Unlucky Nitra spawns? Softlocked.
Unlucky cave gen? Softlocked.
Room-temp-IQ evolutionary cul-de-sac teammates? Softlocked. Though this one applies universally.
You can eke out a finish even with bad luck on other missions, but you're basically screwed on Elim, and what's worse is that it's one of the more time-consuming missions so you waste a bunch of time for little reward if it turns out there physically isn't enough Nitra to kill the last boss.
External link →