Conflict Zone money making

[Mrat13]

So I read somewhere that conflict zones are a great place to earn lots of money. I know I'm going to need something powerful like an FDL to do them, but my main questions are:

How much money can you squeeze out of CZs if done right? Also, what ships are CZ worthy? I'd like to get one as cheap as possible, and without having to resort to engineers if possible, becuase at that point I could just take any ship, and it gets a little ridiculous.

Thanks in advance for replies.

 

[c00ky1970]

The money making is taking kill ship missions and then going to a CZ and killing that target quickly.

Pre 2.4 you can in theory stack a number of missions and each kill counts towards each mission tally simultaneously, so you can complete all missions at the same time.

I understand that in 2.4 these type of missions will now only count kills against the first mission selected, so you cant stack these any more.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

ive completed many a CZ in my Viper MK4. even forced a Majestic Class Interdictor to retreat because i killed all of its air conditioning units. melted all their icecream.

why?... because they are not very difficult.

If you want money just farm Hazardous resource extraction sites.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

It depends on how good a combat pilot you are. I've made hundreds of millions in a python.
I don't take an FDL into CZ's because my preferred loadout lacks enough ammunition to make it worthwhile.
I also somewhat dislike the FDL because of it's thimble-sized fuel tank, and I own two of them.

It's been a while since I've gone CZ'ing though, as I lack the endurance to sit and blow things up for hours on end these days.

The money making is taking kill ship missions and then going to a CZ and killing that target quickly.

Pre 2.4 you can in theory stack a number of missions and each kill counts towards each mission tally simultaneously, so you can complete all missions at the same time.

I understand that in 2.4 these type of missions will now only count kills against the first mission selected, so you cant stack these any more.

You can still stack them, but you'll have to blow up 2160 ships, not 108 ships.

 

[Mrat13]

It depends on how good a combat pilot you are. I've made hundreds of millions in a python.
I don't take an FDL into CZ's because my preferred loadout lacks enough ammunition to make it worthwhile.
I also somewhat dislike the FDL because of it's thimble-sized fuel tank, and I own two of them.

It's been a while since I've gone CZ'ing though, as I lack the endurance to sit and blow things up for hours on end these days.

But doesn't it depend on ship? Like isn't it much easier in an FDL than a vulture? I don't mind sitting and blowing up ships if it's worthwhile, actually sounds kind of fun compared to other trades.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

But doesn't it depend on ship? Like isn't it much easier in an FDL than a vulture? I don't mind sitting and blowing up ships if it's worthwhile, actually sounds kind of fun compared to other trades.

If you want easy, you won't have fun.

If you want to make money, You want it easy.

 

[Xious]

I like the Vulture for CZ's.

I sold the FDL... just not fun to fly. I tried the FAS too but the hardpoint placement sux as do the shields on top of it being a big target.

Murder missions are sometimes hard to find so I just stick with Haz Res or CNB's for making money. Good money doing CG's too.

 

[Achilles7]

ive completed many a CZ in my Viper MK4. even forced a Majestic Class Interdictor to retreat because i killed all of its air conditioning units. melted all their icecream.

why?... because they are not very difficult.

If you want money just farm Hazardous resource extraction sites.

With kill missions, CZs will make HazRES payouts seem like chicken feed.

Up until about 4-5 months ago I had a fleet of 6 ships & <100m cr after playing for 2+ yrs. Until one CG where the system was also at war...I abandoned the CG & started stacking kill missions for the faction that was spawning the most missions (meh principles/ideologies? They just hold a man back). When I became allied with the aforementioned faction I was being offered kill 108 ships for 22-25mil.

I played the relog game ofc (sorry purists...but well, how can I explain myself? No I can't really...so eff u ) & stacked three of these when possible - earnings were in the region of 70mil every two hours, which as an hourly rate is errrrrr...hang on I got this one!...errrmmm...no don't tell me!...well, between 30 & 40 mil anyway!

That week I'm pretty sure I made about 200m cr & got my promotion to Elite. I still do these missions when I come across them, but I now have 800m cr hence cash isn't really a priority now - OP? you need to look for systems at war or civil war & bear in mind that there are often more than two factions fighting & you might have to go hunting in different areas of the system for a CZ with the relevant faction.

I used a Vulture with fixed efficient pulses...this should be your ship & load out of choice (maybe with gimbals if you are a bit rubbish) if cash is tight because to survive, you need to kill things quickly. You can use any ship, but progress is slow with anything worse than a Vulture because CZ ships are much tougher than usual pirates etc especially their hulls. I recently killed 54 ships for a mission with my DBX with lightweight everything as an experiment in how crap NPCs are. I even used D thrusters & D power distributor with 3 x class two lightweight pulse lasers & a class 3 shield...but I did complete the mission in one sitting! Experiment conclusion: Yep, NPCs are very crap indeed

But it took forever & I had to run away a lot because sometimes this happens in CZs

For the optimum CZ tactics just use the search function on this forum as it has been discussed to death with numerous threads or just wait a couple of days, I'm sure another thread will be along soon, possibly even here.

 

[Vardaugas]

Massacre missions can be a nice bonus profit on top of the War Bonds. But make no mistake, Conflict Zones are no Res sites. I learned to fight there. Learned to die there. Learned to run away on the skin of my teeth, learned to pick my fights and when cut my losses. If maybe not the credits, they are worth the experience.

I used an Imperial Courier on my stints in CZs. It's small, fast and tough, just what you need. Combat is constant and intense, with just little breathers between regrouping and looking for new targets, if the enemy doesn't target you first. Don't bite your teeth out in a CZ that leaves your side in a number disadvantage, just low wake out and re-roll the CZ. If you can get your side rolling, a CZ can provide targets until you run out of ammunition.

 

[Kingston@#]

first I signed up with ZAC, collected all the merits I could, when I had reached the top tier, I then collected multiple missions from more than one station to destroy.
these missions ranged from 12 kill to 108 for the 108 the reward for completion was around 20M. if I had 10 of these missions 1 kill would count as a kill on every mission.
so with reaching the top tier you are rewarded with double reward from CB. and the reward for the missions. when set right like I was I could easily earn 400M in about 8hrs of game time. though it has been a long time since I did anything like it.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

But doesn't it depend on ship? Like isn't it much easier in an FDL than a vulture? I don't mind sitting and blowing up ships if it's worthwhile, actually sounds kind of fun compared to other trades.

Not really. It's mostly you.
I mean, you can't expect the same credits-per-hour in a Sidewinder you'd make with a Gunship just due to differences in raw firepower, but with the right loadout, and good combat skills, you can really make anything work for you. I've seen folks CZ in Belugas every bit as well as I have in my Python. But there is no "best ship". except for whichever ship works best for you.

 

[rrobes]

As someone already stated, CZ could make you some CR in the past. But high paying ones have been reduced in frequency.

Over a month ago, I ran several missions, collecting 50 mill. These used to be common, not any more.

Depending on your skill level, you may need more than a cheap, standard ship.

 

[raeat]

They told us they were going to restrict us to 3 massacre missions at a time, but they would still make it worthwhile by upping the payout for them.

But I guess that wasn't good enough for these scum devs. Then they made massacre missions almost impossible to find.

They have a tragic irrational compulsion to see the players NOT have any fun at all and absolutely never, ever gain any ground in the game.

 

[ForeverN00b]

They told us they were going to restrict us to 3 massacre missions at a time, but they would still make it worthwhile by upping the payout for them.

But I guess that wasn't good enough for these scum devs. Then they made massacre missions almost impossible to find.

They have a tragic irrational compulsion to see the players NOT have any fun at all and absolutely never, ever gain any ground in the game.

What are you talking about? It's way easier to make money now than it was in the old days, and I'm not just talking about Quince. With CGs, the Ram Tah mission, the road to riches, etc....it isn't difficult to make money in this game. Exploration payouts got a considerable buff.

I still wish massacre missions were easier to find though. I don't understand how i can go into a system that's riddled with CZs and not find any massacre missions on the mission board.