Newcomer / Intro Signal Sources & pacifism.

So I'm just not interested in the combat in elite. Don't go bother making elitist points about that, I will ignore. I have my reasons, you have yours. So I still want to complete the engineering on my ship. I have gathered quite the amount of materials through mission rewards and SRVing, but I'm getting the sense there is some stuff that I'm just never going to encounter that way. So that leaves me (as I understand it) with signal sources. Fly until you find one, enter and maybe come across some materials salvage. I'm finding out today I'm just as likely to die if there's a ship there waiting for me.

So that's it, I'm going to have to play rebuy roulette until I have all the rare materials I need? Seems harsh. I mean, this game is called Elite: Harmless for a reason. Am I missing another way, another route to shiny rare mats?
 
I have not seen a pirate attack in a HGE since like forever.

So if you see "High Grade Emissions" - you should feel safe to drop in and collect the goodies.

In general I think the threat level posted with the signal sources is accurate these days - threat 0 means totally safe - threat 1 is a lowly pirate, etc

BTW - If you have a current mission then any drop into normal space (or any change in instance) can generate a pirate, especially mission-specific ones. I don't HGE-hunt with cargo so maybe even having cargo could enable a RNG pirate?
 
  • High Grade Emissions tend to have some of the rarest manufactured materials.
  • Encoded Emissions Are less likely to have the rarest manufactured materials but are quite likely to have a data point to scan.
  • Degraded Emissions have more common manufactured materials.
They are all Threat 0 so any trouble you find there will be random or related to you, there are other Threat 0 signal sources but these are the best ones to find materials.

The material traders are found in the contacts area at some stations and you can only trade within categories, they can be found using galaxy map filters but Inara is easier.
 
Yeah the hardest part is not going to be acquiring the materials, that can be done via HGE's and material traders, but there are certain engineers that require you hand over combat bonds/bounty vouchers to unlock them, and I think some of them probably unlock others (I forget who unlocks who and what their requirements are). So depending on what engineering you want done, combat may be required at some point.

That's honestly kinda the point of engineers really, they act as a sort of incentive to try out all the other aspects of the game to get the different perks for your ships.
 
You dont have to do it all on your own. You can make friends and help each other out.
Do a little Rares Teabagging for them, they let to loot in their CZ, Kill Steal in a Res or maybe even fly one of their Fighters.
 
You do know that a few of the engineers require proof of your combat prowess?

In any case, I assume you're after certain manufactured materials. Yes, HGEs (threat 0) are one way to go. Another is to become allied with one (or several) minor factions in a system and do missions for them. Missions on allied level often drop 3...5 high level materials as alternative rewards (manufactured or data) - and those don't need to be combat missions, I've seen these rewards also for tourist missions. If you want to go this way, keep in mind, though, that some missions wil have baddies after you (or your cargo), so you better git gud at breaking NPC interdiction attempts (can't help you there, as I usually have to slow down to help all of them interdict me - they often spawn only by the time I'm already approaching the target station otherwise...)
 
Engineers that require Combat of some kind to unlock:
  • Tod the Blaster: kill Wanted ships.
  • Mel Brandon (Colonia): kill Wanted ships.
  • Juri Ishmaak :kill ships in Combat Zones.
  • Petra Olmanova (Colonia): kill enough ships to reach Expert rating
  • Bris Dekker: kill ships in Combat zones
  • Broo Tarquin: kill enough ships to reach Competent rating
  • Lori Jameson: kill enough ships to reach Dangerous rating

Engineers that do not directly require combat to unlock but will be unavailable to you because they are chained to one of the above Engineers to discover them:
  • Selene Jean (needs Tod the Blaster)
  • Didi Vaterman (needs Selene Jean)
  • Bill Turner (needs Selene Jean)
  • The Sarge (needs Juri Ishmaak)

That's 11 out of 25 Engineers that you will never see, if you adhere to a strict zero-combat policy. You will not be able to min-max the engineering on your ship. For example, you will only be able to engineer your armour to G1, because only three Engineers do armour, and the two G5 armour Engineers (Selene Jean and Olmanova) are locked to you.

You can drastically reduce your self-imposed limitations by unlocking Tod.
 
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Filter boom state system on map. Most effective will be imperial. Find smallest system of such, maybe some brown dwarf - so you don't fly alot.
In such system search for "high grade emission" signals. That will be grade 5 mats. for imperials most likely "shields". For feds can be grade 4 + grade 5 mixed.
Once you topped 100 of this and can't pick any more, go find manufactured trader and exchange that material to anything else you need. Repeat.

Best to have super cruise assist + docking assist when u do that.
 
If you're not interested in combat, you can ignore most of the engineers,anyway, since a lot of them only provide improvements to make other ships go boom.
Oh also, mats traders will help, but you still need stuff to trade, so some collection is neccessary, and missions often provide something useful as part of payment on succesful completion.
 
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Out of curiosity, if you want to be a completely pacifist trader, how do you deal with npc pirate attacks?
 
Out of curiosity, if you want to be a completely pacifist trader, how do you deal with npc pirate attacks?

Right now, NPC interdictions are ridiculously easy to escape from. You can even escape without really trying, if you're lucky; you certainly don't usually need to try hard. And in the small percentage of cases where you can't avoid the interdiction (usually because you're idling and distracted by the system map or FSS and can;t get back to the main screen to avoid submitting in time), then escaping an NPC pirate is simply a matter of boosting and jumping away. So long as you have moderate shields and/or hull, you should be fine.

NPCs didn't always used to be that easy in the past, and they may get harder again in future updates.
 
Shock mines are a nice small hardpoint to have if you intend to usually run from interdiction. Equip them on a belly position or at least on the rear dorsal of the ship. Low heat and low-energy use. Cheap. Boost away, dump a mine, dump a second if they persist, high wake out while they are trying to re-acquire you.
 
Right now, NPC interdictions are ridiculously easy to escape from.
This. I can fly a T7 and still win nearly all of them. And at that mass lock factor and shield/hull strength I can shrug off an attack too, just submit to the interdiction by dropping out of supercruise then supercruise away again. Really the only exception to it are other players, so I try to remember to fly in single player mode when I'm in Deciat or whatever.
 
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