SRV prospecting in 3.3

[Krash]

I was low on some mats such as selenium (as always), so last night I decided to go to my bookmarked planet for selenium and see how this works with the new tools. I read something on these forums about geological features as a source of raw materials, but when I get to my selenium planet, I dont see anything different in the way of POIs. The planet is already 100% mapped, but what the heck, I mapped it again anyway and voila! A bunch of geological POI's sprout up in the navigation panel. This is when I realize mapping planets isn't just for exploration. Do I have to map this planet every time I visit or is once enough?

I target the nearest POI and cruise down to the surface in my DBX. I'm on the dark side of this planet and all I see is the orange circle in a sea of black, then the glide, under 100km, still pitch black, the POI jumps around here and there, no big deal. Dropped out of super glide at around 20km and I see some specks in and around the circle. Then I remember night vision. Activate NV. Whoa. The scales drop from my eyes as the landscape lights up in a livid green tracery. There is a nice flat plain surrounded by this beautiful steep valley with all kinds of fissures and protruding rocks. Landing is easy.

Indeed, there are crystalline nettles, bunches, spines and whatnots wedged in the protruding rocks scattered across the valley floor. Only a certain type have the selenium I seek. Its annoying that the SRV gun reticle is off by just enough I often have to go into turret mode in order to register a hit on these things to crack open the gooey center. But that's a minor inconvenience. Overall the experience of farming raw materials is more satisfying in this new approach. Farming feels like less of a grind now.

 

[Vardaugas]

Yep, it now allows to seek out raw materials in a more targeted manner. Just look for the right planet, scan for geo sites, plop down in the middle, run a circle around your ship and pick up everything you need from the scanner. Repeat as demand requires. Though, I think it needs two weeks for a geo site to respawn.

 

[Aashenfox]

I was low on some mats such as selenium (as always), so last night I decided to go to my bookmarked planet for selenium and see how this works with the new tools. I read something on these forums about geological features as a source of raw materials, but when I get to my selenium planet, I dont see anything different in the way of POIs. The planet is already 100% mapped, but what the heck, I mapped it again anyway and voila! A bunch of geological POI's sprout up in the navigation panel. This is when I realize mapping planets isn't just for exploration. Do I have to map this planet every time I visit or is once enough?

I target the nearest POI and cruise down to the surface in my DBX. I'm on the dark side of this planet and all I see is the orange circle in a sea of black, then the glide, under 100km, still pitch black, the POI jumps around here and there, no big deal. Dropped out of super glide at around 20km and I see some specks in and around the circle. Then I remember night vision. Activate NV. Whoa. The scales drop from my eyes as the landscape lights up in a livid green tracery. There is a nice flat plain surrounded by this beautiful steep valley with all kinds of fissures and protruding rocks. Landing is easy.

Indeed, there are crystalline nettles, bunches, spines and whatnots wedged in the protruding rocks scattered across the valley floor. Only a certain type have the selenium I seek. Its annoying that the SRV gun reticle is off by just enough I often have to go into turret mode in order to register a hit on these things to crack open the gooey center. But that's a minor inconvenience. Overall the experience of farming raw materials is more satisfying in this new approach. Farming feels like less of a grind now.

I've been doing a LOT of this. It is indeed much better.

The trick to getting G4s, is to go to a Pristine system with a metal rich body that has volcanism (use eddb.io) and ideally, ONLY the G4 raw you want. This is because needle crystals ALWAYS drop from the POOL of G4 raws the planet contains. So, if you're on a planet with Ruthenium and Tellurium, when you shoot down a needle crystal it has a 50-50 chance to be one or the other (I'm sure the percentage shown in sysmap plays zero role in this), so naturally, murphy's law says you'll get more of what you don't want than what you do, so yeh, try to find a planet that only has 1 G4 (the one you want) and then every single needle crystal will drop those.

The remaining order is: Crystalline Clusters, drop from the G3 'pool', crystalline fragments from the G2 pool and Piceous cobble from the G1s.

In contrast to the new USS system, the prospecting system is now rewarding, effective and calculable.

P.S. You only have to map a planet once.

P.P.S. When you farm one field, you will not get new nodes any time soon, we are tryingt o work out the refresh, but it's definitely more than a day and relogging has no effect, so assuming one or two weeks, as previous POI persistence (data nodes).

P.P.P.S. Some fields are way richer than others, try to note the number of the particularly good fields (one had 5 needle crystals all in sight of each other), and they should remain the ones to farm when you need again.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I've been doing a LOT of this. It is indeed much better.

The trick to getting G4s, is to go to a Pristine system with a metal rich body that has volcanism (use eddb.io) and ideally, ONLY the G4 raw you want. This is because needle crystals ALWAYS drop from the POOL of G4 raws the planet contains. So, if you're on a planet with Ruthenium and Selenium, when you shoot down a needle crystal it has a 50-50 chance to be one or the other (I'm sure the percentage shown in sysmap plays zero role in this), so naturally, murphy's law says you'll get more of what you don't want than what you do, so yeh, try to find a planet that only has 1 G4 (the one you want) and then every single needle crystal will drop those.

The remaining order is: Crystalline Clusters, drop from the G3 'pool', crystalline fragments from the G2 pool and Piceous cobble from the G1s.

In contrast to the new USS system, the prospecting system is now rewarding, effective and calculable.

P.S. You only have to map a planet once.

P.P.S. When you farm one field, you will not get new nodes any time soon, we are tryingt o work out the refresh, but it's definitely more than a day and relogging has no effect, so assuming one or two weeks, as previous POI persistence (data nodes).

P.P.P.S. Some fields are way richer than others, try to note the number of the particularly good fields (one had 5 needle crystals all in sight of each other), and they should remain the ones to farm when you need again.

This is excellent advice, but check the biological sources too.

You can fill your entire hold with top level mats in no time.
This is all technetium for example.

 

[Witcher 7]

You only need to map the body once and the geo contacts remain in my case anyway.

I haven't tried Crystalline Clusters b/c I read they don't respawn with relogins but am sure it will after a more extended period of time I guess.

For me, I just land on body's north or south pole crater which is day time and have found more than what I need with a full tank of fuel on my SRV.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

You don't need to relog when you can fill your entire hold in one go.

Just saying...
I'm at 150 ea polonium and technetium right now.
Easy breezy!

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I made a whole list of local sites for our squadron to farm from, 3-4 planets with pure G4 materials, bar Selenium (because it doesn't come from needle crystals).

Plus there are those uber biological sites about 1600ly away, which you can fill up all your G4's (bar Selenium) in s matter of hours.

I love the new elements gathering.

I just wish manufactured and data was the same.

 

[Aashenfox]

You only need to map the body once and the geo contacts remain in my case anyway.

I haven't tried Crystalline Clusters b/c I read they don't respawn with relogins but am sure it will after a more extended period of time I guess.

For me, I just land on body's north or south pole crater which is day time and have found more than what I need with a full tank of fuel on my SRV.

Indeed, as Bob says, you do not need to ever relog at biological sites, there are so many nodes ou could fill your materials 3 times over from a single site. The trouble of course, is that they are a long way away...

I produced this biological route for our squadron members, I believe it's the shortest possible route to cover all G4 raw materials, believe me, whatever your expectatoins are about this, they will be shattered, you will be looking at a SEA of G4 materials.At several sites I didn't get 800m from the ship before I was full. Here's the route...

This system is 1600ish ly from Sol
System Body Gravity Distance Material Available
HIP 36601 C 1 d 0.08 G 154,104 Ruthenium
HIP 36601 C 1 a 0.09 G 154,099 Polonium
HIP 36601 C 3 b 0.04 G 154,145 Tellurium
HIP 36601 C 5 a 0.03 G 154,288 Technetium
Now take a 400ly trip to here...
Outotz LS-K d8-3 B 5 c 0.07 G 310,420 Antimony (go to site number 1!)
Outotz LS-K d8-3 B 5 a 0.09 G 310,420 Yttrium

The Antimony planet is VERY rough, most of the others are fine and flat, so we found a good site at the antimony planet, site number 1, so we suggest to go straight to it even if it's on the other side to you. Good luck, but you won't need it.

 

[Witcher 7]

I have never relogged to get outcrops, etc. to respawn except some nights I log off for sleep and next day, I find them nearby again - tis how I know they respawn overnight

 

[Aashenfox]

Outcrops and chondrites and stuff like that which you find out in the random wild on a planet surface, are like USSes, they are generated randomly each time you go, relogging only gives you a chance to get different spawns. The volcanic sites are on a 1 week respawn, and the bio sites, I have no idea as I've never need to go back to one within a month. lol.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I have never relogged to get outcrops, etc. to respawn except some nights I log off for sleep and next day, I find them nearby again - tis how I know they respawn overnight

They do so randomly, and maybe you get three together, not a forest:

 

[Jaggid Edje]

Indeed, as Bob says, you do not need to ever relog at biological sites, there are so many nodes ou could fill your materials 3 times over from a single site. The trouble of course, is that they are a long way away...

I produced this biological route for our squadron members, I believe it's the shortest possible route to cover all G4 raw materials, believe me, whatever your expectatoins are about this, they will be shattered, you will be looking at a SEA of G4 materials.At several sites I didn't get 800m from the ship before I was full. Here's the route...

This system is 1600ish ly from Sol
System Body Gravity Distance Material Available
HIP 36601 C 1 d 0.08 G 154,104 Ruthenium
HIP 36601 C 1 a 0.09 G 154,099 Polonium
HIP 36601 C 3 b 0.04 G 154,145 Tellurium
HIP 36601 C 5 a 0.03 G 154,288 Technetium
Now take a 400ly trip to here...
Outotz LS-K d8-3 B 5 c 0.07 G 310,420 Antimony (go to site number 1!)
Outotz LS-K d8-3 B 5 a 0.09 G 310,420 Yttrium

The Antimony planet is VERY rough, most of the others are fine and flat, so we found a good site at the antimony planet, site number 1, so we suggest to go straight to it even if it's on the other side to you. Good luck, but you won't need it.

I just wanted to thank you for sharing this information.

I had to make a 5000 Ly trip (to unlock Palin) and chose a destination that takes me through these systems. I used a material trader before heading out on the trip to take all 6 of the above materials to 0 and then headed out this morning. I managed to hit all 6 of those planets today and you weren't kidding about it....I parked right on the edge of the fields and didn't stray more than 300m from my ship before filling up at most of them!

Again, thank you so much for sharing with the community. Now if only there was a source of Selenium like this... Going to need a bunch of it once I get back from this 5000 Ly trip.

 

[Stealthie]

Again, thank you so much for sharing with the community. Now if only there was a source of Selenium like this... Going to need a bunch of it once I get back from this 5000 Ly trip.

Wolf 587 4ea has the highest incidence of Selenium in the bubble, and something like 25 Geo' POIs where you can collect it from the mid-tier drops, which means each site can yield a dozen or so drops.

Alternatively, if you're in Colonia, head for Eol Prou NH-K C9-10 A4a/A4b.

 

[Aashenfox]

I just wanted to thank you for sharing this information.

I had to make a 5000 Ly trip (to unlock Palin) and chose a destination that takes me through these systems. I used a material trader before heading out on the trip to take all 6 of the above materials to 0 and then headed out this morning. I managed to hit all 6 of those planets today and you weren't kidding about it....I parked right on the edge of the fields and didn't stray more than 300m from my ship before filling up at most of them!

Again, thank you so much for sharing with the community. Now if only there was a source of Selenium like this... Going to need a bunch of it once I get back from this 5000 Ly trip.

Yeh man, Selenium only by the geological sites and only from crystalline clusters. It seems like fd has to have something in every gathering system that makes no sense and frustrates players.