Postby Schmobius » Sat Aug 22, 2015 7:00 pm
I'll be honest, I'm disregarding some of the advice in this thread since I switched from smuggling to trading, and have no regrets. Still, some people may totally disagree with me, probably most, actually.
Running a Python with 200t of cargo, but I also have a decent set of weapons (2 medium burst turrets, one large pulse turret, and 2 large gimballed pulse lasers), a strong shield, and 4 shield boosters in my utility slots. I also have a class 4 fuel scoop and an advanced discovery scanner loaded.
I'll give you you guys a minute to clean up the grey matter that exploded out of your ears, or the endless stream of tears from laughter at that last part.
I get about 17ly jump range with an empty hold and full fuel, ~14 laden. I consider that to be ok, but I got about 20 in my Asp, even with all it's hull reinforcement modules and 96 cargo. So of course I could do better.
But honestly, having the big fuel scoop is nice because it means my multi-jump range is essentially infinite without making detours to refuel (unless I go through a bunch of systems that only have red dwarf stars, or any other kind you can't scoop from, but they are the minority), and while my fuel expenses weren't that high, it kind of tweaks the frugal part of my brain the right way to not be paying for gas, especially when it's out there to be had for free. I know, I could probably get 16t of cargo in there, but this setup kind of makes me happy.
And then the scanner... the thing is expensive. It takes up a slot that could be used for cargo (though not much). However, I tend to use it while scooping fuel, and I've hit a bunch of systems between populated areas with 33 astronomical objects or so. I don't do any detailed scanning to speak of (which would make a lot more money, but also take a lot more time), but I pulled in around 200 grand yesterday just turning in map data.
It breaks the monotony of flying between stations a bit, and will pay for itself in maybe another week or two. If I'd only be adding 16 or less tons (I think it might be in a class 2 slot? Don't remember), I may actually be pulling in more money this way since I'm not finding runs that yield more than 1 grand a ton.
I also have the shields and guns because I do get interdicted on occasion, but I like to submit, and then beat the everloving crap out of them for the audacity of pulling me out of frameshift. I actually managed to splash an Imperial Clipper without losing my shields yesterday, and made 98 grand for those 5 minutes. Not only did it again, break the monotony, but it was fairly profitable. I can do very well 1 on 1, or even 3 on 1 if we're talking Asp and smaller against the NPCs in this build, plus I'm hauling 200 cargo. And getting map data. And not spending on fuel. And in those circumstances described, not spending on repairs. (I was doing ok-ish in conflict zones with this, but while I would make decent cash, I would also lose half of it to repairs, as I could only take getting swarmed for so long.)
So is my build optimized? For anything? Not really. But I'm having a blast with it, and not really sacrificing that much profit on my road to an Anaconda. I'm not saying going fully trade-optimized is wrong, but I do want to point out there may be another way to do this, if you feel like it.