This morning I finished the 4th Espionage mission, the mind control one. I went back to the station to find that the first Espionage Missino was back on the mission list, the one where you have to find the CEO. Since I had a half hour to waste, I figured I'd run through the missions again. The first mission went no problem. However, on the second espionage mission, the waste bot mission, my scanner suddenly disappears after I kill the 2nd malfunctioning bot every time. I've tried this mission a few times, and get the same result every time. The scanner disappears after the second malfunctioning bot kill every time. I don't leave the sector before I complete the mission, so that's not it.

Well needless to say when that happens I can't scan bots anymore. Instead of quessing which one may have the volitale material, I just jump back to the station, and find that I don't get a message saying I failed the mission because I left the sector. When I get back to the station the mission is there again.

I'm trying this mission in Dau and am of UIT faction.

I tried to do a search on the forums but didn't find anything like this recently. I know this worked back after the beta wipe, because I did it on the day of release.

GodsizE_dwo
http://www.dooworldorder.com

Log file added below:

[01/02/05 08:50:38] You are entering Dau E6
[01/02/05 08:51:06] 00ff00That is the bot with the hazardous materials! Don't hit it or it will explode!
[01/02/05 08:51:39] 00ff00That is the bot with the hazardous materials! Don't hit it or it will explode!
[01/02/05 08:51:53] 00ff00That is a malfunctioning waste handling bot! Kill it!.
[01/02/05 08:52:13] 00ff00That is not a malfunctioning bot. Keep looking.
[01/02/05 08:52:20] 00ff00That is a malfunctioning waste handling bot! Kill it!.
[01/02/05 08:53:44] 00ff00That is a malfunctioning waste handling bot! Kill it!.
[01/02/05 08:54:27] 00ff00That is a malfunctioning waste handling bot! Kill it!.
[01/02/05 08:54:33] 00ff00Light Weapons +20
[01/02/05 08:54:33] 00ff00UIT standing increased slightly
[01/02/05 08:54:33] 00ff00Kill 4 more malfunctioning waste handling bots to scare them away.
[01/02/05 08:54:33] Kripsin destroyed *DenTek Collector JC-7077n
[01/02/05 08:54:37] 00ff00That is not a malfunctioning bot. Keep looking.
[01/02/05 08:54:45] 00ff00Light Weapons +20
[01/02/05 08:54:45] 00ff00UIT standing increased slightly
[01/02/05 08:54:45] Kripsin destroyed *DenTek Collector JD-6585w
[01/02/05 08:54:47] 00ff00That is the bot with the hazardous materials! Don't hit it or it will explode!
[01/02/05 08:54:57] 00ff00That is a malfunctioning waste handling bot! Kill it!.
[01/02/05 08:55:28] 00ff00That object is too far to be scanned. You need to be less than 500 meters away to scan an object.
[01/02/05 08:55:39] 00ff00That is a malfunctioning waste handling bot! Kill it!.
[01/02/05 08:55:51] 00ff00That is a malfunctioning waste handling bot! Kill it!.
[01/02/05 08:56:20] 00ff00Light Weapons +20
[01/02/05 08:56:20] 00ff00UIT standing increased slightly
[01/02/05 08:56:20] 00ff00Kill 3 more malfunctioning waste handling bots to scare them away.
[01/02/05 08:56:20] Kripsin destroyed *DenTek Collector PJ-3605c
[01/02/05 08:56:26] 00ff00That is the bot with the hazardous materials! Don't hit it or it will explode!
[01/02/05 08:56:37] 00ff00That is a malfunctioning waste handling bot! Kill it!.
[01/02/05 08:57:36] 28b4f0[396]<Kripsin> well lost my scanner again
[01/02/05 08:57:47] You are entering Dau L10
[01/02/05 08:58:48] ffffffPeople in the bar: Kripsin
[01/02/05 08:58:48] You are now in Dau Senate (UIT Capitol)

GodsizE_dwo
http://www.dooworldorder.com

Hmm. very strange. I hate those spy missions because they are broken. ;)

same here. I tried several times, sometimes it even let mi kill 3 bots, but the scanner always goes away :-(

Can you tell if the mission actually ended/aborted itself?
That's the only way the scanner would be removed from your ship.

As you can see from my log that I posted, there is no mention of the mission being aborted, failed, or lost. However when I do finally jump to a station and check the mission board, the mission is there to start. Even after leaving the sector I do not get a failed/aborted mission message.

The only reason I think it aborted itself is the sudden loss of the scanner and the fact that the mission reappears in the station, as in a new mission now an active mission. NO mention of the mission being ended/aborted/finished is given to the user.

Ohh, um, were you playing that mission for more than 30 minutes?
There is a deadline of 30 minutes before the mission automatically terminates.

Um, no. I don't think I ever said I spent more than 30 minutes on that mission.
In fact if you look at my log, you'll see that I spent all of 7 minutes and 11 seconds in the zone for the mission, and it didn't take me 23 minutes to move over a few sectors :)

Well after trying three more times I finally finished got it finished on the third attempt. It looks like the timer on the mission is not 30 minutes like it should be? The first two attempts this evening, it looks like the scanner poofs about 10 minutes after getting the mission. The third attempt I was able to finish the mission but had to kill all the bots before ten minutes.

I understand you can't leave the sector and that the mission time limit is 30 minutes. Might want to check the script and see what the timeout time on the scanner is.

Ok, I don't think it was timing out anymore because I tried it and it never timed out, even when it was supposed to. The timeout code was broken.
But there were a couple of places where the mission aborts without telling you, so I made it tell you and I hope this will clear things up. The fix will be in the next patch.

Hmm, what other reasons are there for this mission to be aborted except leaving the sector?
Last time I tried I followed the bots after losing my scanner (after 2-5 minutes fighting) and
saw them warping into other sectors.
Looked like they were scared away although I didn't kill 5 bots.
Of course the mission was not completed either.
Could it be that it aborts after hitting one other bot accidentally? Usually the scanner disappears when I all the bots group together, there might be one shot on a "wrong" robot, then...