Liquidators Expedition: Low Hanging Fruit

[Rexxer]

Now that the final group phase is close to completing, if anyone is going to run through to get the goodies without the wait, - here are some other things I found or created along the way to make the run faster. For system name reference, here's a map of the Expedition, as it occurred for me:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3307413621
One of the annoying bits of the Expedition was the barely adequate hauler one starts out with. Although dissonant planets do provide a free option, as do prior expedition rewards, - since one of the goals is to save up a few thousand nanites, one may not want to dump them all into a prior ship reward. And not everyone wants a sentinel ship, which may not be that good anyway. By R2 this situation got a bit annoying. Fortunately, R4 (Nokoupi) is near R2, and it is the first expedition system with gold on it, and there are a number of gold bases there. To make it really worthwhile though, I created a 100,000 unit gold mine, which should easily get one up to 50+ million in one go, more if one adds the haul from a few other nearby gold mine bases:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3307414933
Just make sure multiplayer is off prior to visiting, or someone else may empty it before you get there. I think it takes a few days to refill at 1310 u/hr. Conveniently, at that system's space station (Nokoupi), there is also this exotic landed within the first 1/2 hour I was there:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3307415696
I found another exotic that landed in the 2nd wave (<5 mins) at a nearby star system, Notunxi II:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3307416194
Unfortunately, I think ship "waves" can't really be counted on anymore, at least not with exotics, but if there still is anything to that theory, that system was super quick for the exotic landing. Notunxi II is a wealthy gek system only 168 ly from R2.

Only 68 ly from Notunxi II and 170 ly from R2 (Nuuraya) is a system called Drupsh-Apame where one can add an alien MT direct from the space station if that's of any interest. Since the MT you spawn with actually gets upgraded eventually to "S" and is quite good at the end, this is not a must-have, but if you need an extra one that's not bad then:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3307417089

[Rexxer]

I surveyed some of the other gold mines on the planet, and you can harvest about 33,000 gold from them in aggregate, so it's a good place to refill while waiting for the 100K tank to refill.

[MrFlibble]

I completed expedition 14, afterwards I tried to visit R4 (Nokoupi) but my R4 is named completely differently and the planets dont match your picture, i tried searching the Galaxy map around the R Points but still couldnt see it :(

Any adivce to find Nokoupi ?

[Mr. Bufferlow]

The game is just brimming with low hanging fruit (from a riches standpoint). Not seeing any need to run expeditions to get there.

If you are not aware there is a hard cap of $4B+ where the counter quits turning over. Realistically, you run out of things to spend credits on well before you hit that cap.

If you are enjoying it, more power to you. Just don't be all pissy when you hit the cap and wonder why did I do all that "work" exploiting the low hanging fruit.

[Masque]

Regarding the horrible hauler: first thing I did when I got to space was go to two other planets and survey all the fauna. After doing that with the starting planet plus two others, and uploading the discoveries for nanites, I had enough to copy my fully-equipped S-Class Starborn Runner from Normal mode into the Expedition. No need to look for a starship.

As far as the "collect six thousand nanites" step -- I claimed that reward, easy, before even getting to that section (rendezvous? drop point?) of the expedition, just from surveying all fauna on several planets, plus selling any and all starship tech it gave me for rewards (I didn't need any of that tech -- I had a fully-equipped Starborn Runner!)

As far as speedrunning the expedition, I don't recommend it -- that breakdown at the end of the expedition shows that when you take your time and do A LOT OF STUFF, you get greater rewards. Hiking, swimming, scanning flora, fauna, minerals. Discovering planets. Number of warps, too if I remember correctly. It won't let you scroll down to see all the things you did that it itemized and gave you rewards for, but there's a lot, and the more you do during the expedition, the more nanites and units you get.

As Mr. Bufferlow said, though -- if speedrunning the expeditions is fun for you? DO IT!

I like to take my sweet time. Even so, I finished it in about four days. I can't imagine how many nanites, units, and goodies I'd get if I played the one expedition for the full six weeks.

Now that I think of it -- I might just do that for the next one.

[Masque]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

If you are not aware there is a hard cap of $4B+ where the counter quits turning over. Realistically, you run out of things to spend credits on well before you hit that cap.

This is why my solution is the best solution -- HG should do an update that lets the players spend $4B to buy an existing space station. When you buy one, it's yours, and nobody else can buy it. And you can build a base inside it, just like with a freighter.

[Octavus]

Originally posted by Masque:

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

If you are not aware there is a hard cap of $4B+ where the counter quits turning over. Realistically, you run out of things to spend credits on well before you hit that cap.

This is why my solution is the best solution -- HG should do an update that lets the players spend $4B to buy an existing space station. When you buy one, it's yours, and nobody else can buy it. And you can build a base inside it, just like with a freighter.

That would be awesome and certainly a good solution for the money problem. Although I'm not sure just having the money would be good enough. Maybe you would also need to reach max lifeform standing (Gek, Vy'Keen, or Korvax) and faction standings for all the existing factions at the station. Merchants, Mercenaries, Outlaws, Explorers... really set that bar high.

[Masque]

Agreed, Octavus.

[Rexxer]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

The game is just brimming with low hanging fruit (from a riches standpoint). Not seeing any need to run expeditions to get there.

If you are not aware there is a hard cap of $4B+ where the counter quits turning over. Realistically, you run out of things to spend credits on well before you hit that cap.

If you are enjoying it, more power to you. Just don't be all pissy when you hit the cap and wonder why did I do all that "work" exploiting the low hanging fruit.

It's actually quite easy to exceed the 4B unit cap: create high value trade goods like stasis devices. Since they are worth 15.6 Million each, just use them as bankable cash. You can have far more then 4B in storage. Simply cash them out as needed.

That being said, the scope of the post was not the entire game, just the expedition where there is limited time and game development since expeditions are essentially game starts, game starts which many players rarely develop into complete games. Hence there is a greater need for fast development. Buying a better ship at the start being a high priority.