A little help with material traders.

[Darkslayer]

So, a few questions. I know the galaxy map can be filtered by traders.
Are all component materials availabe through the traders?
How can you tell from the system map where they are and what they trade?
Are some things still acquired through mining or surface prospecting only?

 

[o'moylan]

Couldn't get the map to work for me.
I go here.

https://inara.cz/galaxy-nearest/25/15367/

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

I had hoped to find some really great insights into material traders in this thread, but the fact its yet another thread where the solution is to go to inara speaks volumes about the game to me...

 

[o'moylan]

Yea it sucks.
However for what it's worth, the site work great.

 

[Thorberg Shavestroke]

Are all component materials availabe through the traders?

All materials needed for engineering are at the material traders, but only for trade, and with a (sometimes very steep) penalty.

How can you tell from the system map where they are and what they trade?

They are only on your galaxy map if you have already visited them, however, there are other resources to find them. Go to the INARA website here: https://inara.cz/galaxy-nearest/
Enter the system that you are in (in the upper right hand corner of the page) and then click on material traders. This will show you the nearest trader and what type of material they trade.

Are some things still acquired through mining or surface prospecting only?

All raw materials can only be acquired through mining or surface prospecting.


ObsidianAnt made a great video about material traders, check it out here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=jL9YkvPEFR4&usg=AOvVaw1ue4S9d0ZmoAyuP01j4oM4

 

[Robert Maynard]

Apparently, the existence of a Material Trader can be determined further away than 40LY if the System Map for the system to be checked is selected from the Galaxy Map, basically, looking at the system directly renders the arbitrary 40LY range of the filter moot.

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

The Galaxy Map isn't helpful right off if you are looking for a specific place to go immediately.

But it can be helpful to narrow down the locale. The Materials brokers are only in well populated systems with good security.

Tech Broker = High Tech System, like Vaka (Zenbei hub)
Raw Materials Broker = Refinery/Extraction like Sifjar
Manufactured Mats Broker = Industrial, Like Sirius (Patterson base)

It's not hard to filter out the systems that won't have one for sure. Then if you poke about in the likely places in the Map, you'll find one fairly fast. So it's a bad setup for getting to a broker NOW, but it's fine for gradually discovering them as you play.

 

[Vedmo]

Here's a good run down of qualifying factors for one to pop up:

http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/409098-Elite-Dangerous-Beyond-the-features-of-3-0

 

[GG7]

Couldn't get the map to work for me.
I go here.

https://inara.cz/galaxy-nearest/25/15367/

Yup. This is pretty much everyone's Go-To at the moment.

At least until such time that FDEV decides to finally FIX the broken "Services Filter" feature in the GMAP.

 

[Vardaugas]

I think it's limited not only to 40ly around the selected system, but also will only show systems you have visited/docked at. Not sure if you could just go to the system map to check the stations manually.

I'm just happy I already uncovered every type of material trader around my home system.

 

[Darkslayer]

On inara why does it list 2 trader types when there is only 1?

 

[Darkslayer]

This is stupid. Can't filter in the galaxy map unless u have been there. Listed in system map but no details about what kind of trader they are. Why does FDEV give us QOL improvements and then make it stupid hard to use them?

 

[Vardaugas]

This is stupid. Can't filter in the galaxy map unless u have been there. Listed in system map but no details about what kind of trader they are. Why does FDEV give us QOL improvements and then make it stupid hard to use them?

Trying to get people to travel more, maybe?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

On inara why does it list 2 trader types when there is only 1?

Inara can't determine the trader type from journal information, so guesses from the economy - but some stations have e.g. Industral-Refinery economies which could be either Manufactured or Raw (but not both) and it's not sure, so puts either as a possibility.

(For this reason it gets the ones around Colonia wrong - Coeus is Manufactured, but has a Service economy ... and Ratraii is Industral/Refinery, but has the Data trader, not either of the ones Inara guesses)

 

[Factabulous]

This is stupid. Can't filter in the galaxy map unless u have been there. Listed in system map but no details about what kind of trader they are. Why does FDEV give us QOL improvements and then make it stupid hard to use them?

Personal ... journey ....

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

So... There would be a certain advantage to be had from going around the bubble honking like a bampot to build up a reposotorie of system data? Does Honking actually do it, or would you actually need to dock / scan a nav beacon to get the info?

 

[Hellakitty]

So... There would be a certain advantage to be had from going around the bubble honking like a bampot to build up a reposotorie of system data? Does Honking actually do it, or would you actually need to dock / scan a nav beacon to get the info?

I believe a honk even with an ADS won't do it. You have to either scan the nav beacon or dock at the specific starport for the material trader to appear.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Cool - thanks for the clarification.... I'm currently wiped out with some nasty bug thats going around, so the idea of aimlessly honking a trail through the bubble kind of knitted nicely with my current state of bug induced befuddlement. I'll bare that in mind and I might grab an Imperial FunShip (AKA the iCourier) and drop in on a rake of nav beacons later on once I've finished guardian material gathering.