Smuggling out of Sothis/Ceos

[JohnLuke]

I'm going to have to put an Asp together and make the run this weekend. Sounds like fun!

[Roger Wilco Jr]

I tried it again today in the Asp with A3 scoop and A3 shields with two A0 boosters. I also had twin chaff launchers because I ran out once on my first trip. That gives me 110T cargo and I can scoop at 160-165, which is pretty fast, at least compared to my first trip with the A1 scoop. I have guns and shields because I like to take out some of the pirates.

This run I had 17 missions with 108T cargo and made 74 million. It took about 4 hours, but that included two very long trips to outposts (a bit of bad luck there). That's still 125% more than I could have made on the trade grind.

I usually have no problem submitting and boosting away. If they manage to start a scan, I just pop a chaff. My problem is that even when submitting I sometimes get spun around and popping chaff doesn't avoid the scan. Also, the cops are tenacious. I've been interdicted 5 times in a row and then they show up and ram me on approach to the outpost. I popped two chaff and went silent and the bastard still scanned me. But the fines are still peanuts compared to the profits. For me it's about 150:1. I should be able to avoid more scans with practice.

One thing - I took a break for lunch and a movie (day off ). When I came back, I wasn't bothered at all on my last 6 missions. On my next trip, I may find a hidey-hole and see if it works again.

[A Charming Gimp]

Slightly important update - I made an interesting discovery.

The size of your cargo hold is not a hard limit to how much you can do. I accidentally sold my gold I had to deliver for one of the smuggling missions, then filled the rest of the cargo up with other smuggling loot. Just bought more gold at a nearby extraction-based economy and dropped it off...

TLDR:
Accept mission.
Get given gold, tobacco, etc.
Sell on commodities market.
Accept more missions.
Deliver those missions.
As cargo space frees up, direct yourself past systems where you can replace the missing gold/tobacco etc.

May make sense to sell off the stuff for the missions with the longest clock on them.

[A Charming Gimp]

[Dunno if my other post worked.]

Your cargo hold doesn't limit your earning potential.

I accidentally sold my gold - just re-sourced some near the location. Am going back to do an entire load, plus a half-load of ghost goods.

[clivewil]

But the fines are still peanuts compared to the profits.

it wasn't always like that though, was it? i seem to recall some time ago, players complaining about being fined for amounts worth more than the value of their cargo - for that reason, when i first got scanned and hastily read the text at the top right of the screen, i thought my fine was 59 mil not 59k (because my load was worth around 55 mil at the time) - and the second scan cost me 156k, which was a pittance to pay for a 110 mil run

i sent both of my cmdrs there and did a couple of runs each; they made around 85 mil on top of the new ships they bought for the job, which were also paid for by the proceeds - 2x Python worth about 91 mil each. around 350 mil in total just from a few days work - a bit of planning, a lot of patience, plenty of interdictions, and some combat to boot

...but i think i'm going to stick to the HazRESes for my cash now, for a while at least. i'd rather live with the risk of merely getting killed, rather than the risk of being scanned, being late and fined, being interdicted, and also being killed

[Trinity Star]

Highest fine so far is 84k which wasn't so bad compared to the 5.5m payout.

[JohnLuke]

I made the Sothis / Ceos / Robigo run this morning in a Asp setup for 100 tons of cargo.

A big *Thank you* to Victoria for the tip on Robego. I received a LOT of great missions from that station!

I learned a few things.....

1) don't take too many missions! I had 27... yes 27 missions to fulfill. I ended up running out of time and desire to finish about 6-8 of them.

2) if you hate interdictions, this is not a good smuggling run for you! They come at you fast and hard at every jump. I only encountered two large ships (Python and Conda) during my 20+ interdictions, but was able to run from all of the ones that I didn't kill. I lost my puny shields a few times, but made it to the station in one piece. I think I'll go for bigger shields next time.

3) Don't have any RL activities planned for the next several hours once you start taking missions. The timer is anywhere from 2-10 hours per mission from what I experienced.

I plan to do the Sothis / Ceos / Robigo run again tomorrow, and will apply some learned knowledge from today's run.

Oh yeah..... I made just over $50mil in about 5.5 hours.

BTW, I was only fined once and I think it was around $14k. Chump change, to say the least.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

Got shot down by a wing of a Clipper and his friend. Got away once, but couldn't survive the mass-locked pounding twice. But the missions were still there when I re-spawned. I just resourced the cargo locally and the cheapest mission I had more than paid for the insurance (but not the lost time). It kinda makes me want to get a Python, but I have no combat experience in one. I'll have to research outfitting one.

[JohnLuke]

Sorry to hear about your ship's untimely destruction, Roger Wilco. That stinks.

I'm not using my Python for the smuggling run due to the low jump range. Too many hops with such a high probability of interdictions, IMO.

I forgot to post this screenshot this morning..... I call it "Lot's of deliveries to make" LOL!

[Roger Wilco Jr]

Sorry to hear about your ship's untimely destruction, Roger Wilco. That stinks.

Yup, thanks.

Back when I was flying the Asp I pretty much only had to worry about Pythons, but could generally still run away. Now they have Clippers and Vultures and FDLs and the latest the new Fed Assault Ship, which can all take out an Asp. Maybe the Asp is not such a great all-arounder anymore.

I guess it wasn't configured as a pure combat ship, so that may not be fair. Meh.