Relatively new to the game, but I am trying to work my way up to an Large S class for each of the basic types. Along the way I have picked up a few extra ships I need to dispose of. Does it make more sense to take them to a station and scrap them for cash and upgrades, then buy the new one for cash? Or hang out until I see the ship I want and get the trade in discount?
At a glance, the trade value and scrap value seems to be the same. But I think the scrap option has the potential to give some extras on top of the money. Which would imply that scrapping them would put me ahead of the curve when compared to the trade option.
Has anyone done analysis in this area since the salvage option was added to confirm? Most of what my google foo has turned up predates the salvage option, and I haven't been able to locate any discussion around this point.
Best Answer
Since no-one else has chimed in here, I will give the details as I see them after disposing of 4 or 5 extra ships.
Scrapping the extra ship:
You get scrap components that are nominally worth the trade value of the ship. Plus commonly a couple free upgrade modules. The draw back is you have to actually sell the scrap components, and are subject to market fluctuations. So it seems like you generally lose a few percentage points off the trade value, with the upgrade modules as compensation.
Trading the extra in on a new ship:
You get the trade value. Bonus, you don't have to worry about clearing enough suit inventory to accept the components from scrapping. Drawback, you have to be looking at the ship you want, while the one you want to dispose of is your active one.
Summary:
I generally prefer scrapping. That way I am not clogging up my ship slots with things I don't want, and have money free to use for other things, like hiring frigates. The exception is, I bought an A class fighter at a trading post near my base a while back, and I am holding off on upgrading it's systems, hoping to find the S class sitting there one of these days.