Random Questions: Following Ships, Radioactive Planet, Deep water, Freighters

[swingline]

A Few Random Questions:

1. Is it helpful to follow ships that you see flying by on a planet when you're looking for buildings? I keep thinking they'll lead me to a trading post or something similar, but to me it seems I find something about as readily low/slow flying over the surface.

2. I found my first radioactive planet today. It was mostly a water planet with islands mixed in. When I came in from orbit I saw one of the little small box living quarters as I came out of orbit and landed there to do my first scans, but after that I never saw another of the typical building structures on the entire planet. I did find monuments, drop boxes, and a habital base using my signal beacon - but I did not find a single antennae, satellite dish, or trading outpost in probably 3-4 hours on the planet. (I was trying to get that 10th animal, but no luck). At the very end I did find one crashed ship via low flying.

Visibility is pretty good on the small islands, so I'm beginning to think maybe there might not a trading outpost? I do see some ships flying around occassionally, but not sure if that means anything.

3. Is it worth it to try to go out into deep water looking for animals? I've looked everywhere I can think for the last animal except for deep water. The high radioactivity and slow swimming speed makes me hesitant to swim out too far and/or deep, but wondering if you've found anything out in deep water that you don't see closer to the shore? I did find a monument underwater today, and that was cool

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1129793434

4. I also did a close flyby of my irst freighter today (not mine, just one in orbit) that was in orbit around one of the planets, and I got a hostile scan so I ran away quickly, but I was wondering if I can land on a freighter that's not mine? It looks like it has a landing area similar to space stations.

thanks,

[darkflemish]

1) You can do that by following the ships, the mostly go to Trade Post
The best start is asking in the Space Station to each alien there where to go.

2) See above. They can lead you to other types of buildings

3) Water animals are close to the land not in the deep deep water

4) I think you were scanned by pirates and not by the freighter. You can land inside a freighter when their baygates are blue. You can buy a freighter when talking to their captain, when you have enough cash. Tip: best time to buy a freighter is when you save a freighter from pirates. Tip2: lure those pirates away from the freighter and kill them one by one. Never shoot in the direction of the freighter ;-)

[Blissett]

Originally posted by darkflemish:

Tip: best time to buy a freighter is when you save a freighter from pirates. Tip2: lure those pirates away from the freighter and kill them one by one. Never shoot in the direction of the freighter ;-)

Just to clarify this point a little because there's some ongoing confusion about it.
It is correct in principle, but the reason why it is correct needs clarification: there's no actual price discount on buying a rescued freighter (and no reason not to accept the reward), its just that the rescued freighters can have more slots than non-rescued ones because the slot cap for their models is (apparently) higher.

[darkflemish]

Originally posted by Blissett:

Originally posted by darkflemish:

Tip: best time to buy a freighter is when you save a freighter from pirates. Tip2: lure those pirates away from the freighter and kill them one by one. Never shoot in the direction of the freighter ;-)

Just to clarify this point a little because there's some ongoing confusion about it.
It is correct in principle, but the reason why it is correct needs clarification: there's no actual price discount on buying a rescued freighter (and no reason not to accept the reward), its just that the rescued freighters can have more slots than non-rescued ones because the slot cap for their models is (apparently) higher.

That's why I give the tip. Rescued freighters have more slots

[Blissett]

Also:

Originally posted by darkflemish:

3) Water animals are close to the land not in the deep deep water

Actually water-based animals can spawn anywhere, provided the water isn't too shallow.
There are, to my knowledge, no exclusively deep water animals, but you can find 'em both close to shore or deep in the ocean, as long as its not a dead underwater area (if there are no plants and rocks and things, thats a dead area).

For easier underwater exploration I recommend land vehicles (yes, I know it sounds odd). The Nomad is a hovercraft that floats above water, and the Roamer is a capable submarine despite the fact that its basically a car. You have infinite oxygen and hazard protection as long as you're inside a vehicle, which makes underwater exploration much easier.

[swingline]

- So if you're having trouble finding a trade post, has anyone had success just following ships around to find one? I ask, because I've done that a few times and haven't had much better success than I have just wandering around ranomly.

- Do you think it's possible the radioactive planet might just _not_ have a trade post, despite having the other items listed? (has a habitable base, has some monuments, has some drop pads, and has at least 1 little small rectangular living quarters building, has at least 1 crashed ship). I just can't find anybody to talk to on the planet anywhere. thanks,

[jonnin]

3) I am pretty sure that barren underwater areas never have any lifeforms. When you no longer see plants, ore, or graphical frills, there won't be anything useful. Also, you can scan a LONG way with scanner and little dots appear where there are critters. That is the best way to find them in the water. Also, beware that 'water' on hostile planets is often more damaging than walking around, like that radioactive planet, swimming could be very harsh.

[swingline]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Also, beware that 'water' on hostile planets is often more damaging than walking around, like that radioactive planet, swimming could be very harsh.

Yes, my suit warns me soemthing like "highly radioactive water" or something like that. It was all I could do just to swim out to that underwater monument above and then quickly swim/jetpack back. I was well below half health just in that brief swim in the radioactive water.

I have a radioactive shield in my suit but it seems like it eats zink like candy and doesn't last very long at all. I quit refilling it after a while as I couldn't see the benefit except in a case where I absolutely needed it.

The radioactive planet (and to a lesser degree a really cold planet I was recently on and did quite a bit of travelling by foot) really taught me the appeal of traveling through caves, and ducking inside to restore health. There was simply no time for sight-seeing at all.

[Blissett]

Originally posted by swingline:

I have a radioactive shield in my suit but it seems like it eats zink like candy and doesn't last very long at all. I quit refilling it after a while as I couldn't see the benefit except in a case where I absolutely needed it.

Theres one benefit to hazard-specific shields that isnt immediately apparent, while it is charged your generic hazard protection recharges as if you were in a cave.
Also, shielding shards are a good way of refilling those (60-80%) instead of zinc since you find the yellow crates that give shielding shards pretty much everywhere.