Basic railjack guide for a reluctant tenno.

[(PSN)Iudex_Nemesis]

I'll try to keep this brief.

I've come back from a break after Railjack was updated. I never saw the appeal of it. Although I did build the railjack I was just too burnt out from the kuva liches (which is still not finished) to even bother.

With the arrival of Heart of Deimos, I decided to come back to warframe. I had all the damaged parts needed for the new necramech when I discovered to my horror that I was missing a certain resource known as isos. A resource found in railjack missions.

So I begrudgingly decided to give it a go...It was rough.

I joined a random public team and failed. I tried the first mission solo. I blew up some ships but did not know how to my repair my railjack and failed again. Fortunately I was able to keep the isos I had acquired and was able to finish the necramech which I adore.

I once again had another go at railjack only to be humiliated once more.

It really isn't for me. Maybe it's because I'm bad at multitasking. Can you even complete all missions solo?

Anyway can anyone point me to some basic guides on how to play this mode and how to upgrade the railjack.

[nebfab]

Railjack (especially now) isn't really all that complicated, unless you try to explain how it works and then you're suddenly writing a novel...
 

The short version of that novel, without much explanation, just howtos.

1) repair: equip omni in your gear wheel (it's there automatically) run to the damage marker that's in your HUD (only if the omni equipped,) fill the circle. Omni needs revolite to work, revolite is made either in the dojo, or with the forges in the ship's rear.

2) Fighters. Best killed with railjack "abilities" officially they're called tactical avionics or something. Tether is the current meta, but at low levels they all work OK. Abilities consume flux which is also made in dojo or in forges, but requires some engineering intrinsic (that's your operator skill at railjacky things) if you want to make it in the forge. (You can always make anything in the dojo, as long as you have raw materials.) Particle Ram as you only need to use it once, and then ram everything is a good and easy to get ability at LOW LEVELS, don't expect it to be great in the Veil though I saw it used successfully there.

3) Crew ships: can be boarded with an archwing, after that you can either fly them by killing crew and taking over (not really all that useful) or destroy the reactor (big thing in the centre, on higher levels you need to hack it first.) You can also just shoot them with the big cannon (station just behind the nav console, unlocked by Gunnery intrinsic) aim for engine pods for max damage.  Big cannon uses dome which is made in the... (see above)

4) At higher levels crew ships are protected by glowing orange shield, it prevents boarding and absorbs all damage, except at 3 weak points. You can aim for them one-by one, but that's slow, the easiest way to kill shield is with Tycho Seeker as an alt-fire option which gives a pilot a big missile that usually knocks out all of them at once. Alt-fire consumes ordnance, which is made in the forges (see above) Afyter the shield is down, board/shoot the ship as before.

5) Boarders. Just shoot them^TM. If you're the pilot the ramsled boarders are in can be killed just like a fighter.

6) Side objectives: Cy actually is very good at step-by-step explaining, follow his instructions and objective markers.

7) Anomaly: get your sentient-beating gear, find the zone in the veil that pulses red, do the regular objectives, fly to the big red thing, kill sentients, hope for Shedu parts... Anomaly shards can be traded for an ephemera and capturas from Little Duck.

8) Other anomaly: only spawns in Ruse War Field. it's completely optional (unlike the sentient one)  it's just a small infested tower, with some containers and possibly a console. There is some pistol tied to that one, forget which one.

9) Intrinsics Either in dojo railjack menu or in main menu|profile|intrinsics. Recommend to put 1 in all of them, then 7 into engineering (to unlock the full forge with full bonus output) enough to unlock the cannon in Gunnery (forgot the number) and 4 in tactics (so you can fast-return by equipping omni outside of railjack.) then whatever.

[(PSN)Dr_Bruiser]

7 minutes ago, (PS4)Iudex_Nemesis said:

It really isn't for me. Maybe it's because I'm bad at multitasking. Can you even complete all missions solo?

It IS possible to complete missions solo, but this is a very difficult mode to do this in with an unmodded railjack.  It is not like trying to do low-level content in the regular game, where even an unmodded warframe and weapons will still slaughter low-level Earth/Mercury enemies.  Without some decent upgrades on the railjack, you will constantly be having to deal with fires, hull breaches, boarding parties, etc., which means you aren't advancing mission objectives.  Also, you'll soon run out of revolite if you aren't killing fighters and crewships, which means that the next hull breach will be fatal.

The best path to advance is to do missions on someone else's RJ until you can upgrade your intrinsics and acquire a good collection of RJ resources, parts and mods.  However, not many people play RJ anymore, so it can be difficult to find squads to play with.  Recruiting chat is a possibility, and I'd actually be happy to spend an hour or two with you sometime to show you the ropes (assuming we can align our schedules).  Private message me and we can see if we can set something up.  

[nebfab]

General dos and don'ts...

If you're the pilot, and you see the cannon being charged, please try and keep the crewship in the cannon's field of view. It's just annoying to waste a shot because pilot steered away from the ship.

 

If you're on the cannon, don't shoot the shielded crewships, that's just waste of ammo.

 

If you're not the pilot, side turrets are bugged right now and can explode the tether prematurely. So, the general advice is not to use them at all. If there's nothing else to do, you can try collect far away drops with the archwing, or start on side objectives...

 

 

[_Anise_]

you can find isos on regular missions if you have unlocked and have an archgun equipped with a gravimag installed

[(PSN)Gentleman_Raven_]

Starting out I opted to build Mk 3 components in the Dojo, just to be able to finish missions. Try to get as much Mk 3 gear on as you can starting with weapons- Apoc or Carcinnox are solid choices and can rip up enemy fighters. You'll find missions get easier if you can obliterate enemies quickly. After you start completing missions you'll get Avionics, which are the Railjacks mods. Next comes Railjack health and armor, don't bother with getting better shields, they really aren't good. Bulkhead and Hull Weave will give you more health and armor, keeping your Railjack in the fight. 

These are basics, and honestly it's been a while since I've run a RJ mission, but I hope it helps.

[vegetosayajin]

1 hour ago, _Anise_ said:

you can find isos on regular missions if you have unlocked and have an archgun equipped with a gravimag installed

Really?
All mission or just a type on a specific planet? 
Do fissure missions drop it?
I'm asking because I level my archguns only on regular missions but I don't recall picking up isos(maybe I missed the picture tho).

[_Anise_]

3 hours ago, vegetosayajin said:

Really?

I was sure I read it somewhere but now I am looking I can't find :/ maybe I got it wrong

[(PSN)Iudex_Nemesis]

On 2020-09-02 at 11:49 PM, (PS4)Dr_Bruiser said:

It IS possible to complete missions solo, but this is a very difficult mode to do this in with an unmodded railjack.  It is not like trying to do low-level content in the regular game, where even an unmodded warframe and weapons will still slaughter low-level Earth/Mercury enemies.  Without some decent upgrades on the railjack, you will constantly be having to deal with fires, hull breaches, boarding parties, etc., which means you aren't advancing mission objectives.  Also, you'll soon run out of revolite if you aren't killing fighters and crewships, which means that the next hull breach will be fatal.

The best path to advance is to do missions on someone else's RJ until you can upgrade your intrinsics and acquire a good collection of RJ resources, parts and mods.  However, not many people play RJ anymore, so it can be difficult to find squads to play with.  Recruiting chat is a possibility, and I'd actually be happy to spend an hour or two with you sometime to show you the ropes (assuming we can align our schedules).  Private message me and we can see if we can set something up.  

Thanks for the offer but you need not worry yourself with me. I like to go at my own pace so there's no rush. Besides I would much prefer to finish all the other stuff I skipped during my break (Steel Path, Protea, etc). I did manage to join a few teams that knew what they were doing so I was able to complete some missions and begin upgrading my railjack. It may take awhile but that's ok.

Sorry for the late reply.

[(PSN)Iudex_Nemesis]

On 2020-09-03 at 8:36 AM, nebfab said:

General dos and don'ts...

If you're the pilot, and you see the cannon being charged, please try and keep the crewship in the cannon's field of view. It's just annoying to waste a shot because pilot steered away from the ship.

 

If you're on the cannon, don't shoot the shielded crewships, that's just waste of ammo.

 

If you're not the pilot, side turrets are bugged right now and can explode the tether prematurely. So, the general advice is not to use them at all. If there's nothing else to do, you can try collect far away drops with the archwing, or start on side objectives...

 

 

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

[Aazhyd]

While your ship is still weak, join other ships. Preferably high level. This will give you tons of resources to improve your ship.

Low level missions often have people who have a weak ship (meaning breaches all the time and failed missions) or don't know how to play.

 

[WildPenguin82]

Another newbie Railjack owner here...

On 2020-09-03 at 10:23 AM, nebfab said:

2) Fighters. Best killed with railjack "abilities" officially they're called tactical avionics or something. Tether is the current meta, but at low levels they all work

On 2020-09-03 at 10:36 AM, nebfab said:

If you're not the pilot, side turrets are bugged right now and can explode the tether prematurely. So, the general advice is not to use them at all. If there's nothing else to do, you can try collect far away drops with the archwing, or start on side objectives...

What on earth (EDIT: Oops! I mean in space!) is a (/the?) tether?

Also, somewhere else (don't remember where) it was mentioned a good Railjack pilot avoids boarding parties and one-shotting enemy weapons. Problem is, I have no idea how to avoid these / what do they even look like / what to look for. My Railjack has been boarded, while my (newbie) crew was outside Archwinging, my shields down, and I have not idea how that could have been avoided.

Also, is it a bad idea (generally) to board enemy crewships? I've seen this claimed elsewhere (don't remember where, though).

Indeed, this is a gamemode that desperately need more explaining/handholding in-game. I'ts like Warframe after new player experience ^3 . The Wiki is not helpful in this case - it explains stuff which is already given in the game, but actually explains nothing about the game mode itself.

[RazerXPrime]

Tether is one of the best battle avionics you can get. It throws out a missile that then tethers enemy ships towards it and then explodes for massive damage in a huge AoE. Great for solo railjack missions.

https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Tether

Railjack can be a bit daunting especially if you don't have someone to guide you through it. The game doesn't really explain anything. It'd be best to have someone take you on a few test runs where you can try out some stuff while he explains how it works. I did this for some friends when they started out and they love Railjack now. Obviously being able to actually talk to someone vs chat makes a huge difference here.

I personally really enjoy Railjack, but I mostly play with people I know so we can work together. (Or troll eachother) I've not had much success with randoms.

[WildPenguin82]

I also play with people I know - the problem is, I was the first one who got the Railjack built ;-)

[RazerXPrime]

Don't forget to go to the forge and refine everything before heading back to the dojo after completing a mission. You'll lose out on extra resources if you don't.

[Soy77]

On 2020-10-23 at 4:57 PM, WildPenguin82 said:

Another newbie Railjack owner here...

What on earth (EDIT: Oops! I mean in space!) is a (/the?) tether?

Also, somewhere else (don't remember where) it was mentioned a good Railjack pilot avoids boarding parties and one-shotting enemy weapons. Problem is, I have no idea how to avoid these / what do they even look like / what to look for. My Railjack has been boarded, while my (newbie) crew was outside Archwinging, my shields down, and I have not idea how that could have been avoided.

Also, is it a bad idea (generally) to board enemy crewships? I've seen this claimed elsewhere (don't remember where, though).

Indeed, this is a gamemode that desperately need more explaining/handholding in-game. I'ts like Warframe after new player experience ^3 . The Wiki is not helpful in this case - it explains stuff which is already given in the game, but actually explains nothing about the game mode itself.

Boarding parties are launched by enemy crewship, or satellite. They look like a tube, and Cy will tell you that a "ramsled" is coming. He'll usually mentions "welcome mat" or "ring the doorbell". Just watch out for those lines. Also they make some kind of alarm sound.

they're relatively easy to dodge if you know they're coming. Usually people got boarded because the pilot got overwhelmed by fighters and didn't pay attention.

Tether is already explained by the gentleman above me. It's like warframe abilities but for your ship. However, you might also want to look at tactical abilities. You can open up this menu during railjack and issues command such as freezing boarders, automatically put out fire, or temporary patch leaks.

 

PS: don't press refine at the forge unless you're done and about to go home. Seriously DE what are you thinking putting a "flush button" for all of your items in the forge?!?! Might as well put a ship self-destruct button on the cockpit.