SECTOR TRADER TO UNIVERSE TRADER
A suitable ship
This is a compromise between speed, cargo and, to a lesser extent, shields.
The bigger the cargo hold, the more profit per run if you can fill it.
The faster the ship, the more runs you'll make per hour.
Finally the better shielded the ship, the greater the chance of it surviving attacks.
The best ships are the TS super freighters.
The three most popular choices are:
Split Caiman - fastest (89.99m/s), good cargo (10325), 4*25MJ shields
Paranid Demeter - good cargo (11210), reasonable speed (79.2m/s), 5*25MJ shields.
Boron Dolphin - best cargo (14000), slow (53.98m/s), 5*25MJ shields.
The Teladi Vulture (13275 cargo, 57.59 m/s, 5*25MJ shields)
Argon Mercury (11800 cargo, 72 m/s, 5*25MJ shields)
It is also possible to install the software in M4, M3 and TP class ships but the small cargo holds and lack of ability to carry XL size goods will severely limit profits.
Super Freighters can be purchased from:
Demeter - Trinity Sanctum
Dolphin - Kingdoms End
Caiman - Family Nij
Vulture - Ministry of Finance
Mercury - Omicron Lyrae
Note: There are two versions of each race's Super Freighter.
Set Up:
Max the speed and turning, if you can afford it also max the cargo. If the cargo's not maxed then the trader will slowly buy extra space but only up to 80% of the available expansion. It also means that the ship has to visit trading docks each level to install the extra capacity slowing down trading.
Trade Command Software MKIII - Available at Teladi Equipment Docks or Terracorp HQ.
Fight Command Software MKI
Fight Command Software MKII
Max Shielding - This will protect you few million credit investment!
Special Command Software MKI - Allows you to transfer pilots between ships
Navigation Command Software MK1 - Allows you to command the trader to jump remotely.
Triplex scanner - Spots enemy's at a greater range.
Jumpdrive - The trader will buy their own at level 12 but this costs 10% more for delivery.
Note: You cannot make the ship you're personally flying a ST or UT.
Starting Sectors:
Best sector of all:
Empires Edge - This seems to be the best sector in the X universe.
Other good sectors:
Shore of Infinity
Queens Space
Preachers Void
Reasonable sectors:
Rolks Drift
Power Circle
Company Pride
Profit Share
Consecrated Fire
The Wall
Scale Plate Green
Ceo's Sprite
For a sector to be a good training ground for your sector traders you should look for:
Energy.
Basic and Advanced food factories (e.g. Cattle Ranches and Cahoona Bakeries in Argon space).
Trading Dock (In all race sectors, just don't start your ST in a pirate sector).
Some high tech fabs and mines.
It helps if it's a smaller sector with the fabs close together to cut down on flying time.
Many sectors can be made into good starting sectors by the addition of a Solar Power Plant. Just make sure you sell at 15 or less otherwise low level STs won't buy from it.
Number of UTs:
Between 20 and 30 UTs works well, more than this starts to reduce the profit/trip as the best trades become harder to find - plus more effort's required to manage them.
Transferring Pilots:
To transfer pilots, a special menu option is available, where you have to fill in the start and target ship as well as the station where the ships should meet. Because of the limitations of the script engine, both ships have to be in space. Also, both ships should be in the same sector to prevent accidents.
The trader's original ship needs Special Command software installed. Choose "Transfer Pilot" from the special command menu on the trader's ship (NOT the player's ship), then select the trader's ship followed by the ship to transfer him to, followed by the station where the transfer should take place. The two ships will fly to the selected station and the transfer will take place.
Ships Under Attack:
If your trader is attacked then they will try to escape to a nearby sector or station. Always check out reports of attacks and ensure that he trader has jumped to another sector. If they try to dock in the sector they were attacked in then they will probably die.
If they were buying then re-issue the universe trade command, they'll probably not head to the same sector as prices will have changed and they'll be starting from a different sector as well.
You may want to sell manually if they were selling and then re-issue the UT command. If you don't then they'll head back to the original target station, which could take a long time, plus the station will most likely have had other deliveries that will reduce profits.
Always try to make sure that the attackers have been dealt with, if you don't then you may regret it.
Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:02 pm