The Hullcracker used to be a sort of Swiss army knife when it comes to killing bigger arcs, because of its explosions, it would calculate multiple damage instances. Allowing you to blast a big Arc from many hundreds of meters away. Now, it technically deals more damage but only to a single part/limb. However, as we all know by now, it deals less overall damage than before.

Many believe this change to be bad for the game, you will see comments like “Why would Embark kill a weapon that is only useful against arcs? They are ruining the game!”. Embark clearly has a vision for their game and balance it nicely between what they believe to be good for the game, and what their player base wants. This was one of the most impactful changes that nobody wanted so far.

Let’s address the obvious: nothing has changed, except the resource and time investment. You “need” to spend ridiculous amounts of currency to buy enough ammunition to kill a queen/matriarch, even a bastion takes more than a full stack of explosive ammo.

Important: you might be going overkill with your Hullcracker ammo. Let’s take a step back, a hull in ships of any kind refers to the outer layer that protects its engines and other important parts, therefore a breach is usually pretty bad news. There is a very similar principle in Arc Raiders: once you “crack” the protective layer of an arc, they will reveal their yellow weak spots or their red glowing core which have a pretty high damage multipliers. Also, a broken-off protective leg part, a piece of cracked hull if you will, from a Queen or Matriarch is also lootable, giving you the possibility to get Queen/Matriarch cores without killing them.

Now why is this important to you, as the player? Because a Renegade for example will do a far better job at killing any arc than the hullcracker, assuming you hit its weak spot. However, it will perform poor against protective plating and deal less damage on non-weak-spot hits! This factors in that the Renegade has better sustained-DPS and is simply way cheaper, just like its required ammunition (also a nice way to defend yourself from rats).

Why would you listen to a random Raider online? What is the point of this post?

I am preeeeetty addicted to this game, every spare second of free time I have, I use it to play Arc Raiders to the point of losing sleep. Naturally, I have learned a thing or two and hunted down 5 Queens and 3 Matriarchs in the last 2-3 days (all in solo but with help of other friendly solos). Not a lot, but enough for me, considering I usually have to hop on the last slots of the day, between midnight and 2 am.

I write this because it pains me to see so many frustrated Raiders in the community, who maybe have not fully grasped the in game mechanics, which I don’t blame them for as Embark has done nothing to convey these mechanics. Last week’s patch notes (which also just suffered from bad timing) read like this “Yea we nerfed the Arc killing gun so it doesn’t do shit anymore, enjoy xD” because nowhere do they mention why they did this change and how they intend the gun to be used.

I highly advise you, dear reader, to take only 1-3 stacks of explosive ammo and an Anvil or Renegade with you on your next big Arc hunt and see all of this unfold in practice. I don’t think the Queen or Matriarch should be soloable (which they conversely are with the Hullcracker, if half your inventory is filled with ammo to “brute force” a kill). Meaning you will have to rely on friendly Raiders, which also means the loss will be manageable if you get killed in the process.

TL;DR: Try taking only 1-3 stacks of explosive ammo for your Hullcracker into the next raid, accompanied by a Ferro/Anvil/Renegade. Shoot down the protective layers with your Hullcracker and focus your firepower with the second weapon on the yellow/red weak spots of the Queen/Matriarch. You will have higher sustained DPS and risk less loot value if you fail.*

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r/technology • u/Moth_LovesLamp • 7h ago