Assuming you have enough experience for the amount of holds you are stealing (or credits you are robbing), there is a 2% chance you will bust on any given attempt. If it seems you are busting a lot one day, it is just random chance. If you go 1,000 turns without busting, it is just random chance.

The day of the week seems to have an impact on port prices when doing ship trading. For example, set up a xxB -65 equipment port and sell off some equipment at that port on Saturday and Monday. Monday's profits will be noticably less than Saturday's.

(Monday and Saturday in 2015 as shown by Ship Time).....

Port offers for Ship trades do indeed vary with the day of the week. In fact, no two days are identical. Most of you know about the "Humpday" and "Weekend" specials for Wednesday and Saturday, respectively. The weekend (Fri-Sun) offers the highest average profit, Saturday actually being the best. Monday is by far the worst, averaging between 7-9 credits/unit below Saturday. The Wednesday specials are second only to Saturday specials, but the average Wednesday profit is still below the weekend.

Ship trading is affected by several random factors, not just one. In fact, the number of random factors changes with the day of the week, which is why each day is unique. This holds true for ports you create also.

I've found no correlation between busting and the day of the week though.

Experience does have a factor in ship trades, but becomes a constant if EXP is over 1K.

One thing I have noticed, is that if I steal less cargo, I get busted less often. Even if I have the Exp to steal more.

Like use a 150 hold Mule instead of a 250 hold Colt, I get busted less. Or maybe it is just my imagination? I still get busted, but not as often.

Some servers I have been on I get busted easily, others I could steal all day and hardly ever get busted. Same exp, same steal %, different servers. No comprendo, it's a riddle!

There is no TEDIT setting that allows a sysop to alter bust frequency or conditions, and noone has ever come forth with a definitive method to lower bust frequency. So for now, you'll have to assume busting is the arbitrary 1/50 gamble it appears to be.

As Harry Nuss eluded to, you will not be stumbling upon any 5 EXP trades.

<P-Probe estimates your offer was 100.00% of best price>
For your excellent trading you receive 5 experience point(s).

The vast majority of the time, 5 EXP trades are not even possible. And the odds of guessing that exact figure on the rare occasion its available... infinitesimal. Having said that, your chances diminish exponentially with each haggle, and its mathematically impossible after the third haggle. So good luck finding it.

One suggestion I can make is if you dont have a script that automatically upgrades a port when it runs low during evil processes then upgrade it before you start. For instance if you sell off 250 equip then steal it back, sooner or later you will only be able to steal 249, then 248, etc. If you upgrade first you are always stealing 250 for more profit and also it seems that you bust less when you dont steal 100% of whats available to steal. Remember that upgrading a port raises the amout by 10 times what you upgrade for so I usually upgrade by 5 and that is more than enough to run you through to a bust.

quote:Originally posted by Shorty

One suggestion I can make is if you dont have a script that automatically upgrades a port when it runs low during evil processes then upgrade it before you start. For instance if you sell off 250 equip then steal it back, sooner or later you will only be able to steal 249, then 248, etc. If you upgrade first you are always stealing 250 for more profit and also it seems that you bust less when you dont steal 100% of whats available to steal. Remember that upgrading a port raises the amout by 10 times what you upgrade for so I usually upgrade by 5 and that is more than enough to run you through to a bust.

I've heard everything from exp, to the ansi picture of the guards, to day or week, to sacrificing chickens affects busts. Actual testing though has shown it to be random.

quote:
I've heard everything from exp, to the ansi picture of the guards, to day or week, to sacrificing chickens affects busts. Actual testing though has shown it to be random.


The only thing I can think of is that random seed that gets generated by Bigbang may have something to do with that random factor? I know 1 in 50 chance, but in some games I get busted really easily and others I can go for a long time without busting. If I steal less holds, it appears that I bust less often. Then also maybe it is just my wild imagination? [:I]

Setup a few games on your twgs- bang them all different, and see what you find

Til then, it's random

I have, I get better results locally than I do on remote games. But then I also have the 3 minute time limit and have to restart the red scripts. Any ship I have to capture from an alien, or else I have to use a Merchant Cruiser or Scout. In some games I banged I get busted on the 5th cycle, and on others I can keep going until the 3 minutes is up.

I've read this thread and it has wondered around exp and best days.
I find wensdays as best days for any activities [:D]
And as for not getting 5 exp every time [?]

Try this , get into a 1 hold ship (I was in a 1 hold ship after
busting) so I upgraded the ore to sell max ..

haggle trade it for 5 exp and jetisum cargo wait about 2 mins.
repeat
It works [;)] but slooow [|)]
give it a shot , if you have time .

While Humpday may be the best day for lots of things... it's not the best day for trading. It is one of the better days though.

As for the one-hold ship idea... the number of holds on the ship has no bearing. But you're right about one thing, selling Fuel Ore is when you are most likely to 5 EXP haggle. You still have to do it on the first bid though. Without spilling the beans... the ports "make allowances" when they are selling Fuel Ore.

+EP+

Harly, I just LOVED your answer.

And now we have yet another question. Someone in a game suggested that higher exp means higher profits selling off quip in MBBS settings and I believe I have read in a few threads that exp means nothing regarding sales? I do know that low exp is best for buying down ports for megarobs.

For planet trades, exp doesn't matter.