Im lvl 33 Commando Ive done al lmissions solo handedly and not gotten any help whatsoever with items. My crew skills are: Biochem Bioanalysis and Diplomacy, and I got 230-280 in all of them with no help. So far I have been abel to buy evrything I need from abilitys, speeder bike and equipments. Saying that Slicing is the only thing bringing money into the echonomy is retarded. I got 100% of my money from missions or NPCing dropped crap items I dont need. Slicing give surtain people money advantage... nothing more. For Single player consern: You might need some money at a surtain point in game. For Guild/Clan players: You have easier access to trading goods that you find/make for money with somone that have other cradting skills/slicing. = group advantage.