A (Very) Short Guide to Finding Material Traders and Technology Brokers

Camisade

Camisade
Since the Galaxy Map makes finding traders and brokers hard until you've "discovered" them, here are some efficient aids:

1) Both INARA and EDDB can help you find systems with material traders and technology brokers. However, they can't tell you which TYPE of trader/broker the system has. Here's how you predict before going there:

For Material Traders:
Extraction/Refinery = Raw Material Trader
Industrial Economy = Manufactured Material Trader
High-Tech/Military = Data Trader

For Technology Brokers:
High-tech system = Guardian Tech Brokers
Industrial system = Human Tech Brokers.


2) While honking a system will not reveal traders or brokers, scanning the Nav Beacon WILL. This could be a fast way to build your stable of discovered traders, making your Galaxy Map more useful over time. (I am not sure if purchasing a system's cartographic info reveals this.)

3) If you have not scanned the Nav Beacon, a station's trader/broker is "discovered" simply by docking there and entering Station Services; you do not have to go into the Contacts area to "find" them.

Hope this helps some of you. Fly safe, Cmdrs!
 
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IndigoWyrd

IndigoWyrd
Super Easy, Super Short Guild:

Open Galaxy Map
Filter Galaxy Map by Services.
Select Type of Material Broker.
Look at Galaxy Map.
Plot Course.
 

CMDR MadRaptor

CMDR MadRaptor
IndigoWyrd said:
Super Easy, Super Short Guild:

Open Galaxy Map
Filter Galaxy Map by Services.
Select Type of Material Broker.
Look at Galaxy Map.
Plot Course.
Click to expand...

Although they have to be discovered first for that method to work.

Easiest method I've found is to just find the target system and then look at the properties for the station or settlement or whatever, it should mention that it has a material trader but that as much detail is it gives, as long as you have narrowed the system down by the parameters chances are that the trader it lists will be what you need.

A
 

IndigoWyrd

IndigoWyrd
CMDR MadRaptor said:
Although they have to be discovered first for that method to work.

Easiest method I've found is to just find the target system and then look at the properties for the station or settlement or whatever, it should mention that it has a material trader but that as much detail is it gives, as long as you have narrowed the system down by the parameters chances are that the trader it lists will be what you need.

A
Click to expand...

What does? The system or the Broker? I have dozens of each type listed when I look, in systems I know I haven't been in since LONG before 3.0.
Yes, if you're day-0 new or haven't been anywhere but your starting system and Quince/Rhea/Wherever People Are Holed Up Shuttling Passengers back and forth, then I'll buy not having many visited systems listed.
 

GunnerBill

GunnerBill
CMDR MadRaptor said:
Although they have to be discovered first for that method to work.

Easiest method I've found is to just find the target system and then look at the properties for the station or settlement or whatever, it should mention that it has a material trader but that as much detail is it gives, as long as you have narrowed the system down by the parameters chances are that the trader it lists will be what you need.

A
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but's that's gotta be a negative :)

I was at an engineer recently and had forgotten a vital component.

I selected services and found 3 brokers about 100 LY distant in totally obscure and (to me) unheard of locations. I am pretty sure I hadn't been to any of them before.
 

Camisade

Camisade
CMDR MadRaptor said:
Although they have to be discovered first for that method to work.
Click to expand...

This is the key driver for my guide. Just trying to take the guesswork out of it for some pilots to make life easier.

IndigoWyrd said:
What does? The system or the Broker? I have dozens of each type listed when I look, in systems I know I haven't been in since LONG before 3.0.
Yes, if you're day-0 new or haven't been anywhere but your starting system and Quince/Rhea/Wherever People Are Holed Up Shuttling Passengers back and forth, then I'll buy not having many visited systems listed.
Click to expand...

I was motivated to do this because, though I've visited over 2500 systems, traded in over 125 markets, and run enough missions to reach Admiral and Duke with the respective super powers, and become Allied with all three, my repeated checks of the Galaxy Map was only revealing one material trader (and I checked from several areas of the bubble, over 100ly apart.

Also because the Galaxy Map only shows discovered traders/brokers in a 40ly radius from your current location -- that's not always useful, especially if you're outside your normal stomping grounds. Some pilots like to plan langer trips, and hit systems that are en route for resources (or a trader), so they arrive at their engineer/destination with all they'll need. This guide helps make that a little more efficient, IMO. YMMV.
 

Mengy

Mengy
Camisade said:
Also because the Galaxy Map only shows discovered traders/brokers in a 40ly radius from your current location -- that's not always useful
Click to expand...

Small clarification there, the 40ly search radius actually seems to be centered on your selection circle in the galaxy map, NOT your ship. Last night I was able to find traders farther than 40ly away from me simply by moving the selection circle around the galaxy map. You can watch the filtered systems fade in and out as you move the search bubble around.
 

Ralph Vargr

Ralph Vargr
Mengy said:
Small clarification there, the 40ly search radius actually seems to be centered on your selection circle in the galaxy map, NOT your ship. Last night I was able to find traders farther than 40ly away from me simply by moving the selection circle around the galaxy map. You can watch the filtered systems fade in and out as you move the search bubble around.
Click to expand...

And, you have to dock with the station previously, correct?
 

Chaffers

C
Think there's a Guardian tech broker too isn't there?

So... Even if you've Wombled your way around the Galaxy for previous mats there's yet more mats to Womble.

Maybe Uncle bulgaria has articulation motors... guardian blahs and whatnot.
 

Camisade

Camisade
Mengy said:
Small clarification there, the 40ly search radius actually seems to be centered on your selection circle in the galaxy map, NOT your ship.
Click to expand...

Good to know. For me, using an external site is just a heckuva lot faster and easier. And I'm all about quick and easy! [big grin]

Ralph Vargr said:
And, you have to dock with the station previously, correct?
Click to expand...

That is correct -- you have to have "discovered" the trader (via docking or nav beacon).

Chaffers said:
Think there's a Guardian tech broker too isn't there? So... Even if you've Wombled your way around the Galaxy for previous mats there's yet more mats to Womble. Maybe Uncle bulgaria has articulation motors... guardian blahs and whatnot.
Click to expand...

Yes, while crafting this guide (whether it's judged to be superfluous or not!), while ambling back from Deciat, I happened upon Bowen Station in LT 2337. It's a high-tech prison colony, of all things and it has a Guardian Technology Broker. From what I could make out (and this is conjecture), that's where you will take your Guardian mats (and assorted legacy mats) to craft the new Guardian Plasma Charger and Guardian Gauss Cannon weapons, once those are introduced.

Hopefully (assuming I'm in the ballpark with my guesses) those will become the go-to weapons in our conflict with the Thargoids, far out-classing the current AX choices we have. You can see in your synthesis screen that at some point you'll gain the ability to synthesize ammo for those weapons...
 

ironside31

ironside31
Thank you for this information it is very much appreciated.

I am however appalled at frontiers approach to this issue. In game it is 3304, even in 2018 you can search for things thru the internet. By the year 3000 we should be able to access a database to see what is where in settled space. Aka the bubble. The fact that you need to find them to find them is borderline insulting.

Again thank you Camisade for putting this together.
 

Exigeous

Exigeous
Camisade said:
For Material Traders:
Extraction/Refinery = Raw Material Trader
Industrial Economy = Manufactured Material Trader
High-Tech/Military = Data Trader
Click to expand...

Just went to a Refinery system and it had a Manufactured trader, not a Raw one. It is Beyond absurd that these aren't just listed on the galaxy map. It's like trying to find a mechanic in the phone book that isn't listed until you've actually visited them.

Elite 3.0 - Beyond:Grind, Beyond:Bugg, Beyond:Absurd
 

Rogersmj

R
Exigeous said:
Just went to a Refinery system and it had a Manufactured trader, not a Raw one. It is Beyond absurd that these aren't just listed on the galaxy map. It's like trying to find a mechanic in the phone book that isn't listed until you've actually visited them.

Elite 3.0 - Beyond:Grind, Beyond:Bugg, Beyond:Absurd
Click to expand...

Agreed. I went to three "Industrial" systems last night, and all three had raw material traders...no manufactured materials trader. Since I hadn't been to any of these systems before, I couldn't use the galaxy map filter -- so I had to actually go to the systems, dock, and find out. Between that stupidity and the 2-3 hours I spent inspecting signal sources for the supposedly "very common" material I need, I've just wasted 4+ hours because someone at FDev can't be bothered to actually put a filter in the galaxy map that actually works.

"We don't want to waste your time..." ...total .
 

myothershipisacobraiv

myothershipisacobraiv
Hello, people of the past!

As somebody who likes to try not to use third-party tools at first, I have been noticing some difficulty with locating Tech Brokers. That lead to me searching for tips as a prelude to turning to EDDB (praise it), which lead me to this guide. I decided to do some testing and try to add to this guide.

The GalMap doesn't like to colourize Technology Brokers if they are a certain distance from your system. I have the one that I use bookmarked and if I'm not near it, the game won't colourize it unless I click directly on it. Before the testing, it was the only one I had known so far (actually I had already found and unlocked at least one more, but I didn't know it!).

I am not certain exactly what distance in LY from your current system makes up the present radius inside which the game will draw the colours. Though when I was in a system with a Technology Broker after freshly booting the game, another system 39LY away showed up in the filter, while a system 42LY away did not. From this, it seems 40LY is the magic number. However, even if they are close enough to your current system to display, if you're zoomed in close enough, the game will tend to drop the Technology Broker stars if the GalMap is not centred on exactly them (when it still draws greyed stars outside of them). You need to zoom out until the dots are actually fairly small in order for the GalMap to reliably display any that it will display. So because of this, I wasn't certain how findable they actually were. So I read this guide and I did some testing.

When you get in a system with a Technology Broker you haven't discovered

  • Banging won't reveal it
  • If the station holding them is visible on the System map, you can see it in its Features list
  • It is listed in the FSS if you focus on the station (normally you don't because stations are revealed with the celestials they orbit)
  • None of these things will mark it on the GalMap

  • Docking at the station marks it on the GalMap (I DID NOT need to open Station services)
  • It seems systems in a 40LY radius will display on the GalMap if you are zoomed out enough and you have satisfied their requirements to be marked
  • Clicking on any system you know to contain a discovered Technology Broker while in relevant filter mode will cause it to immediately display as marked and stay marked

I hope this is useful to anyone who likes to try to experience things on their own hfuel, or anyone searching for this! Note that I have intentionally tried not to repeat anything OP has said! So if by chance you have just read this, read that! I will also update this later to test a couple more things!
 
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