I like the “fix” for the motor bike light… THANK YOU DEVS!! Looks great and like a real headlight beam now. I can see what is up ahead even if its only a little ahead it is way better.
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Review
I like the part of the update that you can now see on the map which stations are at each safehouse, if you select them.
Now I just need all safehouses again… And they should stay.
It’s just not very stable. I sometimes had situations where the map said that at almost every location are the same stations available.
I don’t like that the game currently seems to flicker often. Objects pop in sometimes half a meter in front of me, sometimes further away, but still visible. That’s not nice.
I played in coop today. Me and my mate tested the update, I tested the DLC, too.
After we finished the unlocking mission and placed our configured companions it took 15 minutes for me (host) to crash. It happend during a battle west of ringfort, where the game often crashes for me. And just there. So nothing special, I thought.
But the game didn’t crash completly. I got a message that told me that we were playing on different versions and I found myself back in the main menu. I continued, started at the last safehouse and my mate left the session and returned into the new one.
We did the weekly mission and then wanted to visit Norrmyra bunker, which seems to be a new location (at least the icon there). Half an hour after the first crash it crashed again for me with the same message.
My mate, btw, crashed 4 times in total, but came back immediatly.
It’s nice to see that the light and sound modules can be found by looting boxes, too.
I used the spotter behavior module and my mate was able to see the spotted machines, too. Nice.
We were not able to repair our companions on the field, by opening his menu and selecting “repair”. Is there a trick?
Sadly there is no buildable companion station for our resistance bases. Will it follow?
On the way to the first mission location we came to a place with a destroyed tank and a small camp. The fire of this camp was strange… It moved.
It was there at the “tank in pieces” location.
Something I dislike, too:
The light and sound modules or paintings for the runner should be able to be found after the mission for getting the companion is finished. Where is the surprise of getting a companion if you already know that you get it by all the modules you found?
I built the companion and moved into battle. Right before the battle I placed it the first time. I already built an armor and attached it to the bot, but the mission objective to do this just came after placing the companion the first time.
And my previously installed armor didn’t count.
So I had to go back to the station and build another armor (which destroyed the old one).
The companions inventory looks good, like a pillbox inventory. BUT its useability isn’t very good in this case. You cannot see which weapon/item is used on the wheel or which attachment is attached.
Sadly you cannot equip special ammo to the companions weapons, like you can with pillboxes. I would like to be able to give him emp rounds for the rocket launcher for example.
Question:
@SR_Carni When is the companion mission available? “Right from beginning” by getting to vesslan warboard or later (for example after finishing the main story)?
In my eyes it’s quite early if you can get it right from vesslan command bunker warboard once you get there. It’s (just by looking at the map) even before you get a motorbike… And ways before you know more about the real existence of a resistance.
And please don’t just say that it’s necessary to get it this early because of the paid dlc and because the ones who buy it want to see the contents almost immediatly.
By this politics you will destroy the immersion of the story more and more with almost every new paid dlc that will come in future.
It’s just dumb to plug in every paid content into the first few hours of the game. Please excuse my wording.
2 Likes
Be careful what you say 
, crashed in combat single player , this hardly ever happens prior to companion, oh dear here we go 
I Love the Runner Companion, I’ve been Hoping and waiting for it to be added for long time ^.^
But there is some Strange Behavior, Design Oddities and Limitations, ill Probably will make a Thread about it all as it so far is Rather Lengthy… <.<;
But far most things about the Companion Runner is Great! ~.^
Much Better then the Pseudo-Companion Runners I've had
Generation Zero: Synapses - YouTube
Generation Zero: Runner Companion - YouTube
The First time i Did “Synapses” and “Virus” Side Missions, the game crashed soon after a spawn trigger and when i Re-launched the Objective had skipped to the next or had Completed. -.-
So i didn’t notice they were Hijacked, i did on the second go as i had played with the Hacking Specialization on an Alt Character.
This Recording of Synapses is after the Multi-World Update. so i could re-play them again now without Crashes! ~.^
@Madchaser
The Mission to Acquire the Companion Runner is started from the Vesslan Command Bunker’s Warboard. so Right after you Finish the Taking over the Bunker with Pontus.
I too think it’s a Bit too early to get it, as the idea should not have Crossed the Players mind till before going trough Veronica’s Side missions “Synapses” and “Virus” from the Fnix Rissing DLC, in South coast, it certainly didn’t for me…
(despite having Played with Hacking on an Alt Character)
I though it would had Required you to have Finished the South coast Missions, despite having Fnix Rising or not.
as if you had Fnix Rissing it would make more sense.
(even when you get it Later, as your mind should connect the dots)
We were not able to repair our companions on the field, by opening his menu and selecting “repair”. Is there a trick?
The Runner companion have 2 Health Bars and 2 Hud icons:
- The First is the Runner with the + Sign next to it (same that is next to the Player Health %), that is the Health of the Runner.
- The second Health bar have a Shield Icon next to the Runner. This is the Armor Durability.
While the Runner have Armor it sadly can’t be Repaired, but once the Armor is fully broken and the Runner have the Health Icon it can be Repaired once it have below 100 Heath.
Sadly you can’t Re-fit Armor in the Field which makes it rather Crippled once it’s broken if it had Good armor on it…
2 Likes
For me the mission just popped up when I started the game. I did not had to get it from the warboard at Vesslan. Anybody else had that happening too?
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For me nothing happened. No notification, no mission nothing. I stumbled across the station as I’d spawned at the airfield.
It was only after I’d joined a friend in multiplayer (who had completed the companion mission) and returned to my world that I got the mission pop up.
However, as I’d played multiplayer in a world with it unlocked the game had already given me my own companion. So I already had it at the same time I was doing the mission to unlock it.
They really need to test this stuff more thoroughly.
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A bit of both, I’d say. The mission to check the runner station popped up right after logging in, but it actually started at Vesslan as the first mission marker is there… 
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It didn’t pop up for me.
No info, no message (in a world where I already finished all missions).
I looked for a mission icon on the map. Nothing to see in the log so far. I saw the red icon and went to vesslan. The mission started with picking up the letter at the station.
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Same here , there was nothing on launching new session, letter started it 
It didn’t popup for me, but i had read from where it started (while it downloaded)
I were in a World where i had Cleared all of Archipelago and majority of Farmlands and South coast.
So i looked in the logs and after moment i noticed a Main Missions i didn’t recognize called “Making Friends” but no map icons.
Yes, that’s what I meant, I was led to the Vapenkussan at the back entrance of Vesslan. There I picked up the letter. In my memory the orange mission marker was there before I picked up the letter. I will play the mission again and see what exactly happened.
I was however, led to that vapenkussun with the still unequipped Companion Station. To me the popup notifying me that I got a new mission in my missions log, is the start. ( is a bit confusing)
Edit: The popup was a procedural mission
Ok I restarted the mission. I got a popup, but that was a procedural mission. That was why I looked in the missions log. There the Mission “Making Friends” was on the top of the list, unactivated. When I activated the Orange mission waypoints were on the map. I was at Himfjäll, and this time I noticed the orange waypoint at the Björntunet Hotel Companion Station, I didn’t noticed it the first time.
So I’m guessing, depending where you are, you can find the Starting letter at every Companion Station nearby. To check this further, before doing the mission I took some more pictures of Companion Station locations. I took more pictures, but these six should be more than sufficient. Click pics for larger view.
Then I was at Anl 118 Farela and decided to pick up the letter from there, instead of from the vapenkassun near Vesslan.
Here I got the three “mission objective locations”
3 mission objective waypoints on the compass. After finishing the 3 objectives, I was send to the Companion Station near Vesslan. So the game always ends there.
So we know now that you can start the “Making Friends” mission at every Companion Station you like.
In my original first run I did not take the letter at Björntunet, because I had not noticed the waypoints there. Instead I looked on the map searching for a orange waypoint, and lo and behold there was a orange waypoint near Vesslan. So I travelled there. I should have looked more thoroughly.
I also checked if the mission was already in the missions log when I logged in after the Companion Update, and it was (in a new world Ditto. When I activated the mission in the log I got a orange waypoint to the a Companion station with a starting letter nearest to my location, but you could travel to other stations and find a start letter there.
That all folks… 
2 Likes
Okay, over 150 postings in this thread, and we have discussed paintwork, play fetch, petting, how to activate the “pup” and what not. All cool and dandy - I mean, I like a nice paintjob and when somebody plays with my stick just as much as the next guy. But it seems to me, that only @lithilya had the guts to question the whole concept when stating:
I like the idea of this Ally. Not as an obediant “pup” but more like an equal joining the fight. Because, to me, the real question is: Who is controlling this machine? And to quote @Gysbert:
Why is it heartbreaking, when a machine breaks down? Who’s the subject of this suffering? Who dies?
Those who dwell under the mountain
Deep down in a bunker under Ôstertörns mountains a swedish teenage girl with deep blue eyes, fair blond hair, and a smile that can melt hardened glass is kept in stasis by FNIX, her brain hooked up to control a runner. Somehow, the resistance managed to turn this runner to our advantage without FNIX being aware of this deception. If FNIX knew, she would be “decomissioned” instantly. Did she in her endless nightmare volunteer to join us, or did we just transfer her slavery to our advantage? Do we just treat her as a dog, petting her and letting her fetch our stick for our amusement? Do we even care, when she takes a beating or … die? Are we any better that FNIX, treating this young girl as a tool for our cause and entertainment?
Were we not supposed to be the good guys? No “pup” for me unless someone can provide a solid and consistent explanation that does not imply abuse.
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I just would have said that it’s just an AI.
If the machines really are controlled by humen, the resistance maybe managed to cut the connection and replace it by a simple and local AI.
Either way, I don’t believe that the humen are needed to control the machines.
I could think of them being used as knowledge-database to feed the AI, but not as control-units.
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I merely copied the information from Twitter. And, to make sure it’s no longer a source of irritation, I’ve removed that Quote. Hope you are OK.
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Sorry, @Gysbert , I’m not making you responsible for this statement 
But you are an authority on game lore and you are conveying new information about the game 
I simply find this discussion far, more interesting than whether or not you can fit a Kill-o-Zap gun on the “pup” 
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That’s perfectly ok. Good controversy is usually more interesting than pink sweet bubblegum. So what’s on your mind? Edit: Look at the time…I have to go, it’s movie time for me. 
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Well, is my assumption correct or can someone offer another plausible explanation that doesn’t involve human mind control and still would fall within the reach of the technology of Ōstertōrn in the late Eighties?
Do we still have a consistent story and therefore consider the implications of the “pup”, or should we stop worrying about the story and just play the game for what it is … a game
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Perhaps, but I find it hard to believe that a non-biologically based AI would be up for the job back then. But that raises another question: how are the Russian machines controlled? Admittedly, it is much easier to construct s regulation system for a control unit balancing on a ball, than a bi-pedal construction like the hunter, but still … Anyway, that might be another discussion.
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