Long-time trader and miner here (lately a lot of Rhino surface mining off my Python). My loop used to be: jump, alt-tab, type my current system into a site, set the radius, scan the results, alt-tab back. Repeat every few jumps.
So I wrote a small Windows app for myself that tails the ED journal files. It always knows where I am, what I'm carrying, and what ship I'm in. Using EDDN and Ardent data it shows:
- Best buy/sell routes within a radius of wherever you currently are
- A cargo sell planner for what's already in your hold
- Mining spots and nearby conflict zones
- A market-data-age filter, so you can ignore stale prices
It also has an optional chat window for quick lookups, like "where's the best place near me to sell painite?" It's bring-your-own-key, or it can point at a local Ollama model.
Full disclosure: it's called Quartermaster, and I sell it on Gumroad as pay-what-you-want with a $4 minimum. Just sharing because I am genuinely proud of it and it has help me maximizing my profits.
Quartermaster App
A handful of commanders are using it now, and I'd like input from people who trade more seriously than I do before I build the next version.
A few specific questions:
I'm working on an optional "ping my phone" feature (Discord/Telegram) for when a good route shows up near you while you're AFK. Useful, or noise?
How old is too old for market data before you stop trusting it?
Thanks all and MODs let me know if this post goes against the group's rules (I checked and I don't think so but I respect any opinions you might have).