Price Tracking Tools

[Gorr]

I have tried bunch of price tracking tools already mentioned here on forums, like http://elitetradingtool.co.uk/ for example, but I don't like to use them as that feels like cheating to me.

But I don't see any other option as there is not a single in game tool to check prices for visited systems.
Or I am missing something?

 

[Antmax]

I don't think it's cheating if you go to the systems and check or add the prices yourself beforehand. That's what I do. Don't really trust data that I didn't put in myself.

 

[Llewelyn]

It's either pen and paper, or electronic pen and paper. The online tools are merely everybody sharing the same pen and paper, between them. Someone has to visit a station to enter the prices, and someone has to update those prices when the market fluctuates.

Even then, I find you make your profit on the buy, look for stuff that is a good percentage below galactic average and you should make something on it.

 

[Sandmann]

I agree. I used Slopey's for a while and got good profits but I felt I was cheating myself out of the one of the best bits of the game (ie: using my brain). Then I wrote everything down but that quickly got tedious and messy. Now I use "Cmdr's Log" coz it's NOT crowd sourced (ie: it only has the info in it that you want to put it it), and it won't tell you where the best profits are, just records what stations (that you have been to) have what stuff, and what stations (that you have been to) want that stuff. It's exactly the same as many people are doing with paper or spreadhseets, but in a neat windows app.

The thread is here.

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The online tools are merely everybody sharing the same pen and paper, between them

I think this is the part that many (although certainly not all!) people feel is cheating. Really we all play the game our own way and we're not competing so as long as you're not breaking FD's rules, one man's "cheating" is another man's "perfectly reasonable tool"... as long as you get out of the game what you want to get, it's all good. For the folks using Slopey's or EliteTradingTool or Trade Dangerous or whatever, as long as they're having fun it's fine. Just that some of us don't want quite that much help.

 

[Gorr]

Instant +1 to reputation Sandmann, that is what I was looking for. Thank you! Only thing that was keeping me from finding my own routes is so unfriendly interface.
I can't believe I didn't see that one until now...

@Llewelyn: I was looking for electronic pen and paper, but I want to keep using my own non digital brain.
I was feeling really bad using ETTool, now I don't have to.

 

[Sandmann]

Glad you like it. Read through all the notes on the first message to get all the features Arch has added.. some of them aren't immediately obvious but quite useful (like the colour system he's used).

 

[Madam Pomfrey]

How much brain do you need to trade? Trading is not some puzzle you need to solve.

The game should have had at least what captain's log provides if not what Slopey's BPC provides. The game is placed in year 3300 not 1400. You shouldn't have to "walk" from shop to shop to find a good trade route.

 

[Sandmann]

How much brain do you need to trade? Trading is not some puzzle you need to solve.

The game should have had at least what captain's log provides if not what Slopey's BPC provides. The game is placed in year 3300 not 1400. You shouldn't have to "walk" from shop to shop to find a good trade route.

The Cmdr's Log tool is - like you suggest - jsut record keeping. Who has what? Where can I find bertrandite? I know I saw someone who wanted computer parts, who was it? The rest is fairly simple.. compare price to galactic average, compare demand with supply, then move it.

 

[Madam Pomfrey]

The Cmdr's Log tool is - like you suggest - jsut record keeping. Who has what? Where can I find bertrandite? I know I saw someone who wanted computer parts, who was it? The rest is fairly simple.. compare price to galactic average, compare demand with supply, then move it.

My question was related to the brain power needed to trade. To trade in Elite you need time, not brain. Time to fly from station to station to outpost, to another system, etc and write down all the info. A LOT of time wasted. In 2014 I can google products I need, or I can google retailers and find out what they sell and for how much. But in 3300 that is just ancient wizardry.