Role Play - Scavenging

Rat Catcher

Rat Catcher
Scavenging is something that I hadn't thought of, but sounds interesting.
After the Interstellar Initiative finishes I may take my alt account out to do just that, have around 50 mill banked, which should pay for mishaps... Thanks for the idea :)
 

CMDR-AD

CMDR-AD
I started my 2nd CMDR career doing salvage, back when 2.0 was released. Back then, it was just collecting any cargo found in POI uisng the SRV, or just floating in space. I sold the stuff as normal Commodities (there was no salvage menu back then), and did well enough to buy my way up through a couple of ships.

It's a lower income play path, but 2.0 and planet landing was new, so was the SRV, and I had a fantastic time with it all.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
I like your thinking, OP. I kinda roleplay a scavenger when I search wrecks for materials, and I quite enjoy it.
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Reading this thread has made me realise something. I have three Commanders: two on the PC, one on PS4. My PS4 one was used as an exploration account, until 3.x dropped, we got the FSS, and I had to configure the controls for it. And I just couldn’t be [REDACTED]

I had my PS4 account before my 2nd PC one, so when I got that I used it for exploration.

However, due to having my first holiday in 5 months, I finally got around to sorting out the PS4 controls (took me all of 5 mins) which means my second PC account is sort of redundant.

So I’m tempted to clear it and start again, but do it as a semi-Iron Man mode: take no missions, make money from what I can find (or kill), no easy wins (so no Void Opals), and if I get destroyed I can only use another of my ships, or take the free Sidey.

I sort of like the idea of playing as a Commander who’s running on a shoestring.
 

Momatty

Momatty
I've done that a couple of times. I actually got a stock hauler and named it 'J Y D' and went around my home system to random uss spots.
 

hems303

hems303
Alone Wulff said:
Yeah I'm looking for a new challenging role play route. I have my own PMF and have all the ships I want on my main account. I set up a second account at the weekend and I'm already in a Vulture which took me months two years ago. It's not just knowing what I'm doing this time around, it really is too easy to make credits and I've never even tried opal mining (and don't want to either).

I want to do something that will 'force' me to stay in starter ships for a lot longer. It's easy enough to say "just don't buy a new ship" but having tens of millions of credits and pretending to be broke would ruin the immersion for me.
Click to expand...
I 'scavenge' during my other pursuits, and of course it can be very useful in Synthesis and Engineering... Having just bought a second Commander; I agree it's way easier to make money than it used to be. However I would urge you to at least try Opal Mining as it really is an enjoyable game mechanic that FDev have come up with when compared to 'old-time' mining. Just give it a try...it's cool.

o7
 

[Diplomacy] Carnegie

[Diplomacy] Carnegie
GreyAreaUK said:
Reading this thread has made me realise something. I have three Commanders: two on the PC, one on PS4. My PS4 one was used as an exploration account, until 3.x dropped, we got the FSS, and I had to configure the controls for it. And I just couldn’t be [REDACTED]

I had my PS4 account before my 2nd PC one, so when I got that I used it for exploration.

However, due to having my first holiday in 5 months, I finally got around to sorting out the PS4 controls (took me all of 5 mins) which means my second PC account is sort of redundant.

So I’m tempted to clear it and start again, but do it as a semi-Iron Man mode: take no missions, make money from what I can find (or kill), no easy wins (so no Void Opals), and if I get destroyed I can only use another of my ships, or take the free Sidey.

I sort of like the idea of playing as a Commander who’s running on a shoestring.
Click to expand...

My scavenger doesn't take missions either.
No combat, though I am seeing how far I can rank up by shooting skimmers.
I had only fitted an IDS, just for finding planets to scavenge on.
I was also planning on unlocking whichever Engineers I could get without buying or killing anything - which I think was maybe 3 or 4 of them.

It was fun, and gave a real sense of achievement.
 

rekurzion

rekurzion
Alone Wulff said:
O7 Cmdrs!

Does anyone play the scavenging role seriously enough to make it viable? Searching USSs and roaming surface-side looking for worthwhile finders-keepers cargo? Taking in personal effects and escape pods? Anything else?

I don't think you can really get anywhere in the game in just this role. You have to get into combat and trading to unlock engineers.
Click to expand...

i have, but not just USS' as that can get pretty boring pretty quickly and is not very profitable (unless you can find a way to collect a bunch of large survey caches). taking salvage missions on the other hand with a mix of liberation missions makes for some fun gameplay and pays extremely well, a great way to boost your PMF influence, improve your rank (in exploration and combat) and collect high quality mats.

mix some USS salvage with this for a more complete experience.
 

Alone Wulff

A
Thanks for all the replies people! Some very interesting views.

Well I've decided to give salvage a go. I'm not quite going Iron Man mode - I don't feel like I'm cheating anything by taking out ship insurance. I'm taking no missions and I'm not looking for combat. New ships will come by way of whatever salvage I sell and whatever small amounts of exploration data I collect as I hop around.

So far I've tackled USSs in my home system. Unpopulated systems have only offered Degraded with mats in, no cargo at all. Low Security, Boom state, not found any loot there either! Hopped over one system to Anarchy, no state - dropping into Threat 3 Degraded has offered up some tasty loot with that strange single Painite floating in the middle of a spread of leather and other textiles... a few of those has gotten me into an off-the-shelf Cobra III and managed to pop in some bigger cargo racks. I have since found another Degraded USS with a cheeky Painite in it but not many Threat 3 going and those I've found aren't all offering loot. Had to scoot away from pirates twice, but I guess that's no challenge at Harmless combat level, even in a Sidey with E-class thrusters. So this evening (UK) I'm surface-side in an Anarchy system and having way much more luck (and fun). I've landed, picked a direction and stuck to it. I've found a couple of mining sites and a couple of stashes guarded by skimmers. My route took me through some rocky terrain and my ship wouldn't land close so for the stash found in a small ravine I've had to do a lot of to-and-froing just to load up the loot. Found one Narcotics and one Taaffeite, the rest not really worth much but it'll all add up! Spent about 4 hours on the surface and just about to go sell my goodies.

USSs may get a little monotonous unless I can find a pattern of security levels, allegience, state etc that offers up some variety. When I only have a bit of time to play, I'll scour USSs. When I have hours to play, I'll be down on the surface.

I'm not looking for fast credits, completely the opposite. My current loot is worth about 150k but I doubt I'll get that at the market. That's rubbish for 4 hours play, and I'm happy with that. I should be in the Cobra for quite some time.
 

Riverside

Riverside
I spent a lot of time scavenging, several of my exploration jaunts started as scavenging hunts & I just kept going. I got a little frustrated with NPCs chasing me for my cargo when by all logic there's no way they could know what I have on board (because I didn't buy it in a station, info a spy network could pass on to pirates), I ended up scavenging in a Corvette which took me out of the bumming about roleplay so I just went exploring instead.

I still do it locally when I have nothing on my to-do list. When my son started his own Cmdr I suggested he start roaming around in the SRV to find some platinum & gold. There's money in them there hills ;)
 

Vardaugas

Vardaugas
Here's a hint for planetary salvaging: You can pick up cargo from the ground in your ship by carefully moving the scoop over it. Works especially good in small ships. You can select the cargo when it's basically on your nose. Takes a bit of practice but saves time in the long run.
 

CMDR Oh seven

C
o7 CMDR again! I might add another thing to consider. I always set a rule that I have to A-rate my current ship completely and then save money to buy the next ship. No trading in the old ship. Just food for thought. o7 CMDR! May your cargo hold be filled with treasure!
 
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