Do NPCs seize/steal your quest item targets?

[Commander Kheane]

I'm still pretty new and I've not done any surface salvage missions so I decided to try one today. This is from a station. I'm logged in via Odyssey.

The mission was to retrieve a canister of a nerve agent. I found the planet, the mission came up as a wreckage. When I got near it still in my ship I saw the canister. While I was targeting the thing and trying to land a system authority vessel was aggressively scanning me. Moments later, both that vessel and my target canister were gone. I searched everywhere, both from the air and via my SRV, and it was just gone. I went back into SC and came back down, nothing. I have a whopping 5 days to complete it, so maybe I'll give it a couple days before trying again. I really need those firmwares rewards dangit!

Are such missions broken when being done in Odyssey or did the System Authority vessel snag it or something?

 

[Jmanis]

Just to be clear, this was a standard ship-based surface salvage mission? ("Nerve Agents" are a ship-scoopable commodity, and existed pre-odyssey)

If so, yes, System Authorities will blow up any cargo they spot which is illegal/stolen. Nerve Agents are illegal in almost all jurisdictions except Anarchy and some Dictator/Feudal/Other Authoritarian models.

Note: You can just relog and the canister will respawn at an appropriate mission site... noting if you scooped it (and got the mission update), jettisoned it (to avoid being detected with illegal goods) then got it destroyed, you're outta luck.

 

[Commander Kheane]

Yes, Jmanis, a standard SRV-required mission. I appreciate the explanation, as that's exactly what seems to have happened. I know system authorities can sometimes fly over planets but this guy was right there with me 1k from the surface and scanning. I had the canister targeted, tried to land and then POOF. So I never even picked it up. Would I be able to fire a collector limpet or something at it without even having to get out to the SRV?

I'll just try again when I'm back on. Thanks again!

EDIT: went back and it seems the Bill didn't nick my canister.... it was sinking into the ground and COMPLETELY INACCESSIBLE. Great, nice one. .

 

[Jmanis]

Yes, Jmanis, a standard SRV-required mission. I appreciate the explanation, as that's exactly what seems to have happened. I know system authorities can sometimes fly over planets but this guy was right there with me 1k from the surface and scanning. I had the canister targeted, tried to land and then POOF. So I never even picked it up. Would I be able to fire a collector limpet or something at it without even having to get out to the SRV?

I'll just try again when I'm back on. Thanks again!

There's ways to do it with a collector, but conditions have to be right. You can even scoop from the floor with your ship if it's flat enough for your ship. But authorities are random spawns, so if you relog you should be fine.

 

[Commander Kheane]

There's ways to do it with a collector, but conditions have to be right. You can even scoop from the floor with your ship if it's flat enough for your ship. But authorities are random spawns, so if you relog you should be fine.

Yeah there was no authority when I went just now... except the canister spawned in the ground and was sinking away. Just gonna abandon. Dangit. Thanks again.

 

[djadjok]

Yeah there was no authority when I went just now... except the canister spawned in the ground and was sinking away. Just gonna abandon. Dangit. Thanks again.

Quite a few of issues in ED are (and were) related to spawning points (for commodities/mats/skimmers, etc). You could try to deal with them by changing distance/approach vector and commander state (on-board/on-wheels/on-foot) at the moment of geometry loading/creation - i.e. relogging