Engineers Very rare planet materials too hard to find?

ulpian

ulpian
Before calling me another whiner, please, hear me out.

I was very optimistic for the launch of 2.1, I liked the idea about spending some time to find required loot. My priority was the T5 increased FSD range. In the beginnig everything felt allright, I scanned some wakes and got the data, then went to haz res and killed those nasty miners to gain those chemical things. Last thing on the chcecklist was polonium. I thought it's gonna be easiest part, I'll look at some charts, spend 2 hours driving srv and find at least 6-8 units. I landed on the first planet - nothing after 1 hour. Went to second - same thing after another hour. Then I thoght - ok, those were planet with major reserves, maybe I should try pristine one? So I choosed HR 6421, planet 3, MR. Landed on the bottom of a huge crater and started driving. I found a lot of metallic outcrop (the better ones), over 150, but non of them contained polonium. Metallic meteorites were also present, I met about 30 of them, but they mostly carried iron and nickel! I'm not even mentioning other mineral sources, there were plenty of them.

So after over 6 hours, I'm still with nothing... [blah] And I need 2 polonium just for one try! I'm doing something wrong? Because right now I feel like those guys:
[video=youtube;g4OBUupicWg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4OBUupicWg[/video]
 

Wilhelm Zara

W
I agree with you 100% ... it takes WAY too long even for a dedicated player. I have still yet to find enough for even one FD boost, and Ive been playing Horizons since it came out.
 

Sapient6

S
ulpian said:
I found a lot of metallic outcrop (the better ones), over 150, but non of them contained polonium.
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If you're looking only for polonium then I would not recommend stopping at Outcrops, "the better ones" or otherwise. They can drop polonium, sure, but as far as I've been able to tell they're extremely unlikely to.

ulpian said:
Metallic meteorites were also present, I met about 30 of them, but they mostly carried iron and nickel! I'm not even mentioning other mineral sources, there were plenty of them.
Click to expand...

That sounds like bad luck, but not hugely bad luck. I've had better luck getting polonium from them, but I still have to pop a lot of meteorites for just a single rock.

I'd say that if you don't stop for anything but metallic meteorites then you'll find way more meteorites in the same amount of time, and that will ultimately greatly improve your chances of finding polonium. I happen to think polonium is a bit too rare, but it's definitely not so rare that you shouldn't be able to get a couple inside of an hour.
 

Bartizan

Bartizan
I have been very active planet side since Horizons and have amassed many materials to point of dumping quantities of commons to make room for more and I have NEVER found polonium....not even once. I have enough mats to perform many Mid level jump boosts. In fact I find those mats quite often, but NEVER polonium. It vexes me greatly.
 

ulpian

ulpian
Sapient6 said:
If you're looking only for polonium then I would not recommend stopping at Outcrops, "the better ones" or otherwise. They can drop polonium, sure, but as far as I've been able to tell they're extremely unlikely to.



That sounds like bad luck, but not hugely bad luck. I've had better luck getting polonium from them, but I still have to pop a lot of meteorites for just a single rock.

I'd say that if you don't stop for anything but metallic meteorites then you'll find way more meteorites in the same amount of time, and that will ultimately greatly improve your chances of finding polonium. I happen to think polonium is a bit too rare, but it's definitely not so rare that you shouldn't be able to get a couple inside of an hour.
Click to expand...

Thanks for hint, I;ll try this method on another planet.
 

Abil Midena

Abil Midena
I do wish the 'very rare' mats were slightly less 'very rare'. It took me about 4 hrs on two planets where I saw others had found selenium and yttrium, to find 2 selenium and 3 yttrium. I had never found either before, and still had a few hundred mats (close to the old limit).

I was specifically looking for those, although I did shoot other sources to see what they spewed. I did learn more about the SRV scanner though, in that distinguishing between 1/2/3 low bars tells you about what you're likely to find.

I don't even want to think about polonium. I have NEVER seen that on a planet. I did see it once in a mission reward, as was like, hmm, I'm pretty sure that's rare, but I don't need it right now. Stupid. Now I need it.
 

Robin of Spiritwood

Robin of Spiritwood
Hi,
I found Polonium in the Vaka system. Look for a settlement named White Point in your panel, fly there and land on the surface close by. There are metallic meteorites there with Vanadium, Nickel, Molybdenum and Polonium.
 

ulpian

ulpian
Robin of Spiritwood said:
Hi,
I found Polonium in the Vaka system. Look for a settlement named White Point in your panel, fly there and land on the surface close by. There are metallic meteorites there with Vanadium, Nickel, Molybdenum and Polonium.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid those are not persistent, but still, it's a valuable information - another planet with polonium.

So I've change planet and guess what... In another 2 hours I've found 4 polonium :O It looks like all I needed to do was to cry on a forum a little bit.
 

Maxmilian Czhilli

Maxmilian Czhilli
Finding very rare materials is difficult but there is skill involved. And yes Polonium seems to be ultra rare. Before 2.1 and the raised limit on materials I was throwing Yttrium away but only found 10 Polonium.

Some tips (for if you know the planet has the material):

Concentrate on metallic meteorites. Mesosiderites often have goodies too but I found polonium in a mesosiderite only once.

Location does seem to matter. On the planet where I found most Polonium the low flat plains yielded nothing, I found it all in the highlands above the frost line.

I'm pretty sure some planets are just better than others. I found planets where I was tripping over very rares. Sadly not one that yielded polonium.

The most important skill is in using the scanner. Learn to recognise not just what the signals look like but how they sound. The signals from bronzite chondrites and outcrops will often mask the signals of metallic meteorites and mesosiderites. Listen really carefully for any hint of a good signal. If the scanner is busy with junk signals it's often worth stopping the engines so you can hear better in case there is something good hidden behind the mess. Visuals are useful too: a ragged edged signal is often two different kinds overlaid, a broad signal with varying brightness is usually various overlapping signals. Chase down any hint of a good signal and drop everything for just the chance of a metallic meteorite. I tend to go for straight line prospecting but always zig-zag to improve my scanning arc and coverage - this helps because stuff sometimes spawns in behind and slightly to the side of you as you travel.

Materials prospecting is a surprisingly nuanced art. I quite enjoy it, although I can see how it isn't every bodies cup of tea. But you can improve at it. Now I can look and listen at a jumbled scanner and have a pretty good idea of what stuff is out there and how far away it all is. I reckon I can find what I'm looking for two or three times as fast as I could a couple of months ago. Last time I went looking for Polonium I found two in about forty five minutes together with way more Niobium and Arsenic than I currently need.
 
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Eera

Eera
Just because of very rare materials are just an incense of losing time, loosing materials on RNG should be impossible !
 

Dommarraa

Dommarraa
You were on a Polonium Planet werent you ?
So many people complaining when they have never looked at one of the many material references available.

Consensus based on the actual scientific results are that it doesnt make a great deal of difference where on a suitable planet you look. Flat plains end up being the best as you can whizz about and collect quicker.
If there is nothing of value about, Re-log, you get a new set of local signal sources.
 

ulpian

ulpian
Yes, I was on a polonium planet, just like I posted on the very beginnig of the topic.

Well, I have 6 now. Time to test how lucky I am...
 

Heater

Heater
Just a note..... last night while I was mining, I noticed that a lot of the materials now come loose when the fragments brake off, and the collectors pick them up also....
and the limit was increased from 300 to 600!
 

Red Anders

Red Anders
Dommarraa said:
You were on a Polonium Planet werent you ?
So many people complaining when they have never looked at one of the many material references available.

Consensus based on the actual scientific results are that it doesnt make a great deal of difference where on a suitable planet you look. Flat plains end up being the best as you can whizz about and collect quicker.
If there is nothing of value about, Re-log, you get a new set of local signal sources.
Click to expand...

I've got a total of 5 units of lolonium in my materials store - that's not since 2.1 because I haven't played since then (not a ragequit or anything, just having a week off) it's since Horizons launched. Anbd yeah that is from checking polonium planets from one the prospector's spreadsheets, as well as driving around numerous unexplored planets in new discovery systems during a 25k ly exploration trip and shooting rocks on every one until that planet's very rare element revealed itself. Compared to other very rare elements, it's incredibly rare - I've found enough ytrium and tellurium to build an anaconda from in the same amount of time.

Having said that, it should be rare, the most stable isotope of polonium has a half life of around 73 years from memory.
 

ulpian

ulpian
Fortunately I got 40% increase on my first try. I think I leave that and save polonium for upgrading some other ships. Now I have 50ly jump range with anaconda and I'm happy with that.

I took my about 12-14 hours to get that upgrade - but 7 hours were spend to search for polonium only. Also, on the way I collected many other rare and very rare materials, which can be useful later on. So that's the thing to consider - is it too long or maybe just right? I think I may change my mind on this subject.
 
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