Operation Plague Star

[(XBOX)Player244024418]

It's fun to see how each day squads progress towards faster completion times. I suppose as you score more forma, your builds improve, as well as your mission familiarity.

One thing still remains a question for me. The infested pods at the end. This morning I had a squad member in SP typing more than playing, complaining about me destroying the pods "it takes longer! Are you broken?" 😎 

Now, I've run this mission almost 150 times now and bc I've seen these comments about the pods before, ive run the mission both ways: save the pods, or destroy it all.

Ive noticed when the game doesn't spawn a lot of infested it really doesn't matter if you leave the pods. Yes, clear the grineer, but the infested still spawn very sporadically , slowly.

In this particular mission this AM, i did sit and watch a pack of new pods, cast my 4 as volt and only three total infested generated. So it seems to me when the game is just misbehaving like this it doesn't really matter if you try to save the pods or not. Just wreck the map and try to get to each 25/50/75/99 level as quickly as possible.

What's funny is a nova screwed up the portals and had the drone looping and going the opposite way but the player didn't complain about that. Maybe this player was the nova.

Any comments?

[(XBOX)C11H22O11]

I guess my only comment is that I applaud your mental resilience to run this event more than 3 times, good job 👍

[Genitive]

I'm not really a fan of this event, but I'm glad some people enjoy it.

[SDGDen]

honestly? i dont really pay much attention to the pods. there's generally enough enemies to instantly go to the next hemocyte using a single cast of volt's 4 anyways.

as for nova portals... not worth compared to combining volt speed (maximized power strength) and wisp haste mote. they bug out too often and dont actually result in a much faster completion time. speed buffs are a LOT more consistent. 

[SneakyErvin]

Dont destroy the pods, it is that simple. When you see poor spawns it is very likely due to host limitations and nothing else.

I'm plying solo, and not touching infested or the pods as I kill the Hemo means each % stage is triggered instantly upon Hemo death, since it is one jump+contagion or a Danse swirl to get another 25% directly because there are infested everywhere. Only the first 25% are slow since there is a ramp up in initial infested spawns. It's also why I run Revenant plus Elytron instead of a frame that can speed up the drone. Since it allows me to just stand there and let the infested swarm me as I kill the Hemo.

I mean, there is literally zero reason to destroy the pods, it provides no benefit whatsoever.

Edited November 14, 2023 by SneakyErvin

[Thorham]

2 hours ago, (XBOX)Player244024418 said:

I've run this mission almost 150 times now

😲

[ReddyDisco]

Haven't bothered with this event, silly forma grind simulator.

[(XBOX)Obi Wan Dandobi]

3 hours ago, (XBOX)Player244024418 said:

destroy it all.

No!

3 hours ago, (XBOX)Player244024418 said:

cast my 4 as volt

Nooooo! 😭

[fo3nixz]

By the 2nd hemocyte , just use Itzal to suck them in and kill them for near instant 25% increase. If u didn't kill pods

[(XBOX)Player244024418]

Ok so thanks everyone. Seems the issue is host related. 

Yeah the one time a nova gets their portals in the right spot, the drone goes backwards LOL.

If I see poor spawn times I'll leave the pods. As a volt yes they swarm and will kill me as Im shooting. 

4 hours ago, (XBOX)C11H22O11 said:

my only comment is that I applaud your mental resilience to run this event more than 3 times, good job

 

3 hours ago, Genitive said:

not really a fan of this event, but I'm glad some people enjoy it.

I enjoy the forma. I started last spring. Ive been for a starved forever. Even after using about 20 im up over 130+ forma now which is just some ridiculous freedom compared to before. Ive leveled up my smeeta, several sentinels, multiple weapons, etc and still have 130. It's literally awesome but yeah ive been running some regular fissures and syndicate for a change now that im saturated 

[MutoManiac]

AFAIK, you are not supposed to kill anything when the hemocyte spawns. That way once you take down the hemocyte, there’s plenty of infested to kill and makes spawning the next hemocyte faster. But some people think kill count is the goal, so….. 

[(PSN)Unstar]

8 hours ago, (XBOX)Player244024418 said:

Now, I've run this mission almost 150 times now and bc I've seen these comments about the pods before, ive run the mission both ways: save the pods, or destroy it all.

If you want to know for sure, I'd recommend doing a science:

1. Enter Plague Star solo, without any pets that attack enemies.
2. Progress to the final phase.
3. Kill all the Grineer nearby to ensure they aren't killing the Infested.
4. Check the percentage; watch to make sure it isn't climbing on its own (ie - without you doing kills)
5. Carefully kill 10 pods, note the increase in percentage as P.
6. Carefully kill 10 of the basic quadruped Infested, note the increase in percentage as Q.
7. The quotient obtained from P/Q is the difference in efficiency per kill.
8. Repeat steps 4 thru 7 a few times (20 if you're feeling very scientific!) to get a nice sample set and reduce the risk of mistakes/flaws/unexpected variable interference.

Note: If a Hemocyte spawns in the middle of steps 4 thru 7, that messes up the experiment, so kill it and start again at step 4.

My guess is that what you'll find is that pod kills don't result in any increase, while quadruped kills do.  But who knows what could happen? ^^

[(XBOX)Player244024418]

It's not a question of whether the pods add to the kill count. Honestly we can end this discussion as the OS event is almost over and im going to run it one or two more times to max out the last exodia arcane and im done.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

9 hours ago, (XBOX)Player244024418 said:

What's funny is a nova screwed up the portals and had the drone looping and going the opposite way but the player didn't complain about that. Maybe this player was the nova.

I saw this happen once as well, I think sometimes warping the drone messes up it's pathing and it forgets where to go. generally you're better off with high Strength Volt or Wisp so that the drone moves "naturally", but a lot faster.

and typically no, you shouldn't kill the pods, or too many of the infested, so that then you can fast-track to the Next Hemocyte spawn. 

[Voltage]

6 hours ago, SneakyErvin said:

I'm plying solo, and not touching infested or the pods as I kill the Hemo means each % stage is triggered instantly upon Hemo death, since it is one jump+contagion or a Danse swirl to get another 25% directly because there are infested everywhere. Only the first 25% are slow since there is a ramp up in initial infested spawns. It's also why I run Revenant plus Elytron instead of a frame that can speed up the drone. Since it allows me to just stand there and let the infested swarm me as I kill the Hemo.

You can just have a squad member sit in Amesha and accomplish the same thing. Watchful Swarm protects allies, and Warding Grace slows everything while not affecting the Hemocyte. This makes the 4th stage very manageable and chill without relying on something like Revenant. Just a tip for those struggling to stay alive.

[SneakyErvin]

15 hours ago, Voltage said:

You can just have a squad member sit in Amesha and accomplish the same thing. Watchful Swarm protects allies, and Warding Grace slows everything while not affecting the Hemocyte. This makes the 4th stage very manageable and chill without relying on something like Revenant. Just a tip for those struggling to stay alive.

Yep that is something people should consider for groups since they dont have need for any other AW, and having one person in the air shouldnt screw over Hemo attack patterns leaving it without opening the mouths. I tried Amesha solo the previous PS even but got annoyed by the Hemo bugging and not opening mouths since I was in the air. Same reason I stopped using Titania back then aswell. Right now with Rev killing the Hemo takes me as much time as emptying the mag on my Boar Prime, reloading and them unloading half that mag on the head that is still left. The longest part of the last phase is currenly waiting for the Hemo to waddle down from the boil.

[Hobie-wan]

On 2023-11-14 at 11:34 AM, (XBOX)Player244024418 said:

As a volt yes they swarm and will kill me as Im shooting. 

I take Khora. Then I can drop a dome and just ignore the infested while I'm shooting at the hemocyte.

If I'm lucky someone brought a Volt/Wisp/Nova to the pub to speed up the drone phase, but I'm not too worried if that's not the case. On the pods, as @SneakyErvin said it's only the initial ramp that seems slow most of the time. But maybe I'm just not sweating it too much as I have a pile of forma already and I'm just running 3-4 times a night so I don't burn myself out.

[ShogunGunshow]

I use a duration Mirage with that augment that makes her disco ball follow you around. That usually takes care of all adds while preserving the spawn pods.