Newcomer / Intro Just picked up a type-6 - is my trade profit ok?

[Jpotter]

So - I got tired of bounty hunting in the Cobra. Was just too slow to make credits for my preferences with either trading or bounty hunting, I'm eager for a more powerful ship. I had managed to upgrade the Cobra to near all A spec items (the only non-A spec were intentional) and could max any loadout/freight with my credits + over triple for insurance. I could only seem to manage about 350K on average bounty hunting/war bonds an hour (mostly CZ war bonds) and only about 450K credit in trading an hour. My next goal is a Vulture and a good spec layout for fighting/bounty hunting/PvP - so I hear I need to cover the cost of a Vulture ~4.5 million + about 15 million for upgrades (correct me if I'm wrong please).

To get me there, I traded the Cobra in on a Type-6 for full on trading. I've got the full 112T cargo setup, no shields, etc and the A-class FSD. I've managed to find a trade route - 3 jumps round-trip - with a round-trip profit of about 1.4 million credits an hour.

It's satisfying for me as this is the fastest money I've made since starting the game, so it seems like a good pull to me I'm only a couple hours away from the Vulture (have 5 mil in the bank already + sale of T-6 will get me close to 10 with selling all upgrades); but given my limited playing time (only about 90 minutes a day max on average), I want to make sure this is reasonable.

Note - I don't want anyone to tell me how to get a better route. I just want to know if what I'm pulling in is reasonable as I'm brand spanking new to the T-6; I enjoy hunting routes myself but at the same time want to get back into combat ASAP.

So is that a decent pull given my current ship?

Thanks in advance.

CMDR Jpotter

 

[CMDR Memphis]

1.4M/hour is very good. I am currently also using a T6, but I kept the S3 shields (got interdicted last night, laughed it off). I can manage about 1.5M/hour with a two-way trading run, when running at full efficiency of 5 minutes dock to dock, including trading. You might be able to squeeze out a bit more.
I looked at my statistics yesterday, and apparently I have earned over 13M with bounty hunting, whereas only about 4-5 with trading. I think I will go back to bounty hunting when I am done getting a vulture.
I spec'ed a vulture last night, and I think I will get mine at 16M. I do not think I need A grade thrusters and shields right away. Those two cost 5M each, yikes.

 

[Klab]

If it feels like a good route, then it most likely is a good route If you can see yourself reaching your goal within a few hours of trading, then stick with what you have found imo, you can spend hours just finding a decent trade route as you are probably aware.

 

[Philip Coutts]

Basically if you are happy with it then it's a good route. Some people will make more, some less don't get hung up on it too much. The main thing is to try and do some of the missions as well and build up your rep this way you can get offered some decent money for pretty easy haulage tasks.

 

[Starfox One]

Trade profit ist good/ok i think (i dont know how much cargo a t6 can hold). 2k per ton and A-B-A trip (~10 min) is ok/good.

If you want to do some bounty hunting again you should try out RES (Ressource Extraction Sites, found on planets with rings). There you can make 1+ mil/h (350k bountys per hour is a bit low, so i suppose you were hunting at a nav-beacon).

 

[ReaperAlex]

buy the vulture at 6 mill and keep the T6. slap some class 3 pulse lasers on and a few D rated upgrades and that vulture will happily mop up the big bounty ships in a res site. you can then further improve her from the earnings. you don't need to pimp a vulture before it can spank NPC's. sure soloing a high rated anaconda can hurt but you can pull it off. hanging out with the feds is like having a constant supply of chaff going off, they really are wonderful for soaking up turret fire. in that situation i deliberately ignore any small fry and focus exclusively on the big ships like clippers and condas (assuming you found a big ship rich spawn). with my sub-6mill vulture i did hit the 3mill/hr mark. it's more about a good spawn, focusing fire with the cops (imagine if your ship had dozens of lasers) and not wasting time on small bounties than it is about skill or raw firepower. after each kill check the contacts list for the next juicy target. the vulture is king of big ship takedowns, but will be worse than a viper or asp at taking down small fry. practice riding the condas back too, you can keep on it back while pounding the power plant for the bulk of the fight with the agile vulture.

 

[Jpotter]

Thanks everyone! Racked up another million - it's not quite 1.4mill/hour. With the occasions miss in supercruise, browsing bulletin boards, ADHD, etc. it was more of about 1mill/hr. But I've already got 6million credits in the bank + the T-6 and upgrades.

I will likely hang on to the T-6 as well, it is easy money - should be able to get the Vulture after my next two sessions; can't wait!!

P.S. when I was bounty hunting in my Cobra it was typically in NAV points and Conflict Zones, had no idea RES were that much better on the credit side.

 

[Ancipital]

Thanks everyone! Racked up another million - it's not quite 1.4mill/hour. With the occasions miss in supercruise, browsing bulletin boards, ADHD, etc. it was more of about 1mill/hr. But I've already got 6million credits in the bank + the T-6 and upgrades.

You're still in the right ballpark though. No point in making it an unpleasant pastime- remembering to stretch, take biobreaks, make coffee etc. gives a slightly less optimal result but feels more human

I would suggest always keeping a trader of some kind available, so you always have an easy alternative way to make money if you need it, but it does sound a little like that's teaching you to suck eggs.

 

[ReaperAlex]

when you enter a RES site a dice gets rolled to see what ship types will spawn there. to get the really big bucks you need to keep resetting the RES until you get a spawn with lots of big juicy targets. then the cash per hour really flies up! a reset can be done by entering supercruise and dropping out again, or relogging in some way (log off or switch from open to solo). so take the top earning potential with a pinch of salt as there is no telling how many times you may need to roll the dice to get the best spawns. when it happens it's a real joy though

 

[Ancipital]

when you enter a RES site a dice gets rolled to see what ship types will spawn there. to get the really big bucks you need to keep resetting the RES until you get a spawn with lots of big juicy targets. then the cash per hour really flies up! a reset can be done by entering supercruise and dropping out again, or relogging in some way (log off or switch from open to solo). so take the top earning potential with a pinch of salt as there is no telling how many times you may need to roll the dice to get the best spawns. when it happens it's a real joy though

Yeah, that's the theory, but it never works out that way for me The problem is, I keep getting a phat initial spawn (Pythons, 'condas, that sort of thing).. and after I blow them up, they're replaced with system authority vessels, which is really dull and unproductive. I go in all wide-eyed and optimistic with my little A-fit Vulture, and end up feeling distinctly overdressed.