For a reactivation mission all the loot is legal. You don't get the "stealing" warning. So all free and clear.
An angry rant (and yet i still keep coming back lol)
- Thread starter Dskywere
- Start date
I'd say that once you get good at on foot CZs, then you'll find that the guards and scavengers in most missions are easy peasy.. 
The trick is to keep moving, especially laterally.
The trick is to keep moving, especially laterally.
I find the easy way is to sit in the middle of the landing pad in a Scarab and start shooting. The guards (and some others) mostly rush to the sound of the guns and get shot. Once most of the external guards have been cut down, you are left with clearing minimal opposition. All's fair etc.
Steve
So guards don't respawn / more come? my assumption was that until the alarms are off guards would just endlessly show up (makes sense in my head at least) so I've been trying to hit either the power building or the security building first
just got done raiding a medical settlement, I just quickly grabbed stuff until I had no space left then ran away XD It was hilarious watching the entire base security run after me till I made it to my ship
still on the hunt for these fabled abandoned settlements that the youtube guides love to feature yet not reveal where they be - pity inara doesn't have a search for it
No, the purpose of alarms is to manage whether the whole settlement engages you or not and also is used as a mission condition for certain missions (do not raise the alarm or the mission fails). You generally don't want the alarms to be raised unless you're experienced and don't care whether the whole settlement is aggressive towards you but so long as you don't have a mission that prohibits the alarms being raised and can handle yourself well enough in combat (or can escape quickly) then alarms aren't that important.
You can find abandoned settlements by checking system maps (but of course you'll need to have visited the system before to get this information) and looking for factions that are in the states of Civil Unrest and Infrastructure Failure (and possibly one or two others like those two). You can get this data from Inara, of course. Once you've found a faction in these states then you can check the POI list on the system map for settlements owned by that faction. They should all be abandoned.
Abandoned settlements can be very good for gathering assets and some goods but it helps to have the settlement powered up so make sure you have a power regulatory handy along with at least a couple e-breaches to activate the power regulator housing panel and the alarms panel (and remember to take these with you after you exit your ship/SRV). You don't need to deactivate the alarms panel but you will likely alert scavengers if you don't. Also, be prepared to fight scavengers on arrival.
I personally think abaonded settlements are quite a bit of hard work for material gathering. First up is actually finding them (it's not too hard but way more difficult than finding an active settlement of the type you're interested in) and then needing to power them up if you want data. Whilst this is not a problem if you can find reactivation missions for these locations (not as simple as just finding the settlements, you'll need to find the station offering missions to them as well), it's a faff if you don't have this as you'll need to use up a power regulator or wait the annoying 3 minutes to take it back again (and I'm pretty sure doing this definitely triggers scavengers a lot of the time).
Finally, abandoned settlements have a lot of empty containers. You can get really bad dice rolls on this and end up with barely anything worth taking.
All this is why I learned to infiltrate and take stuff from active settlements. If breaking the law is a problem for you then you can just target settlements owned by pirate factions, as their settlements are anarchy and no crimes occur (so you never get any penalty, even if you get caught). But being able to successfully take stuff from a settlement is pretty thrilling once you get into it.
I'd say the absolute best source for mats are the new AX missions (and they're easy enough to find) but you will need to get used to doing stuff in Thargoid space. That said, I've worked out that you can complete AX restoration missions with nothing more than an A rated Dolphin (https://edsy.org/s/vwtVy1w) and a G1 Maverick suit (and if you want to kill revenants then just grab a G3 L6 RPG).
It's absolutely more risky but you get the best data rewards, way better credits than any other EDO missions and you get to take stuff from the settlements with no fear of scavengers turning up (and revenants are easy to kill and avoid imo).
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To confirm, an active settlements has a set amount of guards and workers. No more arrive, so when they are gone, they are gone. Abandoned settlements can have scavs present and 1 or two more waves can drop in. Listen out for the arrival of the ship delivering them, and your radar for them on the ground. It is usually worth parking your ship (preferably a small one) at least 500m away and drive in using the SRV. Park it out ow the way and go about your nefarious business. Once stuff is in your SRV, it cannot be lost, only when it is in your back pack. When you do find a nice settlement and have cleaned it out, super cruise away and return.
Steve
Steve
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Abandoned settlement: Civil unrest, Infrastructure failure, Drought, Famine, Bust, and Outbreak. Some are empty some are burning and have bodies.
I prefer the latter as it saves me using e-breaches (clone a corpse ID).
Keep an eye out for the power up missions under the spanner tab, also missions wanting to recover items from an abandoned settlement.
Infiltration: easiest settlement to infiltrate is the Ext type. These are good for tech assets, power packs, medkits, and some data. Just tailgate an NPC through the door for this one.
If you watch the NPCs you can get them on your radar and see when they're not looking in your direction.
I prefer the latter as it saves me using e-breaches (clone a corpse ID).
Keep an eye out for the power up missions under the spanner tab, also missions wanting to recover items from an abandoned settlement.
Infiltration: easiest settlement to infiltrate is the Ext type. These are good for tech assets, power packs, medkits, and some data. Just tailgate an NPC through the door for this one.
If you watch the NPCs you can get them on your radar and see when they're not looking in your direction.
Funny enough I'm currently trying a AX restore power mission now, in my trustee hauler no less XD evading interdictions like no tomorrow
pretty sure a hauler wasn't intended for thargoid space but works well with A-rated shields with a shield bank, if you do get pulled the shields normally hold long enough to use FSD again - that dolphin build has piqued my interest since I do in fact have a dolphin with no purpose, I'll head back to shinrarta and get it out after Im done here (or get killed one of the two lol)
pretty sure a hauler wasn't intended for thargoid space but works well with A-rated shields with a shield bank, if you do get pulled the shields normally hold long enough to use FSD again - that dolphin build has piqued my interest since I do in fact have a dolphin with no purpose, I'll head back to shinrarta and get it out after Im done here (or get killed one of the two lol)