How to make money at the beginning of the normal (plot) start in X3:R?

[kmunoz]

So I bumped into a Kha'ak in my Discoverer during the first mission of Reunion, and got knocked down to 54% hull. I'd like to get that back up before I go to Farnham's Legend for the next bit of the mission, but I have no money and my ship has enough cargo space to hold three Q-Tips. What's the best way to make money fast enough just to be able to repair my hull and then get on with my life?

[DanKara]

- collect drops/loot from third-party-battles (spoils of war)
- start piracy yourself
- start to fight lonely M5, M4 or even M3 (under-shielded and without rear-turrets) for bails, claim and sell
a good place might be the sector 'Split Fire'

Is the repair laser in the space suit availlable, or was that only added in later games?
Or redo the mission without loosing hull?

[jlehtone]

First, it is not compulsory to do "plot missions" as quickly as possible. Then again, delays are against the "fast" ethos.

Discoverer's cargobay is 10 M units, although with credits it can be tuned to 50 M units. Boron Octopus starts with 5 S units and maxes at 15 S units ...

Point is that Disco can carry both S and M sized wares and is far from worst "Q-Tip holder". It can pick up those "Unknown item" missiles that sell for 80k credits. Pirates do carry (and use) those. On destruction of a ship, some cargo of that ship might drop as (short-lived) containers -- the "drops/loot". Of course the odds are limited: you have to be in sector, a ship has to have some nice cargo, something must destroy the ship, some of the cargo must survive as drops, you have to be close enough to see the containers, and fast enough to pick them up (without getting shot by ongoing battle).

North from Argon Prime there are Distilleries and the Trading Station there pays good price for the product, IIRC. One can of Space Fuel needs only 2S, so yes, you should be able to carry it. Nominal price range is 203cr -- 1253cr and you definitely don't want to pay average (728cr) or more, so profit could be couple hundred per can. Alas, you need couple hundred to buy just one can. Quite nice profit, should be illegal, wait ... Space Fuel is illegal! (If cops scan you, then you have to deal with them.)

Generic missions. "Carry passenger to another Station" are quite easy, but require "Cargobay Lifesupport System" (about 2800cr), IIRC.

You could sell your guns, etc to gain initial cash for non-combat activities.


Disclaimer: "make money fast" was never of great interest to me.

[kmunoz]

- collect drops/loot from third-party-battles (spoils of war)
- start piracy yourself
- start to fight lonely M5, M4 or even M3 (under-shielded and without rear-turrets) for bails, claim and sell
a good place might be the sector 'Split Fire'

Is the repair laser in the space suit availlable, or was that only added in later games?
Or redo the mission without loosing hull?

Yeah the repair laser appears in TC but not Reunion, if I'm not mistaken. I'd redo the mission but there's that whole unskippable cityscape gun battle section that I find annoying... though I suppose it would take less time than making the money. I haven't found any battles around me yet but it's a good suggestion, thank you!

[UnknownObject]

So I bumped into a Kha'ak in my Discoverer during the first mission of Reunion, and got knocked down to 54% hull. I'd like to get that back up before I go to Farnham's Legend for the next bit of the mission, but I have no money and my ship has enough cargo space to hold three Q-Tips. What's the best way to make money fast enough just to be able to repair my hull and then get on with my life?

Menelaus's Frontier is not far away. If you need money badly, you can take the Toucan Hauler (43km; -7km; 35km) there and sell it.

[kmunoz]

First, it is not compulsory to do "plot missions" as quickly as possible. Then again, delays are against the "fast" ethos.
...
North from Argon Prime there are Distilleries and the Trading Station there pays good price for the product, IIRC. One can of Space Fuel needs only 2S, so yes, you should be able to carry it. Nominal price range is 203cr -- 1253cr and you definitely don't want to pay average (728cr) or more, so profit could be couple hundred per can. Alas, you need couple hundred to buy just one can. Quite nice profit, should be illegal, wait ... Space Fuel is illegal! (If cops scan you, then you have to deal with them.)
...
Disclaimer: "make money fast" was never of great interest to me.

Yeah I'm aware it's not necessary to do the plot missions quickly, but I did want to get that next one out of the way. I don't mind waiting; the issue I'm stuck with right now is my 55% hull, which is the thing I need to solve, after which I'll take my time. The distillery/trading station run sounds like a good start. Thanks!

Usually when I've played Reunion in the past, I've done the trader start, so I never had issues getting my trade routes started. Starting in the Discoverer with no immediately obvious method of money-making is a novel experience for me.

[Cpt.Jericho]

As Unknown Object said: Find the derelict ships ( there are quite a few in different sectors ) and sell what's on them; I'd keep the ships though; they are labeled unique ( though that's not entirely true as random traders spawn with them iirc). Also, if you decide to get that Toucan you may want to consider not to strip it completely. It's actually a decent trade ship. Life support system included.

[kmunoz]

As Unknown Object said: Find the derelict ships ( there are quite a few in different sectors ) and sell what's on them; I'd keep the ships though; they are labeled unique ( though that's not entirely true as random traders spawn with them iirc). Also, if you decide to get that Toucan you may want to consider not to strip it completely. It's actually a decent trade ship. Life support system included.

I ended up just selling the thing. I'm used to playing X3 with a bit more cash headroom at the start, and I was just getting annoyed being stuck in the under-10K range. And having that trader wasn't going to make a difference since I still needed all the software in order to make it work. Which I couldn't afford. So I just sold it and picked up a little hauler. I'm sure I'll regret it later!

[Cpt.Jericho]

Nah, no need to regret. Getting all blueprints for ships is overrated anyway. Once you have your PHQ and can produce your own ships you'll end up building less than a dozen (of several dozens) different ships anyway. Plus, I'm sure those "unique" ships spawn randomly as pirates for you to take over and collect.