Raw materials as mission rewards - any advice?

[Buggy Boy]

So far the only ones I've seen are Tellerium and Arsenic (once), and they were both for 'wing' delivery missions, i.e. as a solo player I'd have to do 3-4 trips minimum to deliver the entire load.

Am I in the wrong sort of economy? Are there any patterns as to where I might get high grade raw materials as mission rewards? Do certain types of mission have a higher chance of giving raw materials as an option? Any other hints and tips on this subject? Thanks.

[Agony_Aunt]

Never really done missions for raw mats. I generally just go mining for a bit then trade for what I need.

[Sighman]

Originally posted by Buggy Boy:

So far the only ones I've seen are Tellerium and Arsenic (once), and they were both for 'wing' delivery missions, i.e. as a solo player I'd have to do 3-4 trips minimum to deliver the entire load.

Am I in the wrong sort of economy? Are there any patterns as to where I might get high grade raw materials as mission rewards? Do certain types of mission have a higher chance of giving raw materials as an option? Any other hints and tips on this subject? Thanks.

Have you looked at Passenger missions?

[Buggy Boy]

Originally posted by Sighman:

Have you looked at Passenger missions?

Not recently, been concentrating on delivery ones. Maybe I just need to broaden my scope a bit. I do have a Dolphin and Beluga so could see what short haul passengers are available (I don't want to be doing a long tourist trip taking ages for the sake of 12 raw materials).

[UnderNewManagement]

use the material trader if you keep getting a lot of one to trade for the ones you want https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Material_Trader#Raw_Materials_Trader

[ждун]

If you just need the mats and don't really care about missions

As I use premium ammo for bounty hunting, I do regular farming trips to brain tree sites and farm them all in one session to the tops. The whole round-trip is about 2 hours at most.

Earlier I was visiting known chrystal shards locations. But those are more than 1500 ly away so I went on discovery mission myself. I have build myself an exploration ship for that purpose. I have looked up system databases for potential candidates that have brain trees within 500 ly distance of the bubble. I was landing at planets and when I found brain trees that were dropping the materials I was looking for I have marked the locations using EDCopilot. Among other features it allows to mark surface locations and find them later.
I have found and marked good farming spots for all raw materials in systems that are all not far away from each other. They are all within 500 ly but one, which is 650 or something, but all in same direction relatively close to each other. Some of my own found systems have multiple planets that drop different best grade mats. At each body where I found the materials I was interested in I have marked 10-15 spots that have large of brain tree patches dropping those mats. The whole expedition took me about 3 days.

For the farming session itself I am using a special farming anaconda build. That is basically a stripped anaconda for long jumps with two dumb missile launchers, lots of collector limpet controllers and cargo for the limpets. I use EDCopilot to find the locations again. On arriving I bomb the brain tree patches with missiles and then release a swarm of limpets to collect them. It takes only few minutes to top up on each material type.

I think this is better than collecting them with missions and eventually trading for mats that youre missing. I can share the spots with you if you want. You would need EDCopilot and you could import my bookmarks file.

[Kobs]

My advice is don't waste your time doing missions for raw mats, this game will find torturous ways for that. Put a scarab on your ship and go get them on planet surface

[ждун]

even 10 times faster collecting from surface with limpets

[Buggy Boy]

Hmm. So the advice is to exploit while FDev haven't patched it away. I doubt I have enough to afford an Anaconda for the purpose, would something like a Krait II do? The one with lots of slots.

[ждун]

Anaconda is just best choice for that as it can carry more limpets and limpet controllers and also has better jump range. With a krait you may do a few more jump to the locations and you may have to restock on limpets in between or synth some. But you don't need much else. just limpets, and missiles. That doesn't cost a fortune. But make sure to use A-grade limpets. Lower grade limpets live shorter and also may not reach all the mats due to their shorter range. If you can engineer limpet controllers, light-weight for better jump range is best. You may also undersize some modules to further reduce weight if you have smaller modules in stock. You don't really need a large power plant or distributor for this.

One important thing if you go farming with limpets. You first bomb the trees from low altitude (where you can actually see them). Then you should first climb to at least 600m over surface before releasing the limpets. If you are too low, the limpets get stuck in the trees and get destoryed, you loose too many of them. From higher altitude much more survive and can pick up a few more items successfully before lost. I guess it has something to do with the collision model. At larger distance from the ship they are not colliding so much with objects.

[Buggy Boy]

Originally posted by ждун:

Anaconda is just best choice for that as it can carry more limpets and limpet controllers and also has better jump range.

OK, I just spent a bucket load of credits on a shiny new Anaconda, upgraded the stock modules as I saw fit, added a couple of 3A rocket launchers, two 4A limpet controllers, and 300t of limpets. Would appreciate a general idea of where to start looking for these brain tree farms you spoke about please! Don't really want to have to use EDCopilot if I can avoid it. I've also fitted a detailed surface scanner and fuel scoop so should be good to go looking, although jump range is only 24Ly (I could maybe sacrifice a 5E cargo rack for a Guardian FSD booster - worth it? Maybe could pick one up on the way).

Keep in mind I'm doing this to get materials so that I can do more engineering, so I can't engineer much!

[Talby]

There is an updated raw mat / brain tree guide here, always used the old guide, have not tried this one (yet)!

Also wanted to confirm passenger missions, just did one that gave me 5x Ruthenium moments ago...