Here are my thoughts as someone who was 100% trader and 0% fighter.
First of all, I didn't do marathon sessions. 3 to 5 runs a day, and I called it a day. Didn't want to get burned out with the game while it's still in Premium Beta.
Sidewinder: Good beginner. Stick with it. It can outrun interdictions and get you where you want. Of course, only 4 tons of cargo, but slowly you can buy more expensive cargo that gives more credits. I myself had the luck to find some floating gold canisters around, wonder where they came from
. (PS: Thank you Stu).
Eagle. Unless you want to fight for you credits, ignore it. While it is faster and more nimble for someone who wants to trade, it's not worth it.
Hauler: Decent trader, can't do combat in it. Started with a paltry of 688 credits and in 35 runs I had enough for a Cobra. And those were ambling about the place runs, without optimization. Didn't want to shuttle stuff between two or three systems alone and avoided LP, and kept credits in reserve for insurance and restart trading runs in case I go boom.
Cobra, even more with the Cobra than with the Hauler, the rule is: even cheap loads give good money. A belly full of grain can give a win of almost 2,000 credits. As with the Hauler, I started with just alittle bit of credits (1,650cr) and after 4 runs I'm at 6,600cr. I know insurance and all, but didn't really care since most likely there will be a wipe in a few weeks anyways.
I yet have to do a complete Sidewinder to Hauler workup. (Something to be done after the wipe), I would guess that the 30 to 50 trading runs for next ship would hold even with that, once you know where you're going and what you're doing. Which would translate to roughly 10 hours of playing.
Here a graph about my credits (blue line) and the wins at each run (orange). Started to actually write down my runs when I had about 37,000 cr in a Sidewinder and then when I had (almost) enough credits for a Cobra. (I traded the Hauler for a Sidewinder and found I missed the cobra by 2,000 credits and did 2 more runs.) Right now, I only had 4 runs in the Cobra so there is not much to be seen on a graph.
First of all, I didn't do marathon sessions. 3 to 5 runs a day, and I called it a day. Didn't want to get burned out with the game while it's still in Premium Beta.
Sidewinder: Good beginner. Stick with it. It can outrun interdictions and get you where you want. Of course, only 4 tons of cargo, but slowly you can buy more expensive cargo that gives more credits. I myself had the luck to find some floating gold canisters around, wonder where they came from
. (PS: Thank you Stu).Eagle. Unless you want to fight for you credits, ignore it. While it is faster and more nimble for someone who wants to trade, it's not worth it.
Hauler: Decent trader, can't do combat in it. Started with a paltry of 688 credits and in 35 runs I had enough for a Cobra. And those were ambling about the place runs, without optimization. Didn't want to shuttle stuff between two or three systems alone and avoided LP, and kept credits in reserve for insurance and restart trading runs in case I go boom.
Cobra, even more with the Cobra than with the Hauler, the rule is: even cheap loads give good money. A belly full of grain can give a win of almost 2,000 credits. As with the Hauler, I started with just alittle bit of credits (1,650cr) and after 4 runs I'm at 6,600cr. I know insurance and all, but didn't really care since most likely there will be a wipe in a few weeks anyways.
I yet have to do a complete Sidewinder to Hauler workup. (Something to be done after the wipe), I would guess that the 30 to 50 trading runs for next ship would hold even with that, once you know where you're going and what you're doing. Which would translate to roughly 10 hours of playing.
Here a graph about my credits (blue line) and the wins at each run (orange). Started to actually write down my runs when I had about 37,000 cr in a Sidewinder and then when I had (almost) enough credits for a Cobra. (I traded the Hauler for a Sidewinder and found I missed the cobra by 2,000 credits and did 2 more runs.) Right now, I only had 4 runs in the Cobra so there is not much to be seen on a graph.
