Trying to thrive in Split space

[Col. Kurtz]

Hey ladies and gents, quick question about the Split. So i'm used to playing and starting in Argon space but this time I want to do a run with my empire in Split space. What kind of factories should I look at using in this area and what kind of goods are commonly needed or traded? Thanks in advance!

[Timsup2nothin]

Hey ladies and gents, quick question about the Split. So i'm used to playing and starting in Argon space but this time I want to do a run with my empire in Split space. What kind of factories should I look at using in this area and what kind of goods are commonly needed or traded? Thanks in advance!

There are multiple meanings for "in Split space."

The region around Family Pride is manageable. I've done well in there producing Rastar to get things running and then taking profits by distributing the energy and ore once they start getting consumed by the no longer starving factories. I do this fairly often as a "secondary area" in Argon or Boron games, but just one region doesn't really make for a "Split centered game."

The Split region up around Njy is, to me, a lost cause. The sectors are so frigging big that a jump drive equipped CLS or CAG is still on the endless road to nowhere trying to make a profitable transaction. Even with trap systems the transit times are just grotesque. If I'm wanting to test my mettle against that kind of obstacle I'll generally play a Terran game and then drink heavily until I've been punished enough.

[Col. Kurtz]

Yeah I probably should have mentioned that Family Pride was general center for my operations. I’m trying to pump out power cells with limited success and don’t even get me started on the Silicon -.- I can’t seem to even get rid of the Silicon. I’ll try to throw up some plants to spit out some Rastar and see how that plays out

[ancienthighway]

Silicon was the linchpin in X3:Reunion for making money. X3:TC and X3:AP have an over abundance of silicon. The Family Pride area is well stocked in energy also. Before making a move with any factory building supply transportation from Split suppliers to Split consumers.

Once you start moving those wares around, you'll have a better feel of what stations you could add for maximum profit.

[Sirrobert]

Never start with Power Plants as your money making factory. They are stupidly expensive and only slowly make money

[Timsup2nothin]

Never start with Power Plants as your money making factory. They are stupidly expensive and only slowly make money

This is true as far as trying to produce energy goes...but...

In almost any region, including there around Family Pride, it's well worth setting up an M size SPP with two cheap bio plants attached just for storage in a fairly central location and using CLS to haul in the e-cells and CAGs to distribute them. If you don't provide reliable energy distribution almost anything else that you do will hit an endless series of snags as your customers go through their energy boom and bust cycles.

[RAVEN.myst]

Basically, as with any region, it's about studying the local economy and identifying the market opportunities. What are most of the factories waiting on before being able to produce? Sometimes it's food, sometimes it's agricultural products (in your case that would be, primarily, Chelts Meat and, secondarily, Scruffin Fruit), sometimes it's minerals, and quite often it ends up being energy - especially, as tim points out, once other needs have been supplied. Some good points from tim also about the distances factor (and I had a good laugh at the "Terran space and drink heavily" bit )

Ancienthighway's suggestion about first "greasing the existing works" is also very sound: once you connect supply to demand, certain trends may emerge: you may find that once you've moved all of a particular ware to its consumers, you discover that it is, in fact, being underproduced and thus offers an opportunity (or, the converse: there's a glut of it, so stay away)

Also, a general recommendation (applies anywhere) - if you are looking for maximised profits instead of economic independence, it is best to buy resources and sell products, including intermediates, instead of using products of one station as resources in the next. I will provide examples:

In my current game, I have a modest energy complex that sells all of its ECs at 19 each - as the complex is small, I am in no danger of saturating the market, and my CAGs are ALWAYS finding customers paying 19 (and even 20 in very rare cases where an energy storage is completely depleted.) My other factories/complexes buy their ECs instead of using from my Energy Plex, and they are ALWAYS buying them at 12each, occasionally 13. If I was using my own ECs in my factories, I would effectively be "paying" 19 each instead, as I would be losing out on that sales income. So each 2 ECs I sell buy me 3 for my own consumption.

With ore, it can be even more extreme. Until a market evens out somewhat, buying ore at 50 is not uncommon, and selling it for 200 also happens. However, as the market matures and supply meets demand, you tend to end up buying Ore of ~75 and selling it for ~150. That means that if you are mining Ore and selling it, you can then buy TWO units for ever unit you sell.

The "downside" of this is that you will generally need somewhat more freighters, but this will more than pay for itself in very short order - no need to even wait for "the long run"

EDIT: Of course, if you actually want to become as economically independent as possible, and segregate yourself from the non-player economy, then you can instead opt for closed-loop complexes, and make everything you need. The only reason to do this, however, would be to supply a Headquarters with its resources, and you would still need to buy ship equipment upgrades from a non-player equipment dock or equivalent.

[Triaxx2]

Split say: Trading for Teladi. True Split take what Split want. Cargo hold should always smell fishy. Scent of recently boron handled cargo.

In short, forget trading. You want to survive in Split space, take advantage of their feud with the Boron, and play pirate. Steal from the Boron in Family Whi and sell it through the other Split sectors. A little bit of work, and then pure profit.