Disclaimer: I am not advocating this is the "only" or "best" way to do this. It is simply a method I am currently employing with fair success using information gleaned from several sources. You mileage may vary but today I harvested fifty (50) Improvised Components (Very Rare Level-Five material) in just over an hour. This is how I did it and constructive input is invited:(1) Travel to an appropriate system for the material you are trying to collect. In this case I was harvesting Improvised Components and so traveled to an Independent system with a high-population and in Civil Unrest state.
(2) On entering the system, select the primary star as your target and travel directly away from the star to a distance of 150,000 to 300,000 Light-Seconds (150k-300k LS). Not because there are more USSs at this range but because there are fewer contacts i.e.: ships causing the sensors to "tick" and distract the CMDR. Also because at this distance the ship only requires about 10% throttle to maintain a speed just under 100C. At this range the only things making the sensors "tick" will be USSs so the CMDR does not have to check the INFO panel as often as he or she would if the ship were closer in towards the star. Fuel consumption is also dramatically reduced.
(3) On reaching the desired range from the star, maneuver the ship so that the system's star is directly overhead i.e.: directly over the triangle in the Sensor HUD representing your ship (see pic, below). The line representing the star's "height" should stab straight down through the triangle. In the system I was using, the double star made it easier to realign my course after re-entering Supercruise (SC). Set throttle to maintain your ship's speed at just under 100C.
(4) Fly along at just under 100C with the system's star directly "overhead", keeping half an eye on the dot in the compass-rose. A solid dot in the compass-rose means your ship is moving in towards the star and decelerating, a hollow circle in the compass-rose means your ship is moving away from the star and accelerating. Try to keep your ship oriented so that the dot in the compass-rose keeps alternating from solid to hollow. If your ship's speed reaches 100C, pull "up" toward the star just until the circle becomes a solid dot and the ship starts to slowly decelerate. If the ship drops much below 100C (to around 99C) then push slightly "away" from the star, just until the dot in the compass rose becomes a hollow circle and ship begins to slowly accelerate. The change in the sound of the ship's engine(s) will also help as the engine's pitch will rise higher when accelerating and fall lower when decelerating. Keep your speed just under 100C or USSs may flash past too fast for you to react and slow down.
(5) As USSs are detected, target them (you may have to maneuver) to determine their grade. Some CMDRs may elect to stop at every USS to collect materials & data. CMDRs choice since most USSs have something a CMDR will need but if searching only for high-grade materials you may want to skip over every USS except High-Grade to save time. The game may offer a dozen or so other types of USSs before offering up a High-Grade USS so . . . welcome to Grinds-ville.
If a USS is not the type you are seeking open the NAV panel and re-select the system's star as a target. If you have not touched your throttle the ship should regain its previous speed, so now re-orient the ship to regain its previous course and continue. This step is not entirely necessary but I am sort of a perfectionist and do not like to fly around randomly. Going back to your previous course does make it a bit easier to maintain a nearly constant range from the system's star.
(6) If the targeted USS is the type you are searching for, set the ship's throttle to 75% (to get there quickly) and then drop in on the USS. After collecting your materials and/or data, reset the system's star as a target in the NAV panel, re-enter SC, reset your throttle to maintain your speed at just under 100C, reset your course and continue.
Good Hunting, CMDRs. [arrrr] o7
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