Surge Crystals

Welcome to training, Prospector! Today we will cover how to deal with Surge Crystals.
As you know, the Cycle is quite a dangerous phenomenon on many levels. As a Prospector, you usually encounter the peak of the storm, which is (in lay terms) a volatile concoction of lightning and radiation. Sometimes though, thanks to our outstanding (and patented) Osiris reconnaissance satellites, we can notice smaller, localized spikes a few minutes before the main storm hits.

And those are of particular interest to us! They are very random and tend to produce unstable, malformed crystalline structures. Unexplored, intriguing crystals with near-limitless scientific potential. They decay almost as fast as they appear, but they could be collected if one were to move fast enough. This is why we require your…capable hands.

= The Process = Due to the random nature of the smaller Cycle spikes, we cannot announce the contract before planetfall. If our satellite system notices something, you will be notified and the contract will be added to your HUD. We will also mark the area of the localized storm on your map!

Then, all you need to do is to relocate to the site and collect the crystals that have formed on the ground. They come in different sizes, and of course, we pay more for the big ones since they provide more useful data.

Of course, there is a very small issue of having to operate inside of a lightning storm, although we are sure that you are more than able to handle some pesky lightning bolts shooting from the sky right onto your location. If not, all the other Prospectors that we have lured...I mean “enticed” to do the same contract will gladly continue your work for you.

= The Contract = When you collect a crystal, a certain amount of contract points will be added to your completion bar. As soon as it’s full, you’ll have completed a contract stage and will get a reward. Be aware that the amount of points you need to complete a stage gets progressively higher.

{| class="wikitable" ! colspan="5" |

List of Tiers
!Mode !Tier !Amount Requied !Total Required !VP Awarded
 * Solo/Duo
 * 1
 * 1000
 * 1000
 * 20
 * Squad
 * 1
 * 1500
 * 1500
 * 20
 * }
 * 20
 * }

Remember to keep an eye out for a potential occurrence of a localized Cycle spike and make sure to jump on the opportunity to collect the Surge Crystals if it presents itself. And Prospector, please do try to get them here in one piece. You are expendable, but they are not!

Lore
"I've been getting reports that the frequency Cycle Spikes has increased significantly ever since the Cycle opened up over the cape. When the Cycle shrinks enough to leave a gap on the surface above it, you'll still sometimes get short spikes before it surges back completely and repeats the cycle. Turns a small area into a concentrated version of the storms you see when the Cycle's just about risen back up.

Hazardous as all hell, of course, but we've been studying these ""surge crystals"" for a while now, and the samples that we can study before they decay completely show they're very similar to the Zeal you'd find in the core of a veltecite vein, just far more unstable. We've not managed to make any use of it so far, but Osiris is paying out the nose for more samples, and we're happy to charge them for it. - Henri Maybach"