USS mission headaches - Unidentified Signal Source

[HalloweenWeed]

Hello, I am a N00b, using a T.Flight HOTAS. I have about 150K cr, and updated gear on my Sidewinder. I am playing Horizons but that doesn't matter. So I see these salvage missions, some of them 'go get the black box', or other items, and I see two for about 50K each, and take them. They are apparently referring to 'out in space' as opposed to planetside, as they don't reference that I need an SRV. They only tell me in x system, search the signal sources. So I go to that system, hit the scanner button, and look at the system map - no mission icon. I find the nav beacon, scan it, and nada. I go to the other bodies in the system, looking at the USS along the way, investigating the ones that don't say threat, weapons fire, or convoy something. Nada. I scan all the planets (the first system all said "unexplored), still no mission icon on the system map. What's left to do? So I travel back to the main star, still searching the USS. Then I travel to a space station, then back to the star, then to another space station, still no mission objective. What the heck am I doing wrong? So I give up and move to the next USS salvage mission in another system. Same thing happens, but planets not unexplored, and less stuff to travel to.

Now I have read that in the past you had to actually drop out of supercruise to investigate all the signal sources, and of course I see that would be a royal PITA. Apparently there was an update that enhanced the scanning of the signal sources (when targeting them, not when pressing the scanner button). I even tried dropping out on some of those weapons fire detected ones, and killing the pirate ship there, but still no mission objective. The mission objective still shows the present system, but the system map doesn't have a mission objective icon.


I have read that supercruising at slow speeds might help, tried that, didn't work well, that just increases the boredom, still missing both mission objectives. I have gotten to the point that I won't accept any more of these missions. I would appreciate tips please.

 

[Brother Sabathius]

For the Salvage missions, go to the target system, drop into the Nav Beacon and scan it. This will give you a mission update with the specific planet you need to fly to. Once close to that planet, begin a slow orbit and the mission objective signal will spawn.

 

[the100thmonkey]

If you've scanned the nav beacon and you're not getting the "mission critical message" notification and an update in your transactions tab, that's very odd behaviour indeed.

Are the systems both populated?

 

[Pville_Piper]

To scan the nav beacon you need to be within a few kilometers, target it and you will see an animation on your huds information that tells you that you are scanning it. It will complete in a few seconds and you will receive a message via your comms panel about where the location is.

Mission based USS will have blue lettering and will state they are mission based. When one spawns it will be on your nav panel list and you can lock it up from there if you don't see it. The USS can popup as soon as you fly near the planet or may take several minutes to popup. You need to cruise in SC near the planet it is located at. I usually fly 5-20 mn from the planet at slow speed, when it pops, if you don't see it, pull the throttle to minimum and select it from the targets on your nav list.

Once you drop into the USS, be prepared to fight for it as NPCs will spawn in and around the cargo. If you choose to fight, stay close to the cargo so you don't loose it. If one of the mission items is destroyed don't cancel the mission. Simply enter super cruise and fly near the planet and the USS will re-spawn in a few minutes.

If you are attacked in the USS and leave the USS there is a very high probability that you will be attacked again when you re-enter it. You can either rush in and scoop the item and leave or cancel the mission. Understand, if you defeat the attackers but the mission items are lost or destroyed you will have to re-enter super cruise to re-spawn the mission to complete it. And you have a very high probability that you will be attacked again when you re-enter it.

I hope this helps.

Good luck CMDR,

 

[HalloweenWeed]

To scan the nav beacon you need to be within a few kilometers, target it and you will see an animation on your huds information that tells you that you are scanning it. It will complete in a few seconds and you will receive a message via your comms panel about where the location is.

Mission based USS will have blue lettering and will state they are mission based. When one spawns it will be on your nav panel list and you can lock it up from there if you don't see it. The USS can popup as soon as you fly near the planet or may take several minutes to popup. You need to cruise in SC near the planet it is located at. I usually fly 5-20 mn from the planet at slow speed, when it pops, if you don't see it, pull the throttle to minimum and select it from the targets on your nav list.

Once you drop into the USS, be prepared to fight for it as NPCs will spawn in and around the cargo. If you choose to fight, stay close to the cargo so you don't loose it. If one of the mission items is destroyed don't cancel the mission. Simply enter super cruise and fly near the planet and the USS will re-spawn in a few minutes.

If you are attacked in the USS and leave the USS there is a very high probability that you will be attacked again when you re-enter it. You can either rush in and scoop the item and leave or cancel the mission. Understand, if you defeat the attackers but the mission items are lost or destroyed you will have to re-enter super cruise to re-spawn the mission to complete it. And you have a very high probability that you will be attacked again when you re-enter it.

I hope this helps.

Good luck CMDR,

Hey that sounds like you really know what you are talking about, and covering all the points, thank you very much. The thing is, there's scanning, and there's scanning. I think it was a folly to call them the same thing - scanning with the scanner, and scanning with the target selection. So it makes it confusing unless you specify which mode you are talking about.

Remembering what I did, I don't recall the targeting computer ever scanning the nav beacon, however I dropped out of SC to get close to it at least once. Now how close I got I can't remember, but I don't think it was "within a few kilometers." I thought within regular thrust range would be close enough. I will have to try that next time. However, on weeknights I just don't have the time for that type of mission, so it will be at least next weekend before I try one again (it will have timed out by the time I log back in).


And I'm still rather unclear about the equipment, does upgrading them help this stuff? I still have only the basic beginner scanner. And exactly what is the manual scan good for - except scanning for planetary bodies and stars?


Thanks to all of you for the replies too. Happy hunting.

 

[Esral Sa Nikto]

Once you get the hang of doing those salvage missions, they get to be fun and profitable. Just keep at it until you succeed. Be warned, the higher the mission reward, the more risk of getting killed.

 

[HalloweenWeed]

Well upon logging in just now, I found one of those missions still active. And was the one for the system I was in. So I went straight for the main star, BD+47 2112, locked on to the nav beacon, and pulled up to 1m (yes, not km) from it with it targeted. Even activated my D-Scanner. Nada. No mission icon in the system map. "Search the signal sources in the BD+47 2112 system to find them." Black box mission. ??? I don't get it.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Well upon logging in just now, I found one of those missions still active. And was the one for the system I was in. So I went straight for the main star, BD+47 2112, locked on to the nav beacon, and pulled up to 1m (yes, not km) from it with it targeted. Even activated my D-Scanner. Nada. No mission icon in the system map. "Search the signal sources in the BD+47 2112 system to find them." Black box mission. ??? I don't get it.

You need to drop out of supercruise on the nav beacon, and then target it, to be able to scan it for data. It'll take a few seconds.

Or, if you have a Discovery Scanner, you can fire that off and it'll do the same(ish) thing.
(Your basic discovery scanner may lack the range to check the entire system from the star)

You should receive a mission critical message, you can then look at your transaction panel (left side), and check for updated details.

It should say which planet you need to be around to get the USS to spawn.

For example, if it says "BD+47 2112 7a"
The USS is around planet 7, moon a.
Just zip over and keep around 5-10Mm from the planet at low supercruise speeds. It'll pop up eventually.

 

[HalloweenWeed]

You need to drop out of supercruise on the nav beacon, and then target it, to be able to scan it for data. It'll take a few seconds.

Or, if you have a Discovery Scanner, you can fire that off and it'll do the same(ish) thing.
(Your basic discovery scanner may lack the range to check the entire system from the star)

You should receive a mission critical message, you can then look at your transaction panel (left side), and check for updated details.

It should say which planet you need to be around to get the USS to spawn.

For example, if it says "BD+47 2112 7a"
The USS is around planet 7, moon a.
Just zip over and keep around 5-10Mm from the planet at low supercruise speeds. It'll pop up eventually.

The only way to get within 2m is drop out of SC, so I thought that was obvious. No this didn't work, like I said, I did that. I wrote EXACTLY what the text said (above). No planet designation. So maybe the black box is around the star? I will look there.

 

[irongut]

And I'm still rather unclear about the equipment, does upgrading them help this stuff? I still have only the basic beginner scanner. And exactly what is the manual scan good for - except scanning for planetary bodies and stars?

The basic scanner only finds bodies within 500ls of you, the Intermediate has a range of 1,000ls and the Advanced will find every body in the system with one scan. When you have a mission that requires you to find a USS you can use the Advanced Discovery Scanner instead of scanning the nav beacon, which is quicker.

When you know which body the mission USS is near and are looking for it you need to get quite close. Make sure the panel at the bottom left says the name of the body your USS is near, especially if it is a moon. You'll know when you find the mission USS because your ship will announce it and it will be blue when you select it. If you don't find the USS within 5 minutes try getting closer.

 

[sqzbox1]

When you dropped out of SC and pulled up to the beacon, did you target it? Using the targeting button? Don't try and watch the icon through your windscreen because it is not an automatic scan - look on your hud in the radar - you will see a white icon - that is what you need to target. Then you will see "scanning ..." on your screen and it will finish with a barely audible thrum (FD should make this louder IMO). Then you should receive "incoming message".

 

[HalloweenWeed]

The basic scanner only finds bodies within 500ls of you, the Intermediate has a range of 1,000ls and the Advanced will find every body in the system with one scan. When you have a mission that requires you to find a USS you can use the Advanced Discovery Scanner instead of scanning the nav beacon, which is quicker.

When you know which body the mission USS is near and are looking for it you need to get quite close. Make sure the panel at the bottom left says the name of the body your USS is near, especially if it is a moon. You'll know when you find the mission USS because your ship will announce it and it will be blue when you select it. If you don't find the USS within 5 minutes try getting closer.

Yes I understand what is supposed to happen, I did this in two or three missions before the two problem missions I last received. I seen the USS change to 'mission objective' and light blue semi-circle and text, while I approached in SC, and like you said I heard the mission objective stuff, and the mission was noted as updated (until I opened it). More on one of my previous missions below*. Perhaps I will get an ADS.

When you dropped out of SC and pulled up to the beacon, did you target it? Using the targeting button? Don't try and watch the icon through your windscreen because it is not an automatic scan - look on your hud in the radar - you will see a white icon - that is what you need to target. Then you will see "scanning ..." on your screen and it will finish with a barely audible thrum (FD should make this louder IMO). Then you should receive "incoming message".

I targeted it before dropping out of SC, and when I dropped out it remained targeted. I seen the oval shape of the Nav Beacon on my scanner. Pulled up to less than 2m, with the beacon directly ahead of me, then hit the D-Scanner (yes I am aware that probably didn't help). Still no mission update or mission icon in the system. No, I did not hear the scanner noises.

Then, after that, I was thinking maybe it was in orbit around the main star, so I started flying around it, and checking out USS. Found several battles in progress. Joined a couple and destroyed one or two pirates, getting bounty. Then one interdicted me (I allowed it), and quickly destroyed my ship. Came back, joined another battle, and got killed again. Each time I was killed again, I was returning to the system from a nearby system - actually more convenient than respawn at a station in same system, and each time I did that same routine with the Nav Beacon.


* In one of my USS missions, I found the item floating near a planet/moon surface. Selected the mission objective, and had a daym tough time trying to get it into the scoop, even at very slow speeds when I would get close the object seemed to avoid my scoop. So I thought maybe the object was falling toward the planet, and so if I waited long enough I would get behind it so it would be easier to follow. Did not work that way, still the object seemed to take evasive action when I got close, in random directions. Finally after about 1/2 hour I hit it with my hull and lost it. Went back into SC and in a very short time it appeared out in deeper space, and I had no trouble scooping it there. FYI.

 

[Kizbot]

I see whats going on here, You were in super cruise and targeted the nav beacon, then dropped out of super cruise and still had the nav beacon selected.

This is where the game is tripping you up, you dont have the beacon itself selected, only the general location the beacon is in.

After dropping from super cruise and flying close to the nav beacon location, you need to target the actual floating object 'nav beacon' either from the contacts tab on left hand panel or you may be able to see it. Its kinda small so can be difficult. Now you should find the ship will scan the beacon when you get within range.

Good luck with the rest of your missions cmdr

Also:
when scooping,
open scoop and then centre the object in the target on your lower left HUD.
accelerate gently towards it makings sure the box around the target stays blue. If it turns red you are going too fast and it will just bounce off or be destroyed.
If you bang the object it will start travelling in some direction and make it trickier to pick up.

Once you get out of your sidey and into a cobra/viper whatever, get a collector limpet controller and some limpets. Makes the salvage missions so much easier.

 

[HalloweenWeed]

I see whats going on here, You were in super cruise and targeted the nav beacon, then dropped out of super cruise and still had the nav beacon selected.

This is where the game is tripping you up, you dont have the beacon itself selected, only the general location the beacon is in.

After dropping from super cruise and flying close to the nav beacon location, you need to target the actual floating object 'nav beacon' either from the contacts tab on left hand panel or you may be able to see it. Its kinda small so can be difficult. Now you should find the ship will scan the beacon when you get within range. ...

Hey that could be my problem. You'd think the dev's would do better than that. I'll give that a shot next time. Thanx and Kudos to you.

Also: I am trying to save up for a Cobra MkIII, not buying until I have double the credits - for upgrades, then I have my sights set on an Asp Explorer. I am shooting for good multi-purpose ships with a little cargo space, several util mounts, great shields, durable hull, and retain good maneuverability. Not focused on pirate kills/bounties, so far, and I'm just not that good at combat flying to do that yet (experience should help greatly). Ultimately: A Fer De Lance or Python, depending on how important utility mounts are to me at the time, and what "C+S" stands for.

 

[HalloweenWeed]

BTW I just got about 6 ea. of Proto light alloys and Proto Radiolic Alloys when I was searching for these yesterday.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Don't get ahead of yourself.

Cobra MkIII is an excellent ship, she'll do you well for the foreseeable future!

I've never been a fan of the Asp, but I did have one for a while, made a pretty good smuggler ship back in the day.

For true multirole, the Python is king.
It can do anything, land anywhere, and fully A rated and modified, is virtually invincible for PvE.
Does cost alot though, 125m credits minimum. Plus insurance (6-7m)

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Sounds like it.. yes, this business of scan (active) and scan (passive) is not always clear.
Active scanning means triggering your Discovery Scanner, which is good for finding objects in a system, like planets and asteroids.
Passive scanning is what happens when you lock on to something and just wait, and it's this passive scan of the Nav beacon that needs to be done to advance these kinds of missions.

Just be warned: In many cases, these sort of recovery missions will either bring hostile ships bound and determined to keep you from collecting whatever it is you're looking for, or System Authority ships that will target and destroy what you're trying to salvage, so be ready to grab and run when you find what you're looking for in these missions. If you're not really good at mid-speed scoop-and-go, a Collector Limpet can be a blessing for these.

Just be sure to have either a destination system already ready to low wake to, or another system ready to high-wake to (frameshift jump) once you find what you're after.

 

[Esral Sa Nikto]

Also: I am trying to save up for a Cobra MkIII, not buying until I have double the credits - for upgrades, then I have my sights set on an Asp Explorer. I am shooting for good multi-purpose ships with a little cargo space, several util mounts, great shields, durable hull, and retain good maneuverability. Not focused on pirate kills/bounties, so far, and I'm just not that good at combat flying to do that yet (experience should help greatly). Ultimately: A Fer De Lance or Python, depending on how important utility mounts are to me at the time, and what "C+S" stands for.

Both the Cobra M3 and the AspX are great multi purpose ships. I own both, and enjoy flying either.

The AspX has a great rep for smuggling and exploring. A fair amount of cargo space, with enough mounts and modules to switch roles quickly.

The Cobra is fun to fly, fast, agile, a good fighter if fitted correctly. Did I mention it's fast? It can run, fight, and cheap enough if you have to rebuy. I do lots of missions, including salvage, with it.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Sounds like it.. yes, this business of scan (active) and scan (passive) is not always clear.
Active scanning means triggering your Discovery Scanner, which is good for finding objects in a system, like planets and asteroids.
Passive scanning is what happens when you lock on to something and just wait, and it's this passive scan of the Nav beacon that needs to be done to advance these kinds of missions.

Just be warned: In many cases, these sort of recovery missions will either bring hostile ships bound and determined to keep you from collecting whatever it is you're looking for, or System Authority ships that will target and destroy what you're trying to salvage, so be ready to grab and run when you find what you're looking for in these missions. If you're not really good at mid-speed scoop-and-go, a Collector Limpet can be a blessing for these.

Just be sure to have either a destination system already ready to low wake to, or another system ready to high-wake to (frameshift jump) once you find what you're after.

Excellent advice, but!

For salvage missions, your cargo is often floating amongst the ship wreck.
Your limpets will likely suicide on the debris, so it's best to fly in, clear the debris with your shields(aka, ram it, but don't hit the cargo), and deploy far more collectors than you need, from directly above. Lol
Don't target any cargo either, or your limpets will only collect that 1 item then expire.
Remember to open your hatch for limpets to drop off goodies. And close it again when you need to go.

 

[Kizbot]

Excellent advice, but!

For salvage missions, your cargo is often floating amongst the ship wreck.
Your limpets will likely suicide on the debris, so it's best to fly in, clear the debris with your shields(aka, ram it, but don't hit the cargo), and deploy far more collectors than you need, from directly above. Lol
Don't target any cargo either, or your limpets will only collect that 1 item then expire.
Remember to open your hatch for limpets to drop off goodies. And close it again when you need to go.

This is true, I find it fun to shoot the debris pieces away with my lasers!