NPC

NPC
Most of your contacts with NPC in this game will be from Random encounters. There is an option in Server setting allowing you to set minimum time between two Random encounters. Random encounter can be turned off by setting this option to 0.

Random encounter means, that a neutral NPC ship will contact you and it gives you something or offer you trade or quest.

First encounter appears to be preset and you will become a Basic scouting drone from this NPC. Following encounters looks random, however some types may appear or be more frequent in later game.

Generous donor
This NPC will fly to you and give you certain amount of random resource. In most cases you get Hard metal, few thousands of Hard Metal. There is no dialog for this encounter, you are just informed about it via on screen message and message in chat window.

Merchant
If Merchant appears, he will offer you one Upgrade kit in exchange for specific amount of Hard Metal. TIP: If you don't possess required amount of Hard metal in currently controlled vehicles inventory, "Accept" option will not show in NPC dialogue. However you can close the dialogue, get some Hard metal by converting any suitable material in your inventory to Hard metal, or take it from Outpost storage or follower vehicles inventory, even mine nearby material veins to get suitable material and convert it to Hard metal. Then left click on Merchant and if you have enough Hard metal now, "Accept" option will show and exchnage can be completed. Keep in mind the Merchant will wait for very limited time (around 30 seconds), so you have to be fast.

Do not close the dialogue with "End" or "No thanks" button or you may not be able to open it again. If you wish to interact with Merchant later, click "Trade" button and then close the inventory trading dialogue. You will be able to show the original dialog by left-clicking the NPC. Merchant usually has also 2-3 upgrade kits and some other materials in inventory which you can buy. Merchant will accept Credits, most of Resources (except gravel, silicon...), other Upgrade kits and upgraded parts. He will usually NOT accept vehicle parts without any upgrade. Rarely you can met with a merchant not offering Upgrade kit for Hard Metal, just plain trade.

Price markup displayed in the middle of trading dialogue is kind of tax. The lower this number is, the more profitable trading with this NPC will be.

 TIP:  If you want to sell unupgraded parts too, you can salvage them and sell obtained resources instead.

NPC giving you quest
Some NPCs will offer you quick quest. You will be rewarded with Upgrade kit upon completion the quest. Refusing or failing the quest doesn't have any negative consequences for you.

"Lead me to …" quest
Most frequent NPC encounter will give you quest to lead the NPC to something in vicinity. These quests are usually timed and their timer starts running at the moment you get the offer, not when you accept it by clicking the Accept button. You can get following quest types:

- lead NPC to unclaimed specific resource deposit (10 minutes timer) - lead NPC to Market Warehouse

- lead NPC to specific Outpost (center of it)

The quest is considered completed the moment the NPC arrives to demanded destination.

Important notes: Do not switch vehicle after accepting the quest! Once you accept the quest, NPC will start to follow the vehicle you are controlling. If you switch the vehicle, the NPC will continue to follow previous vehicle and if you move some distance away from it, the quest will FAIL.

If you are using vehicle faster then NPC, you can accidentally run away from them. This will also result in failing the quest. Given that most NPCs will use PCV-05 "Arachnid", which has top speed 110 kmh, this is not so hard. Especially better types of aircrafts with multiple slots for turbines can be significantly faster. You have to be extra careful while using LSH-X4 "Prototype" with its default maximum speed of 170 kmh.

"Collect parts" quest
This NPC will ask you to collect 4 items (containers) around. These items are spawned for quest and are marked with green star similar as Random loot on radar map. The quest is completed by collecting fourth item. This type of quest is quite rare.

"Protect me!" quest
In this quest you have to protect NPC from pirates. If you accept it, one or more pirate ships will aproach from random direction and attack the NPC. If you manage to destroy pirates before they destroy the NPC, you will complete the quest and will be rewarded with Upgrade kit. On top of that, each destroyed pirate will drop some loot, which is usually one Upgrade kit and one resource container containing most often Hard Metal or Ammonium Nitrate. If you refuse this quest, the NPC will fly away and no pirates will appear.

Treasure hunter NPC
Similar to Merchant NPC there is another NPC offering you exchanging transmitter for Credits. If you buy it and then activate it, it will point you to destination with buried treasure. This treasure usually contains Upgrade kit. Navigation to its location is only by words shown in small window left on the screen. No arrow, no marker on map. It is just „far to north“, „nearby to north-east“…

There is small chance a pirates will appear while you are carrying active transmitter. Dialogue will show up and you can choose from two options. To give transmitter to pirates or to keep it for yourself. Second option will make pirates angry a they will attack you. For safety reasons, always use vehicle capable of defending itself while searching for treasures with a transmitter.

Pirate Attack
You get visited by a pirate ship(s). They are so kind they will offer you to pay for your life. If you pay requested amount they will disappear. If not, they will attack you and you have to kill them all. Your reward will be loot dropping from their ships. If you don't want to bother with fighting or don't have any weapons ready, the requested bribe will luckily not be very high. In my game i was visited by pirates only twice and the bribe was around 10 Credits. Paying bribe to pirates at least once will be necessary to complete related achievment.

NPC Outposts
Depending on server settings, NPC Outpost can spawn on map. They are neutral and you can trade with them. To trade, you have to find building with external storage on top. Structure with trading inventory is marked with two opposing arrows and usually it is External storage. Left clicking this External storage will open inventory trading dialogue.

Market Warehouses
Similar to NPC Outpost, NPC Market Warehouses spawn across the map. You can find more informations on Market Warehouse page.

UFO
UFOs and PROTECTORs are kind of alien machines roaming the world. They are neutral until you attack them or violate their rules. They don't like if you grab an item they are just scanning a will attack you if you do it. But what they really hate is pollution. Tier 3 UFO - Protector with flaming red tentacles will sometimes visit your outpost and check the pollution. If it is high, it may attack you and try to destroy your Outpost.

WIP

Disclaimer
Information on this page come from my single player server experience. They may be incomplete and slightly different from multiplayer game experience. Game version 19.09.01.1. Also I am not a native English speaker (you surely noticed already ;-) ), so feel free to correct me.