There is nothing to fear from the vast majority of USS sites. Take note of the threat level, level 2 or less I would do in any ship really. The worst you will encounter is a couple of pirates having a go at a trader, in most systems the cops will be along pretty soon to help out also.
Being cautious is fine, but in most situations you will not face any opposition and its just a matter of picking up materials or cargo that you want. Have an exit strategy and investigate any ship that drops into the USS while you are scooping.
A lightly engineered Cobra Mk3 can run away from any npcs.
Being cautious is fine, but in most situations you will not face any opposition and its just a matter of picking up materials or cargo that you want. Have an exit strategy and investigate any ship that drops into the USS while you are scooping.
A lightly engineered Cobra Mk3 can run away from any npcs.
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Here's some tips, so you can be reasonable safe
1. You can always jump out to a new system without getting inhibited by larger ships. Note, this does not work for supercruise. Thats the key difference.
Make sure you have a active route for the route planner, and know the keybind to activate it.
On first sign of trouble, activate route - engage jump.
2. Four Pips to shields when you enter, be ready to switch to four pips for engines if you need to boost away for a jump.
3. If the USS is T2 or higher, expect trouble. T0 and T1 should be manageable.
Be curious - go check them out.
Fly Safe.
1. You can always jump out to a new system without getting inhibited by larger ships. Note, this does not work for supercruise. Thats the key difference.
Make sure you have a active route for the route planner, and know the keybind to activate it.
On first sign of trouble, activate route - engage jump.
2. Four Pips to shields when you enter, be ready to switch to four pips for engines if you need to boost away for a jump.
3. If the USS is T2 or higher, expect trouble. T0 and T1 should be manageable.
Be curious - go check them out.
Fly Safe.
From my experience the following generally applies.....
Degraded, Encoded and High Grade emission sources offer little to no threat whatsoever. Once in a blue moon you will find an NPC pirate, maybe two, in there that has been "laying in wait" for a hapless Commander to wander in. 95% of these USS's are trouble free though.
Distress Call and Weapons Fire Detected sources will have a couple/few hostile ships in there to play with. Use caution.
Combat Aftermath sources offer an opportunity to gather Mat's and such with no opposition.
Convoy Dispersal sources seem useless to me as the ships there never even offer up any useful data, if any data at all, when I drop in.
Degraded, Encoded and High Grade emission sources offer little to no threat whatsoever. Once in a blue moon you will find an NPC pirate, maybe two, in there that has been "laying in wait" for a hapless Commander to wander in. 95% of these USS's are trouble free though.
Distress Call and Weapons Fire Detected sources will have a couple/few hostile ships in there to play with. Use caution.
Combat Aftermath sources offer an opportunity to gather Mat's and such with no opposition.
Convoy Dispersal sources seem useless to me as the ships there never even offer up any useful data, if any data at all, when I drop in.
Watch out for cargo containers in the USS. Unless you want a fine or worse, leave them there because it's not legal salvage and picking it up tags it as stolen. A bit stupid IMO as nobody is around to claim it, the ships owner is a bit too busy sucking vacuum.
The only salvage you should pick up in a USS is the stuff that normally drops after a ship is destroyed, Worn Shield Emitters and the like.
The only salvage you should pick up in a USS is the stuff that normally drops after a ship is destroyed, Worn Shield Emitters and the like.
This is a great cross-section summary of your experience with the USS locations, thanks on that. Now that commodities have been dropped for your friends and mine, the Engineers, I'm going after some of the more elusive mats, namely the Chemical Manipulators required for an Increased FSD Range - (Grade-5).
I'm not up to farming T9's in HazRES sites in Anarchy systems because I'm a non-combat player traditionally, and while I did give it the old college try with a re-acquired Dropship 'Hunter-Collector', I nearly had my butt handed to me on a silver platter, all too quickly.
So I've opted for Plan-B; scan USS for [Combat Aftermath] or [Embedded Emissions Data] in High Security Boom systems, ideally. I'm assuming because these systems are high security, more ships get unceremoniously blowed up.?!? - (so much for flying the friendly skies..)
Now it may be my imagination, but on two occasions last night when I was lucky enough to find an Embedded Emissions Data USS, I was interdicted by NPC pirates as I was closing in and all but ready to drop out of supercruise. And by the time I submitted, toggled off flight-assist, boosted away and resumed SC, I've lost track of the Embedded Emissions Data USS.
So my question is whether or not it's a hard-coded inconvenience/nuisance, that I'm more likely to be interdicted on my way to a useful USS, or was it a coincidence and I'm just being a tinge more paranoid than usual.?!?
And I second Tryst's recommendation about cargo containers and being careful about what you take, or keep on board. To be on the safe side, after the Collector Limpet has done its bit, I check the cargo hold to jettison any and all cargo collected, even Hostess Twinkies™. Because cargo is to NPC pirates, what honey is to flies, at your average Sunday picnic.
I've since re-purposed my Asp-X as a non-weapons variety, Hunter-Collector, to go back into a few nearby High Security systems, to resume my quest for the Holy CM's. My combat rank is pretty low, Competent 8% or something pathetic like that. So at least the NPC pirates interdicting me, on average, are pretty easy to evade.
And I'm hoping that a less flashy ship like the Asp-X may not attract as many interdictions in the High Security systems, but I'm not holding my breath.
But at least I'm in the Engineers part of the game now, which was *somewhat* marginally improved by commodities being dropped. But it still remains a cosmic time waster. It would be so nice if I could use some of the roughly 357-Mil that I have piled up in the bank, to just buy this stuff like I would in any 'real-world' economy. What can I say, colour me lazy.
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