Trade missions, some confusion...

[S-P]

OK, I just got enough cash to invest in a large freighter and have been looking at some of the trade missions. I noticed that you have premium (cost) and pays (profit). But a lot of these missions the premium is higher than the pay. Am I missing something here, it doesn't seem to be worth doing if you make a loss.

[Talisker]

Right - pays is what you get on top of your premium back

(You're right though, a lot of them are not worth it, even with that taken into account. But stick with it, get you reputation up, and some of them are very much worth it indeed!)

[S-P]

Thanks Talisker, I didn't know the premium is also added to the pay. It make more sense now.

[Pleb]

(You're right though, a lot of them are not worth it, even with that taken into account. But stick with it, get you reputation up, and some of them are very much worth it indeed!)

Perhaps this is something that needs to be looked at, as you are quite right and a lot of them are not worth taking or on the odd occasion do not seem to offer enough time to get to the required destination. I haven't ever really looked at the code for the contracts before but it would seem it may require some tweaking...

[Switeck]

I've commented about this before in my post that I called Cargo Contract Cruelty.

In short, cargo contracts are not as profitable as they appear...and have some hidden gotchas to mess you up.

[Pleb]

Lol perhaps for the time being until/if this is looked into it would be more profitable to use an OXP for delivering cargo, such as oo-haul or UPS? I haven't really used either but I would imagine they are a bit more fair!

[Fatleaf]

Lol perhaps for the time being until/if this is looked into it would be more profitable to use an OXP for delivering cargo, such as oo-haul or UPS? I haven't really used either but I would imagine they are a bit more fair!

With UPS you get to deliver things that take up no room in your hold for a hundred credits and once completed your reputation is increased. So they are worth doing.

I like the way they are as they reflect real market reputation. The rewards are great for those who are dedicated. For the part timer you can't really expect the top contracts to be offered.

[SandJ]

They're not meant to be easy or profitable. They go to the pilots with a good reputation. You have to earn a good reputation.

And as for the time to get there, well, tough. Work it out before you take the contract.

(Incidentally, in Real Life, I work as a contractor and the phrase I have heard most often from very-well-paid colleagues is "I didn't know that was in the contract when I signed it. It's not fair." The needle on my Give-a-Damnometer doesn't move any more.)

if you agree to do something and don't check you have a ship capable of fulfilling the contract in time, or do not read the documentation and learn that lots of short jumps are quicker than a few long jumps, there's nobody to blame but yourself.

Elite was never meant to be easy. That's why it was called "Elite".

[S-P]

Excuse my ignorants, but how do you know what your rep is? I don't see any rep other than my legal status. And a question on the time limits, does it take into account the need to fly to several systems to buy enough cargo to meet the demands of the contract?

[Wildeblood]

Excuse my ignorants, but how do you know what your rep is? I don't see any rep other than my legal status. And a question on the time limits, does it take into account the need to fly to several systems to buy enough cargo to meet the demands of the contract?

Your reputation is a record of your last seven contracts as either completed, failed or unknown. Complete seven contracts in a row with no mistakes and you'll have a good reputation. There's a Display Reputation OXP to add a re-assuring message to the manifest screen, too.

[Fatleaf]

...does it take into account the need to fly to several systems to buy enough cargo to meet the demands of the contract?

The fee you pay up front is for security for the goods that you are asked to deliver. Pick one and you will see it appear in your cargo hold. Only if you can afford the security and have enough space in your hold that is!

[S-P]

Many thanks guys, I'm a little bit wiser to the workings of Oolite.

[Pleb]

Many thanks guys, I'm a little bit wiser to the workings of Oolite.

The workings of Oolite can baffle even the smartest of people...and I'm pretty stupid so it can sometimes confuse the hell out of me!

[JazHaz]

The reason there is two route generators in the  Advanced Navigational Array, is for the cargo contracts.

From the Galactic Chart, select a destination system and pressing the ^ key shows you the shortest route there. However if you hold Control down and press ^ you get the fastest route, which normally consists of a similar route to the shortest route, but with shorter jumps. Two 3.5 ly jumps are quicker than a 7 ly jump.

EDIT: I *think* you can highlight a cargo contract and press F6 twice to reach the galactic chart to have the contract destination automatically selected.

[Pleb]

It's a shame that its not more like the Frontier Bulletin Board, where you could haggle over whether they should pay you half up front or not, and whether there would be trouble along the way! Although this idea could easilly be turned into an OXP...