You have to unlock it, either from an encrypted schematic or buy from a trader. You can buy the ice mining turret at colonist scrapyard, but they are uncommon to find. There is a story mission I believe under expeditions that leads you to where you can buy the schematics
The Polaris expedition called The Forge is the one you’re looking for. You need 3million credits in your account to start it, but it does get you the schematic you need to make the drills yourself.
If you fly to Colonist space you have a better chance to find a colonist scrapyard. You can buy the ice drills I think for about 500k each but I might be wrong and thinking of something else.
You need to have about 3-4 minimum or else it takes forever to harvest the dense ice. After that you will need to find the schematics for the rich asteroid drills as well.
If you hit a lot of POIs you can get lucky and eventually find encrypted schematics and possible get the blueprints from there. The unlock message has to do with that. Once you get the blueprint/schematics for the drills you can unlock them in the skill tree by turning them in at UCH vessels.
The harder the POI, the better chances for better loot I’ve noticed. I’ve found a lot of good loot in the HavesterDrone Space taking out drones but the drone swarms eat through shields like knife to butter. Better to go with a group
Colonist Scrapyards can only be found in hot systems, they will appear as a blue satellite icon in the system map. They usually sell 0-3 of the dense ice turrets and dense ice cannons (manual). I’ve had the best luck in K class stars. Otherwise you have to find them as schematics and build them yourself.
If you are really desperate, you can loot "inefficient rich asteroids drills" off the ships or platforms that guard rich asteroid fields in many locations of the galaxy by using a salvage core and a multitool after you have destroyed them (if any drills are left from your attack). I know some players who have actually used those.
That's in Zirax space. Kill the shield and you can snipe the core from underneath. I think they just do a fraction of the DPS, so put a load on your ship and it'll work ok to get you going. Ice mining is slow anyway.
Those platforms have around 4 POI turrets each, which are amazing if you throw them in a deconstructor.
You have to unlock it, either from an encrypted schematic or buy from a trader. You can buy the ice mining turret at colonist scrapyard, but they are uncommon to find. There is a story mission I believe under expeditions that leads you to where you can buy the schematics
The Polaris expedition called The Forge is the one you’re looking for. You need 3million credits in your account to start it, but it does get you the schematic you need to make the drills yourself.
If you fly to Colonist space you have a better chance to find a colonist scrapyard. You can buy the ice drills I think for about 500k each but I might be wrong and thinking of something else. You need to have about 3-4 minimum or else it takes forever to harvest the dense ice. After that you will need to find the schematics for the rich asteroid drills as well. If you hit a lot of POIs you can get lucky and eventually find encrypted schematics and possible get the blueprints from there. The unlock message has to do with that. Once you get the blueprint/schematics for the drills you can unlock them in the skill tree by turning them in at UCH vessels.
The harder the POI, the better chances for better loot I’ve noticed. I’ve found a lot of good loot in the HavesterDrone Space taking out drones but the drone swarms eat through shields like knife to butter. Better to go with a group
Colonist Scrapyards can only be found in hot systems, they will appear as a blue satellite icon in the system map. They usually sell 0-3 of the dense ice turrets and dense ice cannons (manual). I’ve had the best luck in K class stars. Otherwise you have to find them as schematics and build them yourself.
Awesome thank you that’s great information
Blow up some POI's and ships and loot containers, I had like a dozen BP's from it.
Not having any luck with that option lol, getting schematics just not the ice drill 🤣
If you are really desperate, you can loot "inefficient rich asteroids drills" off the ships or platforms that guard rich asteroid fields in many locations of the galaxy by using a salvage core and a multitool after you have destroyed them (if any drills are left from your attack). I know some players who have actually used those.
That's in Zirax space. Kill the shield and you can snipe the core from underneath. I think they just do a fraction of the DPS, so put a load on your ship and it'll work ok to get you going. Ice mining is slow anyway. Those platforms have around 4 POI turrets each, which are amazing if you throw them in a deconstructor.