Trading is not imbalanced, but trading tools are

um no.

The tools are fine (and only good for a basic guide anyway, you really need to go check the data yourself).

The mere fact its possible to make the kinds of returns you do on trade, but stuggle to get a fraction of that doing missions, bountyhunting, exploring or mining means that there is a massive imbalance in the game design.

Trading is already slow, and takes forever to upgrade ships, doing it with other methods is just an exercise in frustration.

Credit income is too low compared to ship prices, there is not enough variety, and variety is generated by making playstyles offer similar rewards.
 
The only "tool" I use to trade is pen, paper and occasional screenshots. I still make >1M per hour reliably. Once you figure out the basic concept, finding a route that nets you this amount in a Type7 is really easy. Take this times four (roughly) and you know what you'll get once you can afford an T9.

Now tell me how I can beat that with any oher means of earning money in this game. Tried them all. Didn't even get close to half of that. Maybe I just suck at exploring and bounty hunting, but I can not imagine anyone will make as much money out of that. Allthough it would add much to the game imho.
 
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those tools are evil... because in 2014 traders actually need to travel to every spot on earth with pen and paper to calculate profits, and earn about the same as a car mechanic
 
those tools are evil... because in 2014 traders actually need to travel to every spot on earth with pen and paper to calculate profits, and earn about the same as a car mechanic

Traders just sit on their assess in skyscrapers. However in FD universe there's justification for that - there's no FTL comms between systems (only ship has means to traverse hyperspace/frame shift dimension, there's no wormhole to keep it open and send data trough it). There are information couriers and that's why you pay for information like trade data or map data.
 
Whilst I see your point, I do still very much disagree that it isn't imbalanced.

I think you're either overestimating how much effort it takes to find your own trading route by yourself, or underestimating the giant profit that can be made from trading that blows everything else in the game out of the water.

Finding a good trade route doesn't require you to use third-party trading tools, in fact if anything its better to find one that isn't on them so you can do it yourself without having others interrupting your prices.
 
Traders just sit on their assess in skyscrapers. However in FD universe there's justification for that - there's no FTL comms between systems (only ship has means to traverse hyperspace/frame shift dimension, there's no wormhole to keep it open and send data trough it). There are information couriers and that's why you pay for information like trade data or map data.

This is a nice made up theory :)
Even due to the lack of wormholes I can read my new GalNet paper every morning with a hot coffee ;)
 
I have noticed a very common misconception on the forums: that trading has a much higher credit return on invested time and effort than other forms of gameplay. This imbalance is grossly overstated, and the main reason for trading having such high ROI (Return On Investment) compared to other money-making schemes is the use external trading tools.

I used trading tools in beta, and after a while I realized that while they were great in increasing my credits, they also made every other way to gain credits look unattractive. It also turned the game into a spreadsheet in space - main reason why I quit EvE in disgust years ago.

If you don't use said tools, the ROI from trading is much closer to that of mining and bounty hunting and mission running. I've been doing mostly mining and exploration, as I've struggled to find decent trade routes by myself at the edges of habited space where I'm active. There's more variety, too, as sometimes I outfit my ship for combat and go mission running and exploring instead - all combinations bring roughly the same credit gain per hour of game time.

I'm not one to say that people should play the game my way. But I am saying that don't blame FD for "imbalanced" credit gain mechanics if you are electing to use external tools which bring the imbalance. If you use such tools and are motivated by credits, you are almost guaranteed to find trading the only viable way to play the game. If you don't, you will likely find more variety, especially before you can fly and outfit the bigger ships.

Well, not really agree that ^^

I do not use any thirdparty info, programm or whatever...
I tried mining... just to find something takes hours... and I didn't... the few times I mined, I got attacked... and off
Bounty Hunting is a better money maker... could make some 100k's per hour... NavBeacon, USS, just hunting down all possible wated targets.
Trading? Took me hours, but I found a trade route... and my most earned money comes from trading. After I went a bit tired of always doing the same routes to get more money for the next ship, I tried mining.... no success... and didn't liked it as I couldn't fought back pirates!
Well, went back to trading to fit my newly ASP correctly.... now I don't play to just make money, but having fun! So I unfitted trading modules against fighting, and went bounty hunting! Well, I didn't gained as muhc money, but at least it's more fun! Next step, getting bakck to a trip through the space, just for fun.

Hey come on guys, the game's target is what, money making? No..... IT'S HAVING FUN!!!!

And I'll keep the asp, exploring trading fighting, until I can get an anaconda ^^

I love ED!!!



EDIT: oh, forgot to come back to subject: TRADING IS moneymaker, way more than exploring, fighting or what ever.
 
Traders just sit on their assess in skyscrapers. However in FD universe there's justification for that - there's no FTL comms between systems (only ship has means to traverse hyperspace/frame shift dimension, there's no wormhole to keep it open and send data trough it). There are information couriers and that's why you pay for information like trade data or map data.

Uhm, the Kill Warrant Scanner must operate on some sort of FTL comms or maybe people who are wanted hold that data on their ship just in case someone wants to scan them for it :p
 
Cant think of an open world game where trading wasnt the most profitable of all professions, the piracy balances that out imo.

The tools arent a problem as well imo, people only use them because there is no in-game system that would offer any in-depth info on stations. How many times did you see a station say it exports slaves only to find out when you dock that it in fact doesnt?

FD should make it a feature where you pay for the "software" so your ship tracks and sends data to the "Merchants Guild" or whatever for people in the guild to use for a price.
Seeing which station has a black market after Ive visited a station would also be useful.

Hell I think every profession should have a software upgrade for your ship F to A class with more expensive and complex software costing into millions.

Or just a way to install a hard drive on my ship so my scan data doesnt get lost for a ship I already know has a bounty on it -.-
 
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