Ok, everything I've read, seen, and assumed says that the Merchant Freighter is the best ship, in terms of efficiency, for trading. I wanted to confirm this, and also have a way of designing ships for a server we're setting up so that I'd know if I accidently designed a ship that blows away the others for various tasks (i.e. trading).

So I set up a spreadsheet, whereby I calculate how many turns does it take to exhaust an average port (assuming an average port well sell or buy 1000 units of product). Then I figure how many turns does it take to go from port-pair to port-pair (assuming an average distance between port-pairs of 5 warps). I do all this, and I get that the COLT is the best trader. If the number of warps between pairs is greater than 5, I get that the ISS or the Mule are the best. If the distance is greater than 12, I get the Mer. Freighter as the best.

I'm puzzled because I always thought the COLT burned so many of it's turns going between port-pairs that it was inefficient. So why is it that most people trade in Mer. Freighters, and not COLTs, ISS's, or Mules? Have I overlooked something? What do you think is a good average for port product and distance between pairs?

I acknowledge that I haven't considered that the prices a port offers get worse every cycle, so it's advantagous to be able to empty a port in fewer cycles. If I had considered this somehow, the COLT (and other high-cargo volume ships) would look better, and the Mer. Freighter looks worse.

Well..I'm inclined to agree with you as well. The reason I think that the Merchant freighter is pushed so much is because of how cheap it is and it doesn't suck up turns. But in terms of turn/hold capacity, the COLT or Colonial Transport are #1. However, when I play at first, what I like to do is grab a merchant freighter, trade till I get a few dollars and then go get a mule and max it out. The mule is my favorite because if I'm wandering around at first trying to find ports to trade at, I dont' want to use up too many turns. But if you already have many pairs to trade at and know exactly where your going, the Colt is the way to go. Yes, it uses more turns but it clears out the ports 4x+ as fast as the other trading ships. Of course, my all time favorite trading ship is the ISS. I can trade and not worry about someone trying to track me down. If they do, You can put up a decent fight. If I'm in a mule or Colt, I'm laying toll fighters behind me so that I'll at least get a warning to high-tail it out of there before I get hunted down.

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Ok, everything I've read, seen, and assumed says that the Merchant Freighter is the best ship, in terms of efficiency, for trading. I

Merfs are used initially because they're cheaper to max out, and because they don't burn as many turns looking for ports. (They can also use a holo-scanner.) I start out in merfs and then work my way up to colts after I can afford them and I have some ports staked out.

Suddenly you're Busted!

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Merfs are used initially because they're cheaper to max out, and because they don't burn as many turns looking for ports. (They can also use a holo-scanner.) I start out in merfs and then work my way up to colts after I can afford them and I have some ports staked out.


If for some reason I was still trading after I had money for something else, I would use an ISS. With it I could t-warp out to the port pairs that I had already marked out with my mf.

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So I set up a spreadsheet, whereby I calculate how many turns does it take to exhaust an average port (assuming an average port well sell or buy 1000 units of product). Then I figure how many turns does it take to go from port-pair to port-pair (assuming an average distance between port-pairs of 5 warps).


I'me guessing U didnt forget to add the turn for porting .. (joke)
If your going to be doing alot of moving U should use a ship with twarp to go between the pairs .. 3 hold loss for each sector .. but it soon makes up for itself .. you'll proabbly find that the cf is better than the mf when ur going 2-3 hops (just guessing) .. The mf is used because it's fast .. it has a holo scanner .. and it's cheap .. By the time you can afford a iss you really shouldnt need to ppt anymore as hopefully you'll be running colos .. or furbs .. I do agree tho .. the colt is one of your best ppt ships IF your ports are all in a straight line .. and they are all kinda full



<<Doctor Who>>

[quote]
I'me guessing U didnt forget to add the turn for porting .. (joke)
If your going to be doing alot of moving U should use a ship with twarp /quote]
No... I remembered
In case anyone still cares (if anyone EVER cared), I figured out the regimes for which you should use each ship. It turns out the most important parameter is (units of product at port)/(distance between port pairs), not surprising.

If you can get to the next port pair that has at least 190 units for each warp distance (if average ports have 1200 units, this means the distance must be less than 6.3 warps), the COLT is the best trader.

If you have to go farther or the ports are have less product, but still more than 78 units of product for each warp (15.4 sectors or less between port pairs with at least 1200 units), you should use the ISS or Mule.

If the ports are any farther or drier, you should use the Merchant Freighter. It's surprising that in a typical game, the Merf is not the best ship to trade in (for efficiency considerations), unless the port pairs are 15 sectors apart.

quote:
No... I remembered
In case anyone still cares (if anyone EVER cared), I figured out the regimes for which you should use each ship. It turns out the most important parameter is (units of product at port)/(distance between port pairs), not surprising.

If you can get to the next port pair that has at least 190 units for each warp distance (if average ports have 1200 units, this means the distance must be less than 6.3 warps), the COLT is the best trader.

If you have to go farther or the ports are have less product, but still more than 78 units of product for each warp (15.4 sectors or less between port pairs with at least 1200 units), you should use the ISS or Mule.

If the ports are any farther or drier, you should use the Merchant Freighter. It's surprising that in a typical game, the Merf is not the best ship to trade in (for efficiency considerations), unless the port pairs are 15 sectors apart.


I think that this is really cool that your looking into it this deep .. I dont that once too .. then I realised that this way of making money is crap .. there are better ways to make LOADS more as a blue .. I dont want to make U feel bad or anything .. but look beyond trading .. or at least traditional trading ..

Regards



<<Doctor Who>>

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I think that this is really cool that your looking into it this deep .. I dont that once too .. then I realised that this way of making money is crap .. there are better ways to make LOADS more as a blue .. I dont want to make U feel bad or anything .. but look beyond trading .. or at least traditional trading ..

Certainly, there's planet trading or farming for the blues, but in every game you gotta do SOME port pair trading. My real motivation here was that I'm setting up a server with some new ships and I wanted to be careful not to blow the game balance by making a trading ship so ridiculously good it makes PPT too profitable.

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Certainly, there's planet trading or farming for the blues, but in every game you gotta do SOME port pair trading. My real motivation here was that I'm setting up a server with some new ships and I wanted to be careful not to blow the game balance by making a trading ship so ridiculously good it makes PPT too profitable.


Heh, I wouldn't worry about that. Short of making every ship with more than 50 holds require a commision, a red will be able to make more money than a blue.