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[goduranus]

They seem like flimsy little things, giving only like 50 metal if salvaged. How can it manufacture such a big fleet?
Even if it could, wouldn't it need at least a nanoforge on board? Then how come the nanoforge doesn't show up during salvage?

[Verran]

Beyond the notion of 'game is game and therefore scales over time to keep probes a bit more interesting than a random stop,' I tend to look at the fleets with the probes as the remains of an exploration fleet that was with the probe or probes within a system. Why the Domain would feel the need to send escort fleets with their exploration probes is an interesting question. But we don't know a lot of concrete info about the Domain so speculate away!

[Wyvern]

If you pay careful attention to the game's text, this is actually already explained in-game.

Namely, it's not 'pumping out' such a fleet - instead, what's happening is that each time you salvage a drone, it sends out a comm ping, and the drone network re-arranges its defense fleets, consolidating them.

You'll note that the first defense fleet you fight is very small. As you encounter more domain drones, the odds of any given drone having a fleet guarding it at all goes down, while the size of those fleets goes up.

(Now, this does not apply to the mothership, and those used to be reliable sources of nanoforges. That got changed for reasons I don't entirely agree with, but that at least used to make sense.)

[Killer of Fate]

it's not really impressive... Domain probes usually scrounge up like what would be tiny tanks...

The survey ships on the other hand do assemble relatively big fleets, but rarely anything that high. You also have to remember that most of these are in terrible condition, and judging by the fact that derelicts roam around with the ability to reduce the supply cost based on the amount of d-mods on their ships (which they have a lot), it's called Derelict Operations after all, and can be found in Derelict bounties. Then it's cheap to maintain a fleet for them. Though these fleets are usually kinda petty with the exception of Guardians.

I also think that the reason why you get so little metal isn't necessarily because of the ship being old, worn down or small... But gameplay. Dumping 1000 pieces of metal onto the player inventory while kinda funny, would also be really annoying. Cause it would encourage the player to pick it up and trade it, even though it is ridiculously inefficient. So it would be sort of a noob trap.

Also, if derelict stations gave more supply, machinery and other goods, then derelicts would have to be reworked to be more scary, which would probably take a lot of work...

Currently they are kinda inefficient, mostly serving as canon fodder to larger Guardians which are designed without any balance in mind, having ridiculously low DP cost, endless missiles and a quite decent mobility. This is also why you can't acquire them. Their stats are either a placeholder or purely designed for NPC fleets.

[Killer of Fate]

Beyond the notion of 'game is game and therefore scales over time to keep probes a bit more interesting than a random stop,' I tend to look at the fleets with the probes as the remains of an exploration fleet that was with the probe or probes within a system. Why the Domain would feel the need to send escort fleets with their exploration probes is an interesting question. But we don't know a lot of concrete info about the Domain so speculate away!

Maybe scavenging was plaguing the Domain to a degree far worse than one would assume.

After all, remember that when you approach a Derelict fleet it immediately treats you as a hostile. Though this might be caused by how the bounty quest is programmed. Realistically, they would most likely treat you as a neutral and then tell you to *** off.

Acting this way would be completely justifiable, if we assume explorers hunting down automated ships and then scrapping them for parts cause it was an easy way to get some cheap intelligence cores or random mechanical goods.

Maybe the way how scavengers act in the post-Collapse era was quite similar to how they acted in the past. If they see you alone in space, they know it's going to be difficult to make them liable for what they've done to you. And this sentiment most likely acted double-time against synthetic lifeforms.

[Doctorhealsgood]

If you pay careful attention to the game's text, this is actually already explained in-game.

Namely, it's not 'pumping out' such a fleet - instead, what's happening is that each time you salvage a drone, it sends out a comm ping, and the drone network re-arranges its defense fleets, consolidating them.

You'll note that the first defense fleet you fight is very small. As you encounter more domain drones, the odds of any given drone having a fleet guarding it at all goes down, while the size of those fleets goes up.

(Now, this does not apply to the mothership, and those used to be reliable sources of nanoforges. That got changed for reasons I don't entirely agree with, but that at least used to make sense.)

Wait motherships don't give out nanoforges reliably anymore? how come? Far as i know there isn't too many of those floating around.

[Megas]

Wait motherships don't give out nanoforges reliably anymore? how come? Far as i know there isn't too many of those floating around.

Ever since Alex added a glut of colony items, pristine nanoforges (and probably synchrotron) are rarer.  I am lucky to find even a single pristine nanoforge in salvage, and even synchrotron is rare.  In more games than not in recent releases, I had to raid Chicomoztoc and/or Kazeron to get the pristine nanoforges I need.  One game, I had to raid for the synchrotron.  Corrupted nanoforge, which is relatively common, is not good enough for high command without using AI cores.

Given how military base and high command are critical for managing Hostile Activity (and general system defense to repel raids), and those industries have huge demand for commodities, pristine nanoforge and synchrotron are not luxuries, but essentials.

P.S.  Size 7+ homeworlds are meatgrinders for marines, more so if the battlestation is operational, but still meatgrinders even if offline.  (I do not want to tac bomb the planet for auto-hostilities either.)  If player can stealth raid those planets for the forge or synchrotron (especially while the battlestation is online), he can raid anything.

[IDA Frigate Captain]

  If player can stealth raid those planets for the forge or synchrotron (especially while the battlestation is online), he can raid anything.

Cheers! Took 10,500 marines, 20 Phantoms and the Persean League security codes to nick Kazeron's. 3,300-odd marines died. Just had to distract the defense fleets so it was only the battlestation, then ya can just do the raid without any other obstacles. Didnt find a single Pristine forge in that entire run, but I got like 10 corrupted ones...

[Killer of Fate]

  If player can stealth raid those planets for the forge or synchrotron (especially while the battlestation is online), he can raid anything.

Cheers! Took 10,500 marines, 20 Phantoms and the Persean League security codes to nick Kazeron's. 3,300-odd marines died. Just had to distract the defense fleets so it was only the battlestation, then ya can just do the raid without any other obstacles. Didnt find a single Pristine forge in that entire run, but I got like 10 corrupted ones...

did u use the skill that increases marine raid strength?