Best way to make money in a Sidewinder?

Roboguy99

R
Now firstly, the reason I've put this thread here and not in the beginners thread is because I am not a beginner. I have put almost a week of hours into this game and recently bought a type 7 (I'm not very efficient). I was then "pirated" by the same person twice (the first time, I ran and he killed me. The second time I gave them cargo and ran, and he killed me), who left me with nothing. I've now gone from total assets of 22M to 4K.

So my question: I'm now stuck in a sidewinder with no money like any other beginner. What's the best way to make money? I did a quick google search and didn't actually find a lot, surprisingly.

Thanks, and sorry if this question does exist seventeen trillion times elsewhere.
 

Carbucketty

Carbucketty
Do bulletin board missions. If you're really low on cash, the "Here's a few tonnes of cargo, take it to another station" ones are good, as are the "transport this data" ones, as they don't involve any initial outlay.

After a few missions, you'll have enough cash for a Hauler or Adder, and your career options start to broaden out.
 

Adept

Adept
OP, if you're a good pilot already (from other games I suppose, or just practicing with the training scenarios) the sidewinder can claim bounties even with stock gear. If that goes well, 13,000 cr gets you a cheap K-scanner, which you can use to increase those bounties.

The safer option is to look for courier missions in the bulletin board. Quite often you get offered a significant sum of money to deliver a few tons of cargo, or some data/propaganda. Those gains will add up nicely.
 

Deleted member 38366

D
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EAGLE 5

EAGLE 5
I hopped back in a Sidey for fun and hit up an RES and did some bounty hunting. You'd be amazed how much money you'll make picking some good targets and using maneuverability and asteroids for cover, plus it's very fun to play that way. I used 1 bust laser and 1 regular cannon just in case you were wondering.
 

Apocryphic

Apocryphic
Well, you've learned the first rule, never fly without insurance! :)

Start off with missions and small bounties. Once you have a better ship, keep grinding missions and bounties, fight in a combat zone, or trade rares (probably solo). Once you're back in a T6, do normal commodity trading between a pair of stations somewhere until you can afford an Asp, and then until a T7. If you run into piracy problems, go solo or move to another trade route. Sacrificing cargo space for better shields, trading jump range for stronger bulkheads, and mounting some turrets (or at least chaff) will help you survive long enough to escape. You may want to drop out of supercruise and immediately jump to another system before you can be interdicted again.

I like to change things up from time to time, helps keep the game fresh. If you get tired of trading, go bounty hunting or fight in a combat zone. If you get tired of combat, head out on a sightseeing expedition. If you want to master cargo scooping, go mining. :)

The best profits are in bulk trading, but you can make a reasonable income with combat and exploration. Now that you're more experienced, you should be back in that T7 much faster than the first time.
 

fantodant

fantodant
If I were just starting off again? I'd do in-system bulletin board missions for a bit and maybe mix it up with some low-level bounty hunting (I remember getting a 27kcr bounty pretty much by accident earlier on in my Sidey days...it was like Christmas!) until I could afford a new FSD. Then I'd just start rare trading.

You know, I actually really miss those early days when every 1000cr earned was special and that Hauler minivan cockpit really made me feel like I was moving up in the world. I don't think I'm willing to go totally ascetic, but when I get back to civilized space in a week or two I think I might invest all of my money in some stored ships and then spend some time acting like I've just started off. Might be fun!
 

Hempstead

Hempstead
Roboguy99 said:
Now firstly, the reason I've put this thread here and not in the beginners thread is because I am not a beginner. I have put almost a week of hours into this game and recently bought a type 7 (I'm not very efficient). I was then "pirated" by the same person twice (the first time, I ran and he killed me. The second time I gave them cargo and ran, and he killed me), who left me with nothing. I've now gone from total assets of 22M to 4K.

So my question: I'm now stuck in a sidewinder with no money like any other beginner. What's the best way to make money? I did a quick google search and didn't actually find a lot, surprisingly.

Thanks, and sorry if this question does exist seventeen trillion times elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Find a friend, drop you a million or two worth of mini palladium cloud. Get a Cobra, go rare runs.
 

Troa Barton

Troa Barton
Bounty hunt until you can afford either a hauler with aforementioned upgrades or just upgrade the sidey.
A good FSD cargo racks and a fuel scoop
then immediately run rares.
took me a few hours to get into a cobra again when I wiped my save. Wasn't long before I was in a T6 again, asp came not long after that.
i did have the free eagle but that's like two ok bounties worth of a boost.
look me up on YouTube :)
 

Vasious

Vasious
Do a few BB missions that are collect the Black Box or such to buy 8 tons of cargo rack and a fuel scoop for trading rares?
Avoid the clusters to avoid Pirate traffic Even one trip should be enough to build the capital for other activities
 
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Krunchie

Krunchie
Even with only 4 cargo space you can earn 60k cr per trip trading rares. And you can explore while jumping those 140 ly. That's what I did.
 

Lithari

L
Well, i have tried bounty hunting and 99% of all wanted targets i encountered were in groups of 2+ and none of them were ever sidewinders and the only ones that were alone, were impossible to beat on my own, i would so love to see any of the youtuber players to do a new character (when they choose to start anew) and record it, cause all far all the bounty hunting videos i have seen have been with them in vipers or cobras.

It just seems like the only viable thing is trading until you get a uber geared ship to do bounty hunting in.
 

Roboguy99

R
Ha ha I forgot about this thread and thought nobody had replied until I got an email about replies today!

Here's how I solved the problem:
-Firstly I did bulletin board missions until I could afford a hauler
-I then attempted to trade but didn't have enough money for any cargo :/
-A few days later, Wings came out so I asked my friend to chuck some cargo at me and I sold it for 50K and bought an Eagle
-With the increase in bounties I soon could afford a Viper to bounty hunt in
-I still use that viper, fully decked out and yesterday got enough money to buy a Vulture :D

Obviously not everybody has a friend to chuck money at them, so if you don't just do BB missions until you can afford an Eagle and skip out the hauler.

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clouddancer said:
Do what I now do now when trading, play solo. I only play in open when I can defend myself.
Click to expand...

That feels a little cheaty to me

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FalconFly said:
Seems a bit of an oddball post.

If you already made it into a Type-7, then you should remember how you made money with your Sidewinder in your early days and what your best progression lead you into that Type-7 eventually.
And with 22M in previous assets, you should know far better now than when you began for the 1st time (?)
Click to expand...

I started playing in Gamma by bounty hunting in my Sidewinder, purely to get better at combat. Soon after, I moved into my mercenary free Eagle and got properly bounty hunting. Eventually I got a Viper, then a Cobra which I used both for bounty hunting in.
Then one day I got bored of shooting people for very small profits so I decked my Cobra out for trading and worked my way up to a Type 6. Then from Type 6 to Type 7 and then death.

I never really made money in a Sidewinder...
 
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