Use exploration data to gain rep with Engineers and unlock higher tiers?

WR3ND · May 28, 2016

Is that a thing yet?

I have several if not 10s of millions in credits sitting in exploration data that I haven't cashed in yet.

Word on the street is that we'll be able to use exploration data to gain rep with Engineers other than just the "craft and trash" mechanic.

I'd like to get the highest tier FSD mod that I can for my Vulture exploration ship before heading out on the Crab Nebula Expedition of 3302. It's either that or strip it down to a shriveled husk of its former glory, something I'd rather not do, especially with the AI being a bit more competent now.

Kalpa · May 28, 2016

Possible for at least the Farseer fellow, see here https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=255110&p=3965063&viewfull=1#post3965063

WR3ND · May 28, 2016

Kalpa said:
Possible for at least the Farseer fellow, see here https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=255110&p=3965063&viewfull=1#post3965063

Nice! Thanks for your efforts.

I'm at Elvira's base and have access to mods unlocked there already, so I'll test and see if it's similar.

goemon · May 28, 2016

WR3ND said:
Nice! Thanks for your efforts.

I'm at Elvira's base and have access to mods unlocked there already, so I'll test and see if it's similar.

already tested with elvira by others; from the numbers i saw it is similar to getting allied with a minor faction (6-7 mio for level 5 access).

you may have to logg off and on to see the cartographics panel after making initially contact with the engineer.

WR3ND · May 28, 2016

goemon said:
already tested with elvira by others; from the numbers i saw it is similar to getting allied with a minor faction (6-7 mio for level 5 access).

you may have to logg off and on to see the cartographics panel after making initially contact with the engineer.

Thanks, and yeah, it seems to function similarly. I was expecting maybe a bit more in-game description of this sort of thing when it was implemented.

I had to log out to the main menu and then back in again to see the progress with Elvira improve occasionally too, it seems.

I sold around 10 million credits worth of data and have just a bit left to go to unlock tier 5 with her, so I'll do a quick trek out into the black and back again after stopping off at a couple of places.

Knock on wood, I should be good to go for the Crab Nebula Expedition.

Thanks for the pointers.

Witzo · May 31, 2016

Have I understood correctly that Farseer and Martook give rep in exchange for exploration data?
I expect to arrive back from Distant Worlds halfway in August, bearing great gifts of exploration discoveries.

MattG · May 31, 2016

Farseer does, certainly. You'll need to give her meta-alloys first though (I don't think Universal Cartographics appears until you do, and you might need to relog after that). Assuming the other engineer accepts data as well, you'll still need to do the pre-req with them before you get the benefit of selling the data.

goemon · May 31, 2016

Witzo said:
Have I understood correctly that Farseer and Martook give rep in exchange for exploration data?
I expect to arrive back from Distant Worlds halfway in August, bearing great gifts of exploration discoveries.

martuk does, too.

till now, i haven't found another engineer who accepts exploration data.

goemon · May 31, 2016

WR3ND said:
Thanks, and yeah, it seems to function similarly. I was expecting maybe a bit more in-game description of this sort of thing when it was implemented.

i just saw it yesterday with the dweller. the text engineer says, when you go into workshop right below your access level perventage is that hint.

Witzo · Jun 8, 2016

MattG said:
Farseer does, certainly. You'll need to give her meta-alloys first though (I don't think Universal Cartographics appears until you do, and you might need to relog after that). Assuming the other engineer accepts data as well, you'll still need to do the pre-req with them before you get the benefit of selling the data.

Thanks! So I will have to pirate meta alloys first to be able to hand in my exploration data to Farseer?
I would rather not take any chances around inhabited space while carrying six months of data. I think I'm better of delivering my data immediately for Alliance rep somewhere.

goemon · Jun 8, 2016

Witzo said:
Thanks! So I will have to pirate meta alloys first to be able to hand in my exploration data to Farseer?
I would rather not take any chances around inhabited space while carrying six months of data. I think I'm better of delivering my data immediately for Alliance rep somewhere.

no, atm. you can buy a meta-alloy at darnielles progress in maia - and at some point "soon", you'll have to harvest a barnacle for it. check out the barnacle-thread for this.

bitstorm · Jun 8, 2016

Kalpa said:
Possible for at least the Farseer fellow, see here https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=255110&p=3965063&viewfull=1#post3965063

Yeah I can confirm this seems to be the case.

Last night at 2% rep, sold a bunch of exploration data, of course nothing changed.

But logging off and back on rep jumped to 7%.

MattG · Jun 8, 2016

Witzo said:
Thanks! So I will have to pirate meta alloys first to be able to hand in my exploration data to Farseer?
I would rather not take any chances around inhabited space while carrying six months of data. I think I'm better of delivering my data immediately for Alliance rep somewhere.

goemon said:
no, atm. you can buy a meta-alloy at darnielles progress in maia - and at some point "soon", you'll have to harvest a barnacle for it. check out the barnacle-thread for this.

As goemon says, you can buy meta-alloys currently. If that's "fixed" by the time you're back, then consider using Martuk instead who requires 3 soontill relics to unlock - which you can buy in Ngurii. From memory, I think the station there was also semi-decent for outfitting so you could buy better shields for the handful on jumps back to Martuk's system.

goemon · Jun 8, 2016

MattG said:
As goemon says, you can buy meta-alloys currently. If that's "fixed" by the time you're back, then consider using Martuk instead who requires 3 soontill relics to unlock - which you can buy in Ngurii. From memory, I think the station there was also semi-decent for outfitting so you could buy better shields for the handful on jumps back to Martuk's system.

there is also a very safe return-system close to ngurii: HR5349, with some decent outfitting (i refitted my AspE there for return).

Witzo · Jun 8, 2016

goemon said:
no, atm. you can buy a meta-alloy at darnielles progress in maia - and at some point "soon", you'll have to harvest a barnacle for it. check out the barnacle-thread for this.

MattG said:
As goemon says, you can buy meta-alloys currently. If that's "fixed" by the time you're back, then consider using Martuk instead who requires 3 soontill relics to unlock - which you can buy in Ngurii. From memory, I think the station there was also semi-decent for outfitting so you could buy better shields for the handful on jumps back to Martuk's system.

goemon said:
there is also a very safe return-system close to ngurii: HR5349, with some decent outfitting (i refitted my AspE there for return).

Thanks, I will refer to this in about one and a half month when I return.
Good to know that I can use my Distant Worlds data loot for Engineers rep!

marx · Jun 8, 2016

It's also possible to gain rep with Professor Palin by selling him cartography data. Granted, he only does FSD upgrades till tier 3, but he does do thruster upgrades all the way to tier 5 - and those might be handy for planetary landings.
Also, he offers the corrosion-resistant cargo racks (= UA-proof) via outfitting, so as long as you have his invite, you can get those.

goemon · Jun 8, 2016

marx said:
It's also possible to gain rep with Professor Palin by selling him cartography data. Granted, he only does FSD upgrades till tier 3, but he does do thruster upgrades all the way to tier 5 - and those might be handy for planetary landings.
Also, he offers the corrosion-resistant cargo racks (= UA-proof) via outfitting, so as long as you have his invite, you can get those.

only problem is, you will receive invitation from palin from marco qwent, and to qwent you'll only have access via mission gameplay, which i wouldn't recommend with a lot of exploration data onboard.

marx · Jun 8, 2016

Oh yeah, good point. Technically, you could buy those 25 modular terminals from other players, but I think that would be difficult to do.
Plus you also need a Sirius permit, if you don't have one already. You could also spend your exploration data to get the reputation for that, as well as the minor faction reps required for some other engineers.

goemon · Jun 8, 2016

marx said:
Oh yeah, good point. Technically, you could buy those 25 modular terminals from other players, but I think that would be difficult to do.
Plus you also need a Sirius permit, if you don't have one already. You could also spend your exploration data to get the reputation for that, as well as the minor faction reps required for some other engineers.

i actually think, that many of the explorer friendly player groups like SEPP or canonn will happily escort an explorer back in, provide soontic relicts and/or modular terminals ... and if you want to give them something back, you can simply sell some millions of exploration data at one of their stations (it is a heavy hitter in terms of influence).

so, "best way with friends" would probably be:
- go to safe harbour, re-outfit
- meet with explorer friendly group members, who give you soontill relicts and modular terminals
- go to martuuk, and gain level access 5. you will get an invitation of marco qwent in this process.
- go to a station owned by sirius coopertaion, and sell explo data till you have the sirius permit
- go to sirius and unlock marco qwent. now comes the tricky part: you need to gain level 3 access with him to get invited to palin. either you do trade runs, or again - you group up, and people drop you palladium/painite/rares, which you can sell at qwents base till you have L3 access
- go into the shell and farm unknown fragments. or, if you have a group, let them provide you with UA...
- go to palin, unlock and sell explo data for L5 access
- pick up meta alloys in maia
- go to farseer and unlock.

@OP please write me a pm when you come back and want to do something like this. it sounds like amazing fun. would love to give a hand.

WR3ND · Jun 8, 2016

goemon said:
...

@OP please write me a pm when you come back and want to do something like this. it sounds like amazing fun. would love to give a hand.

After the CNE? I already sold my data for the time being, but I'll be sure to have a fair amount more. I made it to Pioneer selling data to Elvira.

And I'm now 8% into it, so maybe I'll make it pretty close to Elite by the time I get back again.

This kind of team work does sound like a bit of fun.

I tend to be more of a loner in game most of the time, but had thought of perhaps seeing if an exploration/research player faction could be set up closer to where I tend to hang out when I'm near the bubble, around 33 Bootis. I'm not much into player and group politics though, so I was thinking it would be more of a free form cooperative that wouldn't be politically aligned to any of the major factions, and it would give me more incentive to play the BGS stuff in the game too without trying to take over the galaxy.

I have a BOINC team which I'm really the only active member of called the Guild of Scientific Philosophers to dump my computer's work score into, but thought that might be a fitting name for a player faction like the one I had in mind.

Sorry for going a bit off topic. Just some stuff I had been thinking about that I was thinking other generally loner type exploration people might be interested in.