Where did all the Exquisite Focus Crystals go in 2.4?

Devari · Oct 22, 2017

I ran out of Exquisite Focus Crystals and figured I'd get some more from the best source I knew of, which was the Quince planetary scan missions. I didn't care that the missions themselves were nerfed, I just needed a few missions with the EFC as a reward so I could upgrade my ship's PD. I flew out to Quince in my new Dolphin, thinking I could either do planetary scan or passenger missions while I was there picking up some EFC.

The problem is, the Exquisite Focus Crystals have disappeared again. What's worse is that I still see annoying and useless mission rewards like Neofabric Insulation everywhere. Before anyone asks, yes, I'm Allied with all the minor factions at Quince. I also looked through the stations at Eravate (most of which I'm also Allied with) and again, lots of Neofabric Insulation and no EFCs anywhere.

I thought that FD fixed this issue but apparently they've "rebalanced" everything again with 2.4 and now EFC are impossible to find again. Is there another source of EFC other than mission rewards that I can use to get them? Or do I have to go back to finding maybe 1 EFC per month from the existing missions?

CMDR ANCALAGON · Oct 22, 2017

They are aware of the problem and per Dom, working on a fix. The issue seems to be that high ranking missions are spawning, but offering no mat rewards.

The only ones that I have actually found (just a few out of over a thousand missions checked) were for a passenger mission and courier mission to Colonia.

Devari · Oct 22, 2017

CMDR ANCALAGON said:
They are aware of the problem and per Dom, working on a fix. The issue seems to be that high ranking missions are spawning, but offering no mat rewards.

The only ones that I have actually found (just a few out of over a thousand missions checked) were for a passenger mission and courier mission to Colonia.

Thanks for letting me know that it's currently bugged, that saves me from going to dozens of different stations hoping to find a mission offering EFCs. I don't plan on traveling to Colonia (and certainly wouldn't do it just to get EFCs) so I guess my new Dolphin is going to sit in my hangar looking all sad with its underperforming stock PD until ECFs return as mission rewards again. I suppose I could put a Grade 4 PD mod on it in the meantime (my FGS currently has a Grade 4 mod PD due to exceptional secondaries on that roll that outperforms most of my Grade 5 PDs) but it's annoying that EFCs have disappeared again.

iFred · Oct 22, 2017

Beagle Point.

Afterglow [SecB] · Oct 23, 2017

the whole mission system is once again scrap. No missions with material for higher levels, no chain missions, kill missions for elite, which then bring a small cobra at threat 4. Unfortunately, the Dev's claim that everything would be okay. efc's are not to be found.

Wasp0 · Oct 23, 2017

iFred said:
Beagle Point.

Or

Hutton orbital

CMDR ANCALAGON · Oct 23, 2017

Impactor said:
the whole mission system is once again scrap. No missions with material for higher levels, no chain missions, kill missions for elite, which then bring a small cobra at threat 4. Unfortunately, the Dev's claim that everything would be okay. efc's are not to be found.

You are correct on the mat rewards for high ranking missions, though I am receiving chain missions, and the elite kill mission that I took yesterday ended up being an elite FDL, which was promptly joined by an FDS and Python. Perhaps all hope is not lost?

RidingTheFlow · Oct 23, 2017

Kill missions pretty much only ones which make reward worth the time for me lately only with Deadly and above. Otherwise its faster just to go to RES.
But even then, I've never got sensible chain mission. E.g. I've got kill mission for ~2mils, ok thats fair - then I get chain mission with ~30k, I mean, the hell?

Also I keep getting "irresistable in-flight mission offers" also with ~100k payments - I mean, ok, would be fine for beginner, but not for long time player.

And as I mentioned in other thread, the overall difficulty spectrum is rather lacking. Most of payout for Delivery missions seem to be cargo amount and distance based - but then they don't give any missions farther then one jump! Either one jump, or ~500 jumps to Colonia (with laughable reward, but yeah these are not intended as main payout yada yada). Nothing in between - e.g. 10 jumps delivery.
Only when I've seen increased payout in Delivery missions is when they happen to be in multi-star systems and you have to cruise for very long time for destination - this also bumps payout (though I think still not proportionate to time increases).

Probably tied to how "background sim" works - it supposed to find mission targets based on economy, status, etc - and always finds them at least one jump away. I am sure there is reasonable explanation based on inside mechanics - but it does not make it less sensible and enjoyable from player's perspective.