Trade Station

**Work In Progress**
***"Trade Station isn't going to finish itself. Get to work."*** - Cdr. Novar

This page is in need of more information. It may need images, updated descriptions, or an entire format rework! Added information would be appreciated.

## Trade Station

### Extra Info

Requires Capital-Ships pack. Provides limited equipment. Can only be built in Planetary Sectors.

*"This massive station has a wide-range of facilities, and often serves as the headquarters for more powerful factions. The station is found in planetary orbit, and is the final destination for produced goods."*

- In-game Description

### **Overview**

The Trade Station is the largest, and most profitable station in the game currently. It costs 2.5M credits (average) to purchase for it's parts. The station itself is capable of converting cargo into free credits once the cargo reaches a certain amount. Cargo is processed before they are converted into free credits. In simple terms, the station sells the cargo to the population below on the planet. Additionally, it can only be built in planetary sectors, and are usually the final destination for trading factions. The Trade Station is able to repair, and sell ships, and provide ammunition, but provides little armaments for ships to equip.

### **Processing-Factories**

The Trade Station has 8 factories, each having different kinds of cargo needed to convert into a minimum of 26k credits. These factories are the primary reason why the Trade Station is the most profitable. Normally, player-built Trade Stations buy Pindolan Ale, Fine Jewellery, Medipacks, Hypersleep Pods, Impulse, Hover Bikes, Organic Rations, and Plasma Rifles. As for the faction-built Trade Stations, they have a completely different, unique variety of cargo-requirements that players do not have. There is no known mechanic which you can edit your processing-factories to select a specific cargo-requirement.

### **Guide to becoming a successful Trade Operation**

This is a guide that will explain on how to become a successful trading enterprise. If you happen to be successful in completing these steps, then you are a successful trading enterprise!

#### **[Step 1 // Obtaining a Trade Station]**

* You will need to own the *Capital Ships* pack to obtain the Trade Station, mainly because the Capital Ships have a large enough cargo space to hold it's parts. It will take a lot of effort to obtain a Trade Station, especially if you have a neutral standing with factions. You should consider trading, mining, complete missions, and more. Once you have enough credits, you need to buy a capital ship from the shipyard (The Magnus is recommended, since it has the largest cargo space, and can hold a small number of Laser V Turrets. I would also recommend barebone variants since they are more cheaper, but that would leave you defenseless as you won't have any form of weapon to defend yourself). Remember, you can only construct Trade Stations in planetary systems. Before you construct a Trade Station, gauge a sector's traffic activity. If the traffic is high, you can place it down. If you happen to come across a planetary sector without a Trade Station, you are **extremely lucky**.

##### **[Step 1.5 // The Speedrunner's Way]**

* If you quickly want to obtain a Trade Station instead of using conventional means, you can do so by selecting the *Refinery Owner* starting preset, and sell your refinery to the nearest shipyard (To get extra credits, you must have a good standing with the shipyard-owning faction). You can also utilize the ship-stealing glitch, and sell Overlords, and Magnuses to quickly gain enough credits to buy a Trade Station. Then you can use the last conventional means to construct your Trade Station (buy a capital ship, construct in planetary sectors, etc).

#### **[Step 2 // Placing product-stations]**

* After constructing your Trade Station, you will need to build product-stations around it, forming a large Trading-Hub. 6 stations will do nicely. Your product-stations will need to be one of the following; Brewery, Jewellery Factory, Hospital, Hypersleep Pod Factory, Vehicle Plant, Rations Factory, or Arms Factory. All other product-stations will be considered as utilities, such as the Orbital Farm, and Refinery.

#### **[Step 3 // Defending your Trade Operation]**

* If you happen to have enemies, you will need ships, or *Laser Turrets* placed near your Trading-Hub, unless you want enemy ships to destroy it. Due to how valuable the Trade Station itself is, it's advisable to utilize medium-to-large fleets, and have 4-6 *Laser V Turrets* placed around it.

#### **[Step 4 // Gaining credits]**

* At first, you will lose some credits because there are trade-ships coming to your stations, and selling products to you. Once you reach a certain amount of products in your Trade Station's cargo hold, the products will be moved into the processing-factories, and after some time has passed, you will gain more than 26k credits.

### **Trivia**

* Trade Stations can only be built in planetary sectors.
* Trade Stations can sell ships ranging from scouts to freighters (Rangers to Haulers).
* Faction-built Trade Station (excluding Custom Universes) have different, unique processing-factories.
* Trade Stations will cause you to lose a certain number of credits after it's construction, mainly because trade-ships are selling products to you. Your credits will replenish depending on how much of the required product you need to activate the processing-factories.
* Trade Stations are capable of sustaining a faction's wealth.
* Player-built Trade Stations buy Pindolan Ale, Fine Jewellery, Medipacks, Hypersleep Pods, Impulse, Hover Bikes, Organic Rations, and Plasma Rifles.
* For some reason, you can't trade with your own Trade Station.
* Trade Stations are the final mark in most Trade Routes.
* The Trade Station has the same price to that of the Shipyard.