And also on Salvaging

[Akkamaddi]

King David beat me to the idea of salvage missions, but there was another idea I had, and now two.

The new one relates to combat. There is an account update that gives a chance of getting a "critical" on a combat loot scan. Perhaps there could be a similar "critical" for salvage loot? Perhaps something like a 1 in 255 chance if you don't have the update, 5 in 255 if you do.

Possible mechanic: Each section has a separate short Critical list, that shows a red result background when found. There is no critical at level 0, and a new item is added to the list at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. A critical result would be a roll on this chart, with possible results being for the current section level and down. (Again, no criticals at 0.) The critical item could be something normally 6+ levels on the chart, dark matter resources, Sub Mol resources, Expanse resources, and possibly overlap with combat. (I don't think rare results would take away from the value of the new combat list, and it would make sense that security bots and crew uniforms jettisoned when a ship explodes could sometimes appear in salvage.)

Alternately: A critical salvage scan pulls something from the combat loot based on the ship's weight, with no chance of an empty pull.



The second idea is a Babylon-style POD for salvagers:

Hephaestus POD

Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 1, level 25, points 2, (+1 scan hit extension, +2 scan time extension)
Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 2, level 35, points 2, (+2 scan hit extension, +4 scan time extension)
Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 3, level 45, points 2, (+3 scan hit extension, +6 scan time extension)
Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 4, level 55, points 2, (+4 scan hit extension, +8 scan time extension)

Like the Babylon, it is a single-fit POD that cannot be chained. It works with both the Scan Limit Expander and Wreck Extender. "Scan hit extension" increases the number of hits on a scan, while "scan time extension" is how far back in time from which wrecks can be found. There may be an argument to cut the scan time extension, but even so, a +4/+4 Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 4 would still be a nice piece of equipment.

[Sukayo]

To clearify critical: it is the same loot item, only the amount is higher. For combat loot with the best Combat Loot Maximiser it is an amount of max. 30. - so see it as a critical amount.
The max amount for salvaging you can modify via salvage guns and skills, so i see here no big bonus in the existing salvaging system. Adding new salvage loot would do something strange to the existing balance.

For salvagers we have a special Wreck Extender SX - which enhances the scan time, max. + 84 Hours. That equipped and all the normal stuff i am around 100h scan time, that is enough for nearly everything.

[pikolinianita]

Would be nice if critical hit give resources from that area, but one or two Salvage levels higher. It could be useful for scouting.

Any device increasing loot amount in expanse would be instant bestseller...

[Akkamaddi]

Would be nice if critical hit give resources from that area, but one or two Salvage levels higher. It could be useful for scouting.
Any device increasing loot amount in expanse would be instant bestseller...

I agree with the critical idea. As to the second, perhaps just make it a CES item:

Hephaestus POD (CES only)

Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 1, level 20, points 1,
(+1 scan hit extension, +1 scan time extension, +1% Critical, -1 Empty pull)

Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 2, level 40, points 1,
(+2 scan hit extension, +2 scan time extension, +2% Critical, -2 Empty pull)

Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 3, level 60, points 1,
(+3 scan hit extension, +3 scan time extension, +3% Critical, -3 Empty pull)

Hephaestus Scan Unit Mark 4, level 80, points 1,
(+4 scan hit extension, +4 scan time extension, +4% Critical, -4 Empty pull)

Scan hit extension: number of responses on a scan use.
Scan time extension: hours back in time.
Critical: Chance to have target automatically be something one level up from the current scan range. If critical, then re-roll to give chance to be two levels up. (Keep the chance low if the normal item distribution is skipped, higher if the normal distribution is +1 level.)
Empty Pull: An "empty pull" (no result) is reduced by X tones on the ship frame. An empty pull will always destroy a minimum of 1 ton ship frame.

With the empty pull bonus, the Hphaestus 4 would give you a lot more loot per salvaged ship. (It may be better to make the level requirements 25/50/75/100.) If that was in the store, I'd pounce on a 2.