INVENTORY MANAGEMENT AND TRADING

Inventory Console (default F3 key and third console button): Displays and manages on-board inventory items. When you are docked at a station, you will be able to buy and sell items by simply clicking on them. Auxiliary equipment is displayed in yellow, commodities are displayed in purple, and weapons are displayed in green. To sell and unload an item, simply click on it from one of the sections of the console showing loaded equipment/commodities. The selling value (displayed when you hold the mouse pointer over an item) of what you sold will then be added to your account. Selling items on a planet or station will give you full market value for the system you are in while selling to other ships usually results in lower values. To buy an item, click on the one you want from the Items for Sale section. You can use the slider bar on the left side of the list to scroll through all of the available items. With the mouse pointer held over the list, you can also use the mouse wheel to scroll through the list. If your ship can store or load the equipment/commodity item you want, it will be loaded and the cost deducted from your account. Each item will be automatically routed to the default installation option. Commodities will be loaded into your cargo bay while equipment and weapons will be installed onto your ship. Right clicking on an item provides alternate functions for buying, selling, and installation. To load upgrades, weapons, and equipment into your cargo bay instead of installing them on your ship, right mouse click on the item(s) you want instead of left clicking on them. This way, you can use your cargo bay as a storage point for items other than commodities. You can later install desired items in your cargo bay onto your ship by right clicking on them from your cargo bay list. Likewise, you can transfer installed items on your ship to your cargo bay by right clicking on them instead of left clicking on them. If you only want to buy or sell one unit of a commodity at a time, simply right click on the listed item. To consolidate commodity cargo, dock at a station or city and use the ALT key with either the left or right mouse button. Left click to combine matching commodities up to the limit of 25 per cargo bay. Right click to transfer one unit at a time. For the list of equipment installed on your ship, you can also use the slider bar on the right side of the list to scroll through all installed items, if your ship has more than 5 equipment slots. You can also hold the mouse pointer over the list and use the mouse wheel to scroll, just like the items for sale list. The inventory console also lets you refuel, search for contracts, or buy a new ship. If you buy fuel, your countermeasures will also be refilled free of charge. A description of items you highlight with the mouse pointer is provided at the top middle of the console display. Most of the descriptions are self-explanatory, but when you highlight a weapon, the Y: stands for Yield, S: stands for Speed, C: stands for Cycle rate, and R: stands for Range.


Click image to view a video on how to manage inventory and Trading!

This console also provides the shipyard and crew management consoles. The shipyard lets you design a ship by selecting a frame and then installing the various components for fuel capacity, cargo capacity, engine, wing design, and shield capacity.
You can further enhance the design parameters of your ship with additional upgrades and crew members. Crew members can be hired for various roles and you need to pay them based on their loyalty, trade, and skill. The fair wage for each crew member is displayed in the crew management console. If you pay them less than the fair wage indicated, their loyalty to you will likely drop, which increases the chance they will leave your ship. Pay them well and their loyalty will increase. The longer you keep your crew, the more loyal and skilled they will become, which also increases the amount of money they expect to be paid. Checking and adjusting your crew's pay levels each time you dock is a good habit to get into for improving loyalty. Your crew's loyalty will also increase if you successfully complete contract objectives and their loyalty will decrease if you fail contract objectives.

The news console is also available in the main inventory console display. The news console give you local news headlines which provide details on market conditions and recent events specific to the system you are in. Your statistics are also displayed at the lower right while market prices for commodities and fuel are displayed in the two lower columns on the left. The 'System Information' option gives you a brief background on the system you are in and details on local factions/groups.

The inventory console will automatically open when you enter a hangar at a station or carrier. When the inventory console opens, the hangar's tractor beam will engage and hold you in place until you close the console. You can disable automatic inventory console control by pressing the default Alt-F3 combination You will then need to manually open the console when you dock to engage the hangar's tractor beam and access docked options available in the inventory console.

Ship-to-Ship Trade Console (default F4 key and fourth console button): Lets you arrange commodity and money trades with other ships. Commodities and other items in your cargo bay aren't part of your ship, so they can be exchanged with other ships in flight. You can also exchange credits, so you can arrange to sell or buy items if the pilot of the other ship agrees to the terms. You can try to bribe other hostile ships with this console by just sending cash. However, the other pilot may not agree to open the trade console if they want to attack you for something in your cargo bay. So the best time to bribe another pilot is when your cargo bay is empty. When you've selected the items or money you want to trade and agree to the offer from the other pilot, click on SUBMIT to accept. In multiplayer, both pilots must click on SUBMIT for the deal to be finalized. Pilots can also exchange small 30 unit fuel pods in multiplayer as well as challenge each other to races using the trade console. When a race challenge is submitted and accepted, the race course is placed in front of the player who sent the challenge at a heading of 0. You can also link with another player as a gun turret operator for their ship. Simply click on the CONNECT GUNNER BINDING button in the trade console to activate. You will then be in control of a ball turret that surrounds the ship you've linked to while the receiving player will continue to be the pilot of their ship. Either you or the pilot player can click on the DISCONNECT GUNNER BINDING option to terminate the gun turret mode. When that happens, or if the pilot ship leaves the sector, you will be returned to your ship.