Challenge ideas?

[Sovereign01]

In that case, you can do what I did and set up a huge fuel/weed plex in one of the claimable sectors. There were only two asteroids in my Akeela's Beacon Beta, both silicon, with yields of 61 & 122 but produced enough to support 8 distilleries and 8 bliss places, a sector with more silicon could support a much larger complex than the one I constructed. For some reason the weed sells more readily than the fuel but both routinely sell multimillion credits worth of product, the biggest sales were 9.3M of weed, 8.8M of fuel. In my case, by the time I'd built it I'd already discovered how potentially lucrative Nividium mining could be, and by the time it had made its cost back I'd joined the Jump Beacon Club

If you haven't tried Nividium mining yet, there are many hurdles to overcome to do it properly and make money. Make nice with NMMC, and you're halfway there.

[Hwitvlf]

a huge fuel/weed plex in one of the claimable sectors.

Have you tried the other illegal goods like Pirate Side Arms or Ion Mines?

[Sovereign01]

a huge fuel/weed plex in one of the claimable sectors.

Have you tried the other illegal goods like Pirate Side Arms or Ion Mines?

No, can't say that I have. I just know space fuel & weed are always in high demand

[Mr.Killer]

How about a serious idea? When at war with other factions, some products are stalking because of the lack of resources.
Would it be nice to talk to other friendly factions that can provide either a trade, so that this friendly faction for instance buys a station I need from an enemy faction(only to me ofcourse) and that I can buy it from my friendly faction.
This could also go with trading, ask a faction to come and fill up my station that needs, lets say, rastar oil, which I won't get from an enemy Split! This way I can keep producing....

By far challenging it is when all diplomats are stonecold dead, on vacation or screwing around (with mecano), so they can't help.... Why is it that it says that they return to the station and never to be seen again????

[Hwitvlf]

This could also go with trading, ask a faction to come and fill up my station that needs, lets say, rastar oil, which I won't get from an enemy Split! This way I can keep producing....

In FL, enemy traders will still buy from your station if you have their faction set to 'friend' in the station's control panel. This allows their ships to dock. I suspect they will also sell goods, but I've never verified. You actually get reputation boosts from trading with enemy ships. I have a weapons complex in Goner space and routinely gain recognition levels with enemy corporations as their traders buy from my complex.

[iXenon]

You actually get reputation boosts from trading with enemy ships. I have a weapons complex in Goner space and routinely gain recognition levels with enemy corporations as their traders buy from my complex.

Would this affect their hostiles rank? Let's say Paranides buy goods from your complex and that increases your rank with them. Will it also affect you rank with OTAS?

[Sovereign01]

You actually get reputation boosts from trading with enemy ships. I have a weapons complex in Goner space and routinely gain recognition levels with enemy corporations as their traders buy from my complex.

Would this affect their hostiles rank? Let's say Paranides buy goods from your complex and that increases your rank with them. Will it also affect you rank with OTAS?

Possibly, because it's a slow process it might not be obvious. In AP I gained Terran rep despite them being red to me by allowing them to dock at the Xenon hub to trade by adding every ware to the list. It let me boost my rep enough for them to offer me missions in their sectors which did the rest.

[Hwitvlf]

Would this affect their hostiles rank?

I suspect it does as it would probably behave like any other reputation change in the game, but I have never checked for sure. You only get a tiny boost per trade so you really only notice it for factions who are near neutral where there is a small point spread between ranks.