¶ NPC Ships and Factions
The expanse system has various NPC ships flying around different areas of the map. Depending on where you are you will see different NPC ships, of varying strength. The system is being expanded, and you can expect to see more NPCs in the near future.
All NPCs except the [CIVL] faction and the nation you're aligned to, if any, are hostile towards you.
Visit the NPC hunting tips for Infos on loot, tiers and spawn zones.
- The NPC ships are not good for player use, the admins do not recommend trying to capture them whole and use them as player ships. We recommend you grind them down after disabling them.
- they are built to be hunted, to be prey. They are not good for PvP.
- hacking all the blocks is tedious work for a questionable gain
- they are controlled by a plugin and each one has a unique entity ID tracked by the plugin. If you do not disable that entity ID they can still be deleted by the plugin during cleanup.
¶ Belter NPCs
Belter ships are divided into three categories, ice haulers from the civil faction [CIVL], pirates from The Iron Hearts [TIH] pirate alliance, and Belter cargo ships from The Transport Union [TTU].
CIVL ice haulers will periodically spawn asking for assistance with their reactors/drives. You can assist them by peacing the CIVL faction, boarding the ships, and completing tasks listed in the workshop room, found in the center of the floor you board on. Make sure to search all the crates you see aboard, as there are multiple trips worth of items that can be obtained from this encounter.
Tip: Go up the stairs, find the 3 buttons up top that open the engineering door downstairs. And read all the text!
After getting the ship back on course, a door will unlock in the workshop allowing access to another cargo crate, which can be looted for a much more valuable reward compared to the general ship loot.
Make sure to select the helmet icon on the right-hand inventory screen, as you can only access crate cargo from that menu.
The Transport Union employs a fleet of haulers, tankers and ferries that operate all over the Sol system. They're lightly armed and have little tech value; however, they provide a decent amount of basic components, packages, and H² when looted, making them very valuable for starters if you can manage to take one down while keeping the cargo or tanks intact. They can be found in the following instances: in the Belt Asteroid Cluster, around Jupiter, and around Saturn.
- All of the TTU ships are armed with 2 Voltaire Collective Anti Personnel PDCs.
Red circles mark the approximate location of the reactors. Shoot them to depower the grid so you can grind it up and get the loot. Many thanks to Vahal and Sinari for providing the images.
This is a ship that is preferred by the shadier sides of the belter society, due to its larger drive pack it is more adept at dodging things that could be flying its way.
Trivia: You can actually find a modified version of this ship as a station in Jupiter.
It contains 4 large cargo containers and 5 small cargo containers.
This is a cargo ship run by well off belters who have the funds to fill the cargo containers to their max, each run.
It contains 11 large cargo containers and 3 small cargo containers.
This is a larger cargo ship run by slightly better off belters who can afford the higher running costs.
It only contains 4 large cargo containers.
This is one of the smallest cargo ships out there, its what a lot of successfull belter traders started in and thus is a favourite for up and coming traders.
It only contains 4 large cargo containers.
This ship has the largest cargo capacity out of all the ships of the TTU faction and thus is flown by only the most sucessfull belters.
It contains 12 large cargo containers.
This ship is a bit of an outlier compared to the other ships of the TTU faction. While it does have a small cargo capacity of 4 large cargo containers, it makes up for that with a whopping 23 large hydrogen tanks for ferrying fuel to various stations and ships. A word of warning if you are hunting these, they are highly explosive and it is reccomended to be very careful in where to place your shots.
It contains 4 large cargo containers and 23 large hydrogen tanks.
The Belter Ferry is supposed to move passengers across Sol, and as such there's little cargo space on it which leads to less loot compared to other spawns.
Please let @CaptFacepalm on SDX discord know the exact amount of CCs and position of reactors so he can add it because he cba to search for this useless tin can.
In DX6 within the Jupiter zone, players can encounter The Iron Heart (TIH) belter-themed pirate faction in addition to occasional TTU spawns. These are ships/stations that are equipped with better weaponry, including torpedos and railguns. There are 4 distance thresholds a player may pass to encounter increasingly difficult spawns. Beware of them, they are aggressive and considerably stronger than any cargo ships.
TIH NPCs won't spawn if all grids nearby combined are below 5000 PCU.
Sometimes, Bounties spawn in Dx2. Bounties are difficult TIH NPC encounters that lay dormant until a player comes into render distance. If you are new here and see a TIH ship in Dx2, run!
¶ Military NPCs
In DX3, DX4, and DX7 (Mars, Earth, and Ceres zones respectively), players who are not aligned to the nation space they are traveling in will encounter military NPCs themed after their nation.
These are the most dangerous zones for players to be traveling through, as in addition to being interdicted by NPCs, a constant GPS radar ping will alert players belonging to that nation of a hostile player in their instance. These zones should not be taken lightly by individuals who cross through; rather, they are usually the objective of an opposing nation or person looking for PvP.
- MCRN Ships : The MCRN ships spawn in Martian territory around Mars. The MCR Navy will protect their territory with extreme prejudice and are extremely well equipped. Don’t test them if you are not also very well equipped. Non-MCR citizens know not to go into Martian territory alone.
- UNN Ships : The UNN ships will spawn primarily in Earther territory around Earth. They will also protect their territory. The UN Navy is equally as well equipped as the MCRN, and will destroy ships that enter their territory. Those not in the UN know not to go into Earther territory alone.
- OPA Ships: The OPA has made Ceres its new capital and their new navy will protect the territory around it. They are well equipped with daring pilots. If you do not belong to the OPA you do not want to go to Ceres alone.
In DX8 within the Saturn zone, players can encounter the Free Navy (FNVY) themed faction. Based on the Free Navy seen in the books/show, FNVY spawns are a mix of Belter and Martian vessels. All are highly dangerous, sporting some of the most advanced weaponry on the server. Like with TIH in DX6, DX8 also has 4 distance thresholds that spawn progressively harder NPCs the further in a player travels.
FNVY ships are even more aggressive than TIH pirates, be careful out there!
The Free Navy is run by the ruthless Marco Inaros. They have shown they care only about their own power and are traitors to the belt. They will fight and steal from any Belter who is not a part of the Free Navy. Their location and intentions are rarely known or understood. They have taken over the Saturn and made it their home - you can fight them and scrap their ships for MCRN and UNN tech.
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