Dark Territory #2 with shubn and The Cult
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5PyW2r2GYI
Dark Territory #2 with ysignal and The Cult
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-7VXmugDmg
For our first real attempt at the Onyx Facilities we had 6 players/7 characters on with ysignal as Captain, shubn as Master Chief and the rest Inquisitors plus Adjudicator's clone as Medic. It was the coolest tactical play we've ever done, partly because we've been getting more and more comfortable with everyone playing their ranks, but also because of the extensive dungeon-like layout of the facility which forced us to play infantry for 6+ hours with no stopping so that we had plenty of time to get used to things, as opposed to most other on-foot locations currently in the verse which can be cleared in half an hour tops. These facilities really are a game-changer and feel like a Half-Life level has been plugged into the game, as people have been saying. They've also been saying it feels like Dead Space but I haven't played those so I don't know.
In terms of progression, I think we cleared 5-6 missions, or something like that. No idea how many they are, and apparently you are supposed to piece together a plot.
However, there are several issues. First, the facilities aren't complete. They have three wings—Engineering, Research and Science—but only two of them were done in time for the August update, so the Science one that according to CIG holds the deepest secrets will be added in September.
Also, there was supposed to be only one facility but with instancing enabled like the landing zone hangars so that once you entered a wing with your friends no one else could bother you, and the PVE Bobs would get their wish to be left alone. That's why the lobby has armistice, so the various groups wouldn't clash while moving between wings. But this tech wasn't ready in time, so instead they copy-pasted a hundred or so facilities all over Stanton's moons, and they made it so that each time you complete a mission you have to fly out of the current facility and into a new one to tackle the next mission. Needless to say players hate all this, in terms of immersion, but I have to admit that in terms of play it didn't really bother me, moment to moment.
So we know that September's update will bring the final wing online, but we haven't heard if the instancing will be ready yet, in which case all but one of the facilities will be removed. I think the official lore one is in Arial which is a Hurston moon, and that would bring Onyx under Adjudicator's jurisdiction, which would be quite a treat for him. But because we haven't heard anything on this front, I will assume the instancing has been indefinitely delayed, so we won't be waiting for it to complete the mission.
We will be waiting for the Science wing though, and once that's added later this month and CIG has confirmed that the entire subplot is available, we'll play a big Saturday session to kick off our attempts, and then people will be able to log in throughout the rest of the month at various times to complete it. There's no rush though because it's not a timed event, so people can take months for completion if they want.
In terms of tactics there's not much to say because it's not an open environment like much of the verse where you have limitless approaches and vehicles to use and you can theorycraft all day. It's just a dungeon, very cool dungeon to be sure, but pretty much the only variable you control is how many people you bring. And I have to say, with 6 people it was easy. I think 3 would suffice, 2 would be a decent challenge, and solo it is doable but tricky (good training challenge if you want FPS training!) So I don't see the need for 4+ unless you just want to play with all your buddies, which is understandable. If we have like 7-8 people on, then the player in command can choose whether to go as a group or split in two and spread out across facilities (or instances). Either is fine with me, whatever the players feel like doing on a given day. And of course the difficulty tuning can change between updates, so keep that in mind.
It was really cool how Pedro Camacho wrote music specifically for this location that kicks in even while you're flying towards it, and I will be posting later pro-level screenshots that show off the coolest parts of the facility. Eventually we'll post the pro guide that has also been published and the plot points once we figure them out, but note that looking up guide and plot are considered cheating before then, so please don't look them up.
P.S. There's a way to make respawns work in the hangar, but I wasn't the one to figure it out. I think we did manage to get it to work. Someone else can chime in with that info if they want and let us know if it's worth the trouble and what vehicle(s) work best.
