HGE-USS seem entirely random now and very rare . . .

FSS does NOT discover all USS in a system, it displays the LOCATION of all USS that ARE detected.

[noob] TIL something important that I did not realize before about the FSS: I was under the mistaken impression that the FSS reveals all of the USS in a system. It does not. All it does is reveal the LOCATION of all USS that are detected. Everything we know about where to find mats is still valid, it is apparently only the number and frequency of HGE-USS drops that has been greatly reduced.


I did not realize this until today when, after having tried the same (Outbreak) system every day this week and not finding any HGE-USS I decided to try the old method of finding HGE-USS i.e.: fly out a certain distance and just turn circles around the star to see if any HGE-USS popped up and after a while (about 20 minutes), one did. Not near me, and not in front of me like they used to, I simply got a "New Unidentified Signal Source Detected" message in the INFO window, which is also how it displayed in the (filtered for USS) NAV window. Only when I slowed, opened the FSS, found the USS in the FSS and zoomed to it did it finally display as "High Grade Emission" and then I was able to go there and farm it for mats.


So I did this in several systems to confirm and the effect is consistent: Go to an appropriate system and HONK, go to and scan the NAV beacon to see if any HGE-USS are already available and if not, fly out a ways and start turning circles around the star, keeping an eye on the INFO panel for any "Unidentified Signal Source Detected" messages. When the message is received slow down to zero throttle, open the FSS, find the new USS and identify it. If it is not the desired type simply rinse and repeat. If it is the desired type, fly to it as fast as possible and open a farm.


I did this today and topped out all my high-level mats, then went to a technology trader and traded down to max out everything down-level from level 5 mats. All I have to do now is top up again on level-5 mats and I am full up on manufactured mats. o7
 
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I thought it was bgs reset but no,HGS doesnt spawn like on beta.Some are non existant even in high pop systems,with factions in required state,one HGS spawns maybe,and then nothing else.Its obviously bugged.
 
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So I did this in several systems to confirm and the effect is consistent: Go to an appropriate system and HONK, go to and scan the NAV beacon to see if any HGE-USS are already available and if not, fly out a ways and start turning circles around the star, keeping an eye on the INFO panel for any "Unidentified Signal Source Detected" messages. When the message is received slow down to zero throttle, open the FSS, find the new USS and identify it. If it is not the desired type simply rinse and repeat. If it is the desired type, fly to it as fast as possible and open a farm.

You don't even have to fly circles any more... USS will disappear over time and new ones will appear, regardless of what you are doing. You could as well log out, have a cup of tea, and check for new USS when you are back.

Or just jump from system to system if there are enough with the state you are looking for.
 
You don't even have to fly circles any more... USS will disappear over time and new ones will appear, regardless of what you are doing. You could as well log out, have a cup of tea, and check for new USS when you are back.

Or just jump from system to system if there are enough with the state you are looking for.

Or once you find a HGE - drop out - collect - log out - log in - Jump up to supper - lock onto the closest USS to you - its the HGE you just did - drop into - repeat.
 
[noob] TIL something important that I did not realize before about the FSS: I was under the mistaken impression that the FSS reveals all of the USS in a system. It does not. All it does is reveal the LOCATION of all USS that are detected. Everything we know about where to find mats is still valid, it is apparently only the number and frequency of HGE-USS drops that has been greatly reduced.


I did not realize this until today when, after having tried the same (Outbreak) system every day this week and not finding any HGE-USS I decided to try the old method of finding HGE-USS i.e.: fly out a certain distance and just turn circles around the star to see if any HGE-USS popped up and after a while (about 20 minutes), one did. Not near me, and not in front of me like they used to, I simply got a "New Unidentified Signal Source Detected" message in the INFO window, which is also how it displayed in the (filtered for USS) NAV window. Only when I slowed, opened the FSS, found the USS in the FSS and zoomed to it did it finally display as "High Grade Emission" and then I was able to go there and farm it for mats.


So I did this in several systems to confirm and the effect is consistent: Go to an appropriate system and HONK, go to and scan the NAV beacon to see if any HGE-USS are already available and if not, fly out a ways and start turning circles around the star, keeping an eye on the INFO panel for any "Unidentified Signal Source Detected" messages. When the message is received slow down to zero throttle, open the FSS, find the new USS and identify it. If it is not the desired type simply rinse and repeat. If it is the desired type, fly to it as fast as possible and open a farm.


I did this today and topped out all my high-level mats, then went to a technology trader and traded down to max out everything down-level from level 5 mats. All I have to do now is top up again on level-5 mats and I am full up on manufactured mats. o7

congratulations on finding out what has been said by the officials: the old USS spawn methods are not gone - you can just find already generated USS via FSS (or nav beacon).

i dont even think that the spawn rate is any different then before. because it always had been dependent on all the minor factions in that system.
the only difference there is, that one minor faction can now have different states in different systems.
 
No, just an excel sheet or third party website. Otherwise ED could be marketed as some sort of memory game.

FDev did not supply any third-party sites or "sheets" to the players. Those third-party sites and sheets were created by players who took the time to research and learn which materials could be found at which USS and who chose to pass on the knowledge they had collected to the rest of the player base.
 
[noob] TIL something important that I did not realize before about the FSS: I was under the mistaken impression that the FSS reveals all of the USS in a system. It does not. All it does is reveal the LOCATION of all USS that are detected. Everything we know about where to find mats is still valid, it is apparently only the number and frequency of HGE-USS drops that has been greatly reduced.


I did not realize this until today when, after having tried the same (Outbreak) system every day this week and not finding any HGE-USS I decided to try the old method of finding HGE-USS i.e.: fly out a certain distance and just turn circles around the star to see if any HGE-USS popped up and after a while (about 20 minutes), one did. Not near me, and not in front of me like they used to, I simply got a "New Unidentified Signal Source Detected" message in the INFO window, which is also how it displayed in the (filtered for USS) NAV window. Only when I slowed, opened the FSS, found the USS in the FSS and zoomed to it did it finally display as "High Grade Emission" and then I was able to go there and farm it for mats.


So I did this in several systems to confirm and the effect is consistent: Go to an appropriate system and HONK, go to and scan the NAV beacon to see if any HGE-USS are already available and if not, fly out a ways and start turning circles around the star, keeping an eye on the INFO panel for any "Unidentified Signal Source Detected" messages. When the message is received slow down to zero throttle, open the FSS, find the new USS and identify it. If it is not the desired type simply rinse and repeat. If it is the desired type, fly to it as fast as possible and open a farm.


I did this today and topped out all my high-level mats, then went to a technology trader and traded down to max out everything down-level from level 5 mats. All I have to do now is top up again on level-5 mats and I am full up on manufactured mats. o7
I think you're wrong. FSS can and do reveal all USSs in the system there's no secret undetected USSs which remain hidden. It's just that USSs have an expiration timer and as old ones expire, new ones (and potentially different types) take their place. Your flying around in circles likely did not reveal a previously undiscovered HGE, more likely that while you were doing that, some of the existing USSs expired and new ones spawned to take their place among which was an HGE.
 
I stayed up far too late last night watching Down to Earth Astronomy spend most of a four hours' livestream trying and utterly failing to get hold of some Pharmaceutical Isolators.

D2EA, you may know, wrote the book - or at any rate the spreadsheet - on locating materials. If he's struggling, what hope is there for for the average player?
 
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I stayed up far too late last night watching Down to Earn Astronomy spend most of a four hours' livestream trying and utterly failing to get hold of some Pharmaceutical Isolators.

D2EA, you may know, wrote the book - or at any rate the spreadsheet - on locating materials. If he's struggling, what hope is there for for the average player?

It is really the RNG at play here. He was unlucky in getting the right HGE to spawn. I entered a system in outbreak today and had three HGE's spawn in quick succession. One of those had Pharmaceutical Isolators, which I quickly used to top off my supply. The other day I had very little luck in even locating any useful HGE's. Having very few systems with the outbreak state doesn't help either. So you can't hop from system to system and loop around when 30+ minutes have passed.
 
Wow, been looking everywhere for HGE's. Of the 10 or so systems that I scanned, I found ONE, and it didn't have what I needed (Military Super Capacitors). If it's this hard, I'd say the Fdevs screwed up big time, and I'd actually prefer the OLD WAY of finding HGE's.
 
Wow, been looking everywhere for HGE's. Of the 10 or so systems that I scanned, I found ONE, and it didn't have what I needed (Military Super Capacitors). If it's this hard, I'd say the Fdevs screwed up big time, and I'd actually prefer the OLD WAY of finding HGE's.

Exactly. Never mind what's in the HGE, you've got to get them to spawn first.
Compared to how it worked previously, this is much worse. Sure, you can relog blah blah blah... C'mon, it's worse.
 
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1. You buy a new ship.
2. You use the lower lvl mats you have an abundance of (because you look in loads of decoded and encoded USS's don't you) to upgrade to lvl 4 engineering adding special effects and then pinning the important BPs.
3. You fly around having fun in your new ship and if you really need a lvl 5 upgrade, like FSD, you trade for the bits you don't have.
4. You continue to fly around for a while trading stuff, finding stuff, sorting out that odd lvl 5 upgrade with your pinned BP, and not complaining that you can't have everything right now, until you get what you need to complete the full upgrades you desire.

It's not so difficult.

Yeah, this works, but it's a pretty lousy system...
 
Wow, been looking everywhere for HGE's. Of the 10 or so systems that I scanned, I found ONE, and it didn't have what I needed (Military Super Capacitors). If it's this hard, I'd say the Fdevs screwed up big time, and I'd actually prefer the OLD WAY of finding HGE's.

No, the old USS weren't repeatable. The new way is much more efficient.
 
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