About Sentinel Pillars...

[UncreativelyNamed]

Mostly, I want to make sure my game is working properly.

I've read posts with people talking about fighting at Sentinel pillars, but in my game I can just walk to the interface and do the things without the Sentinels batting an eye. Then once they're deactivated. I shoot up the bits you can shoot up to collect the goodies. Is this how it's supposed to be with the normal on-foot combat setting? Or is something messed up with my game?

If it is normal, given that you can get some powerful stuff by extracting tech from salvaged glass, this seems a bit too OP/easy to me, especially since in one of my saves I have a base about 300u from a sentinel pillar, so it's basically an unlimited supply of salvaged glass. So, I'm thinking I want to make it a bit harder on myself, even though I'm not a fan of on-foot combat. I'm assuming the Sentinels present will freak out if I just shoot at them? Or do I need to turn up the difficulty of on-foot combat as well?

[Happy Monkey]

The reason to fight at sentinel pillars is to allow you to do as much fighting as you want for fun or to do a mission or collect resources, and then instakill them whenever you are satisfied.

[Raven]

Yes, you can just walk up to the pillar and turn off the 'little beasties'. They will however, go 'do-lally' if you shoot at them. Try that first before upping the settings.

[UncreativelyNamed]

Originally posted by Peregrinus:

Yes, you can just walk up to the pillar and turn off the 'little beasties'. They will however, go 'do-lally' if you shoot at them. Try that first before upping the settings.

That's what I was figuring, but I second-guessed since, as-is, it really is too easy. (And coming from me with my anti-combat ways, that's saying something. ) So then I started thinking that maybe my game was broken. LOL

I guess it's not too different from the manufacturing facilities, when I think about it. It's just that with those you have to trigger the sentinels in order to get anything, but you can just dash into the building to avoid them. There's no building at the pillars, so I guess that's why HG did it this way, so that triggering the sentinels is entirely optional.

[The Knowledge Seeker]

I hope they don't change this feature lol. I am only saying this as an adventurer who doesn't like to get punished too much with "what if I do this?" lol

[UncreativelyNamed]

Originally posted by The Knowledge Seeker:

I hope they don't change this feature lol. I am only saying this as an adventurer who doesn't like to get punished too much with "what if I do this?" lol

LOL

I'm a person who doesn't watch videos or read wikis or anything before I play a game and for a while after I start playing, because I like to figure things out for myself. So unless the in-game info is unusually thorough, pretty much my entire game experience, especially with a new game, is one big "What if I do this?" :) I just always save beforehand, so if things go tits-up, I can just reload the game.

[The Knowledge Seeker]

Same about the reload!!!

But yeah, thank you for asking this, cause I was wondering too. I know in the expedition, I was able to walk up with no issues, but I wasn't sure if that was still the case in normal game.

[Prescient Stones]

Originally posted by UncreativelyNamed:

I'm a person who doesn't watch videos or read wikis or anything before I play a game and for a while after I start playing, because I like to figure things out for myself..

Don't pour cold water on hot Pyrex. There! no wiki, no video.. just oops..

[Other]

It does work differently if you have a mission to hack that pillar (I've mostly seen that mission at the Nexus, but it might also show up at the space station mission board). If it is for a mission, you do need to fight them before the terminal unlocks. Since those are optional missions, though, you don't need to take them.

[cswiger]

Originally posted by Prescient Stones:

Don't pour cold water on hot Pyrex. There! no wiki, no video.. just oops..

True, but that is because Pyrex is soda-lime glass whereas PYREX is borosilicate glass.
The former is cheaper and shatters easily due to thermal shock; the latter is much tougher.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borosilicate_glass
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-the-difference-between-two-pyrex-types

PS: If you do advanced chemistry, you end up making your own glassware to hold samples on a routine basis, as the more interesting stuff like perchloric acid etches even chem-resistant glass so you can't re-use it.

(Don't try this at home, unless home has a fume hood and drench system.)

[RPG Gamer Man]

Originally posted by The Knowledge Seeker:

I hope they don't change this feature lol. I am only saying this as an adventurer who doesn't like to get punished too much with "what if I do this?" lol

ok Indiana Jones. I always found the challenge of messing with sentinel pillars fun to fight them.

[The Knowledge Seeker]

Originally posted by RPG Gamer Man:

Originally posted by The Knowledge Seeker:

I hope they don't change this feature lol. I am only saying this as an adventurer who doesn't like to get punished too much with "what if I do this?" lol

ok Indiana Jones. I always found the challenge of messing with sentinel pillars fun to fight them.

That is the beauty of this method. You could walk right up to which ever one gave you a dirty scan and go ahead and set everything into chaos to give yourself a challenge and feel rewarded.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Originally posted by The Knowledge Seeker:

Originally posted by RPG Gamer Man:

ok Indiana Jones. I always found the challenge of messing with sentinel pillars fun to fight them.

That is the beauty of this method. You could walk right up to which ever one gave you a dirty scan and go ahead and set everything into chaos to give yourself a challenge and feel rewarded.

Nice..that does sound fun.

[UncreativelyNamed]

Originally posted by Prescient Stones:

Don't pour cold water on hot Pyrex. There! no wiki, no video.. just oops..

Yeah, but what video games involve Pyrex glassware? I do tend to be a little (not a lot, but a little) more careful in real life.

(But also: Don't leave a metal fork in a bowl of food you heat up in the microwave. I did that once, but it was an absent-minded accident, not a case of my insatiable "Wat dis do?" curiosity...)

Originally posted by Other:

It does work differently if you have a mission to hack that pillar (I've mostly seen that mission at the Nexus, but it might also show up at the space station mission board). If it is for a mission, you do need to fight them before the terminal unlocks. Since those are optional missions, though, you don't need to take them.

I had actually wondered about that, but forgot to ask in my original post. So thanks for adding this. :) I saw that mission at the Nexus the other day, and it's actually what started me thinking that maybe my game was borked because why would there be such an easy mission with a a pretty decent reward? But it makes sense that the parameters would change for a mission.

[GenSec39]

Actually, visiting the pillar just for few peaces of glass can hardly be called OP. That's literally nothing. If you want to get really a lot of glass - it's better to start fighting with them and shoot all sentinels except for those triangle-shaped. As long as they are alive, they will keep calling for even more bots. Now thats some real source of glass.

[UncreativelyNamed]

Originally posted by GenSec39:

Actually, visiting the pillar just for few peaces of glass can hardly be called OP. That's literally nothing. If you want to get really a lot of glass - it's better to start fighting with them and shoot all sentinels except for those triangle-shaped. As long as they are alive, they will keep calling for even more bots. Now thats some real source of glass.

Well, except if you don't like on-foot combat, which I don't. :) I usually avoid it as much as possible. However, with a sentinel pillar near my base, all I have to do is walk in there, disable the sentinels, shoot the shooty bits, then run the few hundred units back to my base, transport to a different system for a second, transport back, and the sentinels are alive again. Lather, rinse, repeat, other than the shooty bits at the pillar don't regenerate. It's slower than fighting waves of sentinels, but easier and eventually very profitable. I don't do that because I have lots of personal rules that govern what I can and can't do because to me the whole point is to NOT have it easy, but I could if I wanted to. I suppose it's more of an exploit than a case of OP, though.

As I said, mostly I just wanted to make sure my game was functioning properly.