Is destruction the only way?

[DaddyHoggy]

Welcome Hircus (Cap'n H forgetting his normal impeccable manners there ) - 50Cr is pretty good - Alien Items don't usually sell for much more than that (and usually less).

I remember on the C64 there was a "feature" that Alien Items took up no cargo space (although they had a tonnage in your inventory), so you'd keep hundreds of tons of them in your hold until you occasionally got one of those magical close-to-102Cr-per-ton moments and you'd flog the lot and start collecting them again - forced mis-jumps a plenty (but Thargoids on the C64 weren't too tough once you got your Iron Ass)

[Jar]

50Cr is pretty good - Alien Items don't usually sell for much more than that (and usually less).

I collect mine and sell them to the behemoths. They pay well for alien items.

[Captain Hesperus]

Welcome Hircus (Cap'n H forgetting his normal impeccable manners there ) - 50Cr is pretty good - Alien Items don't usually sell for much more than that (and usually less).

Ooops, it's been a long week.....
Welcome to the Friendliest Board this Side of Reidquat™, Hircus!!
Don't mind the regulars, they aren't as bad as they look. Then again, best not to look to hard at them......

Captain Hesperus

[Disembodied]

That's a good point about Thargoid fighters... how will the salvage OXP handle them? Or -- since they're scoopable -- are they classed as cargo and not ships?

[Eric Walch]

That's a good point about Thargoid fighters... how will the salvage OXP handle them? Or -- since they're scoopable -- are they classed as cargo and not ships?

It doesn't really matter if it works. The drone will cost an investment of 185 credits. And payout is based on ships mass and cargo. Small ships are never worth salvaging. And when it would, I am not sure if the computer transfer protocol of thargoid ships is compatible with the protocol used by the drone.

When Little Bear agrees, Ill upload a playable version this weekend.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

50Cr is pretty good - Alien Items don't usually sell for much more than that (and usually less).

I collect mine and sell them to the behemoths. They pay well for alien items.

I sell them at Hoopy casinos. 80 cr or better a ton, not bad.

[Eric Walch]

I just uploaded version 2.0 of the dredgers to the box. Please test it. When there is no problem I will make also the link in the wiki.

Download: Dredgers 2.0

It incorporates the old deep-space dredger and 3 new models and/or colours. At level 8 or higher stations you can buy the special salvage missiles as long as you are clean.

In game generated derelicts wont work but there are randomly derelict ships added that do work. And sometimes a group of 5 derelicts is added in a system. The smaller ships are not worth the salvaging, but they still help in getting experience. Decide for yourself witch ships are interesting.

Good playing.

EDIT

Great, Eric. Out of interest, what does the dredger do if the salvaged ship gets blown up before it docks?

Nothing, it only monitors ships that dock. And with the new addition (see below), it checks the docking ships against a list of controlled ships that are on their way. When it blows up it keeps on the list forever.

This solution was very discouraging while playing. You never new if docking took so long or that the derelict was dead. The current version will give a message on death of an approaching derelict ship, even when you are guiding in a bunch of ships.

[hircus]

Welcome Hircus (Cap'n H forgetting his normal impeccable manners there ) - 50Cr is pretty good - Alien Items don't usually sell for much more than that (and usually less).

Ooops, it's been a long week.....
Welcome to the Friendliest Board this Side of Reidquat™, Hircus!!

Thanks I've been lurking for a few days, ever since I started playing the game (though I've played Space Trader on my Palm before, so the trading aspects and the passenger missions are quite familiar already).

Only noticed after my post that, yes, the robot fighters can be scooped. D'oh! And it's on the Wiki too. I now scoop them if there's a GalNav sector command nearby, and shoot them up otherwise.

On a related topic, are items that you eject always recoverable? In which case, if you eject an alien item, does it always turn into a robot fighter you can then shoot up for bounty? (thoose Co-ops from Your Ad Here sell them at rock-bottom prices).

Also (probably should start another topic, but this is still marginally related) -- what happens when two OXPs overlap somewhat? I just installed Hoopy's following some mentions on this forum, and noticed that it's supposed to appear with the same symbol (C) on the scanner as Your Ad Here's con stores.

(Up to Cr 100k and 800 kills. Wondering whether it's worth buying a rusty ship and become a trader for a while...)

Edit: looks like alien items I purchased get ejected as cargo canisters. Haven't tried ejecting real-life robot fighters yet

[polyh]

Regular trading won't get you much money fast. Try the freight contracts, the first ones are not really worth it but you'll later get really good contracts that will net you in excess of 100.000 Cr in one go (without the need for huge amounts of storage space). Im playing without OXPs and just switched from a python back to the trusty old cobra mk. III with iron ass package. It's alot more fun in a fast vessel than in the dead slow python.

[hircus]

Regular trading won't get you much money fast. Try the freight contracts, the first ones are not really worth it but you'll later get really good contracts that will net you in excess of 100.000 Cr in one go (without the need for huge amounts of storage space)

That's what I hear too. I trade on the side right now, basically just doing missions (Random Hits and Galactic Navy) and adjusting my routes slightly to alternate between agri/industry as much as possible.

I just traded my Cobra III for a Mosquito Trader (40+15 cargo capacity). Anyone ever managed to get to the lucrative cargo contracts with that much capacity? Or do I need to eventually get a Python? (shiver).

[Dr. Nil]

Also (probably should start another topic, but this is still marginally related) -- what happens when two OXPs overlap somewhat? I just installed Hoopy's following some mentions on this forum, and noticed that it's supposed to appear with the same symbol (C) on the scanner as Your Ad Here's con stores.

Your scanner will switch between multiple Cs. The same will happen if you're in a commie system with more than one Astromine (A).

The Hoopy is usually (but not always) close to the main station and the Con-stores will be somewhere around the witchpoint.

[polyh]

Anyone ever managed to get to the lucrative cargo contracts with that much capacity? Or do I need to eventually get a Python? (shiver).

Sometimes you'll get contracts that fit into the Cobra Mk. III, so you may find contracts that fit into that Mosquito. But contracts fitting into the Python are much easier to find. It doesn't take long to get the good contracts, so you may switch to a Python for a couple of days and then buy something more fun than the white van of the space lanes, which the Python is.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

I don't actually trade anymore, all my cred comes from bounty and salvage.
As my ship is limited to 15TC, the only salvage I keep aboard is Gold, Platinum, Gems, Furs, Computers, Alien Items, and Luxuries, and escape pods. Everything else is jettisoned.

[hircus]

Sometimes you'll get contracts that fit into the Cobra Mk. III, so you may find contracts that fit into that Mosquito.

Definitely: Mosquito Trader = 40+15, nearly double the cargo capacity of a Cobra.

After just one regular cargo haul (or it might have been two), I actually managed to land a very lucrative gold-carrying contract. 100k net profit! (It helps to have enough credits on hand to meet the purchase price). Been happily finding those sort of spaceless contracts since.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Any ship can haul a shipment of Gold, Platinum, or Gems, even fighters like Asps and Excaliburs (they have 0 cargo space) because that stuff take up no cargo room.
Funny when it's a large shipment you need a ship's safe the size of Fort Knox yet it still fits.