Weapons Research

The subject of this article is from the Outlaws update.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 19 July, 2022.

Weapons Research
Mission type	Secondary
Starting point:	Armourer
Requires:	Expanding the Base
Implemented	Pathfinder
Description	Base building related mission, gives access to combat oriented blueprints and tech

Weapons Research is a secondary mission.

Summary[ | ]

Weapons Research is one of the game's side-missions introduced in the Pathfinder update. The mission introduces the player to the Armourer NPC.

Walkthrough[ | ]

Introduction[ | ]

With this mission set as the active mission, warp to the Vy'keen dominated system marked as the destination and go to the local space station and find the Vy'keen NPC to hire. After hiring them, players will then be told to return to their base. Speak to them and they will give the player the blueprint for Haz-Mat Gauntlet.

Illegal Weapons Investigation[ | ]

The player then will be tasked with breaking into a Manufacturing Facility and stopping the production of illegal weapons, so go to the navigation marker assigned on the compass. Shut down the illegal weapons facility and return to the Armourer. Speaking to them will unlock the blueprint for the Cyclotron Ballista or the Economy Scanner.

Dealing With Pirates[ | ]

The player will next need to fly into space to fight some pirate ships. Upon arriving in space, follow the marked icon to the ship the player must attack. Return to the Armourer once they are defeated. Upon returning to the Armourer, the player will next be tasked with locating and interrogating a missing pirate that has escaped to a nearby planet. Return to the Armourer once they're found and spoken to and the blueprints for Starshield Battery and Unstable Plasma will be unlocked.

The Resource Depot & Vy'keen Daggers[ | ]

The player will next be sent to a Resource Depot and be asked to destroy it. Upon returning, the blueprint for Combat Scope will be unlocked and the player will be asked to retrieve two Vy'keen Daggers. Said daggers can be found either from buying from space station starships or from Damaged Containers at a 2:8 chance. Before speaking to the Vy'keen Armourer to give the daggers, it may be recommended to have some S-rank upgrade modules installed not only for shields but two as well for a Scatter Blaster, which is most efficient with killing Sentinel Quads and Sentinel Walkers.

Sentinel Wave Fighting[ | ]

Note: Try one of the methods, as one or the other does not always work, as the quest is quite bugged.

(Method One)

The player will be required to fight continuous waves of Sentinels, but only require up to three stars. They will automatically get a two star wanted level until completion of the quest. Destroy the sentinel drones only, do not fight the four legged sentinels on level three, just concentrate on killing the drones. They might start a search on their respawn for level 2/3, and the aggression level might reset to zero. You will notice the counter increased to the number of drones killed, 2/8 or 4/8 at this point. Immediately attack the new searching sentinels and wait for another search to reset. Repeat this until the counter is 8/8. The quest should inform you to return to the Armourer.

The fight was done in an open plain with a small hill for cover, far away from buildings to hide, as the quest resets counter when you hide or enter buildings or ships.

Two things to keep in mind: A very important point is to ignore the message that informs the player to run away from the area, at a ten second count down that is not really possible, stand your ground to fight at the same place where you killed the drones. Tried a few times by running away as the message indicated and it will always reset! (Correction: After killing 8/8 Sentinels, the player is instructed to avoid reinforcements and return to the Armorer. This is required to complete the mission. As the player retreats, the Sentinels may catch up to the player, but the player should continue to retreat to the Armorer (sprinting repeatedly is recommended) until the Sentinels give up the chase.) The other important thing to understand is that you should not use your base / ships / building for cover, fight in an open area with some hills as cover. (Correction: Using the base/ships/building as cover has no affect on completing the mission; however, entering any of these will cause the mission to reset.)

Note: After fighting 2 waves(So it should be 4/8 killed) of Sentinels, you may find that no more respawns. You have to run away from the dog till it no longers detects you. Do not hide in buildings/ships/base. Just run away. After that, you should find that Sentinels will spawn again. (Correction: Sentinels will not respawn in this scenario unless the Sentinel Quad is attacked again. Any behavior that normally triggers Sentinels to spawn will work.)

Supplemental Notes on Method One Strategy

As of Dec. 2020 and the Origins update, this mission is still very bugged (possibly by design) but can be completed as instructed with a little strategic planning.

Kill Count Reset: As mentioned previously, the mission is prone to resetting the kill count to zero. This will occur multiple ways: entering a building or vehicle, reloading from a mid-mission save point (reloads the player with no mission selected), or by selecting any other mission in the Log. The mission must be completed once started; however, turning off the mission can be advantageous to the player in order to implement a winning strategy. It is recommended that the player turn off the mission while still in the building and immediately after the Armorer offers it. Turn off the mission by selecting any other mission in the Log. Exit the building. The player should then chose their battleground.

Battleground Strategy: It is recommended that the player chose a battleground that will limit Sentinel lanes of fire. The battleground must be sufficiently far enough away from the Armorer that the player can retreat from the Sentinels until they give up the chase once the kill count reaches 8/8. (Ref. Retreat After 8/8) It is also recommended that the player chose a location that normally spawns a Sentinel response such as a Sentient Plant. This tactic will allow the player to easily force a respawn if required such as if the player dies during the mission. Note: Do not attempt to reactivate the mission after death by deselecting and reselecting it as the kill count will reset. If the player dies during the mission, return to the grave marker, recover assets, and then perform an action that spawns Sentinels. This will continue the mission and preserve the kill count.

Containing the Sentinel Quad: It is recommended that the player not kill the Sentinel Quad as this action will promote the threat response to level 4 and spawn a Sentinel Walker. The Sentinel Quad can be contained in a number of ways. Utilizing terrain with a high peak can limit the quads line of sight and lanes of fire; however, the quad's maneuverability may overcome this tactic as it can jump to the top of peaks. Utilizing a field of Sentient Plants can cause the Quad to become "stuck" between the player and the plants and thereby neutralize the quad's ability to engage the player. The preferred strategy is for the player to excavate a pit deep enough to contain the quad. The pit diameter should be sized small enough for the player to put the pit between them and the Quad and large enough that the Quad cannot leap over it. The pit should be deep enough that the Quad cannot leap out of it and the player can jetpack out if they fall in, either by accident or design. (Tip: the player can be the bait!) Once the Quad is contained, the player is free to engage the Sentinels. If the Sentinels fail to respawn, the player can engage the Quad contained in the pit to trigger a respawn.

Engaging Flying Sentinels: It is recommended that the player utilize a Defensive Fighting Position (DFP) a.k.a. foxhole to engage Flying Sentinels. This will allow the player to corral the Sentinels into a single lane of fire and the pit will provide cover from Sentinel fire. Note: The DFP should be an open pit and not a burrow, tunnel, cave, or anything that provides overhead cover as the game may interpret this as entering a building and reset the kill count. (Tip: Keep the pit shallow enough to jetpack out of it if necessary to respawn Sentinels)

Retreat After 8/8: The player must disengage the Sentinels and retreat after the kill count reaches 8/8. Immediately after attaining an 8/8 kill count, return to the Armorer on foot. Sprinting is recommended. Sentinel reinforcements will arrive before the player is able to avoid detection; however, if the player does not engage the Sentinels and continues sprinting back to the Armorer, the Sentinels will give up the chase. Note: It is recommended that the player choses a battleground that is sufficiently far enough away from the Armorer to allow the Sentinels to disengage before the player enters the building. If the player returns to the Armorer and enters the building while the Sentinels are still in pursuit then the kill count may reset.

(Method Two)

The player will next be required to fight continuous waves of Sentinels until their wanted level becomes five stars. They will also automatically get a two star wanted level as soon as they exit their base and all drones will have armor plating to soak up damage. Be warned that if fighting Sentinel bipeds or walkers too close to a base, they may glitch into it. (Correction: Method Two is essentially Method One if the player elects to kill the Sentinel Quad. This action promotes the threat level from 3 to 4 and spawns a Sentinel Walker)

To easily kill Quadrupedal sentinels, get behind them and shoot at the glowing red button on their behinds and circle them should they try to turn around to face the player. As for Walker sentinels, shoot off the two protective armor plating on each of their legs while strafing or jetpacking upward to dodge the lasers then go for their two head-armor platings until they die. Getting airtime with a jetpack may help with getting better damage on Walkers once all of their leg armor plating is gone. Be sure to destroy the blue barrel that walkers drop, as they contain Walker Brains.

Once the second walker is defeated (which spawns after killing the first walker), the player's wanted level will become five stars, so return to the Armourer. With that done, this is the end of the Weapons Research mission.

Epilogue[ | ]

With the successful completion of the mission proper, the Armourer will now spend their time crafting free Multi-tools, usually with Damaged Components in several slots, for the player to consider. One Multi-tool is available within each 24-hour period in real time without regard to whether the player replaces their existing Multi-tool with the current offering.

Bugs[ | ]

After giving the two Vy'keen Daggers to the Armourer may cause their next dialogue choice to bug out where the request for daggers will loop again, giving multiple of the same reward. It can easily circumvented by choosing the "Decline" dialogue option, which will end this step successfully. Speaking with the Armourer again will cause them to resume with the next step of the mission.

Rewards[ | ]

Blueprints:
Damaged Multi-tool (whenever the player accepts a Multi-tool crafted by the Armourer)

Mission Progression[ | ]

For a detailed chart of how this mission progresses, see Mission Progression.