Elite Dangerous Money Making in 2024

Read about the top Elite Dangerous Money Making activities in 2024, with an overview of how beginner-friendly that are/aren't. Deep-dive details linked below.
#8 Road to Riches
spansh.co.uk/riches
#7 Massacre mission-staking
• Elite Dangerous - Mass...
#6 Robigo passenger mission-running
• 🤯 The Best Way! Elite ...
#5 Laser-mining platinum
• Elite Dangerous Odysse...
#4 Exobiology
• 100+ Mil/Hour Exo-Biol...
#3 Booze Cruise
• PTN Guide to Booze Cru...
#2 Port-assisted Anti-Xeno Combat Zones
• Anti-Xeno Academy: Lea...
(Note the above is a general guide on AX more than a specific one to farm AXCZs, but most of the same concepts apply)
#1 Organized Spire Sites Farming
• The best money in Elit...
00:00 - Introduction
00:53 - #8: Road to Riches
01:32 - #7: Massacre mission-stacking
02:11 - #6: Robigo passenger mission-running
03:16 - #5: Laser-mining platinum
04:31 - #4: Exobiology
05:21 - #3: Booze Cruise
06:27 - #2: Port-assisted Anti-Xeno Combat Zones
07:55 - #1: Organized Spire Sites Farming
09:13 - Conclusion
#elitedangerous

[@cola98765]

"up to 1.5-2 BILLION cr/h" The inflation in this game man... I remember when 50M/h was considered an exploit, and how game braking Void opals were at 100-200M/h. Meanwhile me, simply having fun shooting pirates in Haz-RES.

[@nicred6312]

Recently I've been runnuing passenger evac missions from the ground ports under attack. Most of the times they have at least one 50mil passenger group and with a few extra cabins I managed to earn ~60 mil per run. A few conditions have to be met, however: - There should be a ground port under attack - A ship fast enough to escape thargoid hyperdictions (500m/s+). I used Orca with engineered FSD and Thrusters(g3 would suffice) - 50mil missions can be rep-locked so may need to do a few dry runs to earn friendly/allied A full loop took me like 20 mins with RR carrier 136 ly away. Thargoids aren't too agresssive as you approach the landing pad but may need to pop a heatsink or go silent. Best to do in solo mode so you always have a 1st wave without interceptors (and not blocking the landing pad for other cmdrs). Glory to mankind! o7

[@orderoftwelve]

Normal Passenger Cabins, or are you cramming the humans into cargo pods?

[@nicred6312]

Passenger cabins, 50mil missions are usually 25 dudes looking for an economy class. I have cargo racks for feds though@@orderoftwelve

[@nyenyon1]

I currently do such runs in invation systems. After maxed out my reputation to the factions I can earn 100 to 150mio per round. In total 300 to 450mio per hour. I use only cabins ignoring the insured people. I use a python with 500ms boost to evade the glaves with 70% hull left. Works pretty good and it helps the anti ax efforts. In short: max out and take cabins only. Mainly eco, some business.

[@TheEmmetdocbrown]

I love exploring. Sometimes i go onto the galaxy map, mark a star which could be interesting and fly into the blue. On the way i scan star systems and when there are planets with 2+ biology i go for it. The bonus when you explore a new species is four times higher than the pay itself. And i found so many cool places and get awesome views of the galaxy itself.

[@mangotapu]

Cubeo runs are really good too, when you get allied with the factions you can just pick up mining missions(but actually buying the stuff) from a system one jump away and then ha dig them in for 50 million rewards.

[@SRSR-pc8ti]

Thanks a lot for this list. As a returning commander this is really helpful.

[@tommyleisy863]

Robigo mine runs are good income/material rewards, eventually. You must have good reputation with the factions to get the better paying passenger missions. That said, once 4 to 5 million credit missions are available to you, there is a little risk in being intercepted by random NPCs if you accept missions that transport criminals. They are not difficult to get away from but be prepared to encounter NPCs. Side note, though it is not required, if you have a ship with at least a 31ly jump range, you can make the Robigo runs go faster since you will only make 4 jump round trips instead of 6+ jump round trips. Hope this helps clear things up. o7 Commanders!

[@actiondan08]

Literally just loaded back into the game after a few years out. Sat in my Python that Robigo Mines passenger missons brought and with 230mil in the bank wondering what the hell do I do now 🤦🏼‍♂️ luckily I have autodock/launch on but it didn't stop me getting a fine when leaving Wilmore Depot (no idea why I was there) for firing because I'd forgotten the buttons 😅 Playing on PS5 and its going to take a few days to get back into it.

[@Tamburello_1994]

Road to riches got me to the millions; bulk trading (Elite V) got me in the billions, and beyond.

[@runnergo1398]

How long did it take before you got around 200 mil from day one?

[@orderoftwelve]

Solid info. Empire supports you making poor CMDRs into rich CMDRs.

[@vanderaj]

Wing combat missions are pretty lucrative if you're into BGS outcomes. With four of us stacking missions in a suitable war zone, we are making 100-250 mCr/hr

[@panzerknacker1205]

Yep the CZs can be quite profitable if you have an active group and a wing.

[@MrBrand666]

Unfortunately Robigo mines mission board runs dry after 2-3 trips.... it's still quiet lucrative if you plan doing hourly sessions or so, but it's not a lucratively as it used to be.

[@mr.ditkovitch152]

pov: Ryan Reynolds teaches you how to make money in a video game Kappa Thank you for this btw!

[@psyantologist]

I dig the random cr50m cargo missions :) some barely fill a Cutter's hold and are done in one trip

[@CPNSTRAdiction5925]

Right? That's what I used to do. Grab wing cargo missions and just do them solo with my cutter and carrier.

[@cd5sircoupe]

Eh, Robigo runs do have an element of conflict present even if it's unlikely. Sometimes those Illegal Passengers have bounty hunters tailing them that you've got to shake, or even more rarely you get scanned while at Robigo. Overall though, 98% of the time you're not going to have an issue. I fly my Python shieldless and scoopless for the extra passenger space, but I definitely keep a heat sink on me for scans.

[@LEMON-ql5uw]

Guys... More adventures... More artifacts... More mysteries... and be perfect Is very good game💯👌👌👌

[@runnergo1398]

The devs have given up on the game. We'll be lucky to get 3 more years out of it. Maybe they are working on an Elite Dangerous 2. Who knows?

[@dantesinferno7350]

Info re Booze Cruise, I have read elsewhere that it has been nerfed, also it was the case it was filled with decommed FCs? Is it as simple as loading up with wine or liquer or beer jumping there and selling off your FC? Or do you have to wait for a specific day in the month?

[@michaelcurtis6664]

Needs to be in public holiday

[@OmegaPaladin144]

It was not nerfed - I was able earn enough to buy to fleet carriers there. The issue is that you need to coordinate with people, as carrier unloading is super fast.

[@nealthompson9463]

Core mining is still very good. I made ~150m with a single cargo hold of top-selling core minerals. Took about 2 hours or so in my clippa. Much more fun than laser mining.

[@Astyrrean]

For real. At least there’s a minigame to play and some cool visual and audio effects!

[@mnetrox]

Laser is best

[@ottolehikoinen6193]

New players do well avoiding all of these. Exobio and Road to Riches are ok. Trade routes are normal game play, do not pay as much but are better if you want diverse game play. Massacre missions in player groups may raise your combat level too fast and you get elite npc pirates for your regular game play, not too nice. Combat should be learned alone to at least competent/master level first.

[@ImNotQualifiedToSayThisBut]

What do you recommend to a new player?

[@ottolehikoinen6193]

​@@ImNotQualifiedToSayThisBut get a-rated parts (+ fuel scoop, srv, surface scanner) to a sidewinder, cobra III or DBScout and do part of Road to Riches. Get the artemis and maverick suit and start ExoBio and Scavenging. Continue on the road. It's quite close to the inhabited Bubble so it can be easily discontinued whenever you feel you need more action. Ditch the Supercruise assist and docking computer if you need more slots. Disclaimer: I'm not much of a fighter but learning how to fly without Flight Assist on, should open up the space combat quite quickly for a beginner also. Took me a week to get the basics.

[@57thorns]

​@@ImNotQualifiedToSayThisBut Play around and have some fun with the small and medium ships. You will figure out what you like doing. If you end up in the right group, mining in hazrez in a group would be 200 million plus per hour, but you "need" 500 million for the optimal ship. If you end up exploring, well, tough shit, your will make those billions regardless. If you go out in the dark, there are DSSA carriers that you can land on to cash in your finds.

[@nomadactual7007]

​@@ImNotQualifiedToSayThisButdo all the things he suggested and ignore what Otto said

[@droman608]

Sry useful info. Thanks and o7 Commander!

[@LarryDerDicke]

I did the Robigo run recently and it is unlikely to make 150m/hour as to me it happened that after 3 consecutive loops the missions ran dry and the payout went down *significantly*! First it was like 25-30m on the first loop and then decayed. So before it gets repetitive it's almost over. Not sure if this did only happen to me.

[@cohenworrior898]

Mix it up with Hauser's Reach? Asking, not telling.

[@LarryDerDicke]

@@cohenworrior898 Given the fact that you get loads of illegal passengers and that Hauser's has a strong police force you'd be forced to sneak into Hauser's which takes up a lot of time and makes the whole process inefficient. At Robigo Mines there is simply no police and you don't have to care about "illegal" passengers at all. Getting a ship as big as the Python unscanned into Hauser's is too much of a hassle. The biggest ship I sneaked in unscanned was an ASP Explorer.

[@cmdr.shurimal8980]

Stacking massacres doesn't really require being in wing, you can stack non-wing massacres and make ~100 millions an hour when allied with the mission-giving faction. Typically I can stack 3 missions paying 40 millions each, requiring taking out 30 targets, plus a few 20 million cr/15...20 targets missions. One caveat is that depending on your luck, RES-s might not spawn the targeted faction's pirates at a very fast rate, but over the past several months in mission signal sources (even threat 3 ones) once I open up on one ship, everything turns red and attacks. This wasn't the case earlier; only the ship you shot at (and its wingmates, if any) went hostile. Honorable mention goes to evac missions in alert and invasion systems. Longer range ones (200 ly-s to rescue ship) pay pretty well, 8...12 million credits per mission is common. With some preparation (pre-engineered FSD and a class 2 FSD booster you turn off when plotting the route, then on when actually travelling so you save ~20% of fuel per jump) you can do it in an 80 passenger Phantom without refueling in 7 jumps, or around 40 minutes and 40...50 million credits per round trip. The payouts doesn't seem to scale much with reputation, either, I can get the same payout being neutral as I get with being cordial/friendly.

[@beaucoupzero]

excellent list, i would also like to add a slow but sure money maker method: fleet carrier odissey mats trading. it does require a carrier and any ship + a normal srv. park u r carrier in a system that has an anarchy faction with loads of surface settlements and start robbing them using stealth or do what i do: get near the settlement and use the srv to wipe out the guards and the two waves that spawn and the settlement is yours to rob, scan and clone any of the troops that come after you wipe the initial guards and boom u got lvl 3 clearance so u can get data as well. data and goods are the most profitable some can be sold for millions and u get to help fellow cmndrs as well in their quest for better gear.

[@justinmisiorek9446]

Any chance you could help a fellow commander out in game? I'd like to understand how this works and what I need to do. CMDR Belgeroth on PC

[@beaucoupzero]

@@justinmisiorek9446 super simple, attack Anarchy Faction settlements using the default SRV, do not target the Military settlements just ind, sci and ext. or tourism. Land near the base get on the srv and make sure u are not in line of fire of turrets and kill everything, after u do that 2 waves of soldiers will arrive, defeat `em with the srv as well, the settlement is now your, scan one of the fallen soldiers from the dropship waves and u got lvl 3 clearance, kill remaining personnel a nd loot everything. edit: the srv is super op against human targets but it s not invincible, keep moving and stay away from ground turrets, pips 2 0 4 are highly recommended

[@randythekoala3516]

Is deep core minning still worth doing havent played in a while

[@Astyrrean]

For fun - sure! For credits, eh, there’s better options across the board.

[@randythekoala3516]

@@Astyrrean awesome will have a try of some new stuff then thanks

[@57thorns]

I am curious how the booze cruise, that takes several days on a carrier, can make that much money.

[@Astyrrean]

Check out PTN, they will explain better than I can here. In short it entails a handful of CMDRs loading carriers with wine for the whole community. Then individual CMDRs short-haul trade wine to the station for a (massive) profit.

[@57thorns]

@@Astyrrean So a relative short and hectic period of unloading, and a long trip from the bubble aboard the carrier with no play time. 18 carrier jumps (in a hectic period that is 9-12 hours non stop) and 1900 tons of tritium one way. 24 hours of in game time, 21000 tons of cargo. 250k profit per unit/ton. About five billion. So 200 million per hour if you are doing all the work yourself as a carrier owner. It is something you do to entertain yourself at this level of the game, and to help others.

[@j4rvismick]

For Robigo runs I use a shieldless long range conda from Hausers reach, 1 jump each way

[@Astyrrean]

Is it as good as Robigo Mines missions-wise?

[@j4rvismick]

I thought the conda would have quicker turn around having only one jump but the journey time is the same at around ten minutes. However my Python averages 6 missions per journey and my Conda averages 9 missions per jump so I do prefer Hausers when grinding for materials.

[@JohnSmith-mk8hz]

@@j4rvismick At Hauser's don't you get attacked by the law? I get destroyed almost everytime at Hauser's but never at Robigo mines.

[@j4rvismick]

@@JohnSmith-mk8hz I've never had any issues at Hausers with the law or Bounty Hunter's

[@saffieification]

lol unusual to see you not shooting at lazer lettuce's. i can confirm after a couple of days testing your mining figure is about right, the exobiology hmm i made 150mil but i think you need a list or a lotta luck to make 300. i cant shoot anything unless its stationary .... lol i'll leave the rest of the list to the "shooty shooty" people 😂

[@Astyrrean]

Yes 300m is more for Exo stuff like “Billionaires Boulevard”. For general flying around scanning, for sure it will be lower!

[@PhilHibbs]

No mention of wing “mining” missions?

[@Astyrrean]

Not something I'm personally familiar with or have heard much talk about (mind you, might be just the circles I run in.) What would be the income for those? And still Platinum laser mining?

[@sbf2557]

​@@AstyrreanRun by PTN, you grind rep for factions in a specific system until allied then take wing mining missions for 50m each. They involve no mining as they sell the needed commodities to you via carrier. After you have a full 20 mission stack you'd share it with 3 others (for their missions in return) to get a 4B profit overall. Hard to say the income per hour since it relies on mission RNG but also minimal effort besides some hauling.

[@sammorrow8420]

Mechan-make money, kill bugs.. 😊

[@Astyrrean]

Mechan has some 40bil in uncashed bonds from spire play …

[@anthonyrosales7697]

I play on ps5 if anyone is still playing Drop your psn!

[@semibiotic]

Trade routes ?

[@UltimatePerfection]

I am still waiting for a Real World money making guide when starting with about $20 and not relying on the job system.

[@ImNotQualifiedToSayThisBut]

Have an interesting hobby you're outstanding at and monetise it.

[@christophercox4437]

I don't care what they do but if they don't put VR in the whole game there will be no money for anything from me.

[@runnergo1398]

We'll be lucky if they still support the game three years from now.

[@FC-rq1np]

Mate, I make 400-450M in less than a couple hours with massacre mission stacking in solo, and can even go afk and let my ship do all by itself after collecting the missions stack. Also you did not include PTN Wing Mining Missions that can net 3B+ in an hour after collecting the missions.

[@shinrapresident7010]

I am a returning Cmdr who quit right before Odyssey released and I gotta say, it's sad how FDev turned this game in to something so boring. I'm just going to uninstall again and not come back. I tried to play for a few hours and just wasn't enjoying myself like I used to. Gone for like 4-5 years and like nothing changed. Oh a big new Thargoid that does literally nothing and serves no purpose. How fun. Exobiology? Yeah, because I bought a space game because I wanted to run around with my feet on a planet.. And seriously no new ships in like 6 years now? How is that possible? Sorry I'm ranting, I'm just really sad and heartbroken. I left for 5 years and there's literally nothing to do with my billion and a half credits.

[@Astyrrean]

I mean it's your free time, you should do what is fun to you. Elite:Dangerous has always been and remains a sandbox game. The war against the Thargoids has provided a unique dimension to that sandbox, that of combat on a massive scale - which many find interesting. But if that's not your cup of tea, that's totally fine!

[@yerpyerp]

"Yeah, because I bought a space game because I wanted to run around with my feet on a planet." ROFL! game devs sometimes... I felt the same way about Subnuatica 2. Its an underwater exploration game and the expansion added more surface running not swimming to the game. As a new player I did not by the horizon expansion due to this. I want space not fps or running around. Of course they balance out the base games $PerH and make the most lucrative require the expansion. Cash grab. With that said... OMG THIS GAME IN VR!! Blew me away. Go buy a $200 quest. Now!

[@fishstix4209]

Good stuff as always, happy new year and glory to mankind 🫡