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Since the latest update I collected a lot of "materials" and "data".

I found materials after destroying a ship and they often consisted of former parts of the ship, e.g. shield emitters or hull alloys.

Data was collected when I scanned other ships and in one case by finding a data beacon after following an Unidentified Signal Source.

These materials and data don't use any cargo space, but I don't know what to do with them. Selecting them in my inventory displays a message regarding engineers, but I haven't found any yet.

Where do I find engineers? What can they do with these materials/data?

If I don't want to give them my materials/data, can I sell them?

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  • Which version of Elite: Dangerous do you have? Xbox or PC? Do you have Horizons (aka Season 2), or just the base game (season 1)?
    – Cmdr Freiheit
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 20:39
  • Xbox One and I don't think Horizons is out on Xbox yet. Haven't bought it yet though. Will I need to buy Horizons to fully benefit from Materials and Data?
    – Exa
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 9:47
  • Yes. And Horizons comes out for Xbox in a couple days. Without horizons, you can use materials (mostly minerals/metals) for synthesizing restocks of various things (including upgraded ammo) and SRV repairs, but not really anything else. With Horizons, you can use materials and data to get things engineered on your ships for you.
    – Cmdr Freiheit
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 17:51

1 Answer 1

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These are used in synthesis (in the cargo screen) and by engineers. When you get the engineers update you'll be introduced to a few of them, and then have to find others.

Synthesis lets you craft ammo and jump-boosts.

Engineers mod and enhance your kit for you, but it's a dice roll each time exactly how good it is.

Materials don't use up cargo, but annoyingly there's still a limit (600 I think) of how many you can carry.

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  • Do you know by chance if I you can craft torpedos? My torpedo pylon holds one torpedo and each shot costs me 15.000 cr. Would be nice to craft torpedos between battles.
    – Exa
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 10:17
  • I don't know, but generally torpedoes are very poor - for their cost they should be devastating, but they're not. They're useless against shields and do less damage than a large frag salvo or 3 cannon hits.
    – Keith
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 11:47
  • I normally use them after the shields are down as a "fire-and-forget" method to buy me some time. On low class shields they do enough damage, but I should think about getting a cannon.. Are there gimbled cannons?
    – Exa
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 12:47
  • @exa yeah, though on the whole multicannon are better as gimballed.
    – Keith
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 12:51
  • I think I'm gonna replace the torpedo by a multicannon. Damn I need more hardpoints... I'm stuck with a Cobra MkIII and the Python is SO far away. Thanks for the advice!
    – Exa
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 15:37

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