Supplies to build Astral ships are always in high demand, so the Free Traders have expanded their Astral endeavors to create more sails for Astral ships. This mass production has opened the opportunity to purchase the thread needed for those sails and has given the adventurers of the League and Empire a new reason to set out into the Astral.
In order to make sails that can withstand the Astral, the Free Traders need Etherium, and lots of it. There are a few different steps to their production process, all of which can be beneficial for Astral adventures to assist with:
Step One: Obtaining Etherium
Before you head to the Trading Post you’ll need Etherium. Pure Etherium can be found by killing demons in the Astral, and Raw Etherium can be purchased in your faction’s Astral hangar.
Each adventurer can only purchase up to 3 Raw Etherium per trip. While purchasing Raw Etherium from the Baccy Family or Michael Kazakin, be sure to accept the daily quest to sell the Raw Etherium on the trade route. Once each member of your party has bought up to 3 Raw Etherium, it’s time to set sail for the Trading Post!
Step Two: The Trading Post
There are four Trading Posts that will buy your Pure and Raw Etherium: One League, one Imperial, and two contested. Contested Trading Posts are farther away, but they can offer better prices if the demand is high. If you choose to travel to a contested Trading Post, be prepared to fight! If the trading post is neutral or controlled by the oposite faction, your ship’s speed will be reduced by 10%. Additionally, traveling in sectors where your faction has control will boost your ship’s speed by 10%.
Once you have arrived at Trading Post under your faction’s control and sold your Raw or Pure Etherium to the Free Trader stationed there, you will have earned some gold from the exchange and a bit extra for having completed your first daily quest. From there you and your crew can purchase up to 3 Etherium Solution each, which can be used for the next quest on your trip, to deliver Etherium Solution to a Manufactory.
Step Three: The Manufactory
Like the Trading Posts, there are 4 Manufactories, one for each faction and two contested. Upon traveling to a Manufactory you will be able to sell the Solution you purchased at the Trading Post and everyone can purchase up to 3 Etherium Crystals to be delivered to a Free Trader’s Workshop. Don’t forget to turn-in and pick up the next quest!
Step Four: The Workshop
The final site of production! The Workshops are where the Etherium Crystals are turned into the Thread needed to make the Astral sails. Unlike the Trading Posts and Manufactories though, there are only two Workshops, and both are contested. So if you want to benefit the most from this route you’ll need to be prepared to fight for the right to trade with a Workshop!
The Workshops are eager to purchase the Crystals they need, and will gladly supply you with the Thread your faction is after. Now you can accept the final daily quest and set a course for home!
Step Four: Heading Home
Returning to the Baccy Family or Michael Kazakin at your faction’s Astral hangar and selling the Thread will complete the trade route and the last of the trade route dailies.
What else?
Not every crew will be able to venture out into the deep Astral to complete these tasks. All adventures will be able to deliver Etherium to the Trading Posts, however, since the faction-controlled Trading Posts are close to the capital allods. Fortunately, because you drop off your current cargo at each stop along the route, you can still benefit from doing only a couple portions of the trade route. But of course the most benefit will still come from completing the entire route with all its quests.
There is also a quest from the Hangar Overseer to seize control of a trade allod under enemy control. If you plan to visit the contested trading allods, be sure to accept this PvP daily for some extra gold and a Particle of Anomalous Matter!
Players heading out into the Astral on this route should be prepared to PvP, as enemy ships can attempt to board your ship and steal your cargo to sell it themselves!