Merchant
Now that I have joined the Traders Guild and reached the rank of "Merchant" it is time to explore the Exchanges and start trading.
Many in Fed have told me that Merchant was the best rank and I must admit to having fun exploring the different exchanges and comparing buying and selling prices. To help with the comparisons I have made a spreadsheet listing all the commodities with their base price which has helped me make successful trades mostly in the asteriod belt. As I write this my bank account has soared to over 600000ig and my trader credits stand at 54.
Once again I have purchased a new ship...Guardian class with a cargo capacity of 511 tons which gives me the opportunity of buying 6 commodities at once. My fellow fedders were right. Merchant level is a blast.
Selena (The Moon).
Burned on Pharmaceuticals. Just learned a valuable lesson today when I purchased 5 bays and found when I went to sell the last two bays the price dropped below what I paid for them. A check whith every exchange in Sol met with the same results and I ended up losing groats and Merchant credits. A vow was made to be more careful in the future but at least I got to see a few more exchanges in the process.
Just made my 1st million groats. Merchant is a great rank.
By using my spreadsheet and my ships' 6 bay cargo space the groats are adding up. Last count has my bank balance at 2051017ig.
If you look closely at the picture of the moon on the left you will see a lot of craters. What you don't see though is the landing pad or the structures that include a casino, a bar and an exchange just to name a few places that need exploring.
My promotion to Trader is very close now.
Trader
The most complicated level to date is Trader as you must master dealing in futures contracts which involves mathematics. This was my most difficult subject in school.
MarsA couple of days as a Trader and I long for the good times of a Merchant. After a high of 13 in TR my rating has slipped back to 2 after a couple of bad futures. The problem is in finding good contracts to buy as a fair amount of time is spent in searching and if frustration creeps in it is tempting to take chances on low spreads that can turn sour very quickly.
Thanks goes out to Preach and Redone for helping me understand how to calculate the spread in order to find the wise investment futures. To be successful as a Trader it is essential to find the winners and avoid the losers. I have gone from a TR of -2 to a TR of +147 within only a couple of days.
At last check I had a TR of +430 and with any luck will promote in a couple of days. Can't say I will not be happy to leave my Trader level behind as it has been a real effort to find TOD's (Tip Of the Day).
My homework has been done and I am ready to buy my Company and build Factories.
Groundhog to Commander (Page 1)
Captain to Adventurer (Page 2)
Industrialist to Manufacturer (Page 4)
Page last updated Feb. 6, 2009