When shall we take time to loot & craft ?

[Lotte]

Hello,

When is it the good time to loot & craft during a mission ?
we always feel under the time pression so... we dont loot.... so we cannot craft.

And I suppose that some crafting should help a lot.

What are we doing wrong ?
we are just a bunch of noob level 5 for the moment.

[Qwazzy]

Some objectives are not timed, so you can take it easy. For example you might finish the objective and have the ability to leave, but there's no timer for the Reclaimer ship to come destroy you. So as long as you keep any enemies at bay you can take your time, picking up any loot you've found or blown out of an enemy ship.

Warping into a new area also allows this often, as enemies won't be near your warp-in point so you can take some time to clean up before moving onto the objective. Some areas have derelict wrecks and stations you can visit and loot at the start of an objective without any enemies bothering you.

And lastly, you can organize your loot during a void tunnel and craft things. You won't be able to repair the hull from the outside though, and there's a risk of being interdicted (yanked out of void by an enemy ship you have to destroy to escape).

[HunterAP]

It depends on how many are in your crew...

If you have 4 people, one player should be able to keep up with loot and crafting while engaged in hostilities without too much difficulty. (Even on the Destroyer)

With 3 people, you have to be a bit more selective. One player should be dedicated to handling the loot scoop when it gets full, taking care of repairs and ammo/power cells. They can pop into a turret when needed.

With 2 people, it gets a lot more tricky. However, you can cheat a bit... The pilot can go into cruise mode and jump out of their seat to clear the loot scoop. If you have AI turrets, then the 2nd player can do this instead.

Solo... I don't recommend soloing this game, but it can be done. AI turrets and cruise mode are your friend. You can also hide the ship behind large debris objects or space stations.

A couple of tricks...
- You can always unload the loot scoop and drop items on the floor if you're in a rush.
- Get the mod that lets you deconstruct everything. Move your loot scoop so that it's close to storage.
- Pilot can use cruise mode ('z' key by default) and jump out of their chair for a few seconds.

[Darkbolt{AWG}]

if you have side quests then go do those and loot the living hell out of everything. other wise i just loot and craft all the time.

[The Sentient Void]

As someone who plays both solo and with a crew of up-to 4, basically anytime you're not getting shot at, or are not about to be shot at, is a good time to loot and craft.

If you want to be extra, and if you have the hands and or power, you can activate the scoop to pickup items mid fight. This is regular practice for my crew. En Route to an item I'll Signal whoever is the engineer to turn on the scoop(often overdrawing us on the reactor but that's fine if it's only for a little bit). When in position I'll activate both my shield power and a boost. The pilot shield ability will soak damage while we're not maneuvering that fast. The boost is so I can strafe(E or Q depending on where your scoop is on the ship) towards the item. Flying towards the item in this way usually helps the scoop pick it up faster.

When all loot is picked up I signal to the engineer that they're clear to turn off the scoop again.

I do this solo too, but only if I have enough power to just keep the scoop on 24/7

[shadain597]

As others mentioned, the start of most missions is an excellent time to sort loot, upgrade stuff, repair, and seek out side objectives for a bit more loot. As long as you avoid combat, the Reclaimer countdown won't start. Sometimes the end of the mission works too, if you can clear the immediate area and the Reclaimer is still several minutes away. When you set your escape vector, you should see an interdiction chance. If it is 0, then you can relax in the void for quite a while. Sometimes, you have to balance scooping loot with fighting, and know when to cut your losses.

Originally posted by HunterAP:

Solo... I don't recommend soloing this game, but it can be done. AI turrets and cruise mode are your friend. You can also hide the ship behind large debris objects or space stations.

Having to constantly jump out of the pilot's chair to do EVERY task on the ship is definitely the worst part of solo. Man, I wish picking up loot beyond 3 things just shoved the "oldest" piece into the ship, to litter the floor. Also, having the scoop cost valuable power without a way to remotely adjust what devices are on just sucks for solo play. Can't flip stuff at a moment's notice and there's nobody to babysit the breakers. It's really, really painful on the frigate, with its pathetic 6 power maximum at the start.

[Special Ed Forces]

Originally posted by shadain597:

As others mentioned, the start of most missions is an excellent time to sort loot, upgrade stuff, repair, and seek out side objectives for a bit more loot. As long as you avoid combat, the Reclaimer countdown won't start. Sometimes the end of the mission works too, if you can clear the immediate area and the Reclaimer is still several minutes away. When you set your escape vector, you should see an interdiction chance. If it is 0, then you can relax in the void for quite a while. Sometimes, you have to balance scooping loot with fighting, and know when to cut your losses.

Originally posted by HunterAP:

Solo... I don't recommend soloing this game, but it can be done. AI turrets and cruise mode are your friend. You can also hide the ship behind large debris objects or space stations.

Having to constantly jump out of the pilot's chair to do EVERY task on the ship is definitely the worst part of solo. Man, I wish picking up loot beyond 3 things just shoved the "oldest" piece into the ship, to litter the floor. Also, having the scoop cost valuable power without a way to remotely adjust what devices are on just sucks for solo play. Can't flip stuff at a moment's notice and there's nobody to babysit the breakers. It's really, really painful on the frigate, with its pathetic 6 power maximum at the start.

If you're solo, BRAINS only take 1 power each so you can have everything on without the power issue. I always rush power gens first for my first creation to give me the +1 wiggle room. From there, upgrade bench, recycle the MK1 gen for a 2, get accuracy mod for BRAIN, if I get lucky and I get a ton of alloy, I upgrade the BRAINS one by one but typically I just play it slow.

[shadain597]

Originally posted by Special Ed Forces:

If you're solo, BRAINS only take 1 power each so you can have everything on without the power issue. I always rush power gens first for my first creation to give me the +1 wiggle room. From there, upgrade bench, recycle the MK1 gen for a 2, get accuracy mod for BRAIN, if I get lucky and I get a ton of alloy, I upgrade the BRAINS one by one but typically I just play it slow.

I'll keep that in mind. I want to like the frigate for solo play, but feel like I need to get really lucky with RNG early on. Like, if a relic mission pops up and gives me the +6 power relic that'd be pretty awesome.

[Special Ed Forces]

Originally posted by shadain597:

Originally posted by Special Ed Forces:

If you're solo, BRAINS only take 1 power each so you can have everything on without the power issue. I always rush power gens first for my first creation to give me the +1 wiggle room. From there, upgrade bench, recycle the MK1 gen for a 2, get accuracy mod for BRAIN, if I get lucky and I get a ton of alloy, I upgrade the BRAINS one by one but typically I just play it slow.

I'll keep that in mind. I want to like the frigate for solo play, but feel like I need to get really lucky with RNG early on. Like, if a relic mission pops up and gives me the +6 power relic that'd be pretty awesome.

Yeah that relic is a live saver at the start. That's why I try to prioritize Desecration missions for a 1 in 3 chance of getting one. I know brains gets ridiculously powerful when you tier them up, they are lack luster at the beginning.

[Madkine]

Originally posted by Special Ed Forces:

Yeah that relic is a live saver at the start. That's why I try to prioritize Desecration missions for a 1 in 3 chance of getting one. I know brains gets ridiculously powerful when you tier them up, they are lack luster at the beginning.

How do you get 1 in 3 as the drop rate?

[Sasha Mason]

Originally posted by Madkine:

Originally posted by Special Ed Forces:

Yeah that relic is a live saver at the start. That's why I try to prioritize Desecration missions for a 1 in 3 chance of getting one. I know brains gets ridiculously powerful when you tier them up, they are lack luster at the beginning.

How do you get 1 in 3 as the drop rate?

It's the mission type.
Desecration Missions ALWAYS let you pick from 3 random relics as part of the mission objective. That is excluding the reward you get for completing the mission.

[Special Ed Forces]

Originally posted by Madkine:

Originally posted by Special Ed Forces:

Yeah that relic is a live saver at the start. That's why I try to prioritize Desecration missions for a 1 in 3 chance of getting one. I know brains gets ridiculously powerful when you tier them up, they are lack luster at the beginning.

How do you get 1 in 3 as the drop rate?

I don't mean it literally but you have 3 chances at getting a relic and it could be there. At worst you scrap and get a free 15 alloy. You just have a better chance at getting one doing desecration missions over the others. I never skip them. Pre pop a mine field, grab the baby and get your relic.