Best way to earn credits?

[Kusarii]

Best way to earn money is to sit in Hi-Res and let the Random 100 Anaconda Security Vessels kill everything while you pinging things before it dies.

 

[Cynaqq]

Is rare trading still a thing? I remember back when I was in my Cobra I can make better CR/hr in rare trades than in simple bulk hauling because of the limited cargo space. I haven't tried rare trades in months, so I don't know what state it is in now.

Rare trading really shines when you are in the price range of a DBX but not an ASP. I rare traded my way out of an adder to an Asp, going through a cobra and a DBX along the way.

Once you have an AspX though, there's no need for rares trading other than nostalgia.

 

[Maxxgold]

I ran the rare trade goods route till I got enough money to purchase a vulture. Then I joined the Disney princess, Aisling Duval, found a spot to kill Felicia Winters and Edmond Mahon ships, plus Sirius Security and Utopian Overseer's to name a few. Then I got 10,000 Power-Play points and started collecting 50 million credits a week. I did that for 3 weeks. Now I'm in a Federal Assault Ship doing missions for the Empire so I can get an Imperial Clipper. I still maintain 1500 Power Play points to get 5 million credits a week plus the money for missions and I'm doing great!

 

[happyfunball]

Rare trading really shines when you are in the price range of a DBX but not an ASP. I rare traded my way out of an adder to an Asp, going through a cobra and a DBX along the way.

Once you have an AspX though, there's no need for rares trading other than nostalgia.

Yep, AspX was my breakpoint too. Ah, the memories...

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

I set up a small rare trade route. Originally I thought I would go to Rusani to pickup the Rusani Old Smokey rare but it appears to be gone. There was no rare listed even after checking back a few times.

I'm going to do the rare trade route but occasionally take missions at each stop to build reputation with each station. I'll probably stop the rare trade in order to do missions, don't want to risk losing rare items during a mission.

I don't plan on being a trader forever so I will try a few of the other activities mentioned. I'm going to skip exploration as a career on the PC; I plan on leaving that for my Xbox commander.

 

[Altair8800]

The slaves exists within a legal framework. Their well-being is guaranteed. Think of it as welfare for the indebted, or whatever prompted an individual to become a slave in the first place.
Can other societies boast the same concern for their underclasses?

Did you guys notice that the message text for smuggling changed with 2.1:

Smuggle Slaves for the fun of it
Smuggle Drugs for the fun of it
Smuggle Weapons for the fun of it

I had one saying: Smuggle Landmines for the fun of it

Good move Frontier, I like this, now we have a good reason for doing these mission, no stupid questions asked anymore [yesnod]

 

[kalniel]

Find something you enjoy doing and do it until you want to do something else. Then do that.

Seems to be by far the most enjoyable way to earn credits, which is what I equate 'best' to.

 

[CMDR Holy Hitman]

I tried going to MAIA and got garbage missions because of my rep. Unless you like refreshing waiting to dontate another 300k credits for a meager gain in rep over and over. Don't do it

The best way I found to make money for me, find a system on the border of the bubble, that is aligned to whatever major faction you have the most rep with (for me its imp)

Then do a couple data delivery missions with everyone at the station so you can get access to the better missions.

If the BB has good missions (if it doesn' I just do the data ones over to the next system and check again after) you can get paid anywhere from 200-300k, up to 1.5 mil (the highest I've gotten at friendly rep so far) to fly 80-130ly back into the bubble with some goods. Most of the time the missions are either same system station, same system different stations, or different systems ~10-20ly apart. Just did 6 of them, made 3.5m for 10-15m of work.

 

[Long Star]

Okay, maybe not looking for the best way, just looking for some advice on my best opportunities to earn some credits. I'm not looking for exploits, milk runs, or smuggling like Robigo was, just a CMDR needing to make some legal credits so I can afford a bigger ship or ships. I won't traffic in slaves, Imperial or not and I'm not smuggling. I also don't want to take missions to assassinate anyone, although going after pirates would be okay, I want to try playing as clean as possible.

I have a Cobra Mk IV with A-rated thrusters and FSD; 48t of cargo space and enough fuel to get about 190 ly on a tank and a jump range of just under 19 ly unladen. I had a Cobra Mk III but sold it off since I wanted something a bit more durable with larger cargo capacity. I have just under 3 mil credits, most of my assets are in the ship

So, should I just find a good trade route and go back and forth for awhile?
Should I try to find a good rare trading route?
Should I find a home base and work on missions?

Or should I sell or retrofit my Cobra to do other jobs like exploring, bounty hunting or mining?

FRIDAY NITE Paying $1M/hr see video for details!
[video=youtube;tgd36Q832Xg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgd36Q832Xg[/video]

 

[racer1]

There are legal long range missions as well as smuggling.

Last time I was in Aditi they had plenty of legal long range missions. The long range missions seem to be limited in how many spawn now though so you may not see any.