The orange ball that I collect for the arc device so that I can leave the area keeps disappearing

[neon/drifter]

I forgot the name of the orange ball, but you collect it, place it into the arc device in your passengers seat and then it tells you where to go to leave. I would place the ball into the arc device, then it would disappear and pretend i never collected it. This happened twice. This is the second progress breaking bug I've encountered in the game so far and it's just the beginning.

Unless it's not a bug and someone can explain what I'm missing? Otherwise I'm refunding this.

[MechaNick]

The balls are called Anchors. The device essentially eats it and fills up a gauge on the right hand side of the monitor. I believe the further you travel away from the garage, the more Anchors you need to acquire to fill that gauge and when its full a portal back can be opened. Could that be whats happening in your case?

At my stage of the game I usually need about 4 but I also collect as many as possible since they're also your currency for buying upgrades/blueprints.

[[Heretic]Rivga]

The arc device collects the energy from the ball, you will need to collect multiple balls later.
In fact collect as many as possible alwhen you can, this energy is also the currency in the game for crafting recipes.

[Miccus]

Is this the first time in the game when you collect the "orange ball" or is it on a later drive?

If it is on a later drive it could be that you didnt collect enough kLIM (that is the energy that you get when you put the "orange ball" in the machine) to leave thea area yet. Depending on the size of the circle on the map around the place where you collect them, you get more or less energy.

Look on your Arc device below the map what numbers are written as in how much kLIM you have and how much you need to leave by a portal.
On the right side of the map is a graphical representation where you need to fill it up to the line.

[Bane882266]

The arc device eats the anchors, it's very quick you can easily miss the animation. Another thing you might be confused by is when travelling through multiple maps to reach your destination you don't need to activate a gateway you just drive to the edge of the map there should be an arrow indicating which exit road to take.

[neon/drifter]

Thank you all for your help.