A rough guide to the "Return of the Precursors"

[TheDerpNukem]

This adventure definitely feels like it won’t be pulling any punches, so every time a new step is added I will be editing the post.

So far there is only one step available, requiring you to retrieve the artifact.
Your main hint here is that the thief was unable to leave the sector after stealing from Comrade Dimeni… so he’s still in Ellydium Theta.

Go to the pillar at the far end of the sector - the stolen item is at the top of the pillar.

Spoiler

Keep in mind that Seed Chips are currently disabled. So if a step requires large amounts of combat you may want to properly prepare instead of the good 'ol permacloak Tai’kin.

S T E P 2

It certainly exists and most of us definitely don’t want to hurt the little spaceman for it.
As predicted he is in the Excavation Site No.2 Sector and as per the last step they are only visible when you are within ~50m of the target.

The target apparently has multiple spawn points so I’ll be using screenshots from several users on the Star Conflict Discord along with just my own.

Where I found the target:

Spoiler

Other spawn locations:

Spoiler

Source: Krapuma on the official discord

Source: sid422 on the official discord

Source: TheDarkRedFox

Source: SilverCloud

S T E P 3

Significantly less frustrating than Step 2 - once your timer is up and you can continue the quest you will be heading to the Poseidon Complex Sector.

I would suggest bringing an interceptor or an Ellydium Fighter with enough speed, as you will be required to stay within 500m of the for courier 3-5 seconds.

The courier is visible permanently, so nothing much to explain really.

S T E P 4

This time we’re headed out to the Ice Belt - there are a couple of “Precursor Spies” pathing around the sector, so you may want to bring a faster ship. A gunship, command or Covert Ops should cover it as I’m not sure if Resonating ammo will work on these fellas.

I have only seen two locations where the spies spawn and both seem to path around fairly haphazardly.
One paths around near the structure at the edge of the sector, near the station and the other frequently paths under the Cartel Dreadnought in the middle of the sector.

Spoiler

The spy that paths under the dreadnought at the very least in my experience is able to drop Dissonant Ammunition even while Inverter has been temporarily nerfed.

There have been also reports of Precursor Spies spawning in Abandoned Beacon and Colonization Hub. I will update the spoiler with screenshots as I get them.

Spoiler

S T E P 5

As per the dialogue of the last step, we’re going to the Shining for this step… well, kind of. We’re going to the Inverter sector. Our objective for the step is on the back of the Ellydium Dreadnought Defiant. It should be fairly obvious where in the sector it is. Just go fly up to the object and that’s the step done. Go get some Dissonant ammo from a spy and get to farming.

S T E P 6

The hint for this step might have gone over the heads of some but the answer to “beta pegasus” is the Scheat system, so we are going to the Alpha-7 Complex today.

There are a total of five precursor spies spawned at a time. Four of them will be located at the Beacon A cave whilst the fifth spy will be pathing around the borders of the sector at close to 800m/s. Honestly I would suggest ignoring the fifth spy in favour of forcing a new instance to spawn to grab the first four again.

Once again, these spies can drop Infiltrator’s black box containers, dropping Dissonant ammunition.

Spoiler

If you ever need to force the game to generate a new instance in Open Space then leave your current instance, set a server preference not in the region of your last instance and wait a couple of minutes. You should wind up in a completely empty instance upon returning.

S T E P 7

So our hint this time was the courier was at a station - you might not have expected them to be at the Eastern Mining Station this time around.

This step you will need a fast ship as the courier will be going 750m/s and require you to stay within 350m for 10 seconds. Of course I’m writing this as the step happened though, so the stupid goober gets stuck around the world border reliably, so just go find which patch of glue they decided to huff this time.

If it gets fixed then yes, bring a Spike or Tai’kin or something that can go 750 and maneuver very rapidly.
Anyways, pictures.

Spoiler

S T E P 8

This step did not need much explaining thankfully - we’re headed back out to the Inverter sector once again.
You are going to need some Dissonant ammunition as we’re going to need to kill 3 Guardians.

That’s uh. That’s the step.
Next step is in 17 days so uh. Go read a book or something?

[Hydrus606]

Thanks for making these threads.
The indications given ingame aren’t clear.(or maybe I just don’t pay attention).

[SunGear]

Step two is at Morag System per this lore post:

STAR CONFLICT — MMO SPACE ACTION - News

[TheDerpNukem]

Yeah it’s seemingly Excavation Site for the next

[SunGear]

After a lot of searching the agent has been found. Thanks MamaWazzy.

[TheDerpNukem]

I’m not entirely sure if the incorrectly parked cars are spawn locations since I’ve only seen the lone astronaut

[SilverCloud]

[SunGear]

Step 4 is clearly at Olympus system, but there’s no hint in which sectors, and no indication on what exactly are we looking for. Are the spies ships or an astronaut?

[TheDerpNukem]

It is the Ice Belt sector - there are a couple of Precursor spies lurking around in there

[schutzteufelin]

Yes, you can find the five in Ice Belt. However, there are only two marked with a gray skull, which turn red as soon as you shoot them. If several people shoot at them, only the one who got the kill gets the loot. This is similar to some other open-space missions. The two appear every few minutes.

[Frenchchefuhu]

When you say I need to leave my current instance… does that mean leaving the area, the zone, or docking and coming back?

[TheDerpNukem]

Server preferences do not apply until you return to hangar. So in order to generate a new instance you need to return to hangar, set a preference and then do not revisit the sector you wanted a new instance in for a few minutes. You should be able to go to other sectors in Open Space in the meantime, just not the same one.

[schutzteufelin]

Hello,
Thanks for the help, especially with the task involving Ramirez and the Day of the Dead. I really could have read a book to find the solution to completing the task.

Shooting down the three guards sounds much easier than it is, and even with the special alien ammo, you quickly reach your limits. You won’t get far with a group of three, and the ammo runs out quickly, and you can’t buy more. Perhaps there’s a strategy or tip on how to complete the task.

Thanks in advance.

[TheDerpNukem]

I left the Guardian killing open to interpretation since sometimes people find wildly outlandish methods to beat the system, but here - hab guide in a guide (guideception).

Precursor Guardian’s are, other than having a finally lore relevant name… Crystallid Predators on steroids.
This brings a short list of things with them;

1. Their projectiles are counted as homing missiles
2. Their projectiles are not immune to missile shield
3. They are classed as a Destroyer internally
4. They are weaker to thermal damage
5. Their projectiles deal explosive damage

The aforementioned steroid component of this comes from a few unique changes to Guardians in particular.

• They are able to accelerate almost infinitely and will go faster than 800
• Their drones fire a special projectile that reduces regeneration by 94% on hit
• Also this projectile is also a missile and not immune to missile shield

So with these things in mind we now have a couple of main factors when picking what ship to bring out with us.
We cannot bring a destroyer with us as they cop -50% weapon damage but +100% module damage (look don’t ask me why) along with taking significantly more explosive damage.

Spoiler

We won’t be bringing an Interceptor with us as they have too lower base damage and have too small of a hull/shield pool in the event we have to eat some pulsar damage.

We won’t be bringing an Ellydium ship as the regeneration debuff nullifies the main reason to bring one.

So as a result, I have picked for the two main picks… an Aura or a Custodian.
The Aura is mostly if you don’t have a Custodian.

So with that in mind;

S T E P 1: The Builds

When building a ship we always take in mind what we’re fighting and how we’re fighting.
In this case, our main source of incoming damage is EM and explosive, so we will be bringing high EM resistance and implant 2B to give us a little more time in the event the predators decide to move a little too fast. This is also Inverter, so dissonant ammo is a must.
That in mind, da builds I used:

Aura setup

Custodian Setup

S T E P 2: Some Cheese

Now that we have our builds we now have to scurry on over to a little spot that just reeks of cheese. Which by that I mean it’s a cheese spot.

When you spawn, pop your speed buffs and move to the west of the sector - make sure to pay close attention to Scouts - they aggro around roughly 3,000m so keep your distance if you’re using an Aura or stay radar invisible if you’re using Custodian.

We are going here:

This is because this spot in particular is just below 5,000m from a Guardian spawn area but also just tight enough that Guardians often break when attempting to path to this delicious sandwich of terrain.

Once you’re in position… just go to town - make sure to run into cover the moment you hear the audio queue for Crystallid aggro.

If you’re using Custodian, killing the Guardians is incredibly chill - turn on missile shield if you’re caught out of cover and just hold the plasmatron till it explodes constantly. It should only take ~4 blasts.

If you’re using an Aura then things are a little bit spookier for you. Make sure that the Guardians have landed against the terrain before moving out and use the mobile pulsar to break the Ai if they start moving. If the Guardians have a load of drones spawned then toss a couple of Ion beam warheads at the Guardians to kill their drones.
Not as fast as using Custodian, but everyone has access to Aura.

S T E P 3: That’s it

That’s all there is to it. When you’re done farming or just want to leave once you have your kills then go return to the Defiant to leave.

[schutzteufelin]

Hello,
Thank you for the effort you put into explaining and showing everything so well (with pictures). I’ve implemented everything for the Custodian and I’m excited. There were four of us there, and it worked out well. So, I wish everyone else who read your post the best of luck. One more note: the group can be expanded to more than four players.
Best regards

[PatchworkPuG]

I have flown in many times and have not been able to find this “flea” in the Excavation No. 6 location… I looked at all the points and couldn’t find it, is it definitely not in the structures?

[TheDerpNukem]

Yeah - there are a few spawn locations I don’t have in the guide as I haven’t seen screenshots of the other locations but it isn’t spawning inside of objects.
If you can’t find it at any of the spawn locations there is always the possibility of spawning a new instance to change where the agent spawns as apparently it changes per instance.