Ok so what gives with this economy?

dumdumdum · Post by **dumdumdum** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 05:29

Ok I have been playing for about a month and have been heavily relying on UI to make my money. I do have some Teladi food that is selling really we.. near PTNI.... but thats it? Ive actually built a few other station and NOTHING sells. So I self destruct them. For instance. I have a factory right now selling laser towers for the minimum price. Not a single one is selling. This is frustrating.

I have been reading a bit and people are saying to sell space fuel and space weed. But I HAVE to sell drugs to make money in this game? I am not very happy about this as I dont want to build my empire based on trade vessels. I want to make and sell products. help?

zanraptora · Post by **zanraptora** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 05:36

1mj Shields, Advanced Sats and IREs sell like hotcakes.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 05:56

Tech goods, like those zanraptora mentioned, are the way to go.

If you're selling bulk goods like food, energy, or minerals you'll need to assign some ships to actively sell your products in order to get a decent profit margin -- relying on NPC traders wont be reliable because: 1) they're slow, and 2) there are often NPC stations offering better prices somewhere in the universe.

dumdumdum · Post by **dumdumdum** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 06:03

Yea I have a few good station up right now. So your saying only certain things sell? I have a theory maybe someone else can confirm. Can supply and demand in the stock market tell a tale of what is good to produce?

Lazerius · Post by **Lazerius** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 06:32

zanraptora wrote:1mj Shields, Advanced Sats and IREs sell like hotcakes.

This.

In my main game, I have 5 or 6 complexes doing 10+ 1mj, 10+ IRE factories, and can't keep em in stock

I usually only do a small 2-5 sat factory complex, build for me what I need, than let the rest sell. They sell great, but....I dunno.....something funky about my complexes focusing on them, and I can't put my finger on it. It seems like it's not as profitable as it should be, even though they sell crazy fast.

Coreblimey · Post by **Coreblimey** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 06:33

It's usually a good indicator. However, how long that lasts is a different matter. You could end up flooding the market and your factory sales could slow right down again.
In that situation it is always best to use your own traders.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 06:52

dumdumdum wrote:Yea I have a few good station up right now. So your saying only certain things sell?

If you're depending on NPC traders to come and buy from you, they buy different kinds of wares at different rates.

Low-ish cost tech goods get bought up the most since the normal "demand" for them tends to be very high, given the way the x-universe is set up. So you can reasonably rely on traders to come and buy them from you.

More expensive goods, like the lasertowers you're making or high-end shields and weaponry, trade a lot more slowly (even at "rock bottom" prices) because the universe's demand for them isn't very high -- Equipment docks and trading stations buy up very limited quantities of them, and they don't decay very quickly.

Basically, if you really wanna make the sales then you've gotta get your own ships out there to sell, sell, sell.

If you're passive, you wont get the same kind of trading activity for most wares.

Da_Junka · Post by **Da_Junka** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 07:40

Trade prices seem to be back to front.
Whenever I try to find a commodity for a certain station it is always nearly more expensive to buy than what the station is offering.

This is why I have given up on trade as a source of income, and am concentrating on missions.

dumdumdum · Post by **dumdumdum** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 09:20

I have noticed that missioning is a good source of income. tranporting troops to the font line and building stations is good. but I really want things to automate themselves as my long term goal is to totally conquer the entire universe.

Coreblimey · Post by **Coreblimey** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 10:16

dumdumdum wrote:....my long term goal is to totally conquer the entire universe.

Good luck on that one!

Spoiler

Show

You can't actually conquer the entire Universe. You may be able to 'borrow' it for a little while, but every race will make a comeback regardless of what you do. So when you build your complex empire, expect the other races to bounce back and destroy it.

Echofinder · Post by **Echofinder** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 10:20

Whenever I try to find a commodity for a certain station it is always nearly more expensive to buy than what the station is offering.

Huh? I don't mean to sound insulting or condescending, but I don't think you've got the basics of trading down yet. Buy from stations with high stocks of goods, since they charge less. And sell to stations with low stocks of said good since they pay more.

I think the issue is that you've been attempting to trade with <Race> Trading Stations or dealing with secondary goods. Trade stations buy/sell at a fixed average price, whereas stations that list the good as a "Secondary resource" are limited to said goods average price. Ore, for example, has a price between 50 and 206, with 128 being the average. A station that uses ore as a primary ware (Most tech stations) and is completely empty of it will pay 206 for each unit. A station that uses it as a secondary resource (Like Boron BoGas Factories) will never pay more than 128.

Anywho, when you're building stations for Bio, Food (Things like cloth rimes, spacefuel, and space weed excluded), or Mineral goods, you'll find it hard to make a profit unless you actively sell the product yourself or assign freighters to the station. NPCs just don't cut it.

Tech goods (Most of them), on the other hand, are basically setup and forget. Actually, you're better off having NPCs buy them than spending manpower on it, since most tech goods are considered secondary resources (or in the case of ship equipment, can only be sold to Equipment docks/trading stations) and you won't get more than the average price. I have a 30-Bliss Place L complex and it's almost always empty without any further interaction. Even I don't know where it all goes, weed-steak cahoonas maybe?

Lasertowers are generally something your create for yourself; doubly so if you're playing AP with the buff and all. Since only trade stations buy them you'll only get around half of their total worth; plus the most a station can hold is two LTs, so there's very little demand for them.

praypold · Post by **praypold** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 10:31

So would these also be hot selling high tech goods? Microchips, Computer Components, and Quantum Tubes?

I have made a fortune with a Terran Protein Paste & MRE closed loop complex in Magnir. The amount of traders enroute is 2 pages long.

Echofinder · Post by **Echofinder** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 10:48

So would these also be hot selling high tech goods? Microchips, Computer Components, and Quantum Tubes?

Yep.

Most players prefer creating closed-loop complexes so they don't have to rely on fluctuating resource prices and production stops caused by lack of resources. If that's not possible for some reason or another, an easy way to boost profits are to set your assigned TSs to buy ECs at 12 and silicon at ~250; there's generally always a full SPP and Silicon mine somewhere in the universe.

Klord · Post by **Klord** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 12:09

Use Commercial Agent script which comes with the bonus pack.
& assign at least one freighter as a CAG. He (CAG/s) will automatically maintain the factory., both buying resources & selling products (in case overproducing).
Life will be easier !!!

& answers are correct...1MJ factories rocks..

Thrasher91604 · Post by **Thrasher91604** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 20:35

Npcs suck up microchips like there's no tomorrow. My chip plexes are always running near empty.

Zippo342 · Post by **Zippo342** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 23:24

Yeah, Chips, computer plants, and quantumn tube fabs always sell well, and I'll add crystals to that list. However your own traders will ALWAYS bring a better profit than if you let the Universe do your bidding. Invest in them and you won't be sorry.

As far as closed loops go, I prefer to leave something easily obtainable open as a resource. This keeps me buying from races that I want to befriend, and relations stay high. Power is one option, minerals are another, and food is also good if you find a good location or can shuttle food long distances via a trade chain. If you ever start to run short, just build a few food complexes of your own to suppliment it. Either that or you can find the reason for the backlog and remedy it. A sector trader may help, or perhaps there's a rogue Q running around.

One example of a complex I have that works very well is this:

In Harmony of Perpetuity, I have a SPP M, Crystal Fab L, 2x Chip Plants, Computer Component Fab, Silicon Mine L (does not produce enough, but still helps a lot), Energy Bolt Chaingun Forge, Energy Bolt Chaingun Ammunition Forge, Gauss Cannon Ammunition Forge (oops, bought the wrong ammo forge, oh well, sells ok), Dream Farm L, and Bliss Place L.

Required resources: Ore (easily obtainable from nearby argon sectors), Nostrop Oil, (Plenty in Scale Plate Green, Tears of Greed and Home of Opportunity, placed STs in those areas to keep production going, and have the Hub collecting more from farther away)

Insufficient secondaries: Energy Cells (plenty around here, why buy another SPP?), Silicon (plenty in Treasure Chest, always fully stocked)

Everything else works fluidly, and my relations almost never dip too far when I do certain missions.

glenmcd · Post by **glenmcd** » Mon, 13. Aug 12, 01:38

If you enjoy station missions, you can fairly easily earn credits and notoriety while quickly, effectively and legally increasing NPC demand for a given bunch of wares. Various stations will ask for quantities of wares, which they can't resell and so immediately destroy. So those wares simply get taken off the market. As they usually pay max price and even double max price for these largish quantities of wares, you can afford to buy from NPC stations at virtually any price (preference for lower of course) and still make a profit. If/when the NPC market dries up then use your own wares.

This will quickly drive up demand for which there's only one solution - buy from you at whatever price you wish to set. You also see stations asking for wares that they do need, but asking quantities far outstrip the actual quantities that they can use. Dock with both quantities added, sell them what they actually can use (quickly), and the remainder will after some seconds get consumed by the mission. First bunch you get max or near max price, remainder you get more than max.

Don't do this for wares that you personally need but don't wish to produce.

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Mon, 13. Aug 12, 05:19

Illegals also sell well, if you can find a place to set up where the fuzz isn't likely to bother you. The 'Avarice' Sector in TC, between Montalaar and New Income is one of my favorites. You'll want to set up at least two complexes, one at each gate because of annoying distance.

Space weed is legal in Teladi and Terran sectors, but no where else. Spacefuel is illegal everywhere but Terran. Either one sells exceptionally well.

Karmaticdamage · Post by **Karmaticdamage** » Mon, 13. Aug 12, 05:27

Equipment like shields and guns dont need to be sold to npcs at all. Let them build up then take them to an equipment dock, military outpost, or corporate HQ that doesnt stock them and dump them all at avg price. Best part is if the station doesnt stock the item the entire sell amount goes towards your trade rank even if it is sold at avg price. I think the last one is a bug thats been in the game a very long time. I pumped myself up to xtreme trade rank with a huge ppc plex selling to otas hq.

Solomon Short · Post by **Solomon Short** » Mon, 13. Aug 12, 06:27

Triaxx2 wrote:Space weed is legal in Teladi and Terran sectors, but no where else. Spacefuel is illegal everywhere but Terran. Either one sells exceptionally well.

They're also legal in Goner space, but then everything is legal in Goner space.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

Ok so what gives with this economy?

Ok so what gives with this economy?