1) Cargo trading

At almost every base in the game, there's a commodity dealer. Each base sells different commodities at different prices, although bases near to each other are likely to be almost identical in what they sell. In each commodity box on the buy screen is a small red/yello/green shape. If it's green, that means that buying that commodity in that place and for that price is a good deal. Yellow means an ok deal, and red is when they're ripping you off. So, go to a base and buy some of a green commodity. Notice that when you click on it, information comes up at the bottom, outlining known prices elsewhere in Sirius for that commodity. The one at the top is the best known price. Anyway, choose one of the bases near the top of the list and go there. Go to the commodity dealer, and you'll see that you can sell your commodities. The green/yellow/red still applies, and at this base, it should be green because it was high in the list, meaning you're making good profit. So sell your commodity and voila! profit. Bear in mind that some commodities can make you far more profit than others eg diamonds vs water

2) Piracy

Attacking transports can sometimes be quite lucrative, if you don't mind losing your rep with that company and risking dying if you pick on a heavily defended one. If you want a quick, lightning strike, equip heavy hitting weapons like Plasma guns or the Class 10 weapons. When a Train comes past, swoop down on it and aim for one of the cargo pods under it. If it hasn't got any cargo pods, don't bother attacking it. The pods die in a few hits and you'll be able to make off with whatever they were carrying. Simple.

3) Mining

Mining is only a marginal profit making exercise, because people generally can't be bothered to do it, but the advantage is that you can choose a remote location and just mine undisturbed. It's quite a good way to start out in online play, if you don't mind the wait. To choose a good mining site, switch your Nav Map to Mineable Zones. Any areas that you can mine will be highlighted yellow-brown. Fly there and shoot some of the small asteroids that move around. Your cursor goes white and spins when you have one in your sights. Commodities won't be dropped all the time, and the probability varies depending on the particular place you're mining. Once you've found something, make a note of what it was, because that's all you're going to get from that field. So if you find Water, you should leave because mining water isn't very profitable. Basically just look around for good mining areas.

Edited by - Darkstone on 7/11/2004 2:03:18 AM

Thanks for the help. this i already knew. What i really want to know is how to mast good money and rather quckly, the problem I had the first time I played was that I had a weak ship because I had no money(i was with the first ship u get for 3 missions).

Btw thanks for the really informative reply. good to see people taking pride in there work.

Thanks again.
Ginji_1

If you're after money in the story, trading is more or less out of the question because of the restrictions you have, at least for the first few missions. Although once you start to get some leeway in where you go, check this thread for some good trade routes

Mod-edit:

***No spoilers allowed here***

For spoilers, check out the link Darkstone provided!

Edited by - Wizard on 7/11/2004 2:20:28 PM

If you are looking to make money, I've always found it's easiest to go to a border world systmes and do fighting missions for high pay. Guaranteed cash.

Of all the systems, in all the galaxy, you had to fly into mine.

Hit the wrecks. Some have valuable cargo. Junkers happy then trade Card from TX is about the best early in game when have limited access.

It is hard to soar with eagles when you fly with turkeys.