Cetus bounties - Protecting the drone too boring

[Shepherd_the_Ram]

https://imgur.com/a/Xthehvq

I dont want to walk 1000+ meters with this thing, it gets boring real fast. We shouldn't have to use a volt/nova to make this bearable 

[(PSN)Lollybomb]

I always find it funny that the person can be extracted after running about 50 meters, but the drone always has to go like 500+ before it can be extracted.

Also isn't it Loki that's best for speeding it up?  I wouldn't have thought Volt's speed or Nova's wormholes would work on it.  Especially since you'd have to be able to reliably get the drone to go into the wormhole in the first place.  Loki just repeatedly switch teleports it ahead.

[(PSN)Joylesstuna]

23 minutes ago, (PSN)Lollybomb said:

I always find it funny that the person can be extracted after running about 50 meters, but the drone always has to go like 500+ before it can be extracted.

Also isn't it Loki that's best for speeding it up?  I wouldn't have thought Volt's speed or Nova's wormholes would work on it.  Especially since you'd have to be able to reliably get the drone to go into the wormhole in the first place.  Loki just repeatedly switch teleports it ahead.

It takes practice but some people are really good with getting the drone in nova's wormholes. I am not one of them so I just use Loki as well.

[Numerounius]

Well you just did a 2 minute mobile defense section before doing the drone so that is worse, or part of the "mobile defense" problem if killing enemies is not your forte.

The problem with the drone is the distance needed to travel varies greatly, I've had it under 200m which went by fast which didn't didn't require any speed-ups whatsoever and here you have it at 1,000 meters where you can feel the time sapping by. It is all up to luck of spawn points that determines how long the stage takes, too late now but it would've been better if it always spawned within a set range like 400-600 meters away from final objective location.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

DE should have changed this in the literal years between the last plague star and this one. they know that we don't like the drones becasue they're too slow, and have to travel too far, yet we still end up havign to bring Nova or Volt instead of any other frame we might want to use in order for the mission to not take twice as long. 

1 hour ago, (PSN)Lollybomb said:

Also isn't it Loki that's best for speeding it up?  I wouldn't have thought Volt's speed or Nova's wormholes would work on it.  Especially since you'd have to be able to reliably get the drone to go into the wormhole in the first place.  Loki just repeatedly switch teleports it ahead.

IIRC they patched Loki's Switch teleport on it, and earlier I ran a game with a Nova, the Drone went through a wormhole and then just stopped moving, I think teleporting it screws up it's AI/pathing. the best solution I've seen is a super-strength Volt casting speed on it: that way the drone moves normally on its intended path, but at a much faster rate, and it also looks kinda funny seeing it zoom across the plains that way. 

still, we shouldn't have to bring a specific frame to prevent the mission taking like 20 mins longer than it already does. DE can quite easily make the drone faster, or spawn nearer to the Boil,  but for whatever reason, they don't want to, and it's kind of frustrating honestly.

[SDGDen]

17 minutes ago, (PSN)robotwars7 said:

DE should have changed this in the literal years between the last plague star and this one. they know that we don't like the drones becasue they're too slow, and have to travel too far, yet we still end up havign to bring Nova or Volt instead of any other frame we might want to use in order for the mission to not take twice as long. 

IIRC they patched Loki's Switch teleport on it, and earlier I ran a game with a Nova, the Drone went through a wormhole and then just stopped moving, I think teleporting it screws up it's AI/pathing. the best solution I've seen is a super-strength Volt casting speed on it: that way the drone moves normally on its intended path, but at a much faster rate, and it also looks kinda funny seeing it zoom across the plains that way. 

still, we shouldn't have to bring a specific frame to prevent the mission taking like 20 mins longer than it already does. DE can quite easily make the drone faster, or spawn nearer to the Boil,  but for whatever reason, they don't want to, and it's kind of frustrating honestly.

loki definitely still works and is better for the drone section.

 

most people run nova though because the slowdown from her 4 is a HUGE boon for the hemocytes, and loki is basically useless in the other sections (i've been staying useful with my sarpa and shattering impact + a subsumed CC ability as well as using my necramech) 

 

havent tried volt, sounds like an interesting thing to try. 

[Raarsi]

I just use Voidrig because archgun damage and relative invulnerability means I can usually wait for that drone to meander its way around.

[(XBOX)zThulsaDoomz]

Escort missions have been the bane of gamers since the very beginning, and yet devs love to put them in games.

A vicious cycle indeed

Edited November 7, 2023 by (XBOX)zThulsaDoomz

[(PSN)Joylesstuna]

1 hour ago, (PSN)robotwars7 said:

DE should have changed this in the literal years between the last plague star and this one. they know that we don't like the drones becasue they're too slow, and have to travel too far, yet we still end up havign to bring Nova or Volt instead of any other frame we might want to use in order for the mission to not take twice as long. 

IIRC they patched Loki's Switch teleport on it, and earlier I ran a game with a Nova, the Drone went through a wormhole and then just stopped moving, I think teleporting it screws up it's AI/pathing. the best solution I've seen is a super-strength Volt casting speed on it: that way the drone moves normally on its intended path, but at a much faster rate, and it also looks kinda funny seeing it zoom across the plains that way. 

Loki switch teleport still works it's just finicky like it always has been.

[DstroyR_Prime]

Well, walking with drone is to boring in core, but what about issues when drone stucking in some trees, stones, caves etc? It is good outcome when some close-melee enemy kinda unstucking drone by ground slam, for example. So, drone not only increases bouny`s summary time, but can completely break all bounty progress if stuck. I think this issue must be prevented somehow, or this drone walking even should be replaced by something new. What about delivering toxin to boil via stolen Dargyn, with bonus for faster delivery?=)

[ReddyDisco]

Plague star hasn't changed since the beginning. The same boring bounty stages with the same boring boss, only reason it was ever popular was due to infinite built forma, but when you get to a stage where you don't need forma anymore it you see it for what it is.

[(PSN)FirmBizkit]

10 hours ago, (PSN)Lollybomb said:

I always find it funny that the person can be extracted after running about 50 meters, but the drone always has to go like 500+ before it can be extracted.

Also isn't it Loki that's best for speeding it up?  I wouldn't have thought Volt's speed or Nova's wormholes would work on it.  Especially since you'd have to be able to reliably get the drone to go into the wormhole in the first place.  Loki just repeatedly switch teleports it ahead.

To be fair the drones actually work how rescue missions are intended to 😂

Its always kinda funny when the guy is like “Give me a weapon I need to defend myself!” Like no ya don’t buddy the last thing you need is a gun, get your ass to extraction.

Edited November 8, 2023 by (PSN)FirmBizkit

[(XBOX)Player244024418]

23 hours ago, SDGDen said:

havent tried volt, sounds like an interesting thing to try. 

I use VoltP for all PoE bounties due to the drone. Cast speed twice, maybe three times and you're done. Volt is also a fun frame. I solo these all the time and speed run them.

As for Nova does speedva actually speed up the drone? The drone is an ally and she speeds up enemies I thought. I should try it.

BTW the aura infested impedance doesn't seem to slow anything of the infested.

[SDGDen]

10 minutes ago, (XBOX)Player244024418 said:

I use VoltP for all PoE bounties due to the drone. Cast speed twice, maybe three times and you're done. Volt is also a fun frame. I solo these all the time and speed run them.

As for Nova does speedva actually speed up the drone? The drone is an ally and she speeds up enemies I thought. I should try it.

BTW the aura infested impedance doesn't seem to slow anything of the infested.

now using volt actually, way better! speedva does not speed up the drone, but nova's portals can transport it. however that's a lot more buggy now.

have considered running escape velocity to get another speed boost, but it's not really worth doing when you already have a volt and a wisp. haste mote at the start, re-apply max power speed as needed.

[(XBOX)Player244024418]

34 minutes ago, SDGDen said:

and a wisp. haste mote at the start

Yeah Wisp too. Maybe I'll try wisp for a bit. I do like her.

[(PSN)Unstar]

On 2023-11-07 at 12:51 PM, Shepherd_the_Ram said:

I dont want to walk 1000+ meters with this thing, it gets boring real fast. We shouldn't have to use a volt/nova to make this bearable 

With the exception of the defense part, every part of this mission can be time-optimized with strategic use of your Warframes and weapons.  If you don't want to engage with that, that's your call.  But the obvious solution is to use the tools you have access to to make the mission go faster, the same as you would in any other mission.

Personally, I think it's great that in this case we have the opportunity to use our tools to solve a few problems that can't be addressed with violence.

Edited November 9, 2023 by (PSN)Unstar

[(PSN)Unstar]

On 2023-11-07 at 1:28 PM, (PSN)Joylesstuna said:

It takes practice but some people are really good with getting the drone in nova's wormholes. I am not one of them so I just use Loki as well.

I haven't tried it yet, but I heard from a player who has been working towards optimal strategies that the drones can tell that going through the Wormholes results in a faster path, so the drones will actually intentionally direct themselves towards a good Wormhole!

[PollexMessier]

Switch teleport Loki makes this stage a lot of fun (And is the only consistent way to get the drone out of being stuck when that happens).
I get it's a bit annoying to be limited to a set few frames. But that's kinda just how most events in this game have been. And personally I appreciate having a reason to play frames I barely touch now and then.

[(PSN)AyinDygra]

The one and only change I was expecting/hoping for, for Plague Star's return, was either the removal of the drone, or fixing of it getting stuck on terrain. Currently, it's a 50/50 toss up if your run will be randomly ruined by the terrain, unless you run with a Loki (or solo with Loki, like me, only because of this problem.)

 

[SneakyErvin]

With the addition of SP it got a bit more interesting since more squads and eximus units seem to spawn. However I think they kinda overscaled the drone health since it is practically never at a risk, not even for the bonus stage. Could also be that SP Plague Star is very low level for SP, with enemies being uhm level 103(?) throughout the run. Spawns for the drone seem tighter now aswell, I've still to run a marathon with it.

If you wanna speed it up I suggest Loki, Nova or Elytron.

edit: I prefer Elytron since that allows me to pick a frame that can just stand there in the last phase without relying on stealth (#*!%ing up Hemo opening the mouths very often) or a massive slow (that can linger too long and slow down the Hemo at the boil).

Edited November 9, 2023 by SneakyErvin

[(PSN)FirmBizkit]

Spawn 2 Thrax units for every player on the field. That will make it more interesting 😂
 

7-9 seconds for one of those to destroy a mobile defense node.

Edited November 10, 2023 by (PSN)FirmBizkit

[Steeldragonz]

On 2023-11-07 at 9:04 PM, (PSN)Lollybomb said:

I always find it funny that the person can be extracted after running about 50 meters, but the drone always has to go like 500+ before it can be extracted.

Also isn't it Loki that's best for speeding it up?  I wouldn't have thought Volt's speed or Nova's wormholes would work on it.  Especially since you'd have to be able to reliably get the drone to go into the wormhole in the first place.  Loki just repeatedly switch teleports it ahead.

exactly this, either abuse volt, or abuse switch/wormhole to force the damn thing to go at my speed... yes it means that a high power/range build is needed depending on the frame... and you might not be the dps or whatever for the bounty... but shortening the stage itself from 3-4 minutes to 1-1.5 is worth it for me. Mostly because i see it as a role within a pub/squad. Then all i generally do is hope that out of the other 3 someone has a higher dps/specific frame for another part of a bounty stage. 

 

Like say Plague star, volt/nova/loki for the drone section, titania for the first pickup/vault protection [if you care about killing anything in stage 2 anyway], the nova/loki/volt for stage 3, then a mesa for stage 4. More often that not i find that at least 2-3 of these roles are filled in a pub for normal or plague star making the bounty just breeze fast.