Engineers So, mission rewards are no good for crafting...

[Viking84]

One of my complaints about the Engineers material gathering process (besides the randomness) has been that you can only get certain materials from certain activities. It has been suggested however that most materials are available as mission rewards, meaning that being a mission hobo (jumping from system to system, taking missions with material rewards as you go) could be a viable path to upgrading your ship. So I noted down the materials for 4 different blueprints (13 different materials in total) and got to it.

Having tried this approach for the last 3 days of play I can say that this is if anything even more frustrating than doing the intended tasks. You are completely reliant on luck to get the correct mission rewards, and with 130+ to choose from (I even got some rewards that aren't in Inara's list) it will take forever to get what you are looking for. I started to resort to mode-switching at each station, which helped cycle through different rewards, but even then I would rarely see anything of use. And I certainly wasn't enjoying myself!

So spare yourself the grief, just go and do whatever it says on the tin that you should do. At least then you are only praying for a lucky drop among 5-10 alternatives instead of the full list of 130+!

 

[Darkfyre99]

That's funny, with the exception of the commodity component, which I've yet to obtain, I've managed to find all the components I need for a grade 3 FSD upgrade mostly through missions, and that's from running missions primarily for one faction in one system, the system I'm working in, supportinng an Imperial patronage.

That's over the last eleven days. One to two hours a day. Including one day dedicated to jumping to Maia, one day exploring around Maia (since I was in the neighborhood), one day jumping back from Maia, one day visiting Farseer, and one day where I wasn't able to log in at all, despite it being my day off.

I will grant you that it wasn't completely from missions, but the non-mission sources were simply opportunities that arose while completing said missions. A USS that conveniently close to a station I was approaching. A harmless pirate that attempted to interdict my Cobra, Slave of the Empire. A POI that popped up when I made a slight detour to do do a canyon run, just for fun.

Since commodities seem to drop in lots of four, I'll probably spend half an hour on the surface of a world I know that has selenium and yttrium, so I have enough for four proverbial rolls of the dice. But the crazy thing is, I have yet to change my playstyle. What Engineers has done us give me a motive to participate in aspects of this game I've generally ignored, because they don't interest me as much as other aspects do, and I already make all the credits I need doing them.

Mostly, though, I'm going to continue doing what I enjoy in this game, avoid doing what I loathe, dabble in everything else as opportunities arise, and generally let credits, ranks, ships, upgrades, and now mods come when they come. In my opinion, that is the bestbwaybtomplay this game: do what you find find fun, and let the rewards flow in naturally. Mindless repeating something you loathe over and over again, while promising yourself that once it's over, then you'll have fun, is putting the cart before the horse.

 

[jacozilla]

havent looked at every single recipe for all items at grade 1 to 5, but in general the very clear pattern appears to be:

a) lower grade recipes can be done with purely mission rewards (not talking about whether the volume received is viable for sustained crafting, just saying from the recipe list, seems most level 1-3 mods use mats that are reasonably common from mission rewards

b) higher grade recipes, generally level 4 and 5, require materials that are either not offered by missions, or so rare that it is generally not feasible to acquire the numbers needed via missions only (e.g. Yttrium and polonium, which while offered in some missions, the frequency is so low that in effect you need to Srv scour planets vs just doing missions

 

[Viking84]

Mindless repeating something you loathe over and over again, while promising yourself that once it's over, then you'll have fun, is putting the cart before the horse.

I fear you are right. I was hoping to get my Asp or Anaconda up over 33.4 light years range (nicely kitted in case I find a Thargoid) and take a trip to beagle point. Instead I think I might just give this whole patch a miss as it is causing me more aggravation than joy... man I hate RNG loot searches!

 

[jacozilla]

I fear you are right. I was hoping to get my Asp or Anaconda up over 33.4 light years range (nicely kitted in case I find a Thargoid) and take a trip to beagle point. Instead I think I might just give this whole patch a miss as it is causing me more aggravation than joy... man I hate RNG loot searches!

I think it is the combined effect, not just one or other.

yes, RNG loot searches are not my cup of tea - but it would be relatively ok if once the RNG loot hunt was over I crafted good, great, or awesome stuff from that RNG loot, guaranteed.

but the problem is that we have RNG loot hunt, in order to then RNG craft and see if we get anywhere from range of useless to so bad negatives it makes vanilla item better to incredibly awesome (all rolls in the blue, very high or near max range)

easy mats - RNG crafting, or hard mats - guaranteed good crafting would be acceptable. It is the weird combination where you can have incredibly bad luck at finding the pink unicorn in first place, then end up with a donkey when you craft that makes 2.1 crafting so frustrating for some.

i say for some because for every 1 person that has been rained on entire 2.1, there is 1 person who has the Midas touch.

 

[Viking84]

This is exactly right Jacozilla. I could stomach the RNG loot hunt if the mods were guaranteed, and I could stomach the RNG mods if the loot was predictably located and possible to find without spending days wondering if RNGesus is laughing at me. But both in combination is too much... it is frustrating to the extreme, and horribly poor game design. I really hope the devs plan to change this but I fear that chance is gone!

Edit: I might even enjoy the RNG modifications if I had access to a good source of materials that didn't rely on farming rocky outcrops or scanning every wake in sight until I was lucky enough to get a good drop... man this update really is a slap in the face

 

[Suicidal Tendencies]

I think what you are missing here is that, yes, repetitive missions, BUT you will gain more reputation with each faction; not only giving you more lucrative missions, but also gaining allies that, will often come to your aid (in the form of allied security ships) if (for example) you have been interdicted.

 

[Zarlok]

One of my complaints about the Engineers material gathering process (besides the randomness) has been that you can only get certain materials from certain activities. It has been suggested however that most materials are available as mission rewards, meaning that being a mission hobo (jumping from system to system, taking missions with material rewards as you go)

It appears that many pilots drift from system to system without making a base. However when one chooses an area to work ones rep goes up by doing the local missions. Then you will find that there are so many missions with so many Engineer items as a reward. Being a mission hobo doesnt work anywhere near as well as getting local rep. I now have great rep in half a dozen local systems. Great missions with great rewards. Engineers upgrades are already underway.

 

[Viking84]

It appears that many pilots drift from system to system without making a base. However when one chooses an area to work ones rep goes up by doing the local missions. Then you will find that there are so many missions with so many Engineer items as a reward. Being a mission hobo doesnt work anywhere near as well as getting local rep. I now have great rep in half a dozen local systems. Great missions with great rewards. Engineers upgrades are already underway.

Hmmm, I have not had much luck with this. I spent the first few days after release taking missions from Cubeo, where I am allied to every faction. They paid well in credits, but no luck on the materials. 30 hours total game time since 2.1 released and I have been able to do one level 1 mod. RNGesus is not my friend

 

[Darkfyre99]

It appears that many pilots drift from system to system without making a base. However when one chooses an area to work ones rep goes up by doing the local missions. Then you will find that there are so many missions with so many Engineer items as a reward. Being a mission hobo doesnt work anywhere near as well as getting local rep. I now have great rep in half a dozen local systems. Great missions with great rewards. Engineers upgrades are already underway.

That's how I do it. When I move into a new area, I set up shop (ideally) at a station run by a local Imperial patronage, and run missions primarily for them. I also get to know the neighbors in Federation Space, and run missions for Imperial factions trapped on the wrong side of the border, independent factions, and Federation factions that don't favor the local Power... in that order. I primarily use them to buy commodities to complete missions, but I also take missions of opportunity as they come.

In my experience, about 50% of missions offer commodities or materials as well as credits for rewards. The friendlier you are with a faction, the more often they offer you commodities and materials, and they offer rarer ones more frequently.

 

[sbdags]

I'm on mainly level 3 grades and have done 100% from missions. Even got 4t of Arsenic. No need to hunt around on planets yet.

 

[capt_sparks]

It's a combination of going to USS and Nav beacons, scanning wakes, mining and mission running that gives me the required materials for every upgrade I want. I've collected 5 tries for level 5 FSD upgrade while I was focusing on various other module upgrades (weapons, distributor, power, armor and shields).