As I said I should, I waited a bit for things to settled down after the Remnant update hit last week, opting to drop into the new expedition once the dust had settled a bit and a couple of follow on patches had landed.
Welcome to Remnant
The goal for me was, of course, the expedition. This, however, was not going to be much like any of the past expeditions I had been on, something that was made clear when I went to the anomaly to get it started.
There was, of course, the usual window to get things going from the expedition console.
Expedition 21 – Remnant
That was as normal, but the other half of the start screen, where you can place supplies to take along on the expedition, had a fresh new warning at the top.
Supplies placed here will not be available
Just to make sure you get what I am pointing at, the key quote from that screen is:
This expedition takes place on a single planet. Starship travel is unavailable, and this terminus will not be reachable for equipment transfer until the expedition is complete.
So yeah… don’t bother packing because your luggage won’t be available!
Well, if nothing else, that made it easier to press the button and get going. So off I went. And once in the game… either lied to me then or was lying to me before.
Community Expeditions Message
That message said both that I should “Reach the Space Anomaly to retrieve my stores items” AND that Starship travel is unavailable.” Like, make up your mind man!
Anyway, it didn’t matter. I didn’t pack anything and, as things went, I didn’t really need anything. You actually start off with a decent multi tool and some inventory space.
The first thing up on the planet when you arrive is to register for waste removal at the local waste recycling center, because garbage is now a thing on planets. I saw somebody post on Reddit about how the update brought toxic waste dumps to their paradise planet.
I mean, pretty sick burn on human behavior, but are we now doomed to find garbage strewn about on every planet we discover? I mean, the whole planet discovery thing was a huge fiction anyway… I mean, who built all the stuff you found on that planet you claim you discovered… but this now feels like Hello Games is really rubbing our faces in it.
You discovered it eh? Well, Magellan, then you go clean it up!
So I ran off and registered to be a member of the waste clean up team.
Congratulations Sanitation Engineer!
That gets you the plans for the gravitino coil, the gravity gun attachment for your multi-tool.
Finishing the attachment requires going out and mining and refining some cobalt and some ferrite, then snatching a gravitino ball. The latter will, of course, bring heat from the local sentinels. I have learned the routine for this, which is to dig a tunnel with the terrain manipulator, grab the ball, then run down the tunnel and hide until the sentinels get tired and wander off.
I grabbed several gravitino balls, just in case, then scurried down my hole. This turned out to be a good idea because one of the later phase tasks is to collect 32 of them. Might as well get started early.
In fact, start early on as many things as possible. Scan all the stuff, find all the wildlife, kill all the hazardous flora… the usual filler tasks are on the list, and we’re going to be on this planet for five full phases, so you might as well get the counts rolling.
Having done that I was able to enable the gravitino coil.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Now I have a gravitino coil!
This is basically the classic gravity gun from Portal and Portal 2. You can find magnetic things, pick them up by right clicking, move them around, drop them by right clicking again, or you can launch them by left clicking.
I throw things a lot both by accident and on purpose.
And you should too, because there is a milestone for throwing 64 things.
Also, throwing things is fun… unless you’ve lined something up just right to drop it somewhere and then you mis-click and send is sailing into the near distance.
Once you have that done it is time to make the exocraft bay so you can summon your Colossus.
This was actually kind of a pain in the ass because I have multiplayer on by default, which means that I was out on the same world as a bunch of other people and, as we know, many people will drop base computers just to do it. The thing is, you cannot build your exocraft bay on somebody else’s base.
So I spent a good 25 minutes running around to find a clear spot to place the bay so I could summon the Colossus.
My recommendation: Turn off multiplayer before you start the expedition.
I turned it off after this point, which was good because you don’t need the game slowing down as other people’s trucks phase in and out and all that. But that was still too late because once your local save has everybody else’s crap on it, you’re stuck with it.
But once you find a spot to build your exocraft bay then you’re set. You can just summon the Colossus to where you are after that. So I got that done, then added the new attachment, the flatbed module.
The new flatbed module for your F-650 Super Duty Quadie
I accidentally got another phase done by saving a Colossus layout or something, but eventually got the whole thing setup with the flatbed, which is absolutely essential to the expedition.
The Colossus as a hauler
The flatbed module is also comedy gold, though you might not think so in the moment as you try to haul stuff just flopping around in the back over rough, broken terrain and up and down the hills. This is not a planet of super highways. There will be no fun fun fun on the autobahn here.
The physics model is great and it is going to punish you severely if you decide the drive cross country the same way you do in Forza Horizon 5. You will understand why people should tie down loads even on flat terrain as stuff just rolls round, piles up, and flops off the back or side of your truck.
You will need a sense of humor for this, because the alternative is frustration and rage and who needs that in a video game?
First up is to pick up some random junk from the piles of waste strewn across the planet. I mean this is some kind of rural Pennsatucky junk yard, tire fire level of a planet, so there are old washing machines and cars up on blocks everywhere.
You find a junk pile or three on your scanner, drive there, load up, then go back to the waste processing plant, park on the scale, press the button, and get paid.
Paid out in nanites even!
This is super easy and if you do this again on the next mission you will have to start over. Ask me how I know.
The next mission sends you to a specific rendezvous point where you need to specifically pick up some toxic waste… sorry, marketing has insisted we call in “special” waste. It won’t be hard to spot as unlike the old tires and washing machines, the special waste has colorful decals and bright symbols to indicate its status.
That is some special industrial waste
Also, it is cold at night and you need oxygen on this planet, so make sure that when you’re driving around in the Colossus that you’re burning down anything in range. The hauler has a lot of inventory slots and there is probably a milestone for whatever you’re burning down. Plus, you’ll probably need it later. Hoarding supplies is one of the guiding principals of the game.
You can never have enough ferrite, right?
Once you get your five special waste containers loaded… go grab a few more. In fact, grab as many as you can… but not too many, because there is/was a bug where overloaded trucks suddenly had their loads disappear… because you might drop something along the way… oh, you will… and because there are milestones for collecting a bunch of each type of special waste so, as I noted before, start early on it!
Once you’re loaded, but not overloaded, drive back to the waste processing plant.
Even in my early, naive time, I grabbed a couple extra containers
When you get back to the plant DO NOT park on the scale and press the button to auto collect your load. I mean, you’ll get some nanites, but your load goes away and you’ll have to start over and go find more special waste. Fortunately, the planet is a polluted nightmare that was previously managed by C. Montgomery Burns.
You need to deposit your special waste in the special processing receptacles.
But DO NOT just throw waste into random receptacles. That won’t count and you will lose that container. Again, ask me how I know!
Also, do not try to logic out what kind of waste goes in which by what the processor looks like.
No, you have to look at the sticker on the waste container and match it to the logo on the receptacle.
See how the green logos match
Do this and you will be good. Then just get the container in the receptacle.
Match the logos
You can launch it if you’re good at that or feeling cocky. Two of the receptacles are easy to hit with a launch. The other… not so much. Stuff with that green logo I ended up carrying up the stairs to drop in the pit after a few misses because the special waste containers also have limited durability and you do not want to have to go collect more because you will have to collect enough of the things already.
The special payload tasks
And then there are all the milestones, through the usual five phases. Just keep trucking and doing things to progress. I did something that unlocked the dozer blade, which I immediately attached because there is another milestone for crashing into things with it.
The dozer blade attached to the Colossus
Then I started running over anything I wasn’t hitting with the mining laser.
The Colossus does get slowly upgraded as you move along, and by phase three you’ve got a pretty solid exocraft that you can find things with then haul them off.
That’s it. That’s the goal.
Meanwhile, despite the whole “no spaceships!” thing, I did run into a ship on the planet.
You told me I wasn’t allowed to fly
It let me get on board and told me about what needed to be repaired.
Launch Thrusters are always at the top of the list
So I guess I have a spaceship. I’ll have to see how that works out. Maybe that is the final phase
I have not yet finished the expedition. In addition to turning off multiplayer, I might recommend taking this one easy. In many ways it is kind of relaxing, just doing some hauling, playing Euro Space Truck Simulator or whatever this is. But it takes time. Driving is slower than spaceships. And you will have to stop, load the truck, drive, stop to pick stuff up that fell out… or not… and keep doing that for a while.
I am not sure this is the game play anybody was asking for. I don’t think, once the expedition is done I will spend my time playing planetary garbage man. But it is something to keep the kids entertained and isn’t an expedition you can just clip through in 2 hours or less.
TL;DR – Turn off multiplayer before you start. Take it easy. Enjoy the chill. Don’t lose your shit when you inevitably lose your shit.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 