Career: Salvager

Sometimes referred to as Corpse Robbers, Garbagemen, or Wreck Divers. Salvagers clean up the mess left behind in the wake of battle, sifting through the flotsam and jetsam for those diamonds in the rough. These diamonds can then be used to build rigs to be fit on other ships. Call it an act of recycling or the reprehensible desecration of a pilot's tomb, either way salvaging is a lucrative and thriving industry.

Tools of the Trade

Skills

An advanced mechanic skill, Salvaging allows you to fit and use the Salvager module you will need to recover useful materials from the twisted corpses of dead ships.

Each level of this skill increases the chance of successful salvage by 5%, so the higher the skill level the better.

- Level 3 Salvage

Grants the ability to salvage Tech II or faction ships

- Level 4 Salvage

Grants the ability to salvage Sleeper Battleships

- Level 5 Salvage

Grants the ability to use Salvager II.

Modules

In order to salvage, you will need to fit a Salvager I module onto your ship. A Salvager II offers a 2% better chance per Salvaging level (10% total)

to salvage than its Tech I counterpart.

There is no limit to how many salvage modules you can fit to your ship, other than the amount of high slots on your ship and the CPU and power output of your ship.

Drones

Salvage Drones were introduced in the Retribution expansion December 4th 2012. At the time of writing this section, they have not yet been entered into the Item Database. Even so, Salvage Drones are a very useful tool. They do not require a high slot allowing for more Tractor Beams, and thus less time on the field. Drones can be commanded to salvage an individual wreck, or automated to salvage the entire field. Drones will not salvage wrecks that are not white to you, unless explicitly told to do so.

Salvage Drones have a base salvage bonus of 3% Training Salvage Drone Operation to higher levels grants 2% per level.

Skill requirements: Salvage Drone Operation Level 1

To use Salvage Drones: If you have a wreck targeted, right click the drone and select salvage. In order to salvage all available wrecks, right click the "Drones in active space" header in drone management and then choose salvage. That is the fastest way to get all salvage drones to automate the entire field.

Currently there is a known issue regarding salvage drones not auto salvaging corp owned wrecks and this is being looked into at the moment.

Wrecks

In order to salvage you need wrecks, which can be found almost anywhere. Any time a ship has been destroyed a wreck will be left behind.

Wrecks come in different sizes, depending on the type of ship, and have different amounts of materials in them.

The rule of thumb is that the bigger the ship, the more salvageable materials it will yield.

The amount of salvage and which components you receive are calculated based on percentages pre-defined into the wreck.

The Salvager at Work

Once you are equipped and have located or created a wreck, Salvagers typically take the following steps:

On the overview wrecks in space will have a triangular icon pointing downwards. If the wreck has loot, the triangle will be solid.

If no loot, they will be empty triangles. Approach to within 5 km of the wreck, target and lock it. and turn on the salvager.

Activate the Salvager module on your ship. It may take several module cycles to successfully salvage the wreck, so be patient.

Once successfully salvaged, you will receive a message indicating a successful attempt and the module will deactivate. The salvaged material

will automatically be transferred to your cargo hold if you have sufficient hold space. You can then proceed to another wreck.

Salvaging a wreck that contains loot will not destroy the loot. It will reappear in space inside a disposable container for you to pick-up when you get within 2500m.
Some wrecks end up having nothing to salvage.

If that is the case, the wreck will disappear after the salvage attempt and will give a message stating there was nothing to salvage. If the salvage cycle ends

and the wreck is still there, you can continue to attempt to salvage until either the wreck disappears unsalvageable or until something of value is found.

The materials you get will vary from race to race and are consistent with their specialty.

Thus, a Guristas ship will drop shield and missile materials, while Sansha will drop laser and armor components. All factions and races will drop circuits.

Improving Salvage Chances

Using a Salvager I, and minimum skills, your base Access Difficulty Bonus is 5% (Salvager I @ 5% * Salvaging Level I).

The following methods are available to improve that.

Salvaging Level II, III, IV, V = 10, 15, 20, 25% (respectively) for a Salvager I
Salvager II = 7% per level (requires salvaging Level V to equip) = 35%
Small/Medium/Large Salvage Tackle I = 10%
Small/Medium/Large Salvage Tackle II = 15%
Hardwiring - Poteque Pharmaceuticals 'Prospector' PPY-1 = 5%

Using a Destroyer with 400 calibration points as an example, you can attain the following Access Difficulty Bonus with full gear and skills.

Salvager II * Salvaging Level V + Small Salvage Tackle II * 3 + Implant
(7% * 5) + (15% * 3) + 5% = 85%

A Mission Generic Small Wreck has an Access Difficulty Base of 30.
A Mission Generic Medium Wreck has an Access Difficulty Base of 20.
A Mission Generic Large Wreck has an Access Difficulty Base of 10.
A Sleeper Large Advanced Wreck has an Access Difficulty Base of -20.

A small wreck, salvaging I your chance to salvage is 30+5=35% per cycle.
A large wreck, salvaging IV your chance to salvage is 10+20=30% per cycle.
A small wreck, Salvager II your chance to salvage is 30+35=65% per cycle.
A small wreck, full gear and skills your chance to salvage is 30+85=115% per cycle.

Advice and Tips

Ships & Fittings

Pretty much any ship can be used for salvaging. For the solo pilot, his ship needs to tank any enemies and be able to destroy them

(to make your own salvaging opportunities). Make sure to leave a high slot available for the salvager module.

A decent cargo bay may also an important consideration. Although salvage parts don't take up a lot of room, if you're also going to loot the wrecks to reprocess

for minerals, cargo space can fill up quickly.  Fitting expanded cargohold II's in low slots can be a big help with maximizing cargo space. Beware, if the wreck
you are looting is not your own, the player who created the wrecks will be able to attack you. You will be flagged as globally criminal.

Wrecks can often be far flung across an area. Fitting an afterburner and a tractor beam can speed up the travel time and get you salvaging wrecks much faster.

This is especially helpful when in dangerous zones when time is of the essence before hostiles notice you are nearby. If the wrecks are not your own
or your corporations, then you will not be able to use a tractor beam on them.

The more Salvager I and Small Tractor Beam I modules you use the faster salvaging goes.

If you or your (player) corporation created the wrecks (they will show white in the overview), you can use a Small Tractor Beam I to pull wrecks to you.

Abandoned or Blue wrecks can also have Small Tractor Beam I use on them to pull them closer. However if the wreck does not belong to your corp
or alliance they will be yellow and are immune to Small Tractor Beam I.

Small Tractor Beam I modules can be fitted to high-slots to pull the wrecks into range from up to 20,000m away, so fitting a tractor beam (or several) can
bring wrecks close and reduce your salvaging time overall. Although you can use multiple salvagers on a single wreck you can only use one tractor on each wreck.

A good ship to use for salvaging is a Destroyer class ship. Destroyers have many high slots, meaning you can fit several salvage modules and tractor beams. You can also fit a combination of turrets, salvagers and tractor beams to "create, pull & salvage" wrecks. Others swear by specifically salvage-fitted ships, looking for large cargo space and lots of high slots to mount the tractor beams and salvagers.

People looting and salvaging others' wrecks should look for a ship with a good cargohold, but also high speed and agility to make up for the inability to use Small Tractor Beam Is

Security Considerations & Locations

CONCORD allows the salvaging of other players wrecks. Salvaging does not trigger an aggression countdown or a criminal flag.

You don't need to create the wrecks yourself to salvage them. You can salvage behind other players after, or even while they're fighting. Large wreck fields can be found inside missions and deadspace complexes. Also, player battles in lowsec space can leave behind a lot of player wrecks, which can be salvaged.

Tech II player ships are likely to drop Tech II salvage components. While these salvage components are extremely rare, the rigs they make are considerably more efficient than their Tech I counterparts; therefore, they are worth the extra salvage effort. NPC Officers, NPC Commanders and some rogue drones also drop Tech II salvage materials.

Wrecks can also be found in asteroid belts, at gates, or anywhere where a recent battle between players has occurred. You can use the map to find where player ships have been destroyed recently. Faction warfare areas are also a good place to look.

No one said you have to ask permission, either. It is much more dangerous, but you can lurk outside an engagement, then sneak in and salvage while the battle is going on. The combatants should be far too busy to mess with a “ninja” salvager. In faction war space, being neutral allows you to ninja-salvage with relative safety, as to engage you will trigger a global criminal flag for the aggressor.

Additional Tips

For quick cash early in the salvaging career, it's best to fit a ship so you can take on rogue drones. When their wrecks are salvaged, you may get a highly valuable Alloyed Tritanium Bar which can be worth as much as 250,000 ISK per unit.

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