Much controversy abounds regarding Crystalline Fragments.
They count as a destructible projectile belonging to Crystalline Entity, much like high yield Plasma Torpedoes. They are much less fragile than Heavy Plasma Torpedo (or similar,) and can be drawn off of a target through typical threat mechanics (i.e. shooting at one.)
Up until the Crystalline Entity reaches 30% health, attention paid to "Crystalline Fragment" makes no difference either way, other than reducing damage dealt to players.
When the Crystalline Entity dips below 30%, it will begin to generate Large Crystalline Fragments in addition to regular Crystalline Fragments.
Whereas regular Crystalline Fragments merely dealt damage when impacting a player, the Large fragments will spawn three Small Crystalline Fragments when a collision occurs.
Destroying a Large fragment before it hits a player will keep the Small fragments from appearing.
Small Crystalline Fragments will attempt to return to the Crystalline Entity, healing it for an unknown amount.
Large Crystalline Fragments can impact mines, which counts for generating Small Crystalline Fragments. It is therefore highly recommended that players not use mines in this encounter, unless they are willing to cover their minefields and clean up any complications they cause.
Also of note: any type of weapon can damage the Crystalline Entity without penalty. Early on it was believed that Phasers and other beam weapons had a healing effect. Other than the Crystalline Entity's high resistances and massive pool of hitpoints, anything goes (keeping Fragment mechanics in mind.)
That dont work anymore for some reason, Ive tried this out of fustration and just end up flying through it.
I have seen a galaxy park next to its spawn point and blast it full bore through multiple respawns. It assures them the prize at the end, and keeps the shards down.
Thank the Great Bird! This is exactly right, OP is speaking righteous truth.
Also, it appears the each Small Crystal Shard heals the CE for approximately 1% of the CE's health. Kite the shards; it is relatively safe to drop mines until the CE reaches 30%, and ideally attackers should stop dropping them when the CE reaches 40% -- that should give enough time for the mines to failsafe and blow themselves up. Once the Large shards appear, it is critical that all attackers MOVE and not let themselves get hit. Maximum power to the engines is enough to kite the fragments.
There is anecdotal evidence that large fragments kited out past 10km when collided with will not generate Small fragments. This has not yet been confirmed; I suspect it is not true because Large fragments I have attemped to kite out past 10km have not gone any further from the CE than 10km.
Thank the Great Bird! This is exactly right, OP is speaking righteous truth.
Also, it appears the each Small Crystal Shard heals the CE for approximately 1% of the CE's health. Kite the shards; it is relatively safe to drop mines until the CE reaches 30%, and ideally attackers should stop dropping them when the CE reaches 40% -- that should give enough time for the mines to failsafe and blow themselves up. Once the Large shards appear, it is critical that all attackers MOVE and not let themselves get hit. Maximum power to the engines is enough to kite the fragments.
There is anecdotal evidence that large fragments kited out past 10km when collided with will not generate Small fragments. This has not yet been confirmed; I suspect it is not true because Large fragments I have attemped to kite out past 10km have not gone any further from the CE than 10km.
Why kite at all? Why not just destroy the fragments before they get back to the entity?
However, there is something that causes the entity to heal before you even reach the 30% large shard point. I've seen it's health increase by 1 or 2% at times even while it's up in the 70s and 80s with no large shards around. I have no idea what it is that does it, but it's no where near the problem that the small shard healing is.
Why kite at all? Why not just destroy the fragments before they get back to the entity?
In general, the small shards move too quickly -- not to hit them and destroy them, but to get them all. Even though one Large shard spawns on collision three Small shards, a high level of coordination is needed to blast all three. The problem is excaberated by ships that get hit by Large fragments within 5km which gives even less time to destroy the Smalls.
Basically, it is better to try to actively avoid generating Smalls as much as possible, and thus keeping the number of Smalls that need to be destroyed -- and the number that slip through the net to heal the CE -- down.
Of course, as with any discussion of strategy and tactics, nothing is written in stone and a better tactic is always possible.
Much controversy abounds regarding Crystalline Fragments.
They count as a destructible projectile belonging to Crystalline Entity, much like high yield Plasma Torpedoes. They are much less fragile than Heavy Plasma Torpedo (or similar,) and can be drawn off of a target through typical threat mechanics (i.e. shooting at one.)
Up until the Crystalline Entity reaches 30% health, attention paid to "Crystalline Fragment" makes no difference either way, other than reducing damage dealt to players.
When the Crystalline Entity dips below 30%, it will begin to generate Large Crystalline Fragments in addition to regular Crystalline Fragments.
Whereas regular Crystalline Fragments merely dealt damage when impacting a player, the Large fragments will spawn three Small Crystalline Fragments when a collision occurs.
Destroying a Large fragment before it hits a player will keep the Small fragments from appearing.
Small Crystalline Fragments will attempt to return to the Crystalline Entity, healing it for an unknown amount.
Large Crystalline Fragments can impact mines, which counts for generating Small Crystalline Fragments. It is therefore highly recommended that players not use mines in this encounter, unless they are willing to cover their minefields and clean up any complications they cause.
Also of note: any type of weapon can damage the Crystalline Entity without penalty. Early on it was believed that Phasers and other beam weapons had a healing effect. Other than the Crystalline Entity's high resistances and massive pool of hitpoints, anything goes (keeping Fragment mechanics in mind.)
STOWIKE
this is wrong, destroying them also produces the small crystalline fragments, trust me I spent 2 and a half hours in there and it kept getting healed from 30 back to 80ish.
although there is a lot going on so could be wrong.
However, there is something that causes the entity to heal before you even reach the 30% large shard point. I've seen it's health increase by 1 or 2% at times even while it's up in the 70s and 80s with no large shards around. I have no idea what it is that does it, but it's no where near the problem that the small shard healing is.
that's just the normal regen all ships have. Yours does it to
I still think its to hard for a group of random people to complete, it would be ok for an organised fleet to complete but not an instance of random players.
this is wrong, destroying them also produces the small crystalline fragments, trust me I spent 2 and a half hours in there and it kept getting healed from 30 back to 80ish.
although there is a lot going on so could be wrong.
I have heard that if you destroy a large shard too close to a ship it can still break into shards, but I can't confirm whether this always happens or how close is too close. I can confirm though that at any reasonable distance I've never had a large shard break into small shards if I blow it up.
One side effect of killing large shards is that often you get focused on the ones you are attacking and don't see the ones coming at you from another angle and hit you.
I kited a Large fragment to about 15km last time I did it, then got hit by it before I could finish it off (aft phaser turret & photon torp + no power to weapons means a LOOONG time to kill something chasing you) .What I saw was it spawned the small fragments, but they kinda spread out in 3 different directions for a few seconds then despawned. So it seems like they have a limited range at which they can find the entity to return to it.
I found that if you keep your engine power up, you can easily avoid and outrun the fragments. They are very slow and my cruser just kept ahead of them, blasting away.
a good power setting/equip is X/75 to weapons and X/75 to engins with a hyper impulse (this allows a phaser boat escort to maintain fireing all weapons as they recharge and to kite fragments without outruning)
Much controversy abounds regarding Crystalline Fragments.
They count as a destructible projectile belonging to Crystalline Entity, much like high yield Plasma Torpedoes. They are much less fragile than Heavy Plasma Torpedo (or similar,) and can be drawn off of a target through typical threat mechanics (i.e. shooting at one.)
Up until the Crystalline Entity reaches 30% health, attention paid to "Crystalline Fragment" makes no difference either way, other than reducing damage dealt to players.
When the Crystalline Entity dips below 30%, it will begin to generate Large Crystalline Fragments in addition to regular Crystalline Fragments.
Whereas regular Crystalline Fragments merely dealt damage when impacting a player, the Large fragments will spawn three Small Crystalline Fragments when a collision occurs.
Destroying a Large fragment before it hits a player will keep the Small fragments from appearing.
Small Crystalline Fragments will attempt to return to the Crystalline Entity, healing it for an unknown amount.
Large Crystalline Fragments can impact mines, which counts for generating Small Crystalline Fragments. It is therefore highly recommended that players not use mines in this encounter, unless they are willing to cover their minefields and clean up any complications they cause.
Also of note: any type of weapon can damage the Crystalline Entity without penalty. Early on it was believed that Phasers and other beam weapons had a healing effect. Other than the Crystalline Entity's high resistances and massive pool of hitpoints, anything goes (keeping Fragment mechanics in mind.)
STOWIKE
Thany you for posting this information, and though I was able to gather much of this through the *very rough* zone chat last night it is nice to see it posted all in one place...
I kited a Large fragment to about 15km last time I did it, then got hit by it before I could finish it off (aft phaser turret & photon torp + no power to weapons means a LOOONG time to kill something chasing you) .What I saw was it spawned the small fragments, but they kinda spread out in 3 different directions for a few seconds then despawned. So it seems like they have a limited range at which they can find the entity to return to it.
I have noticed that destroying any Large shard at range (I.e. not in a collision, just weapon fire) will cause 3 smalls to spawn but immediately despawn, like the logic to check if the Large was destroyed by collision or not comes after the Smalls spawned. However, this was not a rigorous observation on my part, so I could be mistaken. . But every anecdote, every data point, helps to build together a better picture of how to defeat this thing.
I mean, hey... the way to defeat the Hamidon didn't spring fully formed from a CoH blaster's brow, after all. Have to start somewhere!
I have noticed that the death animation of the Large Fragments does look like the small fragments, but these spawned as distinct entities (targetable) and I even took a shot at one of them before they despawned.
this is wrong, destroying them also produces the small crystalline fragments, trust me I spent 2 and a half hours in there and it kept getting healed from 30 back to 80ish.
although there is a lot going on so could be wrong.
Correct.
They do, you can shoot them at 9.9 range and they will break into 3 Smalls.
Even the people posting strats dont know the encounter AHAHAH.
Pro tip: Anyone who justs sits at 10.5 and watchs the fight for 45s will know how the encounter works. Unfortunately, people dont have 45s. So they spend an hour trying to kill it lmao.
Edit: Kudos to the designer of this. having encounters where 1 bad can destroy your chances to win the fight reminds me of ulduar hard modes, which i loved.
I still think its to hard for a group of random people to complete, it would be ok for an organised fleet to complete but not an instance of random players.
This here about sums it up. Although a Fleet is not immune from being a noob, it sure makes a difference depending on how well players work together. I killed the thing twice. Once took 10 mins, the other nearly 20.
I don't think I saw it posted by anyone else, but the small crystals return to the entity mostly due to the ship that was kiting them around blowing up. If you have some behind you, don't die because they will return to heal the CE. I've seen it happen multiple times.
This is not to say it is his only way of healing, but the major one.
Why do we have to destroy everything? Wasn't the point of that whole episode about misunderstanding?
Well since we can't communicate with it, we kill it. At least that what I picked up from the mission.
Why can't Starfleet just leave things alone? It was out minding it's own business. Starfleet wanted me to go intercept the damn thing. Not only did I have to chase around the sector to find it, but after I did, it attacked me. I would do the same if you came bothering me.
I did break a crystal chandaleer when I was a child. Maybe it was a distant cousin of the shard. If so, it attacking me was purely justifiable.
Comments
Ram it.
Respawn.
Ram it.
Respawn...
And you're done.
Good, it was somewhat of an exploit.
Since when? I just did it last night.
I have seen a galaxy park next to its spawn point and blast it full bore through multiple respawns. It assures them the prize at the end, and keeps the shards down.
Gamey and broken, but it earns them some money.
Also, it appears the each Small Crystal Shard heals the CE for approximately 1% of the CE's health. Kite the shards; it is relatively safe to drop mines until the CE reaches 30%, and ideally attackers should stop dropping them when the CE reaches 40% -- that should give enough time for the mines to failsafe and blow themselves up. Once the Large shards appear, it is critical that all attackers MOVE and not let themselves get hit. Maximum power to the engines is enough to kite the fragments.
There is anecdotal evidence that large fragments kited out past 10km when collided with will not generate Small fragments. This has not yet been confirmed; I suspect it is not true because Large fragments I have attemped to kite out past 10km have not gone any further from the CE than 10km.
Why kite at all? Why not just destroy the fragments before they get back to the entity?
However, there is something that causes the entity to heal before you even reach the 30% large shard point. I've seen it's health increase by 1 or 2% at times even while it's up in the 70s and 80s with no large shards around. I have no idea what it is that does it, but it's no where near the problem that the small shard healing is.
Basically, it is better to try to actively avoid generating Smalls as much as possible, and thus keeping the number of Smalls that need to be destroyed -- and the number that slip through the net to heal the CE -- down.
Of course, as with any discussion of strategy and tactics, nothing is written in stone and a better tactic is always possible.
this is wrong, destroying them also produces the small crystalline fragments, trust me I spent 2 and a half hours in there and it kept getting healed from 30 back to 80ish.
although there is a lot going on so could be wrong.
since this mornings patch
that's just the normal regen all ships have. Yours does it to
I have heard that if you destroy a large shard too close to a ship it can still break into shards, but I can't confirm whether this always happens or how close is too close. I can confirm though that at any reasonable distance I've never had a large shard break into small shards if I blow it up.
One side effect of killing large shards is that often you get focused on the ones you are attacking and don't see the ones coming at you from another angle and hit you.
Thany you for posting this information, and though I was able to gather much of this through the *very rough* zone chat last night it is nice to see it posted all in one place...
Looking to tonight's failure to get the CS...
I mean, hey... the way to defeat the Hamidon didn't spring fully formed from a CoH blaster's brow, after all. Have to start somewhere!
seems a bit early dont it?
Correct.
They do, you can shoot them at 9.9 range and they will break into 3 Smalls.
Even the people posting strats dont know the encounter AHAHAH.
Pro tip: Anyone who justs sits at 10.5 and watchs the fight for 45s will know how the encounter works. Unfortunately, people dont have 45s. So they spend an hour trying to kill it lmao.
Edit: Kudos to the designer of this. having encounters where 1 bad can destroy your chances to win the fight reminds me of ulduar hard modes, which i loved.
This here about sums it up. Although a Fleet is not immune from being a noob, it sure makes a difference depending on how well players work together. I killed the thing twice. Once took 10 mins, the other nearly 20.
This is not to say it is his only way of healing, but the major one.
Well since we can't communicate with it, we kill it. At least that what I picked up from the mission.
Why can't Starfleet just leave things alone? It was out minding it's own business. Starfleet wanted me to go intercept the damn thing. Not only did I have to chase around the sector to find it, but after I did, it attacked me. I would do the same if you came bothering me.
I did break a crystal chandaleer when I was a child. Maybe it was a distant cousin of the shard. If so, it attacking me was purely justifiable.