Surface settlement assignments are annoying

DjVortex

DjVortex
I'm trying to do this:

pp2_recover_data_instructions.jpg


This seems almost impossible. Scanning those terminals is illegal, of course. Cloning someone's permissions is illegal. Doing almost anything is illegal. And if there's an npc within viewing distance, they will see you do that, and the entire base will go into full alert, and thus the mission will be over.

In one case there was an npc with his back turned towards me, ie. looking in the opposite direction, and I tried to scan one of those terminals, and he immediately started shooting. In another case I tried to close someone's credentials through a roof window, while he was looking away, and once again he just started shooting, and the entire base went immediately into alert. Sigh. It's just impossible.
 

Zorbul

Zorbul
If you're lucky the system has power restoration missions. Take those and the settlements are empty for you to roam (sometimes there are scavengers, though).

There could also be legal settlement raid missions, you kill everybody first and then the settlement is all yours.

Unfortunately, it's likely that those two mission types are not available, they require special conditions.

Third option would be protect cargo canister missions. These occur very randomly and are difficult to finish, but leave the settlement free to explore afterwards. Maybe you could ignore the combat entirely and go through the dataports while the npcs do the fighting...
 

serakfalcon

S
Stealth in Elite is quite hard but very doable once you figure out how to stay quiet and out of sight (engineering helps a lot with this) That said, I do find making a beeline to the alarm system and turning it off makes the whole experience more forgiving. Just a note, fines for downloading, uploading, being caught in the wrong place, don't get you in nearly as much trouble as murder, but a little murder here and there makes the jobs easier, just watch your faction and superpower rep to make sure they don't become hostile.
 

Tabryn

T
Also, if you can find a qualifying Odyssey settlement that's in anarchy state, pick that one. You won't get bounties there, so retrying failed missions will be easier.
 

Jmanis

Jmanis
Just shut the base alarms down and fill your boots? Also, mission being illegal surely is the least of your concerns when you're supporting a power??

Pack two e-breaches and rush the base alarm console.
 

Morbad

Morbad
Not remotely impossible, but quite possibly a little a tedious.

As long as those alarms are off, you won't be prevented from completing the mission objective. Legality is neither here nor there, as even if you murder every person in every settlement you land at, the security response is just an annoyance. There is that aforementioned possibility of making useful factions in the area hostile, but it's easy to pad rep.
 

Zorbul

Zorbul
Morbad said:
Not remotely impossible, but quite possibly a little a tedious.

As long as those alarms are off, you won't be prevented from completing the mission objective. Legality is neither here nor there, as even if you murder every person in every settlement you land at, the security response is just an annoyance. There is that aforementioned possibility of making useful factions in the area hostile, but it's easy to pad rep.
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I agree, doing these recover data missions stealthily will take ages. Crime is faster and easier.
 

Shurimal

Shurimal
Honestly, I just skip these data assignments. Stealing Powerplay goods is OK, even though for me they mostly devolve from sneak thievery into robbery at gunpoint—where I'm doing the robbery, but guns are pointed at me🤪 But trying to stay hidden in a well-trafficked area for 60 seconds waiting for the data to download, no thanks! If the download took 5...10 seconds, I'd consider it.

In fact, I think picking up black boxes and killing PP NPC-s in PP signal sources is better merit/hour anyway than data retrieval assignments.
 

Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
I did a few settlement raids for power data and I couldn't believe how many merits I got for it. I just make sure anyone I murder is on their own before turning the settlement alarms off. Afterwards, if anyone has an issue with me taking data:
giphy (3).gif
 

Kalizandra

Kalizandra
Yeah, looking at Fong Wang, there are no handy Anarchy settlements unfortunately. As others have said, take it slowly, kill off the inhabitants from distance with a plasma executioner from the rooftops (hopefully with audio masking) If you haven't done much on-foot gameplay it will be a chore. Repair any rep if necessary later on.

Just today I raided a large Tourist settlement in anarchy (acquisition) state. There were 8 dataports located in the various buildings, uploaded malware to all of them and got iirc 2000 merits. Then sold the contents of the powerplay containers in the nearest stronghold system and got a further 1500+ merits. I was shocked how many I got tbh.
Although 8 malware uploads equals 8 minutes staring out of the window whilst it does its thing...hardly engaging gameplay. That needs to drop to 30 seconds per upload to be honest.
 

Jmanis

Jmanis
Dillon Fallon said:
I did a few settlement raids for power data and I couldn't believe how many merits I got for it. I just make sure anyone I murder is on their own before turning the settlement alarms off. Afterwards, if anyone has an issue with me taking data:
View attachment 413923
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Fwiw, you don't even need to make sure they're on their own. Prioritise kills by whoever has the little red radio/wifi icon above their head. You don't need to kill them even, just hit them, it'll interrupt their alarm raise. I've cleared whole buildings of a half dozen people without raising an alarm by doing this.
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
Kalizandra said:
Just today I raided a large Tourist settlement in anarchy (acquisition) state. There were 8 dataports located in the various buildings, uploaded malware to all of them and got iirc 2000 merits. Then sold the contents of the powerplay containers in the nearest stronghold system and got a further 1500+ merits. I was shocked how many I got tbh.
Click to expand...
I found out by happenstance that collecting and turning in black boxes from power signal sources gives a decent amount of merits. I can't remember now how much it was, but I think it was somewhere around 700 merits per box? Collect 10, and that's a good merits/h amount. Probably nowhere near the best (given that there are commanders out there who get over a million merits per week), but not bad either.
 

photomankc

photomankc
Downloading the data will alarm if you are not the controlling power in that system. Turn off the alarms if you are not looking for kills. Remain out of view while the download is in progress. If they walk up to the terminal they will aggro if you are still downloading but if they can't see you they wont fire. If they see you at all while downloading they will go hostile instantly.

If you are the controlling power the data is perfectly legal to download.
 
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