Harvesters randomly switching modes

[Zades]

Occasionally I lose a harvester because they switch from Safe Mode to Greed Mode, seemingly at random. Does anybody know why this happens?

[FDR'sThinkTank]

They can only stay in safe mode while being tended to by a Ornithopter. If you take the Ornithopter off task, it automatically goes into Greed Mode. The most likely offender is that you see something you want to investigate, blindly grab an Ornithopter from your queue on the right hand side... and by mistake took one of the ones marked with a Harvester Watch glyph.

Also possible is that your Ornithopter took too much damage: Ambushes, SAM strikes, and even Sandstorms can drain the health. If the Ornithopter is lucky, it will return to base and repair.. but if not it will drop out of the sky. And the Harvester it was watching gets greedy, without even realizing it.

In Multiplayer, enemies might just send ranged strikers to chase your ornithopers off. It's the lowest effort method of sabotage and many players don't notice it if they don't know what to look for.

[Zades]

I don't do the first thing, but it might be the second. When 'thopters assigned to harvesters take enough damage, do they return to the base or to the refinery? Because when I notice one of my harvesters has "fallen off" of safe mode, the 'thopter is still assigned to it and I can just switch it back to safe mode instantly. They don't *appear* to leave the territory, but maybe they did and just came back without me noticing?

[FDR'sThinkTank]

The only other factor I can think of is that Safe Mode, while NORMALLY keeps you from getting eaten by a worm... doesn't ALWAYS catch the worm. This might be particularly triggered by nearby combat or a Worm Thumper.

Normally, Safe Mode will give you enough time for the Carryall to save the harvester... but if the Harvester respawns because someone destroyed it or a worm ate it, it will respawn in "Greed" mode.

I have, on VERY RARE occassions, seen a Worm eat a safe mode Harvester. It's incredibly rare.

It occurs to me that a Corrino player/A.I. could run an Interdiction Operation on your territory with a harvester... if they combine this with a Worm Thumper, your Harvester is Toast. I am assuming Harvester Carryalls cannot land like all carryalls when interdiction is in effect.

[Soho]

Originally posted by OmniWarpLuck:

I have, on VERY RARE occassions, seen a Worm eat a safe mode Harvester. It's incredibly rare

This

It does happen- it is quite rare, but you can lose a harvester to worm attack even in safe mode

Happens to me every few games

Originally posted by OmniWarpLuck:

It occurs to me that a Corrino player/A.I. could run an Interdiction Operation on your territory with a harvester... if they combine this with a Worm Thumper, your Harvester is Toast. I am assuming Harvester Carryalls cannot land like all carryalls when interdiction is in effect

This is also definitely a thing- Corrino players still do this though its a pretty expensive way to kill just one harvester (decoy thumper plus interdiction zone) - annoying but can be more devastating if you are just barely hanging on and that one harvester is your only harvester and you are behind on your spice stocks