Dune: Awakening is a struggle, but I’m feeling that it’s the right kind of struggle for me.

Since my last entry, I’ve taken all of the trade post assignments that were available to me in both the Hagga Basin South as well as in the Eastern Vermillus Gap, but have not completed all of them. In talking with @CakedCrusader, we agreed that Funcom has a weird sense of progression because a lot of the missions that can be had from Griffin’s Reach and The Anvil are pushing us to the East and to the North — not to the similarly named Western Vermillius Gap that lies to the West of the second PvE zone. Aside from the missions that reside in Hagga Rift and Jabal Eifrit Al-janub the next phase of construction requires materials such as carbon, Erythrite crystal, and aluminum, all of which exist in Hagga Rift and Jabal Eifrit but not in Western Vermillius Gap. Adding insult to injury, the mobs are more difficult to the east than those of the west, so I feel a little disoriented in how Funcom has proscribed the progression in this case.

No matter; we make due. Today, Crusader and I went out in his crawler to get me some aluminum. He’s been harvesting this stuff for several days now as he’s more of a trailblazer than I am, and I’m now stonewalled in my construction because I need the resources of the northern Hagga Rift and Jabal Eifrit. I really hate Hagga Rift from a psychological perspective. As a long-time gamer, it’s an absolutely incredible zone.

The Rift itself cuts from South to North and then bends towards the Northwest. In the South we’ve got the Harkonnen base of Riftwatch which is a free-roam area open to everyone (at least for now; not sure how things will go once I gain more Atreides rank) and is a destination for several missions; there are also vendors and a few class trainers here, specifically the first-rank Mentat trainer if you’re so inclined to open a new progression branch.

From there, the topside of the Rift is littered with crashed vehicles, remnants of combat between what I can only assume was the Imperial forces and the Fremen. The top of the Rift is difficult to navigate because the land is uneven, is interspersed with rocks and mineable nodes or granite and carbon, and occasionally dead-ends at a precipitous drop into the deeper chasm.

The Rift itself is at least three layers deep and occasionally criss-crossed by stone bridges. Natural ramps allow for vehicles to drive into the depths, but there are some surface installations which provide stairways downward. The good news is that once you’re in the Rift you’re pretty protected from the sun and sandstorms; the bad news is that it’s really dark down there. At this depth the most valuable resource is the Erythrite crystal which grows on walls. The problem with this is that the crystal formations are usually in and around CHOAM mining facilities, one of which you can see in the image above. Like other facilities, these are filled with dangerous NPCs, but the facilities themselves are at scale in order to accommodate what I assume were very, very large and destructive digging machines. It’s hard to navigate down there even with sandbike or crawler headlights because of the obstacles, although Crusader seems to be able to make his way around without issue. Me, on the other hand, would disappear down there if I went alone.

At the Northern end of the Rift is Pinnacle Station, and thanks to a heads-up from @Tipa I learned that rather than drive from my fortress in EVG I could take an ‘thopter from The Anvil to Pinnacle Station when I need to get further north (there’s a lot of quicksand around the outside edge of the Rift and Jabal Eifrit that I’d just assume avoid). Now I take my primary trike to The Anvil, pay the 700 Solari fee to fly to Pinnacle, and use my “pocket trike” — a de-rezzed and stored trike I can carry with me — to get around.

Crusader has a base set up right inside the Eastern Shield Wall zone which he uses when he’s collecting aluminum, so I’m planning on heading out that way myself to set up a second base a ways away from his so we don’t overlap our hunting grounds. I have the second level mission of the Bene Gesserit class to complete out there as well as a few other tasks to handle, but I’m not sure I’m geared well enough to tackle them on my own. We’ll have to see.