Cheapest "Legitimate" Intro Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

[Aeonic]

Need money to start out in Transcendence? Don't feel any moral objections to blowing up friendly ships? Making money is easy. All you need to do is fish around for a bit until you've got enough rice and scrap to sell and buy a decently powerful weapon. Then go through the Starton Eridani "station city" and target all the ships that are docked at any of the stations EXCEPT the commonwealth station in the middle. That's where you'll sell everything. So just go though, blow up all the ships and loot them, then sell their goods at the commonwealth station. If you can take out the Centurions, those are the best. Blast Plate is worth 1500 a segment, unless you want to use it yourself.

You can also destroy the Sisters of Domina station where you start, although I recommend taking out the docked Ronins before you do so, otherwise you'll attack you (ships won't attack you while near a station, so don't blow up the station until the ships are gone). This station usually has lots of nice goodies to help get you started. Thanks, Domina!

Beware that you don't target isolated colonies, because these often come equipped with weapons such as particle beams that can damage your ship.

Follow this technique and you should be able to earn an easy 10k before you go anywhere, with no consequences later on, although you won't be able to dock at any of the stations who's docked ships you blew up. Also, make sure you don't destroy any commonwealth stations.

[digdug]

I Would spare the corporate stations too. They are useful in early systems to sell stuff for higher revenue.

When I badly need money I usually farm on the endless spawning korolov freighters and their escorts.

If I'm still I'm trouble I take down the black Market stations, plenty of high level items to sell for big cash. And if you can take down the stations, the couple of molotok chasing you are just annoying mosquitoes.

[Aeonic]

Molotoks also carry a lot of expensive loot which is good to sell.

[Sponge]

In my most recent game, I seriously pursued mining. I did missions in Eridani until I had enough for a mining laser and a miner's hold, then I started mining the ore-rich asteroids around the sun. With the help of a tinker in the next system and a corporate enclave to sell miscellaneous ore, I made an absolute killing. If memory serves, it was over 10,000 credits, plus a full set of duralloy for myself-- right out of Eridani. I mined every asteroid for the first three or so systems, and did sporadic mining after that. Selling only to specialty stations, I had over 100,000 by St. K's, which is really rare for me.

[Aeonic]

Mining can be very profitable, but unfortunately it also tends to be very boring. I've mined the entire Eridani system before although I think I only ended up with 40k worth, however, after that it starts to occur to you that its so much more profitable just to blow stuff up and loot it than to tediously mine further systems. This is especially so if you have a ship with a large cargo capacity, which you basically require for mining anyway. You can store a lot of valuable loot that way.

Mining Autons were a good idea, although they get blown up too easily and tend to bug-out and stop doing anything if left on their own.

[Fossaman]

This really sounds like a modern-version variation of the ship-killing exploit from way back when. Ships used to be totally passive unless you attacked their station, so you could blow up all the guard ships in Eridani and sell their armor and such without fear of reprisal. I wouldn't call this 'legitimate.'

[Aeonic]

Its only legitimate in that you can do it in a vanilla version of the game.

[Darth Saber]

In 1.0RC2, destroying a friendly Ferian station became really interesting. After the first shot you see the message: "Grrrr, defend the hive!" Nothing seemed to happen much; the Ferians did not seem nearly as aggressve as in version .99c. Then I destroyed the station, and all Ferians let loose upon me, including a new kind of ship called the Ferian Warrior, which resembles and ancient pen. This ship carries a modified plasma torch called a Ferian plasma cannon (50 attack - plasma). I managed to defeat the two they sent after me, and while carefully (desperately) flying around, I was able to defeat the colony and loot it. Ferian plasma cannons bring a tidy sum when sold; the Ferian miners looting potential has not changed though; neither has the station's. But if you are looking for a get rick quick / if you live through it / scheme, this could be it.

[Fossaman]

Unfortunately Ferian Plasma Cannons almost always drop damaged. Maybe one in a dozen will be intact, if you're lucky.

[Bobby]

the warriors also have very lucrative armor too, but consider keeping one of the plasma cannons, it's a great base buster at closer ranges (I have never blown an ares shipyard that fast), and has the power to take down dreadnoughts.

[IceMephit]

HI everybody, this'll be my first post here. I have to say that the only ships i will destroy are enemy ships. I can't seem to bring myself to kill and loot innocent AI's (except transports convoys that carry black market id's). So, i tend to mine to make cash, and it is boring but with my piloting skills, it is safer to shoot at asteroids than at anything that can fire back. Keeps me alive a little bit longer anyway.

[Salvagebot 1.0]

The Korolov missions indirectly produce a huge bonanza of KM500 missiles, which you can use to great effect if you have no need to be stingy with them.

There's a difference between carefully meting out a couple of well-timed missiles versus holding down the fire button and waling away on everything that moves. As easy as the missile resupply keeps coming it gives even a lousy ship an amazing amount of firepower when it's spewing missiles at maximum rate of fire.

A phat supply of KM500's is a kind of wealth if you use your huge missile stockpile to "punch above your weight class" and get better loot.