I'm colonising a planet

I want some G5 toys so I'm rep-grinding with various Engineers. Thankfully the game gives us the option to grind rep with a choice of buying engineer upgrades or trading cargo. I've currently got a T9, so cargo trading it is.

It seems that the Engineers usually don't have much need for minions, lackeys, henchmen, goons, or cannon fodder, so the demand for Slaves / Imperial Slaves is frequently nil and the price correspondingly low.

However, one can often find systems churning out bipedal cattle at a rate of knots, so the supply is huge and the price is dirt cheap, much lower than the price at a supposedly 0-demand market. And these slave-selling systems can often be found within a range which doesn't require a fuel scoop, so a canny (and amoral) trader can deliver 784 new inhabitants pretty much on demand. And, in the case of these Engineers, even on pretty much no demand at all.

The Engineer doesn't want extra mouths to feed, but I want the rep so I can have G5 toys, so the Engineer is getting those extra mouths to feed, like it or not.

I'm basically colonising the Engineers' planets with 784 new residents every time I drop by. Ethics, schmethics. There's money to be made. [money]
 
If you're enjoying trading for engineer rep that's great, but I just want to make sure you're aware you can rank up at a much faster rate by engineering modules.
 
If you're enjoying trading for engineer rep that's great, but I just want to make sure you're aware you can rank up at a much faster rate by engineering modules.

Yeah, but I don't currently have enough materials to engineer all the way from G0 to G5. So I figure sell slaves a few times to get G5, pin the blueprints, then go materials gathering/trading and use the remote workshop for the engineering as I won't need any further ranks from the engineers. And the modules I want don't have experimental effects so I don't need to revisit the engineers afterwards.

Edit: plus, I'm at 94% Tycoon and saving up for some more ships so the trading helps there, even if it's not the fastest way to grind rep with the Engineers. It's all in a good cause, namely my space bank balance.
 
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You might think you are giving the Engineer willing minions to do his bidding, but I have some bad news for you. That tofu stew you are eating at the Engineers cafeteria isn't umm tofu ..........
 
You don’t need to go to g5. Engineer to level 2, then engineer to level 2 on a different effect. Rinse. Repeat. Only uses low level mats.

I’ve done it with all the engineers so far. Works every time.
 
You might think you are giving the Engineer willing minions to do his bidding, but I have some bad news for you. That tofu stew you are eating at the Engineers cafeteria isn't umm tofu ..........

It's an upgrade from Fertilizer, I suppose. [yum]
 
You don’t need to go to g5. Engineer to level 2, then engineer to level 2 on a different effect. Rinse. Repeat. Only uses low level mats.

I’ve done it with all the engineers so far. Works every time.

Hot damn, I did not know that. Thank you! I've been going about it the wrong way all this time. D'oh!

Ah well. There's always something new to learn!
 
It's an upgrade from Fertilizer, I suppose. [yum]

That was one of my favourite aspects of Frontier and First Encounters. It was a lovely touch of black humour. I would be happy if Frontier introduced Life Support modules for cargo again.
 
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