Salvage Operation

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 Cave Type
 Deposit Type
 XP Payout

**Salvage Operation** is a mission type in *Deep Rock Galactic*.

The Dwarves are sent in to clean up a failed mining operation and must repair broken down Mini-M.U.L.E.s and power up an abandoned Drop Pod. Salvage Operation missions have multiple primary objectives which must be completed in order. Salvage Operations are the third unlockable mission type, following On-site Refining.

## About

The goal of a Salvage Operation is to salvage 2-3 Mini-M.U.L.Es, establish an Uplink between the lost Drop Pod and the Space Rig, refuel the Drop Pod with fresh Fuel Cells, and survive while the Drop Pod powers up. After the Drop Pod powers up, dwarves have one minute to board the Drop Pod and escape.

While you must complete your primary objective to finish the mission, you can choose to collect an optional secondary objective resource for a  Credit and  Experience bonus upon mission completion.

### Salvage Mini-M.U.L.E.s

The first objective is to locate and repair three broken down Mini-M.U.L.E. units, which are scattered around the cave. The Mini-M.U.L.Es are easily identifiable, as they emit a constant beeping noise. Each Mini-M.U.L.E. is missing three legs which are typically scattered around them. Scanning the Mini-M.U.L.E. will allow its legs to emit a glowing white circle, as well as appear on the Terrain Scanner as a large magenta Mini-M.U.L.E. leg. They must be dug out of the ground, carried over to the broken Mini-M.U.L.E, and attached. Coming within 2 meters of a Mini-M.U.L.E. for the first time will trigger a large wave of enemies after 12 to 30 seconds. Another, smaller wave of enemies will spawn when one of the legs that are found near each Mini-M.U.L.E. is dug out. This leg is picked randomly.

Legs are attached by holding the leg and then interacting with the corresponding Mini-M.U.L.E.. Once all three legs have been attached, the Mini-M.U.L.E must be repaired. Repairing a M.U.L.E will reward the team with 40-60 Nitra and 40-60 Gold.

Since minerals cannot be deposited into Mini-M.U.L.E.s, being near one while the Veteran Depositor perk is equipped does not grant the defensive buff.

After all Mini-M.U.L.E.s have been repaired, a button will appear on the back of the M.U.L.E. Once pressed, the Mini-M.U.L.E.s and the M.U.L.E will dock on the broken down Drop Pod, allowing the next stage of the mission to begin.

### Uplink to Mission Control

After the M.U.L.E. units have been recalled to the Drop Pod, the team must then repair an Orbital Relay Uplink to proceed. Once repaired, Mission Control will begin triangulating the position of the broken down Drop Pod. During this time, the team must defend themselves against waves of enemies and stay within the radius of the Uplink while the triangulation proceeds. The progress bar will progress more quickly if more players remain within the triangulation zone, and will rapidly decrease if no players are within the radius. Players who are downed within the triangulation zone will not advance the progress bar. Mission Control will chastise the players until they return to the zone. If the progress bar is completely depleted, the mission will instantly fail.

### Refuel Drop Pod

After the triangulation is complete, Fuel Cells will land nearby. The Fuel Cells must be connected to the Drop Pod using the fuel cable found at the base of the Fuel Cells. After the Fuel Cells have been connected to the Drop Pod, the Dwarves can build the Fuel Cells with the [USE] key to begin the refueling sequence. Once the Drop Pod has been fully fueled, it will power up over the course of one and a half minutes. During this time, the team will be able to move around freely, but the incoming swarm of enemies will not stop from this point onwards.

Once the Drop Pod has been powered up, its doors will open, allowing the Dwarves to board and leave. The Drop Pod will wait for one minute before leaving for orbit.

## Cave

Salvage Operations take place in a linear cave system, with one small starting room branching out into a large cavern containing the mission objectives. There are short tunnels that branch out of this main cavern, which always lead back to the main cave. One end of the tunnel is blocked by Compacted Dirt, while the other end is open to the cave.

Broken Resupply Pods can generate anywhere in the caves, which is a feature unique to Salvage Operations. They appear almost completely buried in the ground, with only a small portion sticking out. Directly above them is a tunnel created by the resupply originally dropping in, making those resupply pods highly noticeable in the Terrain Scanner. After repairing them, they have a chance to give 0 to 2 resupply racks, and up to 3 Resupply Pods can be generated per mission. If you get zero supply racks, yet will not just do nothing, instead it will open one up as it being like it worked and then randomly opening another ones and then stop and close all of them with smoke coming out of it and dwarves will cough nearby it.

## Objectives

### Primary Objective

* Salvage 1-4 **Mini-M.U.L.E.s**
* **Uplink** to Mission Control
* Refuel **Drop Pod**

The amount of Mini-MULEs to salvage differs depending on the cave complexity and length.
The payout is affected by Hazard Bonus.

### Secondary Objective

 Collect **15 Apoca Bloom**
 Collect **20 Boolo Cap**
 Collect **14 Ebonut**
 Collect **12 Gunk Seed**
 Collect **25/35 Hollomite**

## Trivia

* Salvage Operation was the first new mission type to be implemented into the game after closed testing. It was added in Update 14: Feature Creep.
* Mini-M.U.L.E.s are unique to this mission type, and only appear elsewhere in the Space Rig. This raises a question of what type of mission the previous mining team were on.
* Though it is relatively rare, Mini-M.U.L.E.s can spawn in the starting room. Typically this is only one Mini-M.U.L.E., but it is possible for two to spawn in the starting room.
* The spawning of four Mini-M.U.L.E. legs was removed in the original release of Update 32: Roughnecks At Work.
	+ It was added back in Hotfix 9 of Update 32 due to some legs not spawning, creating an un-beatable Salvage Operation, but removed again after the developers fixed this bug.