Trading isn't boring.

[salad]

So, I just got into trading and I don't know why I read so many complaints about it being boring, it its pretty damn cool to fly a cargo ship, especially without any hardpoints! The feeling of being so vulnerable and in constant danger is amazing!! (I only play in Open mode)

Here's my backstory, started with a Sidey, moved up to Eagle and then the Viper.

I'm really really into combat so I took my sweet time with the Viper and ended up making ~16mi from Bounty Hunting and Assassination missions. (Don't be deceived, its not fast money, took me a long time)

Then I realized that I was jumping from one system to another looking for Assassination missions and I could have been doing some trading instead. So I bought a Type-6, "decked" it out for trading and decided to do some local business between the systems I was familiar with.

Turns out that for each trip to check new missions I could have been making about the same money by trading, but without wasting time looking for my target.

Now what I'm doing? Trading!! but I'm still picking up Assassination missions with my Type-6, why? At the end of the day I go back to the station where my Viper is "parked" an pick it up to do the dirty jobs!!

After trying this out, I realized that I'll most likely never buy a multipurpose ship, it kind of takes away some of the fun since you're doing everything in the same cockpit. And there's nothing like being in constant danger, looking at the radar for those hollow blips!

So my point is, if you find trading boring it may be just because it is the only thing you're doing, spice up your game! buy another ship for a different role!! Even if its not the most profitable thing, do it for fun! (Don't wait for that top tier ship to try new stuff)

 

[Shads]

Theres really nothing to stop you doing both trading and combat. I pick up assassinations missions while trading. Then when I have a healthy load of them I switch ships and go hunting. That way I don't burn out on iether

 

[Bigcheese]

So, I just got into trading and I don't know why I read so many complaints about it being boring

Because you just started. It'll get old, just wait. Lack of station variety hurts it for me. Feels like I fly to the same spot over and over again like I'm in the twilight zone.

 

[Whiterose]

Or use the same ship. I use my Asp as a cargo ship, fully loaded with 92 tons, but the system I am trading with I always stop off at the Nav point to say hello to some ne'er do wells, and claim their bounty, then fly to the station to trade. I admit by doing this I am not making a trillion dollars a second like some people, but boy am I having fun.

 

[Tony Spaniels]

Im finding the biggest preventer of anything at all getting old in this game so far, is only having at most 2 hours a night of gaming time ( when Mrs Spaniels gets home from her shift ) .

 

[Poplin]

Because you just started. It'll get old, just wait. Lack of station variety hurts it for me. Feels like I fly to the same spot over and over again like I'm in the twilight zone.

I've made roughly 300 million trading and I still enjoy it. Some people do just genuinely keep liking it.

 

[WO-One]

Cobra and T6, could not agree more.

 

[Bomba Luigi]

I too have a lot of Fun doing mainly trading for some weeks now. Its of course not something for everybody, but what in this World is? I don't blame anybody for finding it boring, but please don't blame others for finding it fun, thanks.

 

[Sandmann]

Congrats... you've just worked out what a lot of people have missed about ED... if you do ANY one thing long enough it'll get boring.

The trick to keeping ED fresh is multi roles. I usually pick up enough "find the floating canister" missions and "kill the pirates" at my local station to keep me busy a while, before I leave I figure out how to combine that with a trade route and salvaging/smuggling. Eg get a mission to kill pirates in System A which has an agriculture station, kill the pirates, steal their loot, and pick up some food from the station, take it to System B which has an industrial station, sell the food and pick up some mineral extractors then collect the military plans and salvage anything else floating around, then fly back to my starting position which has an extraction/refinery station and a black market so I can sell the mineral extractors, plus the extra bits I collected from bounty hunting and salvaging. Throw in a little bounty hunting while you're at a sun scooping fuel or interdicting people on the way to a station and you're doing pretty much EVERY trade in one run.

Even if you're an assassin, any trip you make from A-B with an empty hold is a wasted chance to make some extra cash... as is any USS that you don't stop at. As soon as you start thinking "I'm a pirate, not a trader, I'm not doing that boring trade stuff" you limit yourself to making less money, exposing yourself to less opportunities for missions/combat/piracy/salvage/whatever coz you're putting yourself in a "box" that doesn't really exist.

 

[noileum]

Or use the same ship. I use my Asp as a cargo ship, fully loaded with 92 tons, but the system I am trading with I always stop off at the Nav point to say hello to some ne'er do wells, and claim their bounty, then fly to the station to trade. I admit by doing this I am not making a trillion dollars a second like some people, but boy am I having fun.

That is what I was doing in my Cobra - then went to a T6 and the fun definitely dried up.

The journey to the ASP is underway

 

[InMemoriamSirocco]

@OP: Exactly the point that I have arrived in game now. I have a Type 6 for cargo runs and my Cobra rigged for exploration and combat. Because those are the things I love best about this game. Tried to go back to a Viper, but realised that an A-grade power plant can only give you 12.00MW on that little ship. So with my favourite weapons setup my modules would malfunction. Staying with the Cobra, then. Good enough for resource extraction sites