Since most higher level bots now drop premium ore, why not make a mission in the neutral sectors to collect premium ore? Collecting scrap is difficult when most of the bots nearby don't drop it...

Andy hinted in-game recently that the scrap metal mission is set up so that other minerals/items could be requested, so I imagine ore missions are planned. By the way, be it hereby known that Drone II's drop scrap metal (right now.. I think things have changed at some point recently).

I like the idea of the scrap collection mission - It calls for supply shipment, so it's trade, but you actually get the supplies from dead bots, so it's combat. D2's aren't trivial for entry-level traders, but if they ask for help from someone with mid-level combat exp, it's very easy.

Hey, does this mission show up in groups? That would be a perfect example of a group mission - fighters go to town on the bots while the atlases collect the scrap, and both should benefit.

The only mission that shows up in groups is Advanced Combat. I keep hearing that there's group Border Patrol, but I tried a bunch of things and could not make it appear (I was in Deneb, with a group member. The two of us were a -group-. No mission appeared).

Border Patrol isn't a group mission. You can only get it when not in a group.
At higher trade lvls you used to get things other than scrap metal missions.

lol i am trade 14 and still get scrap missions...

O.o

/me bows to your lack of life
/me goes back to botting