So how do these expeditions work?

[D a R i U z Z]

Last time i played there was only normal and survival mode, are expeditions some type of compartmentalized questline to get rewards for other modes or something? is the content of previous expeditions unobtainable now?

[wkitty42]

think of expeditions like custom games with specific goals... there are 5 stages with numerous milestones in each one... you get rewards for each milestone... these rewards do not carry over to your other saves... rewards given for each stage and completing the expedition do carry over to your other saves and are available in the Anomaly at the Quick Silver vendor's stand...

as for previous expeditions, there is a way to play them but i've not done it and have no info about it... also since expeditions were introduced, HG has adjusted them and replayed the ones for the current year at the end of the year... so if we had four during the year, they have also been made available in like Nov/Dec time period... this gives everyone another chance to play them...

[wkitty42]

steam isn't letting me edit my reply above... i forgot to add that you can get the milestones in any order you like... expeditions are not linear for the most part... getting to each rendezvous is kind of linear, though...

[D a R i U z Z]

Hm, so its a self contained game mode meant for variety. How long are those? like 30 or 40 hours?

[photoniq]

Probably a reasonable estimate, though if one is focused and efficient (and maybe uses internet searches) it can easily be done in under ten. I feel like they mostly give the player different play through experiences that in the end allow you to collect unique cosmetics and upgrades that can be used in other saves. Like if you have an older several hundred hour save, you can hit up the quicksilver stand for the unique rewards you have collected in various other expeditions, maybe unlocking a new jetpack model or different decorative posters for your base, etc. I think they can be a nice holiday from the normal main save, to give you that new character vibe, and let you have something to show for it back on your main char.

[wkitty42]

expeditions generally run for six to seven weeks... the amount of time it takes to complete one varies with one's experience with the game and how hard they desire to push themselves... i've done a couple in like 10 or 12 hours... most of mine i take my time on and enjoy the travels so maybe up to 24-30 hours on some... i also start them on a new save so i can keep them afterward and continue playing after they convert to a standard game mode (Normal mostly)...

[🅶ila]

I spent 28 hours on my Adrift save, coming back after a few year hiatus; and I faffed around A LOT. This was my first expedition, so I went in a bit blind. Meticulously scanning planets, exploring, farming materials and doing some base-building, sidequests, events, etc. It was fun, but I wish I hadn't have done so much playing around. It wasn't until about 25 hours in that I realized that much of what I'd done would be for naught.

When you start a new expedition save file, you start out with sort of a "jump-start" with improved gear. It felt kinda cheap to keep it after I'd finished the expedition, so I went back to my old main save.

I'm glad for the expedition and the way it's set up, but I feel a bit of regret for my efforts in the expedition save. I look forward to the next expedition, but I will stick to completing the expedition objectives and not spend quite so much time on things that won't transfer over.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Besides what has already been said, the Expeditions often have some non-normal situation or special apparatus. The current one just has abandoned systems for example.

Typically, the start is different from a regular game and you get some items immediately when you wake up in the first system. The tasks along the way provide rewards you need to progress in the expedition.

As noted, you have to get your mind right to play an expedition. Trying to treat it like a normal game will just have you spinning your wheels. It is best to just focus on accomplishing the tasks and not get distracted building fancy bases or seeking that "perfect" ride.

[Rexxer]

In Adrift, no, you can't access prior expedition rewards. There are some people who have found some decent A and S level ships, possibly also multitools, which you can pick up along the way of the expedition. Like all expeditions, some rewards will be available in ordinary games.

If you want to upgrade your exosuit, multitool, or ship, just scavenge lots and lots of "damaged machinery" across the landscape, as they often drop S-class upgrade mods. I fully upgraded my exosuit for all hazard grades with S-Class mods just from damaged machinery drops. For the most part, if you plan to do any building, you will need to scavenge these anyway since buried data modules are always associated with these. So get rusted metal, refinable goop, nanites, and data modules all in one random event.

I noticed the Devs wimped out and let manufacturing blueprints remain as purchasable items in the anomaly. In the original game, the ONLY way to get those were to serially raid manufacturing and operational centers. Talk about tedious.

[D a R i U z Z]

Originally posted by Rexxer:

In Adrift, no, you can't access prior expedition rewards. There are some people who have found some decent A and S level ships, possibly also multitools, which you can pick up along the way of the expedition. Like all expeditions, some rewards will be available in ordinary games.

If you want to upgrade your exosuit, multitool, or ship, just scavenge lots and lots of "damaged machinery" across the landscape, as they often drop S-class upgrade mods. I fully upgraded my exosuit for all hazard grades with S-Class mods just from damaged machinery drops. For the most part, if you plan to do any building, you will need to scavenge these anyway since buried data modules are always associated with these. So get rusted metal, refinable goop, nanites, and data modules all in one random event.

I noticed the Devs wimped out and let manufacturing blueprints remain as purchasable items in the anomaly. In the original game, the ONLY way to get those were to serially raid manufacturing and operational centers. Talk about tedious.

i mean playing previous expeditions to see what their theme was and get their stuff for normal saves even if its not the current one.

[wkitty42]

Originally posted by D a R i U z Z:

i mean playing previous expeditions to see what their theme was and get their stuff for normal saves even if its not the current one.

you can but it is offline play and requires the data files from a 3rd party who saved them for this purpose... uncle google knows but it is also not really recommended...

[D a R i U z Z]

Originally posted by wkitty42:

Originally posted by D a R i U z Z:

i mean playing previous expeditions to see what their theme was and get their stuff for normal saves even if its not the current one.

you can but it is offline play and requires the data files from a 3rd party who saved them for this purpose... uncle google knows but it is also not really recommended...

So that's a no then, its not an actual feature in the game to revisit old expeditions. that's lame specially coming off playing drg with its perpetually available content.

[Flash Hendricks]

Hello Games have re-run all the old Expeditions (in a slightly simplified form) in the past, so they probably will again (usually in holiday seasons when NMS is on sale).

[Rexxer]

Originally posted by D a R i U z Z:

Originally posted by wkitty42:

you can but it is offline play and requires the data files from a 3rd party who saved them for this purpose... uncle google knows but it is also not really recommended...

So that's a no then, its not an actual feature in the game to revisit old expeditions. that's lame specially coming off playing drg with its perpetually available content.

As mentioned in the the previous post, you get a chance once or twice a year to catch up on expeditions you missed. Expeditions so far have all run for limited times only, but you can catch up at these seasonal events which they advertise. That way you only miss out on getting useful global-use items from expeditions for a few months at most.

[wkitty42]

Originally posted by D a R i U z Z:

Originally posted by wkitty42:

you can but it is offline play and requires the data files from a 3rd party who saved them for this purpose... uncle google knows but it is also not really recommended...

So that's a no then, its not an actual feature in the game to revisit old expeditions.

i mean, yeah... if you want to put it that way... we have no idea what HG has planned for the future... it may very well be that they will give us a way to play old expeditions when we want to... after all, they are giving us a file that contains the definitions for the expedition phases... this file is specific to the expedition... if they switch to using specific names for each expedition, we could have all of them and pick from a list of them... it really isn't that much of a code change, TBH...

Originally posted by D a R i U z Z:

that's lame specially coming off playing drg with its perpetually available content.

idk what drg is but i get it... i, too, wish there was a native in-game way to play previous expeditions... i absolutely also think they don't really need to limit the number of game slots we have... my 15 slots are active with my very first game, all 13 of the expeditions, and one ""duplicate"" of one of the expeditions...

i've already had to delete one other ""duplicate"" of another expedition to play Adrift... i really don't want to have to delete another one... i certainly do not want to try to figure out the coding needed to develop a save game manager so we can move saves in and out of NMS' view... the existing save editors could handle this quite easily, though... especially since they already know how to adjust the other two (index?) files that go with each game slot... four files per slot...

[Rexxer]

Originally posted by wkitty42:

... if they switch to using specific names for each expedition, we could have all of them and pick from a list of them... it really isn't that much of a code change, TBH...

Not a bad guess since most games which eventually reach the end of continuing development have some means to allow players to keep playing the "abandoned" games without babysitting. Even some ancient but terminated monthly-paid-persistent-world games have gone the route of letting the game out free into the wild, - although those usually require some dedicated players to run their own servers to keep it going for free public use.

Although I would guess NMS could be run without external server support, the "Discovery" database of bases and other name changes must be huge, so if NMS was ever cut loose, various players would also have to pick up and serve those parts of the game, or else NMS would look like even more barren than it does in Adrift.