In another thread:
forums.frontier.co.uk
I found myself remarking that yesterday, out to gather Pharmaceutical Isolators, I had had the most success I'd had since 2018, and mentioned that the next time I'd go out, I'd try - not with any great hope of similar success - for Improvised Components.
Having said that, I felt compelled to try it this afternoon.
Before the great BGS changes at the end of 2018, the rule was that you'd find PIs in Alliance/Independent Outbreak systems, and ICs in Alliance/Independent systems in Civil Unrest. You'd pick high-population systems to search for preference. After the changes it all became a bit more complicated because faction as well as system states seemed to be taken into account (I'm not sure anyone has unpacked the rules for that, I certainly don't know them), and also, perhaps more importantly, systems in Outbreak became scarce and systems in Civil Unrest became, if anything, scarcer. Never mind high population, you'd be lucky to find any at all.
When I looked for Pharmaceutical Isolators yesterday, I was able to find six Independent systems (using the eddb website) with a population of more than 9 million, and from those six I ran down 3 HGEs yielding 39 PIs. In rather less than an hour, which I thought was pretty good going.
Today, searching for ICs, I set the population cutoff somewhat lower, at 400,000, and ended up with a list of eleven stations after eliminating a couple in the Witch Head Nebula as too far away.
In the eleven systems I found four HGEs, as shown in the table:
Points to note:
Numbers given for materials are items, not drops.
All but one of the systems is Independent.
One of the HGEs I found contained not Improvised Components, but Proto Radiolic Alloys and Proto Light Alloys, though both the system and the faction 'owning' the HGE were in Civil Unrest. One of the HGEs where I did get IC - and the fullest one at that - was owned by a faction in Expansion. The rules governing which HGEs contain what are either probabilistic or obscure.
All four HGEs were found in systems with more than a million population. On the other hand there doesn't seem to be any obvious relationship between population and the number of USSs.
It took me an hour and twelve minutes to go round the eleven systems*. It might have been a bit quicker if I hadn't been taking notes.
The alternative to doing this would be to collect Imperial Shielding and trade. Trading for the materials I gathered today would require 210 IS. Gathering IS may be straightforward and reliable but it's not instantaneous even if you use the 'restart game' exploit, and even then you have to allow for time to go and trade them; if you gather them the wayGod Braben intended, I doubt it would be much quicker than picking up IC - and the occasional PRA - directly.
At any rate, the next time I need IC I shall look for them in Independent/Alliance Civil Unrest systems, with populations of more than a million if I can get them, rather than trading.
*I used Down to Earth Astronomy's Multi Waypoint Planner:
cmdrs-toolbox.com
to optimise my route. A handy tool that I often use.
G4/G5 Manufactured Mats - best way to farm them now?
As title, I am trying to stock up and not having much luck Cheers
I found myself remarking that yesterday, out to gather Pharmaceutical Isolators, I had had the most success I'd had since 2018, and mentioned that the next time I'd go out, I'd try - not with any great hope of similar success - for Improvised Components.
Having said that, I felt compelled to try it this afternoon.
Before the great BGS changes at the end of 2018, the rule was that you'd find PIs in Alliance/Independent Outbreak systems, and ICs in Alliance/Independent systems in Civil Unrest. You'd pick high-population systems to search for preference. After the changes it all became a bit more complicated because faction as well as system states seemed to be taken into account (I'm not sure anyone has unpacked the rules for that, I certainly don't know them), and also, perhaps more importantly, systems in Outbreak became scarce and systems in Civil Unrest became, if anything, scarcer. Never mind high population, you'd be lucky to find any at all.
When I looked for Pharmaceutical Isolators yesterday, I was able to find six Independent systems (using the eddb website) with a population of more than 9 million, and from those six I ran down 3 HGEs yielding 39 PIs. In rather less than an hour, which I thought was pretty good going.
Today, searching for ICs, I set the population cutoff somewhat lower, at 400,000, and ended up with a list of eleven stations after eliminating a couple in the Witch Head Nebula as too far away.
In the eleven systems I found four HGEs, as shown in the table:
| System | Bases | Allegiance | Population | Distance ly | USS | HGE | IC | PRA | PLA | Faction state |
| HIP 24883 | 4 | Independent | 20,662,739 | 188.50 ly | 7 | 0 | ||||
| LFT 926 | 2 | Independent | 12,501,980 | 12.92 ly | 20 | 1 | 9 | Civil Unrest | ||
| Diaguandri | 2 | Independent | 10,303,479 | 171.81 ly | 15 | 1 | 6 | 6 | Civil Unrest | |
| Cephei Sector FG-Y d71 | 2 | Independent | 8,633,779 | 175.60 ly | 12 | 0 | ||||
| Wregoe XQ-L c21-29 | 1 | Independent | 4,196,380 | 380.80 ly | 27 | 1 | 6 | Civil Unrest | ||
| Paeni | 4 | Independent | 3,647,420 | 179.40 ly | 10 | 0 | ||||
| Paestae | 3 | Independent | 1,381,953 | 226.53 ly | 12 | 1 | 12 | Expansion | ||
| HIP 107591 | 1 | Independent | 692,854 | 194.02 ly | 6 | 0 | ||||
| Col 285 Sector XJ-P c6-10 | 2 | Independent | 546,738 | 152.72 ly | 8 | 0 | ||||
| Gree | 4 | Alliance | 441,952 | 121.97 ly | 18 | 0 | ||||
| HIP 63708 | 1 | Independent | 433,302 | 146.32 ly | 14 | 0 |
Points to note:
Numbers given for materials are items, not drops.
All but one of the systems is Independent.
One of the HGEs I found contained not Improvised Components, but Proto Radiolic Alloys and Proto Light Alloys, though both the system and the faction 'owning' the HGE were in Civil Unrest. One of the HGEs where I did get IC - and the fullest one at that - was owned by a faction in Expansion. The rules governing which HGEs contain what are either probabilistic or obscure.
All four HGEs were found in systems with more than a million population. On the other hand there doesn't seem to be any obvious relationship between population and the number of USSs.
It took me an hour and twelve minutes to go round the eleven systems*. It might have been a bit quicker if I hadn't been taking notes.
The alternative to doing this would be to collect Imperial Shielding and trade. Trading for the materials I gathered today would require 210 IS. Gathering IS may be straightforward and reliable but it's not instantaneous even if you use the 'restart game' exploit, and even then you have to allow for time to go and trade them; if you gather them the way
At any rate, the next time I need IC I shall look for them in Independent/Alliance Civil Unrest systems, with populations of more than a million if I can get them, rather than trading.
*I used Down to Earth Astronomy's Multi Waypoint Planner:
Multi-Waypoint-Planner - Elite Dangerous — CMDRs ToolBox
Plot your route through multiple way-points and let our algorithm find the fastest route for you
cmdrs-toolbox.com
to optimise my route. A handy tool that I often use.
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