Most Profitable Station / Complex... Squash Mine Factory?

[Matteo2k]

I was looking on Rogueys X Universe information site at the average profit per hour that stations make, and a SQUASH mine factory is listed at 992000 credits per hour on average!!

Now that's about 10x as high as any other factory i've seen, so what am i missing? Does a SQUASH mine complex make you tonnes more credits than anything else?

[Rapier]

It is one of the most profitable factories, but not that profitable. It depends how you calculate profit, but buying at minimum prices and selling at max gets you about 100k credits per hour.

Edit: the teladi version at least, given their wirer price range for Nostrop Oil than other races foodstuffs.

[Tha_reaper]

I was looking on Rogueys X Universe information site at the average profit per hour that stations make, and a SQUASH mine factory is listed at 992000 credits per hour on average!!

Now that's about 10x as high as any other factory i've seen, so what am i missing? Does a SQUASH mine complex make you tonnes more credits than anything else?

on average i get almost 30K/hour profit. i dont know how roguey gets close to 1million, but thats certainly not true...
a full complex, given that you sell the exess stuff, makes 220.000 creds an hour by the way.

(i use FCC to calculate this)

[Freols]

I expect the extra 0 is a typo.

[Mafyx]

Squash mines are like others weapons, they sell only at average price, so it's not that profitable. That was my first factory, coupled with an ore mine, but I get a little disappointed.
I would advise space fuel or space weed as a good start.

[Matteo2k]

Isn't there a problem with legality of these wares?

Can anyone suggest a good sector for either?

Why is space fuel and space weed so profitable? Does it slowly disappear from pirate stations? And do you have to be on good terms with the pirates to sell it?

Thanks!

[WarmMachineME]

You don't have to be on good terms with pirates. The factory is available at Argon shipyards.

The great thing about Space Fuel and Space Weed is you don't have to "sell" it. You can set up the factory, set transports to gather the materials and set the selling price to 1 credit below average. Do that, and ships will flock to the factory and buy it themselves. No need to set a transport to sell the stuff for you (especially since your transport would be blown up. See below...)

Now if you go to the trouble of making a self-sufficient complex, you don't have to assign any transports at all. Basically, it's a credit factory at that point.

As far as the legality, you only have your own conscience to worry about. Sure, police forces will still blow away any ships they find with the stuff, but since you don't have a transport of your own carrying it, then it's not your problem. If you have your own police license, you could even sit outside your Space Fuel factory and attack your customers for being pirates.

[arcana75]

I've always wondered if the demand for weed and booze is driven by the presense of pirate bases or just plain ole demand that disappears into the void... nearby pirate bases can be full yet demand seems endless.

[Fresshness]

As far as the legality, you only have your own conscience to worry about. Sure, police forces will still blow away any ships they find with the stuff, but since you don't have a transport of your own carrying it, then it's not your problem. If you have your own police license, you could even sit outside your Space Fuel factory and attack your customers for being pirates.

NO FURTHER DELAY!

A Space Fuel Factory it is!

[FearOfFlesh]

If you have your own police license, you could even sit outside your Space Fuel factory and attack your customers for being pirates.

HA HA HA HA!!!!! THats SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EVIL!!!

[Gold_Dragon]

You don't have to be on good terms with pirates. The factory is available at Argon shipyards.

The great thing about Space Fuel and Space Weed is you don't have to "sell" it. You can set up the factory, set transports to gather the materials and set the selling price to 1 credit below average. Do that, and ships will flock to the factory and buy it themselves. No need to set a transport to sell the stuff for you (especially since your transport would be blown up. See below...)

Now if you go to the trouble of making a self-sufficient complex, you don't have to assign any transports at all. Basically, it's a credit factory at that point.

As far as the legality, you only have your own conscience to worry about. Sure, police forces will still blow way any ships they find with the stuff, but since you don't have a transport of your own carrying it, then it's not your problem. If you have your own police license, you could even sit outside your Space Fuel factory and attack your customers for being pirates.

I had something like this in X2, except that I had a Caiman set to collect free floating wares in the sector. Worked quite nice since the Police used to raid the sector my Spaceweed/Spacefuel factories were located. Pirates went in and bought my wares, got promptly shot down by the cops and my "scavenger" picked up the loot and returned it to my factories again.

I'll have to try this in X3 when I can gather the cash needed for this setup.

[pjknibbs]

If you have your own police license, you could even sit outside your Space Fuel factory and attack your customers for being pirates.

HA HA HA HA!!!!! THats SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EVIL!!!

Even more evil--pick up the Space Fuel left behind by the pirates you've just destroyed and put it back in your factory for the next sucker...er, customer. (Note that you need to scan the ships first and make them turn pirate--if you blow them up while they're still Teladi Couriers or whatever you'll hurt your relevant race rank).

[-Villain-]

i had a squash mine factory in a previous game. I set it up on a loop so everything after set up was free. I had plans on making an Uber-illegal all-in-one shop of badness and sell it to the local pirates. Did get around to finishing it but the S/M's were selling quite well....don't know about the almost millions per hour thing but it was a nice money maker.
The again, so was a wheat farm i had set up to span three boron sectors.

[Scarecrow]

In my game so far ... nothing is making as much as a Soyery in Trinity Sanctum.

[Occam]

I have a space fuel factory that is doing quite well (couldn't tell you CR/hour - not interested!) without having any transports assigned to it at all.

Loaded the station myself (hadn't got the cold, hard for transports), set buy at 1cr over average and sell at 1 under. Station is now completely self sufficient.

NPC ships coming in to buy seem to be bringing in to sell too (an empty trip is a trip without profit...)

[Bill Bones]

Forget about the mine factory, pal. Roguey got it wrong, it does not render 60 mines per cycle rather it's 6.

Meanwhile a complex of wheat farm+distillery in the right sectors is a money machine. I'm selling the stuff at 700 the piece, buying energy at 19 each cell and it's like printing money (break even for cells=20 cr is 500 cr/fuel). With 2 Medium farms+ 2 Large farms plus 2 Medium distilleries + 2 Large distilleries, the stock never goes beyond 200 before being sold. Additionally, if you got a police license... what's inside the cargo hold of those TS leaving your complex?

[arcana75]

In my game my weed+booze plex earns less per hour than my sun oil complex or my crystal complex or my quantum tube complex... granted the latter 2 have higher capital costs thus slower ROI.

U might want to consider making secondary products for AI; minimum prices for secondaries at 0 stock are actually slightly above average price for that ware.

[Mangostain]

Meanwhile a complex of wheat farm+distillery in the right sectors is a money machine.

Apart from Elena's Fortune, where else is good? Also, shooting up your customers - does that have implications of total customer numbers? (I.e. if you kill enough will your stock start backing up?)

[Bill Bones]

Meanwhile a complex of wheat farm+distillery in the right sectors is a money machine.

Apart from Elena's Fortune, where else is good? Also, shooting up your customers - does that have implications of total customer numbers? (I.e. if you kill enough will your stock start backing up?)

My plex is at The Wall. It has got 4 pirate bases within a 5 sectors radius, energy supply at hand and usually your traders won't get into trouble. Anyway I do use a M3+ (Chimera) to sell the stuff for a higher price at the bases.

As for shooting customers... really don't know if it may have consequences.

[VincentTH]

Meanwhile a complex of wheat farm+distillery in the right sectors is a money machine.

Apart from Elena's Fortune, where else is good? Also, shooting up your customers - does that have implications of total customer numbers? (I.e. if you kill enough will your stock start backing up?)

You scan and shoot them down AFTER they have bought from your factory. The AI will create a new ship heading to your factory almost immediately.

I found that Montalaar is also a good location for a Fuel Distillery. THe Argon Trading Stations there and in Akeela Beacon buy the Space Fuel at max price.