Falcon’s Guide to Unlocking Odyssey Engineers
I just recently finished unlocking (most of) the ship engineers on my Alt using the fantastic Fox's Comprehensive Guide to Engineer Unlocking and following on from the On Foot Engineering Guide video from The Buur Pit I realised there doesn’t seem to be a comparable written version for unlocking the suit and personal weapon engineers. Since this is an area that could offer some help, especially with the release of Operations, I decided that I would attempt to write one for them. I have tried to use the same format as Fox’s to keep it consistent.
As with Fox’s Guide, I’m going to start with a basic outline and material collection, and I will not be including the Colonia engineers, however, if the materials that you need to unlock them all appear (Cocktail Recipes, Culinary Recipes, Digital Designs, Faction Associates, and Manufacturing Instructions) feel free to collect them as you go. They shouldn’t take up too much space. Once I run out of character space, I will post the remaining information in the comments so make sure you check there as well.
What is the difference between Ship (Horizons) Engineers and Suit and Weapon (Odyssey) Engineers?
Honestly? It’s in the title. The Horizons Engineers do upgrades and experimental effects on your ship modules and the Odyssey Engineers do modifications to your suits and personal weapons. However, the devil is in the details. Horizons Engineers do everything for your modules, and you then pin the blueprints you want to be able to access everywhere, but the Odyssey Engineers only do modifications, essentially the suit and weapon version of experimental effects. If you want to upgrade your suits and weapons, similar to pinned blueprints, you do those through Pioneer Supplies on any station concourse.
Each suit and weapon gains a modification slot each time it is upgraded. Starting with no modification slots at Grade 1 all the way up to four at Grade 5. The mods can’t be pinned like ship upgrades, they can only be applied by the engineers, which is why I described them as being like your ship module experimental effects, we just get to have more of them. The side effect of this is that once a modification is fitted, it can’t be removed. This means it’s important that you plan out your modifications carefully.
Unlike how almost all the Horizons Engineers provide an upgrade they are the best at, there are only 3 engineers (in the bubble) that provide unique modifications, and they are the last of their respective unlock chains, so there are fewer paths we can skip, but there are also less of them.
Finally, to get your suit and weapons engineered you must disembark from your ship to talk to them. If you choose the Engineer’s Workshop from the Station Services menu it will give you your ship engineering pins.
Do suits and weapons use the same materials as my ships?
The short answer? No. The long answer? Nope.
Okay so where do I get these new materials?
There are several different ways to acquire the new materials. The first and simplest is by raiding Odyssey settlements populated by on foot NPCs. The easiest settlements to raid are ones controlled by an Anarchy faction. Anarchy factions don’t issue any bounties for killing their people, and you also earn no notoriety for it. You can find these settlements on Inara, using the Search Nearest function, select Stations and set the Station Type to Surface Settlement (Odyssey), then View Additional Options, and set the Government to Anarchy.
Inside these settlements you can find lockers, containers, and data ports where you can collect these materials from. Like Horizons the materials are split into three categories: Goods, Assets, and Data. Goods and Assets are physical items, Goods are always in secured lockers or containers, while Assets can be found either in unsecured lockers and containers or lying on the ground. Data is downloaded from the data ports.
The next way you can get them is through levelling up in Powerplay. When you gain a level with Powerplay you now get a mini-care package before reaching level 100, or a care package from level 100 onwards. The Care Packages contain materials from the Assets category.
You can also get some materials by purchasing them from other CMDRs carriers. A Fleet Carrier with the bartender fitted to it allows players to sell any excess materials they have collected from the Goods and Data categories.
However, the best way to get materials is as mission rewards. The missions you are looking for are only found on the concourse mission terminal or from the NPCs standing around the concourse calling out to you. The NPCs that give missions can be bartered with to increase the rewards, the greater your reputation with their faction, and the better your mercenary rank, the better your chances of successful bartering. Mission rewards only give you materials required for modifications and upgrades, it won’t give you any of the flavour materials or the materials required for the engineer unlocks.
Something that’s important to note with regards to the mission terminals. The terminals at each station offer different missions, so if you are targeting a specific kind of mission from the guide below, it may be worth jumping to a different station and checking there.
Is there a Materials Trader for the different Odyssey materials?
Well… Kind of. The concourse bartenders are the Odyssey version of a materials trader, and like Pioneer Supplies, they are found in all station concourses. You can trade Assets with them or sell Goods and Data to them. I need to expand on Assets a little more here too. Assets are further broken down into 3 sub-categories: Chemical, Circuit, and Tech, and each of these work similarly to Horizons Raw, Manufactured, and Encoded materials. They can only trade amongst their own sub-category, however, instead of a fixed cost when cross trading, each specific material has a slightly different cost weighting.
The best, easiest way of determining what materials you need for what modification is to use the wonderful Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Materials Helper. This allows you to plan out ship, suit, or weapon engineering, and it can track a wish list for you letting you know what you can trade to get the materials you need, and which engineer to go to for your modifications and experimental effects.
EDOMH is one of the most powerful engineering assistants available and I fully recommend using it. It further breaks down Goods and Data into Blueprint, Powerplay, and Irrelevant. This is necessary because unlike the Horizons materials which are all used in either engineering or synthesis, there are some Odyssey materials which are just there for flavour. Additionally, there are some Goods and Data which are only used to unlock the engineers, before then becoming irrelevant.
What do I need to get started?
Unfortunately, you can’t really do your suit and weapon engineering without some liquid credits and a ship. Which ship and how many credits is going to be up to each individual CMDR. I’m going to throw down *my* build philosophy for an Odyssey runner, and then some helpful tips and links to hopefully make your Odyssey engineering experience smoother and more enjoyable.
First up, build philosophy! I outfit the core components with the biggest A-rated modules and Military Grade Composite. For utilities, I use a heat sink launcher, and shield boosters, I use A rated shield boosters, but if you want to preserve some jump range E rated boosters do give the best shield boost per mass.
The optional internal slots are where it gets interesting. I use the biggest slot for a shield generator, I prefer the Bi-Weave Shield Generator for Odyssey content, however, Prismatics or regular shields will be fine. The next largest goes to the Fuel Scoop, and then the Guardian FSD Booster. The smallest slots get the Detailed Surface Scanner (useful for when you are hunting a specific site without using a mission,) the Supercruise Assist, and then I fit a Planetary Vehicle Hangar, a class 2 gets fitted with the Scarab, and the class 4 and 6 get a mix of the SRVs. The remaining slots get filled with Hull Reinforcement Packages.
For weapons, a class 2 or class 1 Advanced Missile Rack available from outfitting in Military economy Planetary Ports is a must to deal with scavengers, ship weapons are completely ineffectual against people, however, while people are immune to the weapons, they are not immune to explosive splash damage. The remaining weapon slots are for flavour.
Now… Should you go about engineering this ship? You don’t have to, however, if you have already unlocked the ship engineers there’s no reason for you to not do it, it will really improve the ships capability and make your life easier (No really, Rapid Fire Advanced Missile Racks go hard against any scavengers.)
Something I will mention before moving onto the ship I use, the Pre-Engineered Frame Shift Drive (SCO) V1 (double engineered with Increased Range/Fast Boot) is amazing. I fully recommend buying one to fit to your ship. You can buy them from any station with a Human Tech Broker for the bargain price of 1 Titan Drive Component and a collection of Horizons materials, the full list is available on Inara. Titan Drive Components are a corrosive commodity that can be gathered in the debris fields of the destroyed Thargoid Titans. They are a random spawn you will need some patience to get one, A-rated Long Range engineered Sensors will make it much easier to spot them.
The ship I use revolves around how many people I’m going to be playing with, connection issues notwithstanding. The more other people I’m playing with, the different my ship choices get to be. When I’m running solo, I’m using either an Imperial Courier, a Diamondback Explorer, or a Kestrel Mk II. If there are two players, I’ll look to use the Mandalay, the Corsair, or Cobra Mk III. For three players, the Krait Mk II or the Cobra Mk V. With four players you’re looking at either the Alliance Crusader or the Caspian Explorer, with the Crusader being the best since it’s a medium ship. If you only have the credits to buy one of these ships, the Cobra Mk V is by far the best bang for buck, it’s a small ship so it can land anywhere, and it still allows up to two other players to join you.
Below are some example builds for the ships I recommended above, these have engineering on them, but you don’t need to do it for them to work.
Solo Ships: Imperial Courier, Diamondback Explorer, Kestrel Mk II
Two Player: Mandalay, Corsair, Cobra Mk III
Three Player: Krait Mk II, Alliance Crusader, Caspian Explorer
Best All-Rounder: Cobra Mk V
The last thing to mention here are E-breaches. These are a security override device; they are considered illegal, if you are scanned while carrying one, or a NPC spots one that has been used, you will be attacked. They are incredibly useful for opening containers, lockers, and activating Reactor Consoles so you can steal Power Regulators. I recommend having at least 50 of them. They cost 25,000 credits each and can be bought from Pioneers Supplies in concourses controlled by Communist or Anarchy minor factions.
Do you have any final tips before we get into unlocking the Engineers?
I sure do! I’ve already mentioned the EDOMH app, another app that I found useful is ED Market Connector (EDMC). This reads the journal files of your commander and you can get it to send it to Inara. Following on from that, I also recommend you have an account on Inara and link it to EDMC to help make your life easier.
Remember how I mentioned you would need some credits to start this? You can actually buy pre-upgraded and pre-modified suits and weapons! Every Thursday maintenance resets what specials Pioneer Supplies offers, they can offer weapons and suits pre-upgraded up to Grade 3, for a price. It’s also necessary to say that Pioneer Supplies only stocks one pre-upgraded item. That is one for all players in all game modes. Once it has been purchased, it’s gone. And they are randomly generated, so there is no guarantee what was found in one station will be there again at the next reset.
I have all the prices in a table below, but to give you a general overview of how much you will need, in order to buy one of every suit and weapon at Grade 1 it will cost you 1,575,000 credits, if you try to go the whole hog and buy Grade 3 weapons and suits with two modifications fitted it will cost you 196,875,000 credits. Personally, I went down the path of buying everything in Grade 3, or Grade 2 if it had a mod on it I wanted. I found the easiest way of hunting for these was to use Apex Interstellar to jump around between systems and in-system to Planetary Ports and Orbital Stations.
Pioneer Supplies Price Guide for Suits and Personal Weapons Table
| Grade/Modifications Fitted | Grade 1/None | Grade 2/None | Grade 2/One | Grade 3/None | Grade 3/One | Grade 3/Two |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price Multiplier* | Base Price | x5 | x15 | x25 | x75 | x125 |
| Artemis | 150,000 cr | 750,000 cr | 2,250,000 cr | 3,750,000 cr | 11,250,000 cr | 18,750,000 cr |
| Maverick | 150,000 cr | 750,000 cr | 2,250,000 cr | 3,750,000 cr | 11,250,000 cr | 18,750,000 cr |
| Dominator | 150,000 cr | 750,000 cr | 2,250,000 cr | 3,750,000 cr | 11,250,000 cr | 18,750,000 cr |
| TK Aphelion | 125,000 cr | 625,000 cr | 1,875,000 cr | 3,125,000 cr | 9,375,000 cr | 15,625,000 cr |
| TK Eclipse | 75,000 cr | 375,000 cr | 1,125,000 cr | 1,875,000 cr | 5,625,000 cr | 9,375,000 cr |
| TK Zenith | 50,000 cr | 250,000 cr | 750,000 cr | 1,250,000 cr | 3,750,000 cr | 6,250,000 cr |
| Karma AR-50 | 125,000 cr | 625,000 cr | 1,875,000 cr | 3,125,000 cr | 9,375,000 cr | 15,625,000 cr |
| Karma C-44 | 75,000 cr | 375,000 cr | 1,125,000 cr | 1,875,000 cr | 5,625,000 cr | 9,375,000 cr |
| Karma L-6 | 175,000 cr | 875,000 cr | 2,625,000 cr | 4,375,000 cr | 13,125,000 cr | 21,875,000 cr |
| Karma P-15 | 50,000 cr | 250,000 cr | 750,000 cr | 1,250,000 cr | 3,750,000 cr | 6,250,000 cr |
| Manticore Executioner | 175,000 cr | 875,000 cr | 2,625,000 cr | 4,375,000 cr | 13,125,000 cr | 21,875,000 cr |
| Manticore Intimidator | 100,000 cr | 500,000 cr | 1,500,000 cr | 2,500,000 cr | 7,500,000 cr | 12,500,000 cr |
| Manticore Oppressor | 125,000 cr | 625,000 cr | 1,875,000 cr | 3,125,000 cr | 9,375,000 cr | 15,625,000 cr |
| Manticore Tormentor | 50,000 cr | 250,000 cr | 750,000 cr | 1,250,000 cr | 3,750,000 cr | 6,250,000 cr |
^(*Thank you to the CMDRs of The Buur Pit for inadvertently collecting enough price information that I could calculate this without having to find it all myself. Saved me weeks.)
Additionally, there is The Great Pre-Upgraded Gear Sharing is Caring Thread post on the Frontier Forums. You can use this to locate any gear you are looking for. I recommend posting anything you find to it when it is something that you don’t want or need. You never know who else is out there struggling the same way you are.
As with Horizons Engineers, the entire engineer unlock tree is here at the bottom of the page. And a couple of assumptions I’m going to be using before we start:
- You have low levels of ship engineering or a reasonable understanding of the process,
- You are starting from Grade 1 with all the Suits and Weapons you want, or you have collected Grade 3 of all you want by flying yourself around, and
- You haven’t inadvertently or deliberately unlocked any Odyssey engineers.
During this guide there will be times where you will need to complete specific mission types or sell some specific items to bartenders. When I originally unlocked the ground engineers (late 2021) if you did any of these items before you learnt about the engineer, it didn’t count and you would have to complete the task again. I’m unsure if this has changed, as I didn’t actually test this. It would be wise to follow the same tactic, unless you have tested this and can confirm that selling at any time counts.
To make unlocking the engineers easier, be on the lookout for the following Goods and Data, you will need to have a selection of these to learn about or gain access to certain engineers.
Goods to be on the lookout for:
Biological Samples, Genetic Repair Meds, Insight Entertainment Suites, Push, Surveillance Equipment
Data to be on the lookout for:
Cat Media, Classic Entertainment, Employee Genetic Data, Financial Projections, Genetic Research, Multimedia Entertainment, Opinion Polls, Settlement Defence Plans, Smear Campaign Plans
Finally, this is a guide, you don’t have to follow it religiously. What I’ve attempted to do is set up a series of small goals that feel achievable, using a logical path for players to follow. It’s intended to make the whole process easier, and not drive burn-out. Do what you feel comfortable with, and do them in the order that works for your play style.
With that out of the way, let’s get into it.
Step One: Jude Navarro
Time: Moderate
Access Requirements: Complete 10 Restore or Reactivation missions.
Knowledge Requirements: 5 Genetic Repair Meds.
For Restore or Reactivation Missions you need to look for Minor Factions that are in a state of Civil Unrest, Bust, or Infrastructure Failure. There’s a few ways to find that; in-game with the galaxy map, use the Pilots Federation Map Mode, select State and then filter those states. The downside of this, is it will only show the controlling factions state, it doesn’t take into account the other minor factions present. However, the most consistent way to find these missions is through Inara, and there are two ways you can do that using the Search Nearest function in the Data menu. The first is to search Stations with the same Faction States I have listed, and the second is to use the Miscellaneous search using your star system and selecting Nearest Restore Mission. This was the method I preferred, because it meant that I didn’t need to remember exactly which faction states generate Restore/Reactivation missions.
Restore and Reactivation missions are located under Support Missions, select as many as you feel comfortable doing, remember to target materials from the list above, or materials for your planned suit and weapon modifications. If the mission location is in a neighbouring star system I recommend using Apex Interstellar taxis to get to it, to begin the unlock process for Domino Green. Accepting the mission gives you a Power Regulator and Level 3 security access so you don’t need to worry about sourcing any of that beforehand. Occasionally the mission will also have scavengers in the settlement or they will drop in after you arrive. The easiest way of dealing with them is with missiles from your ship, if you have used Apex move around using the settlement structures and objects as cover until you have killed them all.
Once you arrive at the settlement power will be off, you will need to locate the Power building. Once you have found it, you will first cut open the red maintenance at the door using the Maverick Suits Arc Cutter, then power the doors with the Energylink to gain access. Once inside, find the Regulator Housing and insert the Power Regulator you were given before activating the nearby Reactor Console. Once power is back online the mission will be complete, however before you leave, go through the buildings, and steal everything that isn’t nailed down and download all the Data you need. Habitat Data Ports and the Large Secured Lockers are the best places to find Financial Projections and Genetic Repair Meds that are needed further in this guide.
Once you have completed 10 missions head to Marshall's Drift in the Aurai system and give Jude Navarro 5 Genetic Repair Meds to learn about Terra Velasquez.
If you are having trouble finding Genetic Repair Meds, I was doing my reactivation mission in the Heryshaf system and was able to find consistent reactivation missions to several Extraction Settlements: Chun Metallurgic Reserve; Okada Extraction Facility; Cotton Mines; and Gomez Dredging Platform. These settlements were consistently spawning between 1 and 2 Genetic Repair Meds in the large locker in the EXT building. I mention this because (at the time of writing) these settlements are controlled by an anarchy faction. These drop rates shouldn’t change even if the settlements are active, and since they are anarchy you can raid them, or even get missions to raid them, with no penalty.
Step Two: Terra Velasquez
Time: Longest
Access Requirements: Complete 6 Covert Theft or Covert Heist missions.
Knowledge Requirements: 15 Financial Projections
Terra Velasquez can be a bit challenging. To gain access to her you need to complete 6 covert missions, any combination of Theft or Heist missions. I found Heists to be extremely challenging, while Theft missions much easier to achieve. Both missions are run the same way, you enter the settlement and stealth your way through to where the item is you need to steal. The key point of this mission is to get the item without triggering the settlement’s alarm.
That being the case, to start off go to a station’s Terminal Board, select procurement missions and accept a Covert mission. If possible pick one that rewards Financial Projections since you will need 15 of them at the end of this step. I don’t recommend stacking these missions to do all at once, they take some time to complete and you will need to employ some stealth tactics. Head over to the Apex Interstellar counter and book an Apex to the settlement you need to infiltrate. Once you arrive the first order of business is to locate as many of the patrolling guards as necessary, so that they appear on your minimap. You want to avoid being scanned by them on your way out with the stolen item, so you can minimise the chances of mission failure. Next find an NPC that has a Level 3 security clearance, make sure no NPCs can see you and then clone it. Now, find yourself a settlement terminal that is out of the way of the guards and look for where the settlement alarm console is, this mission becomes significantly easier to achieve if you disable the alarm system. Sneak into the appropriate location and turn off the alarms, then head back to the terminal you were using and find where the item is you need to steal.
This is where the difficulty of the two mission types diverge. Heists require you to get a sample out of a Sample Containment Unit. These are devices in the settlement that require you to have at least a Level 2 security clearance to open. It takes a few minutes to open, then once opened, it alerts nearby NPCs who come over and close it. You need to get the item before they close it, this is a race against the clock, put your personal shield up, run up and grab the sample out of the Unit. If you aren’t fast enough before the NPCs get to it, stay hidden until they leave, if you are too close to them they aggro onto you and then it becomes a failed mission.
Thefts require you to go to a secured locker, open it and take the mission item. You can cut it open, or you go back to the terminal to get the code needed to open the locker. Cutting it open will aggro nearby NPCs, using the combination means they will ignore you. I recommend using the code, if you select the locker in the terminal your HUD will remember the code for you, then you just need to get to the locker, enter the code and take the item. Now you have collected the item you need, call your Apex taxi and leave the settlement.
Complete your six missions to gain access to her. Make sure you have collected 15 Financial Projections, then head to Rascal's Choice in the Shou Xing system and give them to her to learn about Oden Geiger.
Step Three: Domino Green
Time: Shortest
Access Requirements: Travel 100Ly in Apex taxis
Knowledge Requirements: 5 Push
If you have been using the taxis to complete the missions for Jude Navarro and Terra Velasquez, or you used them to go looking for pre-upgraded equipment, you will be already done with this one, or close to it. If you haven’t yet received an invite to meet Domino Green, head on over to the Apex Interstellar counter in any station concourse and book a long range shuttle to another star system as far away as possible and continue to book shuttles until you receive the invitation.
Once you get it you will need to find 5 units of Push. These are best located during a Larceny mission that targets a Hidden Cache, it will direct you to a Irregulars Markers point of interest on a planet surface, you will have to fly your own ship to it. Make sure you have stocked up on E-Breaches before you go so you can open the regular containers, the shipping containers can be opened with the Maverick Arc Cutter and overcharging with the Energylink. While you are here, pick up at least 5 Insight Entertainment Suites for Wellington Beck later in this guide, as well as any Weapon Schematics, Goods, and Assets that you might need. Then travel to The Jackrabbit in the Orishis system to give Domino Green her 5 doses of Push to learn about Kit Fowler.
Step Four: Kit Fowler
Time: Short
Access Requirements: Sell 5 Opinion Polls to bartenders
Knowledge Requirements: 5 Surveillance Equipment
Next up is pretty quick, if you have collected 5 Opinion Polls during the missions you have needed to complete so far then you’ll be ok to sell them to a local bartender. If you haven’t collected enough that’s ok, find yourself a mission terminal and look for Opinion Polls as a mission reward. You will also want to find 5 Surveillance Equipment, if you don’t find them as a mission reward you can find them in Secured Lockers in Security Rooms. I recommend finding a system that you can use to raid military settlements, they tend to have the right kind of security rooms that will reliably generate the Surveillance Equipment.
Once you have your 5 Opinion Polls and Surveillance Equipment, find yourself a bartender to sell the Opinion Polls to, then when you get the message head to The Last Call in the Capoya system and give your 5 Surveillance Equipment to Kit Fowler to learn about Yarden Bond.
Step Five: Hero Ferrari
Time: Long
Access Requirements: Complete 10 surface low conflict zones.
Knowledge Requirements: 5 Settlement Defence Plans.
Before we get into the conflict zones make sure you have found 5 Settlement Defence Plans, you can earn these through mission rewards or downloading them from random security data ports. Once you have them, get yourself a Dominator suit and a couple of primary weapons. I used the TK Aphelion and Karma AR-50 for simplicity, but any weapon combination will work. Now you need to find a system that has a state of War or Civil War, the Inara searches that we used earlier for the reactivation and restore missions will work here as well. Head to the system you have selected, and speak to the person standing at the Frontline Solutions counter on the station concourse. When you speak to them, the system map will open, select a planet displaying crossed swords and choose one of the settlements that has a low conflict intensity. From here you can either fly yourself to the settlement, or you can take a Frontline Solutions Vulture to the settlement. Both sides start with 1000 control points, you win the conflict by reducing your opponents score to zero through kills or capturing control points.
Once you have won 10 low conflict zones and received the invitation from Hero Ferrari, fly yourself to Nevermore Terrace in the Siris, not Sirius, system and give 5 Settlement Defence Plans to her to learn about Wellington Beck.
It’s important to know here that there is possibly a bug where you can complete your 10 low conflict zones but don’t get the invitation. I have not been able to confirm if this bug still exists, however if that happens to you, there is some testing you can do before you get in touch with Frontier. First, try a re-log, this often fixes most problems in Elite. Second, try to make sure you have completed 10 low conflict zones using Frontline Solutions. I have no data to suggest that you have to complete them this way, but I have a suspicion that this is a necessary part of the unlock, which is why I wrote that process in this guide. If neither of these work, get in touch with Frontier, they have been very helpful with unlocking Hero for other players in the past.
Step Six: Wellington Beck
Time: Short
Access Requirements: Sell a total of 15 Multimedia Entertainment, Classic Entertainment or Cat Media to bartenders
Knowledge Requirements: 5 Insight Entertainment Suites.
We are back to the same process we had with Kit Fowler. We need to find and sell 15 Multimedia Entertainment, Classic Entertainment, or Cat Media to bartenders. And, you guessed it, I got these from mission rewards as well. Because I needed so many I did low drag transport and salvage missions, as well as the odd professional take down mission. While you are targeting these as mission rewards, also watch out for Smear Campaign Plans, you will need 5 of them for Yarden Bond, and Employee Genetic Data or Genetic Research you need 20 total of them for Oden Geiger. Collect and sell what you need until you get the invitation from Wellington Beck, then travel to Beck Facility in the Jolapa system and give him the 5 Insight Entertainment Suites that you collected during your Hidden Cache missions earlier on to learn about Uma Laszlo.
At this point in the Guide you should have learnt about all three of the last engineers. Each of the following engineers are the end of their respective chain, so unless you are going to them to get modifications fitted, once you get the invitation from them you can move on to the next engineer.
Step Seven: Yarden Bond
Time: Short
Unique Modification: Audio Masking, Quieter Footsteps
Access Requirements: Recommendation from Kit Fowler in Step Four.
Access Requirements: Sell 5 Smear Campaign Plans to bartenders.
If you collected your Smear Campaign Plans in the last step, you just need to find another local bartender to sell them to. Otherwise hit up a mission terminal and grab them. Once you receive the invitation you will have access to Yarden Bond in the Bayan system at Salamander Bank.
Step Eight: Oden Geiger
Time: Moderate
Unique Modification: Night Vision
Access Requirements: Recommendation from Terra Velasquez in Step Two.
Access Requirements: Sell a total of 20 Biological Samples, Employee Genetic Data, or Genetic Research to bartenders.
If you collected a total of 20 Biological Samples, Employee Genetic Data, or Genetic Research during your earlier mission, you can sell these at the same time as the Smear Campaign Plans in the last step. Otherwise hit up a mission terminal and look for Employee Genetic Data or Genetic Research as mission rewards. Biological Samples are only collected from Secured Lockers, similar to Genetic Repair Meds from Step One. Once you receive the invitation you will have access to Oden Geiger at Ankh's Promise in the Candiaei system.
Step Nine: Uma Laszlo
Time: Short to Moderate
Unique Modification: Headshot Damage
Access Requirements: Recommendation from Wellington Beck in Step Six.
Access Requirements: Reach Unfriendly reputation or lower with Sirius Corporation.
This one is easier than it sounds, and there are several ways we can do this. The fastest way I found was to get a ship with a cargo rack and fly to a system where the Sirius Corporation minor faction is present and dock at a station there. If you want to make sure you’re not messing with someone else’s BGS, use the Sirius system. Now, open the mission board and select Sirius Corporation as the mission giver. What we are going to do here is pick up every mission that is not a donate mission, and then abandon them. This may cause you to earn fines, but it will also lower your reputation with them. When you run out of missions, you can do the same thing with the concourse mission terminals. The next method that I have tried is to go to a system where Sirius Corporation is in a war and side against them, each time you beat them you will lose reputation with them.
Do either of these, or a mixture of them, until you reach Unfriendly reputation. After you receive the invitation from Uma Laszlo you will find her at Laszlo's Resolve in the Xuane system.
Holy long post Batman! Thanks for reading this far, I hope this all flows correctly. I wrote this outside of the sequence that is here, as I was testing to make sure I included all the relevant information, and was trying to make sure this all followed a logical order. If there are any grammatical, spelling, or game mechanic errors, or if there is a more efficient path, or I have missed something altogether please put them into the comments so I can correct this guide. I want this to be as accurate as possible to help everyone who is just getting into ground engineering now.