Most succesful closed-loop complex?

[Knight Shadow Wolf]

Some people have talked about a manual trade run and I believe they are talking about the MTC. Is this so? If so how do I set up my 'Armoury' complex with a M3\4 ship to sell the 1MJ shields constantly to a nearby EQ?

[jlehtone]

People talk about X3TC, and X3TC has touched the stock trading scripts a bit.

Technically, the (X3R) MTC is rather automatic compared to the pure manual command of freight fleet (MORT ala esd).

To set up to sell constantly to nearby ED definitely means fulliautomatix solution, which is most definitely "not manual".

[Smyde]

I was just looking at profitability last night and was looking at all the weapons / missile / shields fabs. I put 5 fabs along with a L food source and an ore mine, the only thing needed was 18000 ecells per hour. The most profitable was EBC Ammo however it can only be sold to the teladi, shadow missiles were next but by the time u can get them you can get them cash isn't an issue and they are very costly.

That leaves dragonfly missiles as the best. Best profit and one of the cheapest fabs to buy. Stick it in a sector with an equipment dock that doesn't sell them and a cheap frieghter on manual trade run and money should flow in quite quickly

[Carlo the Curious]

Did you check Tractor Beams? iirc, those were the most profitable in X3R (although not the best ROI).

[Smyde]

Did you check Tractor Beams? iirc, those were the most profitable in X3R (although not the best ROI).

Yeah I did, they were up there but not the best plus cost more to build, dragonflys also had the best roi paying themselves off in under 12 hours (not including the ecell loop costs). When I get home tonight I can post the full list if you want

[dragondream]

I have over 400M credits so I was looking for something to really put some money into that I don't have to worry about buying products, I just sit back and enjoy the profit while I do the plots. On the link that em3e3 provided I found a very interesting complex idea.

Spoiler

Show

The "Argon 1 of everything Complex" that costs around 290M to set up.

With this complex I will be able to refill my ships on weapons easily plus extra profit for selling off some of the stuff ...

[Smyde]

I recently did a similar thing, I have built a missile complex of the various missles I plan to use, at the moment I am filling a tl with the
then just sell the extras for a while.

I am going to do the same thing with weapons

[musky_mus]

tasty tasty micro chips

[Esgaro]

I would be curious to know what the best good is that actually sells itself. 1 MJ shields are the best I've tried, as they will always go. You don't have to offload them to an equipment dock. Do some of the missiles or EBC ammo that have a higher return actually get bought?

[musky_mus]

I would be curious to know what the best good is that actually sells itself. 1 MJ shields are the best I've tried, as they will always go. You don't have to offload them to an equipment dock. Do some of the missiles or EBC ammo that have a higher return actually get bought?

Well i havent done any calculations but when I first set the prices in my chip plants to max, the npcs kept buying them. I had to resort to my own docked TS to make sure I got to them 1st.

[dragondream]

Microchips and 1Mj shields are the two things the x universe never seems to have enough of. Microchips because you need them for most darn weapons, and 1MJ shields... well because my chunky M1's are blowing up so many TS ships you can never get enough ...

[longinus0000]

Everyone says 1MJ shields sells great, but what if you want to setup some huge, like 50 x 1MJ shields. While that sell or tank?
I built 40 x Silkworm complex and ferry them to EQ via M3/M4 since I read that missles had the most profit margin.
I just want to know when someone says that their foodplex sells well, how big is it.

[Esgaro]

A 50 strong 1 MJ complex will sell fine. I have a 40, and it has no problems selling out. Occasionally you will sit without a sale for a cycle or so, and then some freighter will come in with a giant order you never have a chance of being able to fill.

[mrbadger]

Everyone says 1MJ shields sells great, but what if you want to setup some huge, like 50 x 1MJ shields. While that sell or tank?

It would sell, but it's a bad idea. Remember that trade is about more than money, it's about race and trade reputation. Five complexes with five to ten 1mj sheild fabs each, spread around the map and selling to each of the races is a much better plan.

I say five to ten, rather than just ten because ten 1mj sheild fabs will cost a lot to build, given all the support fabs you will need. Five is a good number in my humble opinion.

[Choublanc]

Did you check Tractor Beams? iirc, those were the most profitable in X3R (although not the best ROI).

Yeah I did, they were up there but not the best plus cost more to build, dragonflys also had the best roi paying themselves off in under 12 hours (not including the ecell loop costs). When I get home tonight I can post the full list if you want

On the top of it, in X3R a Tractor Beam fab required no mineral, only food and energy (a bug probably). That was nice. A TB Fab still returns the second revenue in TC after a Shadow missiles one when sold in bulk at minimum price (196k credit per hour), but it cost 14 millions. Not really a bargain.

Dragonfly fabs are OK only if you have a handful of them, because the product needs a lot of storage space (200 cargospace per hour/per fab). IMHO the 3 important criteria when choosing missiles to make money are the price of the factory, the revenue when the product is sold in bulk at minimum price, and, crucial if you hate micromanagement, the needed cargo to store the products.

That’s why Mosquito/Firefly/Aurora Fabs must be avoided: they require a huge cargospace per hour (900 !, 600, 270) and return mediocre money.
2 missile fabs only match all the 3 criteria : Tomahawk and Phantom
188k/hour at min price, cheap fab, and respectively the outstanding 18 and 9 cargo space requirement per fab per hour.
If the price of the fab isn’t an issue, Typhoon/Firestorm/Cyclone are good too.

It would sell, but it's a bad idea. Remember that trade is about more than money, it's about race and trade reputation. Five complexes with five to ten 1mj sheild fabs each, spread around the map and selling to each of the races is a much better plan.

iirc you get trade rank increase only if you sell over average price (in X3R for sure and I guess also in TC, can anyone confirm?). And 1mj seem to sell very well only if the price is set average-1. So no trade “bonus”.

[Sesk]

I did the math, and Space Weed sells for 4,000/min (avg price) and Space Fuel sells for 4,700/min. Did I do my math wrong?

And, yes, I am bringing up illegal goods, like the post above mentioned, they are primary goods that only require a direct chain from enery cells -> food -> goods.

I also have done the math, Chip plants bring in less than space weed that bring in less (30k less per hour) than space fuel.

From what I heard, Chips sell pretty quick, and from what I experienced, Space Fuel/Weed sells pretty quick too (X3R/X3TC).

134,760/Hour from Chips
273,000/Hour from Space Fuel
242,667/Hour from Space Weed

Why am I getting different data? Sure I do want to make other things than illegal goods, but they seem to fetch to most and since I'm producing in my own sector I would have no problem with the military. Only problem would be the demand that would shift depending on where I am, but AFAIK Weed/Fuel sells as well everywhere since every one demands some, right?

[mrbadger]

iirc in you get trade rank increase only if you sell over average price (in X3R for sure and I guess also in TC, can anyone confirm?). And 1mj seem to sell very well only if the price is set average-1. So no trade “bonus”.

You only get trade rank increases if you own the ships doing the selling, which makes sense really. If you rely on npc ships, all you get is race rep.

[Choublanc]

134,760/Hour from Chips
273,000/Hour from Space Fuel
242,667/Hour from Space Weed

Why am I getting different data? Sure I do want to make other things than illegal goods, but they seem to fetch to most and since I'm producing in my own sector I would have no problem with the military. Only problem would be the demand that would shift depending on where I am, but AFAIK Weed/Fuel sells as well everywhere since every one demands some, right?

One element is missing in your math: you are using L size booze/weed fabs. Tech fab are “S” (small) size. A tech fab “S” must be compared to a “M” food fab, both are using 3600 energy cells/hour to produce something in a self-sustaining complex (M-wheat + M-Fuel, or S-missile + S-bogas + S-bofu + S-ore).
With 3600 EC, your revenue when producing Space fuel isn’t 273k/hour, but 2.5x less = 109k. At average price, you get 202k for most missile fabs. Almost twice as much.

You only get trade rank increases if you own the ships doing the selling, which makes sense really. If you rely on npc ships, all you get is race rep.

Are you sure of that? I remember X3R threads were the conclusion was that trade rank increase only if you sell at more than average, or buy at less than avg. Regardless if you are using your ship or if npc stop at your factory.

[dragondream]

Well, from reading this thread that got 25 replies in one day , I think most of you guys would go for the Spacefuel or Spaceweed complex. What I want to know is where do you guys set up these illegal complexes without getting constantly attacked by Pirates, Kha'ak, Xenon, or the Race Military ...

EDIT: Although come to think of it, one of you suggested building it in a Terran Sector which I might try out, since there are no illegal goods there.

[LordForrester]

In X3R I took over the central Pirate sectors and built there. Building in Bala Gi's Joy is a good place cause the gates are close together.

Drop some Strong Patrols in Split Fire, Brennan's and Farnham's Legend. You now have 5 sectors that you can build anything in.

I moved all the way over to Hatikvah's Faith. I also had an M2 set to guard the gate to sector 101. So I have 9 safe sectors that I can do anything I want to with.


You get a LOT of traffic in this area.