How to trade

[Glencore]

Hello,

I've looked but i just don't understand how trading is supposed to work.

I have a HQ and 2 TS looking for e-cells at best price and 2 TS set to sell at best price. but i can only set one price in the station so what price am i supposed to set that to. I'm expecting to set a buy and sell price but I can't figure it out.

[iXenon]

Hello,

I've looked but i just don't understand how trading is supposed to work.

I have a HQ and 2 TS looking for e-cells at best price and 2 TS set to sell at best price. but i can only set one price in the station so what price am i supposed to set that to. I'm expecting to set a buy and sell price but I can't figure it out.

I'm not sure if it's possible to buy low and sell high at a single station (you can read some of my thoughts here), but you can always buy goods at one station, move them to another and sell there in a fully automated way.

[Glencore]

Hello,

I've looked but i just don't understand how trading is supposed to work.

I have a HQ and 2 TS looking for e-cells at best price and 2 TS set to sell at best price. but i can only set one price in the station so what price am i supposed to set that to. I'm expecting to set a buy and sell price but I can't figure it out.

I'm not sure if it's possible to buy low and sell high at a single station (you can read some of my thoughts here), but you can always buy goods at one station, move them to another and sell there in a fully automated way.

It seems like a flaw in the game but... ignoring that. You recommend setting the sell price and allowing other races to trade and my automated traders to ONLY buy at the best price. I am still in the Void so I could do e-cells and maybe ores?

Edit, I am actually testing a different method. The distribution run. I've set ore and e-cells to products and set at the price i want to sell at. Then I've set some freighters to dist.run and told them to go to specific stations and fill up at a set price then go to the HQ and dump the wares. (It reminds me a big of OpenTTD, if you've played that). We'll see how this goes.

[iXenon]

You recommend setting the sell price and allowing other races to trade and my automated traders to ONLY buy at the best price. I am still in the Void so I could do e-cells and maybe ores?

Probably, the best choice is Station Manager and a couple of stations like Equipment Dock or Trading Station. But if you are still in the Void system, I believe there may be a problem to get these stations. But you may have got BoFu Chemical Lab. In that case you can test proof of concept with BoFu. But better is to get HQ and Hub or a Boron Equipment Dock. The crucial point in that the stations have to be able to sell goods you want to trade. BoFu Chemical Lab can sell Bofu only, so it will be PoC only.

Anyway, here is the guide how to do fully automated trading if HQ and Hub or Boron Equipment Dock are already available.

1. Place the stations in the same sector close to each other nearby Gates or Jump Beacon. It's very important that the stations have to be able to accept at least 10 ships at the same time. That's the reason Boron Equipment Dock works pretty good.
2. Add goods you want to trade (Bio, Food and Mineral) via Command Console -> Add Available Ware to both stations as Tradeable.
3. Add Energy Cells to both stations as Resource.
4. Run Trade Distribution Run on a TS with big cargo between these stations. Configure TDR to Fill let's say 10% of each ware one station has and to Dump them onto another station with the Wait options No in both cases.
5. After that change the ware types on the first station to Resource and to Product on the second station.
6. Add some TS (the more the better, 12+ would work well) to each station and enable Station Manager via Command Console. Only Energy Cells have to be Resource on the both stations.
7. (Optional) Allow other races to trade with the second station.

The first station will send its ships to buy resources, the "shuttle" TS will then move them to the second station and these wares would appear there as product. And the second station will send its ships to sell them. In both cases it very easy to manipulate the desired price, because the buy price and the sell price are on different stations now. It works very effective, much more better then Universe Trader. It doesn't require expensive ship equipment and time to train the pilots. The Trading Rank would go up very quick.

[BrigandPhantos77]

Hello,

I've looked but i just don't understand how trading is supposed to work.

I have a HQ and 2 TS looking for e-cells at best price and 2 TS set to sell at best price. but i can only set one price in the station so what price am i supposed to set that to. I'm expecting to set a buy and sell price but I can't figure it out.

A brief overview of the basics of trading.

Equipment suggested for ships:
Navigation Command Software
Trade Command Software Mk1 and Mk2
Trading System Extension

I'm not gonna suggest ships, because we all have our favorites. Any additional equipment is up to you to decide based upon the need.

Station manager will make use of the "special command software" and send controlled ships to pick up floating wares like ore, food and energy sells to cut costs.

If you highlight the selected equipment in gain, and press "I" (eye - key) it will tell you what commands will be added with the package.

Buy Ware and Sell Ware for best price.

You have buy ware and sell ware for the Mk1 of the Trade Command Software.
The Mk2 adds the buy and sell for best price.

So in a nutshell you can always command a ship to go somewhere, then remotely buy what is there. This will use your player funds account.

Using the software allows you to issue specific go here and buy this much or sell this much. It's contingent upon the setting you give it and the prices being at or below for purchase, or at and above for selling.
Buying or selling for best price tells the ship to keep going to places and buy or sell. And always do so for the listed price or below for buying, and at or above for selling.

This directly corresponds with the resources and products of the station those traders are "homebase" at.

Trade System Extension allows you to remotely view products, resources and to make purchase / sales without having to physically be there. And when remotely accessing another ship, you only need it in one ship in the chain (yours or the remote ship) to function.

The station manager function requires an hourly wage fee to be paid. This feature can cause you to lose money for some stations. And it is always optional to use.

Automatic price adjusting is in a stations command console as well. It is fire and forget. It can also cause you to lose money with some stations, be aware of that.

Money thresholds can be set through a stations command console. You adjust the low and max amounts separate from each other, but in the same command. Hit enter when you adjust the price to make it stick. The low end causes you to automatically transfer funds to the factory if the funds fall below, and the reverse happens if it exceeds the max allowed funds. Meaning you get money sent back to you.

Making money

Everybody has there methods of making credits in game. A couple key tips in factory choices.
The best in demand items in game, at least in my experience are:
1 MJ Shield
5 MJ Shield
Mosquito Missile
IRE
Microchips
Navigation and Advanced Navigation Relay Satelites

These will sell like hotcakes at average price. Make sure to max the upgrades on these too for max effect. (I have a dog named Max too if we want to that in 3's).
I stress this point, I can "not" keep shields or satelites in stock.

The least profitable to me have been Ore and Silicon. There is simply to high of supply on those.

The next highest demand beyond that first group is foodstuffs. These will usually sell at average, but may require you to sell. There is very high demand.

Having a solar power plant can also be very lucrative. But crystals can be a pain to keep in stock. And don't sell energy cells below 15 credits if you want a profit.

Hope these tips help.

[Jimmy C]

Weapons, missiles and shields can be sold in unlimited quantities at Equipment Docks and Outpost-class stations that do not stock those specific items you are trying to sell. This is different from regular trading though.
For example, 5mj shields get you the most credits in the shortest amount of time. Military Outposts do not carry shields for sale but will buy them from you. You can have a complex to build 5mj shields, then use Trade Distribution Run to take the shields to an Outpost and sell the whole load there. The Outpost will only be able accept a maximum amount of goods at one time but TDR will keep selling until the whole load is sold. Just set Wait to 'yes'.
We call this a money fountain.