What part of trading causes you trouble?
Seriously, It says trading, not, I want to make a quick buck, or, watch me blow up cargo dumps and loot stuff cause I am a a lazy ass.
So Its how to start trading, understand?

Also hit the Storage Depot above the shipyard by Fort Bush. That contains H-Fuel which sells well anywhere in Liberty.

A good starter trade route is Pharmaceuticals from Fort Bush to Pittsburgh and Boron back. $30 profit each way, fairly low start-up costs, only one tradelane and it's easy to run from anything that hacks it.

Once you can afford it, there's no better trade run to build up cash than taking Light Arms from Detroit to Montezuma in Cortez (cost $140 sells for $700!) and taking Cardamine to Manhattan on the return trip.

Oh, its possible to get the best ship in 3 hours-ish, so an hour wasted in liberty is kinda pointless . . .

Thanks Hawk, at least some people understand the meaning of the word trading. Gotta try that Detroit run now.

Do note that your reputation will need to be neutral with the Rogues and Outcasts and maybe Lane Hackers to be able to land on Montezuma. Killing police or storage depots will accomplish this.

Another note is that even if they're neutral, they might demand you drop the cargo and attack you. So make sure you have at least a few credits left to get started again if you do die.

Gambit, it is quite obvious that you do not fully understand the term as applied to the Freelancer universe. One of the most important assets of a trader - besides a ship with a large hold - is their reputation sheet. With the right reputation you can utilize the best trade routes in a naked ship; with the wrong reputation the best routes are closed completely and you need a flying fortress to make even a halfway decent profit on the others.

And the quickest way to adjust one's reputation in a manner that opens good trades (and doesn't cost a hundred grand that you don't have yet anyway) is to smash three pods on one of the police depots near Manhattan. And since you have to smash them anyway their contents will be floating in space, and since you are a trader and your hold is empty you will tractor the stuff and ferry it to the place that gives the best ratio of profit to time taken. And since you are a trader who knows what's in each depot you will select the middle depot with the polymers because one Starflier full of the stuff is enough the buy a Rhino.

And so you have improved two of your most important assets in a big way in just a few seconds: your rep allows trading without restriction in all of Liberty and you have a ship that can take 80 units cargo. These few shots will be the last ones you fire before you retire as a multi-millionaire a few hours later and buy yourself a Ferrari with Nomads & Tizonas to get into the shooting business after all.

The gambits that do not involve depots take about an hour longer to get going; both because lucrative trades are closed and because you need a hundred grand for a bribe. Shooting Xenos can resolve some of the rep problems but that can take quite a while during which time you would have multiplied your money.

P.S.: two of the most classic 'non-depot' gambits are Luxury Consumer Goods to Ainu and Boron to Stokes (both in the Starflier with starting funds). Light Arms to Kusari or Lux. Consumer Goods to Cambridge also have merits. In all cases there are several good options how to proceed so only the opening moves are 'standardized'. Even if you come back immediately - with the right goods in your hold, of course - you will be tens of thousands credits ahead compared to trading peanuts in Liberty with your Starflier or Patriot.

Edited by - Sherlog on 23-07-2003 21:06:56

Sherlog,

Don't waste your time with this ingrate recruit! He says:

"ANy advice would be great . . ."

And then flames the first help he gets.

Keep say 1-5 units of a crappy item (Food Water Scrap Metal etc) to deter pirates:/ Sometimes works.

-~-~-~-~
There is no Silicon Heaven[! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow[!

querty, when we write in a forum like this we never write for one person alone - that would be inappropriate and the discussion should be moved to email. When we write here we write for all forum users that may be interested in the current topic, to share experiences, to invite commentary and to compare notes. One may address a specific person for the sake of the discussion but the topic and the discussion as such belong to all who care to join (even as silent readers).

Heltak, nice idea. I've always thought that the Drom could easily spare 5 cargo units for good luck items like a piece of scap metal, a piece of food, a piece of gold etc. pp. but I've always been too lazy to look up which commodities the pirates scan for. Besides, good thrusters and a good shield tend to work just as well, and also more than once during a trip.

Ok @ Sherlog
I don't find the need to go shoot cargo dumps for money necessary, at all. If I want my rep changed I'll kill 3 defenders at ithaca.
@ qwerty I may be a recruit, but does that mean I have no game experience? Sorry If I just occasionally read these forums and asked for help starting out as a trader, as I usually end up doing a few missions here and there.
So please, continue to flame me for no reason.

a long but EXTREMLY trip is Luxury goods from manhatten to New Berlin (rheinlanders are lazy )

I AM BIG! I AM STRONG!I AM........... WWWWIIIIILLLLDDDD!!!!!!!

Heh.. the best "trade" run.. Do a job or two in Omicron Theta and "trade-in" those paralyzer missles for almost 8K each. I usually come back with about 10-12 each run. 80K plus the various 60-150K per job.

Better $$$ to me.

Well, i usualy go to dublin, mine gold, and sell it at new tokyo, for about 1200 each, plus you can sell a lot of equipment from those outcasts in the dublin gold field :

whoooooooooa this cardamine rocks :Đ

Err...

I'm not good at doing trade runs .

Edited by - [RSSF_Julian on 25-07-2003 02:48:15