Salvaging derelict ships and other items

[peteuplink]

Is there a way to make money through salvaging/scavaging in ED?

If not then I think it'd be an interesting addition. Debris fields from space battles or pirated ships could be placed randomly in the galaxy for people to explore. 95% of the stuff you find would be small items that only make a little bit of money, but you have a small chance of finding something big that is worth a lot more. There could also be dead ships out in deep space that could be towed back to a station as salvage.

I'm thinking of something like The Ruin Ring from the first book of the Nights Dawn Trilogy. The Ruin Ring was a vast debris field letf behind from the destruction of an ancient civilisation thousands of years ago. There was a lot of competition from the local scavengers to find interesting archaeological items and bring them back to to the nearby space station for auction. The competition was tough and conflict could arise from two people finding something important that they both wanted. In the book the main character, Joshua Calvert, finds an ancient computer stack that would be worth a lot of money because scientists could exmaine it and find out just what happened to the ancient alien race. A rival scavenger also has eyes on it and tries to kill him to claim it for himself, but Joshua is resourceful and finds a way to outsmart the competition and makes himself a very rich man in the process.

I'm not saying it should follow exactly that pattern, but it could be something along those lines.

 

[Grumfoss]

I have always loved the idea of doing a bit of salvage and I do hope that it is something that can be added to the game in the future

 

[Lunchmoney]

I've come across debris fields already, at USSs. You cant pick up the the ship remains but the cargo is good to pick up. It will be labelled as stolen so you may get fined if you carry to a post who cares about these things, but you are then free to sell it at a Black Market.

 

[Nitrosonic]

I think this is a great idea!

Or this one:
hunting entities in deep space..it´s not a new idea as the idea above, but perhaps a challenging one in addition.
Look back to Master of Orion..went to a system never explored, what is waiting? A giant space-eel chasing you!

Would be a nice thing for Explorers out there...

 

[StayFrosty]

It's one of the planned features.

Doubt it'll be there on release, but then it's on the list of things to come.

 

[peteuplink]

I've come across debris fields already, at USSs. You cant pick up the the ship remains but the cargo is good to pick up. It will be labelled as stolen so you may get fined if you carry to a post who cares about these things, but you are then free to sell it at a Black Market.

I don't think the items should be marked as stolen, especially if they've been sitting out in the middle of nowhere for years, because they don't actually belong to anyone once the pilot is dead. They should only be marked stolen if you were the one who attacked or killed the pilot to get it. I think debris fields should carry their own risks, with the threat of pirates hiding in them or other players fighting to get what you've just found, without the added stress of getting a criminal record because you've found some dead persons derelict ship... That being said, maybe they should make it so you have to buy a permit before you can salvage. But how could that work? A permit per faction, or a permit per station?.. So for instance all the debris found around Azeban City could under intergalactic law belong to the station and so you have to buy a permit from them in order to salvage it... Or perhaps that's over complicating things a bit.

 

[Lunchmoney]

I don't think the items should be marked as stolen, especially if they've been sitting out in the middle of nowhere for years, because they don't actually belong to anyone once the pilot is dead.

I agree, but they are marked as stolen in the game, hence why I mentioned it.

 

[Kramster]

maybe the option to purchase a salvage license for that system.
Then you just take the salvage to the station and receive salvage credits

 

[zamalek]

I don't think the items should be marked as stolen, especially if they've been sitting out in the middle of nowhere for years, because they don't actually belong to anyone once the pilot is dead.

I think the reason they are marked as stolen is for balance reasons: USS farming would become too easy and too profitable. The notion of getting caught by the rozzers adds risk, and the black market "tax" means that it isn't ludicrously profitable.

 

[peteuplink]

maybe the option to purchase a salvage license for that system.
Then you just take the salvage to the station and receive salvage credits

That's an interesting idea. You have to take the items back to the station closest to the debris and they give you salvage credits, not actual money, that you can redeem for credits to buy equipment later on. That should put a stop to the "it's too easy to make money salvaging" arguments.

 

[Gorodd]

maybe the option to purchase a salvage license for that system.
Then you just take the salvage to the station and receive salvage credits

That's a great idea! +1 rep...salvage license by faction or something.

 

[peteuplink]

I think the reason they are marked as stolen is for balance reasons: USS farming would become too easy and too profitable. The notion of getting caught by the rozzers adds risk, and the black market "tax" means that it isn't ludicrously profitable.

Yes, but I was suggesting that they make the debris fields dangerous anyway, with more pirates hiding out there and the risk of other players attacking you for your spoils. Make it profitable, but also very risky, without the need for having to run up a criminal record for doing something that really should be a legitimate business...

 

[zamalek]

without the need for having to run up a criminal record for doing something that really should be a legitimate business...

Agreed. The bounty/fine from picking up lost cargo is nuts.

 

[Quill]

I think salvaging is in the design documents, as well as smuggling. Neither of which has been implemented properly (yet). I do really, really hope that FD are going to get their act together in the new year to bring all these ideas to fruition, I'm just keeping quiet till then letting them get the release out and having a nice Christmas and hoping that early 2015 we are going to see some great additions and features added to ED

 

[Dortmunder]

Yeah, definitely something that is missing and should be included.

Reminds me of the Firefly Pilot. Crew salvaging a ship, when the Alliance shows up and runs them off. They got the cargo of course

For a game with heavy Procedural Generation, you'd thing there would be random ships on occasion with possibly a goldmine in salvage/cargo to be had.

 

[knowles2]

I've come across debris fields already, at USSs. You cant pick up the the ship remains but the cargo is good to pick up. It will be labelled as stolen so you may get fined if you carry to a post who cares about these things, but you are then free to sell it at a Black Market.

Not if you dodge security by doing a bit of silent running, made a bit of dosh on some USSs salvage yesterday, which were appearing at a greater frequency for me yesterday after several barren days.