Smuggling out of Sothis/Ceos

[Zadkiel]

Some of you may have seen all the 'fuss' on the main forums about people making lots of cash via long-range smuggling out of Sothis (the system that just finished a CG to create a new rare good). It's unclear if these smuggling missions are fully intended, or an 'accident' but it's also clear that for now at least, FDEV are leaving them in the game. For how long we don't know, but it's likely they won't last for long as they were probably put in as a reward for the CG.

Here's a quick guide.

First, buy one of these and get it to Sothis - it's a long way from the guild home area (about 600LY) but it's worth it.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/cobra_mk_iii/ ... =.Aw1-kA==

That's a Cobra build for this. It's my opinion that it's the best ship for the job. Asp and DBE are also valid choices, and they have a longer range than the Cobra making some aspects of the traveling required easier, but the sheer speed of the Cobra (450km/s in this configuration) make it the best not only for sneaking into stations but also for evading fights when you are interdicted (and you will be).

Cycle though the bulletin board in Sothis in Open, Solo and Group - you are looking for high paying smuggling missions - the trick is to only take ones that pay at least 500k per tonne - that 2mil mission to carry 12 tonnes is a bad choice, skip it and look for better cr/tonne rates.

Unfortunately some missions are locked behind requirements of trade rank and reputation, but not all, I've seen missions paying 4mil to carry 6 tonnes with a requirement of mostly penniless and unfriendly. it'll just take a bit longer.

On the subject of Reputation, Sothis has 1 Federation aligned faction (who owns the station) and 3 independents. The station in Ceos is owned by one of the same independents and has the same Fed faction and one of the other same independents. Take all and any charity missions you see pop up for those 4 factions and build up your rep, this will open up more of the smuggling missions (as will completing the ones you get).

Once you've cycled through the Sothis board a few times, fly over to the nearby system of Ceos and repeat the same there. I find it takes approx 2 loops (Sothis -> Ceos -> Sothis -> Ceos), cycling twice through the 3 game modes at each to 'fill up' on missions, i.e. get 40 tonnes worth, which should be worth a total of around 25-30 million (my record was 36mil)

Now comes the fun part, you now have to travel about 400LY to drop off all the goods you're now carrying, and you're going to get a lot of heat, every system after you jump in you will get a mix of:

1) Cops announcing they want to scan you
2) NPCs saying they want to talk to you
3) NPCs saying they want your stuff

Number 2 you can ignore, they'll just drop a low-wake which you just ignore. The other 2 will try and interdict you. And with the Interdiction game being broken right now, chances are they will succeed. But just set 4 pips to engines and boost, boost, boost and they won't be able to catch you, nothing can keep up with the Cobra. If you start taking some shots, just drop a chaff to give you the time to get out of weapon range. Get your FSD back up and jump to the next system.

You will need to refuel using the scoop, you want to save this for the systems when you only get type 2 NPCs, which actually happens quite commonly.

At your destinations, you will need to sneak into stations (outposts are fine, no cops) - don't bother with silent running, just use the cobra speed to zoom in before they scan you. 95% of the time the cops won't even get a scan, and on the rare occasion they do, you've got 10 seconds to get into the slot, which is ample time.

You should be able to plot a route around your mission destinations with at most 3 hops between then, and usually just 1 or 2.

The total time to make your 30+ mil cr is around 2-3 hours. And only the last hour of that is actually running the missions, you spend more time in Sothis/Ceos picking the missions up.

[Phreedom]

Since trying to evade interdiction is a bit messed up right now, I suggest to submit to the interdiction. By doing this you get your FSD back online A LOT quicker, less than 10 seconds, which makes it easier to get away.

When you jump into a new system, keep your eye on the FSD cool down circle to the lower right. As soon as it finishes, punch it! You'll evade some interdictions this way, sometimes you jump out of the interdiction attempt.

Tonight I had my best run out of Sothis. I noted my credit balance and the time when I left Newholm Station in my Asp (64T cargo). 42 minutes later I delivered my last smuggling mission and earned 52.6 million credits. 1.25 million per minute if you want to look at it that way. Now this was with Elite trading status which I earned by running these smuggling runs for the last 2 days now. So get out there and get it while it lasts CMDR's...it's raining credits out there.

[Trinity Star]

Robigo is slighty closer (found this on the official forums), went to founders world and bought a cobra, a-rated everything for just under 7m. Finishing last few missions now, going to be nearly 30m profit

[Golem]

Kit out an ASP without fuelscoop: 64t cargo, extra fueltanks 32t + 8t + 8t + 4t and you can travel around + 400 ly without scooping. Works well for me.

[clivewil]

interdictions give me the shits so if i hear "the one with the big haul" in comms my technique is a little different - i drop out of cruise and deploy weapons, set power. in a few seconds the pirate will jump in and immediately get shot in the fucking neck. my journey continues, his does not

my first trip was in an unarmed long-range Asp but i was getting interdicted literally every few seconds and it had to stop. before the next run i kitted out a Python; i never liked them much but apart from a minor disadvantage of a short jump range, for Sothis they seem to work very well for the way i play:

Asp was unarmed but even with weapons, is a vulnerable fighter. Python can, and did, kill anything in front of it.
Asp took ages to stop after a fast station entry and usually ended up kissing the rear wall. Python stops much quicker.
Asp got scanned 3 times. Python never got scanned, managed to run every time.
Asp had 84t and needed to compromise on shield and fuel scoop. Python with 200t also dropped a shield class, but with 4x A0 boosters it was still adequate. also carries 2x SCBs. fuel scoop is fast, and makes for much more pleasant flying even though its jump range is small - with the Asp i felt like i was sitting there for ages, watching the fuel gauge slowly slowly slowly fill

obviously everyone has their own methods and preferences, but this is how it worked for me. and i now have some love for the Python that i didn't before.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

Thanks for the tip, Zadkiel.

I thought I'd give it a go and saw a ton of other commanders doing the same. I reconfigured my old 'combat' Asp with down graded shields, small fuel scoop, and 116T of cargo space. I got 16 missions with 115T of cargo worth 77.5 million credits and boosted me from 3% to 16% Tycoon. That was the good news. The bad news was that it took 7.5 hours. I wasted a ton of time fuel scooping, and also taking a Sidey taxi back to Alioth to pick up my Asp. It took 2 hours just to get to Sothis. Then I spent forever collecting missions, logging out and in and jumping between Sothis and Ceos 8 times. Finally, got interdicted constantly. Almost every system had a cop that could somehow smell that I was smuggling. And somehow pirates would often ambush me at stations or outposts. Anyway, it was still over 10 million/hr, which beats the trader grind by 20% and is more fun and exciting.

I've already upgraded the scoop and hope missions will come much faster next time (hoping to be allied with the factions). I figure I aught to be able to do it in half the time or less.

It's way too easy to make money in this game.

[Zadkiel]

The NPCs are generated by the missions, and the more missions you have, the more NPCs and Interdictions you will get. I'm not surprised you had big problems running 16 missions at once, it's bad enough in my Cobra with 6-7.

[Golem]

Don´t fuelscoop in the asp as i said and jump as soon as possible so you can avoid roughly 90% of the interdictions. with 64t you can roughly do missions for 35-40 mil. I go to Almagest first to pick up missions, then Ceos and then Sothis.

[MrGuarnere]

Another here for the Asp. Did it for like 2hrs last night and made 20m. Managed to jump 500ly without refuelling. The Asp isn't great but gets the job done and its quick so you can always run away.

[Telengo]

I went with the long range Asp as well. Carrying 48t of fuel or something, no weapons but fully A Rated with full shield boosters (3A shield). When interdicted I just submit, push the throttle back up before I have dropped and get at least 3 boosts in before they even know when I have gone. The long range means just one fuel scoop in between stations they aren't catching me.