thank you all for your contributions.
i need the credits only for those expensive scanners required for proper exploring. basically, I'm touring the systems (without the scoop and the surface scanner), making some profit on the side. and while doing this, I'm getting nice ideas for future exploration voyages. for example, I'm closing in on Arcturus and realised that I could visit the larger stars and other rare objects and whatever is along the way to these objectives. I'm basically making my own goals, as soon as I find something interestin. this is the only reason I've been doing so many trade runs lately. however, at 5-10k profit per station docking, I'm earning too little too slow to get to where I want to be. my long term plan is to cross most of the galaxy with as little stops as possible and make a living out of selling the exploration data i gather along the way.
so far, from the ideas above, I will definitely try to go trading, albeit slowly, towards the edge of the galaxy. the idea of a large profit margin is enticing. I don't like using the rare items runs, as my ship has limited cargo capacity. but, as I renounce the extra cargo modules for the advanced surfer scanner and later for the scoop, my cargo capacity will be even smaller than now and I still need to find new ways of earning money, apart from exploration.
as for other tools suggested, eddb is definitely a cool project, but after a few trade runs, you kind of get the hang of what items you might sell at what stations. you also learn the profit margin per ton of cargo and you can find lucrative trade loops for yourselves with the added reward of doing the research and reading through the station descriptions - which also helps you figure out some political exploits you might try in order to stabilise/de-stabilise the area, depending on what you want to achieve.
