As far as economics are concerned, you've hit the button on the furs/computers trading thing
Yes, it's quite the money maker, but what I'm trying to get is a feeling for what kind of trading makes sense, not just the one definitive "buy foo at bar and sell it at baz for quux" thing. Say I'm doing contract transportation and want to make the most of the planets on my route with the leftover cargo space, so I can't pick out the non-plus-ultra milkrun and concentrate on two goods. That's why I wanted to know what the information about a planet that can be read from afar actually signifies[1]. This feeling does come, slowly, though. The info about precious metals and gems was very helpful in making a little extra cash by carefully observing prices on my way without any pressure to sell it now to make room for the cheap stuff, I'm extremely thankful for that.
I'm very glad that there's a project to answer exactly these kind of questons. At the moment, asking them is all I can do, since good answers take lots of experience.
[1]: On that note: I guess the rest of the info on the planet screen is rather less significant; things like race, gross product, population, and the "flavour text". Is that right?
Flavour text sums it up, the important info is the tech level, and whether industrial/agricultural. Political system is helpful too for the Commies pricing if you have the OXP loaded.
The Grey Haired Commander has spoken!
OK so I'm a PC user - "you know whats scary? Out of billions of sperm I was the fastest"
I guess the rest of the info on the planet screen is rather less significant; things like race, gross product, population, and the "flavour text". Is that right?
If you have Your Ad Here installed, then the presence or absence of Convenience Stores out by the Witchpoint is keyed to population. Less than 4 or 4.5 billion and you won't see a CS. Theses are handy for selling some stuff at a slightly higher rate than you'd get on the planet (booze and sometimes furs, for example, and they have some goods at cheap rates too -- especially precious metals and stones. Sometimes there's not much there but if you know a CS will be there when you jump in it means you can take a full load and sell the lot before running in to the main station with an empty cargo hold, ready to take advantage of what you might "find"... and fully fuelled, too, so if you choose you can just warp straight on to the next system if nothing looks appealing (remember, though, you can only save your game at a main station).
Oh, and it's only a crime to take illegal goods out of a main system station: there are times when I've sold my legal stock at a CS, and taken on a hefty load of cut-price Narcotics to ship in to the planet at a profit margin of 70, 80 or even 90+ Cr/ton, all above board and within the letter of the law... extremely Convenient!
pirate coves adds 'fake' rock hermits. They're not really rock hermits, they just pretend to be so they can kill you when you get close.
On the plus side they're much more common ( 1 in 3 systems have them I'd guess) and a decent ship can easily 'run the blockade' and dock to get the trading benefits.
OK, I've now started to sidetrack from pure trading (mostly for the fun, trading still seems to be where the money is at in these early stages). I've seen my first rock hermit (had I known they show up on the enhanced targetting scanner I wouldn't have had to carefully inspect so many asteroids visually). The limited cargo space is starting to be a nuisance, since I need a few tons left empty to be able to make use of things like mining (got an ore processor and aft mining laser), trade with rock hermits, and picking up cargo from some of the offenders foolishly trying to get at mine. Big ships are expensive, though, so I guess I have to run a nice short trading route for some time, and get back to the fun parts when I have a bigger hull. Thanks to your tips about when and where to do that (after servicing my old craft at a high tech-level planet), hopefully this will be quick.
You could try hyperspacing with an empty hold and pick up cannisters on the way, this is usually more profitable than just buying and selling, just 1 cannister of platinum is enough.
Rescuing escape capsules (now how did that get there?) can get a large insurance reward too.
A bit hit and miss but a lot more fun
The Grey Haired Commander has spoken!
OK so I'm a PC user - "you know whats scary? Out of billions of sperm I was the fastest"
With regards to trading I'd be tempted by gems and platinum in addition to the good old furs/computers trade. Buy gems when under 20cr and sell when above. Platinum buy when less than 70, sell when above. Made some profit. It's not great, but it works over time.
, so that's where their name is derived from. 
