How to unlock the caustic heat sink launchers without any caustic heat sink launcher? - an Odyssey guide
04 May 2023Hanchen
EDIT: as of 29.02.2024, the technology broker unlock requirements for Caustic Heat Sink Launchers have been removed, making this guide obsolete. The module can now directly be purchased for credits in outfitting.With the imminent release of update 15 that is hypothesised to contain Maelstrom-related gameplay content, unlocking Caustic Heat Sink Launchers (CHSL) seems to be more important than ever. Originally introduced by Aegis in a Community Goal (CG) on 23.02.2023 and awarded to the top 50% participants, the CHSL is an utility mount that redirects caustic damage to caustic heat sinks that gradually fill up over time. Once full, caustic heat sinks have to be released to redirect further caustic damage to the next sink. Because they are currently the only way to avoid caustic damage that rapidly degrades a ship hull, CHSL are paramount to navigate relatively safely in the hazardous caustic clouds surrounding a Maelstrom.
Since the completion of the Aegis CG on 23.02.2023, CHSL have been made available for unlock at the technology brokers located in the rescue megaships deployed to support the Anti-Xeno (AX) war efforts. The good news is that the unlock requirements need to be met only once to permanently make the CHSL available in outfitting (in a similar way as the Guardian frame shift drive booster). The bad news is that CHSL require large quantities of engineering materials that can be only found inside a Maelstrom to be unlocked. For CMDRs who missed the top 50% of the Aegis CG and therefore the CHSL given as a reward, this can lead to a "chicken-egg" conundrum, as navigating inside a Maelstrom is a very hazardous operation without any CHSL.
Luckily, experienced AX CMDRs have found ways to optimise engineering material collection without CHSL inside Maelstroms in the meantime. I decided to make a compilation of their and my own findings inside this guide so that it could help CMDRs who are looking to unlock CHSL but are discouraged by the apparent dangerousness of the task, or do not know where to start.
Unlock requirements
To permanently unlock CHSL in outfitting, the following materials must be delivered to a technology broker at a rescue megaship:
- 15 Chemical Storage Units (engineering material)
- 10 Galvanising Alloys (engineering material)
- 20 Caustic Shards (engineering material)
- 10 Corrosive Mechanisms (engineering material)
- 5 Caustic Tissue Samples (corrosive cargo commodity)
Caustic Tissue Samples on the other hand can either be acquired from a Thargoid Interceptor or the Caustic Generators using research limpets. Due to how dangerous it is to sample a hostile Interceptor, I would advise to get the samples from the Caustic Generators instead.
A Caustic Generator found inside a Maelstrom. Silent running can be used to approach them very closely without them detecting your ship.Outfitting a Maelstrom exploration ship
Because of the dangerousness of collecting materials in an environment as hazardous as the caustic clouds of a Maelstrom, it is absolutely paramount to build a specialised ship to be able to survive such a journey. More specifically, such a ship should fulfill the following criteria:
- Have as much hull as possible: more hull means more time that you are able to spend inside the caustic clouds while the caustic damage slowly eats your hull away. Concretely speaking, this means equipping your ship with the Military Grade Composite armour, engineering it with grade 5 heavy duty and the deep plating experimental modification, and fitting as many heavy duty/deep plating hull reinforcement packages or Guardian hull reinforcement packages as possible. Heavy duty human and Guardian hull reinforcements are both more or less similar in terms of effectiveness, with the former having the drawback of requiring engineering materials and being heavier, while the second consumes power and raises your overall heat. Ideally, I would advise to reach a caustic armour strength of at least 4,000 hit points, preferably with a mix of human and Guardian hull reinforcement packages.
- Be as fast as possible: you will be very often hyperdirected or interdicted by Thargoid scouts or Interceptors on your way to the Maelstrom. It is therefore important to be able to outrun them in order to leave the encounter unscathed. Ideally, a boost speed of at least 500m/s should be reached. In practice, this implies outfitting a ship with the largest A-rated thrusters, and engineering them with grade 5 dirty tuning and the drag drive experimental effect.
- Run as cold as possible: because Caustic Generators act as heat-sensitive mines, it is important to maintain a low heat profile - ideally 20% or less - while farming materials inside the Maelstrom. In practice, this requirement can be hard to meet (especially since dirty tuning of thrusters increases heat generation), so it will be required to resort to silent running to mask your heat signature. In any cases, a grade 5 low emission power plant with the thermal spread experimental effect is strongly indicated, as it significantly lowers your heat and therefore significantly extends the time you can stay in silent running without overheating.
- Have long range sensors: this is helpful in detecting Caustic Generators or floating engineering materials from afar. The recommended configuration for sensors is D-rated with a grade 5 long range engineering modification, as it provides the best balance between range and mass.
- Have a corrosive-resistant cargo rack: mainly to carry limpet and Caustic Tissue samples. Its capacity does not need to be very large (e.g. 16-24T should be enough) since you will likely have to leave the Maelstrom for repairs before being able to use all your limpets, but should be at least above 5T. Limpets can also be synthesised with common engineering materials if required. The size 4 corrosion resistant cargo rack that can be unlocked at a human tech broker is especially useful here.
- Be equipped with a repair limpet controller: this internal module is very important as it will be your main way of offsetting the caustic damage. It is strongly advised to have an A-rated repair limpet controller as large as possible - preferably at least size 5 - since larger controllers lead to more armour points repaired.
- Be equipped with a research limpet controller and advanced Xeno scanner: both required to collect Caustic Tissue Samples from the Caustic Generators. For the research limpet controller, I would advise to use the Xeno Multi-limpet Controller (available in size 3) if needed as it can also provide decontamination capabilities (and weak repairs as well).
- Be equipped with gimballed enhanced AX multicannons: weapons are required to destroy the Caustic Generator from a safe distance, i.e. more than 3km, without being caught in their blast radius. Since Caustic Generators do not have any resistance to human weapons, it is technically not required to go with AX weapons. But since the introduction of hyperdictions and interdictions by Glaives in update 15 (that more or less force you to fight them in order to escape), gimballed enhanced AX multicannons are recommended since they are the best weapon by far to deal with them, while still having enough range to destroy the Caustic Generators from a safe distance. It should be noted that Caustic Generators are notoriously hard to target lock from afar, so you should expect to use weapons in fixed mode to destroy them.
- Be equipped with heat sinks: this can help to stay nearly permanently in silent running as you can use a sink as soon as your heat reaches 100% to reset it back to 0%. The pre-engineered Sirius heatsinks that can carry 5 sinks (instead of 4 for the regular engineered ones) are recommended.
- Be equipped with a collection limpet controller: materials inside the Maelstrom tend to be tossed around by turbulence, which makes them quite difficult to collect manually. A collector limpet controller makes their collection significantly easier and faster.
- [Optional] Be equipped with a decontamination limpet controller: this can be useful to remove the caustic damage without having to resort to overheating in silent running when exiting the Maelstrom. Decontamination inside the Maelstrom is not useful as the decontamination limpet is usually not able to keep up with the caustic damage, so a repair limpet should be preferred instead.
- Shields are not advised due to their high power consumption that leads to increased heat, and to the fact that they are anyway turned off during silent running.
- Guardian modules such as the Guardian frame shift drive booster or Salvation weapons should not be equipped since Maelstrom systems have a Guardian module decay effect permanently active. However, Guardian hull reinforcement packages can still be used as they are unaffected.
- A shutdown field neutraliser is not required as Thargoid Interceptors will never attempt to deploy their EMP in the proposed farming loop.
- [Edit as of 09.05.2023: this bug was fixed with the release of Update 15, so you can now explore the Maesltrom in style
] At the time of the writing of this guide (May 2023), an unresolved bug reported by AX CMDRs makes ships with equipped ship kits take 2 to 4 times more caustic damage than normally. It is therefore extremely important to remove any ship kit from your ship before heading into a Maelstrom!
Reaching the Maestrom
Reaching the Maelstrom itself is not a trivial task because the Thargoids will do everything they can to prevent you from arriving at your destination. In particular, Thargoid hyperdictions that are very frequent around the Maelstrom systems may make you waste fuel because several jumps might be required to reach your target system. If you did not have enough internal space to fit a fuel scoop on your ship, it might compromise the chances of a successful return trip. I would therefore strongly advise you in that case to transfer your ship to a station or carrier located within one jump distance of a Maelstrom. This will ensure you have enough fuel to make the return trip, even in case of one or several hyperdictions. The 8 Maelstroms can be found in the following systems:
- Taranis: Hyades Sector FB-N b7-6 (132Ls from the main star)
- Leigong: HIP 8887 (2,539Ls)
- Indra: HIP 20567 (3,342Ls)
- Oya: Cephei Sector BV-Y b4 (5,847Ls)
- Cocijo: Col 285 Sector BA-P c6-18 (1,300Ls)
- Thor: Col 285 Sector IG-O c6-5 (815Ls)
- Raijin: Pegasi Sector IH-U b3-3 (397Ls)
- Hadad: HIP 30377 (39,224Ls; note: avoid this one if possible since the long supercruise travel time means more interdictions)
Hyperdictions or interdictions by a Glaive (that have been introduced in update 15) are significantly more dangerous on the other hand. In my experience, it might sometimes be possible to escape the Glaive by boosting very early right after dropping to normal space (only if your ship is very fast), but most of the time you will unfortunately have to destroy it in order to escape (since Glaives are so fast and have FSD reboot missiles). The good news is that gimballed enhanced AX multicannons are quite effective against them. However, you will probably end up taking hull and module damage after the fight, which could force you to come back to a station or carrier for repairs. Unfortunately at the time of the writing of this guide, there is no effective way known to reliably escape a Glaive encounter without taking damage. Your best bet to reach the Maelstrom unscathed is to rely on the fact that Glaive hyperdictions and interdictions are rarer than interceptors or scouts ones. If you end up taking relatively little damage after a Glaive fight, it might also be possible to reach the Maelstrom and repair yourself with limpets while staying on its outskirt, where Thargoids paradoxically leave you alone.
Inside the Maelstrom
The Maelstrom is surrounded by caustic clouds that inflicts corrosive damage to your ship hull. The deeper you go inside, the faster your armour is corroded and your hull hitpoints drop. Luckily, all materials required to unlock the CHSL can be found in the outer layers of the clouds. You should therefore always stay at their periphery to lower the chances of you meeting the rebuy screen. As soon as you take 1% hull damage, you should constantly have a repair limpet deployed on your ship to counter the caustic damage and extend your stay inside the Maelstrom. I would also advise you to keep a target lock on the Maelstrom at all times, as it makes escaping it easier.
Inside the clouds, you will mostly find engineering materials (Caustic Shards and Caustic Crystals) floating around, some Caustic Generators and occasionally a Thargoid Interceptor. The latter will leave you alone unless you get very close to them, attack them or destroy a Caustic Generator near them. Using silent running and ignoring them will therefore usually allow to collect the materials in relative peace.
Each material required to unlock the CHSL can be collected the following way:
- Caustic Shards: these materials are just lying around in the outer layers of the Maelstrom caustic clouds. Simply collect them manually or with a collector limpet.
- Caustic Tissue Samples: locate a Caustic Generator and approach it. When you get closer to it, activate silent running so that it does not lock on your ship and detonate. Caustic Generators are quite difficult to target lock from afar, so you will have to get quite close to them first. Once locked, scan them with the enhanced Xeno scanner to reveal their subsystems on the left navigation panel of your cockpit. Generators have one targetable subsystem that you can lock onto to then release a research limpet. Once attached to its target, the research limpet will need around one minute to collect a sample, and then come back to your ship to deposit it inside your cargo hatch. During this process, make sure to keep the Generator within the limpet controller operating distance (5km if you are using the Xeno multi-limpet controller, 6.5km for the 7C universal controller), and preferably within 1-2km to quickly collect the sample once detached, while avoiding collision with the Generator. Note that only one Caustic Tissue Sample can be collected by Caustic Generator. Whenever your heat levels reach 100% during the whole process, release a heat sink to reset them to 0%.
- Corrosive Mechanisms: these materials can be obtained after destroying a Caustic Generator, and collected either manually or with a collector limpet. Because Generators have a 3km blast radius, you may want to get far from them before deploying your hardpoints and firing on them. Keep in mind that you will not be able to lock on them at this distance, so you will have to use your weapons in fixed mode. Be careful if you detect a Thargoid Interceptor in the vicinity on your radar: they will investigate any destruction of a nearby Generator and become hostile if they spot you.
Leaving the Maelstrom
Once your hull hit points start to fall too low (e.g. around 30%), it is time to leave the Maelstrom if you do not want to see the rebuy screen. Put the Maelstrom behind you using the compass and boost away until you get out of the caustic clouds. You can then burn the caustic damage away by overheating in silent running, or use a decontamination limpet. Once the caustic damage is dissipated, lock onto the system you came from and jump away. In my experience, Thargoid hyperdictions never happen when exiting a Maelstrom system, so you should be able to reach the station or carrier you were docked onto relatively safely.
One final small tip if for some reason (e.g. Caustic Generator blast explosion, heat damage from overheating in silent running) your cargo hatch took too much damage: to avoid potential malfunctions that would drop your cargo (including your precious Caustic Tissue Samples!), power it down. Reactivate it after repairing at a station or carrier.
Conclusion
Collecting materials to unlock a CHSL inside a Maelstrom without CHSL is a hazardous but very intense and rewarding experience, as once unlocked the CHSL greatly simplify material farming inside the Maelstrom. I hope that this guide will help some CMDRs on the fence about starting this dangerous endeavor. As always, fly safe!
o7
CMDR Hanchen
Farming Massive Energy Surge Analytics data materials with the CHSL equipped.Edit as of 08.05.2023: changed recommendation for the collector limpet controller from optional to strongly recommended.
Edit as of 25.05.2023: added recommendation to equip gimballed enhanced AX multi-cannons to counter Glaives in case of an interdiction or hyperdiction.