There is so much to cover in this Devstream, and if you’re interested in learning about Empyrean: boy howdy, is this the Devstream for you! Text can only convey so much, so I strongly recommend skimming through the gameplay demo from this episode if you can. There is no way for me to truly capture the chaos.

As always, you can catch all the details and shenanigans on our YouTube channel, or read the highlights down below:

Housekeeping:

• TennoBaum is back! For every gift given from now until Dec 31, we will donate .25 cents canadian to the London Food Bank which feeds our city’s most vulnerable. We’ll be donating up to $50,000! Learn more here.

• Catch Reb at The Game Awards to make a special announcement! Tune in to any Twitch stream in the Game Awards Directory on December 12th for 30 minutes to receive a Glaxion Vandal! Full information can be found here.

• Gift of the Lotus alerts are live on all platforms for 24 hours following the stream, ft: an Orokin Catalyst Blueprint, Zaw Riven Mod, and Gauss Mag Alt Helmet Blueprint!

• Our Nintendo Switch players have special Akstilletto Prime Blueprint and Fragor Prime Blueprint Alerts while we await your next Cert build. Alerts are live until December 9th at 2pm ET. Learn more here!

• Submissions for TennoGen Round 18 close on January 20, 2020 at 2pm ET!

• A new Winter Glyph Pack is live on all platforms for a limited time.

Empyrean

What to Expect

Let’s get straight into what you’re all here for: Empyrean! This is a huge chunk of information, so we’re breaking it down into categories where possible. All crafting costs and stats are subject to change -- final balancing is still to be had and will be tuning numbers now that all these systems coming together.

Empyrean’s release will be in phases. We have a lot planned for this system, and we want to make sure that each aspect of it is the best that it can be. Upon initial launch, expect some thrash -- your feedback on this system will be invaluable to us as we look to iterate more once it’s in your hands.

Empyrean Version One is designed and optimized as a co-op experience. Solo players will still be able to enjoy the Empyrean experience, but the difficulty and progression will be focused around those playing with others -- expect more of a challenge if you venture in alone, but it won’t be impossible!

To Start

Before you can jump into Empyrean, you will need your Dry Dock and Railjack completed. To actually start your Railjack, you will need the key to start the Reliquary Drive for your Railjack once Empyrean releases.

Research

You will be able to research different components for your Railjack in your Clan. The research will be clan-wide, and players will be able to Fabricate the completed research to build in the Foundry.

There are four different types of items you can research:

• Reactors, which affect your Railjack’s energy capacity

• Guns, to shoot with!

• Engine, to fly with!

• Shields, to protect your ship!

These components come in different tiers, which scale up in efficiency: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3.

Warframe gear functions as “powerless unless you get lucky” -- these research components allow you to reliably earn progress towards power with your clan.

Components

These are the items you research in your Clan and build yourself! Equip them on your Railjack to make an impact in battle. Here is an example of one of the front-facing turrets in action:

Avionics

Avionics are another part of the upgrade system for your Railjack, and there are different types of Avionics that serve different purposes:

• Battle Avionics: Basically your Railjack’s powers, that are similar in theme to Warframe abilities. They are default bound to the 1 / 2 / 3 keys.

• Integrated Avionics: Passive Stat Boosting

• Tactical Avionics: Found upgrades that are ship-focused. Void Cloak is an example that you might have seen at TennoCon. 

There are different manufacturers of Avionics that offer different strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to further customize your upgrading experience.

Your Raijlack energy capacity limits the amount of Avionics you can equip. Unlike what was shown in the TennoCon demo, there is no more active Avionics equipping/unequipping in-mission. What you equip ahead of time is what stays in-mission, so choose wisely! We made this change since active power management didn’t suit the speed of gameplay.

Players can upgrade the Avionics Grid itself and the Avionics as well, using Avionic Endo.

Payload

Managing a ship requires different resources to perform different tasks:

• Put out fires

• Shoot missiles

• Use special abilities

• Shoot big powerful guns

Copernics, Cubic Diodes, Carbides, and Pustrels can all be used to create resources for those systems, either before you take off (pre-loading with whatever resources you have on-hand) or in-mission, using the resources you collect in your battle.

You can do so in-mission in the cargo hold seen here:

Intrinsics

This is a reliable progression system that is the skill of YOU, regardless of your Warframe or loadout. This is a new type of player-level skill that applies to Raijack and Empyrean, and allows you to unlock individual abilities, like special maneuvers for the ship, as you progress. These skills and their bonuses follow you even if you’re on another player’s ship!

There are four intrinsics shipping with the initial launch of Empyrean:

• Tactician

• Piloting

• Gunnery

• Engineering

A fifth, Command, will come when we introduce the ability to manage an NPC crew. These NPCs would be composed of Syndicates and Liches, which will be helpful for Solo players. Don’t worry, we will add a system that allows you to respec your intrinsics in the future so don’t hold off on investing your points if you’re waiting for the 5th Intrinsic.

Matchmaking and Missions

If you don’t have a Railjack or are wanting to join another crew, you can do so using the “Join a Crew” toggle in the Star Chart:

If you want to use your own Railjack, you can form a crew and host the mission by starting it from Navigation in your Railjack.

When selecting nodes to play, the core mission objectives will vary depending on randomized aspects of the actual mission tile, internally referred to as “points of interest”. Certain nodes will have guaranteed “points of interest” in the mission. Scott mentioned that there are around 8 different points of interest, including:

• Galleon

• Asteroid Base

In-Mission

Since this a co-op experience, we have added various co-op tools to help you communicate with your teammates. Pressing “L” will pull up a Tactician screen that will allow you to do a few things:

• See where your squadmates are on the map

• Spectate your squadmates to see what they’re doing

• Suggest tasks for them to do using a selection of commands, which will prompt Cy to instruct them.

• Use special Warframe Tactical Abilities in the minimap to support your squadmates on away parties or if your Railjack is boarded.

Other Tidbits

• You can board enemy crewships and destroy the reactor (causing them to explode after a timer), or commandeer it for yourself. These also have randomized interiors.

2019 So Far

The images above are a quick recap of what we’ve done in 2019! This is not the final stream of the year, so we’ll probably reflect more in a future stream. On that note, there is something that was promised in 2019 that might not be coming in the way players expect: The New War.

The New War

There’s a hint about the New War in Rising Tides, but as promised at TennoCon, The New War quest will not be released by Christmas. The war might start before then, though!

The New War isn’t just a Quest -- it’s a war, and it takes time. Your time invested into your Railjack and Empyrean will help prepare you for this War.

Liches Feedback

The stream ended with a chat about Liches, here is a quick recap:

• Any plans to change your consequence of dying when stabbing your Lich with the wrong combo of Parazon mods? No.

• This system will be continually iterated upon as we look into expanding into new Factions. What exists for Grineer Liches might not work for other enemy types -- who knows? It’s something we will look into more in 2020.

• Getting a Lich you don’t want is remedied slightly by trading, but we are discussing further options. Reb mentioned the idea of Palladino dispelling a Lich for you once a week -- just an idea, no promises here!

Have a great weekend, Tenno!