Can't Launch Prospectors for some reason

[Scoob]

Hey all,

There I am, mining away quite happily. My limpets finish collecting fragments and I move towards the next Asteroid. I press to launch a Prospector and... nothing. My ship will no longer launch prospectors. I'm currently sat here, waiting for the quite recently deployed collector limpets to die, and see if that helps.

Note: I have noticed that sometime MORE Collector Limpets than the Controllers actually support can be launched. It used to be that I'd switch to the Collector Limpet fire group and hold the trigger until they're all launched. However, I've noticed that sometimes it'll keep launching collector Limpets even after the controller limit is reached. THIS can then screw with Prospector Limpet launching, but it usually recovers after a few seconds.

Note: the Prospector Limpet Controller is separate, but I also have a C7 Multi-limpet controller and several C5 regular Collector Limpet Controllers. This is an old build.

Anyone else seeing this?

 

[Mr Lindsay]

While you may have a separate Prospector Limp Controller installed, you need to make sure that's the module that is bound to your Fire Group, and not the C7. It doesn't intelligently assign your limpets to the relevant controllers.

 

[Scoob]

While you may have a separate Prospector Limp Controller installed, you need to make sure that's the module that is bound to your Fire Group, and not the C7. It doesn't intelligently assign your limpets to the relevant controllers.

Good thought, but it's all good. I actually just found the cause of the issue... the Cargo Hatch periodically gets stuck closed. So, trying to deploy a Prospector Limpet FAILS. If I toggle the hatch a couple of times, Prospectors work just fine again... until the next time. NOT what I expected the issue to be.

Hatch is at 100%, power is ample.

 

[Sublime]

Yes, happens to me sometimes too, probably for the same reason, cargo door stuck.

 

[Scoob]

For clarity, I'm flying around with the Cargo Scoop OPEN. I deploy more Collectors as needed (usually in a large batch) and fire off Prospectors regular. Each time this has happened, the Cargo Scoop has shown as closed - which I did not do - and Limpets won't deploy. I then toggle the Cargo Scoop - not power, just the regular open/close switch - TWICE and Prospectors work again. So, I left Scoop OPEN, UI shows it CLOSED, I toggle it ONCE and it still shows closed, I toggle it again and it now shows open.

Weird issue.

 

[Mako The Grey]

For clarity, I'm flying around with the Cargo Scoop OPEN. I deploy more Collectors as needed (usually in a large batch) and fire off Prospectors regular. Each time this has happened, the Cargo Scoop has shown as closed - which I did not do - and Limpets won't deploy. I then toggle the Cargo Scoop - not power, just the regular open/close switch - TWICE and Prospectors work again. So, I left Scoop OPEN, UI shows it CLOSED, I toggle it ONCE and it still shows closed, I toggle it again and it now shows open.

Weird issue.

Similar thing happened to my buddy when we were mining together....shields were regenerating and he had no power in his system capacitor. Fixed the issue by simply going from zero system pips to one

 

[Stealthie]

I've noticed a possibly related thing (wouldn't even call it an "issue" really) where I'll be in the middle of collecting stuff, I'll launch a bunch of new collectors, they'll go and collect stuff, come back and then I get a "Limpet error. Deploy cargo scoop" message.
Eh?
My cargo scoop was open... wasn't it?

Makes me start to wonder if I'm losing my marbles until I actually see it happen.

It's never really caused me any problems.
It's even gotten to the point where I routinely verify that my cargo scoop is still open after I've fired off a bunch of limpets.
And, if it isn't I just, y'know, open it again.

I assume, perhaps, the game is just losing track of what the scoop's initial position was after it's flapped open and closed a few times quickly.

 

[Scoob]

Similar thing happened to my buddy when we were mining together....shields were regenerating and he had no power in his system capacitor. Fixed the issue by simply going from zero system pips to one

It's not a power thing, it appears to be some sort of game glitch. I mean, Cargo Scoob being open or closed should not impact launching a Prospector. However, the Cargo Scoop being open - I opened it - but showing as closed is when the bug occurs. Just glad a quick toggle of the Cargo Scoop Open/Close button seems to consistently fix it.

I've noticed a possibly related thing (wouldn't even call it an "issue" really) where I'll be in the middle of collecting stuff, I'll launch a bunch of new collectors, they'll go and collect stuff, come back and then I get a "Limpet error. Deploy cargo scoop" message.
Eh?
My cargo scoop was open... wasn't it?

Makes me start to wonder if I'm losing my marbles until I actually see it happen.

It's never really caused me any problems.
It's even gotten to the point where I routinely verify that my cargo scoop is still open after I've fired off a bunch of limpets.
And, if it isn't I just, y'know, open it again.

I assume, perhaps, the game is just losing track of what the scoop's initial position was after it's flapped open and closed a few times quickly.

I've had a variety of new (to me) weirdness since returning to the game. Considering I've mostly just been doing mining - an activity I did a LOT of when saving up for a Fleet Carrier - I guess I'm more likely to notice these things.

I've had an issue where I press the button to Launch a Prospector, and I get all the usual Cargo Scoop noises, then a notification that a prior Prospector just expired, but no Prospector is actually launched. This isn't the "done while moving, Prospector instantly destroyed" issue. No, the Prospector never appears at all. Lost a dozen or so Limpets because of that. No big deal. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems to happen if the Prospector should launch (after the sound effects) just as a Collector is returning to offload a fragment.

I had another one, perhaps related to the main issue, when I tried to launch a Prospector and it didn't. Though it did make all the noises (and loss of older Prospector) like above. I was sat there, wondering what was going on when suddenly the Prospector eventually launched. I'd say there was at least a thirty second delay. I'd of course (sigh) turned the ship in the interim, and the delayed Prospector missed the target asteroid lol.

So, yeah, a few weird things going on around mining lately. I deliberately moved to SOLO after experiencing excessively long jump times between systems. So, pretty much all my mining - and the weirdness - has been in SOLO, where regular network type issues are normally much less.

I did double-check that Port Forwarding was still enabled, after a prior update (a while ago now) RESET it and I didn't notice. That was during the height of the Thargoid Titan stuff, and re-enabling Port Forwarding made things work so much better. Wish I'd spotted that an update reset it sooner!

Regarding the original issue, tapping the Open/Close Cargo Scoop toggle seems to reliably fix it right away. Interestingly, I'm running 7 less Limpets than I was... Wanted more cargo space and a Fuel Scoop to make travel easier and more worth-while. The Type 9 has just enough range for what I want, but I like the security of being able to top-up at a star when travelling a distance that will use a little over 90% of the total fuel.

 

[Surprize960]

I have just experienced the same thing. The limpets had just finished their job and were flying around under the cargo hatch. Prospectors didn't launch.

Flew around a bit, gave full throttle, then it worked again.

 

[DragonIan]

I am having the problem that even if i change the prospector fire group it doesn't recognise the change when i use the next button selection. More testing of this. Even with my cargo hatch open the prospector limpid would not fire. Intermittent. I have a mining multi limpid controller. If i switch it off and on the prospector limpid work. May be due to network lag or something because of you log in and out the limpets work as they should.

 

[nemolomen]

Have any of you who have been having these issues tried re-logging to fix it? Not sure if that would work but just a thought.

Back when IIRC Ascendancy was launched, there was a serious bug (at least one, possibly more) with limpets where they would not enter the cargo hatch to drop off whatever they were carrying. I've had this problem with a few ships (T9, T8, Mandalay). Toggling the cargo hatch repeatedly would eventually allow at least one of the limpets to work. I was doing mostly power play at the time and I stuck with only launching 1 collector limpet and that seems top have resolved most of the issue but it woudl still occasionally get stuck

It seems to have been almost completely fixed with the latest release (Trailblazers Update 3?), but I was out with my T-7 explo-miner for the past few days and had occasional issues that were the same or similar and toggling the hatch seems to have done the trick in every case so far. I was closing my hatch when needing to travel faster to the next rock, so that may have been a contributing factor.

Though, I was initially also having issues with the refinery being full of icy stuff when out mining metals and had to eject icy things from the refinery to get the limpets to start flowing.

Two very distinct and different issues.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Had similar issue.
I would hear the sound of the collector getting prepared, but it would not launch and I would not hear it firing away.
Relog fixed it for me.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

I am having the problem that even if i change the prospector fire group it doesn't recognise the change when i use the next button selection. More testing of this. Even with my cargo hatch open the prospector limpid would not fire. Intermittent. I have a mining multi limpid controller. If i switch it off and on the prospector limpid work. May be due to network lag or something because of you log in and out the limpets work as they should.

You either need a dedicated prospector limpet controller or be very careful about the number of collectors you put out. If the multi-limpet controller only supports 4 limpets max and you put out four collectors, you won't be able to launch any prospectors because the controller is maxed out. Turning it off then on again fixes the prospector because it kills all of the limpets currently out.

 

[Vardaugas]

Sometimes they spawn dead. They don't even appear on the radar, but a dead prospector is tumbling away from me. There is really something iffy going on with them.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

Sometimes they spawn dead. They don't even appear on the radar, but a dead prospector is tumbling away from me. There is really something iffy going on with them.

That's usually because they fall out without fully inheriting the ship's momentum and then promptly collide directly with the open cargo hatch. Or on certain ships they can also hit the underside hardpoint, if it's deployed.

 

[Robert Rockbite]

Yes, there is something wrong with prospector limpets not launching sometimes, currently.
If problem occurs, takes quite a few seconds extra until it finally launches, if at all.
I also had the refinery not refining when there was still space in cargo hold and I got cargo hold full message when cargo hold was not full.
Waiting for servers, probably.

 

[DragonIan]

You either need a dedicated prospector limpet controller or be very careful about the number of collectors you put out. If the multi-limpet controller only supports 4 limpets max and you put out four collectors, you won't be able to launch any prospectors because the controller is maxed out. Turning it off then on again fixes the prospector because it kills all of the limpets currently out.

I am using 2 x 5A Collector Limpid Controllers each one maximum active limpids x3. The 3C Mining Limpid Controller has a maximum of 4 active limpids which are the prospector limpids. They both have a range of 5000 meters. I am trying to get my head around this. I have one 2 A Refinery.
So i use a prospect limpid and i find say 40% Platinum. I have set my long range 1D mining lasers and my collector limpids to the same fire group. So i open cargo hatch collect until the asteroid is depleted. Now i use the next key and fire the prospector limpid. Sometimes it works and embeds itself in the selected asteroid. It always works the first time. Ok i then go the next asteroid with x amount of resources. Sometimes the limpid fires and stops because ok i am moving to fast or destroyed it by moving down or something that i understand. However at the moment when i select the fire button most of the time but not all the time nothing happens. But outside i see a number of collector limpids buzzing around. Are you saying that if i have exceeded my quota of collector limpids vs prospector limpids and this means no prospector limpid can be issued? I don't understand the relationship between the two controllers. A limpid could either be a collector or a prospector. Why would the prospector limpid controller not issue a limpid? Its its purpose. So i can't have six collector limpids and four prospector limpids at the same time? Please be patient i am just trying to understand.