Newcomer / Intro Liberate missions... how do I get the specific cargo?

[HappySpaceInvr]

I’m a bit confused by the “Liberate n units of a thing” type of mission. For example, I have a mission right now called “Agricultural Liberation of 6 Commercial Samples”.

I get to the NPC target (and I’m starting off with soft targets), but I’m not sure what to do next to get him/her to hand over the thing I want. They have 48 units of hydrogen, and that’s all the hatchbreakers ever manage to get.

I feel I’ve missed some critical instruction but there are no further clues in the mission details... where am I going wrong?

 

[Chris Simon]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. Droping their shields and throwing a hatch breaker at them is about right.
The trouble is... if your target is a bigger ship with lots of cargo, the chance that your specific one falls out is kind of small.

I never liked these missions.

 

[Dommarraa]

Hatchbreakers work through shields nowadays.
Apart from that, it's down to luck. You might try just taking out one of their engines, but it's still tricky if they have a lot of unwanted cargo.