Oolite Bulletins

So you're leaving spare cargo capacity and often going to multiple systems to achieve full loads. I guess you don't need other station OXPs for that.

Switeck wrote:

So you're leaving spare cargo capacity and often going to multiple systems to achieve full loads. I guess you don't need other station OXPs for that.

In practice, yes, but not through any design. I just drift where the wind takes me, and exploit opportunities as they come along. I buy low and sell high, which means I often have stock for a system or two, but it's also not unknown for me to launch empty either.
I can always re-stock at the next pirate ambush

Back when I was flying an Anaconda for a while, i did "trade routes". Basically just pick a section of space and go along in a loop, buying everything that is at a good price and selling whenever I found good prices for things I had. Not just computers and furs, mind you, *everything* went in and out of the hold. A good bit of creds can be made that way, and it's less tedious than the "furry computer focus on milk run" way of playing, or at least I find it less tedious.

The furs/computers/milk-run way of playing is good early on. It works kind of like a trick for new players to get some quick profits when they need to gear up their ship. Kind of like finding a cheat code or a backdoor, almost. But it adds nothing to the game for people who have been playing for weeks or months. I think it's one of the shortcomings that result in people seeming to play Oolite more like a "sorta space fighting game", rather than a "space trading game". If you look at how much talk, screenshots, development, and OXPs deal with fights as opposed to how much deals with actual trading, it's pretty apparent how embryonic the trading model and options have remained while the fighting elements continually evolve.

Anyway, the Anaconda was a bit too much of a "slow barge" to my way of thinking at the time, and too defenseless unless one wanted to pay more for escorts via the OXP than one was likely to make at some stops. I do better with a Boa, since it can at least fight a bit. But I still try to keep the cargo hold as full as possible with anything I find at a good price. Computers and fur, sure. But there's no payout for empty space in the hold. If you find something better that can be scooped, jettison the cheapest stuff and re-scoop if what you found floating in the spacelane wasn't better.

Carrying diverse cargo may not be the most profitable, but it helps with "the game in the head". "No way, bandit.. you are *not* getting MY cargo!" At least I personally find it helps a bit with avoiding the image of the characters who eventually become Elite combateers, who have amassed great fortunes and seen all the sights the Ooniverse has to offer.. ending their days in quiet off-world nursing homes, bundled up in a fur coat and ticking away at a computer keyboard.

If you're using a Python or larger and only have the main station and maybe a rock hermit or 2, you have to do something more than computers <-> furs to fill your hold. Heck, there's often so few furs for sale that even a Cobra 3 would come away mostly empty if that's all it hauled. I like that it encourages slightly more complex trading than furs.

With an Anaconda, you can clean out a station of everything even in the best prices systems (rich industrials/poor agriculturals) and still have LOTS of room left for more, so you must "explore more" for maximizing your massive cargo capacity (relative to other ships). A Python, Boa, or Boa 2 can sometimes clean out an agriculture system of all but minerals -- which seems to have the lowest profit/TC ratio. A Boa 2 can sometimes clear out a Rich Industrial of Computers, Luxuries, and Machinery.

Rock Hermits and even Pirate Coves (if you can risk getting close) often add a decent bit to your profits, due to cheap gold/plat/gems.

I agree with Cmdr Ganelon on the divesity of cargo to haul. You never really know what is going to pay what. I've sold radioactives for over 100. Though never at the main station. Previous to V.75.2 You would usually get about 80Cr for radio at the military stations, that has changed. But are still usually your best bet for offloading Alein items.
Apart from rock hermits, which you really need the radar detector upgrade for.
You should have Your Add here oxp, and planet landing capability, quite often come across outrageous profits on the planet surface.

The first thing I do on entering a system is check out the main station prices and note down everything except Lux, comp, Minerals, G, P and gems. They are usually about the same for planet type and easy to see large differences.

The main station is usually my last stop, makes it easier to deal in questionable items. Also lets you note anything outrageous like a con station offering more than 100Cr for food and textiles, worth clearing the rest of the system to take back for that sort of profit.

Note; It's not worth jumping out of the system and back expecting the same sort of prices, every time I've tried that it's never worked.