I found 2 abandoned ships. Now I'm finding none.

[Tech]

It's all just dudes wanting me to repair their ships for like next to no reward.
Is there a reason for this or is it just bad luck because it's driving me crazy.

[GenSec39]

Total RNG. Sometimes I get one abandoned ship after another, sometimes - only minor settlements.

[UncreativelyNamed]

Just bad luck, I think. If I'm remembering what I read right, there's a certain percentage chance of a crashed ship not being abandoned, and that percentage is smaller than the chance of the crash being abandoned. So, just keep looking. Eventually the RNG will decide in your favor. :)

[Krash Megiddo]

Are you trying to salvage crashed interceptors?

[Jaggid Edje]

As someone who used to salvage crashed ships a LOT, it seems to also vary by planet. Some planets have a significant amount of regular (no pilot) crashes, while others seem to have more with pilots, and still others have more of the "Debris" for the distress signals.

If it isn't a variance by individual planet, it's definitely a variance by specific area of the planet.

[Peepop]

one way to always find an abandoned ship, is to go to a world with water, use the nautilus, and scan for downed ships. Of course you have to upgrade the Nautilus to be able to scan for downed ships and you have to be able to build the nautilus. I haven't found an exotic under the water yet. Salvaging interceptors is faster and the sentinel ships are worth more.

[tkwoods]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

As someone who used to salvage crashed ships a LOT, it seems to also vary by planet. Some planets have a significant amount of regular (no pilot) crashes, while others seem to have more with pilots, and still others have more of the "Debris" for the distress signals.

If it isn't a variance by individual planet, it's definitely a variance by specific area of the planet.

I can test to this as well. Some planets have very few crashed ships and some have them every 3 minutes flight time. It also varies by region on the planet.

[Krash Megiddo]

I've found a couple of sunken exotics using the nautilon:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2610674235

[taniwhat]

As above, Nautilon is essentially 100% salvageable but unless you want to go mad, fly and ride AND drop a save beacon by your ship when you land and before you go swimming.

Minotaur scanner will find wrecked ships as well, same odds of it being a rescue mission but you don't need charts at least so it's a lot faster overall (please please NMS can't I just pop a cap in the incompetent pilot and steal his ship .... ?)

The one catch with Sentinel ships is repairs after a galaxy jump can be relatively resource hungry, similar problem with living ships. I'm currently looking for an exotic for my first galaxy transit on the expedition save for that reason (everyone needs a hobby)

[Jaggid Edje]

@Taniwhat, I recommend just keeping a good supply of repair kits available. You don't need to have every resource required to perform repairs; repair kits will fill in for any resource. And they are readily available to buy.

[Sabian Grey]

Best ever technique for crashed ship hunting is...
Get at least 5 Distress Charts from Space Station
Land on planet and activate all 5 charts (you may have to keep activating a chart until it finds something different.
You now have locations for: Abandoned Building, Observatory, Crashed Freighter, and 2 Distress Signals.
One of the Distress Signals will have a pilot, the other won't.
Fly to a Distress Signal but ignore (don't land) at the one with a pilot.
Take the crashed ship and scrap at SS (or repair it to keep)
You now have a Distress Chart slot for Crashed ship with no pilot available ACROSS THE WHOLE SYSTEM
Refill with Distress Charts at the SS.
Go to any planet in the system, activate the Distress Chart to get another crashed ship
Note: Usually more than one crashed ship on each planet.

[Tech]

Originally posted by Sabian Grey:

Best ever technique for crashed ship hunting is...
Get at least 5 Distress Charts from Space Station
Land on planet and activate all 5 charts (you may have to keep activating a chart until it finds something different.
You now have locations for: Abandoned Building, Observatory, Crashed Freighter, and 2 Distress Signals.
One of the Distress Signals will have a pilot, the other won't.
Fly to a Distress Signal but ignore (don't land) at the one with a pilot.
Take the crashed ship and scrap at SS (or repair it to keep)
You now have a Distress Chart slot for Crashed ship with no pilot available ACROSS THE WHOLE SYSTEM
Refill with Distress Charts at the SS.
Go to any planet in the system, activate the Distress Chart to get another crashed ship
Note: Usually more than one crashed ship on each planet.

Talk about a pro tip, this is great.