Distress signal

[Charlemagne]

I became very addicted to the distress signal in the last few days because practically every one I consumed would give me a crashed ship. I formed a nifty collection of 5 before I decided to sell 3 and become a millionaire
However, I started a new game today and I have used maybe 20 of them and not a single crashed ship! What comes up now 80% is ruined bases (those tedious ones with the green horrors). Sure they give you about 1,000,000 if you pick up all the eggs but I'm bored of it. The rest are mostly ancient ruins (an unlikely place for a distress signal) and a few of those silly aliens with a broken ship (oh how I hate it when I see a crashed ship and feel elated, then I see that moron walking alongside and I know it's only fixing his ship for a couple of peanuts).
I thought maybe something in my new game but I went to the other save and it's the same now, just ruined bases.
So, was I incredibly lucky in the previous game and you don't usually get crashed ships from distress signals?

[tkwoods]

It depends on the system. Some systems are ripe with crashes an others are not.

Also, the charts will only give so many then stop.

I never use charts, I find several crashes per planet usually just flying in a straight line.

[Nabinkemper]

It's RNG.

According to the wiki, the chances for each type of signal result is as follows:
Abandoned Building (40% chance)
Distress Beacon (15% chance)
Crashed Ship (with NPC) (8% chance)
Crashed Freighter (8% chance)
Observatory (6% chance)

You can use the Planetary Data and reload the most recent save to potentially get a different result. Reloading the save, flying about 1,000u away and trying again can also help.

There is a way to exploit the system by leaving some of the distress markers up, but this may just result in an error with no extra location being found.

[toxicprime]

Same issue yesterday, stocked up on those charts and kept getting abandoned buildings. thought maybe the charts changed.

Tip though, exocrafts (at least the roamer) with their scanners can search for distress signals for free.

[Charlemagne]

Originally posted by Nabinkemper:

It's RNG.

According to the wiki, the chances for each type of signal result is as follows:
Abandoned Building (40% chance)
Distress Beacon (15% chance)
Crashed Ship (with NPC) (8% chance)
Crashed Freighter (8% chance)
Observatory (6% chance)

You can use the Planetary Data and reload the most recent save to potentially get a different result. Reloading the save, flying about 1,000u away and trying again can also help.

There is a way to exploit the system by leaving some of the distress markers up, but this may just result in an error with no extra location being found.

Wow this means I really got a streak of good luck... Which is unlikely to repeat.

[Somas Pentaline]

From my old friend Creative_Guy1...
Get 5 'distress' planetary charts from the Space Station.
Land on any planet (with an atmosphere i.e has fauna).
Activate all 5 charts and you will get... Abandoned Building, Observatory, Crashed Freighter and 2 distress signals (one with a pilot and one without)
Fly to the distress signal with no pilot (if it has a pilot don't land to trigger the 'destination reached')
Claim the ship, repair the Pulse Engine and Launcher.
Fly to the Space Station with the crashed ship and scrap it.
Get some more ' 'distress' planetary charts from the Space Station.
Land on ANY planet in the system and activate a 'distress chart', keep firing it until it activates a 'distress signal' (which should be one with no pilot).
Rinse and repeat.

[笛野めのん]

If you build the exocraft NAUTILON and use the scanner, you can search for crashed vessels in the water!
As mentioned above by others, you can search for distress signals (crashed ships) with the scanners of other exocraft at no cost.
Please keep this in mind as a crash ship recovery company.
Note that once collected, the location will reappear in about 3 to 7 days, but if the pace of collection is too fast, the location already collected may be searched. If even after scanning a sufficiently distant location, this situation occurs frequently, it is highly likely that all of the crashed vessels on that planet have been recovered.

[Charlemagne]

Originally posted by Somas Pentaline:

From my old friend Creative_Guy1...
Get 5 'distress' planetary charts from the Space Station.
Land on any planet (with an atmosphere i.e has fauna).
Activate all 5 charts and you will get... Abandoned Building, Observatory, Crashed Freighter and 2 distress signals (one with a pilot and one without)
Fly to the distress signal with no pilot (if it has a pilot don't land to trigger the 'destination reached')
Claim the ship, repair the Pulse Engine and Launcher.
Fly to the Space Station with the crashed ship and scrap it.
Get some more ' 'distress' planetary charts from the Space Station.
Land on ANY planet in the system and activate a 'distress chart', keep firing it until it activates a 'distress signal' (which should be one with no pilot).
Rinse and repeat.

This is great, if it works... Will try it out soon.
EDIT: Apparently, they "fixed" it or something. I can't activate a second chart "of the same type" (this would be the distress signal type) if I have one already active... No exploit.