Mat's in 3.3?

[Stealthie]

I hate to mention it but...

Am I the only one who's slightly uneasy about procuring mat's in 3.3?

I mean, I know nobody really enjoys hunting for HGEs but at least they're there to be found as long as you have the patience to wait for them to spawn.
If you need, say, 60 potato-radios you know that as long as you have the patience you will be able to find them by trundling around at a suitable location.

With the new system, it seems like you'll jump into a system, a bunch of USS's will spawn and then... what?
If none of them are a HGEs, they're all persistent, and on a timer, so you get to hang around until their timer runs out and new USSs spawn?
And then, eventually, you get a HGE spawning, go and farm it and then wait some more?

Like I say, I have an uneasy feeling that it's going to take me longer to find mat's than it currently does.

 

[Factabulous]

Getting mats via USS is already not the best way, but as we already discussed in several of the Q4 threads it should be ok, just different, maybe easier. We'll find out Tuesday

 

[CMDR CPT. Boris]

maybe try another system, at least you know you're not going to fly around aimlessly trying to find something that isn't there

 

[FrogsFriend]

On the other (glass half full ) hand, you'll know within a minute if there's none there and can try another system, rather than mooching about for a long while to find out the same thing.

 

[Stealthie]

Getting mats via USS is already not the best way, but as we already discussed in several of the Q4 threads it should be ok, just different, maybe easier. We'll find out Tuesday

Not sure about that.

I realise that combat can yield some of the mat's that you find at HGEs and that going in with another player so one of you can make things explode while the other one scoops works well but it's a faff to do it on your own and it's a faff to hook up with somebody else too, so HGEs are still the first choice.

 

[Mav359]

I reckon it will be easier, I'm assuming the locations of the HGEs will be the same i.e. Boom for Proto Radiolic etc etc

I'm hoping you'll be able to jump in clear out the spawned HGEs jump to another system and go again, maybe set myself up so i have a few of the same systems close to one another and essentially do like a trade route almost and circle my way around till im back at the first location where hopefully more will have spawned

I hope

 

[Aashenfox]

I must say, based on what I've seen, I assume that every system will have a few HGEs that can be found with the FSS, I don't have any reason for this beyond that it would be logical. And as pointed out, at least if you find none, you can go to another system.

My personal concerns about this, are both documented here...

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/452425-Multiple-States-gt-More-Mission-Board-Variety

 

[Stealthie]

maybe try another system, at least you know you're not going to fly around aimlessly trying to find something that isn't there

On the other (glass half full ) hand, you'll know within a minute if there's none there and can try another system, rather than mooching about for a long while to find out the same thing.

Is that going to be better though?

Most G5 mat's require you to find a system in a specific state and they're not usually that common or near to each other.
Not keen on the idea of visiting one suitable system, striking out and then schlepping 100Ly to have another go in a different system (while the timer runs down in the first system) and then schlepping back again for another go.

If I'm looking for mat's, it's 'cos I need mat's and if I need mat's I want to know that what I'm doing WILL provide them eventually.

*EDIT*

Aashenfox raises another point I was going to mention too...

With the new stuff related to multiple concurrent states, is that likely to mean HGEs will spawn proportionally less in systems that aren't in a suitable state?

 

[Shir]

It is also possible that this is already the way the system is functioning, we just don't see it. Hge already spawning when you jump in the system, more spawning after a while, and you just see them when close.

I hope uss hunting gets better with the patch, cause I do it often, and there certainly is a hidden random element in it, making finding mats easy sometimes, but very frustrating other times.

 

[CMDR CPT. Boris]

There are persistent but if i'm not mistaken there will be a timer.
Could be 10min or half an hour, just do something else and look from time to time between 2 missions.

Staying in the right system, will eventually, provide what you need

 

[Misty_Dark]

Not sure about that.

I realise that combat can yield some of the mat's that you find at HGEs and that going in with another player so one of you can make things explode while the other one scoops works well but it's a faff to do it on your own and it's a faff to hook up with somebody else too, so HGEs are still the first choice.

That is the thing, when doing combat stuff to gather the mats, if there are multiple enemies, I have to fight those, at the same time trying to pick up the mats before their timer runs out and they vanish. So scooping is out of the question, so limpets it is, and now every 3rd ships seems to have Point Defence, that blows those limpets up...


So going for USS is definitely an option to consider. And I totally agree with you about it is not always you can team up with a friend for this. And we even have some players who even prefers do it solo.


Was some weeks now since my last foray into the HGE hunting, and it seems to be slower to find those, or simply they made some changes and I was doing it wrong while following the my old trusty ways of doing it... I am really looking forward for the new mechanics to find those HGE...

 

[Sylow]

Yea. Not enough info yet to say anything. The "no HGE around" scenario can happen of USSes will be created completely randomly. But the algorithm could be much better. There could always be a few guaranteed HGEs and encoded emissions in a system. Then picking them out from the background noise will be the art.
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Going a little off topic here, so I better hide it:

Spoiler

It's really just a variant of game design lessons learned even in old MUDs. Never rely on complete random. In case of doubt, fudge it. It's what many MMOs actually do, and what the MUD I worked on also did on some mission. In one class/guild you needed a rare item from a hard to kill mob to reach a higher rank. Initially it was coded as pure random. Some people got it at first try, others didn't have it after 20 tries, gave up on this character and either played another character or, in a few cases, quit the game.
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It took us ages to understand this. When we did, we added a secret counter. As soon as a player reached the where he'd need the item for the next rank, the game started counting how often he was along, killing that special mob. And when the mob was killed, the game checked all these counters from players present. The one with the highest number was used, where each previous kill added 20% drop chance. So in worst case, you'd get the item on your fifth kill. That change alone made hell of a difference for the activity and player levels of that guild/class.
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Many MMOs use similar things. If you have a quest to collect a certain number of items, better designed MMOs also increase your drop chance each time you did not get what you needed, to keep the game flowing and avoid RNG-caused frustration.
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As ED can't know which G5 material you're actually just looking for, you can't go all the way here. But you can make sure that some HGEs always are around and can be found with the new scanner. And if the new scanner works as well as the preview make us believe and if the challenge rating is properly set, finding HGSs that way will be an active and rewarding activity and can feel like fun.
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So we might indeed, for the first time, have actual gameplay connected to engineers. I really hope it turns out well.
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[-VR- Max Factor]

Is that going to be better though?

Most G5 mat's require you to find a system in a specific state and they're not usually that common or near to each other.
Not keen on the idea of visiting one suitable system, striking out and then schlepping 100Ly to have another go in a different system (while the timer runs down in the first system) and then schlepping back again for another go.

If I'm looking for mat's, it's 'cos I need mat's and if I need mat's I want to know that what I'm doing WILL provide them eventually.

*EDIT*

Aashenfox raises another point I was going to mention too...

With the new stuff related to multiple concurrent states, is that likely to mean HGEs will spawn proportionally less in systems that aren't in a suitable state?

As there will be multiple states in a system due to states per faction in each system finding the right requirements may be much easier. As to whether it is better or worse, there is only one way to find out. Test it in the beta or live game.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

The impression I got from last night (and it was just an impression so I could well be wrong) was that the FSS honk will fix several USSs in place (with a timer), but the current method of just trundling around the system and praying will still work as well. Well, at least as well as it ever has, anyway.

As to what USSs will spawn due to system states (and what will be in them), that's unknown as yet.

 

[Stealthie]

As there will be multiple states in a system due to states per faction in each system finding the right requirements may be much easier. As to whether it is better or worse, there is only one way to find out. Test it in the beta or live game.

Yep, that's how we'll find out for sure.
I'm just saying that I'm a bit uneasy about it.

By way of a (slightly different) example, if I look at somewhere like Dav's Hope, I tend to find that I get way, way, more things like Compound Shielding and Chemical Manipulators (both G4) than I get Conductive Ceramics (G3) to the point where I'll go there specifically to get CCs and end up completely filling my allocation of CS and CMs and still only have around 20 CCs.

At least when you're looking for HGEs they appear one after the other so there's always the chance that another one will be along in a minute.
When stuff's spawning all at the same time, it seems like the RNG doesn't always yield the sort of results that you might expect and when there's a timer before you get another roll of the dice it seems like things could get quite frustrating.

 

[Vardaugas]

Or you could just do circles through systems and collect all the HGEs you find. Then throw what you got at a material trader. As materials are more easy to find, the exchange rates on the material traders become less of an issue.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I rarely find HGEs in the current dog sniffing method, so if they are pre-spawned, I'll immediately be able to find them! Or not! But at least I'll know and can move on, rather than sniff around praying to RNGesus while he in return, mocks me.

Of course, if you're grinding for it, it might be slower....?

But in my experience, it can't get any slower. There's still grade 5 mats I've not discovered... Lol

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

The impression I got from last night (and it was just an impression so I could well be wrong) was that the FSS honk will fix several USSs in place (with a timer), but the current method of just trundling around the system and praying will still work as well. Well, at least as well as it ever has, anyway.

As to what USSs will spawn due to system states (and what will be in them), that's unknown as yet.

That's not just your impression, that's what they said. The USS's will still work the same way. The new functionality is a layer on top of the current system.

 

[jasonbirder]

My immediate thought was have a list of systems that meet your requirements from somewhere like Inara/EDDB...Say, Federation/None for Core Dynamics Composites- go the nearest system on your list, visit any HGEs (if present)...then visit the next system and the next on a circular path...and hopefully by the time you get back to System A on your round robin...they're respawned...

 

[Dommarraa]

If you follow the "gather as you play" method, the new FSS scan will add HGE to the list of usable resource sources. They are the one remaining source that currently requires a specific long activity to use reasonably.