Last time I tried that everything was empty?
One Year in and Still No Combat-Free Materials Gathering
- Thread starter Cmdr Travers
- Start date
"Prepare [base] for operation" missions specifically at Threat 3 in my experience is the best non-combat way to get materials.
There is a 50/50 chance that there are scavengers there when you arrive - if you put some dumbfire missile racks on your ship you can bombard them from the air in complete safety and clear the base that way. Only once have I ever had extra ones drop in on me in a Threat 3 Restore mission - it was when you get the mission wrinkle where (while leaving the original starport) you get a message saying the base is targeted by scavengers. In that situation, there will be one or two dropships that drop scavengers in as soon as you arrive (you can just bombard them with ship missiles as usual) and also a good chance that a third dropship might show up maybe 5-10 minutes later.
If you don't get that mission wrinkle though, you will be completely safe to take as long as you want once you have carpet bombed the scavengers that were there when you arrived, and no more will appear.
There is a 50/50 chance that there are scavengers there when you arrive - if you put some dumbfire missile racks on your ship you can bombard them from the air in complete safety and clear the base that way. Only once have I ever had extra ones drop in on me in a Threat 3 Restore mission - it was when you get the mission wrinkle where (while leaving the original starport) you get a message saying the base is targeted by scavengers. In that situation, there will be one or two dropships that drop scavengers in as soon as you arrive (you can just bombard them with ship missiles as usual) and also a good chance that a third dropship might show up maybe 5-10 minutes later.
If you don't get that mission wrinkle though, you will be completely safe to take as long as you want once you have carpet bombed the scavengers that were there when you arrived, and no more will appear.
Maybe you can explain why an explorer needs extra backpack capacity, etc. At the risk of being called a naysayer, I really don't understand.
Btw, the genetic sampler tool works fine as a night vision substitute in a pinch. I am currently completing codex discoveries and exobiology samples in Tenebrae region and I haven't fallen into the "needs" that you mention. My basic G1 suit works fine for exploration. Rarely fall below 50% power.
You don't have to be good at combat to have some dumbfires fitted to your ship and pound any scavengers at a base before landing. Ok, maybe you don't find it fun, but it takes a few seconds to do, then you are free to scavenge.
If you really don't even want to do that much, then you can filter missions by non-combat types (although some still have scavs pop up on occasion, like collect missions from downed ships/satellites) and get rewards that way. But then there is less chance of getting what you want.
But same with ship engineering. Restrict the activities you're willing to do, you're going to have a harder time of getting what you want.
Personally i suggest you get over your aversion to carpet bombing scavengers. You might even find it fun.
The lockers in the open areas were empty while those in sealed areas were full when I did it.
I'll have to check again when I do my weekly arx run.
Weird, I thought Odyssey was mostly combat based.
If you're not playing the game, you don't need to collect any materials.
At first I wanted to mod the Artemis as well.
Now I have 6 G5 suits and I've also become an Elite more.
Just play, the rest comes automatically, including the fun.
If you're not playing the game, you don't need to collect any materials.
At first I wanted to mod the Artemis as well.
Now I have 6 G5 suits and I've also become an Elite more.
Just play, the rest comes automatically, including the fun.
Not until all those excited console commanders get to try it out.
I'm fairly sure there's at least one Biological (think it's a Cactoida or Fungoida) that I've only ever seen on a dark side of a planet.
Having said that, I've found those fine without nightvision. Plus you have nightvision in your ship.
Agreed, nightvision is of course also available on your SRV and for detail work when you dismount from that you have the ping of the Biosampler and your suits torch.
For relaxation at expedition meetups explorers like to race each other. They engineer ships for speed (when there's a fleet carrier available to store their exploration ships); they race SRVs and fighters around predetermined courses; and now in Odyssey we want to race on foot. Engineering an Artemis suit for extra jump height, sprint duration, night vision, and battery endurance would be useful for these activities, which are some of the most fun moments you can have on an expedition. All in all, I'm with the OP, that it would enhance the game for explorers not to have to carpet bomb a settlement or engage in close quarters combat.
If you're doing delivery missions you can have a look around the settlement and tail the wandering technician. Sooner or later they'll walk into a production or storage building and you can walk right in after them. After that if they don't see what goes walkabout, they don't see. Just don't walk into a guard on the way out.
Once when doing another mission at a settlement, I stopped in at the hab building and it was empty except for a data port...I started downloading illegal data, which triggered the alarms, when the data transfer was over and I was headed out the door, I passed the first arriving NPC in the airlock. Very tense moments there...no killing or even shooting required...they never saw me so... 
Nothing wrong with walking into a guard if you don't steal any goods. If you steal goods (those gas cans can be hard to resist) plan your exphil.
Picking up the occasional commodity is all well and good, but unlocking some of the engineers still requires combat missions and heists and other activities that pacifist explorers find distasteful.
I'm not very keen on unloading 5 mags of shotgun into a mook's head to take them out either. Bulletsponge has railroaded my playthroughs of Cyberpunk 2077 to a versy limited selection of builds. I had to force myself to play a melee character and forego hacking.
As already stated, you can buy from Fleet Carriers or get given Odyssey materials directly when meeting another CMDR in person. None of the Odyssey Colonia Engineers require any unlocks via combat, so for you that would be the ideal place to do the engineering required. If not into conflicts, then you only need to modify the suits. Upgrading (preferably from G3-G5) is done via the Pioneer's. There are plenty of missions that do not require conflict that can be used to gather materials. Abandoned settlements are also good. Leave and return if scavs are present or arrive.
If you can buy a G2/3 Artemis/Maverick) suit with night vision (they are plenty out there, if you put the time into looking), then improved battery capacity and extra backpack capacity (not required on a suit once the material gathering is done), then Rosa Dayette is the only engineer needed to be unlocked. She provides both improved battery capacity and extra backpack capacity.
The materials required to unlock the four Colonia Odyssey Engineers are very modest.
Rosa is unlocked by selling a total of 10 cocktail/culinary recipes to Colonia system bartenders. Providing 10 Digital Designs gets the referral to Li Shen (3 referrals are needed).
Eleanor is unlocked by visiting 5 settlements in the Colonia area via APEX. Ensure that you get scanned for the visit to register. Providing 10 manufacturing instructions will have her refer you to Li Shen.
Unlocking Baltanos is by getting friendly with the Colonia Council. Easily done by selling exploration data to a station owned by them. Providing 10 Faction Associates gets the third referral.
The pacifist path is mapped out. Do you have the will to take it?*
Steve 07
* Rather than go through the Odyssey engineer unlocks in the bubble again, I sent my alt CMDR to Colonia to engineer the couple of suits and weapons I wanted done. I took the unlock materials with me, along with a bunch of others. The unlocks were done within a couple of hours of arrival.
Why do someone need upgraded suits if he/she is not doing combat? For the Standard exobio and salvage the normal suits are fine.