Newcomer / Intro Learning about collecting manufactured

[_bryan]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to learn a bit about collecting manufactured and came across a page which says "flying economical routes through highly populated Imperial space, scanning the Nav Beacons and checking High Grade Emissions."

I think I understand scanning nav beacons as well as high grade emissions. However, I don't think I understand the first one "flying economical routes through highly populated Imperial space." Can anybody tell me what this one means?

I feel like I need to find the imperial space within the bubble and then look for highly populated systems, but then what do I do?

I think in the past I have gone to Bug Killer but I want to try playing the game the regular way and collect things like everybody else does.

Thanks for any help.

o7,
Bryan

 

[GroG79]

The suggestion is to put the route plotting to economic (meaning smallest jump) Setting a filter to high pop systems...
This way you do not need to select a system for every next jump but the plotter will do it by the grace of the filters that you set (just select a 'destination' like 100ly out)

These types of guides are way too complicated and detailed...

So what you do is scan signal sources from super cruise if they are a HGE. You can if you want drop into the nav beacon and get all the signal sources to reveal automagically (takes some time). Then drop into the HGE and collect the floating materials.

Have fun! Dont read to many guides

 

[Fnord Velkor]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to learn a bit about collecting manufactured and came across a page which says "flying economical routes through highly populated Imperial space, scanning the Nav Beacons and checking High Grade Emissions."

I think I understand scanning nav beacons as well as high grade emissions. However, I don't think I understand the first one "flying economical routes through highly populated Imperial space." Can anybody tell me what this one means?
....

Just means calling at lots of systems (economical route is smallest jump).

Using Imp Space means good proportion of Imp Shielding for trading into rarer stuff.

 

[_bryan]

Okay this is starting to make sense. I scanned the nav beacon and got nothing, which I should have known because I scan nav beacons all the time and nothing ever happens.

So my only remaining step is find the imperial space but I don't think it's required - just increases that one item.

Also I might want a different ship for this that has a lot of limpets. My ship right now is a ASP Explorer with all kinds of stuff for long distance + shooting rocks to get raw materials. I hate scooping things up manually --- I might get another ship with lots of cargo for limpets.

So I think I can get started now. Thanks everybody for your help.

 

[_bryan]

If they had an interface to these forums from within the game I would use that all the time.

 

[Codger]

I scan nav beacons all the time and nothing ever happens.

Just to be sure, are you dropping into the Nav Beacon instance and scanning the physical Nav Beacon from your Contact panel? Some newcomers do not understand the procedure.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

Okay this is starting to make sense. I scanned the nav beacon and got nothing, which I should have known because I scan nav beacons all the time and nothing ever happens.

Maybe you have the nav panel filter set to not show Signal Sources?

 

[Frankymole]

Boom state systems seem to get more High Grades than most other states (there is also Expansion, a kind of super-Boom).

Between the main star and busy ports you get "Shipping Lane" appear on your info indicator, bottom left, I am not sure if you find more signal sources along those, but certainly scanning the Nav Beacon (the white marker, not the point of interest reticule) will show you where all the signal sources currently are once you are back up in Supercruise.

 

[Ashnak]

Ah yes... remembered to take a picture

So, you need to target (and scan) the "Navigation Beacon" satellite thingy (white), not the "Nav Beacon" supercruise navigation marker (orange). Scan is not active right now, even though the beacon is targeted - I'm flying past too fast and it's too far off center.

 

[Teiri]

Just as an alternative, in fact, i rarely find myself scanning beacons. Instead i FSS - all signals are on the far left part of the scale, it might feel slower, but you don't need to fly to the beacon, nor to drop from SC.

Also not a lot of limpets in fact. HGEs often have 3 to 5 containers to pick up, i. e. you're fine with 2 active limpets while 3rd is likely an overkill. So Asp would be fine. Another thing that together with HGEs you might want to check other signals time to time + might want a lot of limpets in the hold + occasional combat maybe or whatever else. At different times i've done this in Clipper, Krait and Anaconda - they're all fine and the build will depend on what else you want to do.

One more point with HGE hunt that i have in mind, is that as with many things in Elite, sometimes you get a lot of them on you way, and sometimes you don't. Guess those populations and Boom states are to blame. Especially Imp Shielding and Proprietary + Core Dymanics Composites (Fed) are quite common in some systems, so if you check another 2 or 3 and no HGEs there - it's not that you're unlucky today, it's just that you're in a wrong place.

 

[K Olley]

Just as an alternative, in fact, i rarely find myself scanning beacons. Instead i FSS - all signals are on the far left part of the scale, it might feel slower, but you don't need to fly to the beacon, nor to drop from SC.

When I am near to or back in the Bubble I do the same, usually in my Asp Scout, its fitted with a 1A limpet collector. A lot of uninhabited systems in and near the bubble also have low grade signals in them.

As an explorer/miner I am in the habit of scanning every system as soon as I enter it whether its occupied or not.

Other signals can be worth checking as well, a fair number can contain data mats as well as manufactured.

The other thing that I have fitted to most of my trade and general ships is a frame shift wake scanner, normally a 0C long ranged (6.6Km), a wake or two scanned almost every time I leave a station, make use of that time between leaving and being able to jump

I have found that in my play style that collecting as I go is far easier than hunting for them when you need them, nowadays I have enough mats of all types and almost all of my high grades are maxed.

 

[Val Sylvana]

I'm not sure if these are up-to-date or entirely correct, but these are the notes I've made from various guides for finding HGEs with grade 4 and 5 materials.

Core Dynamics Components: Federation, high population, no state.
Military Alloys: Any power, high population, civil war.
Imperial Shielding: Empire, high population, no state or election.
Proto Heat Radiators: Independent, high population, boom.
Pharmaceutical Isolators: Any power, any population, outbreak (almost impossible to find in the wild).
Improvised Components: Independent, any population, civil unrest (very hard to find).
Proto Radiolic Alloys: Independent or Alliance, high population, boom.

And some of them can be found as mission rewards when you have high reputation with a faction.

 

[metatheurgist]

Pharmaceutical Isolators: Any power, any population, outbreak (almost impossible to find in the wild).

I would say only independent for those otherwise you're polluting your drops with Core Dy Comps and Imp Sheild.

 

[_bryan]

Thanks all, I think I'm starting to remember how it works. I went to the nav beacon and then went to a few points. Convoy doesn't have anything, and I got some mats from a degraded, but the encoded gave nothing because my encoded was already full.

But I'm on may way.

I would buy a wake scanner but I guess my ship ran out of slots. I had a size-2 which is where I put the limpet controller and a size-5 which is where I put the cargo rack to hold the limpets. I think I could swap out my planetary scanner but I think I need that.

Ship

 

[K Olley]

Mats traders are your friend.

Wake scanners fit to utility mount and have to be assigned to a fire group.

 

[_bryan]

Oh that's funny. I don't think I have anything in utility. Thanks!

 

[Frankymole]

Thanks all, I think I'm starting to remember how it works. I went to the nav beacon and then went to a few points. Convoy doesn't have anything, and I got some mats from a degraded, but the encoded gave nothing because my encoded was already full.

Find the nearest Encoded materials trader on Inara, and go and trade some of your less rare (level 1 and 2) items for more rare ones; this will reduce your overall holdings, but render the common ones into something more useful. Hey presto, room to collect more! And trade again...

 

[metatheurgist]

but the encoded gave nothing because my encoded was already full.

Encoded signals sometime have a private data beacon, other times they just have manufactured mats. Don't ignore them just because your data is full.

 

[_bryan]

Hello again folks,

I have been having some good luck using the suggestions, so far this is what I have done:

• set galaxy map to high population, I found a place with 9 billion
• Go scan the nav beacon
• Go find all the encoded and HGE

I was getting imperial shielding this way, and was able to trade down. I think I have got a few per day.

I have run into some issues, such as the system runs out of HGE. All these systems I can see on my map are in state none.

When I look at galaxy map, I have trouble finding high population, because when I use that filter, the systems don't show stars. It's like they're there, but the map has a bug. There is no "dot" where the star should be, but there is a selection cursor (that thing with the line that you select). So I can't "see" them but they are there. I think the map might have a bug in it. For example when I zoom out, everything disappears. But I know they are there.

Right now I went to Tuareg, which is about 5 billion. The one next door (hip 15255) ran out of any signals.

I found an HGE in Tuareg which is 200k light seconds and I'm flying there as I type this.

It's a slow process but it's going along well enough.

 

[Frankymole]

The population setting has sliders for minimum and maximum. If you set both sliders to minimum, all the systems with no population appear as small dots and those with a population show as large dots.

System states of Boom or Investment should have more High Grade signals.