Where can I find reinforced metal plates?

[mattig89ch]

Hidy ho all

I'm at the point of the plot where you need something like 2.5k reinforced metal plates.

Unfortunately I can't seem to find any for sale in a station I can buy them from. And I've been searching for 3 hours, for a freighter carrying any metal plates. The more the merrier, but any plates would work for me. And I'm coming up blank.

So, where can I find any metal plates? Am I just missing them? Are there sectors to look specifically? Are there freighter types to look for?

Thanks in advance!

[Santi]

I believe the Construction Vessel came loaded with enough to build the URV forge. Be aware that you do not need to build the whole station to progress in the plot, just a couple modules. Anyway here are the friendly producer in Albion:

Albion » Lookout Alpha » Straining Coppice » Arms Tech Fab #3 (Plate Foundry module)

[mattig89ch]

I can't speak for anyone else's game, but in mine I only had a little under 500 plates, and I never was able to move cargo off the ship (and I did try once or twice).

Thanks for that idea of where to look for a friendly manufacturing station. I'm going to check out that sector now.

[UniTrader]

Which Game Version are you playing and where did you get it from?

[mattig89ch]

Yea, I got caught up in latest Shadowrun. So I haven't actually checked into that station yet.

I'm playing the GOG version, and the latest version.

[Snafu_X3]

There are a couple of other non-PMC stations in Albion space that can potentially have RMP for sale, but it's extremely unlikely you'll luck across them

As mentioned, the Plot CV now comes stocked with enough RMP to get you through that sticky area for building the iURV Forge, plus a bit extra (but not enough to build the stations to /supply/ the forge!). However, the usual methods are (pref PMC) freighter-capturing (look for jump beacons &/or the stations /requiring/ RMP: once loaded up from a /supplier/ a freighter will usually boost/jump out, giving you little time for interception); alternative areas of supply (if you have a DLC installed); or initially ignoring the iURV construction & building your own RMP station (with its accompanying supply stations).

If you're going for the latter option, remember xtals are unavailable in the DV sector you're required to build the iURV Forge in; you'll have to hunt around for your own station location or rely on NPC traders

There's one other option: give the plot CV architect a ton of cash & rely on the occasional NPC trader, but this method is so unreliable & time-consuming it's hardly worth considering

[mattig89ch]

And here I was just about to post a reply. I waited around the station in question for about an hour, for an offer to buy metal plates. Sadly, I didn't see one pop up.

Not sure what to say about the ship supposed to have enough plates to build the station. It didn't come like that for me. Is there a file somewhere I can adjust the amount of plates the ship has?

[Ezarkal]

Scan the production modules, then look at the station's production panel to know when it finishes a production cycle. An offer should appear about 30 seconds after that. Some wares sells like hotcakes, though, and will only display for a few seconds (fusion reactors might be the best examples).

Or, what might be happening is the station might lack some ressources to produce RMP. You'll then have to supply it.

Either way, if you find you can't buy wares because they're sold too quickly, stick around and scan the cargo ships docking with the station. One is bound to eventually load up with RMP. You will then have found a freighter carrying RMP.

(Alternatively, you could also use that last option with the PMC stations. You can't trade with them yourself, but you can certainly hit the ships trading with them. You're already outlawed anyway.)

[Nanook]

As for the freighters potentially carrying RMP's, look for 'High Tech' and 'Hull Tech' in their names. A Trojan hacking drone will come in very handy for liberating cargo from these ships.

[mattig89ch]

Yea, I've been looking at high tech and hull tech freighters of all shapes and sizes. I even expanded my search to include any non energy/water freighters. I haven't found a single ship carrying plates.

Now supplying it might not be a terrible idea. What does a station like that need to run? Is it just raw materials (like ore)?

I haven't brought a freighter into the sector, because there is a PMC destroyer in there.

So if I hijack a freighter, I'm going to do it in the middle of open space. Give my engineer enough time to repair that ship. Speaking of, is it possible to get freight off a freighter without hijacking it? That hacking drone remark makes me think it might be possible.

[Snafu_X3]

If you hack a ship successfully it'll drop its cargo into 'crates'; if you board it you gain it's cargo upon success (plus the ship ofc)*

*I'm not sure if this means the entire cargo or not

As I said above, if you want to set up your own RMP fab then gaining a steady supply of /xtals/ in DV|GT is your priority. Local miners can provide Nv; others can provide ore, nrg etc, but for xtals you'll have to work outside that sector.

Be aware that you'll still have to contend with Riever bandits until that part of the plot is complete: once the station is finished (ie plot sections completed) the Rievers become significantly less of a problem to (eg) your miners

WRT the station's 'running costs' you'd best look at the wiki; it's too detailed to go into here

[mattig89ch]

That brings up a station automation question.

Can a station you own, actually have ships move to other sectors to do tasks (like mine, or trade)?


I'm actually considering just editing my save, to give my construction ship the plates. I'd prefer to buy them ofc, but actually finding the plates is proving to be the problem. Where is the station info tab, to see what it needs in its production?


But setting up my own station to create those plates isn't the worst idea I've ever heard. Are a little under 500 plates good enough to setup your own Metal plate fab station?

[Nanook]

Hacking a ship: for each successfully completed hacking session, you get a percentage of the cargo dropped. Each succeeding attempt gives less. I've gotten up to 50% of the total cargo with several successful hacks, but the diminishing returns isn't really worth it past that point. To get the full load, you need to board the ship. BTW, hacking won't make the ship hostile unless you fail a hack.

Station ships: they can travel anywhere within a system, if you set the manager's range correctly. The options are local zone, local sector, system-wide. They can't trade galaxy-wide.

Hope that helps.

[mattig89ch]

many thanks!

Now then, where is the tab to see what a station needs to begin its production? That could be the problem I'm facing with that station. If that doesn't do it, think i'm going to try the save hack. I say I think, because I want to give the wares to my rhanas, then have it trade with the ship. Hopefully that won't break the game. But if I can't find that ship, to give it wares, then I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Edit: Am I committing a forum pho-pah by asking that? It is a genuine question. But I didn't see anything about manufacturing in the station info, so I figured it had to be else ware.

[Ezarkal]

You have to be in-zone with the station you want to see the info.
Open the map menu, and there select the station. The option to open the station info panel is in one of the four buttons at the bottom of the window.
I think it was the "option 4" button, but I don't remember the name. Details? Info? (Sorry, I didn't play in a while.).

From that new panel, you'll see a list of the different info concerning the station. Status, management, npc on board, units equipped... and what would be of more interest to you in this case: wares in stock, production modules and storage.You can expand and select most of the items in these tabs for more info about them. They can be quite informative, and it's a good time investment to get familiar with them.

What you want is the tab about production module. You'll see the production per hour of all of them, and you'll see if any has a production issue. You can select each module individually, and then see it's consumption, amount of wares in storages required for production, and time remaining until the next production cycle. (Usually those last about 20 minutes, so you can expect a batch of wares about 3 times per hour).


As I mentionned above, I didn't play for a while. (I fully blame Dark Souls 3 for that.) I could have mixed up a few things. But it should still give you a pretty good general idea of the layout and where to get the info. Good luck!


PS: On an indirectly related matter, if you see the station have some of it's production wares in store, but doesn't offer it in the trade windows, then it's probably because the wares were already reserved by another transaction.

[Nanook]

A quicker way, and doesn't need scanning of the station, is to open 'details > trade offers'. Then scroll down to see what the station most needs. Typically, it'll be offering many percentage points above average for items it most needs, and the ones that are holding up production. If you click on the 'Adj' tab, it'll sort from highest to lowest in demand (or vice versa). Start supplying the items most in demand which are the ones needed to get production going. Oftentimes, it's food or energy that's needed, but it could also be ore, since those are the three main ingredients needed to produce refined metals and hence RMP's. Anyway, hope this helps.

[mattig89ch]

Thanks for the responces all. I really do apreciate the help.

After spending 6 hours capping 2 mining ships, getting them repped to 100%, and equiping them with drones, I just went ahead and edited my save file.

I've actually done it twice. First time, to get enough resources to build the station, and the second time to get enough plates to build the radar dish.

I'm currently in far out (in albion), looking for a ship carrying a vlauncher. Which is the only resource I need, to build that dish and finally get the plot moving along (its saying I still need to build the URV warf, I'm figuring once I get that dish online, it'll recognize it as finished).

Otherwise that station has 3 titriels defending it, 2 freighters to supply it (the Rhanas, and a Bulk/liquid former reiver freighter), and 2 mining ships to get it the ore it needs. And its actually producing products right now. I even gave it 15 mil to work with, its down to 12.5 ish so far. So I'm going to have to play around with its pricing, maybe get it to find cheaper goods, buy cheaper goods, or sell its products at a higher price.

First things first though! Get that dish built. And I need 1 V Launcher to make that happen.

I have to say, despite the frustration of getting this plot point completed, I'm really enjoying this game. The flight controls are great for a keyboard and mouse. And getting those 2 mining ships out of Albion, and into Devrise was incredibly exciting (I had to use the positional commands to get them to empty space, then fly them through the gate).

I'm hoping I can get a plate foundry running in the next system the plot unlocks, so I can get a supply going to all of my future stations.

[Snafu_X3]

I'm currently in far out (in albion), looking for a ship carrying a vlauncher. Which is the only resource I need, to build that dish and finally get the plot moving along

the plot doesn't need the radar dish to complete. IIRC you only need to build the initial module (so the station is placed) & the URV production module to advance to the next plot stage

I'm hoping I can get a plate foundry running in the next system the plot unlocks, so I can get a supply going to all of my future stations.

Likewise, you don't need to get to the next system (OL) to build your plate foundry. I usually choose Bleak Pebble|Dim Flamelet as it's far off most Reiver routes to not be a problem; it has in-sector access to NV & xtals; & it can use capship jumpdrives to speed the efficiency of goods transportation to GT as necessary (once you build a radar dish, hehe )

[mattig89ch]

So...I've got a bug then?

So glad, I made a copy of the original save before I edited the ships cargo hold.

For the record, my station building ship came with 5k units of wheat and 2k of E-cells. Didn't have a thing needed for that station.

[Snafu_X3]

I don't think you necessarily have a bug as such, simply that you've picked the wrong module to finish to complete that plot stage

The entire plot station doesn't need to be complete (or armed), just the two modules mentioned above..