[X2] Any help with making money?

[Jimmyjamjohnson42]

Hi guys.

I have 2 SPPs. 1 located in argon prime and the other located in Herron's nebula. I have a vulture and rn i'm in a discoverer. I'm strapped for cash and need some help.
Post some suggestions down below.

[Red-Spot]

In X2 Mk3 traders are the bomb. I've always felt they where like cheats in X2, same as for the gunnery crews. Simply too powerful, but they make you good money.

Most of my X2 time, that what I did not spend scripting and modding the game, went into doing assassination and defend missions or pirating the pirates. It will steadily make you fight bigger targets and eventually make good money.
Trade through station ownership, meh, it becomes profitable in the long run but it will not help you short term.

[Jimmyjamjohnson42]

In X2 Mk3 traders are the bomb. I've always felt they where like cheats in X2, same as for the gunnery crews. Simply too powerful, but they make you good money.

Most of my X2 time, that what I did not spend scripting and modding the game, went into doing assassination and defend missions or pirating the pirates. It will steadily make you fight bigger targets and eventually make good money.
Trade through station ownership, meh, it becomes profitable in the long run but it will not help you short term.

Ok. I'll save up around a million to get another merc and give it a mk3 trade extension

[Hemmingfish]

I usually make most of my early game money in X2 by capturing pirates. Your starting Discoverer is strong enough to fight Bayamons and Mandalays right from the start, and they sell for quite a lot. There tends to be a steady stream of them in Atreus' Clouds due to the pirate base behind the ice nebula, and you can sell them quickly in Rolk's Fate.
For non-combat moneymaking you can look for missions that request certain amounts of materials to be delivered. Look for stations that are low on resources to find them, but make sure you can actually obtain the resources. If you're desperate you can also look for hidden crates inside stations. They're never anything fantastic, but if you're really screwed financially they're a nice bonus when you're looking for missions at stations anyway. Also, if you're not in the mood to hunt for missions you could do worse than filling up a transport with cheap Ore or Silicon. Their profit margins are incredible and Silicon in particular is used for a ton of products so it's not hard to sell.
For station money, the classic option is to make a Wheat Farm in The Hole. It takes a while to pay itself back but it's consistent, and has higher margins than Solar Power Plants. I would not have recommended starting with Solar Power Plants, but I'm guessing you made them because you expected them to produce energy for free like the NPC stations. I made the same mistake on my first playthrough.

[Red-Spot]

You'll have to put some love into them. You can however speed things up by 'building' a nursery. Most will probably point to certain sectors like Empire's Edge (2 sectors south of Paranid Prime) to use as a nursery.
It could be a good starting point. However any sector with say 8 to 10-ish stations can be used. Add a bunch of other factories that can sell/buy within that same sector, possibly in a loop with itself. This way you can quickly make a sector with 20-ish stations (or more) in it and help your Mk3 traders level up asap and you can actually train more than 1 in tandem .. while eventually making a profit from that sectors output alone.

[Jimmyjamjohnson42]

I usually make most of my early game money in X2 by capturing pirates. Your starting Discoverer is strong enough to fight Bayamons and Mandalays right from the start, and they sell for quite a lot. There tends to be a steady stream of them in Atreus' Clouds due to the pirate base behind the ice nebula, and you can sell them quickly in Rolk's Fate.
For non-combat moneymaking you can look for missions that request certain amounts of materials to be delivered. Look for stations that are low on resources to find them, but make sure you can actually obtain the resources. If you're desperate you can also look for hidden crates inside stations. They're never anything fantastic, but if you're really screwed financially they're a nice bonus when you're looking for missions at stations anyway. Also, if you're not in the mood to hunt for missions you could do worse than filling up a transport with cheap Ore or Silicon. Their profit margins are incredible and Silicon in particular is used for a ton of products so it's not hard to sell.
For station money, the classic option is to make a Wheat Farm in The Hole. It takes a while to pay itself back but it's consistent, and has higher margins than Solar Power Plants. I would not have recommended starting with Solar Power Plants, but I'm guessing you made them because you expected them to produce energy for free like the NPC stations. I made the same mistake on my first playthrough.

Yeah. I thought that once you have spps itd be running fine. Man was i wrong!

[Jimmyjamjohnson42]

You'll have to put some love into them. You can however speed things up by 'building' a nursery. Most will probably point to certain sectors like Empire's Edge (2 sectors south of Paranid Prime) to use as a nursery.
It could be a good starting point. However any sector with say 8 to 10-ish stations can be used. Add a bunch of other factories that can sell/buy within that same sector, possibly in a loop with itself. This way you can quickly make a sector with 20-ish stations (or more) in it and help your Mk3 traders level up asap and you can actually train more than 1 in tandem .. while eventually making a profit from that sectors output alone.

I see. Thanks for the tip!