Difference between revisions of "Salvaging"

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{{related class | Salvaging 101 }}
 
{{related class | Salvaging 101 }}
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'''Salvaging''' is the process of turning ship wrecks into items. After a ship is destroyed (NPC or Player), a wreck is left behind. This wreck may contain loot, and can be turned into further items by salvaging it. Salvaging can add a lot of extra value to PvE operations. NPC wrecks can drop valuable modules or items, and the salvage from wrecks is used to manufacture rigs.
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'''Salvaging''' is finding useful items from wrecks, which are left behind after a ship (NPC or player) is destroyed. Wrecks may contain loot (which can be taken by anyone) and salvage (which requires specialised equipment to recover). Salvaging is a good secondary income source when doing [[PvE]] combat, as NPC wrecks can drop valuable modules or items, and their salvage is used to [[manufacturing|manufacture]] [[rig]]s. Salvaging is easy to [[#Skills|train into]], reasonably safe, and a good way for newer characters to participate in higher-level PvE content (e.g. [[FLEETS101 - Introduction to Fleets|locust fleets]]).  
  
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== Why should you be a space janitor?  ==
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== Mechanics ==  
  
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Salvaging does not require a lot of skills, expensive ships/modules, and is relatively safe and suitable for new characters. The starting skills include everything necessary to start salvaging, though it takes a few more hours to train into a ship better suited for the process. There are only a few skills that impact salvaging, and a player can reach max efficiency much faster than other professions.
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=== Looting wrecks ===
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[[File:Overview-wrecks.jpg|right|frame|Overview symbols for wrecks.]]
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Every time a ship (NPC or player-piloted) in EVE is destroyed, a wreck is left behind. This wreck may contain loot (e.g. modules from the destroyed ship), which can be taken by anyone nearby.  
  
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The salvage in level 4 (and some level 3) missions is on par with and can sometimes surpass the worth of bounties and mission rewards. Also, you're not (usually) being shot at while salvaging. Low skillpoint characters can become salvagers for level 4 [[FLEETS101 - Introduction to Fleets|locust fleets]] and individuals and gain higher profits than doing their own relative mission levels.
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Wrecks show up on your [[overview]] (although you may need to adjust your overview settings). The symbol of the wreck icon on the overview tells you:
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* Square superimposed on a triangle: A wreck which contains loot, and which has not yet been looted
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* Empty triangle: Empty wreck (contains no loot)
  
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== The salvager's toolbox  ==
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The colour of the wreck icon indicates:
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* {{co|white|White icon}}: Wreck belongs to you (or your corporation/fleet), and you have not yet accessed it
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* {{co|grey|Grey icon}}: You have already accessed this wreck
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* {{co|yellow|Yellow icon}}: Wreck belongs to another player/corporation/fleet, and may not be looted without incurring a [[Crimewatch#Suspect_Timer|suspect timer]] (which allows any other pilot to freely attack you for 15 minutes).
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* {{co|blue|Blue icon}}: Wreck was abandoned by the owner, and can be freely looted by anyone
  
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Salvaging is easy to train into and can be done in almost any ship.  
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In order to loot a wreck (i.e. to take its contents) you need to be within 2500 m of it.  
  
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=== Modules  ===
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=== Salvaging wrecks ===
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In addition to looting their contents, wrecks ''themselves'' may be salvaged to gain useful materials; this is what "salvaging" is about. In order to salvage wrecks your ship must be equipped with either:
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* A salvager module (installed in a high slot), or
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* [[Drones#Salvage drones|Salvage drone(s)]]
  
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* '''Salvager I''' : This is the main tool for salvaging wrecks. Keep one in your hold all the time (they are dirt cheap too). There is also a tech 2 version ('''Salvager II''') which is more expensive and requires more skills.
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If you're using a Salvager module, target the wreck you wish to salvage, approach to within the range of your Salvager module (5 km for the Salvager I, 6 km for the Salvager II), and activate your Salvager module. After each cycle of the module (10 seconds in most cases) one of three things will occur:
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* '''Small Tractor Beam I''' : You can live without it, but these things make life a lot easier. They pull wrecks (and containers) to your ship so you don't have to fly to every one of them. They are a little more expensive (about 1.5 million ISK), but they speed up your salvage which means more ISK/hour. Note that although you can salvage yellow wrecks (wrecks not belonging to your fleet), you cannot tractor them. See "Ninja Salvaging" below.
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<!-- Where are these messages displayed? Exact wording, maybe a screenshot? -->
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* '''Expanded Cargohold I''' : Also optional, but it may help you reduce the trips to a station on some of the larger L3-L4 missions. The tech 2 version, '''Expanded Cargohold II''', is also easy to train for and inexpensive.
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*Salvage is successful and you found something of value, which is automatically deposited into your ship's cargo hold. The wreck disappears.  
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* '''Small Salvage Tackle Rig''' (also comes in medium and large sizes): Increases salvage chance by 10% per rig. Adding this to a salvage destroyer (small rig) or noctis (medium rig) can greatly increase the speed at which you salvage.  
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*Salvage is successful but you didn't find anything of value. Better luck next time. The wreck disappears.  
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*Salvage was unsuccessful. Your salvager module will automatically start a new cycle and continues until you get message 1 or 2.
  
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Other useful modules include prop mods like a microwarpdrive or afterburner to fly faster to wrecks out of range of your tractor beams.
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The lower your 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 your salvaging is successful. To salvage more distant wrecks you either need to fly closer to them or use a [[#Modules|tractor beam module]] to pull them to you.  
  
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=== Equipment ===
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<!-- screenshot with "salvage" command for drones -->
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If you're using salvage drones, you need to launch your drones into space, [[targeting|target the wreck]], and then command your drones to salvage it. They will fly to the wreck (fairly slowly), orbit it and attempt to salvage it. After each cycle (10 seconds), as above, if one of the drones was successful, it will fly automatically back to your ship and deposit the salvage into your cargo hold. You can also command your salvage drones to "Salvage" without having any wrecks targeted; they will then salvage all the wrecks in your vicinity (up to your [[Drones#Drone control range|drone control range]]) one-by-one.
  
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* '''[[MTU#Mobile_Tractor_Unit|Mobile Tractor Unit]]''' : Pulls in wrecks from up to 125km away and loots them for you - collecting the wrecks in one spot for easy and fast salvaging. An MTU reduces or eliminates the need for tractor beams being fitted to your ship allowing for more salvagers and a cloak to be considered. For the fastest salvaging, MTUs are best dropped early in the battle so it collects the wrecks as the battle progresses. This is dangerous for a pure salavager to do, so it's best if a fleet member drops one for you - however they need to collect it at the end, resulting in it dropping all the loot in one container for you to collect.
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The loot and salvage in each wreck are calculated at the time of destruction. Therefore, improving your salvaging equipment and skills (see below) will not change what salvage you get, rather, it will only allow you to salvage faster (i.e. reduce the number of cycles necessary for your salvaging to be successful) and allow you to salvage certain types of advanced wrecks. Each type of rat and ships give certain types of salvage, for a list of Tech 1 salvage see [http://games.chruker.dk/eve_online/salvaging.php this table from Chruker.dk].
  
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=== Ships  ===
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If you didn't [[#Looting wrecks|loot the wreck]] before salvaging it, don't worry - its contents (loot) will appear in a storage container in space where the wreck was. You can then open the and pick up what's inside; salvaging will not destroy the loot.
  
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Any ship with high slots can be used to salvage, but the best ships have a lot of high slots to fit salvagers and tractor beams (if not using an MTU), decent speed for travelling closer to wrecks, and a good cargohold.
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All of the above apply to salvaging wrecks which belong to you (or your fleet). You can also salvage wrecks belonging to other players/fleets, but with [[#Salvaging and the law|some restrictions]].  
  
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==== Destroyers ====
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== Ships ==
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Any ship with a free high slot can be used as a salvager. However, there are two ship classes which are most suitable:
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* Turret [[Destroyer|destroyers]] ([[Coercer]], [[Cormorant]], [[Catalyst]], and [[Thrasher]]) make for excellent beginner salvaging ships. They have eight high slots, allowing you to salvage many wrecks simultaneously. They also have a decent amount of cargo space and are moderately fast, not to mention very reasonably priced. Their main weakness is a rather small [[capacitor]], so they may not be able to salvage continuously. The missile and drone destroyers ([[Dragoon]], [[Corax]], [[Algos]], and [[Talwar]]) are also decent salvagers, but have fewer high slots.
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* The [[Noctis]] is both the next and last step in salvaging ships. It has the same eight high slots as a destroyer, but comes with a huge bonus to tractor beam speed and range; with good skills its tractor beams can reach out to 80&nbsp;km, hoovering up wrecks from an entire battlefield. Additionally, it gets a bonus to the cycle time of salvaging modules, reducing the time it takes to salvage each wreck. The Noctis is the best salvaging ship in EVE by miles; its only downsides are its somewhat weak tank (compared to the value of the salvage it often carries) and its steeper price tag of around 70 million ISK.  
  
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[[Destroyer]]s are a very good choice for a starter salvager. They have 8 high slots, for 4 tractor beams and 4 salvagers (or 5/3 or 3/5 depending on preference). Destroyers are also fast and very reasonably priced. So, don't throw out your dessie. It can double up as your salvaging ship until you can afford a [[Noctis]].
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In addition to the more specialised ships listed above, many ships can be used to salvage "on the side".
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* PvE [[Drone Capable Ships|Droneboats]] rely on their drones to deal damage, and so have free high slots which can be fit with tractor beams and salvagers.
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* Any ship with a sizeable drone bay can usually fit in five salvage drones (which only take up 5&nbsp;m<sup>3</sup> per drone, the same as a light combat drone), which can be deployed when the additional firepower from combat drones is not needed. 
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* [[Marauder]]s are Tech 2 battleships designed for high-level mission running. They have free high slots for tractor beams and salvagers (including a bonus to tractor beam velocity and range) and a large cargo hold for loot and salvage, but are ruinously expensive ships (easily 2 billion ISK for ship and modules) and require specialised skills.
  
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==== Noctis  ====
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== Modules, implants, and items ==
  
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The [[Noctis]] is the gold standard of salvaging. This ORE ship has been designed specifically for salvaging. It has 8 high slots and bonuses to tractor beam range and speed and a reduction to salvager cycle time. With a high level in [[Skills:Spaceship_Command#ORE_Industrial|ORE Industrial]] skill you can sit still and tractor wrecks from over 70kms away. Salvaging with a Noctis becomes very pleasant and fast. The only down side is a price of about 50 million isk, and its rather clunky align time.
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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 need no modules, only a drone bay (and which are not affected by any other modules and implants).  
  
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==== Salvage on the go  ====
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=== Modules ===
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==== Required ====
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* '''{{co|wheat|Salvager I}}''' (high slot): This is your main tool for salvaging wrecks. Keep one in your hold all the time (they are dirt cheap too). There is a Tech 2 variant (Salvager II) which is more efficient at salvaging, but is also more expensive and needs additional skill training.
  
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Some ships have the ability to do missions without guns. Droneboats are a very good example of these ships. You can warp into a mission with salvagers and tractor beams on your high slots and start salvaging while your drones kill NPCs. The Gallente (and recently Amarr) are known for their drone skills and have an impressive array of droneboats capable of salvaging while fighting. [[Vexor]]/[[Arbitrator]] (cruiser), [[Myrmidon]]/[[Prophecy]] (Battlecruiser) and [[Dominix]]/[[Armageddon]] (Although Armageddon is not popular in PvE but is a drone boat) (Battleship) come to mind.  
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==== Recommended ====
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* '''{{co|wheat|Small Tractor Beam}}''' (high slot): You can live without it, but these modules make your life a lot easier. They pull the wrecks (and containers) to your ship so you don't have to fly to every one of them. They are a little more expensive (about a million ISK), but they speed up your salvaging considerably. By default Tech I tractor beams can target wrecks up to 20&nbsp;km away, and pull them in at 500&nbsp;m/s; if you fly a Noctis this is boosted up to 2000&nbsp;m/s at up to 80&nbsp;km (depending on skills). Note that there are no medium or large tractor beams.
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* '''{{co|wheat|Afterburner}}''' or '''{{co|wheat|MicroWarp Drive}}''' (mid slot): Even with a tractor beam, you will still need to do a lot of flying around to reach every corner of a wreck field, and the speed boost comes in handy.  
  
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[[Marauder]]s are a special class of T2 battleships designed for mission running. They all have a 100% bonus to tractor beam velocity and range (up to 40km from 20km) and have utility high slots to equip salvagers and tractor beams. A 100% bonus to weapon damage and around twice the cargo hold of normal battleships (around 1150 m3) to store loot and salvage. Unfortunately they are very expensive and require a long train.
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==== Potentially useful ====
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* '''{{co|wheat|Expanded Cargohold}}''' (low slot): Depending on the base size of your ship's cargohold, it can be useful to fit these, as you can carry more salvage at a time (and don't have to make so many round trips to the nearest station).
  
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=== Skills  ===
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* '''{{co|wheat|Auto-Targeting System}}''' (high slot) or '''{{co|wheat|Signal Amplifier}}''' (low slot): If you have low [[Targeting#Number_of_targets_locked|targeting skills]] and are flying a dedicated salvaging ships with many salvagers and tractor beams, it might be worth fitting one of these modules so that you can target (and therefore salvage/tractor) several wrecks at once. However, this should only be a stop-gap measure until you find time to train your targeting skills. Note that the Auto-Targeting System will not automatically target wrecks (it only targets hostile ships), you would be fitting it merely for its bonus to the number of targets you can have locked at once.
  
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To use Salvager I you need [[Skills:Engineering#CPU_Management|CPU Management I]], [[Skills:Scanning#Survey|Survey III]], [[Skills:Armor#Mechanics|Mechanics III]] and [[Skills:Resource_Processing#Salvaging|Salvaging I]]. For the tech 2 version which is Salvager II, you need [[Skills:Resource_Processing#Salvaging|Salvaging V]].  
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=== Rigs ===
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The only salvaging [[rigs|rig]] is the '''{{co|wheat|Salvage Tackle Rig}}''', which increases your chance to salvage by 10% (15% for the Tech 2 rig), which increases your [[#Salvaging time|salvaging efficiency]].  
  
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Expanded Cargohold I needs [[Skills:Armor#Hull_Upgrades|Hull Upgrades I]] on top of [[Skills:Armor#Mechanics|Mechanics I]] (which you have already trained for Salvager I). For Expanded Cargohold II , you will have to train [[Skills:Armor#Hull_Upgrades|Hull Upgrades II]].  
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=== Items ===
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'''[[Mobile Tractor Unit]]s''' are deployable structures which automatically tractor all nearby wrecks (and containers) and loots their content. While MTUs don't salvage wrecks, they do collect them into a compact space, alleviating the need to tractor them (or to fly to them). They have an enormous range (125&nbsp;km for the basic unit), but only tractors in one wreck at a time, and doesn't do it particularly quickly (1000&nbsp;m/s). However, once deployed they continue to work even if you fly away.
  
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Small Tractor Beam I requires [[Skills:Science#Science|Science III]].
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=== Implants === 
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{{main|List of Skill Hardwiring Implants}}
  
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To fly a [[Noctis]], [[Skills:Spaceship_Command#ORE_Industrial|ORE Industrial]] skill must be trained to I or more, which needs [[Skills:Spaceship_Command#Spaceship_Command|Spaceship Command III]]. Also [[Skills:Science#Science|Science I]]. The tertiary skill required is [[Skills:Resource_Processing#Salvaging|Salvaging I]] which you should have already trained to use Salvager I. Training [[Skills:Spaceship_Command#ORE_Industrial|ORE Industrial]] is useful as each level increases the tractor beam speed by 300 m/s, its range by 12km and each salvage cycle half a second faster.  
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There are two implants which impact salvaging:  
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* '''{{co|wheat|Poteque 'Prospector' Salvaging SV-905}}''' (slot 9), which increases your chance to salvage by 5%.
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* '''{{co|wheat|Poteque 'Prospector' Environmental Analysis EY-1005}}''' (slot 10), which reduces salvager modules' cycle time by 5%.
  
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==== Creating a salvager alt  ====
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Both of these are only of interest to players who want to get every last drop of salvaging efficiency.
  
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Creating a basic salvager alt that can fly a Noctis with tractor beam and salvager will take a little more than 2 days without any remaps. With ORE Industrial skill at level III this alt will have a 56km tractor beam range in a Noctis and with Salvager III it can salvage almost all normal high-sec missions, to salvage more advanced wrecks you can add rigs. If you want more range on your tractor beams you can train ORE Industrial to levels IV or V.
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== Fitting a salvaging ship ==
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The recommended dedicated [[#ships|salvaging ships]] have eight high slots, which are usually fitted with four salvagers and four tractor beams. This way, you can be salvaging four wrecks at a time, while your tractor beams are pulling in four more. Once you have gotten your feet wet, feel free to tweak this setup - you can fit five tractor beams and three salvagers if your salvaging skills are very good (i.e. your salvagers need fewer cycles per wreck) or if you are salvaging "on the move" (in which case the extra tractor beams are needed to keep pulling the wrecks behind you while your salvagers work). Alternatively, you can fit more salvagers and fewer tractor beams in very concentrated wreck fields (or fit only salvagers if you previously deployed a Mobile Tractor Unit).  
  
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* Mechanics I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)
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Your mid slots should almost always include a propulsion module (afterburner or microwarp drive), except perhaps if you're flying a Noctis with very good skills (which extends the range of your tractor beams so much that you won't need to move). If you're flying a Destroyer you will likely run out of capacitor regularly, so consider fitting a Capacitor Recharger or Capacitor Battery; the Noctis generally has enough capacitor and doesn't need capacitor modules. Fill your remaining mid slots with [[tanking]] modules.
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* Mechanics II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)
 
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* Mechanics III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)
 
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* CPU Management I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)
 
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* Survey I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)
 
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* Survey II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)
 
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* Survey III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)
 
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* Salvaging I (25 minutes)
 
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* Salvaging II (1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds)
 
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* Salvaging III (10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds)
 
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* Science I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)
 
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* Science II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)
 
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* Science III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)
 
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* Spaceship Command I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)
 
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* Spaceship Command II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)
 
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* Spaceship Command III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)
 
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* ORE Industrial I (33 minutes, 20 seconds)
 
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* ORE Industrial II (2 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds)
 
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* ORE Industrial III (14 hours, 38 minutes, 6 seconds)
 
  
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'''Total time: 2 days, 1 hour, 1 minute, 40 seconds'''
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For your low slots, consider fitting an expanded cargohold on salvaging destroyers (the Noctis' base cargo hold is usually large enough), and use the remaining slots to improve your ship's tank, agility, and maximum speed.
  
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Rig slots can either be used to improve your ship's tank or to gain some salvaging efficiency by fitting Salvage Tackle rigs.
  
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Using two remaps you can decrease this time to 1 day and 15 hours.
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Any dedicated salvaging ship with a drone bay should fly salvaging drones. Additionally, consider including ECM drones if you're afraid of being attacked by other players.  
  
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'''Remap 1&nbsp;:&nbsp;Intelligence 27 / Memory 21 / Perception, Willpower and Charisma 17'''
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== Skills ==
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* Mechanics I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)
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=== Basic skills ===
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* Mechanics II (31 minutes, 4 seconds)
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* {{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 - but since each level you train decreases the number of cycles your module takes to salvage each wreck, train this to higher levels to improve your efficiency. To step up to Salvager II modules, train this to level V.
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* Mechanics III (2 hours, 55 minutes, 36 seconds)
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* {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}: The basic skill required for salvaging with salvage drones. You can start using salvage drones at level I, but train it to III to decrease your salvaging time a little. Needs {{sk|Drones|IV|mult=yes}}.
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* CPU Management I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)
 
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* Survey I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)
 
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* Survey II (31 minutes, 4 seconds)
 
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* Survey III (2 hours, 55 minutes, 36 seconds)
 
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* Salvaging I (20 minutes)
 
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* Salvaging II (1 hour, 33 minutes, 8 seconds)
 
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* Salvaging III (8 hours, 46 minutes, 51 seconds)
 
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* Science I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)
 
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* Science II (31 minutes, 4 seconds)
 
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* Science III (2 hours, 55 minutes, 36 seconds)
 
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'''Remap 2:&nbsp;Perception 27 / Willpower 21 / Intelligence, Charisma and Memory 17'''
 
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* Spaceship Command I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)
 
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* Spaceship Command II (31 minutes, 4 seconds)
 
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* Spaceship Command III (2 hours, 55 minutes, 36 seconds)
 
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* ORE Industrial I (26 minutes, 40 seconds)
 
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* ORE Industrial II (2 hours, 4 minutes, 11 seconds)
 
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* ORE Industrial III (11 hours, 42 minutes, 28 seconds)
 
  
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'''Total time: 1 day, 15 hours, 13 minutes, 20 seconds'''
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=== Targeting skills ===
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{{see also|Targeting}}
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* {{sk|Target Management|mult=yes|price=yes}}: This skill allows you to lock 1 additional target per skill level, up to 7 at level V (without this skill you can only lock 2). Since salvaging requires juggling a large number of targets, train this to at least level III, and take it to V in the medium term.
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* {{sk|Advanced Target Management|mult=yes|price=yes}}: The successor skill, requires {{sk|Target Management|V}}, and increases the number of targets you can simultaneously lock by 1 per skill level. Once you become more serious about salvaging and start flying the [[Noctis]], you will want to train this to level III (for a total of 10 targets, the maximum a Noctis can lock at once). Note that the Tech 1 destroyers can't lock more than 6 or 7 targets at once, so don't bother training this skill if you're only flying salvaging destroyers. 
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* {{sk|Long Range Targeting|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Increases your targeting range by 5% per skill level. This skill becomes useful in the later stages of your salvaging career, when you want to make full use of the enormous range of your tractor beams on a Noctis at very high skill levels, but you can safely ignore it before then.
  
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== Mechanics of salvaging ==
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=== Spaceship command skills ===
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* [[Destroyer|''&lt;race&gt;'' Destroyer]]: You only need to train this skill to level I to fly your race's destroyers, but you don't get additional benefits ''for salvaging'' by training it beyond level I.
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* {{sk|ORE Industrial|mult=yes|price=yes}}: This skill is required to fly the [[Noctis]], and higher levels really pay off if you're serious about salvaging, as they give you bonuses to tractor beam range, tractor beam velocity, and salvager cycle time. If you're going to fly the Noctis regularly, train this to at least level III.
  
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[[Image:T1andt2salvage.jpg|thumb|Tech I and Tech II Salvage materials]]
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=== Capacitor skills ===
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Every time a ship is destroyed, a wreck is left behind. If you have enabled wrecks in your overview you should be able to see a downward triangle with the name of the wreck. If this triangle is full it means the wreck has loot and if the triangle is empty the wreck has nothing. If it is grey, it means you accessed the wreck and opened it and took a look inside. You can loot every wreck if your distance to it is under 2500 meters.
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* {{sk|Capacitor Management|mult=yes|price=yes}} and {{sk|Capacitor Systems Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}: These skills improve your capacitor's capacity and recharge rate, which becomes important when flying a Destroyer and fitting a large number of salvager modules (which use more capacitors than tractor beams).  
  
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Approach the target or lock it and tractor it to your location using the tractor beam. When it is under 2500m (because you want to loot it too). Disable the tractor beam and fire up the salvager. Salvager I has a range of 5000m while Salvager II extends this to 6000m (in my opinion these are not very useful because if it has loot, you have to be under 2500m to loot it). After each cycle of Salvager, you can get any of the 3 messages:
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<!--
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=== Skill plan for salvager alt ===
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Some pilots prefer to train up an [[alt|alternate character (alt)]] to specialise in salvaging. Starting from a new character, here are a few skill training suggestions.
  
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[[Image:sleeperlootex.png|thumb|Sleeper NPC Wreck Loot]]
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Creating a basic salvager alt that can fly a Noctis with tractor beam and salvager will take a little more than 2 days without any remaps. With ORE Industrial skill at level III this alt will have a 56km tractor beam range in a Noctis and with Salvager III it can salvage almost all normal high-sec missions, to salvage more advanced wrecks you can add rigs. If you want more range on your tractor beams you can train ORE Industrial to levels IV or V.
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#Salvage is successful and you found something of value, look into your cargo hold. The wreck disappears.
 
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#Salvage is successful but you didn't find anything of value. Better luck next time. The wreck disappears.
 
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#Salvage was unsuccessful. The salvager will start another cycle and continues until you get message 1 or 2.
 
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Don't worry if you have not looted the wreck yet, when a wreck disappears after salvaging, its loot will appear in a storage container in space where the wreck was. You can then open each container and pick up what's inside. Salvaging will not destroy the loot.
 
  
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The loot and salvage in each wreck are calculated at the time of destruction, so a higher salvaging skill and rigs will not guarantee you higher salvage. Other than enabling you to salvage higher level wrecks, salvage tackle rigs and salvage skill only make salvaging faster.  
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<blockquote>Mechanic I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)<br>Mechanic II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)<br>Mechanic III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)<br>Electronics I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)<br>Survey I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)<br>Survey II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)<br>Survey III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)<br>Salvaging I (25 minutes)<br>Salvaging II (1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds)<br>Salvaging III (10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds)<br>Science I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)<br>Science II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)<br>Science III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)<br>Spaceship Command I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)<br>Spaceship Command II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)<br>Spaceship Command III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)<br>ORE Industrial I (33 minutes, 20 seconds)<br>ORE Industrial II (2 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds)<br>ORE Industrial III (14 hours, 38 minutes, 6 seconds) <br><br>'''Total time: 2 days, 1 hour, 1 minute, 40 seconds'''<br> </blockquote>
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Using two remaps you can decrease this time to 1 day and 15 hours.<br>
 +
<blockquote>'''Remap 1&nbsp;:&nbsp;Intelligence 27 / Memory 21 / Perception, Willpower and Charisma 17'''<br><br>Mechanic I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)<br>Mechanic II (31 minutes, 4 seconds)<br>Mechanic III (2 hours, 55 minutes, 36 seconds)<br>Electronics I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)<br>Survey I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)<br>Survey II (31 minutes, 4 seconds)<br>Survey III (2 hours, 55 minutes, 36 seconds)<br>Salvaging I (20 minutes)<br>Salvaging II (1 hour, 33 minutes, 8 seconds)<br>Salvaging III (8 hours, 46 minutes, 51 seconds)<br>Science I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)<br>Science II (31 minutes, 4 seconds)<br>Science III (2 hours, 55 minutes, 36 seconds)<br><br>'''Remap 2:&nbsp;Perception 27 / Willpower 21 / Intelligence, Charisma and Memory 17'''<br><br>Spaceship Command I (6 minutes, 40 seconds)<br>Spaceship Command II (31 minutes, 4 seconds)<br>Spaceship Command III (2 hours, 55 minutes, 36 seconds)<br>ORE Industrial I (26 minutes, 40 seconds)<br>ORE Industrial II (2 hours, 4 minutes, 11 seconds)<br>ORE Industrial III (11 hours, 42 minutes, 28 seconds) <br><br>'''Total time: 1 day, 15 hours, 13 minutes, 20 seconds'''<br> </blockquote>
 +
-->
 +
== Practical salvaging ==
 +
When first approaching a wreck field, make sure your [[Overview]] settings show wrecks, turn on the [[Tactical Overlay]], and [[bookmark]] a wreck near the centre of the field with the maximum number of wrecks within your ship's tractor beam range. Fly (or warp) to this bookmark, and stop your ship.  
  
−
Each type of rats and ships give certain types of salvage, for a list of T1 salvages you can see [http://games.chruker.dk/eve_online/salvaging.php this table].
+
Use your tractor beams to pull more distant wrecks to within 2500m of your ship (as you'll want to loot them in addition to salvaging them); once they are within range, turn the tractor beams off, and re-target them on additional distant wrecks. Simultaneously, target nearby wrecks with your salvagers, using one salvaging module per wreck (except for [[#Math|very difficult Sleeper wrecks]]), and letting them run until the wreck is salvaged, then targeting the next nearby wreck for salvaging. While the salvagers are running, loot the wreck.  
  
−
=== Salvaging for yourself ===
+
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/disactivating modules, as it will save you a lot of clicking.   
  
−
Nothing complicated here. You may want to salvage on the go or bookmark each mission pocket and then come in later with your salvage ship. Bookmarking is better because you can do a batch of missions and then start salvaging with your Noctis. Also, after you hand in the mission, the acceleration gates will disappear and you can warp directly to each bookmark. Remember that wrecks disappear after 2 hours so time your salvage and mission time accordingly.  
+
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 loots 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.  
  
−
=== Salvaging for others ===
+
As an aside, wrecks of player ships can be salvaged in the same way as wrecks of NPC ships. 
  
−
You may want to Salvage for other people. Remember to talk with the fleet or individual beforehand about your share. Usually in E-Uni fleets, salvagers are entitled to an equal share of the loot/salvage profits and bounties if you decide to warp in during the killing (almost no one will object because after all it's your ship that is at risk). Also salvager is usually responsible for hauling and selling the spoils of war to a trade hub and distributing the profits.  
+
=== Salvaging for yourself ===
 +
If you run [[missions]] or [[ratting|rat]], you can augment your income by salvaging the wrecks you produce. However, it may not be worth your time, as you could be spending your salvaging time running another mission or killing more rats - but it's up to you how to spend your time (also taking into account what activities you enjoy in the game). As a rough guide, mission salvaging only yields significant profits for level 3 missions and above.  
  
−
This is especially profitable during wartime when E-Uni members can run missions but don't want to risk being kicked  because of an industrial loss. They can and will use an out of corp salvager. If you dropped from the Uni for war or have a salvager alt, this is prime time.  
+
While some ships can fight and salvage, it's often a better idea to switch to a dedicated salvaging ships (or have a salvaging alt), as salvaging large wreck fields with anything but a dedicated salvaging ship can be frustratingly slow.
  
−
Salvager usually warps into each mission pocket after all NPCs are dead (or sometime while the killing is going on for a share in bounties) and starts salvaging and collecting loot and continues to the next pocket (if any). If you warp in during the mission please be advised that sometimes new waves can target you and be prepared to warp out as soon as you see some red boxes flashing, you are an industrial not a fighting ship. Sometimes salvager is contracted mission bookmarks in a station after they are done.  
+
Wrecks persist for two hours, so you may want to run a few missions (or rat in a few asteroid belts), bookmarking each wreck field, before switching to a salvaging ship. Mobile Tractor Units can be very useful here - drop one in each mission (they are somewhat bulky, so you may have to return to a station to pick up more), and let them work while you complete additional missions. When you return with your salvaging ship, all the wrecks will be in a nice compact ball, allowing you to forgo tractor beams in favour of a full rack of salvager modules.
  
−
Remember that others in the fleet can see what you looted/salvaged in loot history window of fleet, so if you keep stealing and report lower numbers they will eventually catch you and it is also against E-Uni rules to steal.
+
Alternatively, if you have a salvaging alt that you can [[multiboxing|multibox]] (on a separate [[Accounts#Alts_and_multiboxing|account]]), you can have them follow your combat character, but lagging one wreck field "behind" (to prevent your fragile salvaging ship from being targeted by rats). Keep in mind that, once you have completed a mission, all the acceleration gates disappear, making it possible to warp directly to any bookmarked wreck field.  
  
−
== How to make profit from salvaging ==
+
=== Fleets ===
 +
PvE fleets (e.g. [[Mission_Fleet#Locust_Fleet|locust fleets]] which tackle high-level PvE content are often in need of a dedicated salvager to follow the fleet. Make sure to agree how to split the salvaging proceeds with the other fleet members beforehand; it's common for the proceeds to be split evenly between all fleet members. This role can easily be filled by a new player in a Destroyer, and is a great way to start flying with fleets. The fleet window logs all wrecks that are looted or salvaged, which can be used to check if a salvager is "stealing" some of the loot (i.e. not reporting the full value to be shared with the other fleet members).
  
−
You did all the above and now have a load of salvage materials.  
+
=== Wormholes ===
 +
{{see also|Wormhole Space}}
 +
[[Sleepers]] (the NPCs in wormholes) can be salvaged as usual, but keep in mind that some of the sleeper wrecks take a [[#Salvaging time|long time to salvage]], even with good salvaging skills.  
  
−
=== Directly selling salvage materials ===
+
Often, a salvaging ship in wormhole fleets is also responsible for looting the sleeper wrecks; since Sleepers don't have bounties, this loot is the main income source for wormhole PvE. This makes salvaging ships prime targets for hostile players, and even a solo [[Stealth Bomber]] can destroy a salvaging ship. Therefore, unlike with K-space salvaging, stay with your fleet, keep an eye on [[D-Scan]], and consider fitting Warp Core Stabilizer modules in place of Expanded Cargohold modules (as Sleeper loot takes up comparatively little volume).
  
−
Simply load up all the salvage material and travel to your favorite trade hub and start selling. Fortunately, their volume is usually low which eases transportation. It is easy to forget how valuable they are and haul too much and get suicide ganked. The big money makers are [https://eve-central.com/home/quicklook.html?typeid=25595 Alloyed Tritanium Bar], [https://eve-central.com/home/quicklook.html?typeid=25605 Armor Plates], [https://eve-central.com/home/quicklook.html?typeid=25598 Tripped Power Circuit], [https://eve-central.com/home/quicklook.html?typeid=25600 Burned Logic Circuit], [https://eve-central.com/home/quicklook.html?typeid=25603 Melted Capacitor Console] and [https://eve-central.com/home/quicklook.html?typeid=25606 Ward Console].<br>
+
=== Uses for salvage ===
 +
[[Image:T1andt2salvage.jpg|thumb|right|Tech I and Tech II Salvage materials]]
 +
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.  
  
−
=== Manufacturing rigs ===
+
Salvage materials with an orange background is Tech I salvage (used when manufacturing Tech I rigs), while material with a blue background is Tech II salvage (for Tech II rigs). Additionally, salvage from [[Sleepers|Sleeper]] NPCs is used in the manufacture of [[Strategic Cruisers]].
  
−
Salvage materials are used to manufacture [[Rig|rigs]]. You can start manufacturing them if your industry skills and additional skills for the blueprints are high enough and you have access to the blueprints. Be advised that you will be competing with near-perfect industrialists with researched blueprints, so it may be more profitable to sell the materials directly. When in doubt you can always make spreadsheets.
+
=== Salvaging and the law ===
 +
{{main|Ninja Salvaging and Stealing}}
 +
Wrecks are flagged as "belonging" to the player/corporation/fleet who created them (i.e. who destroyed the ship). You can '''loot''' a wreck belonging to someone else (marked in yellow on the [[Overview]]), but you will receive a [[Crimewatch#Suspect_Timer|suspect timer]], allowing any other pilot to freely attack you for 15 minutes.  
  
−
== Salvaging science ==
+
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.
  
−
:''This section is taken from the [[Salvaging 101]] class.''
+
When salvaging wrecks belonging to others, a few of the abovementioned mechanics are different:
−
All wrecks have a base access chance, which is likelihood (for each cycle of your salvaging module) that you will successfully salvage the wreck. 
+
* 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  
  
−
*Small basic wrecks (Frigates and Destroyers) have a base access chance of 30%
+
== Salvaging efficiency ==
−
*Medium basic wrecks (Cruisers and Battlecruisers) have a base access chance of 20%
 
−
*Large basic wrecks (Battleships) have a base access chance of 10%
 
−
*Small advanced wrecks (Wormhole NPCs, Faction or officer NPCs, or T2 player ships) have a base access chance of 0%
 
−
*A Sleeper Large Advanced Wreck has a base access chance of -20%.
 
  
−
Access chance can be modified by salvaging skill level, and using rigs, implants, and tech II salvaging modules.  
+
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.
  
−
Each level of the {{sk|Salvaging|icon=yes}} skill with a Salvager I module improves your access chance by 5% per level (up to +25% at level V). Once you have trained {{sk|Salvaging|V}}, you can use the Salvager II module, which improves your base access by 7% per level (up to +35% at level V).
+
:Salvaging chance = base access chance + bonuses
  
−
Salvage Tackle I rigs improve your access chance by 10% each. Salvage Tackle II improve your access chance by 15% each, but they are hideously expensive and usually not worth the additional investment unless you plan to do a ''lot'' of salvaging.  
+
Note that the chance to salvage is not affected by [[stacking penalties]].
  
−
The Poteque 'Prospector' Salvaging SV-905 [[implant]] (it fits into slot 9) improves your access chance 5%. The Poteque 'Prospector' Environmental Analysis EY-1005 implant (it fits into slot 10) reduces cycle time of salvage, hacking and archaeology modules by 5%.
+
=== Base access chance ===
 +
The base access chance is determined by the wreck type:
  
−
If you're using [[Drone#Salvage_drones|Salvage Drones]], their access chance is 3%, and is increased by 2% for each level you have trained in the {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|icon=yes}} skill (up to a maximum of 13% at level V). This means they should be able to open anything except Sleeper Large Advanced Wrecks.
+
*Small basic wrecks (Frigates and Destroyers): 30%
 +
*Medium basic wrecks (Cruisers and Battlecruisers): 20%
 +
*Large basic wrecks (Battleships): 10%  
 +
*Small advanced wrecks (Wormhole NPCs, Faction or officer NPCs, or T2 player ships): 0% 
 +
*Sleeper Large Advanced Wrecks: -20%.
  
−
Note that the chance to salvage is not affected by [[stacking penalties]]. Also, improving your chance to salvage does ''not'' give you better salvage; it merely reduces the number of cycles it takes you to salvage a wreck (or, in the case of very difficult wrecks, allows you to salvage them at all).
+
=== Bonuses ===
 +
The following things give bonuses to your salvaging chance (only when using Salvager modules, not drones):
  
−
{{example|1=A beginner salvaging pilot trains {{sk|Salvaging|I}}, fits her ship with a single Salvager, and tries to salvage a small basic wreck. The base chance to salvage a small basic wreck is 30%, and her skills and module give her a bonus of 1 * 5% = 5%; therefore, chance to salvage the wreck on each cycle of her salvager module (10 seconds) is <span style="white-space:nowrap;">30% + (1 * 5%) = 35%</span>. On average, it will therefore take 3 cycles (30 seconds) to salvage the wreck.<ref>For details on the math, see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expected_value expected value] on Wikipedia</ref>.  
+
* Using a Salvager I module improves your salvaging chance by 5% per level of the {{sk|Salvaging|icon=yes}} skill, up to +25% at level V. Once you have trained {{sk|Salvaging|V}}, you can use the Salvager II module, which improves your salvaging chance by 35%.
  
−
Buoyed by her initial success, the pilot heads to more remote areas of space, and encounters large basic wrecks. Her chance to salvage these is <span style="white-space:nowrap;">10% + (1 * 5%) = 15%</span>; therefore, on average, it will take 7 cycles (1 minute and 10 seconds) to salvage each wreck. Heading deeper into space, she encounters small advanced wrecks (chance to salvage <span style="white-space:nowrap;">0% + (1 * 5%) = 5%</span>, taking 15 cycles (2.5 minutes) on average) and even some sleeper large advanced wrecks (chance to salvage <span style="white-space:nowrap;">-20% + (1 * 5%) = -5%</span>; she will not be able to salvage these wrecks).  
+
* Salvage Tackle I rigs improve your salvaging chance by 10% each (and you could, if you wanted, fit several). Salvage Tackle II rigs improve your access chance by 15% each, but (like most Tech II rigs) are hideously expensive.  
  
−
Determined to increase her salvaging efficiency, she trains up her Salvaging skill to level V, and installs a Salvager II module. With this setup, her chance to salvage a large basic wreck is <span style="white-space:nowrap;">10% + (5 * 7%) = 45%</span>; on average, it will take her 2 cycles (20 seconds) to salvage. Even a sleeper large advanced wreck succumbs to her salvaging powers, within 7 cycles on average.}}
+
* The Poteque 'Prospector' Salvaging SV-905 [[implant]] (it fits into slot 9) improves your salvaging chance by 5%.  
  
−
== Salvaging and the law ==
+
Lastly, the Poteque 'Prospector' Environmental Analysis EY-1005 implant (it fits into slot 10) and each level of {{sk|ORE Industrial|icon=yes}} when flying a [[Noctis]] reduces the cycle time of your salvaging modules by 5%. 
  
−
According to CONCORD, anyone may legally salvage a wreck.  Salvaging a wreck does not affect your criminal or aggression status in any way.  If the wreck contains loot, the loot container that drops when the wreck is salvaged will belong to the corporation that owned the wreck.
+
If you're using [[Drone#Salvage_drones|Salvage Drones]], they improve your salvaging chance by 3%, plus 2% for each level of the {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|icon=yes}} skill you have trained (up to a total of +13% at skill level V). There are no other ways of improving the salvaging chance of salvage drones.  
  
−
''Looting'' an owned (yellow) wreck or can will flag you towards the owner's corporation, allowing them to shoot you. ''Salvaging'' will not.
+
{{example|1=A beginner salvaging pilot with {{sk|Salvaging|III}}, fits her ship with a single Salvager I module, and tries to salvage a small basic wreck. The base chance to salvage a small basic wreck is 30%, and her skills and module give her a bonus of 3 * 5% = 15%. Therefore, her chance to salvage the wreck on each cycle of her salvager module (10 seconds) is <span style="white-space:nowrap;">30% + (3 * 5%) = 45%</span>. On average, it will therefore take 2.2 cycles (22 seconds) to salvage the wreck.<ref>For details on the math, see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expected_value expected value] on Wikipedia</ref>.  
  
−
You can tractor containers and wrecks owned by your corporation or by no-one (abandoned). You cannot tractor containers or wrecks owned by other corporations.
+
Buoyed by her initial success, the pilot heads to more remote areas of space, and encounters large basic wrecks. Her chance to salvage these is <span style="white-space:nowrap;">10% + (3 * 5%) = 25%</span>; therefore, on average, it will take 4 cycles (40 seconds) to salvage each wreck. Heading deeper into space, she encounters small advanced wrecks (chance to salvage <span style="white-space:nowrap;">0% + (3 * 5%) = 15%</span>, taking 6.7 cycles (1 minute and 7 seconds) on average) and even some sleeper large advanced wrecks (chance to salvage <span style="white-space:nowrap;">-20% + (1 * 5%) = -5%</span>; she will not be able to salvage these wrecks).  
  
−
=== Salvaging and E-Uni ===
+
Determined to increase her salvaging efficiency, she trains up her Salvaging skill to level V, and installs a Salvager II module. With this setup, her chance to salvage a large basic wreck is <span style="white-space:nowrap;">10% + (5 * 7%) = 45%</span>; on average, it will take her 2.2 cycles (22 seconds) to salvage. Even a sleeper large advanced wreck succumbs to her salvaging powers, within 6.6 cycles on average.}}
  
−
E-Uni rules are a little more restrictive than CONCORD rules.  E-Uni members may only salvage (or loot, for that matter) wrecks of E-Uni members, NPCs killed by an E-Uni fleet, PCs killed by an E-Uni fleet, or abandoned wrecks.  E-Uni members may not salvage (or loot) from wrecks owned by other people, even if you find them lying unattended in space.
+
=== Salvaging time ===
  
−
== "Ninja Salvaging" ==
+
==== Salvager modules ====
  
−
{{note box | Ninja Salvaging is against E-Uni rules. If you do it, you will be punished. This section is here to help you when you encounter Ninja Salvagers or if you want to become one after leaving E-Uni. If you dropped out during war and want to be back, don't do it. If you have a ninja salvager alt and it can be traced back to your character in E-Uni, don't do it.}}
+
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.  
  
−
The rule that makes ninja salvaging possible in high security space is that salvaging someone's wreck is not a CONCORD offense. You will not be flashy to the owner of wreck and they can't shoot you but taking the loot will result in you becoming flashy (the same as Can Flipping).  
+
The following setups are used:
 +
* '''"Beginner"''': Salvager I module and {{sk|Salvaging|III}}. This gives a +15% salvaging chance.
 +
* '''"Intermediate"''': Salvager I module and {{sk|Salvaging|IV}}. This gives a +20% salvaging chance.
 +
* '''"Journeyman"''': Salvager II module and {{sk|Salvaging|V}}. This gives a +35% salvaging chance.
 +
* '''"Advanced"''': Salvager II module and {{sk|Salvaging|V}}, flying a [[Noctis]] with {{sk|ORE Industrial|III}}. This gives a +35% salvaging chance, and a 15% reduction to module cycle time.
 +
* '''"Professional"''': Salvager II module and {{sk|Salvaging|V}}, flying a Noctis with {{sk|ORE Industrial|IV}} and a Tech I Salvage Tackle rig. This gives a +45% salvaging chance, and 20% reduction to module cycle time.
 +
* '''"Expert"''': Salvager II module and {{sk|Salvaging|V}}, flying a Noctis with {{sk|ORE Industrial|IV}} and two Tech I Salvage Tackle rigs. This gives a +55% salvaging chance, and 20% reduction to module cycle time.
 +
* '''"God mode"''': Salvager II module and {{sk|Salvaging|V}}, flying a Noctis with {{sk|ORE Industrial|V}}, three Tech II Salvage Tackle rigs, and both a Poteque 'Prospector' Salvaging SV-905 and a Poteque 'Prospector' Environmental Analysis EY-1005 implant. This gives a +85% salvaging chance, and a 30% reduction to module cycle time. 
 +
{{#css:
 +
table.salvage {
 +
font-size:90%;
 +
text-align:center; }
 +
table.salvage tr th {
 +
background-color:#222222;
 +
padding: 0.2em 0.5em;
 +
white-space:nowrap; }
 +
table.salvage tr td {
 +
padding: 0.2em 0.5em; }
 +
}}
 +
{| class="wikitable salvage" style="border:none;"
 +
|-
 +
! colspan=3 style="background-color:#111111;border:none;" |
 +
! colspan=5 | Wreck type
 +
|-
 +
! Player setup
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Bonus to salvage chance.">Chance</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Reduction of module cycle time.">Cycle time</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Small wreck (30% base access chance)">Small</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Medium wreck (20% base access chance)">Medium</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Large wreck (10% base access chance)">Large</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Small advanced wreck (0% base access chance)">Small adv.</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Sleeper large advanced wreck (-20% base access chance)">Large adv.</span>
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="Salvager I module and Salvaging III.">Beginner</span>
 +
| +15%
 +
|
 +
| 22 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 29 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.9 cycles)</span>
 +
| 40 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(4 cycles)</span>
 +
| 66 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(6.6 cycles)</span>
 +
| N/A
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="Salvager I module and Salvaging IV.">Intermediate</span>
 +
| +20%
 +
|
 +
| 20 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 25 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.5 cycles)</span>
 +
| 33 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(3.3 cycles)</span>
 +
| 50 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(5 cycles)</span>
 +
| N/A
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="Salvager II module and Salvaging V.">Journeyman</span>
 +
| +35%
 +
|
 +
| 15 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.5 cycles)</span>
 +
| 18 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.8 cycles)</span>
 +
| 22 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 29 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.9 cycles)</span>
 +
| 66 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(6.6 cycles)</span>
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="Salvager II module and Salvaging V, flying a [[Noctis]] with ORE Industrial III.">Advanced</span>
 +
| +35%
 +
| -15%
 +
| 13 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.5 cycles)</span>
 +
| 15 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.8 cycles)</span>
 +
| 19 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 25 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.9 cycles)</span>
 +
| 56 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(6.6 cycles)</span>
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="Salvager II module and Salvaging V, flying a Noctis with ORE Industrial IV and a Tech I Salvage Tackle rig.">Professional</span>
 +
| +45%
 +
| -20%
 +
| 10 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.3 cycles)</span>
 +
| 12 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.5 cycles)</span>
 +
| 14 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.8 cycles)</span>
 +
| 18 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 32 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(4 cycles)</span>
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="Salvager II module and Salvaging V, flying a Noctis with ORE Industrial IV and two Tech I Salvage Tackle rigs.">Expert</span>
 +
| +55%
 +
| -20%
 +
| 9 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 11 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.3 cycles)</span>
 +
| 12 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.5 cycles)</span>
 +
| 15 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.8 cycles)</span>
 +
| 23 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.9 cycles)</span>
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="Salvager II module and Salvaging V, flying a Noctis with ORE Industrial V, three Tech II Salvage Tackle rigs, and both a Poteque 'Prospector' Salvaging SV-905 and a Poteque 'Prospector' Environmental Analysis EY-1005 implant.">God mode</span>
 +
| +85%
 +
| -30%
 +
| 7 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1 cycles)</span>
 +
| 7 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1 cycles)</span>
 +
| 7 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1 cycles)</span>
 +
| 8 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 10 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.5 cycles)</span>
 +
|}
  
−
=== Step by step guide to ninja salvaging ===
+
This graph shows the relationship between module cycle time and salvaging chance bonus.
  
−
#Finding a popular mission hub. Mission hubs are system several high level agents in adjacent systems and also have lower security value (usually 0.5 and 0.6). Because mission rewards are higher if the agent is located in a lower security value. Low distance to a trade hub is another factor. Note that there are other ninja salvagers and you may have competition in a popular mission hub.
+
[[File:Salvaging-graph.png]]
−
#Initially run a D-Scan of the system to find the type of ship that you want to scan down. Scanning down bigger ships is easier, also if you want to provoke the mission runner into attacking you and then destroying him, you might want to scan down ships of a certain kind. Remember that maximum range on D-Scan is 14 AU and missions usually don't spawn further than 4 AU from celestials. You can warp to every celestial and run a D-Scan. When you have found a ship that you would like to scan down. Start by reducing the range of D-Scan and seeing if the ship is still in range. This way you can find the approximate location of the ship to scan it down faster in step 3. You start reducing the range of your D-Scan and write down the range. You can warp to a celestial in that range (the sphere with the diameter of that range centered on your current location) to run more D-Scans and reduce the range. Also reduce the scanning area from 360 degrees so you can have a good idea that your target is in which direction. Also if you can see wrecks in the same range as the ship, it means a mission is being run and there are wrecks for you to salvage. If there is just a ship without any wrecks chances are that he has just started the mission or is a salvager and has salvaged everything.<br>
 
−
#Drop combat probes and scan down the area in the area from last step. There maybe hundreds of ship signatures in system but you have a vague idea of where the ship is located. Hopefully there are only a few ship signatures in that area. Scan down each signature, at some signature strength you can see the type of the ship to see if you chose the right one. Scan down your designated victim and warp to the mission at 100km to see what is happening. Note that in steps 2,3, and 4 you are simply combat scanning a ship.<br>
 
−
#You cannot tractor yellow wrecks. So don't put any on your ninja salvaging ship. You must fly to each wreck, lock it up and start salvaging when under 5000 meters. Remember that if you don't take any loot, wreck owner cannot shoot you. A microwarpdrive is also useful to get to wrecks faster.
 
−
#Fly to another wreck, rinse and repeat.
 
−
#It cannot be emphasized enough that ninja salvaging and griefing is against E-Uni rules. You may be kicked with no chance of rejoining.
 
  
−
=== What to do when encountering a ninja salvager ===
+
Several conclusions can be drawn from this table and graph:
 +
* Increasing the salvaging chance bonus is key to salvaging efficiently. While the early increases yield dramatic improvements, these improvements taper off and later increases are not only more costly to get (as they need more expensive rigs, modules and implants), but provide fewer and fewer additional benefits. The "sweet spot" for serious salvaging is around +50% salvaging bonus - this gets you about 80% of the way to the absolute maximum possible (+85% salvaging bonus), but doesn't need any of the really expensive Tech II rigs. the best way to get to around +50% is to fit a Salvager II module and one or two Tech I salvaging rigs.
 +
* If you have the option of flying a Noctis, its cycle time bonus really starts to shine above about +40% salvaging bonus, at which point it gets ever more costly to further increase your salvaging chance bonus. However, if you don't want to fly a Noctis, then a salvaging destroyer can do its job almost as well, but usually needs about 1-2 additional salvaging rigs to compensate for the Noctis' cycle time bonus. 
 +
* Salvaging in wormholes, particularly the advanced larger sleeper wrecks, represent a significant increase in difficulty compared with [[k-space]] salvaging. Therefore, serious wormhole salvagers may want to consider installing three Tech I salvaging rigs (in addition to using Salvager II modules). At the very least a +25% salvaging chance bonus is needed to even attempt to salvage advanced large sleeper wrecks.
  
−
#Don't panic, at most he can only salvage your wrecks. But cannot take any loot without becoming flashy to you. This works like can flipping mechanics.
+
==== Salvage drones ====
−
#Don't shoot the ninja salvager if he is not flashy (has not take any loot). If you shoot him in high security space you will get CONCORDed.
 
−
#You can try to ignore him and do your mission normally.
 
−
#You can warp out of mission if you can. Then the NPCs may start targeting him and he may be destroyed as they are usually in fast and small ships.
 
−
#Create a bookmark 150+km away in the mission pocket. Then lead the NPC to the ninja and warp to the bookmark. The ninja will now have full agro. You can watch or continue the mission or start looting your own wrecks free of agro. Trigger the next wave if needed.
 
−
#You can shoot your wrecks, be careful that you don't lock up and shoot the ninja.
 
−
#If he takes any loot, you can legally shoot him but beware that many ninja salvagers are in a pvp fitted ship and have chosen the fit specifically to work against mission fits for your class of ships. They want to provoke you into attacking them and then destroying you without CONCORD intefering (like can flippers).
 
−
#Report his name, your location and his ship into the alliance chat. If he has taken any loot and you are near other unistas, a fleet may be formed to go and kill him. In this situation note the aggression timers.
 
−
#You just want to make life as hard as it can be to them, so they get bored and go away. Destroying the wrecks is a good idea.<br>
 
−
#If you see ninja salvagers a lot, you may want to change your mission base or hire a salvager to salvage your missions for you while you are doing them. Alternatively you may want to salvage on the go
 
−
#Did I mention that you should not panic and/or shoot the ninja salvager?
 
  
−
== Salvaging in wormholes  ==
+
Similarly, when using salvaging drones, taking the following setups:
  
−
Wormhole NPCs are called sleeper drones (usually sleepers for the sake of simplicity). They don't have bounties like K-Space rats, instead each type of sleepers drop a certain number of tags from specific type(s). These tags are called blue loot (because they are blue in color) and there are NPC buy orders at fixed prices for them in stations. The sleepers won't drop any modules or loot other than blue loot and each and everyone of them will always have at least 2 pieces of blue loot in their wrecks.  
+
* '''"Beginner"''': 1 salvage drone and {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|I}}. This gives a +5% salvaging chance.
 +
* '''"Intermediate"''': 5 salvage drones and {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|III}}. This gives a +9% salvaging chance.  
 +
* '''"Journeyman"''': 5 salvage drones and {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|IV}}. This gives a +11% salvaging chance.  
 +
* '''"Advanced"''': 5 salvage drones and {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|V}}. This gives a +13% salvaging chance.  
  
−
The main income of WH site runners comes from this blue loot and sleeper salvage. Sleeper salvage is used in [[Tech 3 Production|T3 (strategic cruisers) production]]. Unfortunately most of sleeper salvage is worthless because of the high drop rate, the only valuable sleeper salvage are Melted Nanoribbons which can be sold higher than 6 million isk at time of writing.  
+
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 a single wreck. 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.  
  
−
When salvaging in a Wormhole, beware that you are the treasure ship and a solo stealth bomber can destroy you easily. People should remain with salvagers on site to help protect them when a threat suddenly appears. For smaller sites, a salvaging destroyer can be used but for higher class wormholes, a Noctis is the better option. Salvaging ships usually have warp core stabilizers in their low slots to be able to flee and warp out. Expanded cargoholds are usually not needed as sleeper loot and salvage is low on volume.
+
{| class="wikitable salvage" style="border:none;"
 +
|-
 +
! colspan=3 style="background-color:#111111;border:none;" |
 +
! colspan=5 | Wreck type
 +
|-
 +
! Player setup
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Bonus to salvage chance.">Chance</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Nunber of drones working simultaneously.">Drones</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Small wreck (30% base access chance)">Small</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Medium wreck (20% base access chance)">Medium</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Large wreck (10% base access chance)">Large</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Small advanced wreck (0% base access chance)">Small adv.</span>
 +
! <span style="cursor:help;" title="Sleeper large advanced wreck (-20% base access chance)">Large adv.</span>
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="1 salvage drone and Salvage Drone Operation I.">Beginner</span>
 +
| +5%
 +
| 1
 +
| 29 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.9 cycles)</span>
 +
| 40 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(4 cycles)</span>
 +
| 1 min 6 s<br><span style="color:grey">(6.6 cycles)</span>
 +
| 2 min 26 s<br><span style="color:grey">(15 cycles)</span>
 +
| N/A
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="5 salvage drones and Salvage Drone Operation III.">Intermediate</span>
 +
| +9%
 +
| 5
 +
| 11 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.1 cycles)</span>
 +
| 12 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 15 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.5 cycles)</span>
 +
| 27 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.7 cycles)</span>
 +
| N/A
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="5 salvage drones and Salvage Drone Operation IV.">Journeyman</span>
 +
| +11%
 +
| 5
 +
| 11 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.1 cycles)</span>
 +
| 12 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 14 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.4 cycles)</span>
 +
| 23 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2.3 cycles)</span>
 +
| N/A
 +
|-
 +
| style="text-align:left; background-color:#333333;" | <span style="cursor:help;" title="5 salvage drones and Salvage Drone Operation V.">Advanced</span>
 +
| +13%
 +
| 5
 +
| 11 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.1 cycles)</span>
 +
| 12 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.2 cycles)</span>
 +
| 14 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(1.4 cycles)</span>
 +
| 20 seconds<br><span style="color:grey">(2 cycles)</span>
 +
| N/A
 +
|}
  
−
== Tips and tricks  ==
+
This table shows that there are significant diminishing returns above {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|III}}, and it's probably not worth training additional skill levels beyond that. Additionally, even though a flight of five salvaging drones with reasonable skills can approach the same salvaging rate as a single salvager module, 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.
  
−
*Some people use 4 tractor beams and 4 salvagers, depending on your preference and fit, this could be 5/3 or 3/5.
+
Lastly, travel time should be taken into account when using salvaging drones - salvaging a wreck 5&nbsp;km away easily adds ten seconds to the salvaging time (as the drone needs to fly to the wreck, salvage it, and return to your ship), so, if possible, keep your ship as close to the wrecks as possible (or use a Mobile Tractor Unit to pull all the wrecks into a ball).
−
*If you use a Noctis 5 Salvage Drones can save a lot of clicking, you can concentrate on tractoring and looting, the drones salvage. In save areas you can even bring a MTU to do the looting of containers for you.
 
−
*Using modules that decrease your align time and increase max speed will help you get to the bookmarks and hence your salvage faster.
 
−
*When making a bookmark in a mission to warp in with your salvaging ship, zoom out and choose a wreck to bookmark in the middle of wrecks so almost every one of them is in your tractor beam range. if you have the tank, it may be better to kill enemies closer to you so all the wrecks are concentrated in one spot.
 
−
*If you can, fit a microwarpdrive on your salvage ship, to fly to each wreck out of your tractor beam range quickly. Remember that it also makes you easier to find using combat probes and easier to hit.
 
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
 
<small>{{reflist}}</small>
 
<small>{{reflist}}</small>
 +
 +
[[Category:Game mechanics]]
 +
[[Category:PvE]]

Revision as of 21:00, 23 March 2017

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Salvaging is finding useful items from wrecks, which are left behind after a ship (NPC or player) is destroyed. Wrecks may contain loot (which can be taken by anyone) and salvage (which requires specialised equipment to recover). Salvaging is a good secondary income source when doing PvE combat, as NPC wrecks can drop valuable modules or items, and their salvage is used to manufacture rigs. Salvaging is easy to train into, reasonably safe, and a good way for newer characters to participate in higher-level PvE content (e.g. locust fleets).

Mechanics

Looting wrecks

Overview symbols for wrecks.

Every time a ship (NPC or player-piloted) in EVE is destroyed, a wreck is left behind. This wreck may contain loot (e.g. modules from the destroyed ship), which can be taken by anyone nearby.

Wrecks show up on your overview (although you may need to adjust your overview settings). The symbol of the wreck icon on the overview tells you:

  • Square superimposed on a triangle: A wreck which contains loot, and which has not yet been looted
  • Empty triangle: Empty wreck (contains no loot)

The colour of the wreck icon indicates:

  • White icon: Wreck belongs to you (or your corporation/fleet), and you have not yet accessed it
  • Grey icon: You have already accessed this wreck
  • Yellow icon: Wreck belongs to another player/corporation/fleet, and may not be looted without incurring a suspect timer (which allows any other pilot to freely attack you for 15 minutes).
  • Blue icon: Wreck was abandoned by the owner, and can be freely looted by anyone

In order to loot a wreck (i.e. to take its contents) you need to be within 2500 m of it.

Salvaging wrecks

In addition to looting their contents, wrecks themselves may be salvaged to gain useful materials; this is what "salvaging" is about. In order to salvage wrecks your ship must be equipped with either:

If you're using a Salvager module, target the wreck you wish to salvage, approach to within the range of your Salvager module (5 km for the Salvager I, 6 km for the Salvager II), and activate your Salvager module. After each cycle of the module (10 seconds in most cases) one of three things will occur:

  • Salvage is successful and you found something of value, which is automatically deposited into your ship's cargo hold. The wreck disappears.
  • Salvage is successful but you didn't find anything of value. Better luck next time. The wreck disappears.
  • Salvage was unsuccessful. Your salvager module will automatically start a new cycle and continues until you get message 1 or 2.

The lower your skills and equipment, and the more "difficult" the wreck is (see the section on salvaging time), the more cycles it will take before your salvaging is successful. To salvage more distant wrecks you either need to fly closer to them or use a tractor beam module to pull them to you.

If you're using salvage drones, you need to launch your drones into space, target the wreck, and then command your drones to salvage it. They will fly to the wreck (fairly slowly), orbit it and attempt to salvage it. After each cycle (10 seconds), as above, if one of the drones was successful, it will fly automatically back to your ship and deposit the salvage into your cargo hold. You can also command your salvage drones to "Salvage" without having any wrecks targeted; they will then salvage all the wrecks in your vicinity (up to your drone control range) one-by-one.

The loot and salvage in each wreck are calculated at the time of destruction. Therefore, improving your salvaging equipment and skills (see below) will not change what salvage you get, rather, it will only allow you to salvage faster (i.e. reduce the number of cycles necessary for your salvaging to be successful) and allow you to salvage certain types of advanced wrecks. Each type of rat and ships give certain types of salvage, for a list of Tech 1 salvage see this table from Chruker.dk.

If you didn't loot the wreck before salvaging it, don't worry - its contents (loot) will appear in a storage container in space where the wreck was. You can then open the and pick up what's inside; salvaging will not destroy the loot.

All of the above apply to salvaging wrecks which belong to you (or your fleet). You can also salvage wrecks belonging to other players/fleets, but with some restrictions.

Ships

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

  • Turret destroyers (Coercer, Cormorant, Catalyst, and Thrasher) make for excellent beginner salvaging ships. They have eight high slots, allowing you to salvage many wrecks simultaneously. They also have a decent amount of cargo space and are moderately fast, not to mention very reasonably priced. Their main weakness is a rather small capacitor, so they may not be able to salvage continuously. The missile and drone destroyers (Dragoon, Corax, Algos, and Talwar) are also decent salvagers, but have fewer high slots.
  • The Noctis is both the next and last step in salvaging ships. It has the same eight high slots as a destroyer, but comes with a huge bonus to tractor beam speed and range; with good skills its tractor beams can reach out to 80 km, hoovering up wrecks from an entire battlefield. Additionally, it gets a bonus to the cycle time of salvaging modules, reducing the time it takes to salvage each wreck. The Noctis is the best salvaging ship in EVE by miles; its only downsides are its somewhat weak tank (compared to the value of the salvage it often carries) and its steeper price tag of around 70 million ISK.

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

  • PvE Droneboats rely on their drones to deal damage, and so have free high slots which can be fit with tractor beams and salvagers.
  • Any ship with a sizeable drone bay can usually fit in five salvage drones (which only take up 5 m3 per drone, the same as a light combat drone), which can be deployed when the additional firepower from combat drones is not needed.
  • Marauders are Tech 2 battleships designed for high-level mission running. They have free high slots for tractor beams and salvagers (including a bonus to tractor beam velocity and range) and a large cargo hold for loot and salvage, but are ruinously expensive ships (easily 2 billion ISK for ship and modules) and require specialised skills.

Modules, implants, and items

These are the ship modules, implants, and items which are relevant when fitting a ship for salvaging. Alternatively, salvaging can also be done with salvaging drones, which need no modules, only a drone bay (and which are not affected by any other modules and implants).

Modules

Required

  • Salvager I (high slot): This is your main tool for salvaging wrecks. Keep one in your hold all the time (they are dirt cheap too). There is a Tech 2 variant (Salvager II) which is more efficient at salvaging, but is also more expensive and needs additional skill training.

Recommended

  • Small Tractor Beam (high slot): You can live without it, but these modules make your life a lot easier. They pull the wrecks (and containers) to your ship so you don't have to fly to every one of them. They are a little more expensive (about a million ISK), but they speed up your salvaging considerably. By default Tech I tractor beams can target wrecks up to 20 km away, and pull them in at 500 m/s; if you fly a Noctis this is boosted up to 2000 m/s at up to 80 km (depending on skills). Note that there are no medium or large tractor beams.
  • Afterburner or MicroWarp Drive (mid slot): Even with a tractor beam, you will still need to do a lot of flying around to reach every corner of a wreck field, and the speed boost comes in handy.

Potentially useful

  • Expanded Cargohold (low slot): Depending on the base size of your ship's cargohold, it can be useful to fit these, as you can carry more salvage at a time (and don't have to make so many round trips to the nearest station).
  • Auto-Targeting System (high slot) or Signal Amplifier (low slot): If you have low targeting skills and are flying a dedicated salvaging ships with many salvagers and tractor beams, it might be worth fitting one of these modules so that you can target (and therefore salvage/tractor) several wrecks at once. However, this should only be a stop-gap measure until you find time to train your targeting skills. Note that the Auto-Targeting System will not automatically target wrecks (it only targets hostile ships), you would be fitting it merely for its bonus to the number of targets you can have locked at once.

Rigs

The only salvaging rig is the Salvage Tackle Rig, which increases your chance to salvage by 10% (15% for the Tech 2 rig), which increases your salvaging efficiency.

Items

Mobile Tractor Units are deployable structures which automatically tractor all nearby wrecks (and containers) and loots their content. While MTUs don't salvage wrecks, they do collect them into a compact space, alleviating the need to tractor them (or to fly to them). They have an enormous range (125 km for the basic unit), but only tractors in one wreck at a time, and doesn't do it particularly quickly (1000 m/s). However, once deployed they continue to work even if you fly away.

Implants

Main article: List of Skill Hardwiring Implants

There are two implants which impact salvaging:

  • Poteque 'Prospector' Salvaging SV-905 (slot 9), which increases your chance to salvage by 5%.
  • Poteque 'Prospector' Environmental Analysis EY-1005 (slot 10), which reduces salvager modules' cycle time by 5%.

Both of these are only of interest to players who want to get every last drop of salvaging efficiency.

Fitting a salvaging ship

The recommended dedicated salvaging ships have eight high slots, which are usually fitted with four salvagers and four tractor beams. This way, you can be salvaging four wrecks at a time, while your tractor beams are pulling in four more. Once you have gotten your feet wet, feel free to tweak this setup - you can fit five tractor beams and three salvagers if your salvaging skills are very good (i.e. your salvagers need fewer cycles per wreck) or if you are salvaging "on the move" (in which case the extra tractor beams are needed to keep pulling the wrecks behind you while your salvagers work). Alternatively, you can fit more salvagers and fewer tractor beams in very concentrated wreck fields (or fit only salvagers if you previously deployed a Mobile Tractor Unit).

Your mid slots should almost always include a propulsion module (afterburner or microwarp drive), except perhaps if you're flying a Noctis with very good skills (which extends the range of your tractor beams so much that you won't need to move). If you're flying a Destroyer you will likely run out of capacitor regularly, so consider fitting a Capacitor Recharger or Capacitor Battery; the Noctis generally has enough capacitor and doesn't need capacitor modules. Fill your remaining mid slots with tanking modules.

For your low slots, consider fitting an expanded cargohold on salvaging destroyers (the Noctis' base cargo hold is usually large enough), and use the remaining slots to improve your ship's tank, agility, and maximum speed.

Rig slots can either be used to improve your ship's tank or to gain some salvaging efficiency by fitting Salvage Tackle rigs.

Any dedicated salvaging ship with a drone bay should fly salvaging drones. Additionally, consider including ECM drones if you're afraid of being attacked by other players.

Skills

Basic skills

  • Salvaging (3x, 1M ISK): The basic skill required for salvaging with salvager modules. Every new character starts at level III, which is enough to start out with - but since each level you train decreases the number of cycles your module takes to salvage each wreck, train this to higher levels to improve your efficiency. To step up to Salvager II modules, train this to level V.
  • Salvage Drone Operation (4x, 500k ISK): The basic skill required for salvaging with salvage drones. You can start using salvage drones at level I, but train it to III to decrease your salvaging time a little. Needs Drones IV (1x).

Targeting skills

See also: Targeting
  • Target Management (1x, 150k ISK): This skill allows you to lock 1 additional target per skill level, up to 7 at level V (without this skill you can only lock 2). Since salvaging requires juggling a large number of targets, train this to at least level III, and take it to V in the medium term.
  • Advanced Target Management (3x, 500k ISK): The successor skill, requires Target Management V, and increases the number of targets you can simultaneously lock by 1 per skill level. Once you become more serious about salvaging and start flying the Noctis, you will want to train this to level III (for a total of 10 targets, the maximum a Noctis can lock at once). Note that the Tech 1 destroyers can't lock more than 6 or 7 targets at once, so don't bother training this skill if you're only flying salvaging destroyers.
  • Long Range Targeting (2x, 100k ISK): Increases your targeting range by 5% per skill level. This skill becomes useful in the later stages of your salvaging career, when you want to make full use of the enormous range of your tractor beams on a Noctis at very high skill levels, but you can safely ignore it before then.

Spaceship command skills

  • <race> Destroyer: You only need to train this skill to level I to fly your race's destroyers, but you don't get additional benefits for salvaging by training it beyond level I.
  • [[Skills:ORE Industrial]] (ORE Industrial, <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs ORE Industrial ISK">ORE Industrial ISK): This skill is required to fly the Noctis, and higher levels really pay off if you're serious about salvaging, as they give you bonuses to tractor beam range, tractor beam velocity, and salvager cycle time. If you're going to fly the Noctis regularly, train this to at least level III.

Capacitor skills

  • Capacitor Management (3x, 200k ISK) and Capacitor Systems Operation (1x, 60k ISK): These skills improve your capacitor's capacity and recharge rate, which becomes important when flying a Destroyer and fitting a large number of salvager modules (which use more capacitors than tractor beams).

Practical salvaging

When first approaching a wreck field, make sure your Overview settings show wrecks, turn on the Tactical Overlay, and bookmark a wreck near the centre of the field with the maximum number of wrecks within your ship's tractor beam range. Fly (or warp) to this bookmark, and stop your ship.

Use your tractor beams to pull more distant wrecks to within 2500m of your ship (as you'll want to loot them in addition to salvaging them); once they are within range, turn the tractor beams off, and re-target them on additional distant wrecks. Simultaneously, target nearby wrecks with your salvagers, using one salvaging module per wreck (except for very difficult Sleeper wrecks), and letting them run until the wreck is salvaged, then targeting the next nearby wreck for salvaging. While the salvagers are running, loot the wreck.

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 shortcuts for targeting and activating/disactivating 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 loots them for you). When you have destroyed all the enemies, fly close to the MTU, deploy your salvage drones, and 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.

As an aside, wrecks of player ships can be salvaged in the same way as wrecks of NPC ships.

Salvaging for yourself

If you run missions or rat, you can augment your income by salvaging the wrecks you produce. However, it may not be worth your time, as you could be spending your salvaging time running another mission or killing more rats - but it's up to you how to spend your time (also taking into account what activities you enjoy in the game). As a rough guide, mission salvaging only yields significant profits for level 3 missions and above.

While some ships can fight and salvage, it's often a better idea to switch to a dedicated salvaging ships (or have a salvaging alt), as salvaging large wreck fields with anything but a dedicated salvaging ship can be frustratingly slow.

Wrecks persist for two hours, so you may want to run a few missions (or rat in a few asteroid belts), bookmarking each wreck field, before switching to a salvaging ship. Mobile Tractor Units can be very useful here - drop one in each mission (they are somewhat bulky, so you may have to return to a station to pick up more), and let them work while you complete additional missions. When you return with your salvaging ship, all the wrecks will be in a nice compact ball, allowing you to forgo tractor beams in favour of a full rack of salvager modules.

Alternatively, if you have a salvaging alt that you can multibox (on a separate account), you can have them follow your combat character, but lagging one wreck field "behind" (to prevent your fragile salvaging ship from being targeted by rats). Keep in mind that, once you have completed a mission, all the acceleration gates disappear, making it possible to warp directly to any bookmarked wreck field.

Fleets

PvE fleets (e.g. locust fleets which tackle high-level PvE content are often in need of a dedicated salvager to follow the fleet. Make sure to agree how to split the salvaging proceeds with the other fleet members beforehand; it's common for the proceeds to be split evenly between all fleet members. This role can easily be filled by a new player in a Destroyer, and is a great way to start flying with fleets. The fleet window logs all wrecks that are looted or salvaged, which can be used to check if a salvager is "stealing" some of the loot (i.e. not reporting the full value to be shared with the other fleet members).

Wormholes

See also: Wormhole Space

Sleepers (the NPCs in wormholes) can be salvaged as usual, but keep in mind that some of the sleeper wrecks take a long time to salvage, even with good salvaging skills.

Often, a salvaging ship in wormhole fleets is also responsible for looting the sleeper wrecks; since Sleepers don't have bounties, this loot is the main income source for wormhole PvE. This makes salvaging ships prime targets for hostile players, and even a solo Stealth Bomber can destroy a salvaging ship. Therefore, unlike with K-space salvaging, stay with your fleet, keep an eye on D-Scan, and consider fitting Warp Core Stabilizer modules in place of Expanded Cargohold modules (as Sleeper loot takes up comparatively little volume).

Uses for salvage

Tech I and Tech II Salvage materials

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

Salvage materials with an orange background is Tech I salvage (used when manufacturing Tech I rigs), while material with a blue background is Tech II salvage (for Tech II rigs). Additionally, salvage from Sleeper NPCs is used in the manufacture of Strategic Cruisers.

Salvaging and the law

Main article: Ninja Salvaging and Stealing

Wrecks are flagged as "belonging" to the player/corporation/fleet who created them (i.e. who destroyed the ship). You can loot a wreck belonging to someone else (marked in yellow on the Overview), but you will receive a suspect timer, allowing any other pilot to freely attack you for 15 minutes.

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

When salvaging wrecks belonging to others, a few of the abovementioned mechanics are different:

  • 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.

Salvaging chance = base access chance + bonuses

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

Base access chance

The base access chance is determined by the wreck type:

  • Small basic wrecks (Frigates and Destroyers): 30%
  • Medium basic wrecks (Cruisers and Battlecruisers): 20%
  • Large basic wrecks (Battleships): 10%
  • Small advanced wrecks (Wormhole NPCs, Faction or officer NPCs, or T2 player ships): 0%
  • Sleeper Large Advanced Wrecks: -20%.

Bonuses

The following things give bonuses to your salvaging chance (only when using Salvager modules, not drones):

  • Using a Salvager I module improves your salvaging chance by 5% per level of the Icon skillbook2.png Salvaging skill, up to +25% at level V. Once you have trained Salvaging V, you can use the Salvager II module, which improves your salvaging chance by 35%.
  • Salvage Tackle I rigs improve your salvaging chance by 10% each (and you could, if you wanted, fit several). Salvage Tackle II rigs improve your access chance by 15% each, but (like most Tech II rigs) are hideously expensive.
  • The Poteque 'Prospector' Salvaging SV-905 implant (it fits into slot 9) improves your salvaging chance by 5%.

Lastly, the Poteque 'Prospector' Environmental Analysis EY-1005 implant (it fits into slot 10) and each level of Icon skillbook2.png [[Skills:ORE Industrial]] when flying a Noctis reduces the cycle time of your salvaging modules by 5%.

If you're using Salvage Drones, they improve your salvaging chance by 3%, plus 2% for each level of the Icon skillbook2.png Salvage Drone Operation skill you have trained (up to a total of +13% at skill level V). There are no other ways of improving the salvaging chance of salvage drones.

A beginner salvaging pilot with Salvaging III, fits her ship with a single Salvager I module, and tries to salvage a small basic wreck. The base chance to salvage a small basic wreck is 30%, and her skills and module give her a bonus of 3 * 5% = 15%. Therefore, her chance to salvage the wreck on each cycle of her salvager module (10 seconds) is 30% + (3 * 5%) = 45%. On average, it will therefore take 2.2 cycles (22 seconds) to salvage the wreck.[1].

Buoyed by her initial success, the pilot heads to more remote areas of space, and encounters large basic wrecks. Her chance to salvage these is 10% + (3 * 5%) = 25%; therefore, on average, it will take 4 cycles (40 seconds) to salvage each wreck. Heading deeper into space, she encounters small advanced wrecks (chance to salvage 0% + (3 * 5%) = 15%, taking 6.7 cycles (1 minute and 7 seconds) on average) and even some sleeper large advanced wrecks (chance to salvage -20% + (1 * 5%) = -5%; she will not be able to salvage these wrecks).

Determined to increase her salvaging efficiency, she trains up her Salvaging skill to level V, and installs a Salvager II module. With this setup, her chance to salvage a large basic wreck is 10% + (5 * 7%) = 45%; on average, it will take her 2.2 cycles (22 seconds) to salvage. Even a sleeper large advanced wreck succumbs to her salvaging powers, within 6.6 cycles on average.

Salvaging time

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.

The following setups are used:

  • "Beginner": Salvager I module and Salvaging III. This gives a +15% salvaging chance.
  • "Intermediate": Salvager I module and Salvaging IV. This gives a +20% salvaging chance.
  • "Journeyman": Salvager II module and Salvaging V. This gives a +35% salvaging chance.
  • "Advanced": Salvager II module and Salvaging V, flying a Noctis with [[Skills:ORE Industrial III]]. This gives a +35% salvaging chance, and a 15% reduction to module cycle time.
  • "Professional": Salvager II module and Salvaging V, flying a Noctis with [[Skills:ORE Industrial IV]] and a Tech I Salvage Tackle rig. This gives a +45% salvaging chance, and 20% reduction to module cycle time.
  • "Expert": Salvager II module and Salvaging V, flying a Noctis with [[Skills:ORE Industrial IV]] and two Tech I Salvage Tackle rigs. This gives a +55% salvaging chance, and 20% reduction to module cycle time.
  • "God mode": Salvager II module and Salvaging V, flying a Noctis with [[Skills:ORE Industrial V]], three Tech II Salvage Tackle rigs, and both a Poteque 'Prospector' Salvaging SV-905 and a Poteque 'Prospector' Environmental Analysis EY-1005 implant. This gives a +85% salvaging chance, and a 30% reduction to module cycle time.
Wreck type
Player setup Chance Cycle time Small Medium Large Small adv. Large adv.
Beginner +15% 22 seconds
(2.2 cycles) 		29 seconds
(2.9 cycles) 		40 seconds
(4 cycles) 		66 seconds
(6.6 cycles) 		N/A
Intermediate +20% 20 seconds
(2 cycles) 		25 seconds
(2.5 cycles) 		33 seconds
(3.3 cycles) 		50 seconds
(5 cycles) 		N/A
Journeyman +35% 15 seconds
(1.5 cycles) 		18 seconds
(1.8 cycles) 		22 seconds
(2.2 cycles) 		29 seconds
(2.9 cycles) 		66 seconds
(6.6 cycles)
Advanced +35% -15% 13 seconds
(1.5 cycles) 		15 seconds
(1.8 cycles) 		19 seconds
(2.2 cycles) 		25 seconds
(2.9 cycles) 		56 seconds
(6.6 cycles)
Professional +45% -20% 10 seconds
(1.3 cycles) 		12 seconds
(1.5 cycles) 		14 seconds
(1.8 cycles) 		18 seconds
(2.2 cycles) 		32 seconds
(4 cycles)
Expert +55% -20% 9 seconds
(1.2 cycles) 		11 seconds
(1.3 cycles) 		12 seconds
(1.5 cycles) 		15 seconds
(1.8 cycles) 		23 seconds
(2.9 cycles)
God mode +85% -30% 7 seconds
(1 cycles) 		7 seconds
(1 cycles) 		7 seconds
(1 cycles) 		8 seconds
(1.2 cycles) 		10 seconds
(1.5 cycles)

This graph shows the relationship between module cycle time and salvaging chance bonus.

Salvaging-graph.png

Several conclusions can be drawn from this table and graph:

  • Increasing the salvaging chance bonus is key to salvaging efficiently. While the early increases yield dramatic improvements, these improvements taper off and later increases are not only more costly to get (as they need more expensive rigs, modules and implants), but provide fewer and fewer additional benefits. The "sweet spot" for serious salvaging is around +50% salvaging bonus - this gets you about 80% of the way to the absolute maximum possible (+85% salvaging bonus), but doesn't need any of the really expensive Tech II rigs. the best way to get to around +50% is to fit a Salvager II module and one or two Tech I salvaging rigs.
  • If you have the option of flying a Noctis, its cycle time bonus really starts to shine above about +40% salvaging bonus, at which point it gets ever more costly to further increase your salvaging chance bonus. However, if you don't want to fly a Noctis, then a salvaging destroyer can do its job almost as well, but usually needs about 1-2 additional salvaging rigs to compensate for the Noctis' cycle time bonus.
  • Salvaging in wormholes, particularly the advanced larger sleeper wrecks, represent a significant increase in difficulty compared with k-space salvaging. Therefore, serious wormhole salvagers may want to consider installing three Tech I salvaging rigs (in addition to using Salvager II modules). At the very least a +25% salvaging chance bonus is needed to even attempt to salvage advanced large sleeper wrecks.

Salvage drones

Similarly, when using salvaging drones, taking 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 a single wreck. 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.

Wreck type
Player setup Chance Drones Small Medium Large Small adv. Large adv.
Beginner +5% 1 29 seconds
(2.9 cycles) 		40 seconds
(4 cycles) 		1 min 6 s
(6.6 cycles) 		2 min 26 s
(15 cycles) 		N/A
Intermediate +9% 5 11 seconds
(1.1 cycles) 		12 seconds
(1.2 cycles) 		15 seconds
(1.5 cycles) 		27 seconds
(2.7 cycles) 		N/A
Journeyman +11% 5 11 seconds
(1.1 cycles) 		12 seconds
(1.2 cycles) 		14 seconds
(1.4 cycles) 		23 seconds
(2.3 cycles) 		N/A
Advanced +13% 5 11 seconds
(1.1 cycles) 		12 seconds
(1.2 cycles) 		14 seconds
(1.4 cycles) 		20 seconds
(2 cycles) 		N/A

This table shows that there are significant diminishing returns above Salvage Drone Operation III, and it's probably not worth training additional skill levels beyond that. Additionally, even though a flight of five salvaging drones with reasonable skills can approach the same salvaging rate as a single salvager module, 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.

Lastly, travel time should be taken into account when using salvaging drones - salvaging a wreck 5 km away easily adds ten seconds to the salvaging time (as the drone needs to fly to the wreck, salvage it, and return to your ship), so, if possible, keep your ship as close to the wrecks as possible (or use a Mobile Tractor Unit to pull all the wrecks into a ball).

References

  1. ^ For details on the math, see expected value on Wikipedia
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