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Tell us about a lucrative activity you love doing!

Posted by Alex Sinclair in Elite Dangerous

There's little more that we can ask for in life than to make a living doing what we love. In this reward, suggested by CMDR Henckes we want to know what that activity is for you. Before we go on, we want to make it clear what we're strictly not looking for: credit-farming hacks and tricks. Instead, we want you to tell us about activities that bring you joy while also bringing you a healthy income stream. Be sure to tell us why you enjoy it!

Here's CMDR Henckes:

"It could be anything from xeno hunting to trading. Describe how it works and share some tips for making profit while having fun. If you have any third-party tools to recommend, that'd be welcome too."

You can enter with text or video, with video submissions earning a higher tier of prize. If we run out of video prizes before we run out of text prizes, as usual we'll award video submissions with the text-tier of prize instead.

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Created at 10:12am, 4th December, 2024. Page last updated at 2:41pm, 1st February, 2025.
Deadline at 12:00am, 4th March, 2025.

CMDR James Lauer 1/31/2025, 5:06:43 AM

I really love trading! I started my company (L&L Company) as a travel agency and humanitarian trasportation. Soon, We moved from G 123-16 and now have our place in Tionisla system. We expanded to L&L Transport and Cargo.

I love trading because it's what keep the galaxy alive. Even more in these times where we are near a huge expansion moment with the new colonization processes of unnocupied space.

To have that feeling of cruising the stars, hauling something that can make a difference. Food for the hungry, materials for construction or repairing, even leisure commodities. Everybody needs something in any corner of the bubble, right?

Oh, I also made a video remembering that all fellow truckers could use EDMC, the market connector, this way we can keep us all informed about our beloved galaxy commodities situation. just yesterday I was checking Inara and EDSM (Star Map), and went with my trusty T-8 to a settlement not visited for more than 500 days! At least if it was, all commanders had their ships computer offline! Lol Well, Fly safe commanders! See you out there! o7

https://www.youtube.com/embed/lkYN1NCStpU?feature=oembed

uzilei 2/1/2025, 2:41:05 PM

Thargoid hunting.

During the war, it was THE way to make money, with almost all AX pilots earning tens or hundreds of billions. It was admittedly a very difficult activity to do all the time, but there were plenty of people willing to help. You could even just hop in a conflict zone with a laser and just point at whatever people shoot and still get all that money!

Nowadays it's a lot harder to get into, but for skilled pilots, conflict zones are still available in the California Nebula to get rapid Interceptor spawns, almost as much as during the war. Most people can however learn by just hanging around the Pleiades nebula looking for Non-Human Signal Sources.

Dunescorpion037 1/28/2025, 1:11:24 PM

I may be very new to the game, but mining is my favorite source of income. I love laser mining in my little adder. It's a relaxing, non fighting way to make money. I'm gonna try out some other mining ways, but I like that there are non-combat oriented ways of making money in ED. I hope to one day fight some thargoids, maybe get some guardian stuff, etc..

AlvarZ4 1/27/2025, 9:47:38 PM

My favorite activity to make money is bounty hunting. In my squadron's home system we usually go kill some pirates in the Dangerous Extraction Zone, it's very profitable. Sometimes we can do the same activity but protecting a federal navy facility and this way it's much more fun. Pirate hunting is the most fun and lucrative activity especially when you find funny names like Osito de Felpa (Teddy Bear).

Loghen 1/26/2025, 6:28:27 PM

Together with my fiance, with who we play on same account, we have few favorite activities:

Exploration and Exobiology - that is her favorite (I do like it to, but not as the most one), to go on ong trip outside the bubble and look for something new. Also the background sounds are different there which gives some good vibes and helps relax sometimes. And of course a lot of credits.
BGS - getting along with my faction and doing some geo-political actions to take over control of the system - this include trading and combats which gives you fun and monmey :). With new Power play - I am trying to secure one power on all our territory so even more credits might come to my account.

XCezor 1/25/2025, 1:48:06 PM

o7 Commanders!
Faction wars are very important for faction development. After release of Odyssey DLC, participation in ground conflict zones is also a very profitable activity in terms of combat.

Without winning wars (or elections), a faction would be never able to expand to another system and the FPS style in ground cz brings something unique from the casual routine flying in the ships cockpit.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VP4zgzOn34s?feature=oembed

Solaris104 1/23/2025, 10:21:37 AM

currently, my activity that generates the most income is exobiology because it is a relaxing activity in which you have to land on some planets and scan biological material, this activity brings in quite a bit of money especially in systems where the plants have never been scanned. there are plants that are worth even 20 million, and if they are first logs there is also the 75 million bonus.

being an explorer/exobiologist in the game I do these activities more, every now and then I also dedicate myself to trading and battles but I much prefer exploring the most remote space of the galaxy and who knows it could be interesting to find plants never scanned by anyone and receive the first log bonus as has already happened to me a few times.

the only negative note of this lucrative activity is that you have to be careful when trying to land on the planets, because there is the risk that you go too fast and crash to the ground.

Psykokow 1/20/2025, 4:37:30 PM

My favourite way to make money in Elite is through Ground Combat.

Its so simple, you don't need a ship, obviously you need to invest in a good combat setup with decent weapons.

I lovce my Karma, and my plasma combo.. just go in, shoot as many enemy as you can and win the scenario.

Low or Medium give you a slight return on your time, but nothing beats 10m a go at a high intensity zone.

High is a must, its engaging and fast paced, and you will die if you get into the wrong position or find a whole enemy squad landing on your head. It's so much fun in the right Settlement too as the more you know it the better you can cover all areas. The rest points become known, you recharge tripods.

Your Ammo crates... You gotta know where they are or you are done for.

The best bits for money are if the session glitches and the NPC's all stand still.,... takes a LOT longer to win the scenario but you can clear 20m credits in bounties for your trouble.

I love it... also you get weird issues sometimes that are funny, like getting dropped by the drop ship nearly in orbit... Or watching the drop ships bounce of the ground..

I didnt survive the drop...

Nor this one, where I couldnt even pick a side..

It's just faced paced on foot action... and despite not thinking I would enjoy that kind of repetative action.. .I love it.. and it makes a LOT of credits for you. Easily 200m a day if you can take the grind!!!

-TRY IT!

Stormseeker 1/20/2025, 4:23:50 PM

Play, fly and have fun doing anything, and you'll get credits, materials, and reputations without even realizing.
But my favorite mechanic is exploration and scan planets.
You need a 20 jump ship, a surface scanner and be gentle with your ship.
Jump to a system, use your ffs to see what bodies you can find. Use your surface scanner to launch some proves at the ones you consider more valuable, or the full system if you like your name to show as first surface scan in all of them.
Most valuables are water world, earth-like world, ammonia world and any terraformation candidate.
Remember this mechanic can be done with any ship even without engineering but be careful, if you die, your data dies with you. You want to return alive to a station to sell your date for credits and put your name on any undiscovered planet.

Sorry for my bad english and fly safe! o7

RicardosGaming 1/19/2025, 10:18:18 AM

With New Commanders in the Elite Dangerous Odyssey Galaxy, I thought I would do a ground mission - Settlement Clearout with Level One Maverick Suit and Level 1 Plasma Pistol. This video explores the challenging and high-stakes world of settlement clear-out missions in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey, the latest expansion to the popular space simulation game. The onfoot part of Elite Dangerous Odyssey is both entertaining and lucrative to say the least...and as I have shown here - accessible to anyone even with grade 1 gear.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7VoWno-SXZE?feature=oembed

RicardosGaming #elitedangerous @JustAbout__

Dydo 1/14/2025, 7:45:23 PM

Hello, World! I recently took an extended vacation, but now I’m getting back to productivity. During my break, I finally played many games that had been on my list for years. That said, ED sessions remained a constant - since I first started playing. For this Reward, I created a short compilation of one of my journeys, showcasing what I find to be the most enjoyable way to earn some credits.

Surviving the depths of space while discovering new systems and collecting data is an unparalleled experience. The thrill of receiving the message that I'm the first to land on a planet or witness a system is incredibly satisfying. Exobiology is also a great source of profit, even without help from any third-party tools, and now I’m focused on completing my Codex.

Knowing I'm the first to behold such wonders has always been what I love most about ED. But even the well known touristic places are so nice to visit. The anticipation of what lies beyond each jump is an exhilarating addiction.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/DmxvHFGCPiE?feature=oembed

Vivisector 1/3/2025, 11:55:59 PM

My favourite lucrative activity are 3:

1- I really enjoyed exploration for collect data. Using the scanner for found every planet possible I think is the most satisful activity.

2- The cargo for trasportation it comes from my passion of euro truck simulator, where moving merch its the base. Well, doing this in a big galaxy make challenge more intense.

3- Passengers transport because the ships are really HUGE. Also comes more action when some pirate tries attack us.

Kethervir 1/3/2025, 11:28:53 PM

Hello everyone, at the moment the lucrative activity that I love to do in Elite Dangerous is certainly that of the merchant. Mainly because I would like to advance to the imperial rank to obtain the beautiful ships that they offer to unlock. I also find that it is a very particular activity if done wisely, very lucrative and very relaxing, in fact it gives me the opportunity to watch the TV series that I prefer and listen to music during the trading process. In each session I try to optimize my profits as best as possible by chaining different routes. I decided that to do this, the best faction with which I could stay is that of Zemina Torval which gives many bonuses to the trade of minerals and commodities. Furthermore, its systems are quite safe. The main third-party tool that I use is certainly Inara. I usually look for the most profitable route starting from the capital and move to the designated station. From that point, I start accepting data delivery missions and, for each system where I have to deliver them, I look for the best commodities on Inara that I can sell upon arrival. in each port i make donations of money or goods in order to increase all possible reputation levels, it is another action that gives a lot of reputation to increase the powerplay ranks of Zemina, and then once finished i make the main delivery that i found at the beginning on inara. when i want to do longer sessions, in addition to the data delivery missions, i also do the boom deliveries or standard delivery missions, first accepting the reputation as a reward, then, once allied, i have access to the more profitable missions that, for a normal delivery, can be paid tens of millions with very few jumps.

The spaceship i always use to do this activity is my trusty Type 9, the U.S.S. Midgard, with a jump of almost 20 and with a build created to have the maximum available load with a minimum of safety to escape quickly in case of attack. my trips are on average 1/2 jumps long and i don't go more than 6 jumps, but if necessary i can do a maximum of 15/20 to get to a specific place, but from that point i move a maximum of 4/6 jumps, for an average gain of 30/50 million each jump.

USCSS 12/31/2024, 3:21:14 AM

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vnYuI5Yd6e8?feature=oembed

Hello Commanders

Today I bring you the activity that for me is profitable and at the same time fun and can be done in almost any system. And in addition to earning credits, you earn reputation with the faction.

It is about eliminating pirates of “threat level 8”.

Apart from earning credits for completing the mission, you also earn reward bonus credits at the station.

I left a video doing one of these missions and collecting the credits at the station.

(Apart from killing the main target pirate, I took advantage and killed my partner)

(Translated with Google translator)

AndyRice 12/22/2024, 8:21:55 AM

My current favorite activity is Anti-Xeno Combat.

It’s a highly lucrative job; I earned a billion credits in just a few days by defending the Solar System and participating in several AX Conflict Zones. More importantly, it has made me fall in love with combat in Elite: Dangerous.

For many years, I considered myself an explorer, as I always thought I was terrible at combat. However, the Cocijo Invasion Event made me realize I could do more than just evacuate refugees—I wanted to fight for our home. Before this event, I never thought about learning AX combat because I had always heard that Thargoid Interceptors were the "End Game Enemy," and I feared they would destroy my ship within seconds.

I took my Federal Assault Ship, outfitted it with Enhanced AX Multi-Cannons, and headed to the AX Conflict Zones. After taking down a few Interceptors with the help of other players from the Anti-Xeno Initiative, I gradually started to understand the strategy for defeating them. When I was hyperdicted by a Cyclops, I decided to try fighting it on my own—and I succeeded! With no repairs and 60% hull remaining, I defeated my first Cyclops. That experience ignited my interest in AX combat. By the end of this war, I had taken down dozens of Interceptors in AX Conflict Zones and during hyperdictions. I’m now determined to improve further, aiming to solo a Basilisk, Medusa, or even a Hydra.

In addition, I participated in the bombing operations during the Cocijo event, acting as both a bomber and a repairman. I received not only significant credits but also heartfelt appreciation from other commanders. This has truly been a satisfying and rewarding experience.

Here's the video that I recorded the final moment of Cocijo. Glory to mankind o7

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ojEEIy0CVJk?feature=oembed

CMDR I.N.K.V.I 12/22/2024, 7:29:23 AM

Greetings pilots

My favorite thing to do is to look for exobiology and part time research, for they are related.

Why do I like exobiology?

It is quite an interesting and fascinating occupation, which also brings a good income.

Exobiology is quite a meditative occupation, you fly from system to system in search of biological life or interesting space anomalies, finding a signal with biological life you are happy, and when they are also a lot (the largest number of exobiologies that I came across is 15), you are a klondike because you can get from this system hundreds of millions if not a billion, this is still taking into account that this system has not been discovered by anyone.

There are dangers in this business, namely gravity and gankers. Sometimes you can not pay attention to the force of gravity and when landing will crash into the surface, for this reason I advise you to put a simple but shield. Also colleagues tell me that there is a problem with gankers, but I have not yet met such.

To summarize - exobiology is quite interesting and profitable, but it is not suitable for everyone, as in the case of other occupations, exobiology also has its own peculiarities and requirements, which can be solved quite simply.

https://twitter.com/CMDR_INKVI/status/1870733121425191259

MrT 12/22/2024, 4:17:51 AM

Since the latest rebalance I'd be tempted to say exobiology out in the black is one of the most lucrative. You tend to do exploration at the same time which makes it even more lucrative than just the exobiology alone.

Stacked combat missions can be lucrative but they get a bit same same after a while.

However, I probably enjoy core mining the most even if it's not as lucrative. After all, you get to plant explosives and blow up asteroids!

CMDR Henckes 12/16/2024, 11:30:11 PM

Exploration, was the my activity I felt in love in the games. After so much time trying to fit in combat or trading and mining I decided to invest my time equipping my Cobra Mk III to explore clore regions to the bubble, just the enough to buy my ASP Explorer and then start to go to distant regions of space, specially to the nebulas, I always chose one as my destination and start going through systems scanning planets and landing and exploring interesting ones (remembering this was back then in 2018, there wasn't any FSS, you had to get close to the planets to make the scan)

So after so few nebulas visited I come back to the bubble sold my data and made a few millions enough to buy my first Anaconda and equip it to make longe range exploration, and then few months later I start my first Expedition the Distant Worlds 2. If exploring the galaxy by myself was already engaging to my, make this with other people and interacting with them was an amazing experience, and at that time the Explorer's Anchorage was just inaugurated, the first station built in the Galaxy's center.

And after that I don't need to say the fortune I've made, after that I didn't need to worry with credits in the game anymore, just with engineering materials. And gladly with the new updates and the Odyssey DLC made exploration so much fun and engaging, with a lote of new planets to explore and things to find and scan, and scan the planets was so much easy as well and it made more profitable!

The only sad part is that I'm to focused in the Thargoid War, what is too profitable and fun but nothing will surpass the exploration in Elite!

Niceygy 12/9/2024, 9:13:46 AM

Given the recent ahem... Thargoid-Based-Incident, I decided to give evacuations a go. I'm not going to give a Cr/hour number, as it varies between systems and your build. I was pleasantly surprised that the hyperdictions are fairly easily survivable: make sure you keep cold and fast. For those who want my build, it's here.

All you need is a ship equipped with heatsinks, passenger cabins and module/hull reinforcements. Head over to dcoh.watch and find an invasion system with a Starport. Dock over there and pick up passenger evac missions, then jump to the rescue megaship.

When you get hyperdicted (you will!) drop a heatsink and boost away. If your shields go down, disable them (to save on heat/power). Keep below 20% heat and you're golden! For those who want a more detailed write-up, I have a blog post on it here ( Alex Sinclair please say if you want the link removed!)

Enjoy :D

https://embed.bsky.app/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbsky.app%2Fprofile%2Fniceygy.net%2Fpost%2F3lcaxszymb22v

LiquidMorkite 12/6/2024, 3:55:37 PM

https://www.youtube.com/embed/TOP8sQZQrKU?feature=oembed

Earning credits, and a lot of credits has always been my passion in this game. Meanwhile I do vary activities between, missions, mining, bounty hunting, exobiology, thargoids hunting is by far the most lucrative activity there could have been. There are different places to fight them, all by yourself, 1v1 the interceptors, in a space conflict zone, but the easiest and most credits effective place is when there is a station/surface settlement being under attack by Thargoids, which permits you to bring in a large ship into the fight and being able to repair it as you dock. You'd need a very well engineered ship, with guardian weapons of course. And it's even better in group! Anti-xeno initiative has a private group where you can join and find yourself in the instance with other cmdrs, which makes even the toughest fights a piece of cake.

Meanwhile the video is not suitable to guide somebody through an Interceptor fight, it does demonstrate how easy it could get when you're doing it in a wing.

Surely it's one of the more complicated game loop. But trust me, when you get your ship sorted out, and a bit of experience, it's almost as easy as flying in a haz res. The hardest part is getting into it, when you're there, it no longer requires such effort.

thebeardedsoul 12/5/2024, 6:46:00 PM

Exobiology Brings Wonder and the Big Bucks

I absolutely love exobiology! I get an incredible feeling being the intrepid explorer that is out in the black, lightyears away from civilization, finding life where no man (or woman) has gone before. It's an amazing experience to hear my Science Officer (aka Elite Observatory w/BioInsights) alert me of a possible high-value body.

It's even more exciting when the report she gives me tips me off to the possibility of a Stratum Tectonicas species in the system. Hold onto your space cowboy hats cause I'm definitely flying in for a proper look!

The truth is, while it is very nice to come back from a stint in the black a couple of billion credits richer, the thrill of exobiology for me is in the discovery. Seeing my Codex light up with "Reported" or "Confirmed" makes me feel I'm really contributing to the overall knowledge base of humanity in the stars. Having the Cannon Research plugin also helps with that feeling.

I can't wait to finally come back from the black with enough credits to purchase my Fleet Carrier. At that point, Commanders, I might not come back to the Bubble for years.

In the meantime, fly dangerously. o7

Alec_Turner 12/5/2024, 7:08:52 PM

I too am going to go with exobiology (in truth, given I spend most of my time racing, long distance SRV driving and rolling ships down the side of craters it's not only my best money maker but possibly one of my only money makers).

For those looking to give it a go, although there are plenty of "road to riches" guides where you just follow what others have done and go on a tour of well known high payout planets, my recommendation is to do it "properly", head out into the black about 2kly in a random direction and then start looking for undiscovered atmospheric worlds of your own to scan. Not only will you get a sense of being a true explorer but you'll also get the first discovered bonus on your scans which can really bump up the rewards.

Lastly, just to add something fun to this, back in 3308 I took part in a Canonn speed scanning challenge and produced the following video of my run.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PhD3m7nPAX4?feature=oembed

Block9 12/5/2024, 11:17:55 AM

My best way to make money and fast is by fighting against the Thargoids near a station that is on attack, because so in addition to battling against the pagodas and earning money for it, you can still take some missions at the station and earn even more money with it, it is a way to earn money very fast, but very risky. But this is the way I use the most when I need money. I believe that in one day I can get 3 billion credits... it depends a lot on how long I struggle, the longer I struggle, the more money I have. This is my favorite way to make money.

mastercesspit 12/4/2024, 10:50:11 PM

my choice is combat, whether assassination, bounty hunting or conflict zones, i just like the dance.

it is quite lucrative when engineered properly, it's nothing to make 20-30 mil an hour in just hazres alone, but if you look around, there are many systems that the factions all offer kill pirates and assassination missions to an adjacent system, if you take 1 mission from each faction to the same adjoining system, each kill takes 1 off the tally of each mission, if you have 4 missions from 4 different factions @20 kills each, you only have to kill 20 ships and all 4 missions are complete, then it is nothing to make over 100 mil an hour

i have many engineered combat ships from an insane DBS to the mighty corvette, i like to mix it up and change ships often, what ship i use depends on my mood, sometimes i want a fast paced dogfight in a mandalay or python mk2, other times the intense sheer power of the corvette, but my kick back and relax while killing is my T10 "battletoad", my mainstay battleship before i ground out a corvette

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4YzjZhOto6s?feature=oembed

have fun 07

Doc 12/4/2024, 5:18:19 PM

My choice is Exobiology. It's a very lucrative activity and I enjoy the process of searching for planets with the best specimens. Exobiology is like a treasure hunt and you always get curious when you see the results of your system scan.

Besides that you always see good views from space.

https://twitter.com/dt_os_ch/status/1864355699557339182

MQC 12/4/2024, 3:05:47 PM

I am a passionate trader, and I love to take my Type-9 and run through a list of bookmarks I have with several different routes connecting dozens of Rare Commodities that can be obtained in markets that have a large landing pad, and that are some distance from my home system and my faction.

I greatly enjoy doing the different routes I have created for myself by filling the 790 tons of my favourite Lakon. I go without shields, without weapons, with as much cargo capacity as possible. I'm going to roleplay, and enjoy the ride.

Obviously, buying/selling these goods is a good chunk of money (probably not as much as other mechanics, but I don't mind) and now with Powerplay 2.0 a good number of merits as well. And if I love doing this kind of gameplay, what more can I ask for?

LCU No Fool Like One 12/4/2024, 2:15:42 PM

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PUbMDs0RA5o?feature=oembed

Clearly I rather enjoy exobiology. I have scanned one of every variety of biological sample in the galaxy. Some of the species are worth 20 million and with the firstfootfall bonus you can make 100 Million for just one set of scans. Kerching!

I originally made the video for Canonn last year but have re-uploaded to my personal youtube for this competition. I hope that is ok.

Sociopath 1/20/2025, 10:07:15 AM

Depending on my mood, I go deep core mining, bounty hunt with missions and friends, or high ground conflict zones

ricardo30 1/27/2025, 12:22:27 AM

Si te gusta hacer música, puedes convertirla en una actividad lucrativa. Puedes vender tus canciones en línea o en plataformas especializadas. También puedes crear beats y samples, que son piezas valiosas para otros artistas.

Para monetizar tu pasatiempo, puedes: Identificar el valor de mercado de tu pasatiempo, Elegir un modelo de negocio, Fijar tus precios, Construir tu marca, Mantenerte organizado.

Otras actividades que puedes monetizar son:

Escritura
Fotografía
Desarrollo de sitios web
Jardinería
Dibujo
Fabricación de joyas
Punto
Vender productos artesanales
Crear y vender diseños
Ofrecer servicios de marketing digital

BoomerMod1/27/2025, 12:05:49 PM

ricardo30

Hi ricardo30 just another reminder that we are currently an English-speaking platform, so please use a free translation tool to help translate posts before sharing them. This is important as it lets more members and our moderators engage with your content.

Also, I want to suggest taking a little time to read the criteria for these rewards, as that will increase the chances of your submissions being awarded. For example, this reward is asking about lucrative activities in Elite Dangerous, so it'd recommend editing your submission to include something directly related to the game.

Feel free to tag me ( Boomer ) if you have any questions 🙂

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