The “Vanduul Tech Smugglers” mission in Star Citizen involves methodical combat, exploration, and hacking to dismantle a black market operation trafficking illegal Vanduul technology, requiring careful gear preparation and tactical navigation through hostile ships and stations. Despite bugs and server issues, successful completion rewards players with valuable loot and significant credits, emphasizing patience and strategy throughout the mission.
In this detailed walkthrough of the Star Citizen mission “Vanduul Tech Smugglers,” the player begins by preparing with essential gear including a Carer gun, heavy armor, a large backpack, tractor beam, med gun, med pens, and a multi-tool with a Cambrio attachment. The player uses an experimental ship loadout featuring sucker punch distortion cannons and dominance laser scatter guns, focusing on close-quarters combat. The mission unlocks after increasing reputation with Intersect Defense Solutions, and the player travels to Nyx to investigate a black market group profiting from illegally traded Vanduul tech.
The mission starts with clearing out hostile Vanduul spacecraft and protecting survivors, with various enemy types like glaives, scythes, stingers, and blades presenting different challenges. The player emphasizes patience and methodical tactics, noting some bugs and server instability that affect mission markers and gameplay. After clearing space threats, the player lands and moves into an abandoned station, carefully navigating through enemy-infested corridors, disabling alarms, and looting valuable items such as Vanduul metal and knives, which are useful for crafting.
Progressing through the station involves clearing multiple cargo decks filled with enemies wielding powerful weapons like pulverizers and shotguns. The player highlights difficulties such as poor hit registration, tight angles, and the need for mobility over heavy weapons. Clinics and med bays are critical for healing and detoxifying from medication overdoses. The mission requires hacking terminals with a comp board to decrypt encrypted data, collecting key cards, and surviving waves of enemies while securing the area.
The next phase involves infiltrating a Polaris ship and an auxiliary station, where the player must find left tenants wearing distinctive skull masks to download critical data. The mission demands careful exploration of derelict sites and stations, dealing with ambushes and using the multi-tool to bypass obstacles like gas pipes. The player advises using a bike or hover vehicle for faster and safer navigation, as ships tend to attract enemy attention. Various loot crates and armor boxes provide valuable rewards, but the primary goal remains data collection and disabling security systems.
Finally, after gathering all data and decrypting it at a security kiosk, the mission concludes with a reward of about one million credits and access to a warehouse containing high-value loot including Vanduul cryopods and ship components. The player recommends waiting for game version 4.9 due to bugs and server issues experienced in earlier versions. Overall, the walkthrough emphasizes strategic combat, thorough exploration, and patience to successfully complete the complex and rewarding “Vanduul Tech Smugglers” mission.