5 Ton rule for noobs

Chrisfs · Post by **Chrisfs** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:25 am

Having flown around Galaxy 1 long enough and currently desperately trying to pay off a Black Monk loan, I have developed one good rule of thumb, which I call the 5 Ton rule.
Rather than taking on full loads and intended to sell them. Always leave 5 tons of cargo area open. Because space is a big and unpredictable place and you never know what you are going to find. Sure, there are some great deals such as the narcotics you got for 4.0 will give you 90 in another sector, but they aren't all that good and the escape capsule you snagged of the unfortunate guy whose aid you came to, gets you 250 because of his insurance (and 28 for the guy shooting at him).

Old hands know this, but the noobs should take it to hearts. Travel light, as things will generally come your way.

Post by **another_commander** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:27 am

Well, there is also the 35 Ton rule. Different numbers, similar principles

JeffBTX · Post by **JeffBTX** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:33 am

I generally agree, I've been "learning" this on my own (as a n00b).

But specifically I ALWAYS do this in my favored place in my n00b savegame...

I'm trading between (Galaxy 1) Ensoreus (rich ind corp), and
(a) Isinor (poor agr confed)
(b) Ararus (poor agr ANARCHY)

When I go to Isinor, I usually carry a full load of cargo. When I go to Ararus, I leave some space open, and deliberately look for trouble!

Pirates tend to hang out at certain locations. A pirate boa (or maybe its a python, I just kill the thing) and escorts. Sometimes two different groups. I go there, eat pirates, dock & sell the computers plus the pirate booty.

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:25 am

Just to back up was a_c is saying: I always like to remind everybody that the profit for buying and selling is not as big as for selling something which you haven't bought for money in the first place. If you know what I mean...

And during a journey from the witchpoint to the station in a reasonably police-free system there are usually plenty of opportunities to fill your hold for free (and to boost your ELITE rating, by the way).

Corny · Post by **Corny** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:52 am

Hehe, I often leave 5t free

Most of my money comes from passengers anyway, so it's no big deal in a Cobby 3 with cargo expansions.
And when I get an escape pod, I also have the chance to send his ship to a salvage ship, although it's mostly not worth the time... especially when Cops are shooting "my" pirate ship.

Zbond-Zbond · Post by **Zbond-Zbond** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:36 am

Corny wrote:
..when I get an escape pod, I also have the chance to send his ship to a salvage ship

How does this work?

Corny · Post by **Corny** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:54 pm

With the salvage missiles from the Deep Space Dredger-OXP.

JazHaz · Post by **JazHaz** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:53 pm

Corny wrote:
And when I get an escape pod, I also have the chance to send his ship to a salvage ship, although it's mostly not worth the time... especially when Cops are shooting "my" pirate ship.

Corny wrote:
With the salvage missiles from the Deep Space Dredger-OXP.

I don't have that OXP installed, but even if I did, I probably would destroy the ship and get the bounty.

Corny · Post by **Corny** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:18 pm

With big ships, the reward is much higher than the bounty, but it also costs a lot of time. I'm also thinking about just blowing it up more often in the last times since the got blown up so often

It's quite a challenge...
At the moment, I'm rather interested in scooping up Escape pods. I think the Random Hits OXP enables rewards for bringing them home (or the the cops), but some other OXP seems to collide with it. Gotta throw out some OXPs to get that feature back, I think.

CptnEcho · Post by **CptnEcho** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 3:41 am

When flying a Boa Class Cruiser, the "5 ton rule" becomes the "10 or more ton rule".

After filling the cargo hold with all the computers, luxuries and machinery available on a Rich Industrial Planet, there's still plenty of cargo room available.

Likewise, after purchasing all the furs, liquors/wines, radioactives, textiles, food and minerals available on a Poor Agricultural Planet, I may or may not have cargo space available. Usually minerals are purchased just to fill up the cargo hold until 10 tons worth of capacity remains. (The profit margin on minerals may be minimal, but every credit helps.)

And, I still have a passenger berth available for the comfort of a client or a guest.

Zbond-Zbond · Post by **Zbond-Zbond** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 5:41 am

Corny wrote:
With the salvage missiles from the DeepSpaceDredger OXP.

Thanks for the link. I have now sold a salvaged MosquitoTrader to DSD Titanic at a knock-down (but very acceptable) price

and found the USS Einstein out beyond a FreeTradeZone, where my cargo of food was most welcome

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 7:24 am

Corny wrote:
I think the Random Hits OXP enables rewards for bringing them home (or the the cops), but some other OXP seems to collide with it. Gotta throw out some OXPs to get that feature back, I think.

No. This is a standard feature of vanilla Oolite.

CaptnEcho wrote:
When flying a Boa Class Cruiser, the "5 ton rule" becomes the "10 or more ton rule".

At the risk of repeating myself: In an Imperial Courier (cargo space 100t) there only is a "100 ton rule". I don't fill them up completely every time, but if I jump into a system with 0 tons in my hold, I very rarely arrive at the main station with less than 60. And sometimes the cargo space isn't even enough.

JazHaz · Post by **JazHaz** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:16 am

Commander McLane wrote:
Corny wrote:
I think the Random Hits OXP enables rewards for bringing them home (or the the cops), but some other OXP seems to collide with it. Gotta throw out some OXPs to get that feature back, I think.
No. This is a standard feature of vanilla Oolite.

Confirmed. I don't have Random Hits, but am getting rewards for rescues. This morning I picked up a Navy Officer, and upon returning him to a station got the reward message saying he was a Vice Admiral and 1000 credits.

Commander McLane wrote:
CaptnEcho wrote:
When flying a Boa Class Cruiser, the "5 ton rule" becomes the "10 or more ton rule".
At the risk of repeating myself: In an Imperial Courier (cargo space 100t) there only is a "100 ton rule". I don't fill them up completely every time, but if I jump into a system with 0 tons in my hold, I very rarely arrive at the main station with less than 60. And sometimes the cargo space isn't even enough.

I'm flying a standard Python, 115 tonne capacity. Once after a GalNavy battle with the Thargoids I managed to scoop up 83 tonnes of Alien Items!

Post by **Cmdr James** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:24 am

I think Navy Officers are from an OXP. But there are certainly rewards in the base game, no question.

Corny · Post by **Corny** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:39 am

Commander McLane wrote:
Corny wrote:
I think the Random Hits OXP enables rewards for bringing them home (or the the cops), but some other OXP seems to collide with it. Gotta throw out some OXPs to get that feature back, I think.
No. This is a standard feature of vanilla Oolite.

Ah, okay. I was just wondering why I didn't get rewards for some time although I still picked up a bunch of escape capsules. I didn't get a reward or a bounty, just the option to sell them as slaves.