Ever come across a weird signature in a wormhole that you couldn’t quite manage to scan down? It’s probably a Silent Battleground.
Overview
Silent Battlegrounds are very rare cosmic signatures that only appear in shattered wormholes, including Thera. However, they still spawn often enough that you can usually find one in a long roam. If you get really lucky, you can even find multiple Silent Battlegrounds in the same system.
Silent Battlegrounds are one of the very few sites in the game that show as level 5 signatures in the probe scanner, specifically level 5 data sites. The only other level 5 sigs are Superior Sleeper Caches (also level 5 data) and the Space Oddity (level 5 combat). This makes them one of the hardest sites to scan down: aim for at least 104 probe strength. All the usual strategies for increasing your probe strength apply here.
The Sites
For your troubles, you’ll get one of the most camera-friendly exploration sites out there, complete with some neat lore tie-ins including a Revenant supercarrier wreck and Sleeper enclave. Every Silent Battleground features 40 cans in total: 20 “Broken Sleeper Databank” data cans and 20 “Decrepit Sleeper Artifact” relic cans, despite appearing in the probe window as a data site. Every Silent Battleground can is a red hack with a 90hp core.
Unfortunately, those 40 cans are spaced quite far apart throughout the site. There’s also a lot of debris that can decloak you. Making an ongrid perch bookmark as you’re warping into the site is a good idea- warp between it and each can. A cargo scanner’s also a nice thing to have, since many of the cans tend to contain junk. Just like a regular site!
Speaking of loot, the data and relic cans drop different things. Silent Battleground data hacks (Broken Sleeper Databank) typically drop junk like carbon, low-value datacores, and filaments, though you have a chance to get high-value loot like a Yan Jung Tachyon Stetoscope. The relic cans (Decrepit Sleeper Artifact), on the other hand, consistently drop valuable “orange loot” such as Intact Thruster Sections. Sadly, orange loot’s very bulky, and a Silent Battleground’s worth of it can easily be more than an exploration ship can handle. I recommend using a secure container at a safe to temporarily store loot while you’re running the site, and jettisoning low-value items.
Other Tips
Aside from making an ongrid perch instead of slowboating between cans and using a cargo scanner (you can use fleet tags to mark worthwhile cans), there isn’t much to say here. Think of it like a very big combined data/relic site that’s photogenic and hard to scan down. There are no rats, the cans don’t explode like in a Ghost Site, and there are no unusual gameplay elements like in a Sleeper Cache. Mechanically, the sites are pretty boring. Due to their rarity and lack of jackpot loot items, they also aren’t worth specifically hunting like drone data escalations. They’re cool lore sites more than anything else.
One last thing: while Silent Battlegrounds are difficult to scan, most uncloaked ships aren’t. Shattered wormhole systems also tend to be well-connected, so keep mashing dscan and be on your guard.