Blackstone Key

[bork_dork]

I bought the key dlc and I have no idea when I'm supposed to get it? I paid for it and I'm super frustrated because I haven't found/gotten the item yet.

[AlphaNN]

There is no item. Just go to Blackstone Isle and click on the workshop.

[Jack Sprat]

i'm actually curious as to how/where you find it without the shortcut dlc, it's been great for early gameplay but part of me wants to do the long haul instead (i know i can just not open the workshop but that's no fun).

[>//The_FALCON]

Originally posted by Jack Sprat:

i'm actually curious as to how/where you find it without the shortcut dlc, it's been great for early gameplay but part of me wants to do the long haul instead (i know i can just not open the workshop but that's no fun).

you cant. it's literally only unlocked through the dlc

also it's not p2w, so don't even try to cry about it

[Necroscourge]

AFAIK you can only open that shed with the DLC, it was a pre-order bonus or something. And to be honest, it's okay. You get a weak early game single slot engine and a single slot fishing item that illuminates aberrant packs of fish. It's great for early game when you get a bit of free speed and a way to fill your logbook quickly.

[thelefthorse]

Originally posted by Necroscourge:

AFAIK you can only open that shed with the DLC, it was a pre-order bonus or something. And to be honest, it's okay. You get a weak early game single slot engine and a single slot fishing item that illuminates aberrant packs of fish. It's great for early game when you get a bit of free speed and a way to fill your logbook quickly.

As Necroscourge says, the DLC is really underwhelming, which is fine. I paid for it and am fine with that, but the two items you receive are pretty useless *and* take up precious inventory space.

[AlphaNN]

Originally posted by thelefthorse:

take up precious inventory space.

You can discard them if you think you'll never use them.

[darkly77]

Originally posted by Necroscourge:

You get a weak early game single slot engine and a single slot fishing item that illuminates aberrant packs of fish

Is that true? I know the DLC item gives you an increased aberrant chance (5%) but I thought the special illuminated spots were a base game feature. I've always had the DLC item on my boat so can't confirm this though.

[Mordecalim]

as someone who doesnt own the DLC i can confirm that spots with aberrant fish have a green "fog" (kinda like northern lights) above them :) but the DLC item does increase the chance to catch a weird fish

[bork_dork]

Originally posted by AlphaNN:

There is no item. Just go to Blackstone Isle and click on the workshop.

ohhhh okay

[DankWestern]

The game isn't $59.99, and I've personally really been enjoying it. Little DLC options like this are really just there to show support to the developers, which I for one am happy to do. I've paid a lot more for games that gave me a lot less, and as that other random person said, it's nothing that's going to be remotely close to pay to win, or even give you any sizable lead over someone who played the game without it. Within maybe an hour, you can graduate from the engine it gives you, but the charm is nice. It will take 1 slot of your fishing reel space, so if you choose to use it, you could be missing out on some vital fishing gear. I like that they did it this way because there's a critical decision involved in even utilizing these items in the first place.

Now, for the items you get in the Blackstone workshop:

"Sign Of Ruin" - A symbol of the deep is carved into this small talisman. It's sure to draw the attention of those attuned to it."

Sign Of Ruin is a 1 square sized small charm that fits where the fishing rods go.

There is no ingame definition for the benefits of this item outside of that small flavor text above. Some say it increases the chances of finding mutated fish <Aberrations> and others say it marks the fishing spots with some kind of visual que that aberrations may appear there. I am uncertain as I have used this item for the majority of my time playing, so I wouldn't know what's being affected by it, and what's just regular appearances.

"Arterial Engine - The bony blades of this grotesque engine are driven by a pulsing heart. It beats in time with your own." < Speed + 7.4 kn >

Arterial Engine is a 1 square sized small engine that fits where the engines go.

This item is technically inferior to the Jet Drive Engine of the same size, and provides < Speed +9.5 kn > I chose to sacrifice the small boost I could have in speed simply to utilize it on my rig since it's very cool sounding.

[darkly77]

Originally posted by DankWestern:

others say it marks the fishing spots with some kind of visual que that aberrations may appear there.

We confirmed that it doesn't mark fishing spots btw, in the comments above, and I watched some streams to confirm that they appear without the DLC. The item only has that +5% aberrant chance effect (which I data mined myself to find out). Just letting you know to avoid spreading the wrong info :)

[DankWestern]

Originally posted by darkly77:

The item only has that +5% aberrant chance effect (which I data mined myself to find out). Just letting you know to avoid spreading the wrong info :)

While I believe you wholeheartedly, one person's claims can hardly constitute as confirmation of anything without any form of proof. I simply provided the data I was able to gather through my play, and I think I did a decent job explaining that said data was simply my observations mixed with the ingame descriptions. I cannot be justly accused of spreading the wrong info any more than you can without the proper citations.

I guess it comes down to my word against yours until one of us is bored enough to record our findings, but it feels trivial to argue which one of us is "spreading the wrong info" as it's just one experience against another.

[darkly77]

@DankWestern: I didn't mean any offense, sorry if it came across that way. You said that "others say it marks the fishing spots", but I've only seen 1 person mention that, and that was in this thread a few messages above, and was disproven shortly after.

If you want to verify that the bonus is 5% like I said it is, you can dump the game's code and data with AssetRipper and check it yourself. There's some details on that at the end of my post about the other stats I data mined, here. I think the stat was called "aberrationCatchBonus", or something like that.

[bsg_joel]

I can confirm for y'all that the Sign of Ruin DLC item doesn't 'mark' aberration spots.

[DankWestern]

Originally posted by darkly77:

@DankWestern: I didn't mean any offense, sorry if it came across that way. You said that "others say it marks the fishing spots", but I've only seen 1 person mention that, and that was in this thread a few messages above, and was disproven shortly after.

I don't believe you meant to be offensive, and I was not offended, but you did imply that I was spreading misinformation, so I had to offer the reasoning behind my words to defend them. Technically others did make that claim, as proven above by the person making the claim, as you yourself pointed out. Another person disagreeing with them hardly constitutes as someone's claims being disproven if there's just two people having conflicting opinions with no citations or hard data proving otherwise. I wasn't claiming there was any merit to their claims, simply that at least one other person had made the claim, which we've both observed at this point.

The link you provided, however, is very concrete and cannot be disputed, so that seems to settle that.

Originally posted by bsg_joel:

I can confirm for y'all that the Sign of Ruin DLC item doesn't 'mark' aberration spots.

This word from the developer also seals the deal on that myth! What a nice and concrete ending! Thanks for chiming in there, dev, who knows how much longer these claims and theories would have continued! I love your game, and I wrote a nice review as well :)