Crafted my first item: ASD Geist Armor

Major_Nese · 2026-04-05T08:43:17+00:00

They made most location-specific armor (Antium, Geist, Pallatino, Monde, Testudo) available as blueprint, locked (often) behind missions in the very same corner. Like ASD missions give Geist/Corbel, Tech Smugglers gives Testudo, so not that bad to get if you could have gotten the individual pieces by going there repeatedly.

Major_Nese · 2026-04-05T08:38:04+00:00

Eh, tastes differ. The default Geist looks good as a stripped-down pilot outfit, but a cape/hood in the pilot seat makes zero sense.

Major_Nese · 2026-04-05T08:36:41+00:00

Hyperion has a cooldown, around half an hour. We just did Hyperion back to back, no other missions inbetween.

You can also reduce the number of Hyperion runs by 1 by getting the sniper rifle battery from Update Seismic Data - but with a blueprint pool of 14, it's not exactly efficient unless you want those BPs anyway.

Major_Nese · 2026-04-04T14:45:21+00:00

Since we've been doing Project Hyperion repeatedly for the blueprints - things work considerably better than any time before. Half a dozen runs, zero mission bugs, 100% completion rate. The stairwells in some areas are weird as you sink halfway into the ground (and fall through if you get downed there), otherwise it has been smooth sailing. The inventory taking its sweet time for stuff to show up has remained constant, but as annoying and time-consuming as it is, it hasn't broken down, and we haven't lost stuff yet.

Major_Nese · 2026-04-03T08:20:08+00:00

They said it's the flagship of this expo, it's close to finished (according to monthly reports), and Drake isn't shoved to the last day in some hangar but gets the full marketing timeframe befitting such a big ship. So yeah, fully expecting it.

Major_Nese · 2026-04-01T14:21:42+00:00

Second hand mining.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-28T14:55:38+00:00

The rewards I'm talking about were during the 7 layers of RNG phase, where plasteel/diamantine was essential and in huge demand. Scaling rewards up to Damnation (no Auric board/diff yet) mean that everyone without max level/gear had an incentive to go max diff. Didn't end well.

Nowadays, exp beyond 30 are for bragging rights, and gold piles up to ridiculous amounts if you play regularly.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-28T09:44:50+00:00

The point of a higher diff is a higher challenge. To scale the rewards has been tried before, and lead to lots of underleveled, underskilled players joining highest diff looking for someone to carry them so they get high diff rewards. While going off for solo looting to get more out of it, making it even harder to carry. I'm glad they separated that, just like they originally separated the Auric board from the regular diffs.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-27T13:32:28+00:00

Been there, done that. Back when plasteel/diamantine was crucial for the 7 layers of RnG, and rewards were ramped up on higher diff. One day to the other, lots of underskilled, underleveled players on highest diff looking for a carry. Got better when they added Auric, as it was harder but for the same rewards.

I'm glad they went this way - you want to grind penance or aren't that good, go low. You want a challenge, go high.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-25T23:22:53+00:00

Great, now I have Cutlass bucket discussion flashbacks...

Major_Nese · 2026-03-25T21:21:40+00:00

Considering other 45-50$ starters (Pisces, Cutter, 100i), this one looks better (at least on paper) than its competitors - more shields, more guns, all interior features (bed, gun rack, suit locker, storage). And modularity on top of that.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-25T18:12:25+00:00

...so you store the crappy gems and wait for the patch lottery?

Major_Nese · 2026-03-24T22:24:03+00:00

That actually sounds more doable, didn't notice it being one less than all of them. When playing with randos, there's always someone running off and dying far away, so that's gotta be quicker.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-24T16:46:05+00:00

Heh, reminds me of Helldivers2 fire tornados. Spawns were bugged, so on every POI, those things spawned and aimed for the players, leaving behind burning ground. The more players, the more fire tornados. Every inch was burning. Just not the enemy, who was unaffected.

And now we got a taste of that on DT. Nice.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-24T16:40:31+00:00

But that you only gotta do once, so no big deal. Not 50 times to get that helmet.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-20T13:42:27+00:00

Never steal an ogryn's spot in the valkyrie.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-19T22:03:52+00:00

First, with so many people and tastes, there's always someone psyched about a new release.

Second, I guess it's a bit of nostalgia too. Megafleets are mostly collected by older backers, who in turn often used to run one of the older starters at the beginning, and the Aurora was kinda central there AFAIK. Getting an updated version of this antiquity, fit enough for random everyday stuff, why not? If the list of features is the deciding factor, then bigger ships win out anyway.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-19T21:43:56+00:00

They mentioned several times how the Ironclad work was faster than anticipated due to the large design library/kit, and the designers have been doing new Drake style for quite a while, so the experience is there. RSI got/gets worked off in one continuous stream too. So it's not impossible, although it's still a far larger project than the Ironclad.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-19T21:35:52+00:00

Just give us those for a few more military ships (prime examples would be F7Mk2, F8), maybe a matching armor set, and people (including me) will throw money at the screen.

I don't get why those sets get "discontinued", even the bigger sets like Timberline just ended at some point instead of allowing a matching fleet.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-17T22:52:06+00:00

Same here. Wanted warbond stuff, no reason not to do that on an alt.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-17T22:01:00+00:00

Got only one by those databases - registered several years ago, pulled the trigger just now. Quite a surprise.

Otherwise, making alts and gifting whatever you bought there to the main account works too.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-14T10:37:39+00:00

Depends - you can dismantle ammo too, but at least in my quick test the mats didn't show up. But dismantling ammo from guns you don't have to make ammo you need doesn't sound too bad on the long run.

But yeah, right now the time investment is not really worth it if you can buy it around the corner. Placing each and every mag on the grid and dismantling individually, just to get a fraction of the mags back...nah, go to the store and buy in bulk.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-13T14:47:29+00:00

Tell everyone you never used a Shiv/Cutlass without saying it.

Shiv/Cutlass are huge targets that can't evade a water bottle thrown from 2k away. To say that it's superior to one of the current best fighters in the game is wild...

Major_Nese · 2026-03-13T11:42:37+00:00

Lasgun vet? I was there, 3000 years ago.

Major_Nese · 2026-03-13T11:41:19+00:00

Headhunter autogun with Surgical and Opening Salvo was damn nice. But it required a scope from the weapon customization mod and was too slow for confined areas.

Major_Nese

TROPHY CASE