Opinion Polls, Ionized Gas, Suit Schematics, and to a lesser extent, Power Regulators - FDev, PLEASE

[Crumly]

Over the last few days I stopped doing missions, collecting anything laying around (EVEN GRAPHENE), or trying to sneak.
If an NPC even looks at me inside a building, they're dead. I don't know how long my notoriety will take to go away. I don't know how many super valuable materials I could have gotten doing the missions, I like doing Odyssey missions, starting to get decent at it, almost. I AM GRINDING OPINION POLLS. Did it really used to be 40 to unlock engineer???? 10 seems impossible. I found 2 on a Fleet Carrier, I had two from back when I did missions and randomly downloading data.

Mitchell's Resort in Iah Bulu is a literal grave yard. I am checking 8 data ports inside HAB buildings in a tourism settlement every 10 minutes, possibly slightly faster, if it iddn't take 10 years for power regulator to shut down ( I am considering stopping gathering these), and the Apex shuttle getting stuck up in the air 50% of the time instead of landing, I could probably do it in much less time.

I have stopped collecting anything except Ionized Gas, which is another super painful grind for every plasma weapon, at least Chemical Superbase can be traded for. I don't download any data anymore unless I get the ultra rare Combat Training Manual. I saw 3 unicorns, the Opinion Polls! Somehow 2 of them never transferred into my ship inventory and just went MIA, the other one I fell asleep at my desk and woke up dead. I want to cry thinking about those 3 opinion polls.

Suit Schematics and Power Regulators are also too painful to gather comfortably, but at least these there are time consuming, even enjoyable, ways to get them. Through missions, settlement raids, these can at least be obtained somewhat reliably. Suit Schematics drop rates need to be double though. Ionized Gas as well, you can sometimes find missions to get 1 of these, but it's too uncommon.

Opinion Polls, that is just mind blowing. Why is it so freaking hard to unlock one engineer?? I'm not even trying to get a G5 weapon, I'm trying to unlock an engineer?!?!?
Settlement Defence Plans are also very frustrating, at least missions show up to download these, you can take the mission, download the data, then abandon the mission, I have 12 currently.

I don't mind the progression system, I like it even, but Opinion Polls, and Ionized Gas are WAY TOO RARE. Suit Schematics, considering how many you need, are also pretty tough. Power Regulators... whatever. It's painful but at least you can guarrantee get them

 

[metatheurgist]

There are ways and means. There are missions that give you ionised gas to sabotage someone's settlement. You walk away with it and take a fine and a Rep hit. The money is nothing, the Rep can be recovered (the loss may even be desirable). Ionised Gas is only annoying because it is used by lasers and plasma. Trust me it's easy to get, I have plenty.

Opinion Polls, don't focus on them, just do lots of reactivations and dl everything, you will need the bits any way. You will have 10 sooner or later.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I assume you know you can get power regulators by finding a system with power restore missions and just spam taking missions then abandoning them?

Not sure why you are having trouble with opinion polls. I averaged at least 1 per settlement run.

Ionized gas - power restore missions at industrial bases usually net me quite a few per run.

 

[Crumly]

I assume you know you can get power regulators by finding a system with power restore missions and just spam taking missions then abandoning them?

Not sure why you are having trouble with opinion polls. I averaged at least 1 per settlement run.

Ionized gas - power restore missions at industrial bases usually net me quite a few per run.

What kind of settlment? I was told and read that tourism settlements are the best, and yotuube too. I have a settlement with 8 data ports in HAB buildings (well one is a bar... not sure if it ccounts)

 

[Crumly]

There are ways and means. There are missions that give you ionised gas to sabotage someone's settlement. You walk away with it and take a fine and a Rep hit. The money is nothing, the Rep can be recovered (the loss may even be desirable). Ionised Gas is only annoying because it is used by lasers and plasma. Trust me it's easy to get, I have plenty.

Opinion Polls, don't focus on them, just do lots of reactivations and dl everything, you will need the bits any way. You will have 10 sooner or later.

Are you giving me advice how to enjoy the game, that I don't need, or are you trying to tell me gathering these items is fine? Because Opinion Polls are not fine. They take forever. I'm not looking to gradually get this engineer unlocked by 2023, and like I said, this isn't some super duper upgrade, i'm just tryin to unlock a tier 2 engineer, and it's taking 20 hours. That's well past stupid

 

[metatheurgist]

But not everyone likes this kind of "gameplay". I just can't, because it's not only a horrible mission design, but also a slap in the face of every role-player. So I guess I have to suffer - and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. Luckily I have time and patience, a lot of it...

I'm with you there. I only did that when I'm desperate or when I needed to damage my rep with Sirius anyway. My preference is to loot industrial settlements, sometimes research settlements will have them too. Settlements that produce them tend to be consistent, so if you find one with restore missions, note it for later. I was just illustrating that ionised gas is not that hard to get and there's more than one way to skin that cat.

 

[metatheurgist]

Are you giving me advice how to enjoy the game, that I don't need, or are you trying to tell me gathering these items is fine? Because Opinion Polls are not fine. They take forever. I'm not looking to gradually get this engineer unlocked by 2023, and like I said, this isn't some super duper upgrade, i'm just tryin to unlock a tier 2 engineer, and it's taking 20 hours. That's well past stupid

Despite your attitude I will post this anyway.

Odyssey Engineer unlocks and the BGS

Since we found out last month that Smear Campaign Plans are only available in Anarchy systems I wondered if there were other relations between drop rates and the BGS - so I've been collecting them. Here are some initial findings targeted at the Engineer Unlock data, as that seems to cause the...

forums.frontier.co.uk

 

[Northpin]

Nothing you mentioned is super rare.
Not even Opinion polls.

If you dont find any, it means you need to move and check other systems/settlements.

 

[Crumly]

Despite your attitude I will post this anyway.

Odyssey Engineer unlocks and the BGS

Since we found out last month that Smear Campaign Plans are only available in Anarchy systems I wondered if there were other relations between drop rates and the BGS - so I've been collecting them. Here are some initial findings targeted at the Engineer Unlock data, as that seems to cause the...

forums.frontier.co.uk

I appreciate the help, as far as my attitude, you were the one who told me I would have them sooner or later. You told me not to focus on them, when I have my heart set on focusing on them right now. I already enjoy the game, I want to get past this road block that I feel is unreasonable.

As far as that chart, well, I have 280 checks on data ports inside HAB buildings in an Anarchy system. There could be more factors to it, IDK, and maybe I am just super unfortunate and maybe that guy was super fortunate. in 280 data ports I found 8 so far, which is 2.9%

 

[Kimosabe_X]

If you have a FC at hand, you might be tempted to sell your OPs to your bartender and transfer them back into your inventory after that... rinse and repeat until you have sold the 10 OPs... Just saying, but it is a truly odd way...

But you're right, the distribution and avaliability of some materials for EDO engineers ist... not optimal...

E.g. Manufacturing instructions...

 

[Crumly]

Nothing you mentioned is super rare.
Not even Opinion polls.

If you dont find any, it means you need to move and check other systems/settlements.

What is more rare?

If you have a FC at hand, you might be tempted to sell your OPs to your bartender and transfer them back into your inventory after that... rinse and repeat until you have sold the 10 OPs... Just saying, but it is a truly odd way...

But you're right, the distribution and avaliability of some materials for EDO engineers ist... not optimal...

E.g. Manufacturing instructions...

That would be an excellent method. I'm at 3.2 billion credits, I wonder if I could grind up to the 10 billion or whatever to really outfite one good quicker than I could get a little more opinion polls lol

 

[CMDR The Riz]

Ok, so a couple tips on finding these:​

Ionized Gas: Super common inside the locked Lockers of IND buildings at Industrial Settlements. Look for the larger Industrial layouts to get more lockers with these, though I've had plenty of luck at places like Hashimoto's Installation in Minun.

Suit Schematics: These typically spawn inside locked Lockers in PWR Centers and Command Rooms, like the ones at the U-shaped Industrial Settlements. Davidenko's Foundry in 25 Nu-2 Draconis is an example, but probably not good for data runs since it's only a Threat Level 1.

Opinion Polls: I also don't have a ton of luck finding these, but they (allegedly) spawn in HAB data ports, though I have seen them pop up in CMD data ports as well. I'd wager a guess and say look for a Threat Level 3 Tourist Settlement - higher Threat Levels seem to spawn more of the useful data types.

Power Regulators: Explode Settlements. No, seriously - I routinely attack Settlements and always grab the Regulator when I'm done. Every time I check my inventory I have tons of these lying around. If you do that, you'll also end up with various other crafting materials as well if you clear out the Settlement, such as Ionized Gas and Compression-Liquified Gas if you hit the same Industrial Settlement over and over again.

 

[Factabulous]

What kind of settlment? I was told and read that tourism settlements are the best, and yotuube too.

This is the worst thing about Odyssey - the way a few youtubers have spread the lie that Tourist settlements are best - they are not. Don't limit yourself. Play the game and pay attention, it can actually be fun.

I guess the only good thing is they didn't send everyone to Agri locations

 

[Agony_Aunt]

What kind of settlment? I was told and read that tourism settlements are the best, and yotuube too. I have a settlement with 8 data ports in HAB buildings (well one is a bar... not sure if it ccounts)

Yup, i got mine in Iah Bulu. But i've found dozens just playing without even looking as every site has at least 1 HAB building.

I wish i hadn't grinded for them now as I'd have got them doing other stuff.

Just don't talk to me about Settlement Defense Plans - i've only got 3 so far. Thankfully i have no interest in getting the headshot mod, so i don't need that branch of engineering.

 

[Northpin]

What is more rare?

In particular: SDP.
But generally speaking anything is super rare if you search in the wrong place.
You will never find suit schematics in enough numbers if you dont look were they spawn most, you will never find any Smear Campaigns if you dont look where they spawn and so on.

That's what i said: if you look for something and you dont find any, you need to look in some other places.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

E.g. Manufacturing instructions...

These aren't that rare and you can get 5 for some missions (10 if allied and from one of the NPCs and you bargain them up).

The main issue is the amount you need if going on a massive engineering spree. But per item, not that bad at all.

I mean, i've got a shopping list at the moment to upgrade half a dozen weapons. I need 80 of them. At 5 MIs per mission, that's only 16 missions. Problem is spotting 5 MI reward missions due to RNG, but since i'm collecting other stuff as well, its not a biggie.

 

[Factabulous]

These aren't that rare and you can get 5 for some missions (10 if allied and from one of the NPCs and you bargain them up).

The main issue is the amount you need if going on a massive engineering spree. But per item, not that bad at all.

I mean, i've got a shopping list at the moment to upgrade half a dozen weapons. I need 80 of them. At 5 MIs per mission, that's only 16 missions. Problem is spotting 5 MI reward missions due to RNG, but since i'm collecting other stuff as well, its not a biggie.

Yup - missions are great for MI. Also very common in IND/EXT/High Tech locations. If that poster was following the OP and only looking at Tourist locations then they wouldn't see any ...

 

[metatheurgist]

Yup, i got mine in Iah Bulu. But i've found dozens just playing without even looking as every site has at least 1 HAB building.

I wish i hadn't grinded for them now as I'd have got them doing other stuff.

Just don't talk to me about Settlement Defense Plans - i've only got 3 so far. Thankfully i have no interest in getting the headshot mod, so i don't need that branch of engineering.

I would give you mine but the last time I tried it vanished into the planet surface before the other guy could pick it up.

 

[CMDR The Riz]

I guess the only good thing is they didn't send everyone to Agri locations

The large Agri Settlements are the ones that seemingly print the most Manufacturing Instructions for me, among heaps of Production Schedules / Reports, Chemical, Genetic and occasionally Biometric and Spectral Analysis Data. I even found some Mining Analytics at one today.

I unfortunately don't have nearly as much luck with Opinion Polls from the HAB buildings, however (Not that I need them - I grab them to sell back on my Carrier for others.)

Yup, i got mine in Iah Bulu.

Iah Bulu is a stone's throw away from Minun, and my Faction sent me over there on a few occasions. I swear that the controlling Anarchy Faction there is affecting the loot table in such a way that all the good stuff spawns frequently there, because I've never seen something like this outside of Iah Bulu in the hundreds of other Settlement assaults I've conducted recently on Threat Level 3 Settlements:

I wouldn't be overly surprised if the loot tables themselves are bugged in some form and that the above should be common in Threat Level 3 Settlements... if so and it's fixed, I'd imagine that it would take some of the heat off of the Anarchy Factions around the Bubble.

 

[Northpin]

Power Regulators: Explode Settlements. No, seriously - I routinely attack Settlements and always grab the Regulator when I'm done. Every time I check my inventory I have tons of these lying around. If you do that, you'll also end up with various other crafting materials as well if you clear out the Settlement, such as Ionized Gas and Compression-Liquified Gas if you hit the same Industrial Settlement over and over again.

Better than than is to pick reactivation missions and abandon them. If you combine this with actually doing some restore missions for the said faction, you will also manage to keep your rep. (pick 4 missions, do 2, abandon 2)
Even better is to look for fetch missions: pick up stuff (personal documents, whatever schematics, etc) from crash site. IF the crash site is a Distress Beacon, there is a chance you will find landed Eagle/Sidewinder with 2 intact panels that can be cut for 2 intact Power Regulators (RNG permitted)