Can I get Unstable Crystals by blowing up asteroids?

[Stretchytall]

Can I get Unstable Crystals by blowing up asteroids? Or do I only get them by shooting the highlighted patches on the asteroids?

[Farrel]

I believe so, yes, but I've had better luck by going after rich veins with scan mode (shift + f2)

[Xautos]

certain asteroids have crystals on them ranging from purple to red, shoot at the crystals on each asteroid until the base of the crystal is destroyed and hoover them up with your container magnet, there is a chance you can get unstable crystals.

the alternative is to sit near a busy area of an asteroid field watching miners destroying asteroids to collect masterials from, some of them leave some stuff that can be salvaged by chance, including lodestone and unstable crystals.

[db48x]

Originally posted by Xautos:

certain asteroids have crystals on them ranging from purple to red…

This is true but useless information. Crystals are super rare, with basically one crystal deposit per asteroid field. Meanwhile there are often a dozen resource nodes on every single asteroid in that field, and shooting them will result in a constant stream of unstable crystal, lodestone, and spacefly eggs in addition to the ore or silicon or ice the asteroid contained.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by db48x:

Originally posted by Xautos:

certain asteroids have crystals on them ranging from purple to red…

This is true but useless information. Crystals are super rare, with basically one crystal deposit per asteroid field. Meanwhile there are often a dozen resource nodes on every single asteroid in that field, and shooting them will result in a constant stream of unstable crystal, lodestone, and spacefly eggs in addition to the ore or silicon or ice the asteroid contained.

They are very common, head into any asteroid field and wait for a twinkle to shine out for a moment, follow it to the rock. more often than not it's a purple crystal clump, but that's still good enough to find unstable crystals in.

i was the first to create a guide and about crystal mining before it was nerfed. my obsolete guide is still in the guide section. i used to spend hours going through the asteroid field in argon prime mining everything i could get, usually netted between 20-60million credits for 3 hours of searching.

these days you hit and destroy one clump regardless of colour all the rest will turn purple, though you can keep mining them.

[db48x]

It’s great that you used to be able to get so many credits so quickly; we really appreciate you telling us about it. But Stretchytall asked about how to get the items he needs, not how you used to be able to get so many credits per hour. Yes, if you mine crystals there is a minor chance of getting the needed items, but why even mention it? The resource nodes on asteroids are far more plentiful, require far less effort to find, and have a better chance of spawning the items. When you really need a lodestone (or unstable crystals) for the Hatikva quests then crystal mining is a terrible suggestion.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by db48x:

It’s great that you used to be able to get so many credits so quickly; we really appreciate you telling us about it. But Stretchytall asked about how to get the items he needs, not how you used to be able to get so many credits per hour. Yes, if you mine crystals there is a minor chance of getting the needed items, but why even mention it? The resource nodes on asteroids are far more plentiful, require far less effort to find, and have a better chance of spawning the items. When you really need a lodestone (or unstable crystals) for the Hatikva quests then crystal mining is a terrible suggestion.

that's nice, i try to provide a little help and get crucified for it. at least i don't take such things seriously since that's your problem. i'm just providing another way to get extra unstables. you don't like, then don't take it up.

[climbingeastofwinter]

I'm pretty sure unstable crystals do drop from exploded asteroids, occasionally. If you have mineral mining craft mining in a specific area, you might set another ship to repeat collect dropped items in the same area and just check back after awhile. They're one of those things that it's better not to hunt for personally imo, unless for whatever reason you really need one right now.

It's true they do pop out of crystal outcroppings, and it's true it can be easy* to find those crystal outcroppings under the right circumstances with the right luck -- if you're going hunting for them personally I'd recommend Second Contact VII, entering travel mode, traveling underneath (or above with your craft flipped so your canopy gives you a clear view of the passing asteroid field), and disabling flight assist when your speed hits something reasonable but not too fast. The crystals will occasionally create a little sparkle effect that can stand out depending on lightning conditions and graphics settings. You can spend half an hour looking and not finding though, or at least I can, and I know what I'm looking for, so I'd recommend just taking care of it automatically with miners and scouts.

[Gibbo]

Crystal hunting is still viable. I start with that every game. Heretic's End has loads. Did it in my recent 7.0 game. You just need to be good at seeing them. In Heretic's End, once you get in those small asteroids you go from one to another blasting crystals so if you're still having trouble op go there and spend 10 minutes looking for little twinkles on asteroids and you should get some unstable crystals.

You other option is some pirate bases sell them. I think you'd be quicker getting them yourself.

[DaBa]

I don't understand why are people talking about crystal hunting here, OP is asking for unstable crystals, these are two completely different things. The colourful crystal nodes serve no other purpose but selling them for money. Unstable crystals are for crafting bombs and they are a different thing.

To clarify how this works: unstable crystals are common drops from mining. There's a chance you get some each time you mine an asteroid. And you can mine an asteroid in two ways: either blowing up one with resources, or being more careful and looking for resource nodes that are highlighted in scan mode, then shooting those instead.

Both methods have same drop tables so you will have a chance for unstable crystals regardless, however the latter method will net you way more chances per single asteroid, so you should be doing that one.

[SirProsik]

Unstable crystals can also be found on the "artificial" exploding mine asteroids.

[Stretchytall]

Okay! I just flew a large freighter through an asteroid at 1000 km/hr, and the asteroid EXPLODED into ore! 8D Is this a viable Unstable Crystal mining technique?! XD XD XD

[Captain Canard]

Originally posted by Stretchytall:

Can I get Unstable Crystals by blowing up asteroids?

Yes, and I find that the smaller ones tend to have better yields (and they blow up quicker using regular weapons).

[Azunai]

The "looking for twinkling" thing only works in sectors with no mining activity. In sectors that have mining, the twinkling turns out to be a resource probe in most cases.