I use Profit per unit, and the Number of inter-system jumps. Then factor in Tradelanes, and being jumped in about 1/3rd of them , or Just Cruising(Area with no lanes). And finally I say-- Is it worth it? If so, I do it and check out the return load. If the answer is no to that question I say "Screw it" and do something else.

The only reliable way I've found is to time the amount of time it takes to make a complete circuit and divide the profit per unit by the amount of time it takes you to do the route.
To make it accurate, you start the timer when docked on the initial station/planet and proceed to buy your cargo, and when finishing the route, you stop your timer when you dock at the final base (which becomes the first base in the next circuit)

All other measurements are a little subjective, since some players travel faster than others. Also, your faction reputation should be neutral always with all potentially encountered factions on the route.

The problem with all other forms of measurement is that trade lanes vary in length, and yet are very important in terms of time, and also the distance between the various tradelanes/jump-points can slow you down as well.

So far I think the Yanagi <-> New Berlin Cardamine/Eng Component run is my best profit per minute per cargo unit run. In 2nd place is the Manhattan <-> Ainu Lux Good/Cardamine run.

The yanagi run is a little more difficult to gain neutrality for, so the Ainu run is a staple for new characters. The Yanagi run is good for established freight characters who have had lots of time to make the Hessians, corsairs, junkers, Rheinlanders etc. neutral.

umm i think roppongi-->ainu is faster and gets more $$ in time at 2$ per sec
while manhattan -->ainu gets 1$ per sec

Anyways, I start with my mouse centered on the land/takeoffscreen, all waypoints preset. Then I start the timer, buy goods and get out of there. After I get out of the planet I put my wireless mouse back on the charger and use the "next target"-key to target my waypoints and use GOTO and dock.
I'm doing this for all routes I know now and roppongi-->ainu seems to be the best.

I also whipped up a mini cargo computer in excell. Just fill in your cargospace (or leave it at 1) and check the routes, but I'm still working on it..

Btw, I stop my timer after I sell my goods at the final destination in the route (which is usually the starting location too.)

I would have to try the roppongi run, but it, and host of other runs (except for the top profit Yanagi/Berlin run i mentioned) have been discussed in this post Here
I'm planning on timing the Yanagi run and submitting it, but I've been playing some mods of late (On LAN server - no cheating here) and haven't gotten around to removing them yet.

Personally, I like the universal appeal of the dock/goto only travel, but it could creat small variances in time, which might be important for the shorter routes, due to the cruise vs afterburner travel with cruise lead-up chearging. Still, I think that would be the most accurate method for all involved, so Kudos for that.



Edited by - Gung_Ho on 02-08-2003 10:42:32