Search And Rescue Help

[Gamatech]

Hi all o7

With the new search and rescue contact on the information boards I was intruigued by the prospect of retrieving such items. I even took a mission to retrieve 2 damaged escape pods to test the waters and see if it's something i'd enjoy, and I did! (after spending an age to actually find such a mission in the first place).

I now have a dropship completely kitted out for search and rescue. SRV, high quality scanners, big cargo bay, I even have repair and fuel limpets equipped.

Just one issue- I can't for the life of me find anything anywhere!!! No pods, no belongings, not even as much as another rescue mission to be found!

So far I've scoured the surface of planets in my ship until I find blue areas of interest, touched down, and gone out on the hunt in my SRV. The only considerable thing I've found was a giant rusty cargo hold full of goodies which was, while immensely interesting, NOT what I made this ship up for.

Can anyone please point me in the right direction, or at least have information on where missions could be? I would much prefer to just go free-searching, but if I have to then I'd settle for missions.

Thanks a lot in advance for any advise.

[Huntermist]

sometimes degraded emissions have the stuff your looking for. Try looking in empty systems near a populated one.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

I usually saw escape pods in Degraded USSes, but I didn't try S&R on my own yet.

[Gamatech]

Originally posted by Huntermist:

sometimes degraded emissions have the stuff your looking for. Try looking in empty systems near a populated one.

I will be sure to try that, thankyou. I'm also looking for directions as to where and how to find things planet-side, that's a lot more captivating than jumping into coordinates in space.

[Agony_Aunt]

With missions you get mission updates pointing you to where you need to go.

Sometimes that info is provided as you enter the system. Sometimes you need to honk your scanner or go scan the nav beacon to get more info.

Then you generally need to fly to near the target planet. Not sure if planet based ones giude you to a specific location or you just have to drive around, but space based ones will spawn a mission specific signal source that you need to drop into.

Have a care, sometimes pirates will spawn in those once you start collecting cargo.

[Opt_0™]

I'm a bit curious about turning this into a Career myself. It sounds fun and I was hoping with the new update and all that it would become a possibly more dedicated activity. But ti's really hard to find info on it.

@[POEX] Gamatech I'm curious if you needed anything new equipment that came with the update, or was it just matter of the Right Ship Loadout with pre-existing stuff?

I've been wondering if a Passanger Cabin may be needed too? I have been running Tourism for a while as the pay is good if you manage the routes and Tourist well. And I may just need some adjustments for Limpets.

But have you, since posting, found more info anywhere? I'm searching all I can for details on these activities. I was hoping S&R would lead to the fringe of Thargoid contact areas and such. I'd like to hear an update. Thanks.

[Tanvaras]

USS's have Distress Calls, which are for SAR work, been doing tons of them, But go into them armed as well. At times there can be pirates (Or Thargoids, Just wait for them to finish scanning and leave) to deal with as well.

[Gamatech]

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

I'm a bit curious about turning this into a Career myself. It sounds fun and I was hoping with the new update and all that it would become a possibly more dedicated activity. But ti's really hard to find info on it.

@[POEX] Gamatech I'm curious if you needed anything new equipment that came with the update, or was it just matter of the Right Ship Loadout with pre-existing stuff?

I've been wondering if a Passanger Cabin may be needed too? I have been running Tourism for a while as the pay is good if you manage the routes and Tourist well. And I may just need some adjustments for Limpets.

But have you, since posting, found more info anywhere? I'm searching all I can for details on these activities. I was hoping S&R would lead to the fringe of Thargoid contact areas and such. I'd like to hear an update. Thanks.

I can say that now that I've settled in and learned what and what not to do I've been a lot more successful. pve search and rescue is good and I've even played a role in saving a number of players too.

You don't need any special equipment, just things that are freely available in stations. The most important 2 are repair limpets and an SRV bay. Collection limpets are useful, but not necessery.

Personally I've gone the extra mile and got myself a shield regen beam, but it's benifits are somewhat limited and it can take an age to grind and get it. Although nice to have, it's again not vital.

I suggest that you move to the Maia system for search and rescue. There are lots of opportunities for both pve and pvp operations there.

Thargoid contacts often contain escape pods and black boxes. The trick is to snap them up before the Thargoids and get out ASAP, although they are often quite docile as long as you don't get too close to them. Sometimes you can even find Thargoid Metta Alloys or probes which are immensely rare, but you have to spend more time with a Thargoid ship breathing down your neck to get them. I love the risk/reward involved. If you want to shake things up, surface retrieval missions often have escape pods nearby even if they're not the mission target. You could also go free searching on planets using your sensors to pick up points of interest on the ground, but this only works in the bubble and can take a while. As Tanvaras said degraded emission USS's are also a good place, but be careful of pirates.

Finally on the player front, I tend to hang around local systems keeping an eye out for damaged ships who picked one too many fights with Thargoids in supercruise. They don't show up very often but when they do they're limping within an inch of their lives, sometimes even poisoned. I offer assistance and ask them to drop out of supercruise where I then use limpets to repair their hull and modules, and my regen beams to expedite their shield recharge rates.

The only 2 things I would say are that limpets can't repair canopies, and I haven't yet had the opportunity to see if limits can out-repair poison rates. The last time I tried to help a poisoned ship he was at 6% health, and regrettably blew up while the limpet was in transit between our ships.

[Opt_0™]

^Thank you, that helped a lot. I have a feeling I'll still need to do a bit of study on optimal locations as a whole. But I do have most of the equipment.

Specifically: What sacnners are you using?
I have the Advanced, and A Wake Sacnner for Engi Resource collection.
Do you check Unknown Readings (the little random markers floating in deepspace) as you Supercruise? Or are the S&R more obvious?

Is your planetary surface searches the same as when one goes for Mining? The low-slow flight looking for the Blue Areas on your HUD Map? Or can you get markers from Higher in Orbit like with a Colony or Landing Station?

And no apparent need for Passanger Cabins? Not picking up people, just Life Pods in Cargo?

Personally I love Planetary Landings and more excuse to get down there is fun. Tourism has been surprisingly rewarding. I can usually pull in a few million easy in a couple hour session, although i don't expect the same payout for Search and Rescue. But I am curious about the Adventure, Exploration of Crash Sites and Contact with the Thargoids (passive contact). I dig the idea of checking debris fields for survivors.

Thanks agin for all the help. I may return with more questions. Again, the net seems a bit light on info for this Career Path.

Although Noob Question (I just started playingh finally this year) what do you guys mean by "USS's" .... space station of some sort, yeah?

[JetLaGGed]

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

Although Noob Question (I just started playingh finally this year) what do you guys mean by "USS's" .... space station of some sort, yeah?

Unknown Signal Sources

[Opt_0™]

Originally posted by KS3.JetLaGGed:

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

Although Noob Question (I just started playingh finally this year) what do you guys mean by "USS's" .... space station of some sort, yeah?

Unknown Signal Sources

THANK YOU! LOL> That was the phrase I was trying to think of earlier:
"Unknown Readings (the little random markers floating in deepspace)"

Haven't played in a bit so I've forgotten some Names. Thanks again.

[JetLaGGed]

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

Originally posted by KS3.JetLaGGed:

Unknown Signal Sources

THANK YOU! LOL> That was the phrase I was trying to think of earlier:
"Unknown Readings (the little random markers floating in deepspace)"

Haven't played in a bit so I've forgotten some Names. Thanks again.

No problem, that was me about a week ago lol.

[TiePilot13]

Originally posted by Tanvaras:

USS's have Distress Calls, which are for SAR work, been doing tons of them, But go into them armed as well. At times there can be pirates (Or Thargoids, Just wait for them to finish scanning and leave) to deal with as well.

Be careful though, I responded to a Distress Call and was immediately jumped by three pirate ships.

[Gamatech]

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

Specifically: What sacnners are you using?
I have the Advanced, and A Wake Sacnner for Engi Resource collection.

Advanced scanner is important, so it's good you have that. Should you take any retrieval missions it doesn't always give you the location on the map like it should. The advanced scanner gives it a kick up the butt and gets it into gear, and also saves time since you don't have to drop and scan nav beacons anywhere. In addition, you can cash in all of your passively collected exploration data for a rather sizable lump sum after a long trip! A detailed surface scanner doesn't give you any benifit for search and rescue, but it can add another pretty penny or two on the data cash-in if you have the spare room.

A wake scanner can sometimes help in certain situations, but again consider it an optional extra only to be equipped if you have a free module to fill. If you are away from the bubble and even the Maia region to an extent, it can sometimes be hard to locate players. If you spot one and it jumps away, they might lead you to other players if you're able to scan their wake and follow them. It's very situational though and I get on just fine without it.

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

Do you check Unknown Readings (the little random markers floating in deepspace) as you Supercruise? Or are the S&R more obvious?

Yes I do, it's very important to check these. They are called "unidentified signal sources", or as the community calls them "USS's" (since you asked). The two you want to look out for are "degraded emmisions" and "non-human signals". Both of these can hold both occupied and damaged escape pods, as well as black boxes and personal belongings. Non-human signals are almost guaranteed to hold pods, whereas you'll find things like personal belongings and mechanical parts in degraded emmisions. There is alsp another kind that is very appropriate for search and rescue, but you need to be prepared. "Distress calls" are opportunities to save a damaged AI ship from an attack. Keep in mind though that they are damaged and calling for help for a reason-
chances are you will be faced with superior firepower and be outnumbered too. It's fun to tackle these in a wing, but it's a challenge to do it on your own.

There isn't anything to make it obvious whether it's worth your time dropping in on a signal source or not, you'll have to see what it is and decide for yourself. .

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

Is your planetary surface searches the same as when one goes for Mining? The low-slow flight looking for the Blue Areas on your HUD Map? Or can you get markers from Higher in Orbit like with a Colony or Landing

This depends. If you have taken a mission to recover items or escape pods the game will provide you with a marker on the surface of the planet. As you approach the marker however it will jump to another location, then another and another. You have to chase it around until it settles on a single point, usually when you're about 10km away. If you are free searching without am assigned mission on the other hand it will be as you say, flying around low and slow until you find a blue circle. Note that these circles disappear below 1.5km altitude though, so you want to stay above that mark.

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

And no apparent need for Passanger Cabins? Not picking up people, just Life Pods in Cargo?

Life pods go in your cargo hold, no need for cabins.

Originally posted by Opt_0™:

Personally I love Planetary Landings and more excuse to get down there is fun. Tourism has been surprisingly rewarding. I can usually pull in a few million easy in a couple hour session, although i don't expect the same payout for Search and Rescue. But I am curious about the Adventure, Exploration of Crash Sites and Contact with the Thargoids (passive contact). I dig the idea of checking debris fields for survivors.

Search and rescue sounds like something you'd enjoy in that case. I also got here from passenger missions. The passenger missions gave me lots of cash and although search and rescue pays peanuts, I do find it more entertaining.

[Opt_0™]

Thank you very much. That answered pretty much everything. It was just so tough to nail down any details on S&R format itself. I knew it was possible and with the last update there appeared to be more mention of it.

I'm pretty familair with Mission expectations for the most part. And I've done a few scavanging and blackbox recovery, so I'm pretty sure I'll do alright there. Combat... well... hmmm. Eitherway I'll still be running Tourism for a bit. And I do love the Type-9 for it's clunky frieghter look. So I'll start spec'ing some Loudouts on Coliolis[coriolis.edcd.io] for future S&R. I have a feeling it'll just be a matter of fine tuning my Search Part. Besides, a good Orca for Tourism cash is always worth keepin in the Hanger when I move on to S&R. And I still need to find a Crew.

Originally posted by POEX Gamatech:

Note that these circles disappear below 1.5km altitude though, so you want to stay above that mark.

Also this: I don't know if it's marked in the HUD, but if not I may have missed this detail. Thanks again.