Elite: Dangerous PvE - Mobius

I have now got access to my first engineer. And I would like to give it a go, doing what ever it is. You have to do, to get one of there items. But I have noticed. It says it needs 1 unit of meta alloy to start -

I have searched like mad for information on this. I found some useful info. But so far nothing has really helped me. When it says a station stocks them in limited numbers. There have been none there. Even when switching from privet group, to open. And I have spent ages searching on high metal worlds, looking for the barnacle things. Again with no luck.

So my question is this -
Can anyone offer any advice?
Or better yet. As my cobra is fitted for planet searching. Can I tag along with someone please?

Thank you
Samantha

IF you have horizons.

Go to maia, and darnelles prospect, a surface base and buy there, costs about 101k each

I did look at that. But to be honest, I got put off by the long ass trek lol. 79 jumps at my last look. But if that is my best bet, then I will do it

Ok I am going to do that, I am going to fly to Maia.

But on the way I am going to practice exploration. Fuel scooping, etc. Have me some fun

As Orkekum already said, fly to Maia, land at Darnielle's Progress, and buy your meta alloy there. It is a bit of a long trip depending on where in the bubble you are (400 LY or so), but it is the fast and reliable option.

The alternative is to visit one of the known barnacles and hope that they have not been harvested "recently" and are not surrounded by defenses. There are about 30-40 sites in the Pleiades nebula, check the Canonn Science Team web site for their barnacle location and status list. Since this is the nearest source, everybody uses it, so your chances are poor, and Maia is in the Pleiades nebula, so you do not save anything trip-wise.

Additionally, barnacles are persistent planetary points of interest and as such, they do not show up on your ship's scanner, so you have to find them by coordinate and then by looking out of the window. This is a bit of a challenge. If you want to give it a shot, fly over to Merope 5c, and visit the first barnacle ever found at -026.3496, -156.4044.

At the moment, I am aware of exactly one unharvested and undefended barnacle, and that is in Witch Head sector, which is about 800 LY away from the bubble, and surrounded by permit-locked systems. You will need a jump range of at least 18.7 LY with your meta-alloy on board to enter or exit Witch Head sector. See here for details.

More unharvested and undefended barnacles might exist in the California Nebula, but that is even further away, 1000 LY from the bubble.

I think given that information. My only real option here, is to go to Maia. Witch head would be further out then Maia for me. And anything permit locked is a no go. I also do not like my chances, if the known barnacles go so fast. So I will bite the bullet, and do the long trek. Cash is not an issue thankfully.

Hunting after coordinates is fairly painstaking since.
We do not have a compass instrument in orbital cruise!
seriously FD get a clue.

Sry just had to get that off my chest.

Yeah easiest way to get meta is to buy them at darnielles landing (or what it's called)
Just hunting down coordinates could easily take an hour if not more the first time.
At least when you are like me and mistakes Merope 2 A for Merope 1 A...

As for Maia.
It's really not far distance speaking and Felicity Farseer is the "exploration engineer" and for explorers pretty much anything inside of 5k ly is a "Short trip".
But it's all relative really. I too once thought a 150ly was a long way..

I just need another dose of caffeine and I was thinking of going out for a day trip if you want I don't mind winging up.

The locks are for 'unknown permit', and FD has confirmed that there is currently no way in-game to enter those sectors. Basically, they are reserved for further expansions. So the challenge is not 'gain the permit', but rather 'find a way through'. It cost me two rather frustrating evenings and I had to dump more of my cargo than I wanted, but I squeezed in (and out again). If you want to, I can tell you where the weak spot is, but then you loose the joy of finding it yourself.

No worries guys, currently on a mission to fly there and buy some meta alloy. And on the way I am practicing exploration. Scanning anything I can find. And fuel scooping to boost. Probably doubled my travel time, but should make me some cash. And level up my exploration rank

Hi,
I went out to the horse head nebula in a Cobra, So going to Maia is well within your grasp. I'm sure my max jump was 25 ly.
So you can easily do it if you have the time.

I'd personally go by the fastest route not the economical one. You Dont want the space madness to set in yet lol.
As each jump engages hit X to stop all engines the press scan as to map the system.
Here a link to the Visual exploration values of planets and stars etc
http://lavewiki.com/_media/lw01dg5.jpg


Once at Maia you can also check out the black hole in the system

edit. Noticed you've updated your status since i started my reply. Well good luck anyways