Reading through the tips for beginners / what i wish i knew starting out thread there were a lot of comments about learn how to salvage or taking the cores from crashed ships /pois. Would anyone like to point out a description of how to do that? The starter multitool and the t2 one (i found in a box somewhere, with ammo) both say you cannot damage this thing with this weapon. Tried all 3 modes on the starter and anything that sounded applicable on the t2 gun. Tried on several wrecks and a couple poi bases with no luck. I'm on the ice planet if that matters.
If you want components, the salvage mode is what you want. Use retrieve blocks if you want the full block. You may need to destroy a core before you can harvest materials. Larger POI will almost always have a core that you need to destroy before you can salvage materials. If the POI has an admin core, you will not be able to modify the structure at all. Smaller "junk" POI are the easiest to salvage as many of them don't have a core at all or have one that is easily accessible. You probably won't find rare materials but if you just need steel plates, they work fine.
Normal weapons should destroy the core unless it is an admin core. NPC cores are red by default but can be colored so the color may vary. The sides look different. There is an image of one of the other sides on the wiki: https://empyrion.fandom.com/wiki/NPC_Core
some POI builders like to cover the core in windows which make you think, if you don't know, that the core is invulnerable. you need to kill the glass with something that can do the job to expose the core. only a few types of block are destructible with normal weapons. normal windows are one of those, but armored windows or heavy windows are not. so if some smart-bottom covered the core in something that can't be shot through with normal weapons you have a few options. 1. explosives are the easiest but can destroy nearby (sometimes hidden) loot containers as well. 2. ship weapons are the next easiest, but can be very difficult to get pointed at the core a lot of the time. 3. the Epic Sniper Rifle shoots a 15mm bullet, which is equivalent to firing ship weapons above, with the convenience of not needing to have your ship handy. This weapon can destroy any block in the game that is not invulnerable, with some patience, as it does 25 damage per shot.