High grade signal source & material collecting: I'm missing something, please help....

[Vanquish383]

Despite I'm following the guide provided by several YouTubers that basically say this:

• Federation: Core Dynamics Composites
• Alliance / Independent in War ou Civil War: Military grade alloy & Military Supercapacitor
• Alliance / Independent in Civil Unrest: Improvised Components
• Imperial in Election: Imperial Shielding
• Alliance / Independent in Outbreak Pharmaceutical Isolators
• Alliance / Independent in Boom: Proto-radiators
• Alliance / Independent in Expansion: Proto-radiolic alloys

IF I find a High Grade signal source (too ofter happens that even if the system has a population of billions, no signals are found) the only thing that I ALWAYS find are the following materials:

• Military Grade Alloys
• Proto Light Alloys & Proto Radiolic Alloys
• Proto Heat Radiators (only if I'm lucky)

First of all, I'd like to know how it is possible that some materials like Military grade and Improvised Components theoretically can be found in the same combination of systems? and then.... how the hell is possible I cannot find never what I need? who is the genius that designed this lovely grinding method? Why there isn't any method to locate a system where to farm? Why farming has to be some frustrating?

There must be something I'm missing. Could someone highlight me? How it is possible that is so hard and so unpredictable?! and what the hell was the need to add all those materials?!

Thank you.

 

[Factabulous]

So none of the guides you followed mentioned Material Traders? Time to find newer guides ...

(and yes, those you mention are available, if rare)

 

[Nasc]

First points:
1- With pharma isolators, you have to be 1kLS (or was it 10k?) from the main star for them to show up in HGSS.
2- I found it faster to farm lower ones at one of the respawn sites (like davs hope, but for encoded, I think Jameson crash site if I recall right) and trade at the encoded trader.

Aside from that, try other systems. Perhaps, refinery, extraction etc systems that are also Fed and in war state.

Probably not accurate but may help. Been a long time since I did this.

 

[Ethaidan]

I believe all of those guides are out dated. There are more factors to consider now, in particular the faction/state of the area the HGE, rather than for the systam. I'm not sure why you're having trouble finding HGEs, dropping into and scanning the NavBeacon reveals all of them (or using the FSS), and I always seem to find 2-4 per system. Additionally, there are better ways to find loads of HG manufactured materials, but it involves blowing up big ships.

 

[Vanquish383]

I believe all of those guides are out dated. There are more factors to consider now, in particular the faction/state of the area the HGE, rather than for the systam. I'm not sure why you're having trouble finding HGEs, dropping into and scanning the NavBeacon reveals all of them (or using the FSS), and I always seem to find 2-4 per system. Additionally, there are better ways to find loads of HG manufactured materials, but it involves blowing up big ships.

Thank you for the tip, where I can find a more updated guide that reports where exactly I can find those materials? Is there a on "official" tool in the game that helps in the process? Because I'm going to break something.

Lower or High population seems not helping, even if I travel far (2k) from the star (after scanning the NavBeacon).


Because it is not possible that a game that lays on grinding doesn't provide any guide or tool for that.

 

[Greasetrap42]

This is going to sound stupid but....

I find it best to collect G4 and G5 when I don't need them immediately. I collect them when I find because I know I will want them later.

Collecting them from:

• ships I've blown up.
• trade rewards.
• HGEs that throw themselves in front of me.
• Sometimes I just putter around and visit HGEs

Giving yourself a mission to collect specific G4 and G5 mats because you need them right NOW can be very frustrating. Having a stockpile of materials that you proactively build up over time while doing other activities makes engineering a ship much more fun.

Edit: Honesly I'm not sure where I get most of my G5 manufactured and data mats from. They just accumulate in my inventory when I go do stuff. I don't really pay attention to it. But.... I always scoop up combat remains, scan ships that run away from me, scan wakes if there are a bunch of them when I leave a port, and accept G5 mission rewards. And it is important not to waste G5 mats on temporary ships or modules.

 

[Ethaidan]

Thank you for the tip, where I can find a more updated guide that reports where exactly I can find those materials? Is there a on "official" tool in the game that helps in the process? Because I'm going to break something.

Lower or High population seems not helping, even if I travel far (2k) from the star (after scanning the NavBeacon).


Because it is not possible that a game that lays on grinding doesn't provide any guide or tool for that.

There is no official tool, and unfortunately, none of the formerly very useful guides have been updated with all the new system/area state combinations - I don't know if anyone has figured it all out yet. The basics, however, are the same - Federation for CDCs, Empire for IS, etc. The bonus now is the availability of material traders. No, the exchange rate isn't great, but if you just keep filling up with G5 material, you can trade the stuff you don't need for what you do need.

EDIT: As mentioned above, going to look for specific materials is the route to madness. I also am always collecting as I play, occassionally looking for HGEs when on a delivery/fetch contract, killing big ships whenever they interdict me, etc. The last time I bought a new ship, I managed to get it to 90% G5 before I left the shipyard (then enjoyed flying it around testing it while jumpin to key engineers to add experimentals). Now, my stock of essential mats is much lower, but freeping up again.

 

[Vanquish383]

Giving yourself a mission to collect specific G4 and G5 mats because you need them right NOW can be very frustrating. Having a stockpile of materials that you proactively build up over time while doing other activities makes engineering a ship much more fun.

This was what I feared. I usually organize a "Farm day" in which I collect things that I may want in future. So When I need them... I have. So frustrating, many compliments to the designer.

There is no official tool, and unfortunately, none of the formerly very useful guides have been updated with all the new system/area state combinations - I don't know if anyone has figured it all out yet. The basics, however, are the same - Federation for CDCs, Empire for IS, etc. The bonus now is the availability of material traders. No, the exchange rate isn't great, but if you just keep filling up with G5 material, you can trade the stuff you don't need for what you do need.

.... is this some kind of a joke? So a game that relies on grinding, instead of making that activity enjoyable and funny, makes it the most frustrating possible forcing to rely only one strategy... luck?

 

[Ethaidan]

This was what I feared. I usually organize a "Farm day" in which I collect things that I may want in future. So When I need them... I have. So frustrating, many compliments to the designer.

.... is this some kind of a joke? So a game that relies on grinding, instead of making that activity enjoyable and funny, makes it the most frustrating possible forcing to rely only one strategy... luck?

There is an element of luck. The biggest difference I've found from previous games I've played that involved collecting/farming to craft or upgrade is that those games had set areas where you could always return to / do laps of that always spawned exactly the same badguy material drops or resource. ED resources, however, are not found in a specific forest, field, etc. where things grow, it's based on the chance of finding random space debris floating about, and space is big.

There are patterns though, there is just a lot of them, and a lot of subtle variation. Combat Aftermath used to be very reliable for certain things, now there is some variation. Sma e for CDCs, they used to be very predictable, now, they probably are, but I couldn't tell you the exact conditions.

Edit: I would argue that the game doesn't actually rely on grinding, G5 engineering does, but that's a choice, not a necessity.

 

[Greasetrap42]

.... is this some kind of a joke? So a game that relies on grinding, instead of making that activity enjoyable and funny, makes it the most frustrating possible forcing to rely only one strategy... luck?

I would say crappy luck & grinding if a player is looking for specific mats.

I would say strategy if proactively planning ahead.

Example: When I was focused on trade for my Imperial Rank I always accepted G5 mats for rewards. Not optimal for my rank, but a single trade run that is stacked with other runs anyway AND gives G5 mats is not to be ignored. Reaching Prince with the Empire my stock of G5 mats were looking pretty good... even after fully engineering my Imperial Cutter.

 

[Vanquish383]

There is an element of luck. The biggest difference I've found from previous games I've played that involved collecting/farming to craft or upgrade is that those games had set areas where you could always return to / do laps of that always spawned exactly the same badguy material drops or resource. ED resources, however, are not found in a specific forest, field, etc. where things grow, it's based on the chance of finding random space debris floating about, and space is big.

There are patterns though, there is just a lot of them, and a lot of subtle variation. Combat Aftermath used to be very reliable for certain things, now there is some variation. Sma e for CDCs, they used to be very predictable, now, they probably are, but I couldn't tell you the exact conditions.

I would have preferred a more reliable area (as happens in other games or even with LTD mining) where I know I can farm once for all what I need.

In this game there aren't many funny activities:

1. Missions after a while are boring. I've tried lately passenger mission, but practically the POI you visits are all the same
2. Exploration with its jumping system after a while is too much boring, without count that planets interaction is none. You can only land and eventually farm materials. Furthermore, there is NO CHANCE to find some Xeno or Guardian or something cool on planets.
3. Xeno hunt is cool, I've killed some Cyclopes but not much interest in continuing

Now I was trying to build, engineer, and collect some more ships, but G5 material grinding is the key. I'd like to spend my time in buying and modifying the ships, not going around as an idiot in a frustrating activity.

I think I'll drop this activity and wait a future DLC to add something new to the game.

 

[Ayho]

For pharma isolators. Independent or alliance system. Faction that gives the hge must be in outbreak state and then high time limit hge will still not give you pharmas but low time limit around max 15 minutes hges will spawn pharma isolators.

This worked many times for me. Somehow those timers are also important. It make no sense but it worked for me.

It is the same with imp. Components but in civil unrest state.

 

[Vanquish383]

I would say crappy luck & grinding if a player is looking for specific mats.

I would say strategy if proactively planning ahead.

Example: When I was focused on trade for my Imperial Rank I always accepted G5 mats for rewards. Not optimal for my rank, but a single trade run that is stacked with other runs anyway AND gives G5 mats is not to be ignored. Reaching Prince with the Empire my stock of G5 mats were looking pretty good... even after fully engineering my Imperial Cutter.

I was collecting G5 materials trough mission too. But it seems they only provide Biothec conductors and Exquisite focus crystals

 

[Vanquish383]

For pharma isolators. Independent or alliance system. Faction that gives the hge must be in outbreak state and then high time limit hge will still not give you pharmas but low time limit around max 15 minutes hges will spawn pharma isolators.

This worked many times for me. Somehow those timers are also important. It make no sense but it worked for me.

It is the same with imp. Components but in civil unrest state.

Thank you for the tip. How I can know if the faction is in "Outbreak" from the system map (despite the system is already reported as Outbreak. Because now I'm using that kind of systems and I find no pharma isolators)? and if a system has more that a faction?

 

[Shir]

I used to spend a lot of time searching for high grade signals before they changed the system, I enjoyed the whole chilling in deep space thing.

With the new system i just fly around randomly in high population systems looking for whatever high grade mats. Every now and then I visit a material trader, then rinse and repeat.

Specifically for fsd mats i use Jameson crash site and trade afterwards, and for elements I either farm Geo sites or farm the crashed anaconda.

If you have a strong enough ship, getting missions for illegal salvage is a great way to farm mats. Gather a few and you'll be attacked by many anacondas... Free mats!

 

[Vanquish383]

... And by the way I would like to know why the materials of the same grade cannot be traded 1:1. I'm an "Elite" trader... cannot have a privilege by my rank to trade 1:1? What is the point to be Elite trader?

I'd like to know the genius who introduced this lovable grinding system.

 

[Krieger]

.... is this some kind of a joke? So a game that relies on grinding, instead of making that activity enjoyable and funny, makes it the most frustrating possible forcing to rely only one strategy... luck?

No joke. Would you believe that the original engineering system also relied on pure luck? There was no way of knowing up front whether your engineering roll would produce results better or worse than what you got already. Fortunately they changed it to what we have now.

 

[Vanquish383]

No joke. Would you believe that the original engineering system also relied on pure luck? There was no way of knowing up front whether your engineering roll would produce results better or worse than what you got already. Fortunately they changed it to what we have now.

There must be something that I do not get in the game philosophy.

The game designer keeps to overcomplicate things... look at the FC they introduced. No one still understands their main purpose, and they have "features" that no likes. They are not even real Fleet Carrier (ships and modules cannot be stored by default) but rather a mobile Trading Station.

I think I'll go off until the next "Big" update waiting for some more funny mechanisms to play with.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Just go run missions, those give you a reason to be on the move, hit the nav beacon in every system you drop into, then that will tell you what every single signal source is, look for high grades and detour to them. It doesn't really matter too much WHAT g5 materials you get from the HGE's you stumble upon as you were just in the area doing something else anyways, so the mats are a bonus, and can be PX'd at a material trader.

Whereas if you go seeking out the perfect alignment of system allegience, bgs state, pending states, distance from star, and go specifically hunting for a particular mat, its going to feel like it took you longer to get there, and will lead to frustration if the HGE spawns the wrong material.

Since you are looking for HGE's, you are obviously on the look out for materials, best doing cargo delivery missions. I'd suggest you fit out a combat capable python cargo delivery ship with collector limpets, dirty drive thrusters, 6c biweave shields, collector limpets in the smaller module slots, cargo racks in everything else. Weapons, very subjective choice, frags and railguns is what my mission runner is carrying, but its up to you.

Go stack half a dozen delivery missions, but because you are in a 180t cargo python, you can only carry one at a time, and theres a reason for doing it this way. Since you very often get pirate NPC's targetting you, moments after you get message from mission giver with "incoming enemy alert" and a bonus to kill them. The enemies are of course the ubiquitous Elite Anaconda* - so go 4pips shields and fly rings around them, frag the frack out of them, and with report crimes on you'll get cops drop in to help you, and strangely enough other hostile NPC's from other missions you've stacked, even though that cargo is still at the originating station. So you end up with this surreal little mini personalised CZ with two or three elite NPC conda's on one side and you plue a few cop vipers on the other.

Those little mini CZ's that develop with multiple mission related NPC's and the NPC cops are actually quite fun, and when the dust settles, theres a tonne of materals for your limpets to feast on, and you pick up a couple of million credits between the bounties and mission bonuses. Then theres the mission hand in which can often offer materials, take them. You probably haven't got what you wanted, but you will have ample mmaterials to swap out at a material trader to get what you were after, and you've had fun playing the game rather than getting bored and frustrated finding HGE's.

Another good source for G5 manufdactured materials is "pirate lord" assassination / wing assassination missions, those are nearly always Elite Federal Corvettes, and when those things die they leave behind core dynamics composites.

 

[Vedmo]

There must be something that I do not get in the game philosophy.

They toss everything in the galaxy, we figure out how it works. No hand holding, no flashing arrows or glowing objectives. It's been made more "user friendly" over the years, but it still will not give you the generic video game experience if that is what you are looking for.

I'd offer advice on material gathering, but I would only be parroting some excellent advice you've already gotten here. I rarely specifically hunt materials, but I do put an emphasis on not passing them by. Through my normal game play I make weekly to biweekly trips to material traders just to get rid of some maxed out stuff, and once or twice a month I buy and engineer a ship just to dump materials.