Over the past month or two, using Inara.cz, I have been unable to locate a system that buys minerals (Monazite, Musgravite) for any half-decent price. They used to go for 650k+ per ton somewhere in the bubble nearly at any time, sometimes going up as high as 750k or 800k. Now I can't locate a system where these things go for more than 400k.
I dig that, but I've been playing this game for over 2 years. Since March 2021, core mining was my main source of income. There wasn't a noticeable amount of time since then that I wouldn't be able to get a decent price on one of the minerals. Prices fluctuate, yes, but the current 50% drop on all high-value mineral prices lasting at least several weeks by now is unprecedented. Last time anything like that happened was when LTDs got nerfed from being worth some 1 million per ton to their current 200k ish price, and then it was a huge announcement and quite an uproar as well. Given the scale of the current price drop, it makes me think it's a bug of some sort.
Honestly 400k/ton brings in >200 million per load, assuming 512k cargo in a T9 or Cutter. So that’s not too shabby. Yes there’s the loss of some profit from the “bulk tax”; but I remember mining Painite when that was the most profitable thing at around 90k/ton, so count your blessings.
Honestly 400k/ton brings in >200 million per load, assuming 512k cargo in a T9 or Cutter. So that’s not too shabby. Yes there’s the loss of some profit from the “bulk tax”; but I remember mining Painite when that was the most profitable thing at around 90k/ton, so count your blessings.
Very shabby, because it destroys core mining as a money making activity.
Last time I checked the standard, entry-level ways of making money in this game allowed to make some 100+ million credits per hour. Things like passenger missions in Robigo that only need a python with minimal FSD engineering or platinum hotspot overlap laser mining that only needs an Anaconda with some PD engineering both allowed easy 100M creds/h. Hardcore players could get double that or more, e.g. with hazres platinum mining in a decked out Cutter, but it's a fact that ~100M per hour is the amount of money you can make with pretty much any activity in the game, some more easily (pax, plat), some with more effort (combat, trade, exploration).
Core mining was on the list the way I did it with my FC, I was able to make ~110M/h easily over multiple runs... as long as I could the sell monazite and musgravite for ~650k. Now that it's hard to even find a place that buys these minerals for half of that price, it basically halves the profitability of this entire activity in the game. It already wasn't the best money maker, but at least it was a fun (imho) way of making a buck. Now it's a fun waste of time. Not that playing a computer game in itself isn't a waste of time in some sense, but now it is even more so (for core miners like myself).
The prices also fluctuate from mineral to mineral over time. Last week I sold both Monazite and Rhodplumsite for over 730k per ton. Some time ago Musgravite and Grandidierite were the bomb, and Grandidierite has tanked since. I have no clue what the rules are, but prices do go up and down.
Right now as I am writing this, Musgravite goes for over 800 in Xinca ((Stross Hub). If I want to mine and sell minerals, I go to Inara's commodities list and sort by max. sell to get a picture.
Right now as I am writing this, Musgravite goes for over 800 in Xinca ((Stross Hub). If I want to mine and sell minerals, I go to Inara's commodities list and sort by max. sell to get a picture.
This list lies, I checked several time over the last couple of weeks. I would find a spot that supposedly buys monazite for 700k like you said, ensuring it has high demand and the price was updated recently, but when I get there the demand is indeed as high as expected but the price is less than half of what inara said. Yesterday I tried again, jumped to a station that was supposedly buying monazite for 730k, but when I arrived (in my exploration aspX with no monazite on board, so no bulk tax applied) the station prices was 340k (and demand was still high, so it's not like the station was flooded with monazite just before I arrived).
If instead of that screen you go to the commodities search, choose "I want to sell" and generate a list without any filters at all, you will find that THIS list shows only prices around 430k or less. In fact, it shows different prices depending on which system you choose to measure distance from.
How, I ask?! Why, when I drop to a station that inara says is going to buy for 730k, it shows 340k? I never had this issue over my two years of using inara to sell billions worth of minerals. Sometimes the price would be out of date if it was a day old on inara and I would notice that demand on the station is 3000 less than on inara, meaning that the station was flooded with the commodity and so the price dropped, but I've never seen this happen so consistently like these past few weeks.
Can you, like, post a screenshot next time you sell minerals? From inara to show how you found it and from the station as you sell, to confirm the price?
This list lies, I checked several time over the last couple of weeks. I would find a spot that supposedly buys monazite for 700k like you said, ensuring it has high demand and the price was updated recently, but when I get there the demand is indeed as high as expected but the price is less than half of what inara said. Yesterday I tried again, jumped to a station that was supposedly buying monazite for 730k, but when I arrived (in my exploration aspX with no monazite on board, so no bulk tax applied) the station prices was 340k (and demand was still high, so it's not like the station was flooded with monazite just before I arrived).
. I have not had that issue. As I said, last week I sold Monazite and Rhodplumsite for exactly the price promised by that list. Are you by chance playing Legacy? Inara only shows Live data.
How, I ask?! Why, when I drop to a station that inara says is going to buy for 730k, it shows 340k? I never had this issue over my two years of using inara to sell billions worth of minerals. Sometimes the price would be out of date if it was a day old on inara and I would notice that demand on the station is 3000 less than on inara, meaning that the station was flooded with the commodity and so the price dropped, but I've never seen this happen so consistently like these past few weeks.
Can you, like, post a screenshot next time you sell minerals? From inara to show how you found it and from the station as you sell, to confirm the price?
. I have not had that issue. As I said, last week I sold Monazite and Rhodplumsite for exactly the price promised by that list. Are you by chance playing Legacy? Inara only shows Live data.
(...)
Really sounds like you play Legacy... are you on console?
Also, if you don't mind, could you check if the two price lists (the one you use and that "commodity search" -> "I want to sell" that I typically use) give you consistent results? For me they totally do not, one shows top price 730k (that turns out to be false upon inspection in game), the other shows top prices in 430k range.
I did a quick test. I had 54t of Rhodplumsite on my carrier and sold it off. Inara's "I want to sell" list told me to go to Midgeley Dock in Arth. Prices observed were 826,426 to 831,533 Cr/t with a demand of 1072. Prices in Inara show a window of price rather than a single numbers if CMDRs have recently sold with bulk tax.
When I arrived, I sold for 816,396 Cr/t, which I consider within the margin of fluctuation. Now that I have been there, Inara shows my sell price in both the "I want to sell" list and the max sell in the commodities list.
Also, if you don't mind, could you check if the two price lists (the one you use and that "commodity search" -> "I want to sell" that I typically use) give you consistent results? For me they totally do not, one shows top price 730k (that turns out to be false upon inspection in game), the other shows top prices in 430k range.
Feel free to send me links to your search, preferably also with screenshots, if you suspect something is wrong. By your description it sounds you may have arrived to stations where the price and/or demand changed since the last update and as you may have been updating stuff via EDMC, it get updated on Inara by you, so the price will also change on your next page/list refresh (thus it may look as a discrepancy, but is not). But that's just a speculation, I would like to see a "real thing" before making any conclusions about what may have been going on.
Also, if you don't mind, could you check if the two price lists (the one you use and that "commodity search" -> "I want to sell" that I typically use) give you consistent results? For me they totally do not, one shows top price 730k (that turns out to be false upon inspection in game), the other shows top prices in 430k range.
Alright, so I sat down tonight and long story short seems to be:
1. I'm an idiot
2. Due to a series of
I didn't play much over the past year, once every several weeks perhaps, so I didn't use the new inara commodity search page too much and haven't gotten used to it
I usually set some filters before I search without really thinking about it, like turning off planetary ports and carriers and setting minimal demand
With the filters above I always managed to somehow find some station that had a decent price on the minerals I was looking into selling, despite the search being flawed in that I never bothered to "order by: best price"
... I haven't until today noticed that doing a search for stations that buy an item and choosing "order by: best price" does not work the same as leaving the field on "order by: distance" and then sorting the table by price. So when I returned to the game recently (i.e. started playing once every few days, not every few weeks), I started searching sloppily, without setting filters, thinking I can get to the best price by just sorting the table, but instead I would get only crappy prices.
3. Which makes me even more of an idiot because I'm a f***in' programmer and I know that sorting a table of 100ish results on the frontend can't possibly work the same as querying for results sorted by a field in the API request, when the database probably has at least several thousand data points, unless the search would deliver the entire dataset, which couldn't possibly work as fast as it does. I guess by the time I sit down to ED after work and kids and whatnot (usually ~1AM, having been up for 20 hours on the previous day after 3h of sleep the night before) my brain is just too fried to do the thing brains usually do.
I still don't know how I managed, several times in a row, to jump to the stations that were listed as having best prices on the particular mineral (on the mineral's page, in the "WHERE TO SELL X FOR BEST PRICE" section) only to find the price being complete e upon arrival. Must've been some super unlucky coincidence, like me logging into the game after a maintenance window or something, with the price having changed since inara was updated. No idea.
I did a quick test. I had 54t of Rhodplumsite on my carrier and sold it off. Inara's "I want to sell" list told me to go to Midgeley Dock in Arth. Prices observed were 826,426 to 831,533 Cr/t with a demand of 1072. Prices in Inara show a window of price rather than a single numbers if CMDRs have recently sold with bulk tax.
When I arrived, I sold for 816,396 Cr/t, which I consider within the margin of fluctuation. Now that I have been there, Inara shows my sell price in both the "I want to sell" list and the max sell in the commodities list.
...never knows.
1. Prices uploaded by commanders who runs things like EDMC, so at 1st search it could be not uploaded yet.
2. If you deliver in your cargo more then 20% of station's demand - price will go down greately.
3. Prices itself dependent on system's states. Both top security + top economy states at once last 1-3 days and give top possible prices, 2 years ago it was dedicated groups manipulating BGS for best prices. Guess they quit bcs of Ody or play Thargoids now, so prices are more-less stable mid everywhere.
. I have not had that issue. As I said, last week I sold Monazite and Rhodplumsite for exactly the price promised by that list. Are you by chance playing Legacy? Inara only shows Live data.
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