Abnormal Compact Emissions in 3.0.3 - Anyone having luck finding them?

khaos526 · Mar 20, 2018

So as of 3.0.3, it seems ship scanning has been drastically reduced in producing materials now compared to before. Meaning even less of a chance of getting the Abnormal Compact Emissions.

I tried Hi-Rez and CZ's and out of the tons of ships scanned, I got 1 or 2 maybe of the lower mats and that's it.

I would try Isinor, but I'm allied rep with the Chapter of Isinor, but after hours of looking for the permit in the same stations that had them pre 3.0.3, I am unable to find the permit now (well most stations as a few of those systems went into lockdown over night or as soon as 3.0.3 went up).

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck finding these in a reliable manor recently and if I've missed something?

GG7 · Mar 20, 2018

I haven't been specifically looking for those, but I do scan all the wakes in my path whenever I leave a Starport or Outpost. I pay more attention to DWEs and I have detected a drop in the number of hits I am getting lately.

I currently have 42 of those ACEDs and I see no "PIN" icon next to them, which means that none of my pinned Blueprints use that mat.

What are you needing them for? Just curious since I have all the usual Engineer upgrades pinned and these are not showing as included in any of those upgrades.

Cheers.

Athrillskr · Mar 20, 2018

I've been doing a lot of combat and have not received any abnormal compact emissions since 3.0 released.

biohazard15 · Mar 20, 2018

Isinor Convoy Beacon works, but drops are rare. I'm talking about any data drops, not just ACED.

Aashenfox · Mar 20, 2018

I assumed it was just bad luck, but I gotta say I felt like ship scanning in SC and in normal space was not dishing out the mats for a while now. I do get some (I definitely did on Sunday night, I remember it clearly, cos it surprised me).

I'm also crazy low on these, I've got 7 left, and they never used to be an issue in 2.4 as we all scan ships all the time. I'm calling 'accidental nerf'.

GG they are mainly for G5 long range sensors and/or other long range scanners.

Dagwit · Mar 20, 2018

ACED are also used to make G5 Clean Drives; I've just used them to engineer the thrusters on what I'm hoping is a very cold Cobra for raiding megaship data points.

HazardousMatt · Mar 20, 2018

They are also used in G5 Long Range Surface Scanner blueprints which is pretty essential for explorers. What I did was stopped hunting for them and starting doing cargo delivery missions and wing missions. While I'll be in supercruise heading to the station I'll hit the "next Target ship" button and scroll through all the ships and scan any that are in front of me enroute to the station. I picked up 3 of these while doing this, enough to max out my DSS. I know it's not much but at least I wasn't driving myself mad searching for them and made a few million credits in the process. You'll be amazed how much data you'll get if you scan every ship in your path while your traveling to a station.

biohazard15 · Mar 20, 2018

HazardousMatt said:
They are also used in G5 Long Range Surface Scanner blueprints which is pretty essential for explorers. What I did was stopped hunting for them and starting doing cargo delivery missions and wing missions. While I'll be in supercruise heading to the station I'll hit the "next Target ship" button and scroll through all the ships and scan any that are in front of me enroute to the station. I picked up 3 of these while doing this, enough to max out my DSS. I know it's not much but at least I wasn't driving myself mad searching for them and made a few million credits in the process. You'll be amazed how much data you'll get if you scan every ship in your path while your traveling to a station.

Had a few drops too, but good drops in SC seem to be quite rare in 3.0. For me it's mostly G1-G2 stuff, with occasional G3.

metatheurgist · Mar 20, 2018

Yep. Got a couple from security Anacondas, and another 2 from a private data beacon in an encoded uss. Still rare as ever.

Vardaugas · Mar 20, 2018

I only ever get them from security Anacondas in SC. Best bet is to find a system that spawns them, which is also in a state for HG materials you want. Then you go into deep space, several thousand ls perpenticular to the disk and slowly SC back. That way you have the whole spawn area for SC ships in your sight and every time a USS spawns which you investigate, the drop from SC resets the instance and you get more Anaconda spawns to scan. Tedious.

Of all encoded materials, the ACEDs are at the lowest stock and I haven't even used many of them. Guess you could always farm wake scans in front of a busy station and then throw the surplus data at a material trader.

MissMeYet · Mar 20, 2018

I've scanned a few, but they are very, very rare.

khaos526 · Mar 20, 2018

Ok then there really isn't anything good out there then other than just luck. Spawn rates just seem to be really bad as I was out looking for them Sunday and was getting a lot of mats scanning ships, but now as of 3.0.3 it's a lot worse spawn rate.

And yes I use it for the G5 Long range wake scanner. I only have one ship that uses Clean drives and I used up my previous ACED for that before 3.0.3.

I ended up just giving up and taking on a few Planetary Scan missions to get MEF's and exchanging them at the Mat Trader for 6 MEF's for 1 ACED. Luckily I have a ton of those, but with what I had in my storage and converting about 3 over, I was able to get my G5 Long Range Wake scanner for one ship at least up to G5 completion.

Will just try and find Anacondas in high pop/security systems, Level 3-4 Convoy USS and Encoded USS then until I get word that the permit bug (or what seems to be a bug for most people since 3.0.3) is fixed and I can do the Convoy Beacon in Isinor with hopes that spawns some. I just won't focus my time on it like I have been...

LP Garnell · Mar 25, 2018

I've been trying to find -any- over the last two weeks of USS searches and scanning anacondas. Nothing. Haven't done surface data scans because of the 1-per bug.

Has anyone seen any missions with AECDs as rewards? Have gotten MEFs and EFTs as wing mission rewards. Painful, but at least I was assured of getting them at the end.

Vardaugas · Mar 25, 2018

Just today, I had a Anaconda undock before me in the queue, scanned it and got four different data sets from it, including AECDs. It's all luck and persistence.

GG7 · Mar 25, 2018

Vardaugas said:
Just today, I had a Anaconda undock before me in the queue, scanned it and got four different data sets from it, including AECDs. It's all luck and persistence.

I now make a Wake Scanner standard equipment on all of my ships. I also pinned the upgrade for FAST SCANNER, which if taken up to G5 reduces the scan time down to literally 2 Seconds! -- All my ships now run with that upgrade as well, so you can blow through a half dozen scans within the 3Km range in less than 30 seconds or less. A Fast ship like a Chieftain or something is of course best if you want to focus on farming scan data.

I generally just scan the handful directly in front my my ship on my way out of the StarPort, Outpost of surface base. It all adds up!

Then of course, it never hurts to lock onto other ships around stations since they can also produce wake scans while flying in normal space as well as SC.

Since all these wake based datas are RNG, the more scans you can do per game session, the more inventory you will end up with.

Dagwit · Mar 25, 2018

A cynic might wonder if the devs have nerfed the drop rate for ACEDs so that players are forced to cross-trade for them at the extortionate 6:1 rate.

Then the devs can go to their managers and say, "See? Players are willing to cross-trade at 6:1. We don't need to reduce the rate at all."

khaos526 · Mar 25, 2018

I had a bit of luck scanning the Convoy in Isinor. Not great, but it does happen. Also got some this week from in system security Anaconda's and one from an Encoded USS. Enough I could get a longer range Wake Scanner updated and now have enough for another one or two if I wanted to.

My advice is don't bother wasting the time to get the Isinor Permit if you don't have to. Just scan everything as you go about doing other things. I found more this week by doing that than actually focusing on trying to get the ACED...