I thought I would share my current rare trading experience, in the hopes that I see more people out in the routes. I view rare trading as the intermediate trade routes between a hauler, and affording the big ( type-7 and up) cargo ships. Once you get bigger than a type 6 or Asp, it starts to become more profitable to find a good trade route locally, as your credits per hour can be significantly higher than doing the rares circuits.
I never did rares in Beta or Gamma, I was too busy playing pew pew in my cobra. When I got into my Asp, I thought that it would be a great way to see the galaxy, and have fun doing it, vs grinding out trade routes. I am all about having fun instead of grinding, and this seems to do the trick for me.
So for starters, here is my Ship: Asp explorer, swapped out the class 5 shields for a class 3 which gives me an extra 24 tons of cargo space, a basic exploration scanner, 2 beam lasers and 4 multicannons, and am currently in a class 5B FSD. Fully laden, I get 19 and some change jump range on a fully laden (116 tons of cargo space) ship.
Here is my trade route: http://eliteraretrader.co.uk/?route=83,51,52,72,62,23,66,6,84,31,81,73,67,19,97,3,43,71,8,58,83&name=Tronicus%201 ETA: if you change the pull down bar from "furthest away" to "First over" a second box appears, and you can set your distance to trade the rare. I set mine to 140 LY, and this helps spread out the sell points.
It is a 21 system loop. The way it is laid out, I never run out of cargo area, and I get pretty close to full before I get to a big sell station. I just got done with the first loop, and I put a little under 1.5 million in my pocket, as well as a few upgrades for my Asp. I estimate that if this run were milked, it would do 2+ million per lap.
I do not wait on ticks to accumulate rares. I buy what is available in station, then I take a look at the galaxy map and plan my next leg. If I pass thru any inhabited systems close by, I will use the trading tool to see if there is a nice run between where I am and the next stop. Most of the time I only get a few hundred cred profit per ton this way, but every now and then I get a sweet one to the tune of 900+ per ton profit. I fill up what cargo space isn’t being used by my rares, so I can load up anywhere from 10 to 80 tons of cargo depending on where I am in the circuit.
I also take a look at the bulletin board, and see if there are any mission headed the same direction as I am. If there is I pick them up and do them. This ads a lot of time to my route, but I am not in a race to complete the loop, it builds rep along the way, and pads the pocketbook to boot.
Now if it takes me longer than 5 or 6 minutes to do all this, then I will wait the extra 3 or 4 minutes for a tick to complete, and grab more rares while I am there. It seems that I do this about 50 percent of the time.
I make sure I scan every system I go into, and that helps pay the bills also. I would guess on this first lap, I made about 10k exploration data. I only scan at the sun, I do not go explore and scan the rest of the system. If I get interdicted, I throttle down and see what is up, so that way if I have to, I can afterburner and run to a jump faster than if I did not submit.
Playing the way I do, this route took me about 4 hours. The time could be shaved by a LOT if all you did was pop into the station, buy your rares and continue to the next one. My guestimate would be about 1 million cred/hour if you just wanted to grind.
Playing with the rare trader tool, you can plot a course that will work to maximize your cargo capacity if you have a smaller ship. If you plan your route for max amount you can have, you do not have to worry about selling early and can maximize use of your cargo space.
Anyone care to share their routes?
I never did rares in Beta or Gamma, I was too busy playing pew pew in my cobra. When I got into my Asp, I thought that it would be a great way to see the galaxy, and have fun doing it, vs grinding out trade routes. I am all about having fun instead of grinding, and this seems to do the trick for me.
So for starters, here is my Ship: Asp explorer, swapped out the class 5 shields for a class 3 which gives me an extra 24 tons of cargo space, a basic exploration scanner, 2 beam lasers and 4 multicannons, and am currently in a class 5B FSD. Fully laden, I get 19 and some change jump range on a fully laden (116 tons of cargo space) ship.
Here is my trade route: http://eliteraretrader.co.uk/?route=83,51,52,72,62,23,66,6,84,31,81,73,67,19,97,3,43,71,8,58,83&name=Tronicus%201 ETA: if you change the pull down bar from "furthest away" to "First over" a second box appears, and you can set your distance to trade the rare. I set mine to 140 LY, and this helps spread out the sell points.
It is a 21 system loop. The way it is laid out, I never run out of cargo area, and I get pretty close to full before I get to a big sell station. I just got done with the first loop, and I put a little under 1.5 million in my pocket, as well as a few upgrades for my Asp. I estimate that if this run were milked, it would do 2+ million per lap.
I do not wait on ticks to accumulate rares. I buy what is available in station, then I take a look at the galaxy map and plan my next leg. If I pass thru any inhabited systems close by, I will use the trading tool to see if there is a nice run between where I am and the next stop. Most of the time I only get a few hundred cred profit per ton this way, but every now and then I get a sweet one to the tune of 900+ per ton profit. I fill up what cargo space isn’t being used by my rares, so I can load up anywhere from 10 to 80 tons of cargo depending on where I am in the circuit.
I also take a look at the bulletin board, and see if there are any mission headed the same direction as I am. If there is I pick them up and do them. This ads a lot of time to my route, but I am not in a race to complete the loop, it builds rep along the way, and pads the pocketbook to boot.
Now if it takes me longer than 5 or 6 minutes to do all this, then I will wait the extra 3 or 4 minutes for a tick to complete, and grab more rares while I am there. It seems that I do this about 50 percent of the time.
I make sure I scan every system I go into, and that helps pay the bills also. I would guess on this first lap, I made about 10k exploration data. I only scan at the sun, I do not go explore and scan the rest of the system. If I get interdicted, I throttle down and see what is up, so that way if I have to, I can afterburner and run to a jump faster than if I did not submit.
Playing the way I do, this route took me about 4 hours. The time could be shaved by a LOT if all you did was pop into the station, buy your rares and continue to the next one. My guestimate would be about 1 million cred/hour if you just wanted to grind.
Playing with the rare trader tool, you can plot a course that will work to maximize your cargo capacity if you have a smaller ship. If you plan your route for max amount you can have, you do not have to worry about selling early and can maximize use of your cargo space.
Anyone care to share their routes?
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