Derelict ships are worth a lot. Even a K37 with mediocre gear once patched up can sell for over 200 grand. Obviously this leads to the question of "how can you maximize profit using derelicts?" This guide hopes to cover the main aspects of derelict hunting, and how to make a living off of it.
Basics to Gathering Derelicts
This section will be a brief description of the bare minimum to pick up derelicts. This guide here goes into more depth about the process.
There are two way to capture derelicts: sending a crewmember out to try to board pilot the ship, or grab it with a manipulator arm.
- Boarding a ship has a 50/502 success to failure rate.
- A successful salvage with crew will have the ship appear in dock, but you lose that crewmember for the rest of the dive.
- A failed salvage exposes damage to the ship, usually in the reactor, and will have the derelict's condition worsen as a result.
- A failed salvage has a ⅔ chance to injure the crewmember in the process, and they will have to be put on leave. The remaining ⅓ chance will have the crewmember notice the damage and evacuate in time.
- A failed piloting salvage will need a manipulator arm to re-attempt salvaging.
- Using a manipulator is a way to guarantee one derelict per dive (up to two on the OCP, as it has two high-stress hardpoints)
- The manipulator arm isn't particularly strong, and the derelict can be flung from fast enough maneuvers
- You can mitigate this by rotating the ship slowly, and disabling autopilot for astrogation.
- The manipulator arm isn't particularly strong, and the derelict can be flung from fast enough maneuvers
- Thrusters can still affect the derelict and cause it to be pushed out of the arm's grip, made to rotate fast, and will apply thermal heat too.
- Too much thermal heat on the reactor can cause it to undergo meltdown, and causing it to detonate. You can still collect the lifepod.
- Thrusters can be individually disabled through the Mechanic tab to prevent them from firing.
- The Vulture Prospector and the EIME are the two ships that have no thrusters that can easily interfere with a captured derelict, and can make salvage particularly easy. Reminder that sharp maneuvers can still free the derelict from the arms, and the ships do have the downside of low morale and expensive repairs for the respective ships, as well as being decently pricey for early-game.
If you fail to salvage a ship, and your arm is either full, or you don't have one on the current ship, you can always attempt to blow the reactor and capture the lifepod instead. This won't be possible with all tools, as it requires mainly thermal damage to cause meltdown. The EIME is a particularly hard case, as although the meltdown threshold is only 5 000 K, it's iron droplet radiator is extremely effective at cooling the reactor down.
Finding and Collecting Derelicts
Finding Derelicts in the Wild
Each hull type has a chance at failing the event spawn entirely when it is set to happen. The chance is based on an initial chance (the default when you have 0 E$ in the bank), and scales linearly as the amount of money in the bank increases up until it reaches a maximum money threshold, where it rounds off at a 10% spawn chance, where any more money past that value stops negatively affecting the chances. Each hull has a money threshold they're assigned, but these numbers will be different from the actual threshold to meet the 10% floor due to the set default chance. A table offers the chance and money requirement values below:
| Derelict Hull | Default Chance at 0 E$ | Valued Money Threshold | Actual Money Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| K37 TNTRL | 80% | 5,000,000 E$ | 4,375,000 E$ |
| K44 MHFTR | 40% | 5,000,000 E$ | 3,750,000 E$ |
| Cothon-212 | 80% | 10,000,000 E$ | 8,750,000 E$ |
| Eagle Prospector | 100% | 10,000,000 E$ | 9,000,000 E$ |
| Elon Interstellar Model E | 50% | 2,000,000 E$ | 1,600,000 E$ |
A visualization of the chance rates in relation to bank balance is displayed here:
The chance is calculated by taking one, and take the division of your current balance and the valued threshold, and then multiplying it by the default chance1 The search and rescue MAD-CERF ships will also spawn a K37 the event spawn cycle after it spawns, although do note that these usually are claimed by the S&R ship, and crew will refuse to board most of the time. You can still successfully salvage with a manipulator.
This method can be decently frustrating, as you're reliant on the random chance for a derelict event to be chosen, and then another random chance for it to actually spawn.
Do note that although the modified AT-K225 is found in derelict condition, it is exempt from anywhere in this guide as it is a guaranteed find from a questline astrogation marker.
Ganymedian Pirates (Part 1)
The pirates are a fierce sight to many within the rings, and frequently attack civilian ships as well as the Vilcy. However, like everything else in the rings, they can be used to profit from in some way or another. In the case of derelict hunting, you can easily hunt them for their lifepods, or if you manage to incapacitate a ship without blowing the reactor, it then becomes legitimate salvage to be taken home to Enceladus Prime. You need a manipulator arm to salvage a derelict made of a pirate, as the ship likely won't be flyable anyway.
If you have a bounty hunting license, you can bring the lifepod and/or derelict to the Big Bad Wolf to collect an extra bounty. Bounty from lifepods can be collected while they are anywhere attached to the ship (in the cargo bay, attached to a cradle arm, and/or attached to a manipulator arm). Derelicts will need a constant hold from a manipulator arm, which may be difficult with the nature of the BBW.
Bounties from the BBW can range from 50k E$ to 150K E$, compared to the 25k E$ extra you get for lifepods only on Enceladus Prime. Being able to submit to BBW will require you to have access to it's location.
Doing any of these activities, regardless of whether you were the aggressor or not, will lower the relations with the Ganymedians. It also requires combat to happen to succeed with, which requires at least appropriate equipment and willingness to fight.
Civilian and Vilcy Ships
You are given free reign over what you can do in the rings, and this can include attacking civilian and Vilcy ships. You will not be able to get legitimate salvage off of any of these ships, regardless of how they were knocked out, as they hold residency on Enceladus Prime, and the ship will be returned to them. However, this is not true of lifepods, being safety devices in an emergency. The 50k E$ reward is given to any lifepod regardless of source.
Depending on which faction you attack, your relation will loosen with either, and fees will be incurred that, depending on faction, can be paid out to reps in the rings, or straight from the services menu at Enceladus Prime. Any miner using the EIME is also only going to incur fees, and as satated earlier, the reactor is hardy against meltdown, and worst case for them only shuts down the ship.
Ganymedian Pirates (Part 2)
The pirates have a knack for being profitable regardless of the side you take in their faction war. If you are particularly popular with the ganymedians, they can offer you certain drop points in return for a hefty sum. Any pirate will be able to make offers, and unlike their base (the Ganymedian Anarchy Station), they can offer both THICC and derelict drop points, instead of only the THICCs that the station provides.
While not technically being derelicts, rogue THICCs at least deserve a mention. They are cargo containers filled and left alone by the pirates, as they are unable to return to EP. Upon spotting you, they will boot up and attempt to flee at speeds up to 100 m/s. They can spawn randomly, or be purchased from pirates for 100k E$, and contain a random mixture of all 6 minerals.
Back to the main point, the pirates' offer for derelicts are a more reliable way to collect salvage, albeit they aren't always as kitted as generously as a derelict found at random. They will be offered at 200k E$ regardless of hull, and will offer either a K37, Cothon-212, or Eagle Prospector. Despite being sourced from civilian miners, these derelicts are guaranteed to be legitimate salvage.
All drop points bought from Ganymedians will appear in the geologist menu.
Repairing and Reequipping Derelicts
Most derelicts that you will find will end up being damaged and unable to fly safely. Regardless of whether you seek to use the derelict, or to sell for profit, it is almost required to properly repair the derelict.
Repair Optimisations
Repairs work on a system where every repair made halves the damage to each damage type. This leads to an exponential decline in cost efficiency to repair. For cost efficiency, It's generally a good idea to repair until the total durability is in the range of 80-90% total, which is just before the cost efficiency to the equipment value really drops off. If you are moving on to outfitting the ship for flying, this is good enough for use, however if you are looking to sell, there is another thing you can do to get a little extra cash out of the ship.
Stripping Parts
Once you have made the appropriate repairs, you should strip down the parts to the cheapest equipment for everything. This can net you easily an extra 20-30 thousand if it's fitted with decent equipment compared to selling straight, but does take a little extra time to setup.
Footnote
- Formula used in-game:
clamp(randomChance * (1 - CurrentGame.getMoney() / moneyCeiling), minimumChance, 1)whererandomChanceis the derelict's spawn chance,CurrentGame.getMoneyis your current bank balance,moneyCeilingis the valued money threshold, andminimumChanceis0.1(10%) [Taken fromres://story/RescueOperation.gd]