Containers

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:51 am

Hi,
I tried hunting for the containers in Sapphire at
0,0,0 - 26500,3500,1150

I couldn't find a thing and saw no purple thingys on the Radar.
I tried searching around and setting a waypoint to those coords and nada.

I had either a Cargo scanner C3 or C5 - I forget which because I had upgraded to the C5 either before or after - can't recall when.

Did I do something wrong or is there a time limit on them being avalable?

I thought containers and items you searched for in the missions were supposed to show up in the Target area if you had a cargo scanner.
I did a fw missions to locate things for Navy and while I did find them it was NOT easy and I have a C5 Cargo Scanner and it didn't who anything - unless I don't know how to use it.
I see when a ship showing in the Target area (is that what it is on the right side of the HUD?) that if the ship has cargo it tells me what it is so I assume that is the Cargo Scanner working, yes?
Then why isn't it showing me containers and stuff when I search for them?
Only way I can find them is go to the Nav Marker and hunt and try to catch the purple thingy on the radar (which is hard) and then try to see it in the screen at the crosshair when I've head directly for the pirple thingy - and man is it hard to see the container until I'm right up on it.
Some of it may be my eyesight and some my laptop display but geez man.
I must say in Privateer your scanner can detect containers and ejected pilots and it puts a targeting bracket around them when you target one so you can go right to it.
This is like hunting needles in a haystack.

Paul

[Edited on 3-3-2014 by PaulB]

[Edited on 3-3-2014 by PaulB]

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:45 am

Some containers might have been relocated after Vice released the Expansion.

Some containers are even underground at a few locations due to planet increase in size.

If you use a Science-Ops and the container finder available on my website you'll be able to pinpoint them.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:01 am

From post: 167688, Topic: tid=11260, author=SeeJay wrote:Some containers might have been relocated after Vice released the Expansion.

Some containers are even underground at a few locations due to planet increase in size.

If you use a Science-Ops and the container finder available on my website you'll be able to pinpoint them.

Well I just hired my 3rd SciOps. the 1st two abandoned me for some reason. They weren't the highest skill or loyalty and I did put the pay into the green.
This in is low skills but moderately high loyalty so I hired him and set his pay to +200 or so above the recommended so maybe he will stay.
My Nav and Engineer are now both 100% skill and loyaltyand don't ask me for pay raises anymore thank goodness - one of them is over 3400 or so.
What's really killing me is the 5 only assembly points or whatever you call them. I have to keep docking and swapping things not only in and or among cargo to assm points but them store what I left in Cargo in the hanger so I can go mine or do missions.
It would never do to forget and do a mission to jettison a delivery item to a ship along with my C3 Repair or Gun Relay or Fuel Converter or whatever I was swapping around.
5 Just ain't enough.

Paul

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:04 am

Maybe increase your CIV rank so you get more Equipment slots in better ships!;)

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:06 pm

There are two types of containers: (1) those which are uncharted and remain in place; (2) those which are assigned during a contract (for recovery or identification).

For (1), you can use SeeJay's spreadsheet to plot bearing and pitch given to you by the science officer when you jump into the sector. If that doesn't work, you can deploy a sensor array ... the purple dot will always show unless the container is buried on a planet.

For (2), move to a sector empty of planets and stars. The gravitational pull from those bodies will cause any container to drift toward the pull. And, until you get used to tracking down a moving container, it's better to practice on a stationary one.

For more information on containers, see the H2GE quest.

Noesis · Post by **Noesis** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:53 pm

Hi PaulB,

I'm kinda new too this game too, but one thing I've noticed is that some of the container co-ordinates and types in the Evo-metrics map are wrong. (I'm assuming that's where those co-ordinates are from or maybe from Seejays universe data file which I think is actually the base for data in Evometrics).

That container(s) is still in that sector just not at the x,y,z where you looked, so I guess you didn't really do anything wrong. As far as time limits go I don't think there are any on the purple "blip" containers (the white dropped ones are the temporary type which do disappear). Also FYI the cargo scanner is only useful for the white ones, and doesn't do anything for the purple ones (purple ones display the contents when hit with the tractor beam), a navigator apparently will increase the range at which the purple ones show up on radar, but still won't help looking in that location for this container as it's too far from there. You can hire a science officer to help you locate it or I can tell you where they are via that U2U thing, which I haven't tried but seems to be the way people tell spoiler stuff.

I'd recommend the science officer though as there are many more containers in the game than are currently listed in evometrics and/or seejay's data file.

Finally more for seejay as I've been meaning to post about this myself but figure I'll use this thread, wondering if you would like an updated list of container locations/types for the "known systems" ? If so please say so and I'll send one too you when I finish going through the rest of the known systems, and then put them into a spreadsheet or something (currently logging them with Atollskis MapLog program).

Noesis

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:11 pm

That would be great Noesis.

The current data is pre-expansion.

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:41 pm

From post: 167710, Topic: tid=11260, author=SeeJay wrote:The current data is pre-expansion.

And so are most of the hard-coded (persistent) containers. Which is why a few got buried when the size of the planets expanded. Those floating out in space should still be in their original location. If you've been given coordinates for a container in space, make sure the coordinates are for your current sector ... sometimes they are not.

As for the containers you must hunt down to complete a contract, I find that the easiest way to do it is to turn toward a docking gate (while inside the station), throttle up to full power, turn IDS on, initiate a hyper-jump, then coast until your normal drive kicks in. Keep going until you see the purple blip ... then turn toward the blip to intercept. Again, if you're in a sector affected by gravity, it's not quite that easy.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:13 pm

From post: 167707, Topic: tid=11260, author=Noesis wrote:Hi PaulB,

I'm kinda new too this game too, but one thing I've noticed is that some of the container co-ordinates and types in the Evo-metrics map are wrong. (I'm assuming that's where those co-ordinates are from or maybe from Seejays universe data file which I think is actually the base for data in Evometrics).

That container(s) is still in that sector just not at the x,y,z where you looked, so I guess you didn't really do anything wrong. As far as time limits go I don't think there are any on the purple "blip" containers (the white dropped ones are the temporary type which do disappear).
<snip>

Noesis

Thanks - that explains a lot - I was wondering why the scanner wasn't showing anything.

So I'll just have to do the purple ones the hard way.
I may be misremembering but I thought I read that the Modification toolkit would let you change the colors on things on the radar - I'll have to read about that again and see if I'm right or wrong. If I'm right I'll try to modify the colors.
My eyesight is a big problem but there is nothing that can be done about that and it will only get worse and not better as time goes by. Getting old sucks - especially if you have worse problems than average.

Thanks,
Paul

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:30 pm

From post: 167690, Topic: tid=11260, author=SeeJay wrote:Maybe increase your CIV rank so you get more Equipment slots in better ships!;)

Well I have the Sentinel now but I want a Guardian or Legacy - but even that will only help with certain things because none of the ships have more than 5 equipment slots and that's the main problem.
As I see it there are some MUST HAVE Mounts:
(1) Jump drive
(2) Shield Batteries
(3) Tractor Beam
(4) C3 Repair
(5) Cannon Relay
(6) Fuel Converter "oops"
(7) Cargo Scanner "oops"
(8) Cannon Heatsink "oops"
(9) Stealth Generator "oops"
(10) deploy constructor "oops"
(11) build constructor "oops"
(12) Terrain walker "oops"
(xxx) there appears to be even more things. "oops"

Why can't I have a Rolls Royce instead of a Mercedes-Benz if I've made the money to buy one???
or
Why can't I have an Enterprise instead of a Space Shuttle.
Oh well.

Paul

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:36 pm

You can have 8 equipment slots on a ship PaulB.

Busch · Post by **Busch** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 12:14 am

If I may, one MAY have/purchase a civilian ship frame that they can then 'adjust' to have 8 equipment slots. Go into the Shipyard at a station of your choice. Click on Frame Config. button. From there, and for that frame - adjust the four 'sliders' as you are persuaded. You WILL need to balance your crew and equipment needs with your armament needs. (You may wish to save a template of your ship, once you're done. You can do this also from the Shipyard - Templates toggle. Click on 'save template'.) This 'method' is much more facile with the more expensive and larger frames. It gets a little easier (lots more "space"/build points) around the Phoenix/Sentinel frame offerings. For quite a while now, all of the military frames have come standard with the 8 equipment hard-points. It's in the secondary weapons/missile hard-points where the civ and mil frames (and even among the mil frames themselves) begin to differ. Well... aside from the other 'milspec' standards of the mil frames, that is. Civ frames are very much customizable, allowing for build points, cash-on-hand, and the availability of the ship's frame and the equipment in question. In fact, with all that is available, one may just about build up a civ frame to meet or exceed mil frame specs for roughly equivalent frame categories.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 3:12 am

From post: 167717, Topic: tid=11260, author=Cindy wrote:You can have 8 equipment slots on a ship PaulB.

I believe you are mistaken.
The Sentinel for instance that I have has
425 assembly units
8 Hard Points = 1 Beam, 1 Particle, and 6 missiles
5 (and only 5) Equipment slots
3 Crew slots.

Unless I am missing something n the Shipyard there is no changing that.
So all my assembly units are used so I can't expand my wings or shields or anything else beyond what I currently have unless I get a large Frame, aka Guardian or Legacy, etc.
And all the large Frames are limited to 5 Equipment slots - it even says that in the latest Techinical Manual October Edition.
As far as I know you can't use your Crew slots for Equipment and I wouldn't want to. And I certainly wouldn't want to swap my weapons slots for equipment even if I could.

Paul

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:13 am

You can have 8 Equipment slots.
5 Cargo bays (1 for Mil ships)
2 Harpoints for Laser/Gun
8 Hardpoints for missiles.

When in the Shipyard, in the center of the screen (where you drag and drop items) you have a "Frame Config" button. Might be labeled slightly different. Don't remember right now.
If I recall correct you set up your frame here. No of crew members, CM holders etc. I think you set up the Equipment slots here as well. (Long time since I wa sin there).

How many points you have available in here depends on what frame you have. The better the frame, the more points to play with you have. (This has nothing to do with assembly points).

[Edited on 2014-3-4 by SeeJay]

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 9:44 am

From post: 167724, Topic: tid=11260, author=SeeJay wrote:You can have 8 Equipment slots.
5 Cargo bays (1 for Mil ships)
2 Harpoints for Laser/Gun
8 Hardpoints for missiles.

When in the Shipyard, in the center of the screen (where you drag and drop items) you have a "Frame Config" button. Might be labeled slightly different. Don't remember right now.
If I recall correct you set up your frame here. No of crew members, CM holders etc. I think you set up the Equipment slots here as well. (Long time since I wa sin there).

How many points you have available in here depends on what frame you have. The better the frame, the more points to play with you have. (This has nothing to do with assembly points).

[Edited on 2014-3-4 by SeeJay]

Yes, but to have more than 5 Equip slots you have to sacrifice either Crew slot or Counter measure slot or a missile slot.

If I want more than 5 equip slots with the Sentinel then I could:
(1) give up Counter Measure and gain a 6th equip slot
(2) give up a Missile slot and gain a 7th equip slot
(3) give up a Crew slot and gain an 8th equip slot

Unfortunately - I want to keep the 3 crew member I have so no equip slot from there.
I sure don't want to give up the 25 Counter Measures so no equip slot from there.
I'm not keen on giving up Missile slots to get equip slots - the Guns aren't "that" good - so no equip slots from there - so only 5 equip slots.

I suppose if it came down to it I could dump all the crew - but that's not such a great choice to have to make.
But I guess if I ever really start doing combat then out they go and in comes the needed equipment in their place.

Paul

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 9:54 am

The better ship you get, the more "points" are available.
Sentinel is not the best ship you can get. If you haven't unlocked all ships yet, increase your rank
and see if any of the other frames suit your needs.

When I was flying Civ ships my favorite frame was the Mammoth.
I could config it for any purpose, including a full combat ready vessel.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:00 am

Well I got my Purple Container Radar Blip color fixed.

I unzipped the purple1.png file in the mod toolkit to the /hud folder and modified it with better and brighter colors so I can see it when it pops on the Radar screen.

Yea

Paul

Busch · Post by **Busch** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:01 pm

That's good news, PaulB! Any adjustment for better visual/target acquisition is a good thing for us 'old guys'.

(2 yrs. and a few weeks younger than thou.)

Don't sweat the small stuff. As you gain more game knowledge and experience in flying the beastie, ship frame and equipment concerns will ease into 'second nature'. You'll find, and craft, the ship frame and equipment combo that'll fill all the squares on your dance card. For my combat and trade needs outside of war zones, I fly the Guardian frame, almost exclusively. Zero crew, 8 eqpt./8 2ndry wpns. slots, and 2 CM pods - in the frame config screen. Shld Btry C-5.; Shld Rchrgr; Mantis JD; Cannon relay & heat sink; AMS; Rpr Sys C-3; generic M/T beam. Inside of war zones, I usually 'trade up' to either the Firestar or the Avenger mil frames, should I be spending a lot of time on singularly combat missions in those locations. Another of the un-sung beauties of the game - if you can make it work, you can fly it - no matter how it looks.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 12:50 am

From post: 167729, Topic: tid=11260, author=SeeJay wrote:The better ship you get, the more "points" are available.
Sentinel is not the best ship you can get. If you haven't unlocked all ships yet, increase your rank
and see if any of the other frames suit your needs.

When I was flying Civ ships my favorite frame was the Mammoth.
I could config it for any purpose, including a full combat ready vessel.

Do I have to go outside Sapphire to find them? So far I can't find anything higher than Sentinel in Sapphire. Everywhere I check it saysGuardian and above are not available at whatever station I'm at.

My present Rank is listed as Competent I think it is.

I made one attempt a while back to goto Cerulean and Atlas but never got to any bases at the destination case some navy ship started attacking me and I got killed. I had to load a save game and kill him back just to survive and hightail it back to safe Sapphire - LOL
I think I'm better armed than I was then but I was hoping not to pick fights so soon. And especially with a navy ship - I don't quite get that - though I under stand there are 2 navies - Alliance and Federation and I'm not sure which that was.

That's on thing I wasn't keen on doing the Story Plot in Privateer GG cause you had to run some contraband to do the Plot and that got the Pirates on your side sure but then you had every navy and militia and mechant everywhere gunning for you until you could (if you could) reach the point where a guy would "hack the computers" and get your Relations restored to Positive as payment for completion of that part of the mission plot.

I'm basically a peaceful guy who only fights when I have to. But when I do I want to be able to it Clint Eastwood style. LOL

Paul

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 1:12 am

From post: 167731, Topic: tid=11260, author=Busch wrote:That's good news, PaulB! Any adjustment for better visual/target acquisition is a good thing for us 'old guys'. (2 yrs. and a few weeks younger than thou.)

Don't sweat the small stuff. As you gain more game knowledge and experience in flying the beastie, ship frame and equipment concerns will ease into 'second nature'. You'll find, and craft, the ship frame and equipment combo that'll fill all the squares on your dance card. For my combat and trade needs outside of war zones, I fly the Guardian frame, almost exclusively. Zero crew, 8 eqpt./8 2ndry wpns. slots, and 2 CM pods - in the frame config screen. Shld Btry C-5.; Shld Rchrgr; Mantis JD; Cannon relay & heat sink; AMS; Rpr Sys C-3; generic M/T beam. Inside of war zones, I usually 'trade up' to either the Firestar or the Avenger mil frames, should I be spending a lot of time on singularly combat missions in those locations. Another of the un-sung beauties of the game - if you can make it work, you can fly it - no matter how it looks.

Well, maybe I'll dump my crew - though I just got 2 of them to 100% skill & Loyalty and the newest SciOps to 44%skill and 100% loyalty. It's expensive have to dump 2 - 4 items of my equipment in the hangar so I can go fill 5 cargo compartments doing mining runs to Rivoch.

I have another question:
Is Engine Level 8 more or less engine than I need??

I know from reading they don't help acceleration and don't care - but I'm still not clear on if and how much they affect Systems energy - Guns, Shields, etc.
I have a Cannon Relay and a Shield Battery (4 I think).
I don't want to waste assembly units on an Engine level that does nothing.
I'll have to re-read the Tech manual - but some parts seem too general and others too technical and my head starts spinning - LOL

Paul

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 2:00 am

Life is a trade-off. Cerulean is a good place to buy most anything. Look to buy a Mammoth when you can afford one. Then upgrade first those things you think are most important. For a civvy ship, I always carry a Science Officer ... he has a lot of good information to offer an explorer.

If you have trouble getting to Cerulean (or any other half-friendly star system), remember to use the quick-jump option: engage inertial and, after passing through the Sapphire gate, hold your heading and pitch and keep inertial engaged (the gate automatically orients you toward all other gates) ... open your Nav Computer, zoom out to find the next gate in your journey, input its coordinates and jump again. If you meet opposition any place along the line, use afterburner to outrun your adversary and his missiles. Keep it up until you reach Cerulean. Then disengage inertial, turn around 180 degrees, target the nearest trade station ... and jump again.

Busch · Post by **Busch** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:39 am

The general consensus about engines revolves around the available power generation function, versus considerations regarding speed. All of your ships' systems rely upon, and are powered thru, energy provided from the engine(s). This is where having an Engineer on staff comes in handy. To my knowledge and experience, except for the milspec mil frames, engines are not so frame-specific as one might deduce. All those who fly the Evo-verse have their favorites. You just have to find which of each of the offerings best suits your needs for the contracts/missions that may be performed/completed. Or for the 'free-range', self-initiated activities in which one may also engage. One may also adjust the IDS multiplier up or down as needed. (kybd numpad 7 & 9, by default.) The Neptune Mk II - Class 8 engines are pretty stout and respectable engines. And, is useful for just about any frame application, whether exploring/mining/trading or engaged in more stressful activities - like combat.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:43 am

From post: 167742, Topic: tid=11260, author=Marvin wrote: Life is a trade-off. Cerulean is a good place to buy most anything. Look to buy a Mammoth when you can afford one. Then upgrade first those things you think are most important. For a civvy ship, I always carry a Science Officer ... he has a lot of good information to offer an explorer.

If you have trouble getting to Cerulean (or any other half-friendly star system), remember to use the quick-jump option: engage inertial and, after passing through the Sapphire gate, hold your heading and pitch and keep inertial engaged (the gate automatically orients you toward all other gates) ... open your Nav Computer, zoom out to find the next gate in your journey, input its coordinates and jump again. If you meet opposition any place along the line, use afterburner to outrun your adversary and his missiles. Keep it up until you reach Cerulean. Then disengage inertial, turn around 180 degrees, target the nearest trade station ... and jump again.

I just figured out how to jump into a station (most of the time).
That should help this time leaving Sapphire. But why disengage Inertial? Do you mean enable IDS or Disable it (enable Inertial)?
I just set the pitch and heading and select the station/gate in Nav (and usually set thrust to zero with IDS on) and then Jump and most of the time it takes me right in and docks.

I can already afford I think any ship - the problem is my finding them. I've assumed that there are none larger Sentinel in Sapphire, where I bought the Sentinel.
It always tells me such and such frame is not available in this station.

Paul

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:48 am

From post: 167745, Topic: tid=11260, author=Busch wrote:The general consensus about engines revolves around the available power generation function, versus considerations regarding speed. All of your ships' systems rely upon, and are powered thru, energy provided from the engine(s). This is where having an Engineer on staff comes in handy. To my knowledge and experience, except for the milspec mil frames, engines are not so frame-specific as one might deduce. All those who fly the Evo-verse have their favorites. You just have to find which of each of the offerings best suits your needs for the contracts/missions that may be performed/completed. Or for the 'free-range', self-initiated activities in which one may also engage. One may also adjust the IDS multiplier up or down as needed. (kybd numpad 7 & 9, by default.) The Neptune Mk II - Class 8 engines are pretty stout and respectable engines. And, is useful for just about any frame application, whether exploring/mining/trading or engaged in more stressful activities - like combat.

I'll keep the Neptune Mk II - Class 8 then. I'm more interested in a larger frame and better shields at the moment.

Paul

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 3:38 pm

From post: 167746, Topic: tid=11260, author=PaulB wrote:But why disengage Inertial? Do you mean enable IDS or Disable it (enable Inertial)?

The (default) spacebar toggles between inertial and IDS. When jumping from gate-to-gate or traveling long distances via autopilot, you want to keep your computer in inertial mode ... else you will slow down and use up fuel unnecessarily. But, when you must change course quickly (as is the situation when positioning yourself for docking), the IDS should be engaged ... it will rapidly cancel your drift. If you fail to cancel drift prior to jumping, most likely you'll be offset from your indented destination.