No interest in planets = no hope for engineering?

[Esteban]

I'll add just a couple of comments despite the tone of this thread...

I'd say that engineering is quite beneficial even if you don't do PvP. Your ships are just more capable and it gives you the ability to be at ease even during the utterly inevitable times when you'll be interdicted by NPCs. You can choose whether to take the bounty (that would mean dispensing with the NPC) or to simply defeat the interdiction or to leave if you are interdicted. Your game. You choose. That's a good place to be. I prefer to play feeling relaxed, not uptight, so it's worth it to me. When I first began playing, I had little interest in engineering and, in fact, didn't even start for months, but I found the increase in capability compelling, so I did (slowly) go through the motions.

OP, if you've only tried mining in one type of ring as you mentioned in your first post, I'd suggest that you'll need to be just a little more open-to-trying other types. That said, if I remember the mining chart correctly, selenium isn't found in any ring type so you might be trading.
Additionally, if you really don't like planetary activities but might be convinced to give just a little tolerance in order to achieve a goal that's worthwhile, I'll suggest that you find a planet with geological activity. It is far better to land at those sites and get goodies than to search some planetary surface, covering miles and miles, for random mud blobs that might yield a little something. I almost never do that anymore!
There's another reason I suggest this: the scenery at these sites can be very pretty visually, so it is (imo) worth checking out at least one time.
If you haven't seen ice (or other) geysers, they are quite a sight - and can offer a lot of fun launching your vehicle off the planet's surface too!

I have done a whole lot of all types of prospecting so I can't tell you if you can get selenium at those sites off the top of my head (sorry). Even if not, though, it would more readily yield quantities of materials that you could trade. Getting goodies more readily is better than 1 per hour or less, I would say.

Every game has things we don't care to do. Whether the results of engaging in those activities are worth it or not is a question that we can answer only for ourselves. Some honest, simple advice - without getting into some of the ugly stuff that has been slung around in this thread. Take it or leave it; I'm just trying to offer some fun...

 

[shambles1980]

thing is i know exactly where i could go to and fill my cargo bay with all the stuff i need in a few hours on a planet.
I do not think that is good game play.

I would prefer to gradually engineer my ships up as i play normally.
Looks like the only choice is go to a planet fill up on everything in a few hours, achieve the end goal you set then.. Something?

it sure as hell seems like what could have been a series of engaging gameplay loops has been boiled down in to spend 3 hours on 1 planet, and "play the game how you want" has changed too "you just have to do this because thats the only option we gave you"

Really is a shame.

i guess the question,

"does no interest in planets mean no hope for engineering?"
has been answered.

guess il just go and condense what could have been weeks of natural game play down in to 3 hours on a planet as it seems like thats what every one else did before they left.

 

[X80]

I still think that it is possible to do engineering without ever landing on planets. I sure takes longe than using those shortcuts, but it is possible. Those sites like Dav's Hope, Jameson Crash site etc. are for those who can't wait weeks, maybe months, to get their toy, and as I said earlier, engineering is not essential. Everything can be done well in this game without engineering (P2P combat probably not). I did my first Colonia tour with DBX only G3 level engineered FSD.

 

[Factabulous]

yeah, a lot don't bother with the shortcuts and just play the game. ofc the OP has chosen to only play a part of the game, so they should own that, rather than insist the game change to suit their self-imposed limitations. But hey, if people did that the forums would be veeeery quiet

 

[shambles1980]

yeah, a lot don't bother with the shortcuts and just play the game. ofc the OP has chosen to only play a part of the game, so they should own that, rather than insist the game change to suit their self-imposed limitations. But hey, if people did that the forums would be veeeery quiet

They sold a game with the guarantee that you can play how you want to play and no play style will ever be more valid than any other..
I was not the one who lied. so im not sure why i should own their lie?

 

[Factabulous]

They sold a game with the guarantee that you can play how you want to play and no play style will ever be more valid than any other..
I was not the one who lied. so im not sure why i should own their lie?

You can play how you want to play. I don't think they ever said that limiting yourself would not limit yourself. Your choices, your outcomes.

 

[shambles1980]

You can play how you want to play. I don't think they ever said that limiting yourself would not limit yourself. Your choices, your outcomes.

You can Play how you want to play and not progress at all. which makes using SRV a more valid play style which is exactly what they said they wouldnt do..

they nerfed mining and robigo smuggling runs because of this exact reason "one play style became more valid than another"
this alone renders your argument invalid..

 

[avow555]

The lack of some materials has been an issue for way too long in Elite, something they should have addressed years ago.
Why Selenium is so hard to find is beyond crap tbh.

 

[Factabulous]

You can Play how you want to play and not progress at all. which makes using SRV a more valid play style which is exactly what they said they wouldnt do..

they nerfed mining and robigo smuggling runs because of this exact reason "one play style became more valid than another"
this alone renders your argument invalid..

Nope. None of your words make any sense. "You can Play how you want to play and not progress at all." - what does that even mean? If you play how you want then that is your choice, and you progress against your target that you chose.

If your target is to sit in your ship while docked for as long as possible you can do that. But just don't expect that to progress you along a path to Lordship in the Empire, or an Elite ranking in combat, or a visit to Beagle Point. There are multiple paths to support most forms of progression - you choose which to take and when.

You can even progress by complaining on the forum that you want the game to change to suit just you - as indeed you are Though it must be said most don't succeed on that career path

 

[shambles1980]

thats good just ignore why they nerfed robigo smuggling and mining then post the same thing again..
about what i expect to be fair.

"mining was seen as the single best way to make money. so they nerfed it to make other play styles more valid, and they said; this was because they never wanted any single play style to be more valid than any other."

"robigo smuggling runs were also seen as the best way to make money at 1 point, so they nerfed that for the same reason"

"SRV's for raw materials is Massively better than anything else for materials, they dont nerf that or even bring other methods up to a reasonable level, as they want people on planets, and would prefer you play that way, making their ethos a joke"

no one is asking to find 300t of rare materials in one asteroid mining trip. but the levels things are at now make using SRV's the only option.
If they tried to balance it out properly (even 1/4 of the rate to collect this stuff compared to srvs would be fine)
and they also need to give more missions with materials as rewards, if they did that then you wouldn't even need the material traders. which dont help the matter at all BTW.
the material traders just make the srv's even more attractive as you can just go to 2-3 specific planets then trade for everything you could ever want.

What you call "OP Limiting him self" i see as "frontier eliminated multiple game play paths."

 

[Esteban]

I also have never visited Dav's Hope, Jameson's Crash Site or other such sites. I took my time to progress towards goals that I desired to reach. I achieved my Elite rankings in due time; I did NOT chase them or rush / grind them. I call that organic play pretty readily. We can indeed all play the way we want, but we should be realistic about our expectations for what our decisions mean in terms of moving towards anything that we would describe as a goal.
Some players do this better than others and thus the level of satisfaction and/or disappointment varies widely.

Have fun, CMDRs. This is a sandbox so it's largely up to you, but not everyone will like this game (that's a given).

 

[metatheurgist]

The lack of some materials has been an issue for way too long in Elite, something they should have addressed years ago.
Why Selenium is so hard to find is beyond crap tbh.

Selenium is not hard to find at all. It's not even a real G4, it's a G2. It might be hard to find if you only follow "Do it my way!" videos I guess.

 

[shambles1980]

well thats me full of all the materials i could ever need. what a waste of a progressive game play opportunity.
i understand why the player base is dead lol.

I assume people who wanted to play no mans sky just went to play that instead of doing this terrible approximation of it.

 

[d8veh]

Let's make it simple. Outfit a Python for laser mining. Camp at the nearest raw material trader to a well-known productive platinum mining site. Go and mine the platinum. Sell your platinum wherever you get a good price, return to the material trader and trade the materials after maybe 3 sessions, when you'll be full of many of the materils up to level 3, trade for whatever you need.

To summarise, make a boatload of cash and collect loads of materials at the same time. I've never gone out to get any specific ship materials in about 2 years and thousands of hours of play. I get nearly all mine from mining, bounty farming and incidental missions (like pirate massacre missions that add to get extra money when bounty farming), then trading to even them out. I'm virtually 100% full of every ship material. Occasionally, I do Robigo Passanger missions which give a lot of materials as well as credits.

You have to remember that this is just a game, and it has rules which you can't change, like you have to unlock the Guardian stuff by the prescribed activities. You can't just argue that the game is bad because you can't get the FSD booster without driving an SRV. Where does that end. " I want to get loads of credits and all the engineering stuff without having to leave the starter station. The game is bad for not letting me get it without playing the game. I don't see why a busy guy like me should waste their time flying a ship around. It would be much better if there were buttons on the screen INCREASE RANK, INCREASE CREDITS, MAKE SHIP BETTER, GIVE GAME COST REFUND,ETC". While we're at it, isn't it unfair that the other ships shoot back. The game would be a lot quicker if they didn't.

 

[CMDR-NOBODY]

...
Hyades Sector DR-V c2-23 -(A5) (Dav's Hope) Race around scooping Manufactured mats....then at the end of each lap scan the beacon for encoded luvins.
Follow this by a good old standard soft log main menu, then back in and repeat!
...

Just drop in to say hi for the race-loop. I just spent a few days there and taking a break back to bounty hunting NPC.

Good thing about the beacon is, it give $$ for Imperial/Fed. intel package making some compensation for your time.

 

[cmdr milesred]

special kind of lazy

stay out of EDO and go to the shard gardens, then go see a material trader. easy

you are going to learn fast enough that all the engineers are ON planets, so whats the big deal.
you do the seriously boring mining to get 1/1000 of what you could get if you used an srv and get what you need.

2 posts in this particular listing of new posts, one guy too lazy to build his own vette and one guy wanting engineering but to something to be bothered to collect materials the easy way.
it doesn't get any easier than the shard gardens, total fill up on g5 mats each planet you land at.
if that's too much, then clearly the game isn't for you, regardless of your statements that the grind is ok..
the 'grind' is part of the game
its you and others that all seem to think you need it yesterday and so call it a grind and despise a lot of it.

whats the rush?

if you can't do the srv or don't like it, that's going to be ruff, there is no other way. mining extraction sites will take at least 100 times longer, not worth it.

selenium is not at the shard gardens, but there are tons of planets where you can get 50 to 100 in an hour.
but not in EDO. EDO has almost nothing.

you cant trade with other players either, so what was the purpose of even making this thread?

go visit any engineer, take an srv with you to practice and git gud or stay un-engineered, your choice.

 

[cmdr milesred]

I should add, when Horizons was released, myself and some others did not like the idea of planets and the srv, but there are more pluses to both than EDO will ever have.
once you get used to landing on planets you can do it with your eyes closed and actually do it by sound alone
same for the srv, it sucked a lot at first, then you get good at it and again you can do it by sound alone and IMO is far more fun than any other mining type we have.
if you were not aware, the SRV can fly, and in low grav can fly really well. not to mention jumping on geysers.
I fly mine and seriously, shard gardens is a 20 minute trip, then 30 minutes on each planet, then 20 minutes back.
then visit a material trader.
super easy and worth the effort

planets have things on them that are very much worth the effort of learning to use the srv. it has jets on the wheels so cruise, boost, lift off, target a flat spot, hit it and boost and you would be amazed at how much ground you can cover and how easy it gets.
there are a few types of skimmers, mining sites, several kinds of buildings and other stations types, fallen crashed ships and cargo.

there are several places similar to shard gardens that have cargo racks with materials in them and data points for encoded data, not to mention barnacles and meta alloy and various thargoid and other alien sites and more types of cargo..
some are very impressive to view and well worth the visit and to gain tech.

but, do it your way and miss out on a lot of good stuff. kinda makes a person wonder why you didn't just buy f-16 or some real sim instead of buying a fantasy space sim.

as the ad says, do it your own way, follow your own path..
it didn't expect you to be only interested in a very small portion of the game I imagine, there are avenues to follow but you don't have to.
but then don't expect the prizes from those avenues either.


salt is here by the barrels for those that bought it just to complain about it.

popcorn for everyone. cept you.

 

[Hooplah]

Selemium is a pain and the hardest raw material to collect. My opinion.

Use EDDB to find a system body with a high percentage of selenium.
Go there and use the Discovery Scanner to scan the system.
Using the FSS map every body.
Goto the system map and see if that EDDB body has vocalism etc.
Yes, goto the body and scan with the Detailed Surface Scanner.
Approach the planet and pick one of the many sites listed on your Nav page.
Look for selenium and exhausting them fly to the other sites for more.

No, start all over as driving around on a planet takes hours to find selenium.
Worse than any other hard to find material. Another opinion.

Even if yes or you already scanned that system previously selenium is not a top
tier that won't be found in Needle Crystals but typicallt crystalline fragments sharing
with several other materials. You might need two SRVs, time and patience.

If someone came up with a bug killer site (look that up) providing guaranteed
antimony, tellurium and ruthenium doing the same with selenium please post it.
I didn't read all the posts on this thread. Some players might actually send
you real money to your favorite charity!

Otherwise trading for it with say ruthenium also taking hours to collect might
be better.

As for running around in an SRV and Odyssey messing it up a little it is still fun
for me and breaks up the monotony. Enjoy the moment for all the planetary
surface features in the game you will never ever see flying a ship. These skills
in Horizons come in handy with more to see in Odyssey.

I need another 21 to max out selenium to 150. It is my mini-game maxing out
ALL the materials. I must be doing something right.

Regards

 

[angusmadmac1]

The problem I have with mat traders is to cross trade G5 to G5 150 mats become 25 ... Raws is fairly easy in EDH the shard sites are still working .

 

[d8veh]

I still think that it is possible to do engineering without ever landing on planets. I sure takes longe than using those shortcuts, but it is possible. Those sites like Dav's Hope, Jameson Crash site etc. are for those who can't wait weeks, maybe months, to get their toy, and as I said earlier, engineering is not essential. Everything can be done well in this game without engineering (P2P combat probably not). I did my first Colonia tour with DBX only G3 level engineered FSD.

You can get all materials you need whilst bounty farming and laser mining, then use traders. That's all I've done for years except maybe stop at the occasional high grade emissions USS if one falls in front of me in supercruise. My ship is more or less 100% full of all materials. This way, you make boatload of cash at the same time.