Salvaging: Difference between revisions

The colour of the wreck icon indicates:

* {{co|grey|Grey icon}}: You have already accessed this wreck

* {{co|blue|Blue icon}}: Wreck was abandoned by the owner, and can be freely looted by anyone

* [[Drones#Salvage drones|Salvage drone(s)]]

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The lower a pilot's skills and equipment, and the more "difficult" the wreck is (see [[#Salvaging time|the section on salvaging time]]), the more cycles it will take before salvaging is successful. To salvage more distant wrecks, pilots either need to fly closer to them or use a [[#Modules|tractor beam]] to pull them closer.

== Salvaging equipment==

These are the ship modules, implants, and items which are relevant when fitting a ship for salvaging. Alternatively, salvaging can also be done with [[Drones#Salvage drones|salvaging drones]], which needs no modules, only a drone bay (and which is not affected by any other modules and implants).  

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|[[File:Item mobile tractor unit.png|link=|]]

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=== Ships ===

Any ship with a free high slot can be used as a salvager. However, there are two ship classes which are most suitable:

In addition to the more specialised ships listed above, many ships can be used to salvage "on the side":

* [[Marauders]] are Tech 2 battleships designed for high-level mission running. They have free high slots which can be used for tractor beams and salvagers (as well as a bonus to tractor beam velocity and range) and a large cargo hold but are ruinously expensive ships (easily 2 billion ISK for ship and modules) and require specialised skills.

== Skills ==

* {{sk|Salvaging|mult=yes|price=yes}}: The basic skill required for salvaging with salvager modules. Every new character starts at level III, which is enough to start out with - however since each level trained decreases the number of cycles a Salvager module takes to salvage each wreck, training this to higher levels to improves salvaging efficiency. To step up to Salvager II modules, train this to level V.  

* {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}: The basic skill required for salvaging with salvage drones. Salvage drones are available at level I, but training this to III or higher will decrease salvaging time further. Needs {{sk|Drones|IV|mult=yes}}.  

Since you'll be juggling a lot of wrecks and modules, keep in mind that you can click on the module icon underneath a targeted wreck to stop that specific module from cycling - useful for turning off the right tractor beam once it's pulled a wreck close to your ship. Also, learn the [[Keyboard controls|keyboard shortcuts]] for targeting and activating/deactivating modules, as it will save you a lot of clicking.

Mobile Tractor Units and salvaging drones can support your ship's salvagers and tractor beams but are considerably slower. However, they can be used for a minimum-effort approach to salvaging (even though it's considerably less efficient): deploy a Mobile Tractor Unit at the start of an engagement, which will pull all the wrecks you create into a tight ball (and loot them for you). When you have destroyed all the enemies, fly close to the MTU, deploy your salvage drones, and [[Drones#Salvage_drones|order them to salvage all nearby wrecks]]. Then sit back and watch your drones work. You may want to occasionally reposition your ship to be as close as possible to the wrecks - salvage drones fly slowly (900 m/s, plus skill bonuses) and they have to return to your ship to drop off their salvage.  

=== Uses for salvage ===

The materials obtained from salvaging are used in the [[manufacturing|manufacture]] of [[rigs]], and if you don't want to manufacture rigs yourself there are plenty of manufacturers looking to [[trading|buy]] these materials. Even though individual materials are usually not worth a lot, their value does add up - be aware of potential [[Suicide Ganking|suicide gankers]] when hauling large amounts of salvage.  

=== Salvaging and the law ===

{{main|Ninja Salvaging and Stealing}}

However, you can '''salvage''' wrecks belonging to someone else without any game mechanics consequences; this is called [[Ninja Salvaging|"ninja salvaging"]], whereby people salvage without the wreck owner's permission.  

* Tractor beams (ship modules and Mobile Tractor Units) don't work

* Salvage drones will not automatically salvage, but they can be ordered to manually salvage a specific wreck

== Salvaging efficiency ==

The defining mechanic for salvaging is the "salvaging chance", which is the probability that you will successfully salvage the wreck in one cycle of your salvaging module/drone. As explained above, if you fail a salvaging attempt, your module/drone will continue cycling until you succeed - so the probability is an indication of how many cycles (i.e. time) it takes to salvage a wreck (or, in the case of very difficult wrecks, allows you to salvage them at all). Improving your chance to salvage does ''not'' give you better salvage.   

Note that the chance to salvage is not affected by [[stacking penalties]].

The base access chance is determined by the wreck type:  

=== Bonuses ===  

==== Salvager modules ====

The following table shows the average number of salvager module cycles (and time) to salvage a wreck. Various player setups are shown for comparison - these are by no means the only salvaging setups but are meant to illustrate the effect of investing in higher-end salvaging equipment.  

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{| class="wikitable salvage" style="border:none;"

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! Player setup  

! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Sleeper large advanced wreck (-20% base access chance)">Large adv.</span>  

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| +15%  

|  

| N/A  

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| +20%

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| N/A  

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| +35%

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| +35%

| -15%

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| +45%

| -20%

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| +55%

| -20%

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| +85%

| -30%

|}  

==== Salvage drones ====

Similarly, when using salvaging drones, take the following setups:

Unlike with modules, where it almost never makes sense to use more than one salvager module on a single wreck, salvage drones will always work together on the nearest single wreck, unless manually commanded to target separate wrecks. Additionally, note that the drones have to travel to the wreck and return to your ship with the salvage, increasing the time they need to salvage.  

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! Player setup  

! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Sleeper large advanced wreck (-20% base access chance)">Large adv.</span>  

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| +5%  

| 1

| N/A  

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| +9%

| 5

| N/A  

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| +11%

| 5

| N/A

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| +13%

| 5

| N/A

|-

| +24%

| 5

|}  

This table shows that for T1 salvage drones there are significant diminishing returns above {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|III}}, after that one only gains a significant boost to salvage speed with T2 drones. Additionally, even though a flight of five salvaging drones with reasonable skills can approach the same salvaging rate as two salvager modules, most salvaging ships will fit four or more salvaging modules, and will therefore always outperform salvage drones. On the other hand, if time is not a factor, then salvage drones offer a very hands-off method of salvaging.  

The type of salvage you get depends on the faction of the wreck that is being salvaged.

! Salvage !! Amarr<br>Blood Raider<br>Sansha's Nation !! Minmatar<br>Angel Cartel !! Caldari<br>Guristas !! Gallente<br>Serpentis !! Rogue Drone

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! Salvage !! Angel Cartel<br />(Minmatar space) !!  Blood Raiders<br />(Amarr space) !! Guristas<br /> (Caldari space) !! Sanshas<br /> (Amarr space) !! Serpentis<br /> (Gallente space)

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== References ==

[[Category:Game mechanics]]

[[Category:PvE]]