Distress Calls and Salvageable Wrecks?

[idahosurge]

What are distress calls that you see while in SC.

When salvageable wrecks first showed up in SC you needed a salvage mission to collect them. I got back from exploring a couple of weeks ago and have been doing missions to rank up in the Federation. I have yet to see a mission to salvage anything?

Do you still need a salvage mission to collect salvage?

 

[Archvillain]

Different systems have different kinds of missions, usually because of the current state of the local factions (eg factions suffering a famine often have missions to get food). So it's probably just from dumb luck - you're probably just working in systems that don't have salvage opportunities (or don't have them right now. Maybe salvage missions appear in the aftermath of a war or something? I'm not sure).

But AFAIK Salvage missions haven't changed, and presumably won't until 2.1 drops.

 

[Faded Glory]

Salvageable wreckage sites still require you to have a mission in order for the salvage to be legal. This is not the same on planets, where most salvage seems to be legal...

Distress calls will be an NPC that has run out of fuel. Sometimes there will be pirates attacking them, sometimes those pirates come in a number of wings, and you can spend some time fending them off. If there are multiple waves of wings they generally get harder, the final wing is an Anaconda and a couple of Vultures. If you give the NPC fuel (using a fuel transfer limpet) they will fly away, without so much as a thank you.

Oh, and occasionally they are just wreckage with a system authority ship investigating.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

You sometimes get a NPC rescue ship at a distress call too. I'm not sure if it will refuel the stranded NPC.

 

[Jethzk]

I think distress beacons are worth stopping at. If there's a pilot around, scoop them asap. Lots of planet missions have a crashed ship with lost pilot. Ironically, it seems they weren't very attached to that particular pilot and will happily take any pilot I'm able to provide [big grin]. Considering those missions go for 2-300K, it's a nice little bonus for just flying around. They also offer a lot of rep so pay attention to what faction is offering the reward and do it for Fed aligned factions.

 

[idahosurge]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[Spacecat]

i tried stopping at two distress signals. Got attacked by pirates both times. I no longer stop at distress signals.

 

[John Streutker]

Ditto Spacecat. I've stopped at a couple dozen and not once have I seen a distressed pilot. I've been attacked every time. I'll just ignore them for now and hope that someday there's a reward for completing some task there. Maybe kill the pirate and wait for authorities to secure the area and you get a rep bump or monetary reward.

 

[Spacecat]

Ditto Spacecat. I've stopped at a couple dozen and not once have I seen a distressed pilot. I've been attacked every time. I'll just ignore them for now and hope that someday there's a reward for completing some task there. Maybe kill the pirate and wait for authorities to secure the area and you get a rep bump or monetary reward.

Well just like a lot of other things with this game, there's a lot of unrealized potential here. I think it would be cool if you could rescue people for rewards or if it would lead to missions or something you could make a career out of. Instead, it's just pirates, or escape pods that are only good for selling on the black market for a marginal amount of money (yawn).

 

[anikaiful]

Well just like a lot of other things with this game, there's a lot of unrealized potential here. I think it would be cool if you could rescue people for rewards or if it would lead to missions or something you could make a career out of. Instead, it's just pirates, or escape pods that are only good for selling on the black market for a marginal amount of money (yawn).

You can, however, if so wishing, keep the pods for ground missions which ask you to find escape pod(s)...

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

i tried stopping at two distress signals. Got attacked by pirates both times. I no longer stop at distress signals.

If you have a Kill Pirates mission, distress signals are one of the best places to find plenty of pirates.
I found one once where there were two factins of pirates fighting it out, while the poor Asp sat there being ignored. I tried to join the fight, but both groups of pirates turned on me, and I was trying to ally with one of the groups, so I had to leave.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Distress signals are scripted encounters with a number of different scenarios. You might find a ship under attack by one or more waves of pirates, it might be someone out of fuel, something that can be salvaged from a wreck or just a wreck with a police ship telling you there's nothing to be done to save the ship (there may be other scenarios that I've not come across). They can be fun encounters, unfortunately there's no way to tell what the encounter will be before entering it (like any USS, although this is set to change in 2.1) and in many ways they feel very incomplete i.e. no missions, things to salvage and take back to a grieving widow, no reward or even a thank you from the ship you've just saved etc..

 

[TomP]

Distress signals are scripted encounters with a number of different scenarios. You might find a ship under attack by one or more waves of pirates, it might be someone out of fuel, something that can be salvaged from a wreck or just a wreck with a police ship telling you there's nothing to be done to save the ship (there may be other scenarios that I've not come across). They can be fun encounters, unfortunately there's no way to tell what the encounter will be before entering it (like any USS, although this is set to change in 2.1) and in many ways they feel very incomplete i.e. no missions, things to salvage and take back to a grieving widow, no reward or even a thank you from the ship you've just saved etc..

Not quite true. If you kill every single pirate, the Feds show up and congratulate you, saying, "Have you ever considered joining the Navy?" Scant reward, I know, but you do get a lot of bounties.

 

[sqzbox1]

Hey, not everything is about the reward! This is a fellow pilot in distress - rescue them if you can. OK - it's a bit rude that he doesn't even say thanks if you give him some fuel, and after the rescue guys arrive he continues to whine for help, but even so ...

I enjoy the combat challenge as well. I can only manage to take out the anaconda and 3 vultures if they choose to leave me alone while I pick them off one by one - sometimes they do that. But if they all turn on me at once - can't quite handle that yet. Good challenge!

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Not quite true. If you kill every single pirate, the Feds show up and congratulate you, saying, "Have you ever considered joining the Navy?" Scant reward, I know, but you do get a lot of bounties.

Never had that message. I usually hang around for a bit after the last pirate is killed/escapes to see if anything else turns up and all I've ever had is the distressed npc continuing to whine about needing help (maybe you have to kill every Pirate, I find usually at least one runs away, or maybe I've not found that scenario). I was also quite disappointed that the Rescue ship, doesn't actually do any rescuing, it arrives and then just stops and nothing happens.