Trading in Imperial Slaves now a no no? Polymers? Seriously?

Harlow Shapley

Harlow Shapley
I got back into Elite after a 6 month away stint, real world issues and such. (What is 'real'?)

Anyhoo, I was also 89% on my way to reaching Trading Elite status, with much of that made up by trading Imperial Slaves, good money if you can haul large amounts of cargo in one go (I have a Cutter).
I got back in last week to carry on where I left off and... Where are the slaves? Have political and social directives been issued to Frontier to stop this social injustice? No idea and really I don't care.

So what's taken it's place to be the 'GOTO' mass hauling commodity? Looks like it's Polymers! - (a substance that has a molecular structure consisting chiefly or entirely of a large number of similar units bonded together, e.g., many synthetic organic materials used as plastics and resins.).
Why have polymers suddenly become important in the 34th century? Has anyone else noticed this?

Aside from that 3.3 and everything else is cool, especially in my new Rift S VR kit. AND, I got upranked to Trading Elite at last! I know right!

Thank you Commanders, and for me? I'm off to be tragically unimpressed by travelling (with my new pass) to Founders World.
 

DragonIV

DragonIV
That's the thing with the BGS. Things change. Especially over a six month period! Imperial slaves are still available, but some former larger suppliers have dried up, as has some high demand markets.

And yes, I've also noticed the polymer thing and made a few runs with that rather inexpensive commodity. I'm really not concerned with what the cargo is called, tbh. When bulk trading, net profit/hr is the name of the game. If you're trying to minmax, however, expect that you'll have to swap routes with almost every server tick.
 

Harlow Shapley

Harlow Shapley
dragoniv said:
That's the thing with the BGS. Things change. Especially over a six month period! Imperial slaves are still available, but some former larger suppliers have dried up, as has some high demand markets.

And yes, I've also noticed the polymer thing and made a few runs with that rather inexpensive commodity. I'm really not concerned with what the cargo is called, tbh. When bulk trading, net profit/hr is the name of the game. If you're trying to minmax, however, expect that you'll have to swap routes with almost every server tick.
Click to expand...
Cargo is cargo (I also don't care what they name the stuff), if it makes top dollar and I can pack in my holds huge amounts of the commodity I will go for it!
Remember also the Ferengi's 9th rule of Acquisition - "Opportunity plus instinct equals profit"!
 

DragonIV

DragonIV
Midian Cabal said:
All because of that blue haired anime princess, her anti-slavery agenda and opportunists that are only after prismatic shields...
Click to expand...
That, and a PS4 player group arrived near to my home system and made CD 63-1560 a no-go area for Imp Slaves. Grrrrr. Near as I can tell they're not tied to Aisling, but share similar views. Worst of all, while Watanabe City has a black market, it pays out super low for imp slaves.
 

Midian Cabal

Midian Cabal
dragoniv said:
That, and a PS4 player group arrived near to my home system and made CD 63-1560 a no-go area for Imp Slaves. Grrrrr. Near as I can tell they're not tied to Aisling, but share similar views. Worst of all, while Watanabe City has a black market, it pays out super low for imp slaves.
Click to expand...
Since you uphold Ferenghi moral values, aren't there any normal slaves? I sell normal slaves for profit to undermine the controlling faction in my system.
 

Harlow Shapley

Harlow Shapley
Fontier want to kill the trade, but not in a way which people notice too much and cause trouble. Slowly and stealthally until 2 years into the future someone will post on the Forum "Does anyone remember Imperial Slaves? Whatever happened to them". By that time nobody will give a $hi*t. :)
 

DragonIV

DragonIV
Midian Cabal said:
Since you uphold Ferenghi moral values, aren't there any normal slaves? I sell normal slaves for profit to undermine the controlling faction in my system.
Click to expand...

The Empire as a whole prohibits regular slaves, so I'd have to slough off to the Feds to go grab some of those. But....I am curious to see how actively they defend that system. They haven't expanded outside of it yet, but have all but one station/settlement in their home system.
 

DragonIV

DragonIV
galaxias said:
Fontier want to kill the trade, but not in a way which people notice too much and cause trouble. Slowly and stealthally until 2 years into the future someone will post on the Forum "Does anyone remember Imperial Slaves? Whatever happened to them". By that time nobody will give a $hi*t. :)
Click to expand...

Nah, trade is still better today than it was at launch. But to be honest, there's better money to be made doing delivery missions, which I do far more than bulk trading today.
 

Midian Cabal

Midian Cabal
dragoniv said:
The Empire as a whole prohibits regular slaves, so I'd have to slough off to the Feds to go grab some of those. But....I am curious to see how actively they defend that system. They haven't expanded outside of it yet, but have all but one station/settlement in their home system.
Click to expand...
Ah, I have an anarchy system near me that sells them cheaply. :p
 

Arry

Arry
I haven't been trading for ages, but when I did; I found that slaves, or Imps. Were not the most profitable, or as profitable, as other options out there. I found a 3 stop run, moving Gold, then Agricultural machinery and then food. Two stops in the same system and the other two jumps away. It brought me in, about 4k per ton and I could do 3 trips per hour.

If profit equals to trade points; profit is all that matters. I have no issues with trading slaves; I mean, I feed then to the Thargoids; but I am saying that they are not the top dollar, that they are rumoured to be.
 

DragonIV

DragonIV
Arry said:
I haven't been trading for ages, but when I did; I found that slaves, or Imps. Were not the most profitable, or as profitable, as other options out there. I found a 3 stop run, moving Gold, then Agricultural machinery and then food. Two stops in the same system and the other two jumps away. It brought me in, about 4k per ton and I could do 3 trips per hour.

If profit equals to trade points; profit is all that matters. I have no issues with trading slaves; I mean, I feed then to the Thargoids; but I am saying that they are not the top dollar, that they are rumoured to be.
Click to expand...

2+ years ago, Imp Slaves were not the highest value profit, but week in and week out, irregardless of server tick, I could rely on a short one way trip making 3800 doing imp slaves and something else for 400-800 on the way back. Usually the distance was btw 30 and 45 LY, and there was always a healthy supply and demand for them. This is precisely why I set up home base in Tepertsi back in 2017.

Today, it's not hard to find routes paying significantly more, but they often exist only until the next server tick, then you're off to exploit the next best one. Imp Slaves are not longer as easy of an item to trade as they once were, so I don't traffic in them much anymore. Instead I stack delivery missions today and easily make 10-20 million CR doing elite level missions in an hour's time. That's pretty much on par with the best bulk trades/hr, and more interesting imho.

If I need to make more money, there's always painite laser mining or void opal extraction, but right now I have a pretty healthy bank balance until I decide I need to buy another expensive ship.
 

DragonIV

DragonIV
I should note that not only do you need to be Elite in trade to get these fairly lucrative delivery missions, you also need to have a lot of rep with the factions at the stations you are grabbing those missions from. Having been in and around Tepertsi for so long, this isn't an issue for me here but if I picked up and went to Fed space, I'd have to build up local rep all over again.
 

Arry

Arry
dragoniv said:
2+ years ago, Imp Slaves were not the highest value profit, but week in and week out, irregardless of server tick, I could rely on a short one way trip making 3800 doing imp slaves and something else for 400-800 on the way back. Usually the distance was btw 30 and 45 LY, and there was always a healthy supply and demand for them. This is precisely why I set up home base in Tepertsi back in 2017.

Today, it's not hard to find routes paying significantly more, but they often exist only until the next server tick, then you're off to exploit the next best one. Imp Slaves are not longer as easy of an item to trade as they once were, so I don't traffic in them much anymore. Instead I stack delivery missions today and easily make 10-20 million CR doing elite level missions in an hour's time. That's pretty much on par with the best bulk trades/hr, and more interesting imho.

If I need to make more money, there's always painite laser mining or void opal extraction, but right now I have a pretty healthy bank balance until I decide I need to buy another expensive ship.
Click to expand...
Thinking about it. The main reason I don't work as a self-employed trader these days; IS because I am doing trade missions instead. So you are 100% right there and yes: Get yourself allied to the local factions and the big credit missions, just poor in. The thing I don't have time for, (only playing about once a month these days) is the massive amounts, most of the missions are asking me to shift; these days. My clipper is good for about 180tons, but when I am being offered missions, to move 1.000s of tons, I just don't have the time and so find something else to do.
 

Vardaugas

Vardaugas
Just today I stumbled upon a trade opportunity from an outpost producing military fabrics and my next stop, a high tech port, bought them up with 4.5k profits per ton. I think that's the BGS at work.
 

DragonIV

DragonIV
Arry said:
My clipper is good for about 180tons.
Click to expand...

See, the 416 tons in my Corvette go a lot farther doing this. Added bonus--it's outfitted to do battle with the Deadly and Elite Anacondas and Type 10s that would interrupt my money making activities. Which just adds to the entertainment, but definitely drops CR/hr. Price you gotta pay for having fun, I guess.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom