Engineers Security Firmware Patch? Only certain bases?

[MUYA]

The core problem with Firmware mats of any kind is this: their effective drop rate is far beyond Very Rare in comparison to any other piece of data of equivalent listed rarity. The reason for that is the amount of time it takes to get one "roll" against the loot table compared to... well, almost anything else in the game. And you can only make that roll once per data point, ever.

Consider: it takes seconds to scan a ship in SC, or a wake with the appropriate scanner. NPCs can be killed in a few minutes, if not faster. Mining an asteroid is extremely quick with prospectors and C2 mining lasers. Each of those actions is one or more rolls against that entity's loot table, each of which is a chance to get the particular kind of mats that come from that particular entity. And each of those is an effectively infinitely renewable resource, for reasons too obvious to belabor.

Each data point, though, involves a base assault. Some of those are relatively easy. Most are not. And as mentioned above, each one can only be scanned once, ever--once you've scanned a given data point, it will not allow you to scan it again. Which means that the total time it takes to get one "roll" against its loot table needs to account for the time it takes to travel to a different settlement--at least a few minutes, if the settlement is on the same planet, let alone if you have to travel to a different planet or even system. Each of these is, in effect, a unique "mob" that never respawns. Unless that changes, that means there is a finite number of these that any player will ever be able to collect from a base in their entire career--and the more bases they assault, the harder it's going to get to keep track of which ones you've already been to.

I'm not including USS and mission rewards as a source of Firmware for the purposes of drop rate for two reasons. The first is that any mat seems to be a potential mission reward. The second is that USS are actually an extremely unreliable and infrequent source of these, because they only seem to drop from Personal Data Points--which not only aren't always in Degraded or Encoded SS, they also can potentially drop a wide variety of data mats other than Firmware.

FDev, please rethink your approach to acquiring Firmware mats. The above makes their effective drop rate for a given amount of time spent completely broken compared to anything else in the game.

Fdev. Please listen to the points made by this Cmdr. This random run around is not fun for player base. It's soul crushing and makes you numb towards the game. Please rethink the drop rate or better structured way for players to obtains these mats

 

[CMDR B. Schmidt]

Fairly straight forward, drive around the area outside of the red zone until you find the public access point. Scan it with your turret, that will deactivate the security, you can then scan any other access points (might want to look for them before doing the public one). Once you have scanned all the access points you can scan the central data repo (forget the exact name). One or more of them will probably give you what you are looking for. Note that if you are in the red zone while the security comes back it will attack you, also will attack you after scanning the repo.

Appreciated

 

[Cosmos]

The core problem with Firmware mats of any kind is this: their effective drop rate is far beyond Very Rare in comparison to any other piece of data of equivalent listed rarity. The reason for that is the amount of time it takes to get one "roll" against the loot table compared to... well, almost anything else in the game. And you can only make that roll once per data point, ever.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Consider: it takes seconds to scan a ship in SC, or a wake with the appropriate scanner. NPCs can be killed in a few minutes, if not faster. Mining an asteroid is extremely quick with prospectors and C2 mining lasers. Each of those actions is one or more rolls against that entity's loot table, each of which is a chance to get the particular kind of mats that come from that particular entity. And each of those is an effectively infinitely renewable resource, for reasons too obvious to belabor.

Each data point, though, involves a base assault. Some of those are relatively easy. Most are not. And as mentioned above, each one can only be scanned once, ever--once you've scanned a given data point, it will not allow you to scan it again. Which means that the total time it takes to get one "roll" against its loot table needs to account for the time it takes to travel to a different settlement--at least a few minutes, if the settlement is on the same planet, let alone if you have to travel to a different planet or even system. Each of these is, in effect, a unique "mob" that never respawns. Unless that changes, that means there is a finite number of these that any player will ever be able to collect from a base in their entire career--and the more bases they assault, the harder it's going to get to keep track of which ones you've already been to.

I'm not including USS and mission rewards as a source of Firmware for the purposes of drop rate for two reasons. The first is that any mat seems to be a potential mission reward. The second is that USS are actually an extremely unreliable and infrequent source of these, because they only seem to drop from Personal Data Points--which not only aren't always in Degraded or Encoded SS, they also can potentially drop a wide variety of data mats other than Firmware.

FDev, please rethink your approach to acquiring Firmware mats. The above makes their effective drop rate for a given amount of time spent completely broken compared to anything else in the game.

Agreed..

 

[Kestril]

The core problem with Firmware mats of any kind is this: their effective drop rate is far beyond Very Rare in comparison to any other piece of data of equivalent listed rarity. The reason for that is the amount of time it takes to get one "roll" against the loot table compared to... well, almost anything else in the game. And you can only make that roll once per data point, ever.

Consider: it takes seconds to scan a ship in SC, or a wake with the appropriate scanner. NPCs can be killed in a few minutes, if not faster. Mining an asteroid is extremely quick with prospectors and C2 mining lasers. Each of those actions is one or more rolls against that entity's loot table, each of which is a chance to get the particular kind of mats that come from that particular entity. And each of those is an effectively infinitely renewable resource, for reasons too obvious to belabor.

Each data point, though, involves a base assault. Some of those are relatively easy. Most are not. And as mentioned above, each one can only be scanned once, ever--once you've scanned a given data point, it will not allow you to scan it again. Which means that the total time it takes to get one "roll" against its loot table needs to account for the time it takes to travel to a different settlement--at least a few minutes, if the settlement is on the same planet, let alone if you have to travel to a different planet or even system. Each of these is, in effect, a unique "mob" that never respawns. Unless that changes, that means there is a finite number of these that any player will ever be able to collect from a base in their entire career--and the more bases they assault, the harder it's going to get to keep track of which ones you've already been to.

I'm not including USS and mission rewards as a source of Firmware for the purposes of drop rate for two reasons. The first is that any mat seems to be a potential mission reward. The second is that USS are actually an extremely unreliable and infrequent source of these, because they only seem to drop from Personal Data Points--which not only aren't always in Degraded or Encoded SS, they also can potentially drop a wide variety of data mats other than Firmware.

FDev, please rethink your approach to acquiring Firmware mats. The above makes their effective drop rate for a given amount of time spent completely broken compared to anything else in the game.

I'ma quote posts of this quality until Fdev gets hotfixes in.

 

[Mephane]

They don't even respawn? Then base raids cannot be under any circumstances be the intended and primary method of obtaining them, as eventually you'd have exhausted all and then what? No more engineer upgrades that need the stuff?

 

[kPack]

lol just did now 2 hours settlements and not 1 security firmeware. ITS just plain bullfit thats it like rolling a dice after you finishd the last datapoint if you get it or not. And that takes all the fun out cause you feel like you just WAISTED two hours for NOTHING. Yesterday i did 3 hours USS for modifyd firmware and what did i get 0 so i just waisted another 3 hours. And the next time when i think i should play some elite and get some new mods its just like "hmm but then i waist hours and hours and dont get shizzle " Thats no fun FD, just let us know what we have to do for every mats and not that dice rolling .... cause the fun goes away if you just play hours and hours for nothing...

 

[Alex Traut]

And then there's the fact that even if you do get a firmware drop, who's to say it'll be the specific rarity you need for even a low-grade recipe?

In the interest of looking for solutions rather than just putting up a big spammy rant, IMO there is actually a very straightforward and lore-friendly fix for this problem, one which brings Firmware mats in line with all of the others in terms of drop rate, renewability, and method of acquisition: put Firmware mats on the loot table for Skimmer mobs. It makes perfect sense; these are robotic drones, why wouldn't they have firmware? And why wouldn't the ones owned by bandits et al be likely to have cracked or modified versions, and so on?

It would give FDev freedom to adjust their drop rate as desired and appropriate for the type of skimmer etc, taking into account the ease of killing skimmers, but it would also give players a reason to hunt skimmers and a renewable source of firmware, the same way that various NPC types are a renewable source of things like Shield Scans or Alloys. To prevent cheesing, just make it so that skimmers only drop firmware when you kill them in an SRV.

Please consider this change. And if there's just something else in the game that drops firmware that we're missing here, throw us a bone? It's starting to not be fun, and firmware mats are gating us out of various low-grade recipes in a way that is disproportionate to other equivalent-grade recipes, or even higher-grade recipes of the same type that require something easier to get than firmware.

 

[Hole in Head]

In the interest of looking for solutions rather than just putting up a big spammy rant, IMO there is actually a very straightforward and lore-friendly fix for this problem, one which brings Firmware mats in line with all of the others in terms of drop rate, renewability, and method of acquisition: put Firmware mats on the loot table for Skimmer mobs. It makes perfect sense; these are robotic drones, why wouldn't they have firmware? And why wouldn't the ones owned by bandits et al be likely to have cracked or modified versions, and so on?

I can't give you rep again yet... but if I could I would!

 

[selrach]

Just to mention it, I have seen these mats offered as mission rewards. Might be an easier way to farm for them.

 

[[VR] Deggial]

And then there's the fact that even if you do get a firmware drop, who's to say it'll be the specific rarity you need for even a low-grade recipe? ...

It would help, if higher quality materials of a specific type could be used for lower grade blueprints as well. The bad is on the player, as he uses rarer drops for less beneficial modifications.

... In the interest of looking for solutions rather than just putting up a big spammy rant, ...

Leave the forum! NOW! You don't belong here!

... there is actually a very straightforward and lore-friendly fix for this problem, one which brings Firmware mats in line with all of the others in terms of drop rate, renewability, and method of acquisition: put Firmware mats on the loot table for Skimmer mobs. It makes perfect sense; these are robotic drones, why wouldn't they have firmware? And why wouldn't the ones owned by bandits et al be likely to have cracked or modified versions, and so on? ...

And it is even a surface activity.

Sounds like the perfect solution!

Repped and quoting you so this gets more visibility to FD.

 

[subhuman0068]

Just to mention it, I have seen these mats offered as mission rewards. Might be an easier way to farm for them.

Just to help this get seen, while grinding for other mats from missions I see these offered as a reward every now and then. Probably an easier way than base assaults as Selrach says.

 

[Alex Traut]

Just to help this get seen, while grinding for other mats from missions I see these offered as a reward every now and then. Probably an easier way than base assaults as Selrach says.

Easier but not really reliable. Mission rewards are random, and near as I can tell have no deterministic aspect to them that can be learned and used. I tried combing the mission boards of high-tech systems in particular, figuring that was a logical place to find firmware as a reward, and have found only one such mission in the entire time since 2.1 launched. That seems like exactly the kind of thinking you'd want to encourage and reward a player for.

Basically seems like we're just rolling dice every time we load the mission board. I'd love to be wrong about that, but so far the economy and government have no clear relationship to the mission rewards offered--or if they do, the potential pool of mats is so large that getting any firmware at all, let alone the specific one needed, is still effectively random for the player's purposes. It's great that they're there, but it's kind of like playing the lottery.

 

[kPack]

Just copied this from my thread:

Hey guys did thee weekend trying to grind Security firmware. i almost gave up after 12 hours and only one. but i rememberd that i did get the one at + medium settlement . so i tryed only mediums now and after 5 medium + or ++ i have 4 security firmware patch.

so guys try only + medium or ++ medium security settlements

hope that someone can confirm this otherwise i was just lucky. the ++ mediums are also easy to do solo ....

link: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=260857

 

[subhuman0068]

Easier but not really reliable. Mission rewards are random, and near as I can tell have no deterministic aspect to them that can be learned and used. I tried combing the mission boards of high-tech systems in particular, figuring that was a logical place to find firmware as a reward, and have found only one such mission in the entire time since 2.1 launched. That seems like exactly the kind of thinking you'd want to encourage and reward a player for.

Basically seems like we're just rolling dice every time we load the mission board. I'd love to be wrong about that, but so far the economy and government have no clear relationship to the mission rewards offered--or if they do, the potential pool of mats is so large that getting any firmware at all, let alone the specific one needed, is still effectively random for the player's purposes. It's great that they're there, but it's kind of like playing the lottery.

I agree with the principle behind all of this, and that it should be changed to be more reliable. With that being said, I got all the legacy firmware I needed so far from missions. I was unable to find the "Modified Embedded Firmware" however from a mission until I followed this clue from reddit - https://i.imgur.com/3304FBO.jpg

I thought to myself, "What system is close to the delivery point that would make sense?" So I looked around and settled on Yimakuapa as my best guess. I traveled over here a little earlier today and I have already found 2 missions for the embedded firmware, one on my very first check. It could naturally just be crazy RNG, but because of this I am not convinced fully yet that location/economy type doesn't make a difference.

Again, I do not support the current system for firmware, I am just attempting to help people find it with the current methods we have. I propose for a change that mission rewards for materials be based on subtypes of materials - such as chemicals, firmware, heat exchangers, focusing crystals, etc. When you finish the mission, a menu pops up letting you choose a material out of the category, perhaps limited in rarity by the missions combat/exploration/trading rank.

 

[MUYA]

Just copied this from my thread:

Hey guys did thee weekend trying to grind Security firmware. i almost gave up after 12 hours and only one. but i rememberd that i did get the one at + medium settlement . so i tryed only mediums now and after 5 medium + or ++ i have 4 security firmware patch.

so guys try only + medium or ++ medium security settlements

hope that someone can confirm this otherwise i was just lucky. the ++ mediums are also easy to do solo ....

link: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=260857

As I am still new to this surface thing (as even with launch of Horizons, I kept space side). Did you go in gung ho and kill all ships / defence? or looked for friendly bases? take out the SRV? sorry I am a noob to surface missions

What did you exactly do please, if you dont mind as I am trying to get "cracked xxx firmware" and the next grade modification requires this security firmware as well. Would most appreciate it thanks

 

[Cosmos]

They don't even respawn? Then base raids cannot be under any circumstances be the intended and primary method of obtaining them, as eventually you'd have exhausted all and then what? No more engineer upgrades that need the stuff?

Yeah this does strike mas as a little odd.

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As I am still new to this surface thing (as even with launch of Horizons, I kept space side). Did you go in gung ho and kill all ships / defence? or looked for friendly bases? take out the SRV? sorry I am a noob to surface missions

What did you exactly do please, if you dont mind as I am trying to get "cracked xxx firmware" and the next grade modification requires this security firmware as well. Would most appreciate it thanks

I've not done too many myself but there are some vids about it on you tube if you do a search

 

[MUYA]

I've not done too many myself but there are some vids about it on you tube if you do a search

I did CMDR I have managed to search Obsidian Ant's and Vindicators video. I guess I was just asking how specifically to get that loot from bases

Anyway, if any one could help great, if not nevermind

 

[subhuman0068]

As I am still new to this surface thing (as even with launch of Horizons, I kept space side). Did you go in gung ho and kill all ships / defence? or looked for friendly bases? take out the SRV? sorry I am a noob to surface missions

What did you exactly do please, if you dont mind as I am trying to get "cracked xxx firmware" and the next grade modification requires this security firmware as well. Would most appreciate it thanks

I can tell you for sure that the cracked firmware can come from low security bases, and these are very easy to deal with. Done with a bit of thought they require no fighting. Just remember that if you need to go in the red trespass area (which is very small for low security ones) that you can find the public access point(?) or some such to make it safe to enter. I haven't been to one yet where I needed to do this using smart use of thrusters and being able to scan through walls, though.

To be more thorough on what you do though, you find the data points in the settlement and scan them all within the time limit. There will usually be 3 or 4 throughout the base, so you need to search around. There is also a central data point that doesn't give you data materials but will give you a data claim worth around 500k usually. In these low security ones, SRV is all you need, just be aware that you can't land your ship too close to the base as the trespass zone for actual ships is much larger.

Single "+" low security are sufficient for the cracked firmware I believe, and they are tiny outposts that take no time to finish. You may want to also try some ++ and +++ outside of efficient farming though just to get a feel for them.

 

[Cosmos]

I did CMDR I have managed to search Obsidian Ant's and Vindicators video. I guess I was just asking how specifically to get that loot from bases

Anyway, if any one could help great, if not nevermind

You basically drive around in your SRV, scan the data points, when you've done them all you get a reward of data or engineering materials.. However, once you start you are on a timer, you have to do them all before the time is up or its reset.

 

[LameoveR]

is there are any list of settlements?
Like "XXXX System has ++LowSec and +HighSec settlements"?