Restore settlement power already powered on?

[Jeffreyac]

OK, there has got to be something out there for this, but my google-fu is failing me...

The short version: I just grabbed a stack of about 5 'turn power on with provided regulator' missions, as I wanted to boot up some settlements but didn't want to have to find a regulator. Problem is, the settlement was already powered up and peaceful. Do I just have to abandon the mission, take the hit, or is there a work around?

...The long narrative version...

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...OK, mistakes were made.

I grabbed the mission, headed out - I'd done these a lot in the past, though granted I was usually in the 'make the settlement stop working' category and not so much on the 'make it work again' side.

But, even so, this should even be easier. And the message telling me scavengers were expected - heck, maybe I will get to shoot someone for money after all, so it really isn't so different.

Ah, well - I've got 5 of these to do, better get to work. Planetfall and landing at the first settlement were uneventful - I already could see lights moving around, must be the promised scavengers. I landed nearby, got out, unslung the plasma sniper rifle, and looked for the first contestant in the shooting gallery.

Didn't take long to find - could see a perimeter sentry walking along a low wall on this side of the settlement - he'll do. I lined him up carefully, noting that the light from the nearby settlement spotlights were sufficient and I didn't even need the nighvision mods. A quick pull of the trigger, and...

...wait. Why are the settlement spotlights on?

...hmmm. In retrospect, maybe I should have asked that before I pulled the trigger. Ooops.

Just before the bolt hits, I note this isn't a scavenger - it's a random security guard. And now I've got a bounty - and it's no fun, because it's not one of the bounties I get paid to get.

Just to be sure, I sneak in to the power building past the opening I've now created by downing the sentry. My issued credentials are enough to get me in - and yes, there's the reactor happily chugging along. The science tech tending it nods politely to me, but eyes me closely in case I decide to step across into the restricted area. Everything looks... normal.

So now, I sit nearby at the interstellar factor (really got to talk to him about setting up a bulk discount for pardons or something), waiting for my notoriety to quiet down so I can pay a bounty on a hit I wasn't even paid for.

Wondering how much this whole day will end up costing me... ...and if there's any whiskey left in the bottle in the console.

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...so, thoughts? Am I looking at potentially 5 failed missions here? Should I stay away from settlement power up missions right now? (I actually was hoping to do a bunch of these to take a break from thargoid hunting...)

[Sighman]

Are you in Open, PG or Solo?

If in Open and someone else is there ... that's why.

I'm doing a stack of power restore missions in HIP 23716 right now, four done, all good so far.

[Jeffreyac]

I'm in solo.

Just checked the second settlement - this one also powered up already, but with the NPC's there exhibiting the bug where they just stay in one place and don't move.

Looks like I picked a bad day to come back in to elite for settlement missions. Interesting if it's just me, though - wonder what could be causing the glitch...

(As a bonus, at least I didn't shoot anyone there...)

[Sighman]

Also which settlement? If it's no longer in the same BGS state after the tick, that could be another reason.

[Jeffreyac]

I thought of the tick, but I just booted the game, picked up the missions, and went straight to the settlements. If the tick was to blame, the missions also would have updated, wouldn't they?

I'm in HIP 38235, where I was fighting when the system was still in combat several weeks ago. Settlements in question are:

Tracy cultivation center
Sharma's habitat
Sasaki military expedition
Rodger's nutrition center
Plumb nurseries

Already checked Sharma's habitat and the military base. On my way to Rodgers now.

[Sighman]

Sometimes there are other missions to the same bases with conflicting requirements (e.g. massacre the personnel). Usually the base is configured as you arrive,

What's the settlement state in the left panel? The ones I'm doing say 'abandoned'

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Try to jump out and return. If it's still powered up - enjoy your 100k Cr a piece power regulators (a fine for a canceled mission) - you will find a good use to them.

[Jeffreyac]

On the settlement state - shows 'None' for all 5 settlements I have missions to. Looks like I'm hosed... but guess this is a way to check in the future, but not sure I'll be bothered to check the state before accepting the mission. Probably just go back to shooting thargoids, or running evac missions.

Oh, and I'm not completely bummed - back in the day I'd look for these missions to steal the regulators and abandon them on purpose.

...er...

...allegedly. No one ever proved that, of course - shame they were all lost in transit.

But still, right now I don't need any regulators, and was actually looking forward to some easy restoration, maybe with some scavenger combat on the side. So bummed that it's bugging out on me.

[ShelLuser]

Unfortunately missions can bug out sometimes :(

Yesterday I grabbed 2 "retrieve black box" missions which happened in the same system. I go there and one mission objective immediately popped up while I also got a PM telling me to scan the nav beacon. Figuring I'd do one at a time I started by collecting the available boxes and then went back to scan the beacon.

Resulting in nothing. No PM, no mission target, nothing. I left it at that and today I tried again and still zip.

That's the downside of E.D. sometimes: bugged missions. A few weeks ago I took on an extermination mission: "remove" all personel from faction Y in system X. I go there, find 1 settlement where this faction had a presence and after I arrive with a warmed up Scorpion I'm met with "0 / 30 personel left".

Sometimes this game has a bad tendency to bug out.

[Sighman]

Well the ones in HIP 23716 are working and there are dozens of them

[Jeffreyac]

Yeah, I've actually avoided the exterminate faction missions on ground combat - I like them, but had too many bug out. So I know what you mean...

...maybe I'll try a non-thargoid recovery system, more of a normal system, and look for restoration missions. Kinda what I was in the mood for today.

edit:

Originally posted by Sighman:

Well the ones in HIP 23716 are working and there are dozens of them

...just saw this, maybe I'll hop over and take a look. I'd also fought there, so it meets my initial 'go back to where you were fighting to help' idea... :)

[Jeffreyac]

...and now my carrier told me it'd take 45 minutes to jump, so I cancelled it out, went to replot, now it won't jump at all.

...ya know what, maybe I'll go back to the other games in my queue. I'd like to enjoy playing something today, and not try to find work arounds.

[Sighman]

I think the billions people are making in AX combat means there's a rush on carriers right now. (I made 800 mill in one session earlier)

[Sighman]

But on the mission front, that's the downside of a living breathing galaxy. I just took two eliminate faction missions, checked they had more than one settlement, and now when I reach the system I see there's a war on. If there's a conflict at both of those settlements the missions can't be completed, alas.

Worse, the anarchy faction is in Bust state which normally means all their settlements are abandoned and overrun with scavs.

[ShelLuser]

Still... despite my comments earlier you gotta hand it to them.. some missions are just brilliant in design and experience...

I decided that I wanted to engineer my power- plant & regulator so.. I looked up Marco Qwent. He 'only' wanted 25 modular terminals. WTH are those? I looked 'm up, no known commonidy nor any known material. So I hopped over to Sirius ("Patterson Enterprise") to check this out. While going over all the missions... bingo: "Eliminate known pirate Verena Lorenz" (I'm sure we all heard of her) and my optional reward? 38 modular terminals!

This mission was brilliant.

I hop into the designated system... no Verena. crap... "Incoming message": my contractor had come to the same conclusion and hooked me up with a contact of him who could provide more info.

I go over to the new target system, find the contact and his low wake and meet up.

So after I got my info I'm like... "I wonder what he's been up to", so I scan the contact with my warrant scanner and sure enough! So Elsa & me make short work of him which bagged me approx. 800k (250k bounty claim (average) from 3 different factions!). The original mission was going to pay out 620k (which I turned down in favor of the terminals).

I go over to the new system, Verena finds me and Elsa & me destroy her fer-de-lance after getting interdicted and lo and behold: another bounty claim! :)

So now I'm on my way over to Qwent with 38 modular terminals, a paycheck which is way more than I would have made otherwise and I'll even get to keep some of those terminals as well.

This is just so darn satisfying :)

[Jeffreyac]

...ok, logged for lunch, and back in, and thanks for the tip, Sighman - I'm now happily restoring power in HIP 23716. I was worried at first - though the settlements showed 'abandoned' on the map when I looked, they showed a state of 'none' when I approached, but they actually did work as advertised. Three done so far, with three more to go this run, then back for a few ore probably,

Oh, and it's a shame about the titanium, suit schematics, weapon schematics, etc that went missing - those scavengers are a tricky bunch.

...what> Manufacturing instructions downloaded AFTER the power was brought on, you say?

...well, you know, there was quite a bit of time between when I left and when your people retook the settlement. Maybe you should have been quicker, kept the riffraff out....