Having trouble figuring out what to trade where

[Vergoth]

I'm having trouble working out from the map what I should be trading where. I'm only in the sidewinder at the moment and have 15k cr accumulated from bounties and trade missions.

I feel like I am wasting time by jumping between systems with only 1 unit of cargo or none in some cases.

How long is the delay on supply/demand? I feel like I am missing out on a core element of the game

 

[Enride]

In the galaxy map you can see general trade routes and through it you can figure out what to trade and where to trade it.

If you click trade routes it shows colored tracks all over the map.
Turn the various trades off one by one until you locate what is traded FROM the system you are currently in. It will be one or more different commodities to one or more different systems, pick the one that suits you best both distance and money wise and you should be good to go.

Take into account however that a traderoute might be visible even if your ship is unable to make that jump and not able to reach the destination.

Hope this helps?

 

[stridecolossus]

Another possible tip is that the different types of system generally have the same demand/supply characteristics, for example:
almost every (all?) extraction systems will buy mineral extractors
most industrial systems buy common metals and sell machinery
most high tech buy precious metals
pretty much all systems except high tech ones buy medicines
etc

This won't find you the best trade routes, and of course every system is different, but it's better than not trading anything at all

Hope it helps.

 

[Obsidian Ant]

I'm having trouble working out from the map what I should be trading where. I'm only in the sidewinder at the moment and have 15k cr accumulated from bounties and trade missions.

I feel like I am wasting time by jumping between systems with only 1 unit of cargo or none in some cases.

How long is the delay on supply/demand? I feel like I am missing out on a core element of the game

Take Minerals from Morgor to Dahan.

Also:

1) Dock in Station.

2) Bring up Galaxy Map.

3) Check a nearby system:
a) If the system is an Industrial System - they will buy metal
b) If the system is a refinery system - they will buy minerals
c) If it is an Extraction system - they will buy Mineral Extractors and Explosives.

4) Now while at the Galactic Map, check the system you are in:
a) An Industrial System sells machinery cheap.
b) A refinery sells metal cheap
c) An Extraction site sells minerals cheap

5) The connection between points 4 and 5 should now be completely obvious!
a) Buy Minerals from and Extraction system and sell in a Refinery System
b) Buy Machinary in a Industrial System and Sell in a High Tech System.
c) Buy Metal at a Refinary system and sell to an Industrial System.

No need for a galactic wide price list - this is far, far easier!!! You instantly know what the system is going to buy before even visiting. And you instantly know where to buy a product cheap without even visiting a system.

This is why the Galactic Trade Map only tells you info about Categories and not individual products. The individual product is largely irrelevant for basic trading.

There are some outliers to this, where you can sell in a more advanced way. But there really isn't a need. Following the guide above you can make 3.5k profit per run in a Sidewinder within about 1hr or play.

http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showpost.php?p=599647&postcount=795

 

[Andromalius]

Take Minerals from Morgor to Dahan.

I have been doing this, the thing is, there is zero trade the other way so you basically come back empty, which halves the profits.
That route is only worth it if you have cash to pay for expensive cargo with an interesting margin. And I'm pretty sire Morgor is an anarchic system, which comes with its dangers. (not in game to check atm)

I'm still in the process of designing a looping trade route where you do a decent turnout with every jump but that requires a bit of work I didn't have the time to do yet.

 

[Sandmann]

The basic theory is simple... look at the "supply chain" and work with it. For example, minerals come from stations near mining outposts, and go to refining stations. Metals go from there to industrial stations. Finished items go from there to pretty much everywhere. Technical stations import food and other basics, and make tech for all the other places. Similarly food products come from agricultural stations to everywhere else, and they import finished products. Rich planets buy and sell at high prices than poor planets. Look at the description of the station you're at (eg: poor agricultural planet), then look at the supply & demand in the market. Anything that's medium-high numbers in the supply is something they'll sell fairly cheap, and anything that's low numbers in the demand is something they'll want to buy.

That's all a bit overwhelming at first so while it's not an official "tool" it also has been semi-officially "not condemned" too, so I would recommend getting "Slopey's Market Tool" from here. It uploads the market prices from every station that every user visits to a big database, and downloads updated prices for all the markets that have been visited every 30 seconds or so. It'll help you find the best prices that are available for the products they sell where you are, just make sure you can actually get to the places it suggest you go BEFORE committing to buy those products. That'll help a lot until it starts making sense to you and you can start using your own judgement.

 

[Cryptonomica]

Hopping back and forth between an agricultural world and an industrial/high-tec world can work well.

For example, take food products to the industrial world then return with crop harvesters or agri-medicines for the farmers

 

[Tibrogargan]

You also need to watch out for local variations. For instance, LHS 3006 sells Bertrandite pretty cheap, and Dahan pays reasonably well for it - but won't give you a good price on Indite ... the refinery at Achiaut (can't remember the spelling sorry) is the opposite - will give you less than you paid for Bertrandite but is good for Indite

 

[Druid]

This is where group play comes into its own. If you can find friends you can get all the best routes early on by comparing prices over voice coms . Found a route between us that gets us a viper and gimbled weapons in 3 hours of lazy flying.

Id tell you the route but Id have to kill you.

 

[Snowdog]

"Slopey's Market Tool" from here.

It did not work out well for me.
I tried it for 3 runs, made money on 1 but lost on the other two.

I give up on trade for a while.. I am sure it is just me but I find it to much of a losing proposition.

An onboard computer that at least keeps track of the station prices you visit would be a nice feature. I am tired of having to use pen and paper in computer games to keep track of stuff that we have computers for in real life.

EDIT (2 days later) I downloaded the local version and have done much better with the tool now. it may be because I am more familiar with trading and use the tool as a starting place. But I highly recommended trying it out.

 

[Vergoth]

Thanks for the help and advice everyone! I can honestly say that a pen and paper will help you no end with trading. It did for me!

I am now flying a cobra and have 200k in the bank

 

[WhosYourPappa]

Thanks for the help and advice everyone! I can honestly say that a pen and paper will help you no end with trading. It did for me!

I am now flying a cobra and have 200k in the bank

Excel to the rescue