Unlocking the Guardian FSD booster, just gorgeous.

[TopCat160]

So I completed this for the first time last night - it took me several play sessions as I didn't have all that much time for each session, and to be fair, I wasn't in a rush.

I'm so glad I didn't treat it just as a grind to get through as quickly as possible, as it was actually a brilliant, brilliant experience.

First the site itself (I did the one from this vid by CMDR Exigeous, which was very helpful, without giving absolutely every detail so still leaving some work to do). Having done the 200 mill Guardian mission a year or so ago, this was even better. The three visits I made to the site were during the day, during the night, and at dawn, and the differences were amazing. The mist in particular was just awesome - totally atmospheric, pardon the pun.

Next the music. Absolutely excellent. The way the mood changes according to what you're doing and its danger level is just brilliant. Seamless, and brilliant.

No matter how good at killing the sentinels I became, there was always an adrenaline rush as they emerged from the ground, the sound effects again being superb. The lighting from the charged columns shining upwards was a terrific touch - just one aspect of what I thought was a graphical masterpiece.

It's a set piece, of course, so a lot easier to attach some really rich gameplay to, than the generated missions and PvE encounters, but OMG, if more of the game was as good as that, it would be extraordinary.

Anyway, I loved it. Nice work, FD, more rich gameplay like that please, particularly in the more routine activities.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

congratulations

unlocking just the booster is no grind.

but then, try unlocking the 3 weapon systems...
6x shards, 6x plasma charger, 2x gauss

not only do you need a new "guardian weapon blueprint" for each - you will also need to collect all of the other materials.

i've just unlocked the small gauss, the three slf and the shield booster two weeks ago.
two days of driving around a guardian site to shoot countless of those sentinels - for their materials,
shooting decorations to get hundreds of "tech components" - just to end it with a 2 hour relog marathon to gather the required obelisk scan data for those.

this korean grinder gameplay elment to unlock things was probably the worst move of FDEV ever.
i mean - not even leveling up 30+ characters in Diablo2 to lvl80 felt less grindy, as you could do it in a group...

 

[Schembri]

This has motivated me to try .... will watch the video... may I ask you how many hours did it take you?
Like you I ply with limited time, cannot plan long sessions only short bursts of maybe 1-2 hrs max couple of days a week.

 

[TopCat160]

but then, try unlocking the 3 weapon systems...
6x shards, 6x plasma charger, 2x gauss

not only do you need a new "guardian weapon blueprint" for each - you will also need to collect all of the other materials.

Is this right? Do you need to collect the mats as well all over again for each item? Are they not just for unlocking the tech broker the first time?

If so then fair enough, it could get grindy, although tbf I did end up with about 80 Power Conduits and even more Power Cells.

I wouldn't mind doing it one or two more times but much more than that and the novelty would wear off a bit. Though I expect I'd get pretty quick with practice.

I'll probably stick with just the FSD booster for now. I'm quite liking my 30 LY Corvette.

It would be nice if the booster didn't have to take up a slot though. Given that all the other engineering improvements act on the module, it's a bit inconsistent.

 

[TopCat160]

This has motivated me to try .... will watch the video... may I ask you how many hours did it take you?

About 6 or 7 hours I guess, in total, over about 5 sessions... something like..

- Fly out to the planet (that was 1000 LY and 140 kLS cruise just to get there) and land
- Do a day time recce, shooting some panels and killing some sentinels, collect some mats. This bit took longer than expected, as my SRV bindings turned out to be rubbish, so there was some faffing there.
- Come back at nighttime. Drive around collecting mats and killing sentinels.
- Come back at dawn, enjoy the mist and the light on the mountain tops.
- Came back one final time at night, finished off collecting mats, and finally scanning the orb. That must have really p1ssed them off, as there was a bit of a sentinel onslaught to deal with. After it finally went quiet I drove round collecting a few more mats and enjoying the scenery for a while.

If I did it again, I should think it would take less than half the time, less still if I was super organised. I don't really do 'organised' in Elite though.

 

[PhanttoM]

The FSD booster and to a lesser degree the gauss cannon hardly qualify as a grind to unlock - since you don't need any obelisk data for either of them, and the commodity can be looked up at bought at specific stations.

When I unlocked these two things, the travel trip out to the sites took longer than getting the required materials and blueprints.

 

[Ethaidan]

Is this right? Do you need to collect the mats as well all over again for each item? Are they not just for unlocking the tech broker the first time?

If so then fair enough, it could get grindy, although tbf I did end up with about 80 Power Conduits and even more Power Cells.

I wouldn't mind doing it one or two more times but much more than that and the novelty would wear off a bit. Though I expect I'd get pretty quick with practice.

I'll probably stick with just the FSD booster for now. I'm quite liking my 30 LY Corvette.

It would be nice if the booster didn't have to take up a slot though. Given that all the other engineering improvements act on the module, it's a bit inconsistent.

No, it's the same - unlock the weapon / module you want. The 6X is because there are 6 variants small, medium, large, fixed, turreted, etc. If you feel the need to absolutely unlock every single weapon variation...

As for the FSD booster, it's a standalone module, not an engineering upgrade, so it makes sense that it needs its own slot.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

Is this right? Do you need to collect the mats as well all over again for each item? Are they not just for unlocking the tech broker the first time?

If so then fair enough, it could get grindy, although tbf I did end up with about 80 Power Conduits and even more Power Cells.

I wouldn't mind doing it one or two more times but much more than that and the novelty would wear off a bit. Though I expect I'd get pretty quick with practice.

I'll probably stick with just the FSD booster for now. I'm quite liking my 30 LY Corvette.

It would be nice if the booster didn't have to take up a slot though. Given that all the other engineering improvements act on the module, it's a bit inconsistent.

sure, you need to "unlock" the stuff just once at the techbroker to be able to buy them
but someone at FDEV thought that you need to unlock each single version of those three weapons individually
and with versions i mean small, medium and large, and for each fixed and turreted seperately too.

and all the unlock materials are currency.

 

[umbabrahattasil]

This has motivated me to try .... will watch the video... may I ask you how many hours did it take you?
Like you I ply with limited time, cannot plan long sessions only short bursts of maybe 1-2 hrs max couple of days a week.

I did it in only about 2 hours total - it's not bad at all as far as time, especially considering if you fly something with a class 5 optional you gain 10.5 LY. The time investment is 100% worth the effort (I now have a 69 LY Phantom thanks to it) BUT I watched Exigeous' video and got a little familiar with fighting the Sentinels first. Being prepared will save you a lot of time.

Two things that will make your life easier - put Point Defense on your ship and land close to the site (not so close that you can't use your turret when you need to)- it will automatically try to shoot down Sentinel Missiles while you're in your SRV. That's a huge help. Also, bring a second SRV in case you get blow'd up, or don't have the materials to reload your turret/repair your SRV hull.

If it looks like you're going to take some missile damage, hold the handbrake - it will prevent you from getting flipped/sent flying most of the time.

 

[BDelacroix]

Even if you get nothing else, the booster really is worth it.

 

[ruger_shooter]

Do Guardian upgrades and equipment represent a big improvement and significant advantage?

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

Do Guardian upgrades and equipment represent a big improvement and significant advantage?

against thargoid interceptors - YES

anywhere else, the FSD booster allows you to have a bit more comfort traveling with ships like the Vette or T9
the Shield booster allows you to shield smaller ships more effectively
and the module reinforcement package has more hitpoints then the normal ones that can't be engineered

the powerplant and distributor are only alternatives if you are absolutely against engineering, while the effort/work required to unlock the respective engineer is IMHO much lower and better invested.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

The graphics and sound work are indeed spot on, however initial requirements for guardian unlocks were a lot more labour intensive than nowadaays, used to be about 4x more materials per unlock, making it particulary laborious to get things done. Mercifully they have taken heed of this and lowered the number of the materials required to something more sensible, making guardian stuff less on a formidably onerous task and instead changing it into something of a worthy challenge.

I remember being very disdained by the experience of brut forcing the guardian modules in the first instance, however I simply had to get those guardian fighters, and since the numbers weren't as high, and the new guardian beacon (to what?) and other assets was cool. I actually enjoyed the tasks.