Newcomer / Intro Deserted settlements - how to find? Random chance?

[Frankymole]

I was intending to sneak into a lab and try to pilfer the lockers by stealth. I went to a random research settlement on a planet in Domino Green's system.

When I got there, landing permission was refused. Everything was dark, power off. Just in case the turrets reactivated, I parked over 100 metres away and dashed over to the habitations and then the power complex. Bodies everywhere, technicians etc, level 3 clearance.

Most/all of the outside containers had been opened and looted, but the Lab and Hab lockers mostly had stuff inside. Really useful way of getting a load of materials with no risks. No-one came, even when I powered the settlement up (I did turn off the alarms, but there was no sign of life, or any backup or distress-call reacting ships arriving).

Is this common? Is there any way to find these safe, raided settlements without getting a mission to one (which usually means a fight with scavengers?). Was I just really lucky?

 

[Chris Simon]

I was intending to sneak into a lab and try to pilfer the lockers by stealth. I went to a random research settlement on a planet in Domino Green's system.

When I got there, landing permission was refused. Everything was dark, power off. Just in case the turrets reactivated, I parked over 100 metres away and dashed over to the habitations and then the power complex. Bodies everywhere, technicians etc, level 3 clearance.

Most/all of the outside containers had been opened and looted, but the Lab and Hab lockers mostly had stuff inside. Really useful way of getting a load of materials with no risks. No-one came, even when I powered the settlement up (I did turn off the alarms, but there was no sign of life, or any backup or distress-call reacting ships arriving).

Is this common? Is there any way to find these safe, raided settlements without getting a mission to one (which usually means a fight with scavengers?). Was I just really lucky?

Why yes. There is a way.
Look at the mission board. If there is a mission to reactivate a base, the base is there even if you don't accept the mission. Just note the location and go there.

 

[Frankymole]

Why yes. There is a way.
Look at the mission board. If there is a mission to reactivate a base, the base is there even if you don't accept the mission. Just note the location and go there.

But don't they have threat level 3 and loads of scavengers show up? I want one that doesn't get any nasty visitors while I'm looting it...

 

[Chris Simon]

But don't they have threat level 3 and loads of scavengers show up? I want one that doesn't get any nasty visitors while I'm looting it...

In my experience, the scavs are completely random. Sometimes they're there, sometimes they aren't. Maybe I'm just lucky, but the settlements I check are usually empty (80% of the time)

 

[metatheurgist]

Any faction with a negative state can have an abandoned settlement. Some more likely than others, the one I'm at is in Famine. Scavs as pointed out above are random. I've not seen any scavs turn up for a restoration mission tho (unless it was a mission wrinkle) and those are as good as an empty settlement (better really cos then all theft is legal and the dataports are powered, funnily tho datatheft is not legal).