Question: Hoarding Data?

[OrionM42]

Originally Posted by Kazeto

You can leave it be as emergency funds if you ever end up using up all your money on random stuff or losing it in any other way and don't have money to refuel.

As a matter of practice, after the first 5 or 6 Sectors or so, (once I am feeling pretty secure) I always save my data for extended periods. As Kazeto suggests, it makes for a good emergency fund; AND as Ibol noted, the prices paid for data do vary quite a bit! In my experience, Firax and Tentaculons routinely seem to pay the most for data (which incidentally, comports with their story-lines.)

On a pure unit basis, I have seen data sellable through a range that runs from a little less than one credit per unit of data, up to a figure that is close to 2.5 credits per unit of data. (I also believe that it tends to be worth slightly more in (much) later sectors. In any event, it pays to shop around; and accumulating it, until you find a price you can not pass up, OR find yourself in a funding emergency, seems to be a good course of action, IMHO.

Anyways, I don't call it "hoarding" (negative connotations) -- I call it "saving for a rainy day" (positive connotations) OR "cutting the best deals" ...

[OrionM42]

Oh, and I almost forgot: there are some "Pay It Forward" type rewards for accumulating/holding (however briefly) certain specified amounts of data, to wit:

Have 20,000 data, earn $10,000 in Pay It Forward credits;
Have 100,000 data, earn $25,000 in Pay It Forward credits;
Have 500,000 data, earn $100,000 in Pay It Forward credits.

In my 90 Sector winning game, I did briefly accumulate and hold 500,000 data, and collected the Pay It Forward reward for that. Right afterwards, I warped to a nearby Sector with a Tentaculon Embassy, and sold the data for a near-optimal price, that was (as I recall) a little in excess of $1.35 million.

[dari]

and if you pickup the wrong artifact you will lose all your memory and maybe your 2.something M data hoard like me

btw. did someone encounter a banker science relay in whitespace -> insane amounts of data with total puny security that is speed bumps.

[OrionM42]

Originally Posted by dari

And if you pickup the wrong artifact you will lose all your memory and maybe your 2.something M data hoard like me

Ouch! What a nasty Artifact to pick up! I would hate to have a few hundred thousand (or more) in Data, and then instantly lose it, because I picked up a "cursed" artifact. BTW, I wouldn't consider this a bug -- just one of those unlucky "features" that keeps the game interesting ...

That said, I appreciate the heads-up. I will think twice about picking up an artifact when I have a large "hoard" of Data. Better perhaps to plan on selling my data "bank" for a good price, before I head to the next Star Temple.

The "interesting" features and little surprises in this game just keep on coming ...

[PvK]

Yep, I've discovered several interesting things that can happen with data since I asked the question. For example, there are quests which require and consume it, and the rates for selling it can vary quite a bit depending on whom you're selling it to and what sector you're in. I now only sell it when I either need funds or the rate is high.

[dari]

yep i got a cursed artifact (and not a bug - sorry if i was not clearly enough)

btw in my game it seems that i get the best prices for data from 1. tentaculons 2.vordalene firax is only slightly better than banker and not even always...
also the tentaculons pay the most for artifacts (sometimes up to 10times more than the worst price offered by someone else) - even cursed ones!

[danppus]

The option to exchange data against crafting manuals sounds great! In version 2 i have an hard time to craft anything valuable even at level 89 (is this a low level now?).
bye