The GTA Online UFOs have massively ramped up their presence in the night sky over Los Santos, with more than a dozen of these mysterious crafts hovering above the city every night with their tractor beams on full blast. Step into any of those beams and you'll be lifted off the ground in an alien abduction, which could leave you in a random part of the map – but there's also a chance you'll wake up to find yourself trapped in an strange base, where you can find The Shocker melee weapon and will need to solve a puzzle to escape without being gassed. This adds a puzzle element to this conclusion of the GTA Online Halloween season, and the solution certainly isn't obvious at first, so I've got the lowdown on escaping the GTA Online UFO abduction base later in this guide.
Let's be honest, GTA players love a good alien conspiracy theory, so it isn't a surprise to see these extraterrestrial crafts making a return appearance in GTA Online. However, these are more than just a cosmetic addition to the night skies, as there's a whole collectible quest based on these ships, with cash and outfits to be earned by players willing to track down photographic evidence of their existence. Naturally, if you're here then that means you want to make some sightings of your own, so let us lead you to all of the GTA Online UFOs locations and explain what's going on here.
Where to find GTA Online UFOs
GTA Online UFOs spawn at set locations, which change each real life day. We've marked their upcoming appearances on the map above, which are as follows:
- October 15 - Paleto Forest
- October 16 - Pacific Ocean
- October 17 - Mount Chiliad
- October 18 - El Gordo Lighthouse
- October 19 - Altruist Camp
- October 20 - Silent Probe Mountain
- October 21 - Satellite Relay Station
- October 22 - Lago Zancudo
- October 23 - Lago Zancudo (see note) + Great Chaparral Shack
- October 24 - Grand Senora Desert
- October 25 - Great Chaparral Farm
- October 26 - Palmer-Taylor Power Station
- October 27 - Locations 1, 2, and 3
- October 28 - Locations 5, 8, and 11
- October 29 - Locations 6, 10, and 12
- October 30 - North Los Santos x5
- October 31 to November 3 - Locations 16 x5 + Central Los Santos x9
Note that the UFOs marked in bold above do not repeat later in the event, so you need to make sure you photograph them on their respective days if you want to complete the set.
GTA Online UFOs normally arrive in the sky between 10pm and 4am on the in-game clock, and they can appear multiple times during a calendar day. You don't need to be playing in any particular type of game session to find them, so just wait for night to fall then head to the marked GTA Online UFOs location and look for the lights hanging in the sky above.
During the first 12 days, there will be a single GTA Online UFO location – with the exception of day 9, where a military version of the UFO will also appear again over Lago Zancudo in the same spot at the previous day. During days 13 to 15 some earlier locations will repeat, and on day 16 five new UFOs will appear across north Los Santos. Finally, from day 17 onward, another nine UFOs can be sighted over central Los Santos, in addition to the five from the day before.
How to get GTA Online UFOs rewards
Each time you see a new GTA Online UFO, pull out your camera and take a photo of it, after which you'll notice an extra prompt to send the picture to Omega. You'll receive 1,000RP and GTA$15,000 for each different UFO image you send him, with the exception of the military UFO on day 9 which gets you a cool GTA$50,000 instead. Taking and submitting a photo of all the UFOs during the event will get you a GTA$100,000 bonus, plus the Glow, Black, and Gray versions of the Believe Cap will be unlocked.
Make sure you log in on the final days of the event (October 31 to November 3), as the skies will turn an alien color and GTA Online UFOs will appear all over Los Santos. This time the craft won't disappear when you get close to them, and by entering any UFO beam you'll be abducted and wake up wearing the UFO Boxer Shorts, unlocking both the White and Green versions for your wardrobe along with the ??? Tee. There's also a chance that you'll be abducted and wake up in a strange base – more on that below.
How to escape the GTA Online UFO abduction base
If you get abducted by one of the UFOs and find yourself trapped in a strange base, then here's what you need to do. First, look around the initial room or the first room to your left in the corridor until you find a crowbar, then grab it and head to the first room on the left if you're not in there already. Use the crowbar on the large wooden crate to open it and receive The Shocker melee weapon.
Now you need to escape, by figuring out the order in which to pull the levers with the four symbols at the end of the corridor. The symbols correspond to the rooms on the corridor, two of which you can enter and the other two you can only look through the windows into. Each room has four 'things', and you need to count how many there are/have the symbols on to get the level order:
- Waveform in ball: How many monitors are showing the symbol
- DNA helix: How many weapons are on mounts on the table
- Four circles: How many crates have the symbol on them
- Particles spreading: How many laptops are showing the symbol
For me, there was one monitor showing the waveform symbol, three weapons with the DNA helix on the table, two crates with the four circles symbol, and four laptops showing the particles symbol, so the order I pulled the levers in was Waveform in ball, Four circles, DNA helix, Particles spreading. Get it correct and a lift will open, taking you to the surface and revealing that you were being held by the military in a bunker below Fort Zancudo, before awarding you GTA$25,000. However, if you pull the wrong levers three times in total, a knockout gas will be released and you'll wake up in a random location without earning the cash bonus.
You can repeat this whole process multiple times, and although the cash bonus for escaping will diminish with further playthroughs you will receive cash if you open the wooden crate again having already collected The Shocker.
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