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| “ | Advancements into the Kursite bugs we have seen in caves and more general research done in the Crystalline Caverns, RnD have finally figured out how to almost instantly grow crystals on demand! Just drop one of the Kursite Crystalarium down, let it auto-deploy, and use your new planner tool to fill the caves of Hoxxes with beams of silicate based quartz. Don't worry about bringing any back though, the mixture is a one-way process, and probably carcinogenic or slightly radioactive, we don't know which one yet. All that being said, we have taken the liberty of upgrading your existing tool set for you free of charge! |
| — Karl |
The Kursite Crystalarium is a Support Tool used by the Engineer. It is a large machine that can be deployed similarly to the Sentry Guns but without requiring you to manually build it. It has a large chamber of volatile crystal mix, enclosed in a translucent pink crystal, which is itself enclosed in a metal cage that is animate and can direct the unstable mixture to create crystals with a laser.
The Kursite Crystalarium is directed with the handheld planner, which can be accessed after placing the Kursite Crystalarium in it's former inventory slot. By default, the player can request up to 3 crystals to be built at once, and the maximum fuel capacity only allows the total combined crystal length to be up to 50 meters. Additionally, building the crystals is a slow process, so requesting multiple to be built at once in needed locations is highly recommended for efficient use.
The planning tool is similar to the existing laser pointer that comes with all dwarves by default, but with more specialized functionality. The base of the crystal can be selected by clicking on any terrain, and the end point is selected by either clicking on another piece of terrain to make a bridge, or an open end by using the scroll wheel to point somewhere midair (dpad down or up on controllers). The planner tool also has a display which indicates if any given placement is valid, what crystal type you have, how much fuel will be used for any given placement, and how much is remaining. Most of this information can also be seen on the laser itself, as there are three different colored indicator circles. The inner circle is green when full, then gradually turns yellow then red as the fuel empties. The middle circle is how much fuel will be used, green when 1%, then gradually turning red as it approaches 10%. The outer circle is green if the placement is valid, red otherwise.
While the Kursite Crystalarium is capable of deploying itself over the span of 10 seconds, it can be sped up by manually building it, with the time being divided by how many players are helping with it's construction (5 seconds if 1, 3.3 seconds if 2, etc). Since you can have only one Kursite Crystalarium, if you wish to move locations then you must recall it, which can be done by holding the reload button while holding the planner tool. Alternatively, attempting to build a crystal in an out-of reach location will cause the Kursite Crystalarium to automatically deploy itself in a nearby location.
Using the Laser Pointer on a crystal will display which crystal type the engineer has chosen to use. Additionally, the coloration of the crystal will also indicate this setting. A pink crystal is the default crystal, and has no special use. A blue crystal is a glow crystal, a yellow crystal is a static crystal, and a grey crystal is a magnetized crystal (all three described below in the modification section).
Modifications[]
There are four tiers of modifications and each tier has one to three upgrades. Only one modification can be equipped per tier.
| Engineer Upgrades | ||||||||||
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| Mod | Effect | In Game Description | Price | |||||||
Tier 1 10
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 Disco Ball |
+3 Max Simultaneous Beams | "Build more crystals at the same time." |
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 High Power Lasers |
+0.25m/s Rate of Fire | "Doubles your crystal construction speed" |
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| Tier 2 15
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 Sturdy Mixture |
+1 Crystal Durability | "All crystals are now stronger, making them harder to break" |
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| Tier 3 20
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 Stability Fields |
+50m Max Range | "The beam maintains stability at longer distances, letting you build crystals further out" |
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 Ultra Dense Tank |
+50m Ammo | "Doubles the fuel you have" |
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| Tier 4 25
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 Glow Crystals |
+Glow Crystals | "Crystals now glow permanently, giving you a handy light source in the dark. They also lure bugs to them like moths to a lamp." |
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 Static Crystals |
+Static Crystals | "All crystals you make are now electrically charged! Not enough to actually hurt mind you, but it will drastically slow any bugs that try to walk on them." |
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 Magnetized Crystals |
+Magnetized Crystals | "Throwing neodymium into the mix makes the crystals float in the air! Don't stand on them for too long though, the magnets in your boots has a habit of demagnetizing them." |
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Unique Modifications[]
| Unique Modifications | ||
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Glow Crystals |
In addition to all crystals you build turning blue and glowing permanently, bugs will be attracted and sometimes even attack your crystals. This attraction works in two parts. The first is by simply making the bug pathing prioritize walking over the glow crystals, making most bugs prefer to walk over them rather than regular terrain, even if the regular path is shorter. The second is by giving every bug that comes within a 10 meter radius a 10% chance to attack the crystal, similar to how L.U.R.Es work. the bug will attack the crystal for either 20 seconds, and it will stop if attacked or the crystal is destroyed by then.
There are certain scenarios where glyphids will ignore the glow crystal attractiveness: Such as, if a dwarf is attacking the bug, there is no crystal in between the bug and its desired target, or if the crystal has been damaged too much (indicated by the glow disappearing). Additionally, if the crystals is free standing and not a bridge, the bugs will almost always prioritize pathing to the tip of the crystal. Glow Crystals is very useful for creating kill-zones by forcing swarms of enemies to funnel together into a group for AOE attacks to finish them off. Crystals can also be strategically placed to cut off blind spots when defending an objective and therefore forcing flanking enemies to attack you head on. In open spaces, placing a line of crystals together is useful for kiting enemies, as they will constantly re-path around the crystals as long as you maintain a distance. The M.U.L.E. will also path around crystals just like a glyphid would, you can use her to test your crystal setup to see how enemies would path around it. | |
Static Crystals |
Static Crystals will force all enemies (including Dreadnoughts) to have a significantly slower movement speed when walking over a crystal. Additionally, any weapon that procs off an electrified enemy will also trigger on bugs that are in a static zone. Unlike most other sources of electricity, Static Crystals do not deal actual electric damage, and will not kill bugs on their own. | |
Magnetized Crystals |
Magnetized Crystals will cause crystals to float in the air, even when damaged so long as they are not completely destroyed. In addition, it is now possible to place the base of a crystal midair too, creating a fully detached crystal in the air. Standing on the crystal does make it impossible for many pure melee bugs to attack you, but flying and other ranged bugs will prioritize targeting you. Additionally, standing on a magnetized crystal will slowly push it close to the ground, at a rate of about 0.1 meters per second per player standing on the crystal. Magnetized crystals can not be pushed back into the air by any means, but if one does touch the ground, the ground itself can be dug out and the crystal will continue to float in place. | |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- When initially revealed in a Dev Stream, the devs were not sure which crystal types would be possible, as there originally were five different prototypes. Originally, glow crystals did not have the bug attracting properties as those were given to a separate crystal but they were merged for the final release. An additional crystal type was the 'explosive crystal', which as the name would suggest, exploded on damage, this crystal was cut due to play tester feedback about how it felt more detrimental than beneficial to the team.
- Standing in a crystal while it is being constructed will slowly damage you, but it will not block the construction of the crystal. If the crystal is static, the damage type is electric, and if the crystal is magnetized, then you will be given a low gravity buff for a brief period.
- The platform gun used to be engineers traversal tool, but it was phased out in season 4 for a more futuristic and interesting device that fitted his character more. The platform gun's model is still in the game files, but all data relating to it has been completely removed, and it is impossible to spawn the platform gun back in even with mods.
- Crystals can be used to easily block entire corridors for bugs, though the bugs will then attempt to destroy the crystals blocking them regardless if they are glowing crystals or not..
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References[]
Youtube link to the developers talking about this gun's history.