my beacon vanished.

[Melchor]

i placed down 5 mining units on a depot, and went to do other stuff while its working.

had to quit out of the game for a while and decided ill pick it up when i get back. so now the beacon vanished.

any way to recover it, or the mining units?

and please dont tell me this is intended, because this would be one of the dumbest ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ design choices ive ever seen in a game. the whole point of place markers is to not lose track of where a certain place is. having them vanish on your defeats their purpose.

[Dirak2012]

With beacon do you mean the portable save beacon? That should be the only permanent marker in the game.

Also, the mining units are bugged, not bother with them.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

There are a couple types of beacons. Save beacons don't disappear and you can even color them for specific purposes. They stand out from space because they have a star shaped icon.

Markers are temporary and you can only deploy 1 at a time. Sounds like you used a marker and left the area and/or placed another marker somewhere else. They are mainly helpful if you are not familiar with the compass feature and want to know where you started your exploring from. I find them annoying and accidentally deploy them all the time.

Not sure why HG introduced them- at least as they are designed. I guess they might be helpful early game- assuming someone early game even knows it exists.

[Melchor]

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

With beacon do you mean the portable save beacon? That should be the only permanent marker in the game.

Also, the mining units are bugged, not bother with them.

the visor beacon.

[AmberAnvil]

Originally posted by Melchor:

the visor beacon.

Yeah, those are temporary markers that vanish as soon as you leave the general area. The only permanent markers are Save Beacons that you construct and place from the Build menu.

[Finaryman]

best way to get back where u were, is to take coordinates (either from ship or "f" scan menu)

they r not limited to 5 per planet, u can have many as u can write down

[Pinger]

how did you build without a base computer? Find it from orbit and check all the bases to find yours

[Finaryman]

Originally posted by Pinger:

how did you build without a base computer? Find it from orbit and check all the bases to find yours

u can place serval things without base

[Pinger]

Originally posted by Finaryman:

Originally posted by Pinger:

how did you build without a base computer? Find it from orbit and check all the bases to find yours

u can place serval things without base

yeah figured that out as I went to test it. So my advice seeing as the auto mining units have no tracking icon, is to F scan the area you left them in and try to find them that way, if not a lesson on always drop at least a save beacon or signal booster, ideally just claim the area with a base computer

[Dirak2012]

Originally posted by Melchor:

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

With beacon do you mean the portable save beacon? That should be the only permanent marker in the game.

Also, the mining units are bugged, not bother with them.

the visor beacon.

Oh, those are as useless as the autonomous mining units...

[dreamrider]

The "Navigation Markers" that you place with the "E" key while in the Analysis Mode of your Analysis Visor are ALWAYS temporary. I believe it even says "temporary" somewhere on their pop-up page. In any case, if you had ever used one before, you would have realized. Sorry.

The 'intended' primary use of navigation markers is to give you a directional landmark in those cases where you have been guided to fly to an 'Approximate Location' on a mission, and you must use the Survey Mode of the Visor while on foot to narrow down and pinpoint the target facility. You can do a target sweep, pick the middle of the 'on target' arc, and drop a Nav Marker out as far in that direction as it will reach. Then walk to the marker pin, do another Survey sweep, drop another marker (which eliminated the first marker and avoids confusion), and walk on to the new waypoint. This narrows the search area as you successively sweep.

Two other good uses for nav markers:
- If you dig a hidey hole prior to engaging Sentinels at a Resource Depot, Sentinel Pillar, etc, but you intend to move around some outside the tunnel to acquire targets, etc, it is a good idea to drop a Nav Marker right above the upper lip of your retreat hole. That way, when you are pressed by Wave 3, doggies, Walkers, etc, you can find that safe haven hole ... FAST!
- If pirates attack a facility (Minor Settlement, Observatory, etc) that you have not completed your business at, and you ate about to go up and engage them (Mmmm - pirate rewards - yum!), drop a Nav Marker right by your landing spot. That way, if the air battle takes you far afield, you will have a MUCH easier time finding the facility from the air, after your victory.

But note the key thing about all these uses of the Nave Marker. They are quick, and temporary.


If you need to mark a location to return to again and again, or even just several times, or between play sessions, use a Base Computer!
Two big advantages:
a) You can put down an unlimited number, as long as the base areas (r. 300 units) do not overlap, and:
b) You can label a Base Computer.

You COULD use a Save Beacon in a spot like that, if you only anticipated 1 - 2 spots worthy of return on that planet, or if you expected to not need it again after just a few visits.
Save Beacons ARE portable, but they are limited to 5 per planet, and (MOST IMPORTANT) they CANNOT be labeled.

They are also good if you have a pre-built Beacon, and you need to temporarily mark a spot (deposit, crash site, etc), but you intend to return 'soon-ish' to finish up there. Maybe you need some materials you don't have on-hand, for example.
Especially if you are going to leave the play session in between. Then when you return you intend to finish up the local task, pick up the Beacon, and won't need to come back.

IMHO, the best use of Save Beacons is to mark the exact locations of deposits or hotspots INSIDE the radius of a Base Computer. Especially an expanded radius Base area. You cannot drop another labeled Base Computer in those spots.
It is sometime kinda amazing how easy it to lose a shiny yellow deposit 15 units across, within 500 units of your main base.

I HAVE used Save Beacons for exactly what you describe in the OP ... but I generally have eventually replaced them with a Base Computer. So I could build a platform or shed with a Teleporter, to service the mine easily.

[Melchor]

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

Originally posted by Melchor:

the visor beacon.

Oh, those are as useless as the autonomous mining units...

the point of the autonomous mining units is to automate what would otherwise be a chore.

you slap them down and leave to do other things and come back and just collect 1250 resources from a deposit where otherwise the same deposit would have yielded much less and youd have to run around and use the terrain manipulator on multiple deposits to get the same results.

thats what i was trying to do, if the beacon didnt vanish.

[Melchor]

Originally posted by dreamrider:

The "Navigation Markers" that you place with the "E" key while in the Analysis Mode of your Analysis Visor are ALWAYS temporary.

so explain to me the logic of not just making it permanent and only removed when the player does it, or when its placed down somewhere else?

hell, explain to me why they wouldnt just let us have a hand full of them to slap down and numbered? its not like it would have taken any efford whatsoever to implement the mechanic this way.

really interested how one would rationalize making a standart quality of life feature like a map marker ♥♥♥♥ like that would be improving the experience for the players.

i need a good laugh after losing my stuff anyway.

[JTracx]

*portable refiner raises it's sneaky head*

[Dirak2012]

Originally posted by Melchor:

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

Oh, those are as useless as the autonomous mining units...

the point of the autonomous mining units is to automate what would otherwise be a chore.

you slap them down and leave to do other things and come back and just collect 1250 resources from a deposit where otherwise the same deposit would have yielded much less and youd have to run around and use the terrain manipulator on multiple deposits to get the same results.

thats what i was trying to do, if the beacon didnt vanish.

Except they don't work, you will find them either empty, or filled with an random resource.
They have been bugged for years.

[Jouchebag]

Originally posted by Melchor:

you slap them down and leave to do other things and come back and just collect 1250 resources from a deposit where otherwise the same deposit would have yielded much less and youd have to run around and use the terrain manipulator on multiple deposits to get the same results.

AMUs frequently delete their contents. I never experimented in detail, but I had a few set up about 300u away from a Base and just driving back and forth between the two would empty the AMU. I have to literally stand on them to keep them running and holding their contents.