"Elite:Dangerous is a game, not work!"

[TorTorden]

Here's some money, go get it.

https://eddb.io/trade/loop/2552951

[Relix Typhon]

A small example, from my own current experience: Doing loop routes (from EDDB) I can earn about 1.8m per hour in my 244 ton Python.

Umm.... you may want to look in another area. Your results seemed light to me, so I looked at some of my old trade routes that I have saved in Inara. I verified a few 35-40ly A-B-A routes that are paying $3-4k per ton. In your Python, that is $3-4mil per hour (4 loops per hour).

Yeah I guess I was being conservative in my estimates. even 3mil per hour is not really good enough. OR yeah, keep it at that but have an optional, occasional way of a cash boost.
Like I said, limit Sothis runs to once a week or fortnight or/and a max of 500 tonnes.

Here's some money, go get it.

https://eddb.io/trade/loop/2552951

Thanks Tor but those prices are 4 days old. No way they'll be anywhere near that now. The system seems to keep a balance of around 3-4k profit per ton, max. they must have some complex algorithms that constantly check prices and shuffle them around. I've noticed it's become much more efficient recently as well!

[eckso]

Here are my experiences as a new player, having starting in mid September. This is mostly anecdotal food for thought, with a mild conclusion at the end.

So I'm more or less a newbie who is struggling with credits. My assets are around 60,000,000, growing in a very slow creep. Things are somewhat better now, in that with my Asp Explorer, I have much more freedom to explore the various aspects of the game, but credits are still a real problem. In my experience, at my current progression, playing the game properly won't yield multiple millions per hour. Only optimized farming with the assistance of third-party tools, or gaming the game, will allow for that in any reasonable amount of time.

Even with eddb, et al, it will be a long while before I'll be able to afford a Fer-de-Lance or, my dream, an Anaconda; because during the the time I'm able to play the game, I can actually play the game, or I can try to make more money to buy those ships. The two are mutually exclusive, imo:

Making significant amounts of money is unfun downtime. It's something I do while watching streams or Netflix because otherwise it would be intolerable. There are fun activities that generate money, but not significant amounts of money, in the multiples of millions - at least, not in my stage of the game. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Here is my progression from the beginning up to now.

1. Data and delivery missions. Eventually I made enough to buy a Cobra, and sourcing missions became somewhat profitable - relatively speaking. Still, this took weeks. When missions were broken in 2.2, I had no choice but to find another way to make money. Hereabout I had saved enough for a Cobra.

2. So I did some research and learned about rare trading and the Lave loop. I finally started making real money - again, relatively speaking - but boy was that tedious. Luckily, it was only a week or two before I could afford a T6.

3. Armed with the T6, I researched trade loops with eddb, and started doing Imperial Slave runs. After another week or two, I earned enough for an Asp Explorer.

4. So now I have an Asp Explorer. I can enjoy most of what the game has to offer, except larger ships. It's very unlikely that I'll be able to afford those anytime soon (months) without a generous donation. Commodity trading is still the most reliable legitimate way I've found to generate credits, and is still mind-numbingly boring. So again, do I want to have fun, or do I want to make money?

5. A lot of my early November was spent experimenting with different ways to make money with my Asp, and optimizing the ways I already knew. So the goal here is to find a fast, reliable way to make money - not for its own sake, but so I give more of my time to not finding money. I want to be able to say, "Oh, my funds have dipped. Guess I'd better go do [revenue-generating activity] for an hour or five so I can play in peace for the next few days." But I've pretty much hit a wall. Slave trading and bounty hunting are the best I can do, and bounty hunting isn't predictable. The amount of money I can reliably make per hour is basically a function of my cargo capacity, and maybe my FSD mod level.

6. For the moment, the money making is on hold while I spend more time exploring the game. The problem is still there, but I'm tired of working. It's time to have some fun.

Aside:

When I say "legitimate" ways of making money, I mean ways of generating credits that do not game the game - like stacking skimmer missions or whatever. To me, those violate the spirit of the game. At the same time, it's very necessary for anyone who wants to progress, but doesn't have 8 hours per day to dump into the game.

There's one aspect of my story that might be notable:

In my early game, I stopped doing missions and started researching trading and mining only after missions were nerfed in 2.2. You could read that as: I stopped doing the easy stuff, stopped reaching for the low-hanging fruit, only after that fruit was taken away.

Which is why I wasn't utterly horrified when the missions were nerfed. It motivated me to go do research, which led me to eddb, Inara, the ED forums - to the community at large - which has been a great experience. And it forced me to learn that there are in fact much more effective ways to generate income in a predictable way.

But take the story of my friend, on the other hand. I bought him ED so I'd have someone to play with, and it's been nothing but pain for him. He doesn't want to come home from work and have to study in order to succeed at a game. When missions were nerfed, he was utterly lost, and ready to quit. If I hadn't told him about the Lave loop, he wouldn't have found it. If I hadn't taught him about commodity trading, he wouldn't have bothered to learn. If I hadn't dumped 10,000,000 in commodities for him, he wouldn't own an Asp Explorer. He doesn't enjoy spending hours researching, like I did, like many of us do. And he enjoys playing other games, which further diminishes his time for ED. Maybe this says that ED isn't the game for him; or maybe it says something about how ED treats new players who aren't willing to invest their lives in the game.

Final consideration, a reflection on my first weeks with the game:

In the early game, I think it should be difficult to make money so that new players advance slowly, giving them time to learn the very complex game mecahnics. There's so much to learn - not least of which is how to fly a damn space ship! - that it shouldn't be rushed. The later game would be wasted on anyone who didn't have the experience of a gentle introduction in early game. You can't learn algebra before learning arithmetic. I wouldn't have known what to do with an Anaconda in my first weeks with the game.

But for my part, while I believe I'm past the "early game" stage, it will nonetheless be months before I get to fly an Anaconda. That's a tough pill to swallow. Again, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I've optimized my money-making as best I know how.

Conclusion:

The amount of money one can legitimately generate should better scale with one's progress in the game.

[cyberbofh]

The recipe is simple.

If your not having fun stop doing it !

That includes maybe not playing this game att all.

I am sorry, but I don't agree with that
If something isn't fun, try to change it so it will become fun again.
In this case, Frontier not knowing/realizing that the (lack of) money part has a way too big impact on the game experience
You should be able to play the game just a couple of hours a week and enjoy it, but unless you already have some money, now it means work work work to get a few credits.. while most people just want to enjoy all the wonderful things that Elite:Dangerous has to offer

Stopping because it isn't fun? No! Try to make it fun again!
That is why I said to let Frontier know about this, only when Frontier gets feedback from us users they are able to understand a problem and be able to find a solution for it.

[cyberbofh]

That was the initial reason I rested the game for almost a year because I as a father have a work and 2 children (13 and 5) which is enough work as it is. This endless grinding for money so you could enjoy a better ship wore me out to the point that I gave it up. I mean when I have my two hours to myself in the evening I don't want to feel like I'm the rat race again for another 2 hours until I go to bed......

Gesendet von iPad mit Tapatalk

Yes CMDR, I totally agree
After a busy day you don't want to do that other job too. You got that game for a reason, to have fun
Of course some games take some time to get to a certain level, we all know that, but it also should be possible to enjoy the wonderful things that Elite:Dangerous has to offer us without the (mandatory) grinding

Anyway, if you need some help with the credits, feel free to add me in game. Maybe we can do some trading/bounty hunting/something else together
Or.. if you're in a silly mood, have a SRV rally or Eagle race on some planet

[CMDR Abil Midena]

This is going to sound salty, but I am so tired of the 'I want it now, with no effort' crowd, who can't see the forest...

There is no money shortage in the game. Money grows on friggin space trees now. As JL said, you can easily get in a Conda in a month, tops. The forums have people doing it in a day.

You don't like to play so you can get money? Email FD, tell them you don't feel like playing the game, and to put 500M in your bank. Then you can go buy a Conda.

But guess what. None of that matters. Once you get a Cobra and A fit it, you can do everything in the game. And you will figure that out when you have your big ship and start doing the exact same things you were in your Cobra. Then what.

So give it a rest. Money flows so easily in the game, but it doesn't even matter. If you don't like doing the things in the game (expo, trade, BGS support, mine, missions, etc), you're not going to like doing them in a bigger ship. If the 'things to do' in the game are not fun for you, post in the FD forums (suggestions thread) explaining what would be fun for you, then go play something else until they change it.

[Relix Typhon]

eckso, you have absolutely hit the nail on the head with that post. You are either having fun, or earning money.

I dont think anyone is saying you should be in an Anaconda within a month and if people run a tedious exploit over and over to get what they want, so what, let them do it.
I did Ceos about once a month because I found it a bit boring (especially in smaller ships where you have to refuel often) but it gave me a nice cash injection.

So to further my scenario, say someone has now got their well fitted 'conda and done their 100 or so hours of monotonous money earning, but then thinks they'd like a Corvette, they then have to earn half a billion credits; PLUS get to rear admiral in the Federation which based on current mission payout, you wouldn't earn anything on and is probably (best guess) another 40-50 hours (without exploiting donations).
Now you could sell the anaconda and put it towards the 'vette and some people would be happy to do that but from a personal point of view, I dont like doing that, I like verity and being able to swap ships and roles often.

I'm honestly wondering if FD are going to introduce micro-transactions because the time gates are getting so large, a lot of people simply don't have the time to earn enough to buy these ships.

EDIT: Typed trillion rather than billion. Surprised I wasn't slated for it

[Xebeth]

I'm sorry to say newer players, but money is obscenely easy to get now. I'm with JL and Abil on this one, and whilst I realise it is easy for me to sit in my gold encrusted ivory tower, surrounded by my fleet of ships to say this, but that doesn't make it any less true.

It took 4 months to get my first Python (over 100 hours given the amount of time I was playing) and I mean just the Python, with not even enough spare cash to fill it with cargo, it took a further 4 months to get my first Conda (which I had to sell the Python to afford).

Did it bother me, no! Why? Because the ships were something to aspire to, not something to just pluck off the shelf, and the pleasure came from knowing I'd worked for them, not obsessively grinding, but mostly playing and enjoying the game and not worrying about the time it took.

Before they changed Sothis/Ceos I did a few runs in a Python for a week or so and bought another Conda with the proceeds (without touching my starting balance), after a week!, that can't be right.

Now I realise this all sounds like "you kids today, you don't know how easy you've got it" old codger talk, but seriously just enjoy the fricking game.

The big ships don't change anything, the game is the same, yes you make more money per run in a Cutter than you do in a Type 6, but it's still the same blasted fly from station A to station b and click a few buttons, yes you can kill pirates quicker in a Vette than you can in a Cobra, but the explosions don't change, no one rushes up to you, slaps you on the back and declares you the meanest mother f***er in the galaxy because that Asp to 30 seconds less time to bring down.

I understand the obsession with the ships, I really do, on day one I knew I wanted a Python, I'd seen it in a live stream during the beta I knew it was the ship for me, and 4 months later I was a proud owner of one, my pride and joy, but do you know what? My cobra is still the ship I have most fun in.

[Cmdr Kharma]

Spot on poof.......

Never aspired to big ships as I think you know......

Got dragged kicking and screaming outta the asp to buy a python.....

Been playing since launch (And before, but that don't count)...... 1 x Asp...1 x python....

Oh and 1 x cobra and 1 x eagle.....Which I must sell as have not used in months...

Have seen a good many exploits since launch...But never used them...Just my way....Easy is not my thing....Work is....

150 mill in the bank.....

Suits me fine......

I just potter about with the "Team" and have a good time....

[Walter]

When Kharma started playing the ships were made of cardboard and you had to hold your breath between stations.