, DSR, Discovery scanner, 4 multis, 2 mining lasers, and over 120 tons cargoholds(stil need to look at how to arrange my internals, but theres plenty of options if i can get my hands on 2x64 bays). Might sound crazy but its so worth it if you can just jump on anything you come across

 

[Calsus]

The viper lost its shine for me last night when I pulled out 2 x C2 beam lasers and everything shut down! Haha. I shouted "they've turned it into a sodding eagle!".
need to find one of those little hidden gem trade / mission / faction areas with 2 or 3 systems feeding each other I guess.

To be honest, beam lasers and the speed you can go at in the viper make them less effective.
got intredicted/pirated by a cobra took its shields 100% and hull down to 50% in a matter of seconds while his beams weren't too effective on my shields.
In dahan/eranin and surounding areas there'S always combat/pirate hunting missions from 20k cr to 150k cr. Easy money if you know how to fly!

 

[Coolts]

Oh yeah Calsus. In the earlier betas I would take on the big kill missions in my viper but that was when it was bundled with "A" rated thrusters by default. Now it handles like a.....slightly pimped cobra and I get out turned by Anacondas! That was a sobering moment.

I think I will just chill out and take Glock_17's advice. I'm not going to get to test the bigger shops in the beta now as the devs are clearly testing ship progression timing or why else put the "final" ship prices in beta. They want to see how long it takes people to get the bigger ships as they know our playtime. Fair enough. I wont bother as I don't have the time.