Trading

Where the money comes from, and why the sale price is never the price on the board

The basics

Buy low, sell high

Buy where a good is cheap and sell where it is dear. Every station applies its own multiplier to each good's base price, set by what is produced nearby and what has to be shipped in.

1
Buy

Look for goods with a multiplier below 1.0. Those are the ones this station has too many of.

2
Transport

Travel to stations where the good is scarce, checking cargo weight and fuel costs.

3
Sell

Sell where the multiplier is above 1.0, and remember the 15% margin below.

The 15% margin

You never sell at the listed price

When you sell, you get 85% of the price the station lists. The other 15% is the station's cut. It applies to every sale, everywhere, so build it into the sums before you commit to a route.

A worked example

1. Buy water at Europa Base
Base price: 50 cr × 0.3 multiplier = 15 cr per unit
2. Sell water at Mercury Base
Base price: 50 cr × 2.0 multiplier = 100 cr
Sale price: 100 cr × 0.85 (the 15% margin) = 85 cr per unit
3. Profit
85 cr less the 15 cr you paid = 70 cr per unit
(467% return on investment)

Price multipliers

Each station applies a multiplier to the base price of every good:

Below 1.0

Good places to buy

  • Local abundance, such as water on the ice moons
  • Local production, such as iron at the mining stations
  • More supply than the station has demand for
Water at Europa is 0.3×, so 15 cr instead of 50 cr
Above 1.0

Good places to sell

  • Local scarcity, such as water at Mercury
  • High demand, such as food at the remote stations
  • Anything hard to ship in from elsewhere
Water at Pluto is 3.5×, so 175 cr instead of 50 cr

Tips

  • Short routes often win: a one-jump route with decent margins beats a three-jump route once you count the fuel.
  • Weight matters: heavy cargo uses more fuel and makes landing harder. High-value, low-weight goods are ideal for long distances.
  • Plan round trips: buy something cheap at your destination and sell it back where you came from. The fuel is spent either way.
  • The outer system pays a premium: food, water and oxygen sell for three to four times their base price at the frontier stations.
  • Upgrade in the right order: the cargo hold raises the profit on every trip, the engine lowers the fuel bill on every jump.

Routes that pay

Four patterns worth knowing. Prices move, so treat these as shapes rather than exact numbers:

Long haul: outer system exotics

Antimatter comes from Uranus, quantum cores from Neptune and dark matter from Pluto. Nowhere else makes them, and they sell for a great deal closer to Earth. Getting out there at all needs fuel level 5 and engine level 3.

Mid range: asteroid belt minerals

Iron, titanium and rare earths are mined at Vesta and Pallas and sell cheap there. Take them back to Earth or Mars.

Short haul: ice moon water

Water is 0.3× at Europa and 0.4× at Enceladus, and 2.0× at Io next door to Europa. Short jumps, quick turnaround.

Frontier supply run

Food, water and oxygen bought at Earth Orbit sell for three to four times the base price at the outer stations. It is a long way, so fill the hold.

Tip: the station map shows every connection and its fuel cost, which is the other half of any route calculation.