Everyone has their own understanding of the various jargon terms used in Pardus – the Pardus Manual even has a section on Abbreviations used frequently by players.

The term “scrap” is used in Pardus to refer to the removal or destruction of Weapons or Special Equipment currently installed in your ship.

You scrap an item by clicking the “(scrap)” link beside any weapon or special equipment when in the Ship tab of the Overview page. You are prompted with the typical “Are you sure…” message and if you continue the item will be removed from your ship. It will be scrapped.

Note that you do not get any money back if you scrap an item in this fashion.

A Scrap Economy

Another use of the term “scrap” is in reference to a “Scrap Economy” (see the article on 140Mw Particle Laser – A Scrap Economy).

In this instance, it refers to an economy that is set up exclusively to allow buying a item of equipment from a player starbase with the express purpose of selling it right back again to realise an immediate profit.

How Does That Work Then?

A starbase owner can set the price he sells equipment and ships to whatever he likes (including selling them for nothing) but has no control over the price that a pilot can sell something back for – this is set by the Pardus game (and is documented in the Pardus Manual).

This is less of a problem than it may seem… when you sell something back to a player starbase, it is paid for by the Pardus game (not the starbase) and as a consequence it is not available again for sale.

If a starbase owner has a 140Mw Particle Laser available for sale at 695,000 credits, a pilot can buy it and then sell it right away for the game price of 700,000 credits – netting 5,000 credits profit right away. An economy that is set up to support this kind of activity is referred to as a “Scrap Economy”.

As an aside, 140Mw Particle Lasers are not the only item that can be used as the basis for a Scrap Economy. In the Union Faction it is viable to do this with the Key of Sheppard (especially when close to a source of Exotic Matter) as well as some of the specialist faction shields (Q-Huge Shield Generator, L-Huge Shield Generator and LQ-Huge Shield Generator).

One final note, these Scrap Economies all require a high ranked pilot who is able to buy (and then sell) the items being produced.