LIGHT SPOILER ALERT. Stop reading if you don't want to read musings about the particulars of early game strategy.
Well, it took me the better part of another 2 days (not quite, since I was drawn into the wonderful world of oolite hacking), but I've clawed my way back to a fairly solid if not totally iron yet (still need the Military Shield Supplement) ass
.
I tried the "sell the MkIII and equip a MKI" approach but found it lacking, because with the limited cargo capacity of the MkI, and the MkI can't touch the MkIII in terms of combat ability, in every aspect there is (speed, energy capacity, etc.). It turns out that on the used ship market, you loose something like 1/3 of the value of the ship "driving off the lot" so to speak. So you only gain about 6K credits when trading in the MkIII for a MkI, and to get back to the MkIII @ 150K base price it takes earning about 80K credits, which takes a loooooong time without the lucrative hit contracts or cargo freighting that a high kill rating and a larger cargo capacity gives you.
Pimping out an "adder" may be a fun way to go since that leaves you with around 30-40K cash, but bounty hunting seems the only possibility here: even pirating is pointless with a 2 ton capacity, and you've got to earn around 100K credits to get back to the MKIII, which will take a looooooong time. Imagine the pirates faces right before they die, though, when a little adder zips out of nowhere on afterburners, kicks their ass with a military laser, and zips away
. That might be a fun experiment! It also might be fun to pirate in between two really close sytems, then you could use hyperspace to get out of trouble as well. But cash build up is slow unless you eject all non-precious metals containers.
The MKIII really can't be beat it seems for generating cash *and* for fighting, speaking for non-OXP at least. For OXP there are better ships (Imperial Courier seems to be a MkIII with 100 ton capacity), but they *really* cost, so cash generation ability is critical.
It only takes a few hours of real world time to get into a fully profitable milk run from a naked MkIII:
SPOILER ALERT: don't read further if you don't want specifics about good trade runs. (Scroll down to read the rest).
When I start out I just go: Lave -> Zaonce -> Isinor -> Ensoreus. That's a perfect Agricultural / Industrial alternating run. Then I stay Ensoreus <-> Ararus, doing a pure computer / fur&Liquors alternating run, which as far as I can tell is the most profitable run there is in the game excepting occaisional good deals on narcotics (I don't bother with illegals in the early game, too risky). I call this run my "unpasteurized" milk run: very profitable, but not safe
.
Ensoreus / Isinor is also good, and is safer, which I've discovered on my first ship (the one that got lost in the disk crash) before, but Ararus is closer. It's an Anarchy which makes it more exciting
. I just immediately get off the trading lanes, and with the in-system hyperspace I avoid all contact and have a fast run right to the station.
Then the process is simple: after buying a full load of computers on Ensoreus, equip using the left over cash, and continue the run. First thing is the cargo bay extension since it almost doubles earning capacity, then just start buying stuff
. Second thing is injectors (might want to get this first) to get off the trade lanes reliably / faster on Ararus. Then do whatever you want. Only takes like I said a few hours at the most to get a very respectable ship. One more reason to go ararus: it's closer to Ensoreus than Isinor, so there's plenty of gas for injectors.
I'm interested in hearing other's early game strategies, and in particular how you make the early ship trade in work. I tried the "sit outside the station on Anarchies waiting for fugitives to leave the station" approach that someone recommended, but they never seem to come out when you're waiting for them.
