Locating the Yela Drug Lab for Wholesome Fun and Profit

[FoxChard]

All,

I've been putting together a short map over the last few days describing an orienteering approach to find the Drug Lab on Yela. Most of the other content and guides I've seen rely on triangulation (which is extremely difficult due to the extreme small size of the target). This guide shows how to use known and distinctive landmarks to quickly and efficiently fly to the Drug Lab. In fact, I know find the Drug Lab much easier to locate than the Javelin. (To be fair, I've made this run more than 10 times now).

This location is difficult to find in any condition other than full sunlight. It also only renders at 7km (but you need to zoom to even see it) and does not become visible to a ship in motion until about 2km.

The Yela Drug Lab offers for sale two types of banned narcotics that can be sold to Grim Hex or Levski. It also produces alcohol. The profit margins on these substances is very high, however, the quantity that can be had is very low. You will not fill a Freelancer to even 1/3 of capacity. This makes this trade location ideal for those of us running Auroras, Mustangs, Avengers, and Reliants. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10cQBy7Z4ZRGzrXaJsPdjSAAAomY62UbasJHTJWjAVFc/edit?usp=sharing

I'd like to continue to refine these kinds of guides, so please leave any feedback below. 

[Porcupine]

Very nicely done, and I'm sure to (try to) pay a visit at some point - but I'm a bit confused: according to [1], current profit margins on stuff from the Drug Lab is well under 100% which seems to be the average of most stuff from most places to most other places. What's going on? Is it the economy at work as everyone is running these dry...?

[1] - https://starcitizen.danielaburke.com/Trading

[FoxChard]

The profit margin may be down slightly, but if you're in a ship only capable of transporting a few SCU it seems to make sense to me. You make more per trip even if at a reduced maximum profit per load.

This doc shows the starting value of all the commodities when the server is spawned. I've found that normally nobody goes to the drug lab and instead they seem to flock to the laranite / diamond / gold routes.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t7W9GV8XETgkX6em6uAOEx7QMQFZwQpHqRRPqqGXDrE/edit?usp=drive_web

[Porcupine]

Oooof... holy mother of dimwit pilot wannabees, that was one epic botch-job. Nothing to do with you or the guide of course, they're the only reason I found the place at all, but... damn. I may be a certified idiot, but that is one hella hard to find outfit. I went to Yela, followed the orbital checkpoints, and... concluded that I must have arrived at the height of pitch darkness over the entire hemisphere. Sweet. That was not going to work. So I fooled around the asteroid belt, tried to locate Bennyhenge from 2.6.3, that sort of thing (failed miserably - of course). Ultimately the proper side got lit up well enough, so I went for it. Tried to locate what I remembered from the guide picture visually and utterly failed to match anything. Fine - pulled up the forum on my phone, started staring at the pictures side by side; that helped. Found what I considered the right place and went for it. Got about 200 meters from the surface, checked that distance references were all within 1000m of target values, except... I saw absolutely nothing in the whole crater, even after circling it for a while. Boulders, pebbles, dang I was starting to count grains of sand but there was just nothing else. So I put the Titan down to look around - no dice. This shot probably has the lab in it, at the far end, but I saw nothing.

So I got out, tried fine-triangulating the reference points. Went to the far end, found nothing there too - until I got within 300m or so and finally... saw the lab.

So, Eureka, right? Wrong. Went inside, marveled at the epic mess, tried to buy drugs - the console wasn't seeing my ship. Probably too far, I said, no problem - I'll just run a mile back and return with the ship. Piece of cake.

Except... the sun was going down again. Well, no problem - the outpost was kinda-sorta modestly lit up, and I knew which direction to return - towards the base of the asteroid ring. Simples! Well, yeah, but the Titan wasn't landed on level ground and when it took off it got soundly spun around in 3D. By the time I stabilized it and remembered to start breathing again, the outpost was nowhere to be seen. I tried aiming for the known direction, but wasn't sure I was not in one of the adjacent craters by now. I probably was, because the next fifty minutes passed fooling around in pitch dark with nothing but a faint horizon contour, looking for a speck of light, trying to triangulate by the reference points again. Hunting high, hunting low - yeah, you wish. Black as ink. Ultimately, I suppose it was way more luck than skill, but almost an hour later I somehow found the speck of light again and slammed the Titan down right next to it afraid to even take my eyes off it. Stormed in, loaded up with drugs, ran back out and high-tailed it on the shortest possible route to Levski to unload them before anything else happened. Except... yeah. Got there... wait for it... at night. Well, who cares - unlike the drug lab, Levski has a marker, so screw it. And that's exactly how it went down...

...still 40km away from Levski - Mountain range 1 : Avenger 0. But hey - once it stopped spinning, it was still flying. What followed was the most careful landing in the entire history of SC, followed by impersonating The Flash from the hangar all the way to the nearest commerce console. Made it.

Ultimately, the profit percent is indeed below other more mundane wares, but as you say - since the value is high, a large sum can be made with relatively little cargo space. At some point I might even try again. But by Jove - not any time soon...

[FoxChard]

Thanks for giving it a shot! The key is getting your bearings exact at the point 350km from OM-6. Then you just fly straight to the lab.

[Porcupine]

Thanks for all the help! Couldn't have made it without!

[wfja]

I'm too poor to start filling up my Starfarer - only have 700 some credits - so I'll try to fly my Hornet here and give it a shot. I think it has 2 SCU or so. Make some money and buy some pretty armor pieces!

Thanks @FoxChard  I'll post when I don't fail horribly.

[Buckaroo]

Found it, thanks to the guide!  In the dark too, but after bouncing off the ground a couple times in my Aquila because I couldn't see how close I was to the ground.  After the bouncing, I saw lights in the distance, flew over and behold there it was!  Yeah, definitely the Constellation is a bit too big of a ship to fill up, but it's my only cargo ship.

 

[Porcupine]

Okay, had to try again - this time I found it without any difficulties, came in right next to the base. One thing I'd add explicitly to the guide is that stopping at 350km from OM6 you have to turn around back towards the OM4 you came from - I know you can see this on the image but it's what threw me off track the first time: I was expecting to just look down and find the shapes, still looking towards OM6...

[Porcupine]

Just popping in for a final thank you - third visit happened again in the middle of the night but since I hallucinated seeing at least two different shades of pitch black I went for it anyway - and leveled out of the dive within sight of the base (it's right above the crosshairs)... so yeah, it's possible (and thanks again!).