What did I do wrong? Killed for piracy when attempting a power restoration mission at an inactive settlement.

Edelgard von Rhein

E
I have been trying my first Odyssey missions lately, to unlock the Colonia on-foot engineers.

This mission that went wrong was a threat zero power restore mission to an inactive settlement. My rep with the mission giver was neutral but almost cordial and this mission would have given me the mats to unlock another engineer (Design Data - so many names for Ody mats and no idea what most of them do yet). I took my Sidey (unarmed) out to the site, got permission to land, set down, checked I was not carrying anything illegal and began to explore the settlement in my Maverick suit (with night vision). At this point, all seemed well: I had no bounty on my head and the settlement was deserted, so I was free to look around. I did not take anything (and had a full inventory for things like medkits and energy cells anyway). Eventually, I found an entrance to the power building and cut my way through a maintenance panel (this is very difficult and takes many attempts but after a couple of minutes I got it free) then used my charger to open the door. Inside, all was dark, so I used night vision to find my way but could not see where to go next. I found another door inside with a maintenance panel and tried cutting that, again taking many minutes, this time without success - as I was wondering whether I needed to find another way, I got a warning that my ship was under attack. I dashed outside and saw it under fire from ground troops (I have no idea where they came from, as the settlement had been empty until then). It is just a small ship runabout and I like it for local exploration, so it was soon destroyed, at which point I was left looking straight up (not sure if I was caught in the blast) and unable to move and was then killed by one of the troops. It was only at the rebuy screen that I saw I was wanted for piracy.

At which point did I go wrong?

I want to be able to do these missions (and there is an on-foot engineer who requires that you have done ten). I have been reading about how Ody missions have been bugged from the start but figured that would be a minority view these days since I also see many people who say they have loads of fully-engineered gear. Is it an occasional bug? If, so are there warning signs that all is not well? If it is not a bug, how do I avoid the same fate next time?
 

Screemonster

Screemonster
Edelgard von Rhein said:
It was only at the rebuy screen that I saw I was wanted for piracy.
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No no no.
When it says that the reason for killing you was piracy, it doesn't mean that you're wanted for piracy.
It means that the NPC who attacked you did so because they are doing piracy. You got killed by pirates.

If it was authority ships that killed you for doing a crime, it would have given the reason as "crime".
 

SteveWW57

SteveWW57
Power restore missions will often have one or two waves of scavengers. Some may be present when you land or they will land later. Keep your ears open for incoming ships and be prepared to run at the first hint of trouble.

A sidey can fit an SRV bay loaded with a scarab SRV. Land, drive out in the SRV and dismiss the ship. Park the SRV away but not too far away from the settlement (it is a really good replen source for energy, healing and ammo). If you hear an incoming ship, leg it to the SRV and drive away to assess the situation. Shoot the scavs at a distance, then return to restoring the power. Just make sure that you only shoot crims/npcs with bounties.

If possible, have a G3 maverick suit (available to buy) and a stock of energy packs just in case. If possible, have the highest class of suit and improved battery capacity and/or reduced tool battery consumption. Either will give more cutting/charging.
 

Edelgard von Rhein

E
Thanks for the responses.
After I was killed, I respawned at a Detention Centre, so I must have picked up a bounty somehow.
My Maverick suit was G3 with night vision and quiet footsteps and I carry a G3 Executioner with a scope, so I can snipe and also use it as a shotgun at close range. My Sidey does have a SRV bay and I have used it for salvage missions as you describe. If I dismiss my ship and keep my SRV close by, then I can also switch to a Dominator to fight NPCs - but since I'm usually outnumbered five or six to one, I just hit them from the SRV from outside (most) ground weapons range.
It seems that the part where my ship was blown up by NPCs spawning in was par for the course (though the mission was Threat 0 - some indication of danger would have been helpful) so perhaps the unexplained part here is how I got a bounty.
I'll give it a go again (I have allotted myself this weekend to at least unlock one more engineer before I head back to the Bubble).
 

SlickPBW

S
+1 for the answer regarding scavengers that sometimes drop during power restoration missions. Be prepared. Dismiss your ship. If scavengers appear, restore power quickly and either kill them or get far enough outside the settlement limits that you can recall your ship. Before you disembark your ship it’s not a bad idea to set pips to 4-2-0 to set it up for a protected retreat.
 

Codger

Codger
A couple of things:
1) Don't land on the landing pad, land outside the settlement at least 600m away. They won't see you out there.
2) Expect Scavengers to arrive at some point. They don't always, but they might.
3) Turn on your light if you can't see. Nightvision is fine, too, but you do have a flashlight.
4) Cutting the panel should take no more than 15 seconds. You're going too fast, or standing too far away, or something.
5) It's best to do restoration missions at settlements that are owned by an Anarchy faction. No bounties on you that way, even if things go south. (you can find these by looking for Anarchy-owned settlements with a state of Bust or Infrastructure Failure. Use Inara search. They are all over the place.
6) Get away from any Powerplay areas. Check the Powerplay panel of the Galaxy map, and avoid all Powerplay systems. They will sometimes spawn guards even in inactive settlements, and those guys will cause you problems.

Good luck. It's a learning curve.
 

thistle

T
I tend to land close to the settlement not on the pad, use the srv, dismiss the ship. Park the srv behind one of the buildings eg power building so it's open space on one side and the wall of the building on the other side, wont get damaged there. Do the thing, then zoom away in the srv and call the ship back when a distance away.
 

Edelgard von Rhein

E
OK, first power restore mission done!
No scavs showed up but I had my ship 700m away and over a ridge, so no line of sight, and my SRV by the side of the building (out of the way unless the scavs spawned in exactly that direction).
It took me an hour because of the time need to find and enter the power building - I had to cut through four doors in entering from an Agri building next door. Codger was right - I had been moving the cutting beam too fast. I'm still not great at it but better: practice is needed.
One of the good things about Colonia is no Powerplay but one of the downsides is that I have little choice about where to find missions - today I only found one location giving power restore missions.
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
That Ag layout with the POWER building buried in the back is the reason I usually don't do Ag power up missions. Unless I already know the settlement type in advance.
 

Codger

Codger
Edelgard von Rhein said:
It took me an hour because of the time need to find and enter the power building - I had to cut through four doors in entering from an Agri building next door.
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Ooh, yes, that particular layout is a bit more interesting than most. Good job finding your way in. Next time it'll be easier.
 

Edelgard von Rhein

E
Screemonster said:
Yeah, you picked up a fine for failing the mission and losing the power regulator, and because you died on that faction's turf you got deported. Game is good, flawless design, etc.
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This is it. I died on another one today, when I thought I could 1v1 a scav with a shotgun, and the same thing happened.
It has been an educational experience this weekend, doing my first Ody missions. On the plus side, I have learned a couple of things about staying safe and have unlocked one engineer and learned about another. The downside is that it has been made clear that I am no good at on-foot combat, so there is simply no point to upgrading my gear. If I ever need to do this kind of work for BGS purposes or just for a change of pace, it is good to know that I have the option. I have bought a Viper MkIII and given it a couple of dumbfire launchers to help me (already proved its worth) and I will leave that out in Colonia. Tomorrow, I will take the slightly scenic route back to the Bubble, in time for the next Buckyball Racing Club event.
Thanks for your help everyone! o7
Mod can close thread if no more remarks after 24hrs: it's done its job.
 

Zador

Z
One thing to be careful with these missions. At some point FDEV decided it would be nice to include non-hostile npcs in a deserted powered down settlement. If scavengers come and you happen to hit one of these NPCs in the firefight you get notoriety. I used to carpet bomb the scavs with missiles from the air before landing but that's now risky.
 

SteveWW57

SteveWW57
Codger said:
Ooh, yes, that particular layout is a bit more interesting than most. Good job finding your way in. Next time it'll be easier.
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It never gets easier trying to find the route to the hardest to find pwr. Even trying to map a route, I fail abysmally and find myself wandering through the maze ending up in a place already been to.
 

Codger

Codger
Edelgard von Rhein said:
The downside is that it has been made clear that I am no good at on-foot combat
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Nah. Heck I'm 74 and slow as molasses and I can handle it. You just have to figure out how the NPCs react. They always do the same stuff, and they are easy to outsmart.

And remember to turn on your shields. I forgot all about that at first, which led to me being 1-shotted (of course). But now I even know when they are going to dodge, and in which direction. I'm deadly.

Get some G3 gear by just searching the Pioneer shops. They randomly sell G3 gear. I just started an Alt and in a few hours I had all G3 gear, just from cruising around in the Apex taxi and checking every Pioneer shop in every station and every planetary port. There's a ton of good stuff you can have without doing any missions at all.

And once you have all G3 gear, you can do the missions a lot easier, because you have better shields and weapons.

Don't give up on it. It's realllly fun once you get some experience behind you. You'll see. :)
 

Ray Trace

Ray Trace
Zador said:
One thing to be careful with these missions. At some point FDEV decided it would be nice to include non-hostile npcs in a deserted powered down settlement. If scavengers come and you happen to hit one of these NPCs in the firefight you get notoriety. I used to carpet bomb the scavs with missiles from the air before landing but that's now risky.
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Can confirm that. But how to react? These NPCs are not wanted, but will open fire on you.
 

Codger

Codger
Ray Trace said:
Can confirm that. But how to react? These NPCs are not wanted, but will open fire on you.
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They act like normal guards. They will tell you to stop and be scanned and attack if you don't. They will attack if they see you cutting a panel open. They will patrol the area, etc.

You can either kill them, or avoid them, depending on what you want. If it's not an Anarchy settlement you will get bounties on your head for killing them, though.

You can also just not deal with them at all by doing all your missions outside of Powerplay areas. Then you won't get any of these guys.
 

Deckard23

D
Codger said:
They act like normal guards. They will tell you to stop and be scanned and attack if you don't. They will attack if they see you cutting a panel open. They will patrol the area, etc.

You can either kill them, or avoid them, depending on what you want. If it's not an Anarchy settlement you will get bounties on your head for killing them, though.

You can also just not deal with them at all by doing all your missions outside of Powerplay areas. Then you won't get any of these guys.
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Hmm... just thinking: if I get attacked by the scavs with them nearby, will they actually start fighting the scavs, defending me? could be an interesting mini-gameloop ;)
 
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