One problem I find quite annoying on my trade routes is that to get the best money, I usually have to travel incredible distances, which combined with all the ion storm-avoidance routes I take, can take me almost an hour or MORE to go throuh 1 trade!

So I propose that certain stations sell "Tesseract Warp Boosters". Basically, this finite-use item you would install in any available weapon port, and each would allow you to jump through multiple sectors plotted on the N-map at 1 time.

For balance, these things would be quite expensieve, making it best to run shorter trade routes to gain enough money to stockpile these "tesseracts" at which point you could traverse whole systems with 1-3 jumps!

[stamp of rejection]™

No. This would allow traders to skirt pirates, and whether we like it or not, piracy is one important gameplay aspect of this game.

So balance it out with tesseract jammers! If you try to pass through a system with a jammer activated, it'll cut your jump short the the system with the jammer.

These boosters are meant to cut time on long trade routes, not deprive pirates of their unlawful gains.

The universe is already massively smaller than it's depicted as in the backstory. If there's ever going to be any "epic" feel to the game, distances have to get longer, not shorter. I mean, hell, people do loops of the entire universe in ~30 minutes. I see no need to make trade routes even faster.

What would really be nice is if the economy were balanced so that if you did travel across half the universe you could earn some comparative serious coin.

I agree with phaserlight. As it stands, you can make 500-600k per trip in places without even leaving the system. Yet, moving something like, say, Sedina Chocolate (the most expensive per CU item in the game) across half the galaxy doesn't net you any additional benifit.

Hopefully the Economy redux will fix this.

As it stands, you can make 500-600k per trip in places without even leaving the system.

I gotta find me one of these routes. :\