Ship advice

[TomT]

So, I'm getting close to the point where I will be able to afford getting a new ship, with the goal being to earn enough for a Cobra or Viper.

I have the basic Sidewinder, and I think the best path to earning more $ quickly would be to buy the Hauler and trade until I have enough money to move up to a better ship. But, I have a few questions:

1. When I trade the Sidewinder, will any of the weapons transfer (these are flagged as "loaned" as I recall...

2. What would be the best weapon for the Hauler (I plan on concentrating on trading for a while to move up to a better ship)?

3. If I did put any upgrades on the Sidewinder, what happens when I trade it in? Does the trade-in value increase?

4. Are there any suggestions as to a better way to go about this whole thing? It's getting a bit old in the Sidewinder trading with just 4 cargo slots....

5. Any caveats/warnings about the Hauler? I know it's slow and doesn't handle all that well - and I assume I'll need a good weapon as it appears to only have one weapon hard point.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[KEY]

So, I'm getting close to the point where I will be able to afford getting a new ship, with the goal being to earn enough for a Cobra or Viper.

I have the basic Sidewinder, and I think the best path to earning more $ quickly would be to buy the Hauler and trade until I have enough money to move up to a better ship. But, I have a few questions:

1. When I trade the Sidewinder, will any of the weapons transfer (these are flagged as "loaned" as I recall...

2. What would be the best weapon for the Hauler (I plan on concentrating on trading for a while to move up to a better ship)?

3. If I did put any upgrades on the Sidewinder, what happens when I trade it in? Does the trade-in value increase?

4. Are there any suggestions as to a better way to go about this whole thing? It's getting a bit old in the Sidewinder trading with just 4 cargo slots....

5. Any caveats/warnings about the Hauler? I know it's slow and doesn't handle all that well - and I assume I'll need a good weapon as it appears to only have one weapon hard point.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

1. No, none of them. Loaned weapons are worth 0 credits, if you have any bought weapons you will get a fund on them, but they still won't transfer to your new ship.

2. I would reccomend no weapon at all if you plan on a pure trading hauler. Saves you the additional weight and thus increases your travel distance (less weight -> more possible jump-distance). If you get interdicted you can always hit the boost, turn FA off (which means your speed will stay on top boost speed without the need to hit boost again), and as soon as your frame shift has cooled down -> jump! No NPC will get close enough to attack that way. If you're playing online & open for all: different story (though player interdictions are not possible as of now)

3. Yep, you'll get refunds for your investments (not 100% of the originally invested credits though, afaik)

4. Hauler is ok for trading runs and a starter career. If trading is your thing the Lakon series will be your goal, if your the jack-of-all-trades kinda guy, the Cobra has a "wanted sign" on its cockpit... and if you wan tto go trade/explore deluxe, and still want to pack a punch: Anaconda. Though there will be bit of work to do until you can afford the big snake.

5. Hauler is fine. There's ace commanders like Isinona... check out his Hauler stunts if you'Re so inclined: CLICK ME, I'm a youtube video. I don't think you'll need a weapon for solo-gaming trading runs. For the real online game... I'd suggest a missle rack, just in case

6. Have fun commander and good luck for whatever you do (except if your plan is attacking me... then I'd prefer the good luck be on my side )

 

[tarks382]

Good advice.

You'll be amazed at how the credits start to clock up after the sidewinder.
Then the cobra. Then the Lakon 6, then 9 (you'll be a millionaire by then), then the Anaconda, doyen of all ships.

 

[Commander Dave]

1. When I trade the Sidewinder, will any of the weapons transfer (these are flagged as "loaned" as I recall...

Nope. All you get in the new ship is a similarly lowly loaned weapon.

2. What would be the best weapon for the Hauler (I plan on concentrating on trading for a while to move up to a better ship)?

Best weapon in a Hauler is an empty weapon slot. Saves weight and doesn't give you the temptation of trying to attempt combat in the thing. It's a Transit van, not a fighter.

3. If I did put any upgrades on the Sidewinder, what happens when I trade it in? Does the trade-in value increase?

Yes. You get the money for those too. It's a trade-in value and I think it's something like 75% of the purchase price. Your cargo, if you have any on board at the time, is also taken into account. Your new ship comes with an empty hold.

4. Are there any suggestions as to a better way to go about this whole thing? It's getting a bit old in the Sidewinder trading with just 4 cargo slots....

You've already figured it out: Get a new ship and go trading.
Sidey, Transit, -6, -9, and then you'll have enough money to do whatever you want.

5. Any caveats/warnings about the Hauler? I know it's slow and doesn't handle all that well - and I assume I'll need a good weapon as it appears to only have one weapon hard point.

Don't bother with combat. It handles well enough and is moderately swift. Plenty good enough for making reasonable sums of money. I only had mine for a day so it's not as if you'll be stuck with it for ages.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

When you get your new ship make sure you have enough money for insurance on it. I'd hate to see your next thread being a tale of woe about smashing your new ship to bits, or being zapped by an idiot, and you being back in a Sidey with no money.
Try not to fall into that trap.
If you get rid of your laser to save weight and you get interdicted somewhere, regardless of who it is, in fact don't even bother to hang around and find out who it is, just boost and switch off FA for max speed and get the hell out of there.
Focus on trading in the Hauler. It's not a multi-purpose ship. It's a van and it does one thing very well. Do that thing and you'll be fine.

 

[Zephyriel]

I honestly don't have the courage to go around all the stations and write prices down, so I'm probably never going to do any serious trading. And don't tell me about those trading softwares outside the game, that seems even more complicated, while making you have to leave the game...

So when the time came to swap my Sidey, I had a choice between the Hauler, and the Eagle. The former seemed like the reasonable choice, letting me earn some good money quickly. But the latter was the more fun option. I really wanted to go fighting, and figured this would be the time to fly an eagle. When I'm rich I certainly won't be flying such a small ship. I hesitated because I was afraid of investing my hard earned cash on a fighter which wouldn't get me any money.

In the end I took my chances with the Eagle, and didn't regret it! I stayed for a while between LP98-132 for gold hunting, scooping crates under the nose of those damned pirate ambushers, and the Federal Distress Signal in Eranin for some intense dogfighting. Turns out I pretty quickly got enough credits to get a Viper, which I really loved! Feels like a space Camaro that ship. With guns.

Bottom line is, if you want to trade just get the Hauler, but if you're not into that then don't feel the need to bother with trading. I'm now a Cobra owner ; the only reason I keep it over the Viper is its range, no point having an amazing ship if you can't go anywhere with it. I probably won't use all that cargo space for anything other than smuggling a few abandonned crates... For some reason, I'm not very good at keeping my Cobra in one piece, while I had no such problem with the Viper... So when the full game's released, I'll keep the Viper if it allows me to explore the galaxy, otherwise I'll just get the most agile fighter with a decent range. Trading is not for me


Also, like it's been said, never let your account go dry, or you won't be able to pay for the insurance when things go awry (they always do at some point). What I did earlier today when I blew my Cobra up one time too many and was left with 20k creds after the insurance (which would let me buy it back only one more time), is I sold my expensive C3 gimballed Multicannons and replaced them with C1 of the same thing, getting my account back to around 95k, a comfortable sum until I get enough to get my high grade weapons back and add some armor. This pilot won't go back to square one so easily. I'm enjoying finally exploring the beta bubble, but I'll probably soon go back to LP98-132 for some gold grinding...

 

[TomT]

Thanks for all the great input, I'm going to go for the Hauler for now, once I have enough extra money for the insurance and some cargo....

 

[insanephoton]

One piece of advice, if you don't do it already, always check the bulletin board. The pay for missions has gone down some from what it originally was, but it's still a great way to earn credits without tying up your cash in cargo. You can also have several missions on the go at the same time, just be careful to complete them as you don't want to get fines and eventually bounties against you.

 

[bonsek]

Mind you Saturday we might have Beta 2.0 (crosses fingers). But I don't know if they are going to wipe the credits or not.

 

[TomT]

Mind you Saturday we might have Beta 2.0 (crosses fingers). But I don't know if they are going to wipe the credits or not.

Oh lord, I hope not (after all the time I spent grinding)...

 

[DeepFried]

Oh lord, I hope not (after all the time I spent grinding)...

Its comming, and soon either way. So personally i'd avoid too much trading and explore combat and other options.... you dont keep the credits after a wipe but you do keep your skills and knowledge!

 

[tarks382]

Thanks for all the great input, I'm going to go for the Hauler for now, once I have enough extra money for the insurance and some cargo....

Another smidge of information - whatever you're carrying, before you sell it check the bulletin boards to see if someone is paying over the odds for it. It's entirely a matter of good fortune and it's not common, but it happens. Better still (and I'm not sure if this is a bug, or an intention) sometimes, the "purchase mission" persists so, for example, if you've got 10 tons of resonating separators and the mission board is asking for a ton beyond cost price, take the mission, get the money, rinse and repeat until it stops. A bit boring but when you're struggling to make the cash it's a welcome boost.

 

[uncle bulgaria]

If you want to build cash quickly trading is the way to go so get in the hauler as fast as you can, it's got 4 times the capacity so it makes a huge difference.

You need to build up cash for the Cobra next, don't switch until you can afford the insurance and a lost load. If you want to risk it don't trade up until you have enough cash for at least 17 tonnes of cargo in the Cobra - no point buying a bigger ship if you can't afford more cargo than the old one.

With trade grinding to buy some toys it's credits/min that counts, i tend to avoid systems that require a long supercruise flight from the beacon, it just wastes time.

Once you can fill a Cobra you'll be at a Type 6 in no time, when you can fill those 100 tonnes you are basically printing money,