Story progression Lost River / Nickel

[The Inept European]

(again I'm a new player)

The story is pretty good at linking you to areas where you will find the things you need to progress your capabilities. It's a nice balance because each step is challenging and is broadly signposted but doesn't hold your hand too much.

However I am kind of stuck at the point where I need Nickel Ore. I am not sure I would ever be able to figure out where to get this. Of course nowadays I can just go read the wiki but that spoils the immersion of the game. I have done this enough to know that the Lost River is the best place to go but I have not found the lost river either and I don't want to metagame that as well.

So basically I'm wondering if there are organic story links that will signpost me either to the Lost River and/or to what kind of area I might find nickel.

Failing that I'm reduced to "explore the entire map at all depths" which seems kind of off - was that what the first players of the game had to do before there was a wiki?

I have set up various scanner bases (about 6)around the map and at max modded range I have not detected nickel despite moving the cameras through the zone to load it. (I'm not sure if a scanner room will show resource types I have not previously scanned with the hand scanner?).

I am also progressing some of the clues such as the alien base locations so if one of those gets me to the lost river and/or nickel deposits then fine.

No spoilers please, I really just want to know if I can find these two things by following story point hints (maybe ones I haven't found yet) or if I do need to perform an exhaustive search of the map.

Thanks in advance!

[Wintermute]

At this point the story is governed by the principle "go deeper". PDA tells you the depths you're looking for. It's up to you to find ways down.

Edit: the entrance to the river is singified by the last escape pod you find via radio. Just scout around it, it's impossible to miss.

[Dirak2012]

If you are following the degasi base story, it will point you in the right direction, as long as you read/listen to all the pda files.

[The Inept European]

Originally posted by Fable:

If I remember correctly, you can read about the locations of other facilities in your PDA, and it will say they're very deep down – therefore, you'd try to find a way to go deeper, e.g. the lost river entrance (which can be found in multiple places). So I think that's your incentive to find the lost river. =)

OK thanks, that's pretty much what I'm doing now, looking for the deep alien locations mentioned in the terminal entries at the platform site.

[The Inept European]

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

If you are following the degasi base story, it will point you in the right direction, as long as you read/listen to all the pda files.

I have completed all of the Degasi story and its 3 locations, got all the PDAs but it didn't seem to hint at a lost river. There is a vague remark about something odd or alien in deep locations but it wasn't more specific.

Is the final Degasi base an entrance to the Lost River? I must admit I didn't hang around there to explore much, it was too freaky.

[The Inept European]

Originally posted by Wintermute:

At this point the story is governed by the principle "go deeper". PDA tells you the depths you're looking for. It's up to you to find ways down.

Edit: the entrance to the river is singified by the last escape pod you find via radio. Just scout around it, it's impossible to miss.

Thank you. I will check there again.

[Wintermute]

Originally posted by The Inept European:

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

If you are following the degasi base story, it will point you in the right direction, as long as you read/listen to all the pda files.

I have completed all of the Degasi story and its 3 locations, got all the PDAs but it didn't seem to hint at a lost river. There is a vague remark about something odd or alien in deep locations but it wasn't more specific.

Is the final Degasi base an entrance to the Lost River? I must admit I didn't hang around there to explore much, it was too freaky.

Yup, there is that remark in Degasi questline, IIRC it was about unnatural metal deposits deeper under it. That's another pointer and another entrance.

There's a third one too, but the only way to naturally find it is reversing from the river itself, or by blind luck.

[Notoshy]

The 2 side storylines (Lifepods and Degasi) ultimatively send you to areas with surroundings that are very valuable to explore ;)
Nickel is rare at this "shallow" depth, as it is more athome in hotter areas with enough Pressure. I would say the first ones, that i personally found, were probably 20% deeper than the last Signals we got from the Game.
If you want an Indicator where to look, look at what you need it for. It is a "story progression" kind of Ressource. Luckily, you have 3 Vehicles that (by default or max upgraded) can reach an Area, where Nickel (and sulfur) can be found.
Its a grey-ish Ore, so it can be easily overlooked, as long youre in the area, where it is in its single-unit configuration :)
A point of story-interest is also in that general Area.

I hope this helps, without giving Spoilers.

[The Inept European]

Many thanks everyone!

[westrud]

Once you find the lost river, and you will know it when you find it, the nickel and sulfur will mostly be found literally in the river, be careful how you get it.

[kamspokx]

Originally posted by westrud:

Once you find the lost river, and you will know it when you find it, the nickel and sulfur will mostly be found literally in the river, be careful how you get it.

Nickel on vertical walls, Crystalline Sulfur in the river. But it's not in *all* areas of the Lost River. If you press F1 once, it will show you which biome you are in. The Nickel ore can be tough to see - not at all like rubys or uranium. :-)

[The Inept European]

Thank you.

A big drawback of being on a PS4 is no F1 and so no explicit way to know which biome I'm in.

[kamspokx]

Originally posted by The Inept European:

A big drawback of being on a PS4 is no F1 and so no explicit way to know which biome I'm in.

Aieeee... You're right - sorry. Lost River has about 6-7 different biomes and 4 entrances. Nickel and Crystal Sulfur are not in most of them. Seamoth will be fine for most of the River. Nickel on vertical walls, Crystalline Sulfur in the green river. Explore a lot - you'll find it.

[The Inept European]

Thanks again!

[EBCDIC Me]

Go to CTO Yu's POD 2 at the bottom. Turn left to the cave opening (it's dim at first) but you'll find it. Keep descending to the green river. Bring your Prawn suit w/drill arm. There is TONS of nickel in both the green brine AND the harmless blue water near the blue tree at Central Chamber.
Install another storage container on the Prawn. Drill it Loot it. Dont forget to mine Gold and all other large deposits. PS Lost River is a great place to build a secondary base.

[admiral1018]

There are multiple entrances to the Lost River, so you're not railroaded onto one path. The game does lead you to at least a few in proximity of the deepest beacon signals you get, so those areas would be your hints, combined with the PDA.

Nickel is especially annoying to find, so if you think you are in the Lost River, it's best to build a scanner room. It doesn't need to be a permanent base -- you can deconstruct when done and use the materials to build elsewhere.