Srv planet exploration experience.

I have been experimenting with planet landings and using the Srv For gathering various minerals.
Twas disappointed to realise that only some minerals are available on a planet but found it interesting.
exploring a planet in a new system with the Srv. Mining lots of nodules. Until-
Initially I came across a small shelter with a sentry drone.
shot the drone and was awarded a bonus. Great idea thought I.
scanned the data node in the shelter and download3d something not sure what.
read that there might be a timer to locate other sentry nodes with alarm areas.
so went in search.
Came across a mining area where there was some defence turrets , 2 drones
and a tank like vehicle with a load of mining bores about 10.
shot them all with the Srv and disobeyed the warning, shot some of the boring tools.
they dropped some minerals which I could not pick up.
I was awarded a bounty and now I am wanted in that system!
how can I differentiate between a sentry guarding something illegal and a legal mine?
are all mines legal? What am I missing?
 
When you target some ground vehicle or the drone it will show their legal status just as with any ship. If you scan it and it is shown as "wanted" or "lawless" go ahead and shoot it, otherwise you going to get in trouble with local authorities and you will have to pay your bounty off. Also if you want to collect some really good stuff on the surface you should map that planet first using your Detailed Surface Scanner (https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Detailed_Surface_Scanner) while approaching the planet in supercruise. If you map it and found some geological, biological or any other kind of sites then you land there and go investigate it and collect your stuff. If you map it and there are no sites of any kind you can still find some materials but you would have some driving to do.
 
Thanks for that in the heat of the moment I didn’t observe the status.
I have been dss-ing most of the planets but have yet to find anything smaller than a landing station.
some planets have different coloured rings or hills where there are minerals.
i have investigated 30-40 only. But none have shown mineral caches or settlements from supercruie or even in orbit!
I have twice found bauxite canister and two defended mining camps. And several drone defended areas, lots of outcrops etc but only by looking using the srv.
 
When you find discarded canisters, check whether they're legal or not. If they're illegal, you can still pick them up, but you mustn't get scanned by the police with them, so you have to use stealth tactics to get into the station with them and you can only sell them to black markets.
 
Thanks for that in the heat of the moment I didn’t observe the status.
I have been dss-ing most of the planets but have yet to find anything smaller than a landing station.
some planets have different coloured rings or hills where there are minerals.
i have investigated 30-40 only. But none have shown mineral caches or settlements from supercruie or even in orbit!
I have twice found bauxite canister and two defended mining camps. And several drone defended areas, lots of outcrops etc but only by looking using the srv.
Those things like wrecks, cargo pods guarded by drones, small one-two building installations etc are non persistant assets. They are randomly generated for you in limited range, which might be about 30 km (it's my guess, because that's the instance limit). You might see some of them from the ship, but only if you're flying low. And they disappear after you leave the area.

As for differently coloured rings and hills - I don't think this translates into what minerals you're able to find.
 
Whilst in Srv yesterday I picked up on radar an pirate krait was also flying low. Can he see me in the srv?
could he attack the Srv?
 
That explains why when I load up Srv (2 cargo) recall cobra, unload, I have been unable to locate the remaining canisters.
? Depends what you do. Just putting cargo into the ship (even if you enter the ship) won't reset the instance so you can get remaining cargo from the surface. Only if you relog will the POI change.

Cargo can be difficult to relocate if you go into the ship, but that's down to you ;)
 
Whilst in Srv yesterday I picked up on radar an pirate krait was also flying low. Can he see me in the srv?
could he attack the Srv?
NPC ships won't attack SRVs unless attacked first (or being part of some installation defences). But if you would shoot him, he certainly can shoot back and he might be quite relentless.
It's slightly different with players, because spotting SRV on the surface from a ship is not easy at all.
 
Cargo can be difficult to relocate if you go into the ship, but that's down to you ;)

my technique for this is:-
Dismiss ship (if it isn't already - it will take off if you're more than a set distance away - 5km?)
Recall ship - it should land somewhere near
Drive to ship, unload cargo (note that if your ship has 0 cargo capacity, you can't unload nor board ship!)
Now, follow the tyre tracks back tothe booty!
 
As for differently coloured rings and hills - I don't think this translates into what minerals you're able to find.
I don't know whether it was ever tested, but in principle it could/should. Part of the big planet rework of 3.0 was that colouration would be linked to the chemical makeup of the surface. I don't know if it's ever been specifically stated that that translates into what you get from those areas, but in principle it should (except for meteorites, which shouldn't, but may well do though).

From the 3.0 patch notes:

Surface material system
  • Overhauled the surface material system for the rocky, high metal content and metal rich planets
  • Improved contrast and colour variation across and between bodies
  • The colouration of the surfaces now more clearly telegraphs the chemical makeup and volcanic activity of the worlds
 
When flying low the colours and ground makeup is markedly different for the different worlds.
how does one actually mine or prospect these areas.
can one load a prospector onto the Srv?
how to actually dig?
 
I don't know whether it was ever tested, but in principle it could/should. Part of the big planet rework of 3.0 was that colouration would be linked to the chemical makeup of the surface. I don't know if it's ever been specifically stated that that translates into what you get from those areas, but in principle it should (except for meteorites, which shouldn't, but may well do though).
That's the thing - I've never noticed that it does make any difference where you are on the planet as far as outcop content is concerned and patch notes only say that the surface colors will correspond better to mineral content of the planet.
 
my technique for this is:-
Dismiss ship (if it isn't already - it will take off if you're more than a set distance away - 5km?)
Recall ship - it should land somewhere near
Drive to ship, unload cargo (note that if your ship has 0 cargo capacity, you can't unload nor board ship!)
Now, follow the tyre tracks back tothe booty!
I took a note of the bearing and tried to retrace but spent ages searching fruitlessly.
 
can one load a prospector onto the Srv?
no
how to actually dig?
You don't dig. You shoot rocks and pick up small fragments after they explode by driving over them with cargo doors opened.

edit: I should also say that to gather raw materials on planets it's better to find geological or biological sites and shoot various protrusions like Piceous Cobble or Crystalline Fragments there. Driving around and looking for rocks is not that efficient.
 
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Outcrops and meteorites seem to be found at random over the surface, they also contain a variety of minerals but exclude the more valuable diamonds/gold/silver/opals, etc.
interesting that there are mining installations tho
 
Outcrops and meteorites seem to be found at random over the surface, they also contain a variety of minerals but exclude the more valuable diamonds/gold/silver/opals, etc.
interesting that there are mining installations tho
There are materials used for engineering, like Iron, phosphorus, etc. You can get those by shooting rocks and also some of them by mining asteroids in space, but you can't sell them as regular commodities.
Minerals and metals like gold, silver or void opals are classified as commodities - you can't get them from planet surface (except when they spawn in small numbers as loot in carnisters, or things like that)- they are mineable from asteroids only.
 
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