X2: How to make money in the late game?

[HashtagMC]

I've sunk about 40 hours into my current save, completed the plot, and amassed a bunch of ships and stations, and yet, I seem to barely make money. I've got 38 million, which I worked hard for, but lately, that number seems to stagnate.

I've got 10 universe traders and about 12 stations. Each of these stations has incredibly profit margins, up to 50% (i.e. delexian wheat, breaking even at 21 or less and selling for 40). Their traders run the advanced trading software (bonus package plugin) and the money for that comes out of the station funds, and they each make good money and hit the cap after which money is transferred into my account, but only just barely. I get the feeling that many of them are stuck in a loop where all new income is immediately invested back into resources and the surplus money I assumed would accumulate over time does so slower than expected.

I've been making money by hunting down those assassination missions, but those are far and few between.

I hoped I could sell my fighter escorts and sector patrol ships after the plot, since everywhere on the web said the Khaak would stop being a problem after Omicron Lyrae – that hope vanished the moment a single M3 vaporised my fully loaded M6 in ten seconds flat.

(In general, I've been save-scumming like nuts, since by the time I hear "one of your ships is under attack", the ship in question is already beyond rescue. Hate it.)

So what's the plan to make cash in the late game? I wanted to save up for an M2, massacre some Xenon sectors, max out the combat ranks, but no dice. After a few early station buying mistakes, I've built mostly stations that take only energy cells or widely available resources, i.e. Wheat Farms, Plankton Farms, I got some BoFu and BoGas going on, Rastar Oil, etc. I put some stations where they really ought to sell like crazy, meaning stations from race A into territory of race B so B's traders don't have to go far to buy (this has been paying off with Plankton and BoGas), but still… I SETA for an hour and come back to maybe 10,000 Cr more than before.

What's the catch, what am I missing? Any ideas? Because I'm all out.

Thanks in advance!

[RainerPrem]

I've sunk about 40 hours into my current save, completed the plot, and amassed a bunch of ships and stations, and yet, I seem to barely make money. I've got 38 million, which I worked hard for, but lately, that number seems to stagnate.

...

What's the catch, what am I missing? Any ideas? Because I'm all out.

Thanks in advance!

If I remember correctly (It's nearly 20 years ago) I was making money with producing and selling weapons. The big ones (Gamma PIK?) are very slow, but give a lot of money.

[HashtagMC]

If I remember correctly (It's nearly 20 years ago) I was making money with producing and selling weapons. The big ones (Gamma PIK?) are very slow, but give a lot of money.

Is that more feasible than shields? I got a 25MW factory and it's a major pain, because all the equipment docks that routinely stock them are always at capactiy, and "Sell Ware For Best Price" ignores equipment docks that don't stock them (but would buy them regardless).

[RainerPrem]

If I remember correctly (It's nearly 20 years ago) I was making money with producing and selling weapons. The big ones (Gamma PIK?) are very slow, but give a lot of money.

Is that more feasible than shields? I got a 25MW factory and it's a major pain, because all the equipment docks that routinely stock them are always at capactiy, and "Sell Ware For Best Price" ignores equipment docks that don't stock them (but would buy them regardless).

Automatic sales of big weapons is anyway not feasible, because they cover only a small part of a ship's storage, and the factories can only store one or two. (again: If I remember correctly after that many years)

[jlehtone]

More traders, more factories that do trade. One may not make much, but every drop adds to the stream.


Xenon Invasion (XI) missions. They have the unfortunate discrepancy that the reward they say they pay is much lower than what is actually added to the player account. Killing just one Xenon K was millions. Cheesy?

True, missions are harder to find. The XI are announced near (like within three jumps) from Xenon sector, which narrows down the stations to check. When there is mission, every BBS in the area shows it. In X3R the XI missions appeared about every 8 ingame hours.

[HashtagMC]

Xenon Invasion (XI) missions. They have the unfortunate discrepancy that the reward they say they pay is much lower than what is actually added to the player account. Killing just one Xenon K was millions. Cheesy?

Oh that's good to know! I did one and when the message said I'd earned something like 30k for shooting down a small nation's worth of Xenon, I said eff it and didn't do another since. The more you know! Gotta get on the lookout for those ASAP xD