A new ship to travel the stars
Welcome to this basic guide on everything related to the Railjack.
The Railjack is a completely different game mode based on space combat. To begin, players will first need to build the Cephalon that will help manage the Railjack.
Once built, the Rising Tide quest will be unlocked, which will help the player build and repair an ancient Railjack from the Old War. Our Quest Guide can be consulted for more information about the quest itself and its requirements.
INSIDE THE RAILJACK
Below is the basic layout of the Railjack, and the various functionalities the ship holds.
1: Pilot seat
The Helm allows for control over Railjack’s movement (Basics of Movement), Abilities (Railjack Abilities), the Pilot can use Turrets and Ordnance.
2: Forward artillery
Holds the Tunguska cannon, a weapon powerful enough to take care of Crewships from afar, necessary for Reactor Sabotage missions. The player can switch between the Cannon and Turrets (default F).
3: Turrets
Two turrets can be accessed from the middle of the ship; the Ventral and Dorsal Turrets.
Tips: Gunnery Rank 2 allows for a full 360 view around the ship.
4: Entry / Exit hatches
Players can leave and return on board through those, Recall Warp (Tactical Rank 4) will teleport the player back on board from anywhere.
5: Foundry
This where the player can resupply various resources necessary for the Railjack:
Revolite: resource required for the Omni Tool, used for repairing various hazards happening on the ship.
Energy: resource required to use Abilities by Railjack and Warframes.
Hull Restore: resource required to repair the ship when damaged.
Munitions: resource required to use the Ordnance.
Dome Charge: resource required to use the Forward Artillery.
The player will obtain the raw resources necessary to use the Forge during the mission.
6: Archwing Slingshot
Quickly board Crewships or quickly dispose of lesser fighters. The Slingshot is unlocked once the player reaches Gunnery Rank 3.
RAILJACK CUSTOMIZATION
Now that the ship is ready, it is time to customize it! There are a series of functionalities that are proper to the Railjack System itself:
- INTRINSICS
- PLEXUS
- COMPONENTS
- VISUALS
Both Plexus and Intrinsics can be configured straight from the Orbiter, next to the Navigation.
Alternatively, players can also access the Intrinsics and Plexus panels directly through the Main Menu / Railjack / Intrinsics or Plexus.
To access the customization panel for the Railjack’s Components, a Dry Dock will be required.
Dry Docks can be accessed at some Relays (Saturn, Europa, Eris, or Pluto) or directly from a Clan that has built one.
- INTRINSICS
The Intrinsics system allows the player to further develop their skills in one of these 5 categories:
TACTICAL
Increase player's focus on the big picture of the battle. Improved Tactical Mods and powerful Tactical deployment abilities.
PILOTING
Forge a bond with the vessel. Unlock advanced speed and agile maneuvering capabilities.
GUNNERY
Unlock the deadly power of Railjack's arsenal. Improved turrets, advanced targeting modes, and devastating artillery.
ENGINEERING
Mend the scars of battle and feed the war machine. Repair ship damage, bolster resource yields and forge armaments in real-time.
COMMAND
Put a crew together to man the Railjack when other Tenno are not around.
Intrinsics Points are earned by simply playing Railjack missions and earning Affinity within. Killing enemies and exploring/completing Points of Interest awards Affinity. Intrinsic Points can be used to unlock abilities in all Intrinsic categories!
PLEXUS
The Plexus allows the player to use Railjack Mods with any Railjack the player crews upon.
Plexus Mods can be found in Railjack missions. Integrated Mods apply to the player on any Railjack! Aura Mods benefit the whole squad! Battle Mods determine which Railjack Abilities can be used. Tactical Mods determine which Railjack Abilities can be used in the Tactical Menu.
Railjack Mods can be upgraded with Endo the same way as the other Mods.
- COMPONENTS
The Components panel can only be accessed through the Railjack customization console available in the Dry Dock, both in a Relay and in the Dojo.
Components are parts that can be installed on the Railjack to enhance its battle prowess. There are 4 categories:
Shield Array: affects the ship’s Shield capacity
Engines: affects the ship’s Engine Speed
Plating: affects the ship’s Hull and Armor
Reactor: affects the ship’s Railjack Battle Mods Power Strength, Range, or Duration buffs.
Where to find Components:
Players have the choice between two options. They can either research the Sigma Series in the Clan Research, in the Dojo, or they can obtain Wreckages during missions.
Wreckages can be of different series, Lavan, Zetki, and Vidar, each with their own set of stats specific to the House/Series.
Once recovered, they will be in a damaged state and will require the player to IDENTIFY then REPAIR them, which will cost resources such as Credits, Titanium, Cubic Diodes... and time (12 hours for the repair to be completed, unless a Rush Repair Drone is used).
Players can hold as many Wreckages as they want, but they’ll need to be inspected before they can be repaired. Only 30 inspected Wreckages can be held at the same time and they will need to be cleaned for the player to inspect more of them.
Players also begin by default with 8 Components and Armaments Slots, which can be extended later.
How to free slots:
The Scrapping system is here for that! Scrapping Wreckage in any state will allow the player to destroy the component while getting back some Resources for it.
Scrapping Repaired Wreckage will refund any Resources used in the Repair process. Scrapping unwanted inspected Wreckage and Recovered Wreckage will reward Endo that can be used to upgrade Mods.
- VISUALS
As with everything in Warframe, the Railjack can use Skins that can be customized!
Customization options can be found in the last tab of the “Configure Railjack” console, in any Dry Dock.
THE OMNI TOOL
The Omni Tool is an engineer's best friend and is vital to repair the various hazards that can happen on the ship.
The device is given automatically once aboard the Railjack and needs to be equipped in the Gear Wheel to be used during a mission.
Revolite is needed as munitions to use this tool. It can be crafted in the Forge.
At Tactical Intrinsic Rank 4 the Omni Tool can be used to return to the ship from anywhere.
TACTICAL MAP
The Tactical map unlocks at Rank 1 in the Intrinsics Menu, allowing access to the Crew tracking system (L by default).
Rank 2 allows the use of Warframe Abilities and Rank 3 the Fast Travel option.
By selecting the icon above crew members portraits, Roles can be assigned to them:
Defender: fights against enemies aboard the Railjack.
Pilot: takes control of the Railjack.
Gunner: operates a Turret against enemy attackers.
Engineer: repairs the Railjack.
Depending on how advanced the Tactical Intrinsic is, the player is given the option to teleport to any crew member (whether player or NPC) or spectate their actions.
CREW MEMBERS
A Railjack always requires people to be operated at its maximum efficiency, but if players want to play solo, they can form a crew instead!
The first Crew member can be unlocked at Rank 1 in the Command Intrinsics. Crew members can be recruited through Ticker in Fortuna by selecting the “Hire Crew members” option when speaking to her.
Tips: depending on players' affiliation with a Syndicate, they may receive a discount on crew members' contracts or see a steep increase in price for their services.
Characteristics of crew members:
Each Crew member available at Ticker’s will have their own specialties that can be seen with their stats. The higher the stat, the more proficient in the category the member will be.
In the example above, this NPC will be perfect for Piloting and will have a +25 Speed bonus for the ship.
Piloting: determines maximum Railjack speed when Crewmate is piloting.
Gunnery: determines accuracy and heat accretion when Crewmate mans the Railjack Turrets.
Repair: determines Crewmate’s ship repair and self-healing times.
Combat: determines Crewmate combat damage.
Endurance: determines Crewmate health and Shields ratings.
Contracts:
Once hired, a Crew member Contract can be managed, here their basic information is displayed, as well as an option to end the Contract.
Once back in the Dry Dock, players can further customize their Crewmates by providing them with weapons, and cosmetics!
Competency Points are earned at certain ranks in the Command Intrinsic and can be assigned to any hired Crew members. Players can assign points through the Train option to improve crew members' skills and performance in missions.
Railjack Mods equipped on the Plexus also apply to Crew members on missions. Weapons equipped by the crew members can also be modified!
Note: Command Rank 9 unlocks the ability to designate a Crew Member as On-Call allowing them to be summoned in non-Railjack missions.
Liches: the toughest defenders
Apart from Crewmates, Converted Liches can also be assigned as defenders of the Railjack.
Command Rank 8 will be needed to unlock the Liches as crew members.
Note: Liches can only be defenders, but they are designed for that role making them an excellent choice for the defense of the ship.
TO THE STARS AND BEYOND
The ship and the crew are ready, it is time to step into the Origin System!
In the beginning, only Earth and Venus Proximas will be available, but the other Proximas Regions can be unlocked by putting points in any of the Intrinsics.
Saturn and Neptune Proximas will then require a Rank 3 Intrinsic, Pluto - 5, and the Veil Proxima - 7.
The progression from one region will be straightforward and requires the player to finish the nodes one by one, then moving on to the next region if it is unlocked.
Game Modes:
As players progress, they will encounter various missions types, some being familiar:
- Exterminate
- Skirmish
- Defense
- Spy (Corpus)
-
Survival (Corpus)
On top of those, two new types are available: Volatile and Orphix missions.
Volatile missions will require players to take down a reactor by sabotaging it from the inside of the enemy ship, then extracting and using the Forward Artillery to finally take it down.
Orphix missions will be a fight against the Sentient enemies in Corpus ships and will require Necramechs once on board. Fight and survive will be the main objective there.
Note: The Second Dream needs to be completed for access to Orphix missions. This guide [here] will provide more details on Necramechs.
Points of Interests and Derelict Caches
Loot dungeons and the works
Points of Interest (PoI for short) are derelict structures drifting in space. When boarded, players are tasked with an additional objective, which - if completed - will provide additional rewards once the main objective of the mission has been completed.
These points of interest vary depending on which Proxima they are in, known PoIs are Shield Derelicts of Venus, Ice Mines of Neptune, and Freightlinkers of Pluto and Veil.
Once Piloting Rank 5 is reached, players will be informed of Derelicts floating around in space. It is recommended to go aboard and explore those as they can give valuable rewards!
Void Storms
Void Storms bring the Void Fissure experience to Railjack; players can bring a Relic, collect Reactant from corrupted Enemies and ultimately crack the Relic open. Void Storm missions offer additional Void Traces, Sevagoth, and Epitaph parts on top of Relic rewards.