Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Megas]

During 0.8, without the Surveying 3 gravy train, making money was somewhat slow, steady, and tedious.  If I did not save-scum, I probably would have taken a catastrophic loss sooner or later.

Bounties are quite unforgiving, if player does not save-scum.  Player needs to prepare according, and the fight is must-win given costs of traveling and other stuff.  If the player fails, it is a big money loss at best or a game ender at worst.

[Carroy]

There's good money to be made with bounties but you need to execute them perfectly and a big cargo hold is crucial because you need to take everything apart from scrap. A big cargo hold is also important because you can then stockpile supplies you get by stomping out smaller fleets.

What also helped me is being very selective about which ships you let repair, most capitals can be deployed multiple times before they run out of usable CR(also really useful for hyperspace storms). It helps but you only postpone the cost.

I found that If bounties are your only income, there is a point in the game before you're really set up where you go from market to bounty and back again to keep up with bounties, whether you're bleeding supplies or fuel. After making enough money to stay away longer the rationing becomes less but there's never a point where you don't need to manage it.

[intrinsic_parity]

It's definitely necessary to plan a little in order to make money, but you don't need to have excessive knowledge, or spend any substantial amount of time doing it. If you're going after bounties, just check the map, look for groups of bounties and then click the 'fuel range' button on the map to make sure you can make it there and back. I always fill my fuel all the way up before an expedition. For supplies, I generally fill my cargo halfway roughly. I'm not min-maxing anything and I make plenty of money. The only way I've run into trouble with supplies/money is if I expand my fleet too quickly and don't have the supplies and cash to support it in the short term.

Avoiding going through coronas and hyperspace storms is also pretty important, there should probably be a tutorial for that. You can loose all your supplies in 10 seconds that way.

Also, In the current game, surveying and salvaging skills almost make it too easy to make money. I expect all of this to change next patch though, outposts and the new economy will definitely shake up the money making process significantly.

[Carroy]

The only way I've run into trouble with supplies/money is if I expand my fleet too quickly and don't have the supplies and cash to support it in the short term.

That's a very good point, expand your fleet conservatively, because doing it too quickly can make you run out of options and end the game.

[Zavek]

hi there new player here.

after reading this thread i saw that i wasnt alone and then now here on this page i found the problem i was having.
''expanding conservatly''

well i am very guilty of not doing that when i had only 3 frigates 2 destroyers in my fleet and came upon a Diable Pandemonium drifting in space.
now i have the massive issue of serving this behemoth enough fuel and supplies on my small budget but i dont really want to be rid of it.

is there a way i can store it for later when im more set up?
i got the basics of the game and i had no issues with my 2 destroyers and 3 frigates (and 2 cargo/fuel ships).

[DatonKallandor]

I've found that since the addition of all the extra star systems, the neutering of enemy spawns, removal of salvaging credits, removal of a constant bounty for pirate ships, and the addition of the transponder system that I just can't play the game like I want to anymore.

Nowadays, either you go after bounties and missions or you just don't make any money whatsoever. You have a chance, if you plan everything exceedingly well, of making profit by going on salvaging missions without a mission, but the time investment is ludicrous and if you're wrong about how much profit you can make from the mission, distances involved, or supplies needed, then you basically lose everything.

My problem is Starsector has been balanced around the tastes of the veterans who plan everything for maximum possible profit. So sure, if you spend hours meticulously planing out or memorizing ship stats and outfits or save scum then the game because really easy, but people like me that like to take risks and fly by the seat of our pants can't play this game the way we want.

I want to make it clear, however, that I don't expect the devs to bow down to my whims and cater to me, and I'm not admonishing the devs for going down this path. If this is how they want to make their game, then I encourage them to keep going, but it will close off a rather broad section of potential players (aka buying customers) and cut into the profits and therefore lifetime of the game.

That being said all games have to end development sometime, you just have to decide what your care about more, making the game you want to make, or making the game that people will buy and play.

I feel a similar way, which is why I usually play with bounties cranked up after the default grind gets to be too much. It just feels a lot better when helping out the big powers with their issues and traveling way ouit there for a big bounty target is porperly rewarded (and it also means you can take losses and don't have to savescum at all times).

[Midnight Kitsune]

hi there new player here.

after reading this thread i saw that i wasnt alone and then now here on this page i found the problem i was having.
''expanding conservatly''

well i am very guilty of not doing that when i had only 3 frigates 2 destroyers in my fleet and came upon a Diable Pandemonium drifting in space.
now i have the massive issue of serving this behemoth enough fuel and supplies on my small budget but i dont really want to be rid of it.

is there a way i can store it for later when im more set up?
i got the basics of the game and i had no issues with my 2 destroyers and 3 frigates (and 2 cargo/fuel ships).

Hey there! First of all, welcome to the forum!
Second: Almost all markets have a storage option where you can buy storage space for 5000 credits. However, in Corvus, there is an abandoned terraforming station that can be used by the player as storage area for free

[PixiCode]

Storage even saves the CR of all ships you put in so you don't have to spend supplies getting it combat ready if you store it combat ready!

This is extra useful if you need to go searching for rare weapons or ships but don't plan to use your whole fleet to look for them. Can save on maintenance. Also helps to keep extra replacement ships in storage if you don't save scum.

[Zavek]

hi there new player here.

after reading this thread i saw that i wasnt alone and then now here on this page i found the problem i was having.
''expanding conservatly''

well i am very guilty of not doing that when i had only 3 frigates 2 destroyers in my fleet and came upon a Diable Pandemonium drifting in space.
now i have the massive issue of serving this behemoth enough fuel and supplies on my small budget but i dont really want to be rid of it.

is there a way i can store it for later when im more set up?
i got the basics of the game and i had no issues with my 2 destroyers and 3 frigates (and 2 cargo/fuel ships).

Hey there! First of all, welcome to the forum!
Second: Almost all markets have a storage option where you can buy storage space for 5000 credits. However, in Corvus, there is an abandoned terraforming station that can be used by the player as storage area for free

ty for the tip! now i just need to rid myselfof the nasty habit of stuffing all kinds of junkers in there.. i blame fallout for making me a compulsive looter.
Also is there a way to get markets to produce more fuel/supplies?
as it is right now i devour all fuel and supplies a station has to offer on both open and black market and they seemingly never really have any in a meaning full amount
it feels as if i get more fuel by going full quarian and salvaging all ships i find, which itself costs me fuel to do as i move over tot he wrecks.

[zaimoni]

You need to take notes on which worlds usually have large supply and fuel stockpiles (1000+), and use the others only as convenience/emergency restock.  Supplies are more critical (e.g., you may have to decline a hunting bounty in the early game because the system has no worlds with large supply stockpiles).

[Seth]

Supply consumption is fine, but I have a suspicion that my crew secretly drinks fuel for kicks...

[Zavek]

i do take note of those ''depots'' but the issue ive found is that even if they have a huge supply its usually in the range of 40-60 per fuel without tariffs.
Looking at the market they are also very high on stability and the tooltip claims that the high stability causes the prices to be at a higher % aka more expensive.
shouldnt a stable market have lower costs since supply should be more stable and the unstable worlds have higher costs due to the lack of organized supply/production?

correct me if im wrong

[MattD]

Nowadays, either you go after bounties and missions or you just don't make any money whatsoever.
[...]
My problem is Starsector has been balanced around the tastes of the veterans who plan everything for maximum possible profit.

As a newer player, these two statements don't track for me because missions are the lifeline for a new player who's learning how to make money. Procurement missions are not just a near-guarantee of money in themselves, but also they give a new player exposure to the different markets--knowledge of what can best be bought where--and a lower-risk way to become familiar with resource management by staying around the populated systems.

I do think you're right that it's difficult to play unstructured in the early game--to make money without missions, bounties, or a commission. But if anything that seems to favor new players rather than veterans. It's playing without missions that seems to me to require more min/maxing, to figure out what will make a profit. It does seem like the coming economic and associated UI updates may make it somewhat easier to do this for trading, though. I wonder if more is also planned for exploration--maybe something more with preliminary survey data for systems?--but of course it would need to be balanced around the coming outpost system.

...and came upon a Diable Pandemonium drifting in space.

Hello fellow new player!

One comment not directed at you specifically, but I think it's important in threads like this that are discussing balance, to note when you're using mods. I'm playing my first modded game now, with Nexelerin, Dynasector and several faction mods, and the economy is noticeably different than vanilla: supplies and fuel are more scarce, and cost a bit more.