I have been Playing For a while and want to branch out. I have done exploring E2, Bio made billions, trading, mining and material gathering. I tried some ground missions. I know that I'm going to lose a man card, but I am not comfortable with killing random NPC's. We have enough violence in the real world, I'm not comfortable playing at being a mass murderer. One of the missions I did was a level one no threat. It had 5 npc's 4 with bounty's one with no bounty, all dead now. So the question is. How do I gather / steal salvage materials without all the killing. Shooting skimmers is ok, Destroying a power station is borderline, Any suggestions?
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Newcomer / Intro Ground Missions
- Thread starter Eric Palmer
- Start date
I concur with the sentiment. I have no EDO modifications apart from what was on the suits or weapons when I bought them. I did buy some drugs for an EDO engineer, only to find it was a waste of time.
I did in the past try a couple of ground CZs - just to see if my PC could handle it (the second try after new GFX card) - didn't take to it.
Somehow the sight of a character dropping dead from shots from a weapon in my character's hand just makes me feel dirty. I suspect something might be wrong with me.
At least with space ships one can assume escape pods and so have a bit of a salve to one's soul, you can't do that with EDO's FPS, the corpse lies there where you murdered it.
I did in the past try a couple of ground CZs - just to see if my PC could handle it (the second try after new GFX card) - didn't take to it.
Somehow the sight of a character dropping dead from shots from a weapon in my character's hand just makes me feel dirty. I suspect something might be wrong with me.
At least with space ships one can assume escape pods and so have a bit of a salve to one's soul, you can't do that with EDO's FPS, the corpse lies there where you murdered it.
Try power-on * missions. The majority don't need a kill job - unless scavs land.
* Edit: also known as restoring power to a settlement
What do you want to get out of the missions? Sufficient quantity and variety of mats to upgrade/engineer?
A lot of the Ody missions risk combat - even the ones where you are just meant to sneak around will suddenly turn violent if an NPC spots you doing something naughty, and scavengers may turn up who shoot on sight. Even walking slowly, unarmed, towards a guard who wants to scan you can trigger combat (as I discovered to my cost long ago). I think there may be some that are reliably combat-free (non-covert courier missions for example, and I don't think I've ever seen scavs on a "retrieve x from a hidden cache"), but you'll get a very limited subset of mats. You could always run away from combat situations, of course, but that would result in a bunch of failed missions and slow the mat gathering.
I happily kill scavengers (they have no more right than I have to be there, and always shoot me on sight instead of sharing) and primarily take missions against criminal factions - if I shoot enough of their technicians and shut down their bases perhaps it will save innocents from addiction/slavery. Maybe. Gaining zero Notoriety is a nice benefit too.
A lot of the Ody missions risk combat - even the ones where you are just meant to sneak around will suddenly turn violent if an NPC spots you doing something naughty, and scavengers may turn up who shoot on sight. Even walking slowly, unarmed, towards a guard who wants to scan you can trigger combat (as I discovered to my cost long ago). I think there may be some that are reliably combat-free (non-covert courier missions for example, and I don't think I've ever seen scavs on a "retrieve x from a hidden cache"), but you'll get a very limited subset of mats. You could always run away from combat situations, of course, but that would result in a bunch of failed missions and slow the mat gathering.
I happily kill scavengers (they have no more right than I have to be there, and always shoot me on sight instead of sharing) and primarily take missions against criminal factions - if I shoot enough of their technicians and shut down their bases perhaps it will save innocents from addiction/slavery. Maybe. Gaining zero Notoriety is a nice benefit too.
Mats to upgrade is the basic goal. But also, the more verity of things to do is a real plus. Bored with one activity do something else. I love ED and don't want to get bored of it. Verity is the spice of life. The Not wanting to shoot NPC's is probable back lash from the shootings/killings in a bar and a bowling alley in my wife's hometown. I might get over it but I don't think so.
I will try the power on missions who knows maybe I'll get lucky. I have also heard that irregular markers are a possibility, skimmers not NPCs.
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You can do many missions without killing anyone, though it does take some thinking and puzzling out the right way to do it. Power up missions would allow for bulk collection of assets and goods. The only thing requiring killing are the scavs, but I might give it a go to see if I can power up a base and loot it while leaving the scavs alive. I think that can probably be done. I even know someone that refuses to kill and managed to win 5 combat zones for the engineer unlock.
Obviously assassination, massacre, etc missions are out of the question which would reduce the available mission count quite substantially.
Obviously assassination, massacre, etc missions are out of the question which would reduce the available mission count quite substantially.
Depends on the threat level. Thye are normally low but I have had scavs once or twice.
If you take on a power on with a low reward, say 85kCR, it's unlikely, though not unheard of, for it to be devoid of baddies. You can ransack the place at your leisure.
I have started doing missions fetching data or items from ground bases. Funny thing is the npc's are kind of grouchy. If you don't stop for them to scan you or you're jogging by and don't see them. They will shoot and ask questions after your dead. Even if you are unarmed, kind of rude. I can see that with a little finesse and sneakiness you could slip in and rob them blind. I also think a run through with a dominator suit and good guns would really improve their attitude to strangers permanently, If I was the pew pew type. So a heads up to all the commanders new to ground missions move slow. stop for the grouchy guards and be ready to run to your ship if they start shooting at you. I haven't tried these missions yet with full armor. shield and guns, but if they continue to be rude and keep try to kill me that might change. Most of all Its fun trying to avoid the hazards at the ground stations. It's a great way to learn the layouts of the buildings. Also, practice being quick with your actions, "shields up, sprint, jump, boost is a really good thing"
First time poster, but very long time player (started with FE2 back in the early 90s and was still playing FFED3D as recently as 2021. I was wondering, are there any missions at all on foot where you can be nice to people and not do anything criminal? I am very much an unarmed space taxi player, and I'd like to do some on foot stuff, but I don't want to be a criminal. I don't even go into the "restricted access" bits on bases. I tried doing a transport mission, but had to abort it because the item was in a container inside the dorm.
Transport jobs are usually in unrestricted areas, unless you have taken a job flagged illegal (check the icon colour, when offered the contract).
Most living spaces are access level zero, where you can enter without authorisation (...as long as there is no restricted-area hologram), and sometimes containers that are actually outdoors, are listed as inside a building, if they e.g. sit in a tunnel that goes under it.
Ah, okay, so it is possible to do transport missions. Maybe I just got unlucky with my first one? I'll give a couple more transport missions a go, thanks! Any other mission types where I get to do good deeds without being shot at? I'm horribly allergic to death.
As others have mentioned, stealth is an option, and it is possible to complete a mission to power up a settlement, without being detected by enemies (running away is also always an option); Sometimes the place is even empty on arrival, and possibly remains so. Keep in mind that if enemies drop in whilst you are there, they will make short work of any vehicle you leave in sight.
(Note that some powerup missions do not provide you with the required power regulator - in those cases, you are expected to source one. On the plus side, on powerup missions you are given full access to the site, and looting does for what ever reason not count as theft. :9)
Fetching things from crash sites does on some occasions also spawn the location without any baddies in-situ, in those cases usually giving you a minute or two to get in and out again, before a drop ship arrives, but I am not aware of any pattern for making sure you get one of those cases.
There are also missions to pick things up from an abandoned site, though sometimes there will be scavs around. I shoot them but it might be possible to do these missions just avoiding being seen by the scavs. If it's to pick up data, you'll need to power up the reactor so you'll need a power regulator and e-breaches.
Note that you can open the normal lockers in front of NPCs, but you can only take something when they are looking the other way. You can also download data which doesn't have the bell icon on it, if it has the bell button make sure to turn off alarms first and that no one sees you downloading it.
If you are going to crash sites and find them occupied by scavs, you can kill them with dumbfire missiles from your ship, or go back into supercruise to return and try again. Sometimes you might get an instance with no scavs (though they can arrive later).
Note that you can open the normal lockers in front of NPCs, but you can only take something when they are looking the other way. You can also download data which doesn't have the bell icon on it, if it has the bell button make sure to turn off alarms first and that no one sees you downloading it.
If you are going to crash sites and find them occupied by scavs, you can kill them with dumbfire missiles from your ship, or go back into supercruise to return and try again. Sometimes you might get an instance with no scavs (though they can arrive later).
Try this guide. It has all the info you'll need.
The Definitive Stealth Guide!
I finally got my first "Live Odyssey" video guide completed and it's now available to view on Youtube, complete with a brand new intro/outro and improved audio recording. Most of the transcript is available in the description of the video but I'll add the key points here. I'll be adding to this...