USS spawn rate

[Bortas]

Time to go HGE-farming again... makes me wondering if there's any difference in USS spawn rates between different systems.

To farm HGEs we have to pray to RNGeesus 2 times... first to get a USS spawned, second for it to be a HGE. So obviously the higher the USS spawn rate, the sooner we can find what we are looking for. I know where to look for what, but I wasn't yet able to determine how to find a system with decent spawn rates for USS in general. I was thinking about population, but that doesn't seem to make a difference. I was looking for Core Dynamic Composites yesterday in Sol, which is probably the highest pop system in existence, but it didn't seem to spawn any more USS than any low pop system with just a few million citizens.

Any idea, what to look for? Or is there simply no difference?

Thanks.

 

[Darth Llama]

You probably know this already.. but not sure..

The best method I have found for HGE's is the old '1000+ KM from the main star and do circles' method.

I jump into the system, fly out into 'deep space' and make sure I'm 1000-1200 km from the main star. Once I hit 1k, I slow my cruise speed to about 15% and fly out until I get past 1200 (or so, feel free to go out to 1400 or whatever) and then I flip around and cruise slowly back toward the main star. At 1k I flip again.. rinse repeat.

Now I'm not going to say it spawns a ton of HGE's.. I don't think any method does, but it seems the most reliable for me. It's also entirely possible that I would spawn just as many by flying blindly in any direction and the whole thing is in my head.

Either way, this technique of farming signal sources is something that needs to be done away with. It's mind numbingly boring.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Population is meant to make a difference.

 

[Jmanis]

You probably know this already.. but not sure..

The best method I have found for HGE's is the old '1000+ KM from the main star and do circles' method.

I jump into the system, fly out into 'deep space' and make sure I'm 1000-1200 km from the main star. Once I hit 1k, I slow my cruise speed to about 15% and fly out until I get past 1200 (or so, feel free to go out to 1400 or whatever) and then I flip around and cruise slowly back toward the main star. At 1k I flip again.. rinse repeat.

Now I'm not going to say it spawns a ton of HGE's.. I don't think any method does, but it seems the most reliable for me. It's also entirely possible that I would spawn just as many by flying blindly in any direction and the whole thing is in my head.

Either way, this technique of farming signal sources is something that needs to be done away with. It's mind numbingly boring.

Don't you mean 1000ls?

 

[777Driver]

Don't you mean 1000ls?

1000km would be a bit toasty. @op - Am in the same situation, tried Sol, no luck. It is supposed to be high population systems in boom state, cruise around deep space 1000LS from either stars pole, Sol should be perfect for hunting.

 

[Bortas]

1000km would be a bit toasty. @op - Am in the same situation, tried Sol, no luck. It is supposed to be high population systems in boom state, cruise around deep space 1000LS from either stars pole, Sol should be perfect for hunting.

Currently looking for proto heat radiators... what's making things worse is that HGEs in boom state systems can spawn proto heat radiators, proto light alloys and proto radiologic alloys... so even if you find a HGE chances are there'll be something else in them.

I'm currently farming in a rather low pop system with 10 million or so inhabitants and getting a reasonable spawn rate for USS. Personally Ive come to the conclusion that population doesn't make any difference.

 

[Aashenfox]

Population makes a big difference to the overall spawn rate of 'all' USSes, 10m is high population, that's why the rate is still ok, the increase definitely seems to tail off the higher you get (so there's a bigger difference between 10k and 10m, than there is between 10m and 10bn), and also boom states generate more USSes (I believe).

For PHRs, you want Sol when it's in boom (which is almost all the time).

 

[Bortas]

For PHRs, you want Sol when it's in boom (which is almost all the time).

Not so sure about that... Sol is a federal system, so you will get Core Dynamics composites and propriatary composites mixed in. Currently in an independent systen to exclude those unwanted matsand getting pretty good results.

Concerning the population... last week I was looking for imperial shielding and on my way to Achenar I stumbled over a very small system (maybe 100k pop)... a HGE with IS spawned in my way around the sun, so I decided to stay there for a wiele... and guess what... I found tons of USS there with plenty of imperial shielding. I was under the impression that population SHOULD make a difference... but the longer I'm looking into it the more I doubt that.

 

[Aashenfox]

Not so sure about that... Sol is a federal system, so you will get Core Dynamics composites and propriatary composites mixed in. Currently in an independent systen to exclude those unwanted matsand getting pretty good results.

Concerning the population... last week I was looking for imperial shielding and on my way to Achenar I stumbled over a very small system (maybe 100k pop)... a HGE with IS spawned in my way around the sun, so I decided to stay there for a wiele... and guess what... I found tons of USS there with plenty of imperial shielding. I was under the impression that population SHOULD make a difference... but the longer I'm looking into it the more I doubt that.

There certainly are exceptions to the rule, but as a rule it is reliable. Think of it this way...

If you go to a high pop system, you'll get plenty of USSes. If you go to a low pop system you MIGHT get lots of USSes.

As for Sol, YES, I know exactly what I'm saying, YES, I know there is a small chance of CDCs, but I'm telling you, the rate of USSes will mean you are getting PHRs far faster than any other system, and who doesn't want the occasional CDC? Seriously though, Sol will give you an HGE every 6 USSes, and of those HGEs, 3 out of 5 will contain PHRs.

You may or may not have read various posts I've made on this subject, but I consider myself a leading expert on farming HGEs. Trust me, as one trekker to another.

 

[Darth Llama]

Don't you mean 1000ls?

Yes, I did.. my bad. [big grin]

For PHRs, you want Sol when it's in boom (which is almost all the time).

This. I get all my PHR from Sol. Yes, you get other stuff mixed in, but I find that to be negated by the fact that HGE's seem to spawn more frequently there.

I use the method outlined earlier in Sol and Proto Heat Radiators haven't been an issue for me. It's still boring, it still sucks.. but it works.

 

[khaos526]

Actually Beta Hydri is usually best for Core Dynamic Composites when in boom. But I find HGE's in low pop systems too and don't find them often in high pop systems.

Boom and Corporate and even retreat seem to have the higher chance, but that may not always be the case. And as for distances? I usually have a set range up to 20,000 ls from the main star. I have the same luck with HGE's at 16,000 ls as I do with finding them at 100 ls. Seems the distances aren't really a good indicator anymore. I recently was finding HGE's 85,000 ls in Deep Space heading to a station 200,000 ls away.

The state seems to be the most important factor and especially for Core Dynamic Composites or Imperial Shielding, the system ownership if it's Fed or Empire. But really, there's not magic cheat sheet it seems, but for Core Dynamic Composites, I just have always found Beta Hydri better than Sol which in Boom...

 

[777Driver]

After unsuccessfully hunting in Sol, I decided to go sightseeing. Headed to Skardee to check out the hot planet, within 10 minutes I came across 2 HGE's, this system has a population of 5000

 

[Franc Kaos]

...
Either way, this technique of farming signal sources is something that needs to be done away with. It's mind numbingly boring.

Agreed, it would be nice to have various ways of accruing them; farming, trading (at every station), missions, buying and selling for credits (to the traders if player 2 player is a no no), crash sites.

Mind you, they could probably cut half the materials out of the game without losing anything, like six different types of heat reducing doohickeys... for real?