The Definitive Stealth Guide!

[o7]

Thanks for the responses and tips (Frop). Very risky if things get rough using Apex, but it's a way to do it...

If you are going to make a guide, Stealthboy, (thanks again for your great guides), I have thought trying to use the silent mode of the ship, to approach a base in this case. Lvl 3 eliminate criminals from a settlement > Message they know you're comming > It will be possible to use silent mode to enter perimeter base without turning them hostile ???
Best regards.

 

[Ydiss]

Not circumventing anything or avoiding any challenges, I started using Apex because I'm lazy and it keeps my hands free during the supercruise rides. Not my fault they never tested Apex properly themselves, you can clearly tell from simple stuff as apparently not having any reputation with a faction (white radar icons, etc.) when you land somewhere or the propensity of the pilot to just keep slamming into dwarve stars when jumping systems.

The advantage of speaking for myself is that I don't pretend to speak for you

I meant it felt like that for me, not for you. And so that's why I wouldn't use that strategy. I wasn't criticising your choices.

Anyway, settlement raid missions are still bugged. This one I tried twice before giving up:

When sent to the small agri base, there are only ever 14 staff members but the mission asks you to kill 16. There can never be 16 though.

I sometimes think these mission types just need to be limited to 50% of the total settlement value. Just as a failsafe. Because their mission code consistently gets this stuff wrong (and the "missing last target" thing still happens if you kill the NPCs out of a certain order in certain locations).

I'm actually struggling to get a mission to throw the "they're ready for you" mod at me so I can actually record footage for it too

PS Sorry to the commander I just killed whilst filming... You did attack me though. Maybe you thought I was an NPC?

 

[Codger]

Lvl 3 eliminate criminals from a settlement > Message they know you're comming > It will be possible to use silent mode to enter perimeter base without turning them hostile

I've done a bunch of these. I come in fast and low, and park 400m outside the base. If I get there before the dropships, they (usually) don't see me and aggro. I sit in my ship until I see if they aggro. If not, I get out and do the mission on foot as usual. If they do see me and come after the ship, I fly off and relocate to the far side of the base. They then search for a while but can't find me, and I'm good to go again.

That's been my strategy on these. On a very rare occasion they will simply not forget about me, no matter what I do. In that case I just go for it, switch to the Dominator suit and kill them one by one in a fast paced game of "catch me if you can." I enjoy that too, but it's not exactly stealthy

 

[Ydiss]

And again:

Second one today.

This seems to happen when you land near to the settlement (or on a pad). Morita usually works fine when I land over 1km away and drive up (but you have to kill the missing target first, otherwise it disappears later on whilst doing the mission).

Or not... just landed out of range and checked contacts. Only 20 NPCs.

Well I did try...

 

[Northpin]

Second one today.

This seems to happen when you land near to the settlement (or on a pad). Morita usually works fine when I land over 1km away and drive up (but you have to kill the missing target first, otherwise it disappears later on whilst doing the mission).

Guess they fall through some crack...
Have you tried to nuke the settlement from orbit erm, i mean to pound it with dumbfires?

 

[Frop]

And again:

View attachment 287537

Second one today.

This seems to happen when you land near to the settlement (or on a pad). Morita usually works fine when I land over 1km away and drive up (but you have to kill the missing target first, otherwise it disappears later on whilst doing the mission).

Or not... just landed out of range and checked contacts. Only 20 NPCs.

Well I did try...

For comparison, I still occasionally encounter this bug with Apex as well. A relog usually fixes it (my inventory has been maxed out for ages, so I don't really care if the base is empty).

 

[Ydiss]

Guess they fall through some crack...
Have you tried to nuke the settlement from orbit erm, i mean to pound it with dumbfires?

They just straight up disappear. For the Morita mining settlement, I can identify the exact NPC that vanishes (it's always the same one), I've done it so many times.

They used to "fall underground" and you could see them on the staff list. But now they just aren't even there at all.

https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/46493

That's an issue I found that's valid. I've confirmed it but it's way, way off getting any attention right now. I doubt this one will get fixed. It just needs to say how many are left to kill (by actually counting them after every kill). There's no real need for us to know the total starting value. Just "this many left to kill". And as a failsafe, the total shouldn't be the whole settlement. Just 50-75% of them should do it.

 

[Northpin]

They just straight up disappear. For the Morita mining settlement, I can identify the exact NPC that vanishes (it's always the same one), I've done it so many times.

If they dont appear on the SRV scanner / Contacts list...

But anyway - doing the same bugged settlement again and again... there is a definition for that

 

[Ydiss]

If they dont appear on the SRV scanner / Contacts list...

But anyway - doing the same bugged settlement again and again... there is a definition for that

They don't appear on the SRV scanner contact list.

Morita isn't always bugged though; my point was that when it DOES bug out, it's the same NPC every time. It needs to be fixed, irrespective of how many times I may or may not do it. This is pervasive. I just so happen to be attempting this mission type a lot because I'm trying to put some content together to support others who want to know how to do these.

Not exactly a good place to be when the answer is randomly "you can't, sorry". This was one major reason I gave up months ago. I guess if it's not got some major traction on the issue list and the support of forum members on the basis that "if it's broken, don't do it" then that might be one good reason that it's still broken, several months later.

Don't worry though. This will go into my guide. An extra step to take for all players is to count the number of NPCs on the SRV contacts before even bothering to try the mission. If it doesn't add up... failed. Sorry. Try again next time.

I've posted the issue tracker item and contributed my time to it. Maybe it'll get enough players to add to it so it can get noticed by Fdev? But maybe not if the current level of interest is throwing out the definition of insanity proverb.

 

[Northpin]

Morita isn't always bugged though; my point was that when it DOES bug out, it's the same NPC every time. It needs to be fixed, irrespective of how many times I may or may not do it.

Sure it needs to be fixed.
When i was in Colonia i found a specific extraction settlement layout that ALWAYS tried to drop scavs way too far, sometimes the dropships getting stuck in the terrain.
In the happy case the dropships were not getting stuck, the scavs were being dropped more than 1km away, sometimes in ravines or in places really hard to get.


The big problem was not the settlement, but the layout - and getting a mission to extraction settlements was a lottery.

 

[berniw]

Yeh it's cool but I suppose I just see that as circumventing game design when I'm actually OK to take on those challenges (although the target flee is annoying when they flee to a jurisdiction that results in a bounty/penalty even though the target has a bounty - but it's a minor issue when you can clean it easily). Still though, it's another way to play that's legit.

It the target flees to a body with jurisdiction, you have just to scan the person before killing it, it is the same mechanic as with ships in my experience.

 

[Ydiss]

It the target flees to a body with jurisdiction, you have just to scan the person before killing it, it is the same mechanic as with ships in my experience.

If you mean scan it with the hand-held scanner, I didn't do that no (I'd scanned them with the SRV/ship and it showed they had a bounty). So I will try this next time I get this wrinkle and if it works then I'll definitely confirm.

 

[berniw]

If you mean scan it with the hand-held scanner, I didn't do that no (I'd scanned them with the SRV/ship and it showed they had a bounty). So I will try this next time I get this wrinkle and if it works then I'll definitely confirm.

Yes, with the hand scanner.

 

[photomankc]

I recently was surprised.... pleasantly by how tough it got when they were expecting me. But one thing you can cheese a bit here. The CAP patrol is on you like white on rice in the SRV the moment you approach but they really suck at shooting ground targets that are moving so I just kept closing on the settlement. Took a few heavy hits but never had shields go down. I got to a point just below a rise and exited the SRV prepared to let them blow it up. But with me outside the SRV they just lost interest and flew back to patrol. From there I did a pretty standard attack on a hostile base just working the guards down but they were all over me pretty quick when I let one spot me while shooting another and then I had to keep moving, engage pretty heavy combat and keep engaging the Goliath to get it off my SRV before I could fight my way into the alarm panel.

Best base attack yet. I like that wrinkle pretty well.

 

[o7]

I have tried again a level 3 mission eliminate criminals occupying a settlement. Leaving the station, I receive a message informing me that they know of my arrival. So when I get to the system, I use an Apex shuttle to get to the target (a military settlement). Apex can land on the settlement without being knocked down, but when you descend, the base is hostile, although they don't shoot at you until they raise the alarm.

In my case, while scouting the area, a guard discovers me, I don't have time to eliminate him before he turns on the alarm, and the entire settlement starts shooting at me (including defense towers). I manage to escape, but when I request an Apex, the ships defending the perimeter destroy us in mid-flight.

Next time I'll try to book an APex from the station without leaving as Frop says (thanks).

Codger, if you're reading this I'd really appreciate it if you could be a little more detailed in your explanation of how you do these types of missions.

I think that classifying this type of mission as level 3 is misleading. Thanks and regards.

 

[Momatty]

I have tried again a level 3 mission eliminate criminals occupying a settlement. Leaving the station, I receive a message informing me that they know of my arrival. So when I get to the system, I use an Apex shuttle to get to the target (a military settlement). Apex can land on the settlement without being knocked down, but when you descend, the base is hostile, although they don't shoot at you until they raise the alarm.

In my case, while scouting the area, a guard discovers me, I don't have time to eliminate him before he turns on the alarm, and the entire settlement starts shooting at me (including defense towers). I manage to escape, but when I request an Apex, the ships defending the perimeter destroy us in mid-flight.

Next time I'll try to book an APex from the station without leaving as Frop says (thanks).

Codger, if you're reading this I'd really appreciate it if you could be a little more detailed in your explanation of how you do these types of missions.

I think that classifying this type of mission as level 3 is misleading. Thanks and regards.

Yeah those anacondas at military settlements will one shot your Apex. You have to go fairly far away to avoid them.

 

[Frags]

I usually disembark in my SRV and count NPCs before I proceed.

 

[Lord Vicious]

I have tried again a level 3 mission eliminate criminals occupying a settlement. Leaving the station, I receive a message informing me that they know of my arrival. So when I get to the system, I use an Apex shuttle to get to the target (a military settlement). Apex can land on the settlement without being knocked down, but when you descend, the base is hostile, although they don't shoot at you until they raise the alarm.

In my case, while scouting the area, a guard discovers me, I don't have time to eliminate him before he turns on the alarm, and the entire settlement starts shooting at me (including defense towers). I manage to escape, but when I request an Apex, the ships defending the perimeter destroy us in mid-flight.

Next time I'll try to book an APex from the station without leaving as Frop says (thanks).

Codger, if you're reading this I'd really appreciate it if you could be a little more detailed in your explanation of how you do these types of missions.

I think that classifying this type of mission as level 3 is misleading. Thanks and regards.

They weren't shooting at the taxi, they were shooting at you. Since you arrived in the Apex just fine (when they were still unaware of your presence), the issue was allowing them to raise alarms. Turn off the alarm panel first, then any other defenses (AA and AP guns etc), then kill off the personnel with silent weapons.

You can still get out even after aggroing the base, just run away for a bit (about 600 m?) so that the patrol ships are no longer flying overhead, then recall ship or call Apex (depending on how you got there). But it takes longer, obviously.

 

[Frop]

Next time I'll try to book an APex from the station without leaving as Frop says (thanks).

Codger, if you're reading this I'd really appreciate it if you could be a little more detailed in your explanation of how you do these types of missions.

No problem. If you want to notify people without directly replying to them, you can use the ping function with an @-sign (like @o7 ).

 

[Codger]

Codger, if you're reading this I'd really appreciate it if you could be a little more detailed in your explanation of how you do these types of missions.

Well, as I said, I take my own ship (small ship, I use a Viper MKIV) and approach the base low and fast (so they won't spot me coming in if they are already on the ground). I land about 400m outside the base because scavs won't come out that far. Usually I get there before the scavs, and so I sit in my ship and watch them get dropped. I use the camera suite to see where they land. Then I wait a few moments to see if they've spotted me in my ship (usually not, but if they come running towards me and attack my ship, I just relocate to the far side of the base, staying low so they lose track of me).

Once I know the scavs are in place and patrolling the base (I can check again on the camera suite if needed), then I exit my ship and approach the base. If I'm in the Dominator suit I have an Executioner, Intimidator, and Tormentor as weapons (sniper, shotgun, pistol). If I'm in the Maverick suit because I need the arc cutter, then I'll only have the Intimidator and Tormentor. I watch my radar as I approach, turn on my shield, turn on night vision if it's dark (not required by any means, but I like it), and try to locate the scavs and see where they are patrolling. If I see one off by themselves I take them out with the sniper rifle or pistol. Audio Masking helps a lot here. If you don't have that you have to relocate immediately after firing because the other scavs will hear the shot and start looking for you.

I continue to whittle them down one by one as best I can. If I'm seen and they get alerted, I switch to the shotgun and run around behind cover and over roofs, whatever it takes to get near one scav who's away from the others. Two shots of the shotgun from point blank and they are dead, except for some higher level ones who take 3 shots. Don't miss. Then run away again.

I never let myself get caught out in the open, I'm always behind cover. If my shields go down, I run away, dodging behind cover until they come back up. I never engage more than 2 scavs at a time, and prefer one. I run around until they reposition in such a way that I can do that. If you pay attention to the radar it's pretty easy to isolate them.

The rest is just experience and having a good feel for how the guns perform and how well my shields hold. You really don't want to get hit when your shields are down, ever.

That's fairly detailed, I hope? Is that the kind of mission you meant?