Collecting Caustic Tissue becomes to be a nightmare

Bunnyclaw · May 24, 2023

I know... it's the one millionst post about this, but I really struggle with it. Some do, for others it is more a piece of cake...
Since 2 weeks I try this and of corse without any success... First week I did used a full engineered cheeftrain with as much hull as possible and I got the caustik sink from the CG and limpets to clean and repair, what did makes it at least possible to reach one of this poofing mines.. Well... it doesn't go well, because there didn't like my gentle aproach... (No means NO... BOOOM)... And after a week of "hmmmm, this rebuy screen looks great" feeling I did realize that silent running is your friend... So I did finaly found a fitting role for my clipper (oh yeah, love this ship, but there are better ones close for every part of the game), so I build a real coolrunner, it goes down to 15% heat and I can stay in silent running for at least 3 min... Ice Ice Baby... And, what can I say: Success, easy peasy got my first sample, but lost 80% of my hull, so I did need to hury back.. But hey, Now I found a way to collect it (cheer)...
By the way, here is my ship I am using right now: Deepdive SR
Advice for improvements are wellcome. The guardien reinvorcement are focused on low power consumption. Did just want the caustic resistance. I thought it was a good choice.. maybe not...

And that was the day befor Update 15 did arrived.... And then the new interceptor did aproached... It's fast... Holy cow it is so fast... I fly with arround 500 speed and it catch me without any problems, it has FSD disruptor missles (hello pointdefence???? Missle?? Are you mad at me?) and it dissables your engine... (sighs)... And silent running doesn't help. Aaaaaand another nice view of the rebuy screen... And my cargo was empty... Oooook, another try... And after another collected sample (after a dozen try to even reach the Maelstrom), I got 2 of this floating blender blades vessels who did chasing (sure, looking great, but's the last thing I see usualy)... No way to escape et all... "You won a rebuy"...
But today was the last straw for me, after I got a penalty of loading the FSD because of the unbelivable mass of this tiny interceptor... I did never noticed it befor... The loading didn't make any progress... I was too much in panic to survive, but I think it did say something from a penalty of 20 times because of a huge mass nearby.. ... ... Ok, that's rude. It is the suit that makes me look fat.. It was just one bucket if icecream... Goddddddd... Get over it Computer.
Ok, how much harder will there make it to become this caustic sinks? What did there say about it in the patchnotes? That you can collect the materials now without need to fight targoid vessels, because there dropping now from the mines instead of fighters? Are you fuzzy wuzzy kidding me? Now we need a whoole army to even aproach the maelstrom, because this wannabe ninja star vessels are intercepting you always from the hyperdrive and chasing you in the normal space... I didn't made even one FSD jump without interception... With a lot of luck there is none of this William Wallace imposinators (yeah, you know... Bolts of lightning from his...). But then it chase you in the system.

I need a break from it, it is too stressful for me. I know, a game has to be a challange, but when you found a workaround there took it away...
So my question is, is anybody able to collect them? Any advice or hints?
Beside of: Use your largest battleship and hope for the best. I am pretty poor when it comes to AX fight... I am more the exploration guy... I mean, I have an AX fighter, but I can't use it near the maelstrom... And I would had to challange every fight until to reach it... And if you ship makes poof, your cargo too.. And you start over agin... and again... and again... It was way more easyer to get the anti puls thingy... A picle a day keeps the Targoids away...

And sorry about my english and all the typos. Not a native speaker.

GroG79 · May 24, 2023

You are trying to get them inside the maelstrom?
Just stay outside. No glaives there. You might meet some one the way there.

The advances xeno scanner will allow you to scan the generators from father away. After firing the research limpet back off. I altered your build:

whereistheshortlinkbutton?

pFVD · May 25, 2023

If you switch out that shielded FSD for a long range mass manager, you'll maybe get to the maelstrom system in 1 jump instead of 2 or more, reducing the chances of Glaive interdiction. Then pick a maelstrom with a short supercruise distance (Taranis) and you'll reduce that even further. It will of course mean more fuel usage on a ship with a relatively small tank, but you have a fuel scoop. Infact, your build is similar to mine.

This is how I would alter your build. Swapped the FSD for increased range, dropped both limpet controllers for a single 7C Universal and added a 3D Guardian HRP. That will increase your caustic resistance and hull armor and add more "caustic time", along with the Caustic Sink. You could also drop the Point Defence for another Caustic Sink for more time.

If you are willing to engineer another power plant (a 6 instead of a 5, you don't lose much in thermals or FSD range), you could swap out those 1E Guardian HRP's with D's as well like this. Even with grade 3 engineering you are still under 20% heat, and with grade 5 you'll idle around 15%, 17% under thrust.

Factabulous · May 25, 2023

If you haven't (your build doesn't show it) - engineer your Caustic Sink for extra time (~~and as others said, an extra one would be useful~~ - edit: scrub that, obviously you want the samples to unlock that module

). Ram Tah in Meene (handily close to Taranis) will sort you out - they use Heat Sink engineers.

An expensive option is also to use a FC to store the samples so you don't risk them all when you look for extras (or if you have a friend who will let you use their FC). You might find an FC selling them (unlikely as I would imagine they are in demand).

Depending on your level of immersion I also find combat logging on Thargoids to be helpful if you really don't want to engage with them ...

Untilting · May 25, 2023

Bunnyclaw said:
And silent running doesn't help.

I tried tweaking my shieldless Maelstrom Clipper build post-Glaive, but have now reverted to the original setup. As was suggested by @pFVD above, the big change for me was switching to Taranis, reduced the chance of interdictions hugely from my previous choice (Hadad, 39000 ls, masochism).

I was hyperdicted by Glaives on my last run but a mix of boosting/slightly erratic driving/silent running seemed to work wonders (didn't use heatsinks, just toggled SR off whenever the ship got too hot and back on a few seconds later when it had cooled down enough). No FSD reboots, managed to reach the Maelstrom itself with 97% hull and very minor damage to modules.

St0rmFury · May 25, 2023

I have to agree with OP that the introduction of hunters make caustic tissue harvesting many times harder due to the added danger of flying back. I did the caustic tissue harvesting and unlocked caustic sinks before U15 so I can escape hyper/interdictions as long as I have the speed.

Now players not only have to git gud at harvesting samples from a very volatile enemy in a very hazardous environment, they also have to git gud at escaping from a new thargoid opponent designed to counter every human tactic used against them in the past (boosting away, high waking, cold running).

Imagine painstakingly harvesting 5 caustic samples only to get blown up on your way back with nothing much you can do. Bruh, that would be so demoralizing.

To OP, all I can advise is bring guns and get ready to hunker down & fight any hunters that hyperdicts you.

Untilting · May 25, 2023

Untilting said:
I tried tweaking my shieldless Maelstrom Clipper build post-Glaive, but have now reverted to the original setup. As was suggested by @pFVD above, the big change for me was switching to Taranis, reduced the chance of interdictions hugely from my previous choice (Hadad, 39000 ls, masochism).

I was hyperdicted by Glaives on my last run but a mix of boosting/slightly erratic driving/silent running seemed to work wonders (didn't use heatsinks, just toggled SR off whenever the ship got too hot and back on a few seconds later when it had cooled down enough). No FSD reboots, managed to reach the Maelstrom itself with 97% hull and very minor damage to modules.

OK, did another Taranis test run just now, got hyperdicted by Glaives on the way there and on the way back. Tried the boost/erratic driving/toggling silent running approach and was less lucky - got hit with FSD resets both ways. Nevertheless, by the time I got to Taranis I was still on 91% hull with modules above 95%, so it just took a couple of repair limpets to get the ship ready for farming. On the return journey I was much clumsier, got knocked down to 80% hull, with most modules further degraded to 80-95%. Not great, but fine for the return leg - a comfortable distance from a rebuy screen.

It's certainly more stressful (I'm so relieved now to glimpse the whirl of a swarm when I get interdicted!), but farming still seems do-able at Taranis. My build's pretty close to the last one above, except I'm using A-rated sensors and I don't bother with a fuel scoop, I usually take 2 hops to get to the Maelstrom for fuel efficiency (so I always have fuel to get there and back even if hyperdicted on every hop). I also have missiles to get the corrosive mechanisms.

EDSY

EDSY is a ship outfitting tool for Elite Dangerous

edsy.org

Codger · May 25, 2023

Untilting said:
, by the time I got to Taranis I was still on 91% hull with modules above 95%, so it just took a couple of repair limpets to get the ship ready for farming

I attempted this for the first time today, trying to get the needed Caustic Tissue samples so I can get a Caustic Sink launcher. Even with a decontamination limpet running full time, I only lasted 3 minutes and 29 seconds in the Maelstrom. It just melted my ship, and I was unable to even get my bearings in there.

I've seen videos of people getting the tissue samples, and they seem to NOT be taking caustic damage all the time. I started taking damage as soon as I dropped into the instance, so maybe this has changed.

In any case, I consider it currently impossible to get anything done in there. The time is too short.

My build:

EDSY

EDSY is a ship outfitting tool for Elite Dangerous

edsy.org

Untilting · May 25, 2023

Codger said:
I attempted this for the first time today, trying to get the needed Caustic Tissue samples so I can get a Caustic Sink launcher. Even with a decontamination limpet running full time, I only lasted 3 minutes and 29 seconds in the Maelstrom. It just melted my ship, and I was unable to even get my bearings in there.

I've seen videos of people getting the tissue samples, and they seem to NOT be taking caustic damage all the time. I started taking damage as soon as I dropped into the instance, so maybe this has changed.

In any case, I consider it currently impossible to get anything done in there. The time is too short.

My build:

EDSY

EDSY is a ship outfitting tool for Elite Dangerous

edsy.org

I think I just replied to you on another thread, but at Taranis I'm finding myself pretty deep in the Maelstrom just coming out of Supercruise. I might try and veer up or down during the SC exit the next time I do a run, but if you find yourself taking caustic damage as soon as you drop then you are too far in - turn 180 and boost to the fringes with a decon limpet attached. Once the caustic damage drops you can sort out hull repairs etc then prepare to farm...

Bearings are kept just by keeping the Maelstrom as the target lock - just turn until you get the hollow O so it's directly behind you and boost out of there.

I had been using Hadad previously, where I dropped out of SC neatly on the edge of the Maelstrom and took this for granted, but the 39000Ls distance there is too interdiction-friendly in a post-Glaive galaxy.

Codger · May 25, 2023

Untilting said:
I had been using Hadad previously, where I dropped out of SC neatly on the edge of the Maelstrom and took this for granted, but the 39000Ls distance there is too interdiction-friendly in a post-Glaive galaxy.

I was hyperdicted by a Glaive on my way (I had 2 jumps to do, and got attacked on the first jump). I could not outrun it, and my FSD was on cooldown, so I deployed weapons and tried to fight it a bit.

I have 3 Enhanced AX multis, and a long-range beam laser with Thermal Vent. They did minimal damage to the Glaive, it was useless. I fought it until my FSD cooldown was done, and then managed to jump away (after the Glaive caused my FSD to reboot, that is).

It also caused my Cargo hatch to dump all my limpets. Thanks, Glaive.

I think it's far too difficult, tedious, and frustrating at the moment. I may try again but...I'm not sure it's worth the aggravation.

It needs to be toned down a bit, methinks.

Helmut Grokenberger · May 25, 2023

Codger said:
I've seen videos of people getting the tissue samples, and they seem to NOT be taking caustic damage all the time. I started taking damage as soon as I dropped into the instance, so maybe this has changed.

When I collected my samples (before U15), there was no damage at the outer edges of the Maelstrom, but the caustic damage started fairly soon after getting deeper into the Maelstrom. The outer area should have enough caustic generators to collect the samples without getting too much caustic damage.

If everything else fails, I have five tissue samples left on my carrier I can part with.

Untilting · May 25, 2023

When I dropped out of SC at Hadad I was always on the outside of the Maelstrom and could choose when I entered. Now I've switched to Taranis, dropping out of SC & decelerating seems to leave me a fair way inside the Maelstrom where there's already caustic damage ticks.

Not sure if this is new?

Codger · May 25, 2023

Helmut Grokenberger said:
If everything else fails, I have five tissue samples left on my carrier I can part with.

That's nice of you, thanks for the offer.

I think I will persevere, though. If I can't get them, then I just won't be able to proceed.

Sucks, but that's the state of things at the moment. I do hope FDEV reconsiders the difficulty, here.

Helmut Grokenberger · May 25, 2023

The drop distance is still 200 km, is it not? If in doubt, drop out before the 200 km mark and fly in through normal space. Caustic generators should appear only a few km in.

Untilting · May 25, 2023

Helmut Grokenberger said:
The drop distance is still 200 km, is it not? If in doubt, drop out before the 200 km mark and fly in through normal space. Caustic generators should appear only a few km in.

Thanks, I thought I was going crazy. Will do some experiments tonight.

Bunnyclaw · May 25, 2023

Thanks for all your advice!

The funny part, I did try just Taranis so far, because it seemed to be the closest one. On the weekend I will try to switch some parts... Somehow I did miss, that the 7C Universal also can do the "research"...
Lets see how the 6A Reactor is behaving. I hope I have enought materials left for the engineering. Was also thinking about the Auto-field Maintainer...
Lets see how it works.
Oh and thanks for all the builds here!!! It is really inspiring.
Maybe engeniering the caustic sink too, but that is not now the primary issue. To reach (and get back alife) the Maelstroem is right now my biggest problem...

Usualy I drop out into the maelstrom when the FSD drive told me to do and you are then deep inside it. Maybe it worth a try to drop out earlyer and do a carefully aproach, even when it takes a while... Or boosting out from inside and focusing on a full repair befor I start to look for a acid poofer.

A big game changer for me was to modify my sensors to 5 on longrange. So I did extend the distance to beeing able to lock on a mine from 700m to 1,2km. That takes a lot of preassure while you navigate or scan.

William J Smith · May 25, 2023

I agree with the OP
managed to get myself 1 tissue sample just before 15 dropped (didnt notice the requirement for FIVE! grr)

After 15 dropped my FC was parked 2 jumps for my python (my old smuggler build with added HRP/Module armor) from taranis
4 times i tried to GET to taranis..... hunter/agressive scouts all the way.... the one time I succeded, the damn generator decided to spaff away from me taking my limpet with it...
Dont get me wrong, I like the new additions, but having to try a virtual suicide run to get 4 more samples..... sorry

Bill

Zador · May 25, 2023

A rate your sensors with long range. I keep saying this in these threads, it means you can target from 1km instead of 500m. D rated sensors don't cut it. The enhanced xeno scanner is useless if you can't target the generator.

Lukozer · May 26, 2023

Zador said:
A rate your sensors with long range. I keep saying this in these threads, it means you can target from 1km instead of 500m. D rated sensors don't cut it. The enhanced xeno scanner is useless if you can't target the generator.

You don't even need to engineer them with long range, but A-rated sensors are essential for the reason stated.

This is the ship I use for caustic tissue sample collecting - https://edsy.org/s/vBuHEx8
In the days before I had the caustic sink launcher, there was a heatsink launcher in it's place... and the module I had prior to the pulse neutraliser should be so obvious even Stevie Wonder could see what it was. With this ship I have often been able to collect 5+ tissue samples per Maelstrom visit, and I've sold over 40 of them from my carrier, so it wasn't just a one-off.

Kira Goto · May 26, 2023

May just be me, but I never had issues targeting the generators with D rated G5 long range sensors in my Krait MkII… then again, for whatever reason that ship has oversized core internals compared to other ships of the same size category, so maybe not so surprising.