Newcomer / Intro Can someone explain Heist missions

[AdagioKonrinzai]

Can someone explain what I am missing from heist missions. I get a heist mission from the board, I go to the settlement, I scan level 3 access without being seen, I covertly turn off the alarm in the power facility, I get to containment unit and hit the panel, wait two minutes only to see that its empty. What am I missing?
Is this a bug, I've noticed that I have to re-instance salvage missions for a retrieval item to appear. Is this the same thing?

 

[rootsrat]

I've not done these for ages, but it does sound like a "item not spawned" bug. Are you 100% sure that you're opening the right unit?

 

[AdagioKonrinzai]

I've not done these for ages, but it does sound like a "item not spawned" bug. Are you 100% sure that you're opening the right unit?

It was the only unit in the settlement, so yep, i'm sure. Is there a way to avoid this, It appears to happen a lot to me, I suspect it is a bug caused by pausing the game during the mission. I get interrupted more than I like and need to afk, can someone try and confirm this for me? I really don't want to shut everything down and boot it up again. I have to drop the mission and move on.

 

[rootsrat]

It was the only unit in the settlement, so yep, i'm sure. Is there a way to avoid this, It appears to happen a lot to me, I suspect it is a bug caused by pausing the game during the mission. I get interrupted more than I like and need to afk, can someone try and confirm this for me? I really don't want to shut everything down and boot it up again.

Hmm... I don't think I've seen a facility with just one of the units. There are always a few that I come across in my journeys. Did the mission pointed you to that specific one or did you just randomly opened that one assuming it is the correct one?

If it is a bug indeed, I think the only workaround is to relog, but I presume that will reset everything, including the alarms AND empty all of the lockers, so no loot to scavenge.

 

[metatheurgist]

Are you sure you are opening the correct container? Typically relogging will clear a settlement of all items except the mission item.

 

[AdagioKonrinzai]

Hmm... I don't think I've seen a facility with just one of the units. There are always a few that I come across in my journeys. Did the mission pointed you to that specific one or did you just randomly opened that one assuming it is the correct one?

If it is a bug indeed, I think the only workaround is to relog, but I presume that will reset everything, including the alarms AND empty all of the lockers, so no loot to scavenge.

Yes I am sure it was the right one, even went to the Console mapping and tagged it to make sure it was the right one. That is the one thing I want to avoid is relogging, all the effort and loot because of the reset. I would sooner scrap it, than waste a couple of hours trying to get the stars to align. When you get a chance I just want a confirmation from someone if pausing the game in during the processes wipes the needed theft item? O and thanks for the reply.

 

[Screemonster]

This isn't an issue I've ever had. Sample containment units have always had the samples in for me even at a reset settlement.
Even the wrong containment unit at settlements that have more than one will still spawn the container (much like the power regulator housing in the power building).
Environmental regulation units and catalyst management units (same thing, but found at agricultural and industrial/extraction settlements respectively) are supposed to be empty.
Could you post a screenshot of the thing you're trying to rob?

 

[AdagioKonrinzai]

This isn't an issue I've ever had. Sample containment units have always had the samples in for me even at a reset settlement.
Even the wrong containment unit at settlements that have more than one will still spawn the container (much like the power regulator housing in the power building).
Environmental regulation units and catalyst management units (same thing, but found at agricultural and industrial/extraction settlements respectively) are supposed to be empty.
Could you post a screenshot of the thing you're trying to rob?

Then can you explain how you are supposed to do a covert heist and "Extract the Agricultural Process Sample from a Sample Containment Unit" if they are supposed to be empty?

 

[AdagioKonrinzai]

I confirmed it for myself, if you pause during a heist it produces an empty canister. Same site with and without pause, lesson learned, if pause relog.

 

[rootsrat]

I confirmed it for myself, if you pause during a heist it produces an empty canister. Same site with and without pause, lesson learned, if pause relog.

What do you mean by Pause? Pressing Escape to open the menu during a mission? (The one where you can access Options, Exit Game etc.)

 

[aRJay]

I confirmed it for myself, if you pause during a heist it produces an empty canister. Same site with and without pause, lesson learned, if pause relog.

There is no pause in Elite, the clocks run all the time, you can be out of the game either at the main menu (with Continue at the top) or exited to the desktop in which case your character isn’t there any more but time is still passing.

 

[AdagioKonrinzai]

What do you mean by Pause? Pressing Escape to open the menu during a mission? (The one where you can access Options, Exit Game etc.)

Yes, pressing escape, when I accessed the options and saved. Time is ticking but settings change.

 

[yianniv]

You don't save game progress. Just settings like graphics and key bindings. Did you exit to menu or to desktop? Then you logged off. If you just left the game running while seeing the Options, your character is there, unmoving in game, but attackable and vulnerable.

 

[rootsrat]

Yes, pressing escape, when I accessed the options and saved. Time is ticking but settings change.

There is no "saving". This is just a pop-up menu that allows you access to options or quitting the game. Everything in the game runs as normal in the background. It is highly unlikely it would be the cause of the items not spawning (or de-spawning). I'm not sure at which stage the items are actually spawned, but it would not really have anything to do with you pressing ESC key.

 

[Screemonster]

Next time I do a heist I'll attempt to replicate this.

 

[Screemonster]

Opened menu and messed with it before opening the container.
Opened menu and messed with it while progress bar was running.
Opened menu, left it open while I made a cup of tea. Came back with cup of tea and closed menu.

Messing around in the menu seems to have had no effect on the mission item spawning.

 

[Screemonster]

Then can you explain how you are supposed to do a covert heist and "Extract the Agricultural Process Sample from a Sample Containment Unit" if they are supposed to be empty?

Environmental regulation units aren't the same thing as sample containment units. The sample containment unit (mission objective in a heist mission) is in my post above.

Environmental regulation units are the objective in sabotage missions and look like this when opened: