best method of making money?
i feel bad for making this thread because i'm sure the experienced players here have talked about this a million times. but i just got the game last week and am fairly addicted but i don't want to spend $15 over and over just to keep playing.
i tried doing some runs and keeping track of the money, and tier 1 runs (solo) usually get me 4.4k at most for 60 energy, which is right about what it sells for. i tried tier 2 runs (in a group of 4) but it's a bit unpredictable - sometimes i get 6k but a lot of the time i join a bunch of bad players and they wipe on the 2nd level, wasting 10CE.
anyway i was hoping for advice or specific clockwork routes or other methods to turn CE into crowns at a higher-than-market rate so that i can play without constantly spending money
thanks and again i apologize for what must be the 100th time this question was asked (but i can't find any using search)
If you are making 4400 per 60 energy, then you are making 7333 per 100 energy, and energy is (for now) well below 7k. You can then take your materials to the auction house for further profits, so you're -already- at self-sustaining income.
However, T2 pays better than T1, the bottom half of a tier pays better than the top half, arenas and danger rooms pay better than average areas, and running the Jelly Palace in particular is very profitable.
Also find a guild or build a friends list so that you don't take risks with joining the worst party ever. Also you can always 'go solo' ... if you join a party, everyone but you dies of their own stupidity.... if you need to heat up your equipment, go ahead and rez them, but if you don't need heat... go solo and leave 'em to lay.
I'm far from beeing an expert in this matter but i think i can give you some tips.
1. I understand you get 4,4k flat from run. Market price of 60 energy right now is ~3100 so you get around 1,3k profit from run. I think you can do more just pick the right gates. Look on Ruby Bishop. Chance of 2 graveyards which can get you from ok to great money and quiet a lot of materials. If you dont get graveyard maybe some level with challenge gate(im not sure if there is one but these always are extremely profitable - assuming you are dying maximum 1 time during whole run). Also there is uaranteed arena which is like 1k of profit alone (of course if you clear 3 chambers).
TL;DR ARENAS>LEVELS WITH CHALLENGE>GRAVEYARDS>REST
2. Unless you can solo T2 go with people who you trust and who are pr0. You'll save a lot of nerves and CE. Especcialy if you have sudden craving for Jelly King.
3. If you can make to Basil between stratum 3 and 4 you can try reselling recepies (no details here, sorry - do some research). If you pick right one and put them on AH with reasonable prices (there's no need to rip off players with high start bid prices or riddiculously high buy-now prices) you can make some profit.
thanks , lots of good advice here. i was expecting everyone to tell me gtfo noob but i guess this isn't the average gaming community :)
in particular i never considered graveyard runs, i will give those a shot. and i'll look into the recipe stuff too. are they randomized every time or does it stay the same in each route? i never checked
buy the first craftable in an alchemy line, or any of the 4* plus items not permanently on kozama.
Basil's stock (the vendor in the Clockwork Terminals) is randomized with each encounter.
Join the Oathkeepers guild. They are JK and Arena lovers.

Theres a few alternatives to just doing dungeon runs. i.e. if you dont have time do what ndesse1 said, and buy the first in an alchemy lines.
I usually craft 2 star weapons (gear doesn't sell as well) using my left over energy or on days i don't play. this method is just a bit more tricky and gets confusing especially if certain things don't sell well.
I played around with this method a couple weeks back, but found minimal profit but that was due to the low CE - crown exhange rate. it should be much better now as less people want to craft with their CE as it costs more crowns. (my page: http://wiki.spiralknights.com/User:Fallout )
Otherwise selling materials yield quite a lot of money if you sell the right ones. sometimes you'll yield more money selling the mats instead of using them on a profit craft.
Finally the other method... which is probably to late to try; play with the market ;) :when steam release came out i bought a heap of CE with money i had earnt buy selling CE at 7k per 100CE the previous week. basically i am now waiting for the price to rise to 7k again; in the end yielding a huge profit =D
have fun: experiment..... and if it doesnt work out, do what everyone else says: JK runs =p

@Fallout:
I was actually doing just that as away to make money on days I didn't play(exams and stuff) well before the steam boom. The profit is decent and obviously variable. You will of course get more if you do a run using the energy but its still a good way to make money on days you know you'll be inactive. My tip for you is low bid price and long bid time. As long as someone bids you will get your money back. I think the lowest bid price I got was on a brandish for around 2000ish, and the highest bid price I got was around 4000ish for a skelly shield. Of course theres also the chance you get a UV( I believe its a 10% chance) and those will sell for much more depending on the UV and equipment.
Go to the gate that has the Jelly Palace in tier 2 and go for it with three friends. You'll get a LOT of crowns that way, and you don't even need to face the Royal Jelly (or, as I like to call it, the Royal Pain in the Keister). I think it's in the Bishop gate right now.