Can't make money reliably.

[BoogieMan]

My methods of making money in past versions isn't working so well any more.

-Art
Made good money on this in older version, no I almost never see exotic traders. Tribals don't buy them.

-Plasteel Weapons
Locals are too poor to afford them, the trade ships that have passed by will buy my guns, but not my melee weapons.

-Prepared Meals
Plenty of food currently, but people and pets eat at such a rate that I can't get a stockpile built up. And they seem to really not want to haul harvested food to the freezer unless I tell them to.

-Invader Clothing
Again I am rarely seeing anyone that will buy them.


The problem to me seems to be 90% of all traders I'm getting are tribal locals who seem to have very little silver to trade even if they would buy what I want to sell. I may be wrong, but what they bring may seem to reflect your perceived wealth. The one trader that I did make good money off of selling Thrumbo horns, the next traders that came brought a lot more stuff and had more silver but still seemed to not want to buy anything that I would consider something the player would reliably be able to sell. They will buy my pets, food, and medicine most of the time but that's about it. But apparently raw food is not something anyone on this planet needs as it has virtually no trade value, when in reality I'd think food would be one of the most commonly traded commodities.

They have no interest in my produced goods otherwise. Well, I'm poor because you're poor.

Any tips?

[Listy]

What I normally do is sell Corn to traders.

[Rahjital]

I used to sell corn in Alpha 12, so that's what I tried to do in this Alpha as well. Surprise surprise, in six seasons nobody wanted to buy it, neither trade ships nor caravans, and now I'm sitting at over five thousand corn and have to build a third granary just to have somewhere to store it.

[makapse]

human meat and human leather/hats made from them.
a single bulk goods trader in a year will grant 6k+ and doesnt take that much effort just the refrigeration.

[Kluge]

Elephant horns and beer are my go-tos.

[Mathenaut]

Clothing and art are more ore less worthless. The pain of managing a massive inventory just to have them sold off for nothing just isn't worth it. Melee weapons can at least be salvaged, so those are still good for raising crafting.

So far, I find that medicine and beer are the only real staple cash crops that will net a reliable return on most trades.
Livestock is also a gamble, unless you're the heartless type that can skin down husky babies, it's not worth keeping more than a few of them. They reproduce quickly, eat alot, and don't sell for all that much anyways. Hauling is also overrated for training.

Alpaca and chickens are good. Muffalo are also good if you have access to large crop farms and know how to save up during winter. I've experimented with rabbits, but they eat way too much for what they yield.

[Shurp]

Simply put, trade has been seriously nerfed in a13.  It's barely worth the trouble.  Build what you need instead.  Long term the only limit is how much steel you can scrounge up to build components for powered armor.

[Listy]

[...] and art are more ore less worthless.

You used to be able to scrap art. So if the piece wasn't Masterwork or above it got Hammer Time!
And Wooden small sculptures with two tool chests produce rather quickly.

[hector212121]

You still can scrap art.

Just deconstruct it. Works minified, or constructed.

[christhekiller]

I sell those ship cores you get from psychic ships which net about 3000 silver. Then also Thrumbo horns sell for about 1000 silver (that may be for two of them) even if they are a little more dangerous to get. Then of course some fantastic art will net you a good profit, I usually place pieces of art in relevant places, like a colonist convincing a prisoner to join the colony, and if there's no where I can place it then I'll sell it. I also mass produce plasteel (since building a ship isn't my goal I really don't have much of a use for it.

[mumblemumble]

I find that beer, meals (though animals can make it painful) and tribal weapons (clubs,  shortbows, ect) are good options to sell. Animals as well go for a good price, as well as slaves. It depends who is trading of course, whos in the market for it, but meals and tribal weapons seem the most reliable to sell.

[zenwolf]

My income came from different sources: selling invader clothes, trumbo horn, elefant tusk, prisoner to slavery, harvested organs, insect jelly. Still have 3 thousand human meat and a lot of skins waiting for buyer. Make 10 thousands silver after first year. I almost never sell food and crop

[sadpickle]

human meat and human leather/hats made from them.
a single bulk goods trader in a year will grant 6k+ and doesnt take that much effort just the refrigeration.

How do you manage the colony-wide mood debuff? It's absolutely brutal.

[hector212121]

human meat and human leather/hats made from them.
a single bulk goods trader in a year will grant 6k+ and doesnt take that much effort just the refrigeration.

How do you manage the colony-wide mood debuff? It's absolutely brutal.

Alchohol.

[makapse]

err its just -6 to all colony. I butcher with someone who doesnt mind butchering to get out of the -16. hungry has -8 and forced joy gives enough + to counter the debuff. even looking at corpses is -9 so just dispose off them quickly . I may have some people with soft breaks when they are hungry or freezing and hard when both.