A21 and solar

[Old Crow]

With the Secret Stash being gone, I've noticed traders hardly ever have solar cells or solar banks for sale now. I'm assuming this has something to do with Trader Stage now. What affects this? Has anyone noticed the low low chance of them having solar cells and banks for sale, or am I just unlucky? Or is it that my trader stage isn't high enough?

[Riamus]

It's probably the trader stage, though I don't know what levels are necessary to get them to show up or to show up more often.  I've seen only a few solar cells - 1 tier 6 and I think a couple tier 3.  Normally I'd have one bank of at least tier 4-5 cells by now.  So it is definitely much slower.  They probably need to adjust things so they aren't so rare.  A solar bank without all cells filled is almost not even worth using so solar has become a pain in A21.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Riamus (see edit history)

[Old Crow]

2 minutes ago, Riamus said:

It's probably the trader stage, though I don't know what levels are necessary to get them to show up or to show up more often.  I've seen only a few solar cells - 1 tier 6 and I think a couple tier 3.  Normally I'd have one back of at least tier 4-5 cells by now.  So it is definitely much slower.  They probably need to adjust things so they aren't so rare.  A solar bank without all cells filled is almost not even worth using so solar has become a pain in A21.

 

Thanks! We're on a RWG map with 10 traders. I do a loop every few days when they reset and oftentimes, no one has a single bank OR cell for sale. Sometimes, I get lucky and a single trader has a single cell. once, I got really lucky and found cells for sale at 4 out of the 10.

 

Do you know what affects trader stage, how to tell what trader stage I'm at? Or is it just a matter of "keep checking" every reset?

[Riamus]

6 minutes ago, Old Crow said:

 

Thanks! We're on a RWG map with 10 traders. I do a loop every few days when they reset and oftentimes, no one has a single bank OR cell for sale. Sometimes, I get lucky and a single trader has a single cell. once, I got really lucky and found cells for sale at 4 out of the 10.

 

Do you know what affects trader stage, how to tell what trader stage I'm at? Or is it just a matter of "keep checking" every reset?

I don't know a lot about it, but quest tier for that trader affects it (complete tier 5 at all of them will increase your odds, most likely).  Daring Adventurer of course also has a noticeable impact on trader stage.

[Old Crow]

4 minutes ago, Riamus said:

I don't know a lot about it, but quest tier for that trader affects it (complete tier 5 at all of them will increase your odds, most likely).  Daring Adventurer of course also has a noticeable impact on trader stage.

 

Hmm, alright. I have Daring Adventurer maxed out, but I've only completed T5 at one trader so far. Looks like I'd better get to work!

[RipClaw]

2 hours ago, Old Crow said:

Hmm, alright. I have Daring Adventurer maxed out, but I've only completed T5 at one trader so far. Looks like I'd better get to work!

If you have a trader Bob close by it is best to start with him as he specializes not only in vehicles but also in electrical items. There you have the best chance to get solar cells.

 

[Old Crow]

1 hour ago, RipClaw said:

If you have a trader Bob close by it is best to start with him as he specializes not only in vehicles but also in electrical items. There you have the best chance to get solar cells.

 

 

Oh nice, I didn't think about that. Thanks!

 

[fragtzack]

Definitely noticed trader Bob has these the solar cells the most.

[theFlu]

I'm stating the obvious here, but you don't really need many a solar cell. This is based on A20, but I think it should still apply:

 

One cell provides enough power to charge a battery bank pretty quickly; set it up with a timer so the solar attaches to the batteries for an hour a day and you can feed the entire battery bank's worth of equipment for the other 23 hours. With a second solar cell, you can set up another circuit to work as backup for the charge time.

[Old Crow]

14 hours ago, theFlu said:

I'm stating the obvious here, but you don't really need many a solar cell. This is based on A20, but I think it should still apply:

 

One cell provides enough power to charge a battery bank pretty quickly; set it up with a timer so the solar attaches to the batteries for an hour a day and you can feed the entire battery bank's worth of equipment for the other 23 hours. With a second solar cell, you can set up another circuit to work as backup for the charge time.

 

Right, but I prefer to have solar running the daylight hours and have the batteries just kick in at night.

[rykn0w]

Ive gotten solar panels offered a bunch as tier 5 quest rewards (from trader jen) (green/blues) and ive also been offered a solar bank bundle for completing tier 6 quest rewards. (it came with 3 solar panels of varied tiers, a wiring tool, solar bank, 10 relays and 3 wiring 101 magazines)

Edited July 28, 2023 by rykn0w
additional info (see edit history)

[Riamus]

Yeah, the solar bundle can drop as a tier 5 completion rewards as well.  I haven't seen solar cells drop for normal quest rewards of any tier yet but haven't done a ton of tier 5s yet and only 1 tier 6.  If they do drop regularly enough as quest rewards at the top tiers, then that's probably going to be the best way to get them.