Accessing raw materials from outside the bubble

[Albagubrath]

Looking for advice. I am based at Guugunyi and am trying to get some engineering done and now require raw materials. As is normal, I have been playing this game on and off for nigh on twenty years, there is a high learning curve in doing anything new in Elite. For me this part of the fun but I have reached an impasse. The only advice on raw materials gathering I can glean is based on being in or near the bubble. Such as farming. I am happy to learn to mine or get onto the surface of planets etc. But I have no idea where to start. I have just got back into the game after a five year hiatus and still can do stuff like trade and hunt bounties but I would like to expand my horizons so to speak. Any and all advice gratefully received.

 

[Coehoorn]

Greetings,
low level raw materials can be gathered by either mining asteroids or shooting meteorites you can find on the surface in a SRV. More efficient methods which yield high grade materials are visiting the "old" Horizons bios, like crystal shards, or brain trees, and shooting the growths on them.

 

[goemon]

• equip a detailed surface scanner
• scan any landable body
• you get which materials are present on that planet
• jump into a srv and follow the srvs wave scanner to find outcrops, meteroids etc.
• shoot those for materials.

alternatively, on live: search for planets with volcanism and find places of vulcanic activity. geysers, fumaroles and so on have shootables which can be collected via srv. finding of volcanic pois isn't very easy though.
on legacy going to a body with vulcanic activity reveals geological pois - it is very convenient there to collect.

 

[Greasetrap42]

If you are leaving human space for an extended period visit a raw material trader first and redistribute the materials in your bins. If the easy-to-collect bins are getting full trade the mats into the more empty difficult-to-fill bins. Ideally when you are collecting mats you don't want to have to ignore some because that specific bin is full.

Any bins you naturally get maxed-out on trade a bunch out of them.

 

[SteveWW57]

There are three types of materials needed for engineering: raw, manufactured and encoded. Being in the bubble helps with the last two a lot.

You can buy a class 5 pre-engineered FSD for a few materials and jump the enginering grind a bit.

Steve

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Why would you need mats outside the bubble? There is no shop to spend them in.

 

[nemolomen]

Looking for advice. I am based at Guugunyi and am trying to get some engineering done and now require raw materials. As is normal, I have been playing this game on and off for nigh on twenty years, there is a high learning curve in doing anything new in Elite. For me this part of the fun but I have reached an impasse. The only advice on raw materials gathering I can glean is based on being in or near the bubble. Such as farming. I am happy to learn to mine or get onto the surface of planets etc. But I have no idea where to start. I have just got back into the game after a five year hiatus and still can do stuff like trade and hunt bounties but I would like to expand my horizons so to speak. Any and all advice gratefully received.

There are several tutorial videos accessible from the main menu, in the Help or Support section...also the in game Codex/Pilots Handbook has some info on the thing you seeks to learn...

 

[Greasetrap42]

Why would you need mats outside the bubble? There is no shop to spend them in.

Outside of Human Space:

• It is easier to collect raw materials outside the bubble. Especially if you find planet with brain trees, crystal shards, bark mounds, or those pumpkin things. You just zip around collecting mats super fast.
• You can engineer modules remote from engineers using the pinned engineering blueprints.
• You also use raw mats for synthesis. Particularly handy for repairing/refueling/ammo the SRV and Jumponium for extended jump distance.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Outside of Human Space:

• It is easier to collect raw materials outside the bubble. Especially if you find planet with brain trees, crystal shards, bark mounds, or those pumpkin things. You just zip around collecting mats super fast.
• You can engineer modules remote from engineers using the pinned engineering blueprints.
• You also use raw mats for synthesis. Particularly handy for repairing/refueling/ammo the SRV and Jumponium for extended jump distance.

Easier? Pinned BP number: is it greater than 1?

 

[Greasetrap42]

Easier? Pinned BP number: is it greater than 1?

You can pin a blueprint from each engineer. So in my case I have 24 blueprints for engineered effects I typically choose. You can pin blueprints for the same type of module but different effect too. So for example I have thusters both Dirty and Clean pinned.

You can purchase modules in the bubble, G1 engineer them and get the special effect applied and then throw them in fleet carrier storage for later use. Good for common modules like shield boosters, hull reinforcements, certain weapons, etc. Regardless of whether you are in human space this is a handy method to have stuff on hand.


Edit:

Easier?

Yes, if a cmdr is heading into deep space its much faster & easier to collect raw mats than in the bubble. Head to any nebula, scan systems until you find a system with bark mounds or whatever. Land and collect stuff. Its pretty easy often explorers like to visit nebula because they are cool. And usually you pass a few on your way somewhere anyway.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

You can pin a blueprint from each engineer. So in my case I have 24 blueprints for engineered effects I typically choose. You can pin blueprints for the same type of module but different effect too. So for example I have thusters both Dirty and Clean pinned.

You can purchase modules in the bubble, G1 engineer them and get the special effect applied and then throw them in fleet carrier storage for later use. Good for common modules like shield boosters, hull reinforcements, certain weapons, etc. Regardless of whether you are in human space this is a handy method to have stuff on hand.


Edit:

Yes, if a cmdr is heading into deep space its much faster & easier to collect raw mats than in the bubble. Head to any nebula, scan systems until you find a system with bark mounds or whatever. Land and collect stuff. Its pretty easy often explorers like to visit nebula because they are cool. And usually you pass a few on your way somewhere anyway.

In nebulas - but elsewhere it's the usual 1:1000 chance?

 

[Florenus]

As is normal, I have been playing this game on and off for nigh on twenty years

Temporal anomaly detected.

 

[Greasetrap42]

In nebulas - but elsewhere it's the usual 1:1000 chance?

I'm sure I am similar to other explorers. Raw mats are a non-issue. If materials appear in front of me I take them. Once my bins are full I can't collect anymore.

Edit: Exploring with a fleet carrier, using synthesis for my SRV is rare. And I hardly ever use jumponium anymore. So once the bins are full I can go for weeks, months without being able to pick up anymore mats.

 

[Q GT70]

you said horizons
is that 3.8 legacy or edo edh 4.xx ?
there is really no diff betwixt the 2 live versions, one has foot content one does not

but legacy horizons, it is easy to find raws in the srv still.
in the live versions it is doable but there are a few things that can make it a waste of time.
the first thing being if you see any meteorites or not withing the first few minutes of landing.
if there are none then thats a barren body. I have yet to find a way to get meteorites to spawn in such places.

but if some show and the rating of the body is NOT depleted, then you can drive around and find lots. live takes the depleted to mean it is empty. legacy does not.

if you are not familiar with the sounds and the bars on the srv sonar/radar, there are videos explaining it, the jist is meteorites show as lines dots bars on the bottom, other non meteorite things appear close to the top of the radar.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

What scanners do you need to equip (ship) to reliably find the ressources?

 

[Zieman]

if you are not familiar with the sounds and the bars on the srv sonar/radar, there are videos explaining it, the jist is meteorites show as lines dots bars on the bottom, other non meteorite things appear close to the top of the radar.

Here's a schematic for meteorites & outcrops you encounter when driving around:

You can find any material present on a given body in any of the nodes, but the chance of getting higher grade ones goes up with node metallic property (from left to right).

 

[Albagubrath]

Temporal anomaly detected.

I started playing Elite II in 1993

 

[Florenus]

I started playing Elite II in 1993

Right, but Elite II is not "this" game.

 

[nemolomen]

...
but legacy horizons, it is easy to find raws in the srv still.
in the live versions it is doable but there are a few things that can make it a waste of time.
the first thing being if you see any meteorites or not withing the first few minutes of landing.
if there are none then thats a barren body. I have yet to find a way to get meteorites to spawn in such places.

but if some show and the rating of the body is NOT depleted, then you can drive around and find lots. live takes the depleted to mean it is empty. legacy does not.
...

Here's a schematic for meteorites & outcrops you encounter when driving around:
View attachment 342311
You can find any material present on a given body in any of the nodes, but the chance of getting higher grade ones goes up with node metallic property (from left to right).

In Ody (and presumably H4.0) I usually forego looking for the standard meteorites and outcrops. I find a pristine planet with lots of geologic activity and I can drive around for hours collecting mats from groups of vents, fumaroles and other features (https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Geological_phenomena).

Of course, when I happen to run across a meteorite or outcrop I do collect from it...but they are no longer my primary source. My lower grade raws are usually kept full by laser mining in Platinum Hotspots.

 

[Greasetrap42]

In Ody (and presumably H4.0) I usually forego looking for the standard meteorites and outcrops. I find a pristine planet with lots of geologic activity and I can drive around for hours collecting mats from groups of vents, fumaroles and other features (https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Geological_phenomena).

And of course unlike the classic "grinder" there is no need to go searching for certain planets with desired mats. The activity of exploring presents these planets to the cmdr as they travel. System scans make it obvious.

If my tellurium bin is at 60% I might keep an eye out for an ideal planet. No rush, its not like I'm going to run out of tellurium soon. If I find a planet with lots of arsenic and my bin is at 85% I might skip it, or I might go dow for a look. Depends on whatI feel like doing.