Was a reason ever given to why extractors/drones no longer take damage?

[Hexerin]

I've always kept eight on hand (I'm able to deploy four, as I'm not a founder and can't deploy the fifth), specifically so that I could always rotate them each cycle due to damage taken. However, I've noticed over the past year of play since returning to the game that they just don't take damage anymore. I'm curious when this was changed, and what the reasoning for it was.

[o0Despair0o]

Well honestly, you're probably the only one still using them.

 

That said, I'd assume it's because damaging them had no effect at all. Build a cheap backup drone and deploy that instead, or farm it yourself.

[Gen0-234]

They still take damage. You definitely got lucky.

Earlier I claimed my extractors. Had 3 deployed, 2 were at 100% health while the last one was 70%.

[Aldain]

1 hour ago, o0Despair0o said:

Well honestly, you're probably the only one still using them.

 

That said, I'd assume it's because damaging them had no effect at all. Build a cheap backup drone and deploy that instead, or farm it yourself.

I still use them as well, gotten a few supply drops of Entrati Lanthorn from dropping it on the Zariman, and dropping them on Deimos can sometimes give me a few casual Orokin Cells or Mutagen Samples.

But it seems like their damage rate is now significantly slow and only one at a time, I once left 3 deployed for over a month long break and the 3rd was only down to 52%.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

Its not something I am very knowledgable on, or have looked into extensively, to check if there are some hidden mechanics or what not. In my limited experiences, the damage they may take, appears to be variable. Meaning, there have been instances where, especially one of the Prime Extractors, (since I think one of them is designed to be sturdier?) would take no damage. Then occasions it did. Granted I haven't checked in about a week, but the last time I did check, some damage was sustained. That being said, its not as if I was diligently keeping track and ensuring I got an accurate assessment of its damage at the time, so maybe it wasn't actually damaged.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

depends where you put them I suppose:

Grineer Planets; The Grineer see the extractor and vandalize it, damn Tenno Skoom trying to steal their resources!

Corpus Planets: The Corpus see the extractor and start stripping it for parts to sell for profit. your extractors aren't damaged in this case, just partially disassembled. 

Infested Planets; the Hive sees your extractor and say "hey baby how you doing?" and tries to assimilate it. make sure you clean them when they get back, you don't want an outbreak on your Orbiter lol.

jokes aside I've no idea, I don't really bother using extractors any more. 

[Nira]

I deployed some recently after starting a clan and doing the mad scramble for 5k mutagen samples. Can confirm they do still take damage!

[SneakyErvin]

Can also confirm they still take damage since I use them daily to farm extra morphics for bile on 3 planets.

[Tiltskillet]

I'm not sure I've ever seen damage on a Zariman extractor.  But honestly I'm not looking for damage normally, because I've never had an extractor anywhere destroyed.   The other spots I use regularly--Mercury, Phobos, and Europa for Morphics--do get damaged, though I've never had one destroyed.  Or even close to it that I've noticed.

Currently Zariman 100%, Mercury 79%, Phobos 85%, Europa 75%, within a few minutes of being completed.  All Distilling.

[Exxion]

Extractors definitely do not take damage on the Zariman. I've been repeatedly placing one on it since it came out, and it has never taken damage. They still take damage in other places I've tried.

Edited February 3 by Exxion

[(PSN)GEN-Son_17]

I guess it depends on how much a faction has control over the planet or place the extractor is being deployed. While Earth has always been Grineer territory (so they would have more security and surveillance in place), the Zariman is a danger zone for every non Tenno faction. 

Side note: I've always wanted DE to release two special SP only extractors that had interactive gameplay mechanics to them.

- Type 1 would carry a significantly larger stash of common resources and a chance at rare resources or endo. It has a larger pool of health and can be extracted from the orbiter when health is above 50%.

- Type 2 would carry rare resources, endo and a chance for an ayatan sculpture. It has a smaller pool of health and cannot be extracted from the orbiter. 

- At 50% health, an alert mission would trigger that now restricts auto extraction from the orbiter.

- To extract either, a defense mission is required, designed to clear out enough enemies to send for a ship to extract the unit. Choosing to guard against each new round (at 5 waves per round) reduces the max health of the extractor by 50% but clearing the round rewards 50% additional loot plus a random reward. The max amount of rounds is 5, totaling %250 gain in total extractor contents, plus the random lot gained per round. However, failing to defend the extractor not only results in losing all additional loot gained from the round but also losing 25% of the initial resources. 

High risk for high rewards. 

[obiwandandobi2]

Never really thought about it before but have noticed they don't take as much damage as they used to. Also the titan extractors seem to take more damage than the other ones. Touch wood, haven't had one completely destroyed yet but like you I tend to rotate them.

[Currilicious]

I still use them. I have 2 sets to rotate, just so I don't have to bother about their health.

[(PSN)Lollybomb]

Honestly the idea of extractors taking damage has never made sense.  One, a fully repaired extractor can't be destroyed when sent out (could they ever?).  Two, repairing extractors doesn't require any input, just time.  Plus, nothing stops you from having two or more sets of extractors to cycle between.  Three, they always finish in a fixed amount of time, meaning that there's no risk/reward consideration for leaving an extractor out "too long" so it can potentially gather more.

Maybe if extractors could actually be destroyed, and pulling them out early didn't void all their findings it might make sense.  But with the way things are right now it seems pointless.

[Hexerin]

I always put my extractors on:

• Zariman
• Europa
• Jupiter
• Deimos

They always come out at full health, and have since I returned to the game a year ago.

This is my current state after grabbing them tonight. I started with basic extractors when I returned to the game, then upgraded to basic distillers a few months ago. Then I got Primed basic extrators which I upgraded to, and lastly (finally) got Primed distillers recently and have been using them since. So I've used all four types, and always got the same results with them all.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

According to the Wikia, Extractors may take damage. As in there is a mechanic which means often, they shouldn't take any damage. Higher level planets have a higher chance of being damaged. The damage will never be able to destroy a full health Extractor Drone. Damaged Extractors regenerate health at approximately 1 health per 5 minutes. 

Zariman node seems to be bugged, as far as being a relative high level spot, but Extractors not taking damage. So if one wanted to test this, Sedna and planets around their would be a good start. Also, I am not sure if the regen starts after its finished or once you collect it, so thats another variable to potentially consider. 

Obviously this means we need to send our Extractors to their own Steel Path equivalent. They are OP, face no risks or challenges, and hardly just challenged at all. Balance issue. Maybe we can also get Liches for Extractors. Like little Extractors that are nemesis. Then you might have to start modding and customising your Extractor to be more meta... Then also, give them their own little Sentinels and Kubrow Puppies to accompany them...

[Hexerin]

So they actually do take damage, it's just super rare now apparently.

[Aruquae]

Dang, and I thought I was just slick sending them to the Zariman while they never get damaged. Guess they just stopped doing that a while ago. 

2 hours ago, Hexerin said:

So they actually do take damage, it's just super rare now apparently.

Good, so I am slick then (probably not)

I wonder if they take damage the longer the extractor’s just sitting there.

[0bsi]

I regularly put them on Zariman, Deimos and Eris - Sometimes they are out only for around a day, sometimes I forget to change them and they can be out for days.  Most of the time they all come back 100% undamaged, occasionally one will have little damage.

I checked might tonight, all 3 were undamaged and I think they had been out there for at least 2-3 days.

[Aerikx]

On 2024-02-03 at 3:36 AM, Hexerin said:

I've noticed over the past year of play since returning to the game that they just don't take damage anymore. I'm curious when this was changed, and what the reasoning for it was.

There was no change. You've just been getting lucky. Happens to me sometimes.

On 2024-02-03 at 6:00 AM, Aldain said:

But it seems like their damage rate is now significantly slow and only one at a time, I once left 3 deployed for over a month long break and the 3rd was only down to 52%.

It's RNG. But they ALL take damage at random intervals. I've watched them for 'the lulz' before and have seen all of em get a few hangnails. 

I personally think the damage depends on the resource RNG chose. As typically, when my extractors bring back rare loot they usually show up with a few stories on how they fell down the stairs, walked into a door, etc.

[Hobie-wan]

On 2024-02-03 at 6:00 AM, Aldain said:

I once left 3 deployed for over a month long break and the 3rd was only down to 52%.

They only take damage while extracting. I haven't checked on them in the middle of a cycle to see if it increases over that time, but I assume it does since then you'd be able to bring it in early to save it. Once they've done their 4 or 8 hour cycle, they just sit idle until you collect them and will not take further damage.

But yeah, I still send them out just because it's habit even though I have gigantic piles of all resources. They definitely added to the pile for hema research when I was still working on that and they also added to hexenon and lanthorns when those were new.

On a side note, the extractors will never receive more than 70% damage in one run. So if you're a new player using them to help with that early resource grind, if they're above 70% health, you can send them back out without waiting for them to heal up if you're checking and sending them back out immediately without waiting on the repair while you play the game for an hour or three.

[Aerikx]

Random Shower Thought but...

It'd be cool if they revamped Extractors.

1. Let them gather random amounts of a all 4 of a planet/location's resources.

2. Added an Extractor mini-game to the mobile app. (I could use a time killer when I'm on the go.)

Like...

You get to fly around a little map, avoiding enemies, and when you find resource nodes you have a little puzzle to solve to gather the resource. 

Quick and Easy Puzzles like you'd find in Dead Space: Ignition, Marvel's Spiderman (PS4/PS5).

Maybe add in some Racing mini-game too.

Make it where if an enemy (Faction or Wildlife) sees you, the drone takes damage, failing a puzzle causes damage. 

Could be a cool way to show the chiller side of the Warframe galaxy.

Would be fun to explore a massive Plains of Eidolon map mining, gathering, and catching fish (Golden Maw style) without being snipes from across the map from aimbot Grineer, hovering through the eerie and empty Zariman halls, running for dear life from hordes on Deimos & Eris. 

Also, playing the app game could be away to hunt specific resources somewhat more reliably.

(IE: Really need Argon Crystals or Entrati Lanthorns? Go specifically hunt it via the Mobile Companion App.)

Just give it a capacity limit so folks can't abuse the Extractors. Makes every resource gathered count.