26 July 2013 – 29 July 2013
Intel videos
On 24 July 2013, a video titled Interception was released with the description "Intercepted transmission: Tenno take notice". The video was scrolling text in Corpus with no sound. As the video continues, a shadow gradually falls over the planet in the background.
Transmit
Honourable Board,
The dogs are barking again. They somehow figured out we have been stockpiling. This upsets them given how we have been tightening the leash on their contracts. The Sisters are demanding we lower our material prices or suffer retribution by some new supership they have. Obviously they do not teach economics at obedience training.
My recommendation: raise the prices, call the dogs' bluff, and laugh when the imaginary Fomorian ships do not show up and do not disrupt our stockpiles.
Alad V
Grineer Relations
On 25 July 2013, a video titled Lotus Intel: Sling-Stone was released with the description "Prepare, Tenno; this won't be easy". The video showed the new Grineer Fomorian-class ships, with a Galleon for scale, with voiceover from the Lotus.
Lotus: "We have just learned that the Grineer Empire is preparing a major offensive against the Corpus. The Grineer are deploying new Fomorian-class ships, poised to strike the Corpus within days. As much as we'd like to see the Corpus suffer, we cannot allow such growth in Grineer influence to go unchecked. We must work together to destroy the Fomorian ships as they appear, or we will suffer resource shortages that will curtail our war effort."
Operation
On Friday (26 July 2013), the event began with the release of Hotfix 9.3 and was set to run through the weekend. Upon logging in and selecting the event, a diorama was shown, depicting Captain Vor and a masked Corpus crewman facing off, backed by Grineer lancers and Corpus crewmen, with a Fomorian ship in the background. A box of text gives more detail about the event:
We have just learned that the Grineer Empire is preparing a major offensive against the Corpus. The Sisters have grown impatient with the Corpus monopoly on manufacturing supplies. Their aim is to destroy resource stockpiles throughout Corpus space in order to force the arrogant Corpus back to the bargaining table. The Grineer are deploying new Fomorian-class ships, poised to strike the Corpus within days.
As much as we'd like to see the Corpus suffer, we cannot allow such a growth in Grineer influence to go unchecked. We must work together to destroy the Fomorian ships as they appear, or we will suffer resource shortages that will curtail our war effort. We must uphold the balance of this conflict.
Tenno, you must coordinate your attacks – their engineers will be repairing these ships throughout our assault. This is not a standard sabotage mission. You will need to inject a chemical agent harvested from the Infestation to destabilise the Fomorian reactors. With enough corruption, the Fomorian reactors will implode and take the monstrous ship with it.
Mechanics and Missions
Tenno had to obtain corruptors from Infested missions. Corruptors dropped from Infested enemies during the course of the event and came in three versions: stable, alpha, and beta. After obtaining corruptors, Tenno equipped them as a gear item. Only one corruptor could be equipped at a time. The corruptors have the following descriptions:
Stable corruptor: "Injected into a Fomorian Reactor, this corruptor will imbalance the fuels. Critically imbalanced reactors will eventually implode, destroying the ship. Slow but effective – recommended for solo Tenno."
Alpha/Beta corruptor: "Inert on its own, this corruptor is highly effective if mixed with its Beta/Alpha counterpart. Properly mixed, these will destabilise Fomorian Reactors much faster than their Stable counterparts. This volatile item cannot be simultaneously equipped with Beta/Alpha corruptors. Recommended for Tenno operating as a team."
The Fomorian sabotage missions appeared as new nodes on the existing planets of the solar system, and used the Grineer Galleon tileset, albeit with a new fly-in cinematic that showed the sheer size of the Fomorian ship. Each planet had a Fomorian attack it over the course of the event, with the first Fomorian, Balor, appearing near Mercury. Attempting to play the Fomorian sabotage mission without a corruptor equipped resulted in the message "You need to equip a Corruptor in your gear for this mission. Harvest these from Infestation enemies and equip them from the Arsenal."
During the Fomorian sabotage mission, the Lotus would give instructions on how to sabotage the Fomorian reactors.
Lotus: "Destroying a single reactor will not be enough to take down a Fomorian. We will need to poison the well…. Coordinated teams will corrupt its fuel supply. This will require gear harvested from Infestation tissues. I will route you to an injector point…."
Lotus: "These Fomorians are massive; keep searching. You will need to locate a fuel cell and inject the corrupting agent. I hope you have a corruptor with you."
Lotus: "Remember: you are coordinating with other Tenno. The alpha-beta mixtures are more potent, but a single Tenno cannot equip them at once."
(upon arriving at the injector) Lotus: "There it is! You should be able to inject the corruptor you brought using the attached console."
The Fomorian injector (with the description "Used to refuel Fomorian reactor cores") had three slots, one for an alpha corruptor, one for a beta corruptor, and one for a stable corruptor in between them. Any combination of the corruptors could be installed on the console, including all three. Once the corruptors were installed, a timed defence mission would begin, and the Tenno would have to defend the console for 1-3 minutes (with more corruptors installed decreasing the defence time).
(upon installing the corruptors) Lotus: "Excellent, the corruption process has begun. You must defend this position to ensure the Grineer do not destroy this fuel cell before it spreads throughout the ship."
(upon completing the defence) Lotus: "Corruption process is complete. Good work, Tenno. Get to extraction where I will record your contribution to the operation."
Each mission awarded between 2 and 10 points for each participating Tenno, depending on how many corruptors were used and which kinds. Any corruptors used in a mission were consumed, and needed to be farmed again from Infested enemies.
Global health bars for each current Fomorian, representing its health, were displayed on the Starchart and went down from 100% to 0% as the Warframe playerbase sabotaged the Fomorians repeatedly over the weekend.
The named Fomorian ships that attacked were:
Mercury: Balor
Mars: Elatha
Europa: Neit
Uranus: Ethniu
Jupiter: Bres
Ceres: Conand
Venus: Tethra
Pluto: Corb
Earth: Chichol
Saturn: Birog
Eris: Buarainech
Sedna: Nemed
Neptune: Lugh
There were 13 ships, one for each of the planets (Phobos had not yet been added to the game). All were successfully destroyed by the community.
Each time a Fomorian ship was destroyed, the Lotus would tell the Tenno:
Lotus: "Our coordinated attacks have worked… this time. There may be other Fomorians coming. We need to destroy them or suffer resource shortages in the future."
Rewards
Each Tenno who participated received a Sling-Stone emblem (the first time a holographic emblem was ever released) and 2 of the new ammo mutation mods. Tenno with at least 100 points received 3 ammo mutation mods, Tenno with at least 150 points received 4 ammo mutation mods, and Tenno with at least 250 points received all 5 ammo mutation mods. The top clan in each bracket received a Fomorian statue for the Dojo. The ammo mutation mods were stated in the original forum post to be grudgingly given to the Tenno by the Corpus as thanks.
Aftermath
After the event, a lore entry was added to the player profile (later moved to the Codex) in Hotfix 9.3.3, with the following text:
Honourable Board,
I'm proud to report that Sling-Stone was a success! The Fomorian ships have been reduced to radioactive scraps drifting through the System….
The Betrayers did our work for us. Billions saved in potential damages. I just dangled some Mod technology in front of their noses and let their homicidal nature do the rest. Too easy!
The Grineer have returned to the bargaining table, but something in their tone irks me. I've dispatched scouts to Pluto – I suspect the Grineer may have held a few Fomorians in reserve.
—Alad V
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