Maximize your Profit on Trade Shortages.

[Leon H Eskkar]

Hey Guys! Im Leon. I've been playing Star Traders for about a year now and I still love it. A big Thankyou and a well done to Cory. I usually choose Pirate or Bounty Hunter with the ever faithful Tempus Fugit on difficulty Insane, most recently I am doing quite well with my newest Spy Capt; Slip Sin

My play style is Primarily spy to gain massive exp and Rep with all 6 factions , Contract runner and Merchent to bring in the hundred Ks and opportunist Pirate.

I make most profits from Duel of Assassins contracts and frequently cross the galaxy for over 450k and like to have many ships throughout the quadrant for specific uses, but have always enjoyed stocking Caches up from trade surpluses and have recently discovered a way to totally maximize turnaround on trade shortages using xdesperado Hyper Freighter Spec.

[Leon H Eskkar]

So Right now I've got; 5 Hyper Freighters, 3 Templar Cutters, 2 Inquisition Cruisers and 1 Omega Cruiser. Pretty much all with full upgrades.
I can Spy for weeks make a hundred K a run with 250 hold. Take out a few contracts Cross the quadrant with low fuel economy then pick up either a Templar Cutter too Gun Bunny capture/destroy missions into submission a Cruiser to do the Blockade missions or keep the Freighter again and Complete Serveilence

Get repairs, Check all the upgrades n New ships an such listen to the Rumors and hope for a Metal surplus you see I've found a way make over a mil from one

Did you ever notice that when you end a trade surplus, as long as you don't leave the planet, the price will still stay the same?. Well you can roll up in a Hyper Freighter that has the water fuel tanks, + 20% hold with up to 225 metals inside and just park it in the Star Dock.
Purchase a cheap ship for like 200k nothing flash just make sure it has good Solar Sails. Hop on over to your Closest Hyper Freighter pick that up and sell your Cheap ship.
If like me you have good Caches all over the place, you shouldn't have to fly more than 24au to the relevant wild planet pick up a further 225 Metals and hop back on over to the Shortage before it's over.
Sell the goods from your hold. And as you leave the exchange, be careful not to leave the planet. Switch Freighters at the Star dock and Voila. 450 units sold in one shortage.

Using this method it becomes possible to make over 2mil in credits, pure profits after expenses from a single Metals Shortage.

[johndramey]

Hey Leon H Eskkar, welcome to the forums! Thanks for the cool posts, information is always welcome on the boards. I've never been much of a trader in ST (have started to love it in AoP though) so it's always nice to hear new tips.

[Cory Trese]

Jul 17, 2013 4:23:00 GMT -5 Leon H Eskkar said:

So Right now I've got; 5 Hyper Freighters, 3 Templar Cutters, 2 Inquisition Cruisers and 1 Omega Cruiser. Pretty much all with full upgrades.
I can Spy for weeks make a hundred K a run with 250 hold. Take out a few contracts Cross the quadrant with low fuel economy then pick up either a Templar Cutter too Gun Bunny capture/destroy missions into submission a Cruiser to do the Blockade missions or keep the Freighter again and Complete Serveilence

Get repairs, Check all the upgrades n New ships an such listen to the Rumors and hope for a Metal surplus you see I've found a way make over a mil from one

Did you ever notice that when you end a trade surplus, as long as you don't leave the planet, the price will still stay the same?. Well you can roll up in a Hyper Freighter that has the water fuel tanks, + 20% hold with up to 225 metals inside and just park it in the Star Dock.
Purchase a cheap ship for like 200k nothing flash just make sure it has good Solar Sails. Hop on over to your Closest Hyper Freighter pick that up and sell your Cheap ship.
If like me you have good Caches all over the place, you shouldn't have to fly more than 24au to the relevant wild planet pick up a further 225 Metals and hop back on over to the Shortage before it's over.
Sell the goods from your hold. And as you leave the exchange, be careful not to leave the planet. Switch Freighters at the Star dock and Voila. 450 units sold in one shortage.

Using this method it becomes possible to make over 2mil in credits, pure profits after expenses from a single Metals Shortage.

Very clever. I might patch this exploit although I respect the level of dedication it takes to execute it.

[Leon H Eskkar]

@ John - Hey man, For sure!. I've been lurking these boards for a long time now and gathering all sorts of tips. im pleased I can finally give something back

@ Cory - Hmm I suppose you could consider it an exploit and patch it up, but the amount of work it takes to put you in the right situation and make it possible makes it something of a challenge or a goal for me. Maybe instead of patching you could make it an award, like legendary merchant hero where you have to sell over 400 units of something during a trade shortage

[Leon H Eskkar]

It would be a very difficult award to acheive too. shortages have time limits on them making it impractical to run around from planet to planet stocking up two massive holds. You have to have stocked chaches all over the place..