Introduction
Derelicts are ships that can be found within the rings, however they are left abandoned by their crew to free float, either due to severe damage, or for other reasons unbeknownst.
Derelicts can be captured and brought back to Enceladus Prime for you to patch up and fly, or sell for profit.
Methods to Capture Derelicts
These ships can be salvaged to keep through a couple of means. You can send out a crewmember to attempt to pilot the ship back to Enceladus Prime, which the success of can vary, or directly attaching it to your ship.
Using crewmembers as a method to collect derelicts can be a more risky way of capturing them, as it is chance based and can have a multitude of interactions, but is an option that can be done on any ship, with the possible results being as follows:
- The ship is flyable, and your crewmember flies it back to Enceladus Prime
- The ship is flyable, but experiences a critical failure, and the reactor detonates
- A lifepod is left in the place of the ship, which can be collected for the collection reward
- The ship and crewmember will still appear at Enceladus Prime regardless, this is an intended anti-frustration feature
- The crewmember detects that the ship is unflyable, and returns to the ship stating it needs to be towed
- After aborting, sometimes a crewmember will also occasionally mention that the ship has a cracked shielding after ignoring their question about boarding
- The crewmember attempts to fly the ship, but the damage is too great, and the crewmember injures themselves in the process.
- This causes the ship to experience some reactor damage, either causing a remass leak that causes the ship to spin, or causing a nuclear detonation
- The crewmember, being injured, has to take a month or two off of work to heal
- In some cases of reactor meltdown, the crewmember cannot escape before the reactor detonates, and perishes with the ship
- If a S&R ship is nearby, a crewmember may mention that they have already claimed it, and won't board the ship at all.
The second method of salvaging is using a manipulator arm to hold the derelict with your ship when you return to Enceladus Prime. Using one is limited to a ship that has a high-stress hardpoint.
In general, having a manipulator will be useful for several means when it comes to salvaging:
- It gives you the ability to salvage a ship regardless of whether there are any crew on your ship
- A ship that failed salvage can still be recovered if it survives any failing parts
- It allows for the salvaging of a ship if a crewmember refuses to go onboard, or you accidentally tell them not to, it allows for a second solution to capture a ship
Using a manipulator can have it's own risks, as the derelict can still be pushed by rocks and thrusters, and the arm itself isn't strong enough to reliably hold on with sharp maneuvers.
Why You Should Capture Derelicts
Capturing derelicts can provide you with extra ships to work with, which can help especially while a ship is under repair for a while, as it allows you to continue to work in the rings instead of having to spend time waiting at Enceladus Prime. As they work as separate ships, they also can be sold under the same rules as any other ship.
Derelicts can also provide you access to ships that you may or may not be able to afford at that time. The current types of ships you can find in the rings are listed as follows:
| Ship Hull Type | Rarity |
|---|---|
| K37 | Common |
| Cothon-212 | Uncommon |
| Eagle Prospector | Rare |
| Model E | Very Rare |
The following two ships can be found under special condition, and may be mentioned in several places in the community and elsewhere. As they contain spoilers to story events, they are collapsed in their table being spoilered as such:
| Ship Hull Type | How to obtain | |
|---|---|---|
| K44 | Found very rarely | Low spawn rate with a lower chance ceiling than other ships |
| AT-K225 (Modified) | End event for the missing sibling storyline. Bring the crewmember looking for their sibling and eventually, the ship they find will be this titan. Requires the crewmember to be on board for it to spawn | Will always be in perfect condition when found.
This is the only way to obtain a Titan through derelicts |
Profiteering Off of Derelicts
Derelict hunting can be a profitable method of making money, as even a K37 with the cheapest gear can sell for around 200 grand. It generally involves sending a ship out with a manipulator arm, then flying about until a derelict spawns, which causes the main issue with this method: it's reliant on the chance-based event spawning system. This system dictates what spawns, and is completely chance based that you find a derelict, but it may take a while, and hostile entities may make appearances as well, so it's generally a good idea to equip appropriately.
Some ships are better at this task than others, and a full guide to profiteering can be found here.