Can't make an honest living, can't make a dishonest living.

[Gods3nt]

I just came to realize that playing Elite post beta isn't as easy as pre beta.

To explain, I keep finding myself back at square one. I'm losing more credits than I'm gaining. During the beta I was banking like no nobody's business. Now all of a sudden, flying the straight and narrow path nets me close to nothing.

"Oh what's that? You just found some expensive cargo eh? Here let me impose a fine on you that doubles the value of your stolen cargo belonging to the dead people you just pilfered, the Feds have to get in on the profit too you know."

*Goes to pay the fine* *gives all the profit* "CRAP!!" "Thanks slave, sincerely, the Feds.*

If there's one thing I love how the devs depicted the Feds to be in the game, is that they're an EXACTLY likened to the Federal Government and the IRS.

So I've learned that the only surefire way to make bank is to simply hunt for wanted criminals, unfortunately this too tends to be an issue when it comes to gaining a decent profit. Not to mention, every time I see the larger ship prices, I feel like crying. Commodities market is pointless, unless you have a bigger ship of course which are the biggest money makers of them all, but I can't get used to anything post Beta. It'll at least take me months to see the fruits of my labor.

I had then chose to turn to the dark side, which in itself is even more difficult. Hauling lucrative cargo causes the Feds to target me more often in Super Cruise, which is fine, they're supposed to.

But so far Elite has turned into a sheer grind fest.

With that said, whose leg do I have to hump to gain a little closure here?

 

[Cpt Kyrk]

Discovered a nice trade route 3 days ago, now have a fully equipped Lakon 6 and 5 million in the bank, it took a few days to find but with a little effort its not to hard

 

[Gods3nt]

Discovered a nice trade route 3 days ago, now have a fully equipped Lakon 6 and 5 million in the bank, it took a few days to find but with a little effort its not to hard

Where!! WHERE!! What's the location Kyrk!?

 

[Don_Von_Hulio]

I hope they leave trading where its at and then buff everything else except mining.

 

[Khushrenada]

I hope they leave trading where its at and then buff everything else except mining.

i expect this to be sarcasm...?

 

[Commander Edison]

Bulletin board scooping missions are your friend early doors. Try and find an outpost to avoid being scanned with your black box/prototype tech/rebel transmissions, and you can be in a hauler or adder in an hour or so. After that, a bit of attention to commodity prices and you're laughing. I'm trading at 500c profit a ton, which isn't like the early beta markets but still isn't too shabby.

I've been away from the game since the start of beta 2 or so, and it feels to me like the devs are hurling cash at us with both hands.

 

[EtherDragon]

I just came to realize that playing Elite post beta isn't as easy as pre beta.

To explain, I keep finding myself back at square one. I'm losing more credits than I'm gaining. During the beta I was banking like no nobody's business. Now all of a sudden, flying the straight and narrow path nets me close to nothing.

"Oh what's that? You just found some expensive cargo eh? Here let me impose a fine on you that doubles the value of your stolen cargo belonging to the dead people you just pilfered, the Feds have to get in on the profit too you know."

*Goes to pay the fine* *gives all the profit* "CRAP!!" "Thanks slave, sincerely, the Feds.*

Precisely the reason I dislike federation space...

If there's one thing I love how the devs depicted the Feds to be in the game, is that they're an EXACTLY likened to the Federal Government and the IRS.

So I've learned that the only surefire way to make bank is to simply hunt for wanted criminals, unfortunately this too tends to be an issue when it comes to gaining a decent profit. Not to mention, every time I see the larger ship prices, I feel like crying. Commodities market is pointless, unless you have a bigger ship of course which are the biggest money makers of them all, but I can't get used to anything post Beta. It'll at least take me months to see the fruits of my labor.

I had then chose to turn to the dark side, which in itself is even more difficult. Hauling lucrative cargo causes the Feds to target me more often in Super Cruise, which is fine, they're supposed to.

But so far Elite has turned into a sheer grind fest.

With that said, whose leg do I have to hump to gain a little closure here?

Head out to the border of Federation space, lots of independent places to go and work with much fewer restrictions.

 

[Crumplecorn]

I've been playing for a few days now, and I have not yet needed money to have fun. In fact, gaining money has just been a side effect of having fun.

Try having fun instead of grinding if you prefer fun to grinding.

 

[Mack Winston]

"Oh what's that? You just found some expensive cargo eh? Here let me impose a fine on you that doubles the value of your stolen cargo belonging to the dead people you just pilfered, the Feds have to get in on the profit too you know."

*Goes to pay the fine* *gives all the profit* "CRAP!!" "Thanks slave, sincerely, the Feds.*

But so far Elite has turned into a sheer grind fest.

No, you're just a terrible smuggler.

If you're just beginning your criminal sm...err trade, then stick to platforms. Rarely any system security there to scan you. You may have to visit a couple till you find a reliable black market.
You have to learn otherwise how to get into and out of stations while avoiding being scanned.

Or so someone told me. I have never traded onionhead in the Federation, nor have I picked over shipwrecks for loot. Perish the thought!

 

[Cpt Kyrk]

Discovered a nice trade route 3 days ago, now have a fully equipped Lakon 6 and 5 million in the bank, it took a few days to find but with a little effort its not to hard

I won't tell you the route but I will say rares - even after the nerf

 

[Gods3nt]

I've been playing for a few days now, and I have not yet needed money to have fun. In fact, gaining money has just been a side effect of having fun.

Try having fun instead of grinding if you prefer fun to grinding.

Nope...I want the money.

 

[Ghostlight]

I hope they leave trading where its at and then buff everything else except mining.

Why would they do that when trading is the least profitable thing you can right now?

I'm with the OP. This game is a terrible grind. One of the worst I've encountered. I'm all for grinding games but when the reward is this small and the grind this long, no thanks...they have their reward-to-grind time ration far far too low to maintain my interest. And given the grind is 90% super-cruise, doing NOTHING; sorry but....lol.

 

[Gods3nt]

No, you're just a terrible smuggler.

If you're just beginning your criminal sm...err trade, then stick to platforms. Rarely any system security there to scan you. You may have to visit a couple till you find a reliable black market.
You have to learn otherwise how to get into and out of stations while avoiding being scanned.

Or so someone told me. I have never traded onionhead in the Federation, nor have I picked over shipwrecks for loot. Perish the thought!

I know how to enter the station undetected, but flying through deep space with stolen booty, magically causes the Feds to close in on me. Like the real Feds, they know all....They see all...

 

[Gods3nt]

I won't tell you the route but I will say rares - even after the nerf

Why not? What harm could there be when I'm playing solo?

 

[cygnusa]

It is absolutely not as profitable as beta. But frontier has been doing a bunch of market 'fixes' as of late, and I think it is causing a reset in system commodities. Things seem to be starting to settle down after recent fixes... systems actually have HIGH demand and supply, when before pretty much everything was MED, or trade routes were completely messed up... systems exporting stuff that they should be importing.

If you like LONG distance travel, you could trade in rares. It yields profit, but not like in beta. Which I think is a positive thing. I did not exploit it in beta, so never traded them. Now I trade as I feel it is more balanced. Most of the work is identifying what the systems are, plotting efficient trade routes, and then navigating it. The route planner doesn't go extreme distances, which makes this a little bit of work. But there are profits to be made. Just be ready for long flights. Lots of jumps. Lots of fuel scooping (an absolute must, as it notably reduces expenses). I enjoy the navigational challenge of it. Just keep in mind a hold full of rares makes you a target for pirates.

I like to move around a lot rather than stick to just a few systems and trade the heck out of it. I'll hop around, find somewhere that has a great commodity to deal in, then I'll search for nearby systems which will yield an adequate profit. I then run it a bunch of times until returns diminish... or I feel like I want a change of scenery. Then I move on. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Crumplecorn]

Nope...I want the money.

Then stop complaining and carry on grinding.

 

[Don_Von_Hulio]

Why would they do that when trading is the least profitable thing you can right now?

I'm with the OP. This game is a terrible grind. One of the worst I've encountered. I'm all for grinding games but when the reward is this small and the grind this long, no thanks...they have their reward-to-grind time ration far far too low to maintain my interest. And given the grind is 90% super-cruise, doing NOTHING; sorry but....lol.

Okay... What is more profitable?

 

[The Law]

Found cargo being stolen is really stupid gameplay mechanic and it defies all logic. It is simply there to make black market more artifically more important and exciting. I think only cargo that you directly stolen from other ship should be flagged as stolen.

I am not stealing anything, I am just cleaning up the space.

 

[Suicidal Tendencies]

Why not? What harm could there be when I'm playing solo?

Gods3nt - Try Lave, Leesti and Zoance for rares. All 3 systems 1 jump from each other. Bear in mind you will have to then sell these goods at least 100Ly away to make a real profit - but it will be a good profit of around 20k per ton

 

[1500]

Why not? What harm could there be when I'm playing solo?

Solo effects the same market. You are always effecting other players markets, even in solo.