Elite: Dangerous PvE - Mobius

I still see a lot of these NAV points that either sell or buy goods. I used to make a lot of cash on those before the nerf hit.
Are they still worth doing or is it a waste of time?

last time i tried one was during the Lugh goals i think; there was a Seeking Goods trader who, after cargo scanning him, was found to be wanting any tobacco i was carrying - i was able to grab full holds of the stuff from a nearby station but the profit was marginal at best. i did a few trips and then gave it up as being not worthwhile.

i think i was only getting around 110k a pop profit for a 200t Python load - compared to the 850k i was making per trip selling military intelligence for only a 20t Vulture load in the same area

yeah, poor old Beta Sculptoris. i wish we'd kept our mouths shut and it would still be there, dishing out bucketfuls of cash

I recently did a seeking weapons one and for 432 tons if battle weapons it was about 474k profit. No idea if that's any good as it's the first time I have done that kind of trade.

How do you interact with them? KWS to find out what they want?

I think when you have what they want, all you have to do is get 2km or closer, but not sure about the above...

You need to cargo scan them to find out what they want.
Then once loaded with the correct cargo target them and then fly within 400m of them and the cargo is magically transferred and the credits are transferred to you.

Ah, ok. I don't run with a cargo scanner. I do remember dropping into a USS one time and this dude says something about seeking red crystals or something. Maybe if I read the description of the minerals, I could have figured out what he's looking for. I also see some guys "seeking weapons". I wonder if I drop on that, they will hint at what weaps they want...or I could load up all 4 in weapons category and see what he sucks up.

edit* just read the descriptions for metals/mins...I'm guessing it was Rutile "...wine red crystalline mineral...".

blazingmaniac wrote:I recently did a seeking weapons one and for 432 tons if battle weapons it was about 474k profit. No idea if that's any good as it's the first time I have done that kind of trade.

it's only a 'good trade' if it's really fast to do a complete run - there is no profit on the return run, so that 474k is all you make for the entire journey. but if you can do that journey in just a couple of minutes, then it's a good earner

Yeah its not too bad as it is only 80 ls from the supplying station and the Battle weapons are not illegal in that system, I can include it as part of my bigger trade run when I fancy a change from the usual grind and I am guessing it will only last as long as the conflict zones are active.

another point - sorry if it's already mentioned - is that these type of transactions are counted towards your smuggling stats, and not trading. so if it's an increase to your trading rank you're chasing, this won't help you much.

so with this it's *only* the money that matters, therefore the money must be good to make it viable to spend time doing it

I didnt know that, thanks, I have done very little smuggling so its good to boost the stat a little.