I finally decided to give Engineers a chance. Since I have never been interested in those I have only Felicity and Elvira unlocked/invited. FSD seem to be good candidate for starters (I call myself explorer more than anything else). I've spend one day scanning wakes, one day collecting stuff in Dave's Hope. For the third day I only had Arsenic to collect so said to myself - easy, will do that tomorrow and will fly over to Deciat to talk to Felicity on the same day... How wrong I was... I've visited many planets with Arsenic listed in the available materials, I've used EDDB, landed on many bodies. My inventory is full of everything really, I did not even know some of the metals I've collected exist... Over the full day of wasting my time I have 6 units of Arsenic, yes 6 units... Why is Frontier hating players so much?? Do they really want us to fail at every possibility?? What is this farce?? I am loosing interest in ED every day. I am still trying to convince myself that ED is worth something but the amount of absolutely pointless grind is killing any good experience I have in this game... I am still waiting for that time I can actually have fun playing ED... Last few days I am asking myself why am I doing this to myself every time I hit START in the launcher...
Arsenic farming - is it broken??
- Thread starter skananote
- Start date
Trade for it at a Raw Materials trader.
www.edsm.net
Use a detailed surface scanner on a planet and go to any geological signal, you will get enough materials to trade with.
EDSM - Elite Dangerous Star Map
The Galactic Positioning System of Elite: Dangerous at your service.
www.edsm.net
Use a detailed surface scanner on a planet and go to any geological signal, you will get enough materials to trade with.
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Sounds like you should do some more googling as you don't mention the more sensible ways of getting arsenic 
Arsenic is quite rare. Honestly, it's better to find something else and trade down. If you can find Mercury or Polonium, then you can trade it down to Arsenic at a Raw Material trader.
Alternatively you could pop over to one of the Biological sites that give polonium (and other Grade 4 Mats) and trade them down to the lower grade Raw Materials.
And to grade Grade 4 Selenium, head over to CMDR Jamesons Crash site, and the Geological sites out there will have enough Selenium to get by and trade down.
Alternatively you could pop over to one of the Biological sites that give polonium (and other Grade 4 Mats) and trade them down to the lower grade Raw Materials.
| Outotz HD-J d9-3 | B 8 D | Antimony |
| HIP 36601 | C 1 A | Polonium |
| HIP 36601 | C 1 D | Ruthenium |
| HIP 36601 | C 3 B | Tellurium |
| HIP 36601 | C 5 A | Technetium |
| Outotz LS-K d8-3 | B 5 A | Yttrium |
And to grade Grade 4 Selenium, head over to CMDR Jamesons Crash site, and the Geological sites out there will have enough Selenium to get by and trade down.
The mat trader idea is the best idea these days, but I've had no problem finding arsenic lately.
Appreciate there is a good planet in deciat that drops lots.
With planet drops though, they generate on an rng basis, so you may need to try a couple of logs and shoot a rock to find it. Once they drop, you're in arsenic heaven.
With planet drops though, they generate on an rng basis, so you may need to try a couple of logs and shoot a rock to find it. Once they drop, you're in arsenic heaven.
Farseers system has a couple of planets that I always use for starter arsenic. If you just hit up mesosiderite signal sources you should find what you need fairly quick.
For what it’s worth, I think engineering always feels like a complete grind the very first time you do it. You don’t know where to go or what to shoot/scan etc....
It becomes considerably easier once you know all the details and what materials are rare etc...
It gets better and faster, I promise.
On a separate note!
I just landed on this little planet to do a surface scan mission and was slightly blown away with its rather excellent selection of surface materials...
...and it was then I noticed who first mapped it!!!
@Old Duck
Edit
Half hour later and my scan is done...
Also stuck around for 9 arsenic, 3 moly, 6 ruth, 12 sel, 6 tung...
That’ll engineer two decent FSD’s and at least 1 g5 thermal shield later on. It’s not that bad op...
For what it’s worth, I think engineering always feels like a complete grind the very first time you do it. You don’t know where to go or what to shoot/scan etc....
It becomes considerably easier once you know all the details and what materials are rare etc...
It gets better and faster, I promise.
On a separate note!
I just landed on this little planet to do a surface scan mission and was slightly blown away with its rather excellent selection of surface materials...
...and it was then I noticed who first mapped it!!!
@Old Duck
Edit
Half hour later and my scan is done...
Also stuck around for 9 arsenic, 3 moly, 6 ruth, 12 sel, 6 tung...
That’ll engineer two decent FSD’s and at least 1 g5 thermal shield later on. It’s not that bad op...
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That is my problem. I've seen good few YT videos so I knew what I am looking for. I've found few rocks that supposed to give arsenic yet none of them actually gave me any... I will now go for material trader route as polonium was much easier to find. Managed to secure 15 units in about 30 min... I will however try Deciat so I can keep some extra stock...
Sounds like you should do some more googling as you don't mention the more sensible ways of getting arsenic
Yup, if only google was not a dumpster fire of a "search engine" hammered with paid adverts and useless posts... Don't really have a time for this. What I've found however were posts - also from this very forum - complaining about Arsenic yield from as far as 2018... So it is actually existing problem that never got fixed (why I am not surprised Frontier??)
Hunting for Arsenic used to be a big deal, before mat' traders, but these days you're far better off hunting for Polonium and then trading down.
Even if you don't hit-up the shard sites to fill up (most of) your raw mat's, you can still get a decent pile of Polonium from Tiris 1c pretty easily and then trade it for a mountain of Arsenic.
Even if you don't hit-up the shard sites to fill up (most of) your raw mat's, you can still get a decent pile of Polonium from Tiris 1c pretty easily and then trade it for a mountain of Arsenic.
Agreed, looks like that however if this is the case there is less and less reasons to land on planets. Maybe one or two, get higher grade materials and trade them. If that is what Frontier wants let them have it... Material trader it is...
Arsenic, considering it's just a G2 mat, does live in its own black hole. It can be pesty to find sometimes and then as soon as you're not looking for it (as in my post right here on this thread) you're tripping over it...
If you check that shot I posted above I actually had just as much iron as I did arsenic after that brief forage.
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Better to get your mats while exploring I find as Pristine reserves but yeah check Geo & Bio sites first of all on planets with Arsenic. If no geo or bio go elsewhere.
Or trade down for ease. Or grind out the grindy methods for max pain. But still better just to collect as you go, assuming you do land occasionally at geo and bio while exploring. In the short term use the Trader and get back on your way.
Or trade down for ease. Or grind out the grindy methods for max pain. But still better just to collect as you go, assuming you do land occasionally at geo and bio while exploring. In the short term use the Trader and get back on your way.
That is what I am going to do. I never had any need for mats as I wasn't interested in engineering. Still not sure if I will go beyond FSD as I do not see any specific need for engineering in Trading and Exploration - I do most of that, I don't do combat...
Same here. At least until a couple of recent CGs. It has a way of sneaking up on you though.
I'm not going to suddenly go combat heavy, and I'm certainly not going to dive into the world of PvP - but I see myself playing around with the combat side of things more in the future.
Assuming you got the Guardian FSD Booster as well? The only other one I wanted before an expo was G5 Engines. Not a priority for most but I love the extra benefits and so much easier for higher G planets as more responsive. That would be Chloe or Palin if you want them....otherwise see you on your next return
I got a harmless explorer player of 3 years into my SLF at a recent CG, loved it and no risk. Within 10 minutes he was soloing Eagles
I like it for a break when exploring, either multi crew or CQC just for some action. It can be great fun and a nice break if its what you like.
No... I had accumulated 134 Arsenic just bimbling around shooting rocks when they present in my mission/goal orientated A-to-B journey's.
I find when I'm specifically looking for that one special thing... that ONE thing is what I NEVER come across!! (the game 'knows' and is evil! ) o7
To be fair this was in a Geological Signal site...... but hey ho...this was on my second harvest of Arsenic having used all my previous stock on engineering, just stocking up in case of future need... as you do. o7
I find when I'm specifically looking for that one special thing... that ONE thing is what I NEVER come across!! (the game 'knows' and is evil!
) o7
To be fair this was in a Geological Signal site...... but hey ho...this was on my second harvest of Arsenic having used all my previous stock on engineering, just stocking up in case of future need... as you do. o7
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A couple of weeks ago I tried something in my then current "home system' lft 168. My idea was to just go and mine metals and sell them. Perhaps as a viable economic alternative. It didn't work: in the same time it took me I could have mined my ship full of Painaite. But during the mining Arsenic dropped like candy. In EDengineer I see I got 21 chuncks from that session alone. Now it could very well have been a fluke so I can't confirm it and will try again. If it works again that well I'll tell which ring it was: IDK this my heart anymore. If it does work, it'll take time as well but IMO it beats chasing rocks on oversized asteroids with 99% of the times no As in them.
So please don't go chase there wasting more time in case that incidence was just a fluke.
So please don't go chase there wasting more time in case that incidence was just a fluke.
More reasons to land on planets ! Shoot biologicals for the materials and trade them down !
Even though you aren't interested in combat, you still might work towards (no hurry, take your time) being able to engineer your thrusters. Improved boost speeds get you out of trouble if attacked, especially while carrying valuable juicy cargo.
And don't forget the Guardian FSD booster to give you up to 10 ly extra jump range ... you have to visit Guardian sites and drive around for the materials first.