Johann's Trader Tactics
Johann's Trade
Tips
Speed
Tactics
Trade Lane Disrupted!
Saving Time
When I trade,
I do the routes as fast as possible, pushing my poor engine to it's
limits. Often what I do is check out the Map(f6)
and look at the route i'll be taking to whatever planet is my destination.
Note that if you havn't visited a system, the navcom will not plan
a route for you, so it's better if you plan
it yourself by looking one system ahead.
What you can then do is while you are in a trade lane, you can bring
up the map and look at the next system. This saves time spent sitting
in dock checking out the route, which is boring!
Speed Tactics
Doing
a trade route fast isn't just to save you from boredom.
Some commodities actually rot at about one unit per minute. It's from
these routes that I learnt how to dock with trade lanes, gates and
planets as fast as I could.
If a trade lan/gate/station is more than about 2k
away from your position, use the Cruise
Engines. Even if you were to use your Thruster (afterburner)
you wouldn't make it there before a Cruising ship, despite the long
charge-up time. However, if a trade lane is less
than 2k away, you are better off using
your Afterburner to get there.
Get real close to the trade lane entrance
and hit f3 to dock with it. Practice so that you can time it right,
because if you hit f3 too soon you have to wait while the computer
docks. Hit the Dock key too late, however, and you will have to wheel
around and do it all again. So it's better
to hit f3 early than it is late. Some stations have a docking
distance which should be remembered for when you need to dock quickly.
Trade
Lane Disrupted!
When you encounter pirates and get disrupted
out of your lane, thrust and drift backwards along
the lane-line if they are hostile, but if they are friendly,
just wait at the next lane entrance as
it will reactivate soon. Most of the
time cruising to the next lane along wastes
five or sometimes even ten seconds.
Little
Summary
So don't
forget to use the time spent in Trade
Lanes to check out your route and make sure you take the least
amount of lanes to your destination.
Also, be sure to learn your routes and write
down the profit per unit you can get.. use a calculator
too! You can always give the Drunken ones a call
if you run into trouble :}
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