Feedback on Railjack

[TrilliumStarbreeze]

Important part of Tennocon preview for Empyrean was that "It isn't just a new island, that you go to, farm, burn out and then come back", but was meant to "elevate the whole". And yes, I understand that all features that make it so are probably in the works (e.g. Squad Link), but what we currently have is precisely a new island with zero connection to the rest of the game. So here are a few easy ideas to tie Railjack into the rest of the game, and bring some of game's systems together.

1) Use old resources in Railjack (especially Invasion resources).

Detonite, Fieldron and Mutagen samples accumulate in thousands and are pretty useless.

And there's currently very little reason to do Invasions after you get dojo weapons, aside from Nightwave requirement. Following could easily fix that:

At the very least, let us replenish Payload with Invasion resources. Detonite Injector or a whole bunch of Detonite Samples -> pack of Ordnance, Fieldron (or a bunch of samples) -> some Flux Energy, Mutagen -> Revolite. (Now, you might say "this would clutter up Drydock interface", fair enough, but alternate Payload sources could be easily made to be accessed through a special NPC or even a whole new Dojo room, called Refinery or something)

This is a simple solution. A more difficult (and better) solution would be to use them in crafting Railjack armaments and components! Because come on! Every part and every gun of same House/Mk requires exact same materials in exact same amounts? What?! Warframe recipes are not always consistent (something described as "strengthened with rubedo" requiring zero rubedo, for instance), but come on, this is next level of genericness! Reactors requiring Fieldrons, Engines requiring Hexenon (which is described as fuel and barely used), etcetera would make perfect sense, and make stuff you earn in the rest of the game useful. You could even use Plains/Vallis ores, though some people would hate that.

3) Cross-drops

Avionics and Wreckage are only from Empyrean, Mods and Arcanes only from regular game. It would be nice if that could change. Some niche interesting Avionics could drop from starchart - mostly related to regular combat, I imagine, something like regenerating health/energy to a Warframe while aboard the Railjack. Alterantively, some relevant unique Mods/Arcanes could drop in Railjack - e.g. Archwing mod that dramatically boosts Archwing's defenses for a short time after disembarking Railjack or Crewship, Parazon mod that has a chance to disable Crewship guns for 30 seconds upon starting reactor console hack, or Warframe mod or arcane that boosts, erm, something while aboard enemy Crewship or some platform. This would be really nice.

Wreckage could be occasionally found in Grineer Shipyard and Corpus Ice Planet tilesets - this would make perfect sense, and could be special type of reward of Hijack missions.

Additionally, it would be nice to see occasional Dirac drop in regular missions, or some Endo in Railjack.

3) Prisoners

In my understanding, players should have incentive to explore any map they find themselves in. Railjack objectives (especially asteroid fortress and galleon) should have prison wings, where you can find prisoners and set them free (without escorting) in return for relevant (if they belong to a syndicate) or generic standing tokens. This would make the world feel a lot more connected. You could even have occassional prisoners aboard Crewships, outfitted with those bomb collars from Cetus bounties, which would require you to slaughter the Crewship crew to save them, but granting entire team bigger reward. More choices, more risk, more reward. Also you see impact of your good deeds in something besides Cy's narration.

Additionally, you could occasionally add prisoners to regular Rescue missions too, rewarding players for opening every cell.

4) Inconsistencies between Grineer Galleons (and Asteroid Fortresses)

Currently, Grineer Galleon we invade in regular missions, and Grineer Galleon we board in Railjack missions have no similarities besides tileset. Different enemies, different loot. Makes the game feel kinda disjointed. It would be really nice to see some space Grineer aboard regular galleons (maybe in separate rooms, kinda being off-duty), see some RJ resources aboard regular galleons (maybe in special rooms with repair materials or something?), and if you could add Railjack galleon captain's bridge room as possible room in regular Galleon's tileset, with chance to kill the Captain - not for Quellor/Pennant (leave those RJ exclusive), but at least for Orokin Cell or some Dirac. And vice versa, of course, more of that below.

Same goes for Asteroid Fortress tileset.

5) Enemy variety

Okay, current Empyrean is basically introduction, "look at all the cool new stuff", I get it. But it would be very interesting, and add depth to the world, if this or that Grineer Commander or Captain surrounded himself not by just space Grineer (and why would they? on a stationary Asteroid base?), but with, say, Kuva Fortress units? After all, a commander it an important individual, might have been singled out by the Queens. Or maybe he wants to be guarded by the best of the best and uses Drekkar Tubemen? Blite Captain could probably surround himself with Noxes (their suits seem airtight anyway).

5a) Space enemy variety

Once again, I understand, you wanted to show off all the cool new stuff, and it is indeed very cool, but many of classic Archwing enemies would make perfect sense in Empyrean too!

Dargyn and Dregs - two options here. Either they could be easy fighters deployed in early Earth missions for newbies to cut their teeth on, and then appear in later missions as basically trash mobs, to add some chaos and variety, not counted towards fighter counter, dealing scratch damage, and dying to accidental fire. Alternatively, they could be swarm enemies. A group of, say, six Dargyns (composed of Shield- and Hellion- dargyns, more or less stationary compared to the fighters, and trying to orient itself so that shields are in front) or twelves Dregs (composed of Temporal and Lancer Dregs, trying to surround the Railjack), counting as a single fighter, dealing low damage to Railjack hull, but acting as primary defense against Archwings, could add some variety, and maybe guard Crewships and objective entrances.

Zeplens that snare Archwings would be rather annoying, since AW's survival in Empyrean depends on movement too much, but some kind of massive Zeplen that can snare the Railjack, but has big enough gaps in its energy net that AW can easily get through would be fun.

Ogma, slowly firing as it approaches, shrugging most non-Ordnance fire (same defenses as Outrider perhaps?), and then latching onto Railjack to cut its hull open in melee... that would be cool. That would be really cool.

Dragas - they are awesomely looking and woefully underrepresented. I see two options here. Either they could be swarm enemies like Dargyn/Dragas (outlined above), or they could be upgraded so their strength befits their look, and be sort of ramsled minibosses, launched directly at the RJ from some kind of Grineer slingshot, breaking in in absolutely random spot in a shower of sparkles (like Tenno from AW slingshot) and putting up a serious fight. This would add some dynamic to defending the Railjack from boarders, as enemy that can appear in any part of the ship (even captain's bridge!) and isn't as easy to find as a herd of shouting Grineer would be really dangerous even if he isn't all that tough.

Firbolgs have two potential uses too. First, could be kinda like bonuses, hiding among asteroids, and beginning to run away once you notice them. Unarmed, they'd try to escape to the edge of the map, where they'd despawn, but dropping lots of resources if killed. Alternatively, they could be basically kamikaze craft, slow and unarmed, but decently armored and causing Hull Breach if they are allowed to collide with the Railjack. For extra fun, they could probably be even captured by AW Tenno, to be redirected at a Crewship.

Bolkors are obviously unfitting space setting, but could be thrown in some Earth missions, as low-damage high-hp enemies, that are not particularly dangerous, but tie Grineer forces thematically together.

6) Some goods for Ostron

Ostron have been woefully abandoned, you know. That half-primitive half-advanced market is such a rich topic and after initial introduction almost nothing has ever been done with it. But Railjack is perfect time to fix it.

First of all, let them sell more goods. You already have all the models on the Cetus stalls. Windchimes, dreamcatchers, pottery (we got one jug), cutlery, toys... Sell them to us! But not for standing or Plains resources, sell them for some stuff that drops in Empyrean, on other planets, for (see below) scanned plants, for Fortuna resources... Ostron would love to have otherworldly oddities and curiosities.

Second, Ostron are mentioned to have markets and tribes offworld. What about taking that Derelict mini-tileset (the one that spawns in Veil Proxima, full of Infested), and placing it in Saturn or Earth Proxima, full of Ostron, selling some new stuff. These ones should probably want Plains fish and Mapikos (some earhly food in space), and maybe Ducats or something.

Third, what about some new Ostron-themed weapons? Zaws have unique style, but they are all that we've got in that style. Without much effort you could make an Ostron bow (using Zaw polearm grips), with arrows using parts of fishing spears' mesh. Heck, the space Ostron could even sell arrow skins using fishing spearheads for all bows! (Of course, ideally Ostron spears would be modular, like Zaws, using existing polearm grips and some new parts, including Condroc feathers, which Teasonai says are used as arrow fletching by Ostron; but that must be a big undertaking, although Zaws could really use an expansion - e.g. circular Zaw strike that becomes Glaive with short grip and heavy blade with long, Zaw two-handed nikana, etc)

Also I long wondered why you never made a bow Archgun - introducing space Ostron and new Zaw-style bows would be a perfect opportunity.

Also, as a side thought, considering you save space Ostron from Grineer surrounding them, they could give you tokens that would grant regular Cetus Ostron standing.

7) Some goods for Solaris

Now, most ideas for Solaris would make more sense when Corpus Empyrean missions come out, but there are still a couple things that we could get to tie it all in. First, Ramsled boarders that make it on board get a chance to drop Time Bombs, that can be turned in to Business/Eudico for SU standing, or - better idea - to Little Duck for VS standing. Would give us a nice alternative to farming spider bots. Also it would add some dynamic to whether or not try to shoot Ramsleds down.

Second, Kitguns are very... limited. Just four types, some loaders and a few grips. They don't even come close to Zaw's existing variety. But their ramshackle look means they would look rather fitting with parts from other cultures. For instance, Grineer Supressors from Empyrean could drop blueprints or essential components for a Cold damage chamber (which is kinda rare, for some reason) - this would make actually slaughtering a Crewship or entire population of a Railjack objective a viable alternative to rushing them. A sentient part from the anomaly would also be nice, especially if you either already got Shedu, or haven't got any luck getting it.

8] Some goods for... Ventkids. Also general K-Drive suggestions.

Armor plating, jet engines, what are they good for? Hoverboards! Railjack should be a treasure trove for K-Drive crafting! Grineer-style Jets (probably blueprints - would be cool if they required Detonite Samples, just sayin') could drop from fighters (and maybe a cooler version as a very rare drop from Missile Platform containers?), Board made from hull part from, well, anything, a Reactor blueprint from Crewships, destroyed by Artillery - melted down reactors are useless, and nose from, well, I dunno. Some K-Drive mods could drop from Missile Platform (explosive landing?) and Pulse Turbine (it empowers Grineer craft? surely it can empower a hoverboard) objectives.

Also for people who do like using K-Drives, but don't like grinding races all that much, all those places could drop something, I dunno, Mad Krazy Tech tokens, that could be turned in to Ventkids for standing.

Unrelated to Railjack, there are two applications for K-Drives that would make them more relevant to the game in general. First, make them useful in some regular tilesets. Corpus Outpost has plenty of open spaces, as do Grineer Settlement, Corpus Ice Planet and Grineer Forest. It could even be stretched to Grineer Asteroid, Gas City and Orokin Moon. You can even forcefully dismount players when they "indoor". This would be a lot of fun, especially when running around on Excavation missions. You could even make, I dunno, weekly K-Drive races on different tilesets, alongside Clem's and Maroo's weeklies.

Second, let us K-Drives in Cetus. Maybe take away standing gain, but it would be fun and make the town feel more alive. Hey, maybe even have an Ostron kid with a K-Drive?

Also, please let us use Sentinel head attachments as skins for K-Drive noses. You get more sales, we get more unique K-Drives. Not to mention that current Nose bits look kinda lame, to be honest. Alternatively - Nakak's masks as K-Drive noses.

9) Convers... Conserv... Conster... Floofs!

Selling Sand Skate floof at Baro's was seriously disappointing. First of all, let us conserve all the various animals already existing around the game! Sand Skates, Derelict Kavats, Grineer Forest birds and kuakas, Feral Kubrow, Sealab sharks... heck, maybe even Hyekkas and Drahks (probably requiring some new Tranq rifle upgrade, killing their master, etc). You already have the floof meshes for them (except shark), so what's the problem?

Second, Orb Vallis feels... dead. I understand that animals are hiding, but why not let us run into one or two animals from time to time? Wild animals really make Plains feel alive. You literally describe some of them hunting all across the Vallis (like Vallis Kubrodon, literally only found in Orb Vallis, so you can't say they are mostly hiding elsewhere). Also imagine joy of new players only starting to grind SU standing , when they run into Kubrodon and get a nice bump to their standing! Pobbers and Virmink should really be spotted around from time to time.

Third, there really really really really must be more interplay between pets and conservation targets. Now, I know you have some changes for pets in the works, so I won't touch upon that much, although gene-masking kits for Kubrow based on Kubrodon and Stover are really a must. What I really want to suggest is a mod for beasts - one that allows them to leap at a wild animal and grab it without damaging, giving you an easy tranq shot. Maybe limit it to Kubrows only, giving them a niche until you buff them - because Kavats currently dominate, you know that.

10) Mining, Fishing and (let's call it) Herbalism

Yes, unpopular topic for many people, but come on, its part of the game. Also this covers more than just Empyrean.

Let us pull out the Fishing Spear and the Ore Cutter in more places! Ore veins could be added to asteroids in Empyrean, containing Pustrels, Copernics, Titanium, maybe something else too. Grineer Asteroid tileset (both in regular gameplay and in railjack) - you know, the places explicitly described as mining operations - could get that too, as an alternative way to get some Titanium. They could also drop Fortuna/PoE materials, where those make sense. Aside from flavour, this change would offer two important benefits - most importantly, you'd get a more-or-less predictable source of Purstrels in Railjack if you find yourself running out of Revolite and the ship is still burning. Cubic Diodes often drop from gas clouds and magnetic anomalies, but there's no way to quickly and predictably get Pustrels in a tight situation. Also it would give more players something to do while looting every single resource node in Railjack maps. Msot importantly, it would tie the game together.

While Fishing nodes could be added to such places as Infested Ship (pools of ooze with infested fish) and Grineer Shipyard (horribile mutant fish living in toxic sludge), those would require new fish, new fishing parts, and new items to craft from them. However, Grineer Sealab, Orokin Derelict and Grineer Forest already have bodies of water, and can house either some regular fish, or some robotic ones (purchased from Corpus for Grineer tilesets, and rare Orokin fishes for Derelict). A more interesting (if somewhat crazy) idea would be to add flying fish to Corpus Gas City and Empyrean gas clouds - although that's probably hard to implement and has the same problems as Infested Ship fish.

(Just a funny thought - Ice Planet tileset could have mining nodes, containing fish frozen in ice. But that's probably not that easy to implement)

Also you kinda touched the surface with plants, which are used for rarely used Apothics and for Health Restores, and that's it... and most plants are frankly useless. They would add interesting variety to crafting materials. Why not let us hunt for various plants and molds on all the tilesets? Let us craft some of the things that make sense from them - for instance, DNA stabilizers, which already cost a pittance, so it wouldn't break anything. Make it a more prominent (but not mandatory) part of the game.

11) Aside from exactly 3 weapons and some Forma, nothing we earn in Railjack is useful in base game. New resources, new materials, new systems. Most of my post addresses this, but consider adding some slow burn easy-to-implement cosmetics for frames and operators to RJ. Maybe a color palette or something, those are easy to make. Railjack nav console as Orbiter decoration.