Elite is I feel best played when you keep things as varied as possible. When I jump in my ship for a play session I begin by having a look at the bulletin board of the station I'm docked at for anything juicy if nothing jumps out I open the galactic map and plot a course to a system as far as I can travel using the route planner.
Then dependent on the systems I travel through I do the following:
Unexplored - I explore the system and jump into any USS's that pop-up also watch out for any wanted ships I can interdict.
Explored - I begin by visiting the nav point and taking down pirates and criminals for bounty, this sometimes leads to them dropping cargo which can when sold be quite lucrative. When I feel like moving on I select a station in the system and head there if I have stolen goods I make sure it's a platform to reduce the chance of a scan. As I travel I again look out for USS's and check them out.
Once I arrive at the station/platform I check the bulletin board for anything worth doing if nothing jumps out I will visit the other stations in the area.
Once I'm ready to move on I select the next targeted system and continue my adventures.
Using this way of playing for me keeps each play session fresh and I get to do a real mix of activities. In regard to trading I trade to places where bulletin board missions take me and only buy product in high supply that's exported to my destination.
I hope this helps give some ideas to the newer players who don't always realise how much you can do in the game.
Then dependent on the systems I travel through I do the following:
Unexplored - I explore the system and jump into any USS's that pop-up also watch out for any wanted ships I can interdict.
Explored - I begin by visiting the nav point and taking down pirates and criminals for bounty, this sometimes leads to them dropping cargo which can when sold be quite lucrative. When I feel like moving on I select a station in the system and head there if I have stolen goods I make sure it's a platform to reduce the chance of a scan. As I travel I again look out for USS's and check them out.
Once I arrive at the station/platform I check the bulletin board for anything worth doing if nothing jumps out I will visit the other stations in the area.
Once I'm ready to move on I select the next targeted system and continue my adventures.
Using this way of playing for me keeps each play session fresh and I get to do a real mix of activities. In regard to trading I trade to places where bulletin board missions take me and only buy product in high supply that's exported to my destination.
I hope this helps give some ideas to the newer players who don't always realise how much you can do in the game.