Anyone running missions for cracked industrial firmware successfully?

Hi there,

Actually it is what I said, you just missed the next line of my post.

Specifically it's tied to mission rank. But mission rank and player rank are related.

You can now only get missions within four ranks either side of your own rank, with the highest chance being that the rank matches your own.

You can also get CIF from an Elite ranked mission, it's just less likely because the generator skews towards the most expensive/rare item the rank allows.

Thanks,
Dom

Dom
Sir, a suggestion.

How about getting rid of those useless commodity rewards (except modular terminals ofc, though they only appear in passenger missions now-a-days) and replace them with mats/data?
 
Specifically it's tied to mission rank. But mission rank and player rank are related.

You can now only get missions within four ranks either side of your own rank, with the highest chance being that the rank matches your own.

You can also get CIF from an Elite ranked mission, it's just less likely because the generator skews towards the most expensive/rare item the rank allows.

Thanks,
Dom

Hi Dom,

I appreciate the explanation and it's nice to see some logic behind it. Higher-ranked mission = higher-tier reward makes sense, and with the relative rarity of things like Exquisite Focus Crystals and Biotech Conductors it's nice to be rewarded with them for my higher Elite rankings.

I think the one failing of this system is that Cracked Industrial Firmware is valued by players FAR more highly than the game recognizes. For a mid-tier piece of data it shows up in many of the highest Tier blueprints. To many players, myself included, Grade 5 dirty drives and grade 5 charge enhanced distributor are essential.

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I'd have no problem with CIF appearing in the Elite tables. I value a CIF more highly than an EFC; if they appear in multiples of a higher-level reward... well, no complaints here.

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EDIT FOR CLARITY: If you go over the blueprints that require some of the highest-end materials you'll notice that Cracked Industrial Firmware appears alongside a lot of them.

- Biotech Conductors are only used in Long Range 5 and Short Range 5. Both of these blueprints also require a Cracked Industrial Firmware.
- Exquisite Focus Crystals are used in Charge-Enhanced Distributor 5 for the most part, with the X-Resistant Boosters being a second, less common use. Charge-Enhanced 5 requires a Cracked Industrial Firmware as well.
- Pharmaceutical Isolators are used solely in Dirty Drive 5, which also needs Cracked Industrial Firmware. (Are Isolators supposed to be in the mission rewards? I never see them.)

So yeah, you can't even use Biotech Conductors or Pharmaceutical Isolators without an equal amount of CIF. This is usually true of Exquisite Focus Crystals at well, with their most common use being in a Charge-Enhanced Distributor mod; that also requires CIF in equal quantity.
 
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Doesn't anyone else think it's just plain backward to make certain things harder to find, the more you play the game? Surely time invested should equal reward? Being Elite should infer some additional benefit, for example, all materials rewards are always 4, never just 1 or 2. As it is, being Elite is a HINDRANCE to finding CIF. How does that make sense?
 
It does, if low tier materials would only be needed for low grade modifications...

You're making an understandable but completely wrong jump in logic here: someone's player rank actually has nothing to do with the rank of the modifications they're trying to craft, especially as each engineer has their own personal reputation. A high rank player might actually need to go looking for lower tier material, and with the limits on difficulty ratings the mission board will give you described by Dom:
You can now only get missions within four ranks either side of your own rank, with the highest chance being that the rank matches your own.
it will be harder to get low rank materials for your low rank with an engineer that you just unlocked, irrespective of whether or not a particular material is in the wrong part of the drop table.
There's no "starting zones" in this game to grind out low level materials you might need, it's not Guild Wars. Without some alternate route to low-quality materials there's no design justification you can make for dropping fewer for high ranking players
 
More answering the post subject than joining in the debate :D

I am about to begin hunting for CIF as well as MEF. I guess I could head to Dav's Hope, but that doesn't really appeal.

I'm also out in the Pleiades so it's probably quite far away, too. So if there's any advice other than settlements with Outbreak state giving a higher chance to get them (and missions), it'd be much appreciated.

I was taking stock for my next bunch of Engineering, and happy to see I've got 12 FSD G5 increased range rolls, but missing one item from each of my other desirables (Scanners, Multicannon & DD).

CIF is obviously needed :D

o7
 
You're making an understandable but completely wrong jump in logic here: someone's player rank actually has nothing to do with the rank of the modifications they're trying to craft, especially as each engineer has their own personal reputation. A high rank player might actually need to go looking for lower tier material, and with the limits on difficulty ratings the mission board will give you described by Dom:

it will be harder to get low rank materials for your low rank with an engineer that you just unlocked, irrespective of whether or not a particular material is in the wrong part of the drop table.
There's no "starting zones" in this game to grind out low level materials you might need, it's not Guild Wars. Without some alternate route to low-quality materials there's no design justification you can make for dropping fewer for high ranking players
No, not if all grade 5 modifications would require rare materials. By the time you reach Elite your material storage will be full with low and mid tier materials due to missions (regardless if you look for them or ignore it). That's enough to jump to grade 5 quickly. So even if someone completely ignores the Engineers until he reaches Elite there is no reason he should be stuck, he already has the necessary materials.
It's really game design standard. Rare stuff is rare in the beginning and will become less rare towards the end, regardless if that's ammunition for different weapons in a FPS or gems to enhance your swords in a RPG or fast cars in a racing game. That's how reward systems always work.
 
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I just logged on right now and literally the first missions I look at include 2x cif and 4x btc.

This is actually a good example of the problem! Those Biotech conductors literally have no use without an equal amount of Cracked Industrial Firmware. Every blueprint that requires a Biotech Conductor also requires a Cracked Industrial Firmware. This means that two of those Biotech Conductors are effectively surplus until you find some other way to get the Cracked Industrial Firmware.

Imagine some ship build, say a Federal Corvette with two Long-Range lasers on top and a variety of other weapons, that you're trying to engineer for top performance. If you want Dirty Drive 5, Charge-Enhanced Distributor, and good Long Range lasers, this means to roll those four modules one time you'll need:

4x CIF
2x Biotech Conductors
1x Exquisite Focus Crystals
1x Pharmaceutical Isolators
(+some other easier to find stuff)

The mission board, on the other hand, is more likely to overload you with EFCs and BTCs that you can't use until you get more CIF some other way, and totally deprive you of any PIs which will have to be pulled from signal sources.
 
oh my god i just came online and the dav's hope data point has been "fixed" cant farm it for crack anymore, please tell me CIF spawn rates have also been "fixed"
 
This is actually a good example of the problem! Those Biotech conductors literally have no use without an equal amount of Cracked Industrial Firmware. Every blueprint that requires a Biotech Conductor also requires a Cracked Industrial Firmware. This means that two of those Biotech Conductors are effectively surplus until you find some other way to get the Cracked Industrial Firmware.

Imagine some ship build, say a Federal Corvette with two Long-Range lasers on top and a variety of other weapons, that you're trying to engineer for top performance. If you want Dirty Drive 5, Charge-Enhanced Distributor, and good Long Range lasers, this means to roll those four modules one time you'll need:

4x CIF
2x Biotech Conductors
1x Exquisite Focus Crystals
1x Pharmaceutical Isolators
(+some other easier to find stuff)

The mission board, on the other hand, is more likely to overload you with EFCs and BTCs that you can't use until you get more CIF some other way, and totally deprive you of any PIs which will have to be pulled from signal sources.

Yes, BUT, EFCs and BCs can only be acquired from missions, if you want more CIF, you only have to do a base run. I get 25 usually from the first section of this list...

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ial-Firmware?p=5564149&viewfull=1#post5564149
 
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I'm not necessarily saying I don't believe you, but what are you basing that on?

i was there in my srv when i logged and i scanned the data point once, made a round for materials and relogged
after re-entering the game the data point was already accessed, and it stayed like that between modes
 
i was there in my srv when i logged and i scanned the data point once, made a round for materials and relogged
after re-entering the game the data point was already accessed, and it stayed like that between modes

Ah, I see, the week long timer that affects other data points now affects Dav's as well. Never really understood this, think they should make it 24 hours, not a week. Check out the base list above, I must be crazy but I actually enjoy doing those runs.
 
i was there in my srv when i logged and i scanned the data point once, made a round for materials and relogged
after re-entering the game the data point was already accessed, and it stayed like that between modes

*buries face in hooves*

Ah, I see, the week long timer that affects other data points now affects Dav's as well. Never really understood this, think they should make it 24 hours, not a week. Check out the base list above, I must be crazy but I actually enjoy doing those runs.

Base scanning is probably the least fun I have in ED. Is the reset timer really 1 week? I thought it was 2.
 
Ah, I see, the week long timer that affects other data points now affects Dav's as well. Never really understood this, think they should make it 24 hours, not a week. Check out the base list above, I must be crazy but I actually enjoy doing those runs.

the week timer missing from the dav's point datapoint was a bug recently introduced i believe, and dont worry im proficient in base running :p its just that it makes the acquisition rates of CIF vs EFC's BTC's and MEF's even more disproportianate especially since youll be getting MEF's from data runs as well

but il have to check the mission boards maybe that fixed as well
 
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