I am, yes. I've been using the "show only" sort function for MEF even. I am finding all the other stuff-- loads of cracked firmware, etc, but only ONE instance of MEF in 10 tries. It's ridiculous.
Engineers Medium Security Settlement List and Guide for Modified Embedded Firmware
- Thread starter Devari
- Start date
I am, yes. I've been using the "show only" sort function for MEF even. I am finding all the other stuff-- loads of cracked firmware, etc, but only ONE instance of MEF in 10 tries. It's ridiculous.
As I've said already many times - check the statistics page. For now it is linked to filters by very coarse way - only fact that if the given software has been ever encountered in a given base layout. I hope that the time when it will be possible to link then more appropriately with "fine" tuning (i.e filter bases with chances "greater than"). However for particular bases stats are not sufficient.
News:
Old rule that if a particular base has no "landing pad" then there is a great chance to find an instance ("relogging") were there are no npc-ships is no longer valid (at least for some bases where it worked earlier) - all this due to the new possibility of the npc ships to land anywhere. I've encountered this behavior on M6H base in well-known system Kokary (yes-yes, "don't do Kokary" =))) )
However - good news - I've "degraded" M6H bases from threat level "2" to level "1" - "free-to-scan with appropriate driving skills" - due to very special RAG configuration (seems that it has been changed in 2.2(?)). I've managed to scan all 6 DAPs (+ one CDT - but this is just by an old habit) without alerting defenses - got 6 seeds of different software. So far this is second f2s high-security base layout. If anyone wants to test his own srv-driving skills - welcome to Kokary (as this is the only known location for this particular base layout) =) Updated map will be available shortly.
News:
Old rule that if a particular base has no "landing pad" then there is a great chance to find an instance ("relogging") were there are no npc-ships is no longer valid (at least for some bases where it worked earlier) - all this due to the new possibility of the npc ships to land anywhere. I've encountered this behavior on M6H base in well-known system Kokary (yes-yes, "don't do Kokary" =))) )
However - good news - I've "degraded" M6H bases from threat level "2" to level "1" - "free-to-scan with appropriate driving skills" - due to very special RAG configuration (seems that it has been changed in 2.2(?)). I've managed to scan all 6 DAPs (+ one CDT - but this is just by an old habit) without alerting defenses - got 6 seeds of different software. So far this is second f2s high-security base layout. If anyone wants to test his own srv-driving skills - welcome to Kokary (as this is the only known location for this particular base layout) =) Updated map will be available shortly.
I've commonly encountered runs of 6-8 bases with no MEF, the issue here is that you're still getting "grade 5" data drops and you're entirely dependent on RNG to get the base to drop MEF for you. Higher security bases and larger bases have a higher chance of dropping grade 5 mats but there is really no way to make them drop MEF instead of other high-grade data drops. I have also found that the RNG can sometimes work in your favor and once MEF starts dropping I often see it from 2-3 bases in a row so when I do get a drop I always do another couple of bases if possible and that does seem to even things out a bit.
It was actually worse before 2.1.05 when bases might give 1-3 units of MEF instead of usually giving a single unit that counts as 3X MEF. When I did the original list it was actually a lower rate of MEF/hr so what we have now actually represents an improvement on the original MEF grind, plus the MEF goes twice as far as you only need one unit per upgrade. You can also get MEF from missions but I usually only see 1-2 mission per week offering MEF when I'm actively running missions for Engineering mats so the base runs are by far the most efficient way to get MEF. I actually find the base runs relaxing and once you know the layouts they are rather easy to do, but I've probably done upwards of 50 base runs at this point so I've gotten used to it now. There is a bit of a learning curve for SRV driving and learning the layouts but if you stick with it you will find it gets better despite the frustrations of the RNG drops.
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You guys seem like the people to ask. Is there a bug, for some players, where the datapoints provide (is this another term for "drop") nothing? I've scanned at least 15 and got nothing at all, and my data storage does have space. There's a guy that did a YouTube video for finding MEFs and I asked him about it, and he said it's a known bug. I just can't find a definitive answer, and need to know so I can stop wasting so much time doing it.
Hmm. Known bug? Strange. Personally, I've never encountered anything similar and this it the first time I've heard about it - but I never searched for that kind of info.
Yes, once I've got a report from a commander (one of the contributors for the "statistic" page so he knows the subject) that in fact once he doesn't receive anything after a successful scan of the datapoints chain in one low-security settlement (and the datastorage was not full). So far this is the only one case known - all other were related to storage limits.
So I'll check bug reports... Hmmm - the only one I see so far is also due to storage.
So looks like this is pretty uncommon.
However, some questions:
What do you mean by scanning 15 datapoints? Only successful scan of a chain of datapoints (minigame) - in a bigger-than-tiny settlement - will provide you with "data" materials. Scanning individual datapoints doesn't count and return nothing.
UPDATE:
Also, I was wrong about the only known issue - in fact there are no known issues, as that one I've described was related to the fact, that particular commader have received only one seed of data (and not two as that was supposed as minimum quantity up to that date)
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Check your data storage. It's probably full.
It's not, though. I make sure I have no more than around 480 of 500. I ran across a post yesterday of all the current bugs, and one sentence said, "SRV Scanner/Datapoint Problem" or something like that.
Yep, I've read carefully so I've saw that you have no problems with storage space=)
Can you provide a video? (opps, that sounds like a QA team standard answer)
And a link to this bug report you've mentioned?
Ah, OK. I clearly need a lesson. I didn't know you had to scan everything there within a time allotment. I've been at many Medium Security settlements where it would be absolutely impossible to do that. The last three I've seen gave 30 seconds, and there were two more. So maybe I can buy you a beer for a quick tutorial?
1)Not everything - this is a quick way to get in troubles=) - only datapoints=)
2)30 seconds (or more, depending on layout) are given to reach and finish to scan next datapoint (that will provide some more bonus time). Number of datapoints you need to scan in a given settlement (and how many done already) you can see in the upper right corner of the HUD
Yep, and I must admit that a while ago I've placed the link to the post #274 to the welcome page of the main mapping spreadsheet - really good video!
Hey guys, im having trouble scanning the third data point from an industrial site using the map and image provided here
70 Ophiuchi - Richardson - Leckie's Claim
normally i boost up to the third data point as the grav is low enough - on 70 Ophicuchi i dont have enough boost
the guide shows that i should drive around the bottom and scan it
how do you target the third point? its way to high up from the ground
even if i boost all of my booster i run out before i can target it
of course i have 4 pips to engine in the SRV
any recommendations for the best types of settlements to get MEFs? 2 bases done and still none. infact i havent even seen any Grade 4 or 5 mats drop yet
70 Ophiuchi - Richardson - Leckie's Claim
normally i boost up to the third data point as the grav is low enough - on 70 Ophicuchi i dont have enough boost
the guide shows that i should drive around the bottom and scan it
how do you target the third point? its way to high up from the ground
even if i boost all of my booster i run out before i can target it
of course i have 4 pips to engine in the SRV
any recommendations for the best types of settlements to get MEFs? 2 bases done and still none. infact i havent even seen any Grade 4 or 5 mats drop yet
Can you target it if you look up in turret mode? I haven't tried that particular base yet.
I got one (well, 3) MEF from Gulyaev Vision in Wyrd. It is random what you get, though.
I got one (well, 3) MEF from Gulyaev Vision in Wyrd. It is random what you get, though.
This base is a large industrial layout.
Yes, you can scan the third data point from the "ground" level - using turret mode. First time it can be a bit tricky to find a good spot, where both distance and turrets elevation are good, however it is possible and you'll never have any problems to find it again. This is very "popular" layout, so many commanders have produced videos on how to do it - you can find the links to the posts with this videos in the "external resources" section of the main mapping spreadsheet (couple of posts ago was mentioned one of them in the post #274 of this thread - a very good one to start, exactly about L1M layout).
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![BigBANGtheory [VR]](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/71/71385.jpg?1644873788){kind=avatar}
If you visit a settlement and scan all the datapoints, can you re-visit the same settlement at a later date, is there a cooldown time or distance?
IIRC the cool down is like 2 weeks, so you have to keep a long list of settlements if you want a lot of MEFs
I think that I've heard somewhere from FDev's that this must be about a week (distance doesn't count). However in reality this takes longer time and I've saw many reports about this with different delays mentioned.
My own tests was performed at the time of 2.1.05, but they where not too precise - got "more than a week, but less than two". Recently (2.2) I've heard that may be devs tweaked up this delay to be longer - but no test has been performed.
Yep, and today's list counts 713 bases - with 565 "free-to-scan" - thanks to all contributors. However many of them are low-security bases - as this is the most common security level for bases in ED universe (and they are not suitable for MEF search runs)