Rare Goods vs normal trade

Hi,

When you get to a T6 the 100 cargo space means you can make a million an hour. Rare good trade seems less profitable (1.5 hours to fly load up fly 160 light years unload for like 700,000 - 1,000,000).. or are people making more money from Rare's with 100+ cargo space.

To me rare goods almost seems to be tailored for trading in a cobra ?

many thanks
 

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Once you get a big enough cargo normal trade outstrips rares because the respawn of rares is so low. No point in having 100t cargo if you're only carrying 3 tonne of rares.
 
Well, if you just want to make money fast, normal trade makes more money in a big ship. But rare trading is fun, if you are not in a hurry, visit some stations on the way, pick up one or the other mission, scan each new system on the way with ADS and bounty hunt a little on occasion. At least for me - I like to play, not grind for money longer than to get decent equipment and insurance for my Asp.
 
I used to do quite a lot of rare trading but now that supply is so constrained it doesn't really make sense beyond Cobra or Asp. If you are serious about trading, best to get into a Type 6 as quickly as you can because profitability Cr/Tonne/Hour is more favourable when you have 100+ tonne capacity. For those that like to do other things too, it is a good way of making some good money with little cargo space.

You used to be able to get unlimited supply of Rares, those were the good old days.... obviously the stock has been consumed by rich traders living it up, drinking excessive lavian brandy & ethgreze tea hence little of the stuff remains now.
 
Rares only now good in Cobra or smaller since the respawns are so low it takes ages to fill the cargo hold of anything bigger, also enjoyed the interdictions along the way.
 
I've noticed that a Cargo-maxed Asp hits around ~90T compared to the T6's ~100T, so I upgraded to the Asp purely for the benefits of
a) Enjoying interdictions now since I can easily pop most ships that interdict me - which I couldn't hope to do in a T6 -
b) Greater jump distance (when I eventually upgrade my FSD and
c) The bonus of being able to stop off anywhere on my journey for a bit of Bounty Hunting relief from the monotonous trade journeys. Really helps to breaqk up the flow.
 
Tried the inderdiction thing on a normal trade route in my Anaconda, only ever been interdicted twice both being Anacondas, first one I destroyed but just 32% of damage cost me 1.4m to repair, second time I just boosted away and escaped.
 
being able to stop off anywhere on my journey for a bit of Bounty Hunting relief from the monotonous trade journeys
rares are actually great for dedicated bounty hunters too, who aren't concerned about the profitability of what is in their cargo bay. the fact is we *want* pirates to attack us, which they will do more readily if we are carrying something nice.

bounties are our bread and butter, so we can collect rares bit by bit, without the worry about there not being enough to earn a living. and when there's a full bay, we can sell them off for a nice cash bonus and begin the cycle again.

of course, a ton or two of plain ordinary gold works just as well to bait pirates...
 
When it comes to compare normal and rare trading, jump range is essential. Jumping around with 12LY laden and maybe even the "economy route", you will find rare trading boring and not really rewarding. However, getting a T6 oder ASP with >20LY laden and "fastest route" it is a totally different thing.

Also not everybody does find a route that nets 1000+ Cr/t/run. For the "normal" folks rare trading is better up to and including cobra. T6 is about even, and with T7/Clipper and up normal trading is better.
 
The rare trade route which takes you from the systems around Witchhaul to the systems areound Lave (and back) hits about 40T IIRC.
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This is why the magic measure for a route is not profit per hour, not even profit per tonne per hour, but profit per tonne of capacity per hour. An empty tonne of cargo hold for an hour of trading is simply lost profit. A sidewinder or a decked-out Cobra will do rare trade runs with a full hold, so they will have the same profit/TonneCap/hr. A T9 will have a lower profit/TonneCap/hr because of the largely empty hold.
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If you must use such a big ship to do your rare trade runs, keep a log of prices from stop to stop. That way, you can fill up your empty hold with something that will make a short-term profit on that particular jump. Unless you can make a massive profit per tonne on a commodity, don't bother with a stocking filler on the long leg of the rare trade run because the full cargo adversely affects yolur jump range.
 
There was a rare route posted on reddit at some point that went around the galaxy collecting every type of rare and selling them off as you go round.
I know from doing it that it was too big for a cobra so I'm switching to a type-6 to try it again.

It was slow, but alot of fun going to all the populated corners of the galaxy. I went with a discovery scanner and took my time in the unpopulated systems in between and made a bit that way as well.
 
rares are good for any ship with less cargo as the type 6
to fill up a t6 with rares and fly to... wherever your destination is takes more time than regular trading. a single payout may be higher but here the time starts beeing crucial. except if you dont care
 
Rares only now good in Cobra or smaller since the respawns are so low it takes ages to fill the cargo hold of anything bigger, also enjoyed the interdictions along the way.

Respawns aren't low - They spawn at the same rate as they always have. I fly this simple route in a Clipper http://eliteraretrader.co.uk/?route...Clipper Short Haul 2015&type=0&dist=undefined You need minimum 100T cargo space to do the route.

Purely for the scenery and I'll check out extraction sites and various other stations whilst doing the circuit.

Used to fly this ultra long route in a T9 or Clipper - http://eliteraretrader.co.uk/?route... ultra longhaul&type=undefined&dist=undefined

If you have a big ship, point to point trading will always bring in more cash, but I find rares more fun. Good scenery/variety and your cash outlay is very low, perfect if you have spent a huge amount on a new ship and don't have much left to buy cargo.
 
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100T should be getting you between 1.5m-1.8m...

Rares are profitable up to a Cobra, beyond that... You just do it because it's far more fun than regular trading.

Z...
 
Respawns aren't low - They spawn at the same rate as they always have. I fly this simple route in a Clipper http://eliteraretrader.co.uk/?route...Clipper Short Haul 2015&type=0&dist=undefined You need minimum 100T cargo space to do the route.

Purely for the scenery and I'll check out extraction sites and various other stations whilst doing the circuit.

Used to fly this ultra long route in a T9 or Clipper - http://eliteraretrader.co.uk/?route... ultra longhaul&type=undefined&dist=undefined

If you have a big ship, point to point trading will always bring in more cash, but I find rares more fun. Good scenery/variety and your cash outlay is very low, perfect if you have spent a huge amount on a new ship and don't have much left to buy cargo.

Nope - they are low. They used to have far higher supply long ago.

I think rares have been, like so many other things, hit with the nerf bat just a little too hard...

Z...

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There was a rare route posted on reddit at some point that went around the galaxy collecting every type of rare and selling them off as you go round.
I know from doing it that it was too big for a cobra so I'm switching to a type-6 to try it again.

It was slow, but alot of fun going to all the populated corners of the galaxy. I went with a discovery scanner and took my time in the unpopulated systems in between and made a bit that way as well.

And this is why rares are more fun!

I'll probably do that route in my Python post 1.1 - I did the 71 stop version (all station <3000Ls from star) in an Asp, that was quite a good one to do... The point at which you are selling stuff off every second system or so is cool - you keep getting nice bumps in income.

Z....
 
Nope - they are low. They used to have far higher supply long ago.

I think rares have been, like so many other things, hit with the nerf bat just a little too hard...


I have been flying the rare trade routes since they started. They have only been changed once, and that was a while ago. It had to change, I made 10 million in one day back then.

I use this guide - Nothing has changed since and this guide has been out a long time - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...qBrZvFFzcA-uXB4pTfW4/htmlview?pli=1&sle=true#

The most important bit to look at is the supply rate, that rate is every 10 minutes.
 
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I've been hopping between rare and normal trading for the past couple months...through so called rare nerfs and trading nukes.

I have a solid run, that occasionally gets some attention but stays fairly stable due to demand and supply in the 100s of thousands up to millions. As long as I diversify my hold, I am able to maintain consistent pricing. It nets me, on average, 1250 cr/ton. It is one jump and each station is less than 400Ls from drop in. It makes decent money, and is a great way to reclaim lost credits due to an insurance claim.

Now, I also perform a rare trade run over 76 stations using a travelling salesman algorithm (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=103682) that ensures I am taking the most efficient path and selling off rares at an appropriate distance.

I finally got an Asp and I took it out comparing how I feel about each money making venture. Bumped down the shields to make room for 120 tons of cargo and started out on the traditional run. Spent most of my Friday grinding out this trade run (with occasional forays into the nav beacon that got me to Expert combat rating, woo) and made some decent profits @ 300k profit per round trip...each round taking about 15 minutes (time included for nose picking, staring at the star and goofing in the station).

Yesterday, I got on my rare route. I didn't bother waiting at each station to get my full allotment unless it was stupid low like 2 tons available. Did some occasional bounty hunting at Nav Beacons along the way (seems like rares attract pirates like a black hole attracts would-be explorers). How does six cannon balls to the face feel mister cobra, bahahaha.

Anyway, with an Asp hauling 120 cargo (which I do get filled at several points along the rare route) I was making about 2/3 more money as my regular route. Granted, it has some drawbacks. The first one is route planning, I actually dropped four tons of cargo in favor of a docking computer about half way through the route. This gave me time to let the gal map sit and plot the next route while the docking computer handled landing. However, as I started picking up some narcotics, liquors and tobacco rares, I found that I was using the computer less and less as station prohibitions had me silent running into the slot at almost every non-anarchy location. Really, officer, these Holva Dueling Blades are completely cosmetic and are in no way personal weapons at all...really.

I also play in Open, so the sight of other Commanders near hotspots is unnerving when you are carrying 90 tons of the rarest stuff in the galaxy. Though, either the pirates couldn't wise up to my evasive maneuvers in super cruise or there were too many targets and I got lucky (also, seeing that my Asp isn't kitted out as a hapless trader but rather more like a smuggler with nasty, disease spreading teeth might keep some trouble away).

Conclusion...In my personal opinion, rare trading is more exciting, profitable and varied. Regular trading, is safer, relaxing and profitable, though less so than rares. If I only ever played in Solo, then I would probably do rare trading only. However, since I'm mostly an Open player, I'll swap between the two incomes based on how much risk I'm willing to take on for the day.
 
Rares good up to about 80 tons or so then you can make more regular trading if you know how to find good runs. Been awhile since i ran rares but i was bored yesterday so i went on a long long long rare run. Credits earned was only decent but i was making credits and having fun at the same time. Rares seem to attract pirates much more plus i went to systems i had never been to. Think i just might do this more often because grinding i just cant do anymore.
 
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