Home again, home again. Welcome back from Aegaeon and part two of trader school.

Unload

Now that you’re back in Leesti, the first order of the day is to unload that lovely four tonnes of Chateau de Aegaeon from your hold.

It should be worth somewhere in the region of 63,372 credits, which after subtracting the purchase price of around 5,068, should leave you with a healthy 58,304 boost to your bank account.

Repair

Remember to fix up any wear and tear, which will hopefully be minimal unless you hit any pirate-related problems on your way down. In which case I’m kind of amazed that you made it back at all.

Cartographics

Much of the return journey was the same as on the way up, so I didn’t get any additional cartographic data to sell from those systems. However, when we detoured at LFT 824 there were some new systems to pass through and the basic scanner captured an additional 8,417 credits worth of data from those.

Take stock

So how did you do? In terms of raw profit from commodities, you should have earned somewhere in the region of 87,190. Plus any additions from cartographic data, which was 19,364 for me. Even after the costs of repairs and upgrades, you should still have a much bigger balance in your account than you started with.

What next

If you’re up for it, you can take your 87,190-ish credits and turn it into nearly half a million. All you need are a couple more hours.

I won’t detail every single step but this part involves part-exchanging your Sidewinder for a new Hauler. Your old Sidey is worth around 28,878 credits against the Hauler’s 52,720 price tag, meaning a net cost of 23,842 credits.

Now upgrade the Hauler as follows;

• E2 FSD -> C2 FSD: -15,825
• 4t Cargo Racks -> 8t Cargo Racks (16t total): -14,626
• Swap Basic Discovery Scanner for a Fuel Scoop: +691

Your Hauler now retains its shields and pulse laser, has a cargo capacity of 16t and a fully-laden single-jump range of 10.41 light years. Not bad, but it still won’t fare very well against even a relatively lightweight foe, so I’d suggest keeping out of trouble for a while longer.

Because you’re going to repeat the last route almost exactly, the scanner will add nothing for you this time, so replacing it with the fuel scoop makes sense.

You should have enough credits left to max out your quota of Evil Juice, and throw in a couple of tonnes of Azure Milk for good measure.

One word of caution – the Hauler seems to run about 5-10% hotter than the Sidewinder, and is more prone to heating up rapidly when scooping fuel so always keep an eye on the temperature gauge.

Over to you

Off you go then. Plot your course back out to Aegaeon, sell off your cargo for huge profits and return with your full quota of Chateau de Aegaeon, all 14 tonnes of it, and sell that here for another astronomical credit boost.

And then you’re on your own. After that second round trip with the Hauler, you’ll have enough to upgrade to a Cobra, or one of the other smaller ships so you can try out another role.

I’d recommend a Cobra next as it’s a versatile multi-role ship. It doesn’t exactly excel in any particular area but it’s bigger, more configurable, faster and tougher than either the Hauler or the Sidewinder. And, well, it’s a COBRA! But boost your weapons load-out as soon as you can, too.

If all goes well you’ll be a millionaire in no time.

I hope this worked out for you. Let me know how you get on via Twitter: @CdrShiftRunstop