The green thruster effects are definitely a win. 
Voyage of discovery to the heart of the maelstrom
- Thread starter Alec Turner
- Start date
Some small tweaks -
1) do you relly need FSD guardian booster? It will degrade to 0 and you have nothing to repair it back
2)instead, remove 1e research limpet and install 3B xeno multy limpet controller - it have far greater range (and less power consumption)
3)1B collectoir limpet is also have better range then A
Oops, knew I forgot to mention something (and that someone would pick me up on that). Yeah, the Guardian FSD booster is another of my standard no-brainer ship add ons (as a Buckyball racer and tourist, being able to hop quickly around the bubble is an absolute priority). It's been handy leaving it on while I'm rushing around doing stuff and I may well leave it on for getting out to the Maelstrom systems but it's clearly a complete waste once I'm there so I'll be looking at options for alternative modules that I can transfer out there.
Exactly this in fact. I had read elsewhere that the research limpet controller included in the multi-limpet unit had better range.
Duly noted, thanks (for any not aware I gather that accidentally letting the limpet get out of range and fail while you're trying to collect the tissue samples is a VERY common problem so longer range limpets are well worth getting).
Same situation as I do like big jump ranges - so I'm always very reluctant to remove boosters from my ship builds. At least two times visited maelstroms with boosters - but surprisingly haven't bothered to repair them back later even having AFMU on-board - better to have some kind of base in vicinity (in a single jump range). Well, with time this would probably became a problem (to find a safe place not far from maelstroms)
Also, booster are quite power hungry
Running cold and having long range scanners/limpets is in fact quite handy in maelstroms - during the last visit I've got 0 caustic on me during long sampling session - just looking for generators that are a bit outside of the cloud.
Pay them a fruitful visit, Alec =)
PS - your "Passion Aggressive" have a good enough speed and boost, so there is also no real necessity in the shutdown field neutralizer
If anyone has any suggestions on how to do this I'm all ears (could I cut/paste forum posts, including images and youtube video previews/links, into a PDF somehow?). Videos in particular play quite a big part in the Colonia diary so I'm not sure how well that would translate to a PDF.
use a BBCode to html converter, and a html to pdf converter. there are a couple free to use, open source tools around for that.
and yes, you can embed youtube video links into pdf. not all readers support that though.
The FSD booster isn’t totally worthless, first jump out of the maelstrom system reboot/repair and you’re back in business. Seeing you have a fuel scope and FSD booster I’d recommend ditching one or both. I’d suggest fitting another cargo rack and a 5d repair limpet. I ended up using a lot of limpets collecting the tissue samples and caustic materials, and had to repair a few times from the caustic damage and generators exploding (you have to blow some up to get the materials). You could probably get it done with your current load of 18 limpets, but you would have to be perfect or synth limpets.
Going with a long range modified senor wouldn’t be a bad idea. I’ve done tissue sampling twice - once with my Cutter and it’s 7d LW sensor and next with my clipper and it’s 5d LW sensor. The cutter could lock onto the generator at 1.15 km, while the Clipper had to get within 700ish meters. Not critical, but it might make life a little easier.
No surprise the thargoids are winning, just sayin'.
it is always a pleasure to read you, thank you for sharing your progress.
Following your progress, I have preferred a clipper because of the size 7 module, its speed and that it is prettier.
I have not optimised it to the maximum, but I am already starting to harvest the first caustic samples.
you have convinced me to lower the temperature, currently at 21%, it is enough to get close to the generators.
Clipper maelstrom
Following your progress, I have preferred a clipper because of the size 7 module, its speed and that it is prettier.
I have not optimised it to the maximum, but I am already starting to harvest the first caustic samples.
you have convinced me to lower the temperature, currently at 21%, it is enough to get close to the generators.
Clipper maelstrom
Without derailing your excellent story too much, can I tell my "first Maelstrom trip" story? I didn't get to the center (of course), but it was still awesome. I will put it in spoiler tags, so feel free to skip it if you're not interested or think it is misplaced.
So tonight I went into the Maelstrom for the first time ever. I figured it might be a good idea to unlock those caustic sinks just in case, and it finally gave the Clipper that was rotting in my hangar a purpose. I was able to put it together relatively quickly; I did not want to spend too much time and engineering materials on a ship I might only need once or twice, so I cheesed it together a bit. I had to borrow the thrusters, FSD and power plant from other ships, had a few other modules in storage and made a quick trip to Jameson to buy the rest. I went with a shieldless Clipper for the class 7 slot, and I put a universal limpet controller in it, and then filled the rest with guardian MRPs (except one normal class 4 that I had in storage fully engineered). I only had materials to engineer the armor to G4, and I didn't bother with an experimental. I ended up with 3160 caustic armor, which turned out to be enough. This is the build.
I chose Oya as the Maelstrom to go to, because I had parked my carrier in the area to do settlement power on missions, two jumps away from Oya. I have no clue if the other Maelstroms are more conveniently located, but Oya is not. It is over 5k out round the B-star, and the trip was a nightmare. I was first hyperdicted one system before the Maelstrom system (so I used fuel for three instead of two jumps), and then interdicted... I think six or eight times on the way to the body where the was located. I had not factored in the small fuel tank of the clipper, and I had no scoop, so I arrived with an already worrying fuel situation.
Anyway, approaching the Maelstrom cloud for the first time was an intense experience (I do play in VR). I had seen bits and bobs of it on video and read and heard what people were saying about it, so I kind of knew what I was up to, but still.... entering the cloud for the first time, I was scared sh..less. I dropped out pretty far away - around 245 km - and slowly made my way inside that cloud. All the visuals and the soundscape, that was really, really intense.
At first I could not find any caustic generators, but at some point I must have crossed some loading threshold, because suddenly they were all around me. I was keeping to the outskirts of the cloud, so caustic damage wasn't an issue unless I flew through a fart cloud (which of course I did regularly). I thought my xeno scanner was not working because I could not target and scan the generators, until I realized how close I had to get to do so.
So I finally did the scan and released my first research probe - something I had not done before either. I was very, very proud of myself when the first probe returned with the tissue sample without me being blown up or melting. So I must have done at least something right. I then blew up the fart box, and of course I was way to close and got a healthy dose of caustic crap all over my ship.
But I wasn't dead yet, so I carried on. I did manage to get all five needed tissue samples, and the decontamination and repair limpets kept my boat in shape nicely. In the end I had to bail, leaving me five caustic shards short for the unlock, for three reasons. I was running out of limpets, running out of fuel, and somehow I managed to p*** off one of the patrolling interceptors. As it was late anyway, I plotted a route to the next safe system with a station to dock and go to sleep.
So I made the jump, and then... realized that the system had only an outpost, and that the clipper wasn't a medium ship. I had less than 8% fuel left, so I could not jump very far, and could not jump my carrier to the system, as it was a post-recovery system. Crap.
Luckily I did find a system I could reach with a dockable large station, but I literally arrived on fumes.
It was an awesome experience for me, and it felt very well crafted. The environment, the visuals, the sounds, the erratic movement patterns of the generators, the patrolling interceptors... it was an awesome environment. I will have to go back of course to finish my material pickups, and I am very excited about what lies ahead for us at the center of the Maelstrom.
I chose Oya as the Maelstrom to go to, because I had parked my carrier in the area to do settlement power on missions, two jumps away from Oya. I have no clue if the other Maelstroms are more conveniently located, but Oya is not. It is over 5k out round the B-star, and the trip was a nightmare. I was first hyperdicted one system before the Maelstrom system (so I used fuel for three instead of two jumps), and then interdicted... I think six or eight times on the way to the body where the was located. I had not factored in the small fuel tank of the clipper, and I had no scoop, so I arrived with an already worrying fuel situation.
Anyway, approaching the Maelstrom cloud for the first time was an intense experience (I do play in VR). I had seen bits and bobs of it on video and read and heard what people were saying about it, so I kind of knew what I was up to, but still.... entering the cloud for the first time, I was scared sh..less. I dropped out pretty far away - around 245 km - and slowly made my way inside that cloud. All the visuals and the soundscape, that was really, really intense.
At first I could not find any caustic generators, but at some point I must have crossed some loading threshold, because suddenly they were all around me. I was keeping to the outskirts of the cloud, so caustic damage wasn't an issue unless I flew through a fart cloud (which of course I did regularly). I thought my xeno scanner was not working because I could not target and scan the generators, until I realized how close I had to get to do so.
So I finally did the scan and released my first research probe - something I had not done before either. I was very, very proud of myself when the first probe returned with the tissue sample without me being blown up or melting. So I must have done at least something right. I then blew up the fart box, and of course I was way to close and got a healthy dose of caustic crap all over my ship.
But I wasn't dead yet, so I carried on. I did manage to get all five needed tissue samples, and the decontamination and repair limpets kept my boat in shape nicely. In the end I had to bail, leaving me five caustic shards short for the unlock, for three reasons. I was running out of limpets, running out of fuel, and somehow I managed to p*** off one of the patrolling interceptors. As it was late anyway, I plotted a route to the next safe system with a station to dock and go to sleep.
So I made the jump, and then... realized that the system had only an outpost, and that the clipper wasn't a medium ship. I had less than 8% fuel left, so I could not jump very far, and could not jump my carrier to the system, as it was a post-recovery system. Crap.
Luckily I did find a system I could reach with a dockable large station, but I literally arrived on fumes.
It was an awesome experience for me, and it felt very well crafted. The environment, the visuals, the sounds, the erratic movement patterns of the generators, the patrolling interceptors... it was an awesome environment. I will have to go back of course to finish my material pickups, and I am very excited about what lies ahead for us at the center of the Maelstrom.
Fascinating reading. I've been in a few times and collected odd bits but not a planned extraction strategy. I took various items of equipment in and the generators show up with a pulse wave analyser. I didn't stop to figure if this made them easier to find or worthlessly highlighted what you could already see.
I don’t mind people adding there own maelstrom adventures here at all, great story and it sounds like your first foray went better than mine (full story coming soon).
Wait ... the PWA highlights generators! Fashinating Mr Bond (sorry, couldn’t help it, I've just watched Spatula's daft but brilliant Dangusfinger movie). That does beg the question tho' ... can they be mined?
Maybe, but I really only dipped my toe into the Maelstrom far enough to meet the fart boxes. Apparently it gets much more violent the deeper you go...
Except I routinely get samples and ride at 30%. 0 heat sinks.
Is this the Maelstrom version of ay "git gud" post
? On subsequent visits to the Maelstrom I will probably be much less cautious, now that I know what to expect. And I probably won't bring three Sirius heatsink launchers either; I will not need them. I was sitting at 17% all the time except when boosting, then I got to 21%.No. its just I keep seeing people read "consensus" and its really not. Have to have 500 m/s to escape thargoids. Have to have 20% to collect generator skins. You don't. I am trying to set the record straight. Youtube vidoes aren't the end all and be all of information.Is this the Maelstrom version of ay "git gud" post
I didn't blindly follow any YouTube videos (if you read some of my other posts on that topic you know I never do and hate them), no need to "set the record straight" for me. I had casually watched some people visit the Maelstrom while streaming, but I put together my Clipper from common sense and gathered my own experience - all things Thargoids usually means heatsinks and running cold, and caustic damage means lots of armor, and decon and repair limpets. Clipper was the obvious choice as it is fast, can run cold and equip a universal limpet controller. Other than that I went in pretty much not knowing what to expect. Which is the best way to experience this kind of stuff. But congratulations on knowing it all.
You and me both!
I've had a Clipper on my FC for the last year or so, all engineered up with nowhere to go. A quick refit of PP to go low emissions and a few other mods had it visiting the Maelstrom with temps between 19-21%.
I did lose the 1st one through carelessness, but survived the subsequent 2 visits and now have Caustic Sinks, and back doing other things - great experience though!
This wasn't about you.