Trading commodities is one of the many ways for an independent captain to earn credits; this involves purchasing a commodity in bulk at a low or medium price on one planet and selling at a higher price on another. Traders generally employ vessels with large cargo capacities called freighters to maximize profits on a given run. A common tactic is for the player to use a combat-capable ship as a primary vessel and hire or capture escort freighters to do most of the hauling; this allows the player to better protect the relatively defenseless freighters from attacks by Pirates or other hostile forces.
Some special commodities (also called junks) can yield a large profit, but the reason they are so profitable is that most of them are considered contraband in Federation and Auroran space.
Trade Routes[]
These are a few of the short, profitable runs used by veteran pilots:
- Medical supplies on Earth (Sol) (Low) → New Ireland (Tuatha) (High). Luxury goods (Lower) on New Ireland (Tuatha) → Earth (Sol) (High) - This route may also be routed through Sirius II (Sirius), which yields less gross profit, but is 2 jumps closer in either direction.
- Luxury goods on Europa (Sol) → Earth (Sol)
- Bio-weapons on Codec (Codehaven) → Menin (Lesten) or Moash (Moash) via Hypergate
- Opals on Tre'ar Illini (Tre' vasar) → Equipment on Tre'a Ro (Tre'pirana) → Tre'ar Illini (Tre' vasar)
- Duranium Alloy on Herald (Avalon) → Earth (Sol)
- Equipment on Port Kane (Kania) → Luxury goods on Europa (Sol) → medical supplies on Earth (Sol) → Port Kane (Kania). This is a slightly modified version of the trade route the tutorial teaches you.
- Opals on Gem (Fomalhaut) → Medical Supplies Serenity (Lotus) → Food Antaria (Centauri) → Gem (Fomalhaut). The Food run is doesn't make much, but its better then an empty hold.
- Equipment Ver'ar Shan (Ver'arshan) → Industrial Goods Ver'ar Sho (Ver'arshan) → Ver'ar Shan (Ver'arshan) Probably the best trade route for the planets are right next to eachother. Can get 50M easily in the early game with the use of Cambrians (This trade route is obsolete with the latest version-- Ver'ar Sho no longer has a Trade Center)
- Equipment Ver'ar Noriout (Ver'ikar) → Kel'ariy (Kel'ariy). Don't buy anything, instead go 1 jump to Ver'ar Pised (Ver'avo) , buy Exotic Bio-Compounds → Ver'ar Noriout. Alternatively, you can sell the equipment for a lower price on Ver'ar Pised. Kel'ariy also makes for a nice stopover because you can hire Cambrian escorts there.
Bio-Weapons are the most profitable, but need at least 6 jumps or a hypergate to be traded.
External Links[]
- EVula's Survival Guide – Contains a more complete list of trade routes. Note that it is slightly out of date and may contain trade routes that no longer exist in current versions of EV Nova.
- Nova Trade Guide – Guide to trading in the Nova universe; contains a larger list of user-submitted trade routes and a guide to the ships commonly used for trading.