Hello Miners,
Just two weeks until we breach the Ossuary Depths for all the perils and profits of Season 06. “Relics of Hoxxes” goes live on Steam on
Thursday, January 29th (and coming to consoles around two weeks after), bringing a new biome, new mission, new enemies, loads of rewards, and more to the work site.
But don’t just take it from us – here’s Mission Control to walk you through everything in the official Season 06 Narrated Trailer. The full write-up is right down below.
Technical note: Steam's video embedding feature is still uncooperative for some people, it seems. If you don't see a clickable video right below this text, there should be a small hyperlink instead.
Deployment zone: OSSUARY DEPTHS
“...the striking column formations give these caverns the appearance of a great cathedral, though the bones amassed here might suggest this place is more of a burial catacomb. In light of this possibility, as well as observed hostilities from local fauna, we urge company management to avoid this ‘boneyard’ for any future mining operations.”
-Excerpt from a report by the DRG Planetary Surveys Department
While some mothballed old documents in the company archives make mention of the Ossuary Depths, the fabled “boneyard” was overlooked for many years. Management considered it a recording error, the product of a careless and overly-cautious company surveyor.
But thanks to recent Deep Scan operations, we’ve uncovered some blind spots on our planetary profile, and discovered an area that precisely matches these early descriptions of the “Boneyard of Hoxxes.” Except the stuff about it being dangerous or sacred. We looked into that and it’s not true.
So prepare yourselves for deployment: Deep Rock Galactic is preparing all mining teams to initiate extraction in the Ossuary Depths.
The Ossuary Depths was once in near-total isolation from the rest of Hoxxes, but our initial scouting operations have opened up enough tunnels that all the usual hostile creatures of Hoxxes have found their way down here.
You’ll also have to contend with the native species of the Depths: the Ossirans.
We’ll get to them a bit later.
New mission: HEAVY EXTRACTION
We’re not down here on a sightseeing trip. There’s a new work order on the docket.
As a result of the tectonic disturbances (allegedly) connected to our Deep Scan operations, priceless clusters of Resinite Mass have been pushed closer toward the surface. R+D reckons these ancient relics may give us deeper insights into Hoxxes IV’s natural history, but failing that, they’re worth a king’s ransom to the right buyer. So we need you to dig ‘em up.
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Your first step is to locate and excavate Resinite Mass in your work site. You don’t need any fancy equipment to find them beyond a good old fashioned pair of eyeballs. They ought to glimmer a bit if you look carefully.
Once found, it’s time to roll up your sleeves. Use your pickaxes to dig out the surrounding area in order to make space for extraction. If you’ve got a Driller on your team, they'll feel extra special during this part. If you don’t, you’ll wish you did.
Finally, it’s time for extraction! Mission Control will send down a Lift Pod containing four heavy lift rockets. Fix the rockets to the Resinite Mass, then keep your beards clear of the launch zone as the lasers carve a path upwards for orbital extraction.
It’s a straightforward job, honest work for an honest dwarf. Any injuries related to the lasers fall under the “Laser-Based Maiming Liability Exemptions” section in your contract.
Enemy classification: THE OSSIRANS
During your work down in the Depths, you can expect to be interrupted by the local inhabitants:
the Ossirans. As it turns out, they don’t appreciate the new mining operations we’re conducting in their home.
The Ossirans thrive on collecting the countless bones that give the Ossuary Depths its name. Our files indicate they were once a relatively docile scavenger species, but recent intrusions have stirred them into a frenzy. When you deploy to the Ossuary Depths, you'll need to keep a keen eye peeled for these new threats.
Ossiran Scrab
THE SCRAB: These flying scavengers work in swarms, scouring the Ossuary Depths in search of any bit of meat left on the countless bones cluttering the caves. A single Scrab is an annoyance, but a handful of them can spell disaster for a mining team. Their armored wings protect a squishy thorax underneath, so target them when they’re airborne for extra damage. And take care not to disturb their hives – the last dwarf to do so lived just long enough to see what his own skeleton looked like.
Ossiran Pit Jaw
THE PIT JAW: A larger, deadlier, more patient cousin of the Scrab. It’s a predator with a recently-acquired taste for dwarf. With a massive four-pronged jaw, it burrows into the cave floor, waiting to spring up like a bear trap to catch its prey. If you’re lucky, you might just see the tips of its jaws poking through the dirt before it’s too late. Essentially, it’s a cave leech in the floor.
Oh, and as if things couldn't get worse: this sneaky rascal has found its way into other biomes of Hoxxes, too. If you come across the new
Pit Jaw Colony Mutator, make sure to watch your step. Good luck!
Seasonal event: OSSIUM RAID
While the Ossirans pose an undeniable threat to our workforce, they also present a rather significant profit opportunity. As it turns out, they’re able to convert bone mass into crystalline Ossium, which is quite valuable thanks to its myriad applications in munitions and cosmetics manufacturing.
To collect Ossium, you’ll first need to find an Ossiran Bone Collector. This insectoid prospector serves as the warden of local caches of Ossium, and you’ll find it roving the caves of Hoxxes. It’s likely to flee if attacked – but if you follow it, it’ll lead you straight to a rich cache of Ossium.
Track it down by the telltale trail of Ossium shards and navigate through its labyrinthian tunnels, and you’ll arrive at its lair. From there, grab as much Ossium as you can and get it deposited in the M.U.L.E. for extraction. You might be wise to expect resistance, however. The Ossirans seem to be quite protective about their Ossium.
New S06 Performance Pass
An intriguing new internal study from R+D found that higher wages are directly correlated with increased worker performance. Unfortunately, higher wages are also directly correlated with increased payroll costs, so Management has decided to give you hats instead.
To incentivize all employees during the many exciting work opportunities of Season 06, we’re rolling out a brand new Performance Pass! Working your way through this new Performance Pass will unlock loads of shiny goodies, not least of which is the all-new
Diesel Driven weapon framework.
The Season 06 Performance Pass and associated Progression Track are full of other cool goodies too. You'll be able to earn:
- A dozen new hats
- Flashy new facial hairs
- New weapon paintjobs
- New armor paintjobs
- A new pickaxe set
- An additional framework for our loyal friend Bosco
- A couple new end-screen animations
- And more!
Speaking of impressive performance, we’ve also added a new unlockable tier to the Weapon Maintenance system so you can properly show off your prowess. ‘WM6 CRIMSON CALL’ is soon available for all high-performing employees.
Fresh new moves for the dance floor
In their spare moments of free time, the dwarves have been very busy learning a couple cool new dance moves. They’re very excited to hit the floor and show them off. Gunner says he wishes he’d studied contemporary dance in school, but it’s far too late for that. Back to the mines, Gunner.
New DLC: the RELIC RAIDERS Pack
If you’re tromping through lost catacombs in search of treasure, you may as well look the part. That’s why we’re rolling out the all-new (or all-old?) Relic Raider DLC pack, to give your dwarves some seasoned vintage style down in the Ossuary Depths.
The Relic Raiders are Deep Rock Galactic’s daring division of combat archaeologists. If antiquities turn up at a dig site, it’s the Raiders who get sent in to catalog, appraise and extract the goods. They’re a bit old school, sure. But so is their line of work. Whoever said
“It belongs in a museum!” clearly didn’t know how much this stuff sells for.
Experimental Branch is now live
If you’d like to help playtest Season 06 as we prepare for the full release, you can already get your hands on it via the Experimental Branch, which goes live today. It’s experimental for a reason, of course, so you might expect a couple hiccups.
Here’s how to access the Experimental Branch:
- In your Steam library, right-click on ‘Deep Rock Galactic’, then select ‘Properties.’
- Go to the ‘Betas’ tab and select the one called “experimental - Latest dev build - enter at own risk”.
- Steam will then update your game, and when you launch Deep Rock Galactic it will be in this Experimental mode. To switch back, select the “Default” branch under ‘Betas’.
You can find more information in the
DRG Discord about bug reporting, discussions and changelogs for the Experimental Branch. Keep in mind that your progress
will not be saved in the Experimental Branch, and this branch will only be open for a limited time.
Some QoL and bugfixes
Season 06 will also come with some minor QoL improvements and the usual bucket of bugfixes, but we’ll post these in the patch notes when it all goes live. Stay tuned.
That’s it! Check your equipment, limber up, and get ready to venture back into the depths on
January 29th when SEASON 06: RELICS OF HOXXES comes to a computer near you.
Rock and Stone!
With love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew
