Conservation

When we woke the Orokin terraforming engines, we also revived species long since extinct. I need your help to save these beasts from the Corpus' Feed and Research Division... 'scientists'. Track-and-tranq. Now: let's get you sorted out with a tranq rifle and echo-lure.

—The Business

Conservation is an activity in Orb Vallis that involves tracking, luring, and capturing the local fauna alive, to be protected from the habitat destruction caused by Corpus activities. Equipment for conservation can be acquired from The Business.

Mechanics

Preparing to Hunt

Once players have enough Standing with Solaris United, players will need to purchase both the Tranq Rifle and at least one Echo-Lure from The Business in Fortuna. Both are required to complete a hunt.

Once a Tranq Rifle and Echo-Lure have been purchased, the player can equip it in the Gear menu through their Arsenal. Note that it is not necessary to equip more than one item, as all available echo-lures and the rifle will be selectable through the conservation menu once any of them has been readied.

Now properly equipped, the player can head out into the Orb Vallis to begin. With the Tranq Rifle in hand (default hold Q  and select the rifle), the map will display a pawprint indicating where animals may be hiding. Holding an Echo-Lure will filter out the trails for the lure's specific species.

Conservation Menu

Once the player has armed themselves with a Tranq Rifle or Echo-Lure, the conservation gear menu will automatically appear on the bottom right of the screen, indicating the Tranq Rifle and currently equipped Echo-Lure. Players can change their current selection by holding the respective key (1 , 2  or 3 ), while pressing the respective key will ready that displayed item. Consequently, use of Warframe abilities (bound to the number keys) will be suppressed while equipped with a conservation item.

Capturing Fauna

After interacting with a starting trail, there are four steps involved in capturing a creature:

1. The player must locate a calling point within the marked area. A trail of footprints will appear from the starting trail, leading to the calling point. The calling point can also be located and scanned through a Codex Scanner or Synthesis Scanner.
2. On reaching the calling point, the player must lure out the creature using an Echo-Lure corresponding to the creature. After a short wait, the creature will call back and a "lure guide bar" appears on the pitch monitor, and following the pitch changes by aiming up or down will ensure the target creature is attracted.
   • If the player has a Pheromone Synthesiser, they can use it here before calling the animal to increase the chance of spawning a more rare fauna.
3. The creature will spawn and approach the calling point, and the player should get to a vantage point out of sight and equip the Tranq Rifle to stealthily capture the creature. If they see or hear the player, the quarry will attempt to flee.
   • The creature will spawn in the direction that it calls from, so listen closely to the calls it makes and reposition yourself to avoid being seen or smelled.
   • The shot has minor travel time, so be sure to lead any moving targets.
   • The Tranq Rifle is innately silent, so quarry won't be alerted if the shot misses.
   • Be mindful of the direction of the wind, as they can carry the player's scent towards the fauna causing it to be suspicious. The direction can be checked by looking for where dust pickups, plants, or the player's own Syandana are blowing towards.
4. Once the creature has been tranquilized, the player can safely approach them and call for a remote pickup. The quality of the capture depends on how startled the creature was when caught, with a "Perfect" rating if they never sensed the player and no Warframe abilities were used to tranquilized the creature.
   • The tranquilizing effects last for a short amount of time and once it wears off the creature will get up and flee.
   • A "Good" rating is given if the fauna has seen or smelled the player or if any Warframe abilities were used to tranquilize it.
   • A "Bad" rating is given if the fauna was hurt, either from Corpus enemies or the player's weaponry, or if the player has taken a significant amount of time to catch the fauna.

Rewards

When a creature is caught, the player is awarded Standing and a tag for the specific variety. Tags can be brought to The Business and redeemed for Floof Orbiter decorations and an Orb Vallis Conservation Emblem or Orb Vallis Beast and Bird Emblem.

Species

Pobbers

"Native to the fungal forests of Venus, the Pobber is a skittish rodent possessed of an objectionable odor. Always found in groups, they flee at the slightest hint of trouble. They are a primary food source for the Virmink and Sawgaw."

Pobbers notably appear in groups of three. They also do not sniff out their pursuers, possibly due to their own repungent odor.

• Sunny Pobber
• Delicate Pobber
• Subterranean Pobber

Perfect	Good	Bad
400 Standing 400	300 Standing 300	200 Standing 200

A common Pobber subspecies.

Perfect	Good	Bad
600 Standing 600	450 Standing 450	300 Standing 300

A rare Pobber subspecies. A descendant of an Orokin domesticated strain that is less odorous with a sweeter temperament, but far less hardy.

Perfect	Good	Bad
800 Standing 800	600 Standing 600	400 Standing 400

A very rare Pobber subspecies. They have adapted to living underground, away from their natural predators.

Virminks

"Sleek and silky, the adorable appearance of the Venusian Virmink belies its aggressive demeanor. Favoring rocky landscapes Virmink packs nose the air, scenting for Pobbers - their primary food source."

• White-Breasted Virmink
• Dusky-Headed Virmink
• Red-Crested Virmink

Perfect	Good	Bad
600 Standing 600	450 Standing 450	300 Standing 300

A common Virmink subspecies.

Perfect	Good	Bad
800 Standing 800	600 Standing 600	400 Standing 400

A rare Virmink subspecies. Their pelts are favored by the Corpus.

Perfect	Good	Bad
1,000 Standing 1,000	750 Standing 750	500 Standing 500

A very rare Virmink subspecies. Originally thought to be long extinct after the downfall of the Orokin Empire, they have been secretly preserved and revived alongside the local fauna and the neverending blizzard of the Orb Vallis itself.

Sawgaws

"'Soar Gore' as the Solaris call it, this crimson-faced bird of prey circles and stalks the cliffs and fungal groves of Venus, searching for rodent prey."

Sawgaws are a flying species, making them difficult to capture until they land somewhere. They usually prefer to perch on top of the giant mushrooms.

• Flossy Sawgaw
• Alpine Monitor Sawgaw
• Frogmouthed Sawgaw

File:SawgawCommon.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
800 Standing 800	600 Standing 600	400 Standing 400

A common Sawgaw subspecies.

File:SawgawUncommon.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
1200 Standing 1200	900 Standing 900	600 Standing 600

A rare Sawgaw subspecies.

File:SawgawRare.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
1800 Standing 1800	1350 Standing 1350	900 Standing 900

A very rare Sawgaw subspecies. Once thought to be extinct due to lack of mates in hopes of breeding them, in addition being exterminated by the Corpus in the name of profit.

Bolarolas

"Favoring thunder, lightning and cratered-out areas Bolarolas are all about defense. Their armored plates protect them from most predators, tucking-and-rolling to make good their escape."

Bolarolas are covered in an armored plating that neutralizes tranquilizing shots. Only their underbellies are vulnerable, and they will occasionally lean back to expose this weakness. Should they sense danger they will curl up to shield themselves, and when fleeing they will roll away.

• Spotted Bolarola
• Black-Banded Bolarola
• Thorny Bolarola

Perfect	Good	Bad
1,000 Standing 1,000	750 Standing 750	500 Standing 500

A common Bolarola subspecies.

Perfect	Good	Bad
1,500 Standing 1,500	1,125 Standing 1,125	750 Standing 750

A rare Bolarola subspecies. Their black plates are said to be used in Grineer formal wear.

Perfect	Good	Bad
2,500 Standing 2,500	1,875 Standing 1,875	1250 Standing 1250

A very rare Bolarola subspecies. Their spines have evolved into thorn-like barbs that give them an even greater defense.

Horrasques

"This hideous creature is terrible to behold but will not attack unless provoked. When it does, its roar will shake the bowels of even the most steadfast tracker."

Horrasques will crawl under ground majority of the time, ocassionally exposing their heads, or in rare cases, their whole body. Must be shot twice with the Tranq Rifle to be brought down. They will lay damaging scat near their footprints.

• Dappled Horrasque
• Swimmer Horrasque
• Horrasque Stormer

File:HorrasqueCommon.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
1200 Standing 1200	900 Standing 900	600 Standing 600

A common Horrasque subspecies.

File:HorrasqueUncommon.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
2400 Standing 2400	1800 Standing 1800	0 Standing 0

A rare Horrasque subspecies. Horrasques are not know to be the most graceful of swimmers, but this species persists.

File:HorrasqueRare.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
3600 Standing 3600	2700 Standing 2700	1800 Standing 1800

A very rare Horrasque subspecies. Hunted to near extinction due to the insulating properties of their hide.

Stovers

"The Stover is a kind of proto-Kubrow that resurrected when Venus thawed. When grouped in a pack, Stovers are relentless opponents."

Stovers make their appearances within caves, whose narrow passageways make confrontation almost unavoidable. Instead of immediately fleeing, they will viciously attack their pursuers. Must be shot three times with the Tranq Rifle to be brought down.

• Sentinel Stover
• Fuming Dax Stover
• Fire-Veined Stover

File:StoverCommon.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
1600 Standing 1600	1200 Standing 1200	800 Standing 800

A common Stover subspecies.

File:StoverUncommon.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
3200 Standing 3200	2400 Standing 2400	1600 Standing 1600

A rare stover subspecies. Often intimidates any other Stovers due to bossy behavior.

File:StoverRare.png

Perfect	Good	Bad
6400 Standing 6400	4800 Standing 4800	3200 Standing 3200

A very rare stover subspecies. Often being referred to "majestic".

Kubrodons

"The apex predator of the Venusian plains. These massively framed beasts travel in groups and mark the territory surrounding Orokin cooling towers as their own. Kubrodons are a danger best avoided."

True to its status as the apex predator, the Kubrodon's more acute sense of smell allows them to locate their pursuers, and will use a ramming attack to make good their escape. Additionally, they possess a degree of resistance to most Warframe crowd-control abilities and must be shot twice with the Tranq Rifle to be brought down.

Despite being mentioned to travel in groups, only one Kubrodon will respond to the lure's call.

• Brindle Kubrodon
• Vallis Kubrodon
• Kubrodon Incarnadine

Perfect	Good	Bad
2000 Standing 2000	1500 Standing 1500	1000 Standing 1000

A common Kubrodon subspecies.

Perfect	Good	Bad
4000 Standing 4000	3000 Standing 3000	2000 Standing 2000

A rare Kubdrodon subspecies. Unimaginatively named due to not being found anywhere outside Orb Vallis.

Perfect	Good	Bad
8000 Standing 8000	6000 Standing 6000	4000 Standing 4000

A very rare Kubrodon subspecies. They said to be possessed by a dark intelligence and kill solely for the sake of pleasure.

Equipment

The Tranq Rifle, Echo-Lures, and Pheromone Synthesizers can be purchased from The Business for standing.

• The Rifle is used to nonlethally put an animal to sleep.
• Echo-Lures are used to draw a specific animal out of hiding.
• Pheromone Synthesizers are used before the Echo-Lure to increase the chance of attracting rarer subspecies.

The Tranq Rifle is innately silent and has a single magazine size, needing to reload after every shot, with a reload time of 2 seconds. When zoomed in (RMB ), the rifle scans for fauna, with a greater detection range than Codex Scanners and Synthesis Scanners.

Tranq Rifle.png

Tranq Rifle
500 Standing 500 at Neutral

Pobbers Echo-Lure.png

Pobbers Echo-Lure
500 Standing 500 at Neutral

Pobbers Pheromone Synthesizer.png

Pobbers Pheromone Synthesizer
100 Standing 100 at Neutral

Virmink Echo-Lure.png

Virmink Echo-Lure
1,000 Standing 1,000 at Outworlder

Virmink Pheromone Synthesizer.png

Virmink Pheromone Synthesizer
100 Standing 100 at Outworlder

Sawgaw Echo-Lure.png

Sawgaw Echo-Lure
1,000 Standing 1,000 at Outworlder

Sawgaw Pheromone Synthesizer.png

Sawgaw Pheromone Synthesizer
200 Standing 200 at Outworlder

Bolarola Echo-Lure.png

Bolarola Echo-Lure
4,000 Standing 4,000 at Doer

Bolarola Pheromone Synthesizer.png

Bolarola Pheromone Synthesizer
300 Standing 300 at Doer

Horrasque Echo-Lure.png

Horrasque Echo-Lure
8,000 Standing 8,000 at Cove

Horrasque Pheromone Synthesizer.png

Horrasque Pheromone Synthesizer
400 Standing 400 at Cove

Stover Echo-Lure.png

Stover Echo-Lure
8,000 Standing 8,000 at Cove

Stover Pheromone Synthesizer.png

Stover Pheromone Synthesizer
400 Standing 400 at Cove

Kubrodon Echo-Lure.png

Kubrodon Echo-Lure
10,000 Standing 10,000 at Old Mate

Kubrodon Pheromone Synthesizer.png

Kubrodon Pheromone Synthesizer
500 Standing 500 at Old Mate

Notes

• Each animal has a base level of 1, possessing Ferrite Armor and Flesh health classes. Their health is extremely low enough to be killed in a single hit, and The Business will angrily reprimand the player should they do so.
  • The Tranq Rifle does 0 damage and the "bonus damage on next shot" effect (be it from Mods, abilities, or  Volt's Passive) does not apply, preventing the rifle from harming the animal.
  • If the animal is successfully tranquilized, they will become invulnerable to damage, preventing players from killing them by accident.
• If patrolling Corpus encounters the animal, they will attack it and likely kill it or cause it to flee.
• If the player interacts with a starting point and leaves its general area for a period of time, the tracking will be canceled.
• As the rifle is innately silent, firing it will not break  Ivara's  Prowl, nor alert nearby enemies.

Tips

•  Ivara's  Navigator makes capturing animals much easier, especially at a distance or if they are trying to flee.
• Animals can be affected by immobilizing Warframe abilities such as Ivara's Sleep Arrows or  Equinox's Rest, which will immediately tranquilize them from a single use as if they were hit by a Tranq Rifle.  Trinity's can suspend animals harmlessly off the ground,  Excalibur's  Radial Blind (Umbra's  Radial Howl counts as well) can inflict a harmless stun, Equinox's  Peaceful Provocation augment and  Nova's  Molecular Prime can slow animals down, and  Revenant's  Enthrall can also pacify animals to not be scared away, making capturing animals much easier.
  • However, using Warframe abilities on the creature will decrease the quality of capture.
    • If Ivara's Sleep Arrow directly hits the creature, the quality will not be decreased.
• Kubrodons are 75% resistant to all Warframe abilities. For example, when using Ivara’s Sleep Arrow to put a Kubrodon to sleep, the Ability Duration will be a quarter (1/4) of its full duration (Ivara’s Sleep Arrow with Maximised Ability Duration: 30.6 seconds ÷ 4 = 7.65 seconds).
  • Kubrodons also have an accumulated resistance to Warframe abilities, causing consecutive use of the same ability to have even less duration.
• Groups of Corpus spawn in clusters often in the Vallis, and are occasionally dropped in by dropships, making it hard not to come across some when tracking animals. Dealing with surrounding Corpus before attempting to call the animal will decrease the chances of it becoming attacked.
  • Any enemy alerted will alert all enemies in a very large radius and rush toward the first alerted location. This makes tracking animals near Corpus controlled buildings difficult.

Trivia

• The Ventkids have subdivisions named after the Pobbers and Kubrodons.
• According to The Business's dialogue when a Red-Crested Virmink is successfully captured, the fauna on Venus, and presumably on other planets, was originally created/engineered by the Orokin using a device called Geneforge.
  • This suggestion emphasizes superiority of Orokin technology in genetic engineering. As mentioned several times throughout the game, they can create obedient subjects like Dax Soldiers and something far, far more sinister like Infestation.
  • The Grineer partially inherited this technology when they rebelled. It is mentioned that every Grineer is engineered to be violent and to unquestioningly obey the Grineer Queens.

Bugs

• Occasionally, the starting points would be spawned on shallow coolant flow, e.g. walkable canal near Harindi Crater. Footprints starting from this spot will be completely obscured by the coolant. The player must look at the minimap to see the quest area to guess the right direction and find visible footprints on dry land.
• Sometimes, when using hotkey to holster the tranq rifle, Conservation Mode will not completely switch off. When this occurs, the player will be able to fire weapons normally but pressing number keys will bring up wheel menu, like when selecting echo-lure, preventing the use of ability. The player needs to equip the tranq rifle and holsters it again to fix this.
• On slope, footprints often become invisible when the player get close.
• Sawgaws might occasionally be hard to find, due to potentially spawning too far away and landing somewhere high that is not immediately visible. They might also clip through the environment when put to sleep, making them impossible to interact with until they wake up and fly away again, resulting in an eventual bad capture.

Media

HUNTING ON VALLIS - The Alpha Predator Warframe

Warframe - LAZY HUNTING w BARUUK

Patch History

Hotfix 24.2.9 (2019-01-18)

• Fixed the Enemy Radar Mod not showing Pobbers, Bolarolas, and Sawgaws on the minimap.

Hotfix 24.2.8 (2019-01-15)

• Fixed animal Tags used in Conservation having a file path instead of their proper description.

Hotfix 24.2.7 (2018-01-09)

• The Tranq Rifle is now ‘Silent’! This should ensure you are not startling animals if you miss - it's only on hit they'll react.
• Fixed missing unique animal capture notes for the Vallis Sawgaw, Stover and Horrasque.
• Fixed equipping a Bait item to an occupied Gear Spiral Slot resulting in the Slot being cleared.

Hotfix 24.2.5 (2018-12-20)

• Ivara’s Sleep Arrow now grants a ‘Perfect Capture’ if the shot is a direct hit. The farther off your shot the more distressed the animal gets.
• Animals will be less stressed the closer you are to them when casting Baruuk’s Lull ability.
• Reduced the Pheromone Synthesizer Standing Cost from 1000 Standing to 100 - 500 Standing depending on the animal.

Hotfix 24.2.3 (2018-12-19)

• Fixed inability to bring more than 1 Pheromone Synthesizers. You can now bring up to 100!

Hotfix 24.2.2 (2018-12-18)

• When completing a successful animal Conservation using a Warframe ability, it will yield a ‘Good Capture’, as opposed to sometimes yielding a ‘Perfect Capture’. A successful animal Conservation using the tried-and-true Tranq/Echo-Lure technique was always intended to yield a higher gratitude.

Update 24.2 (2018-12-18)
NEW CONSERVATION ANIMALS!
Three ancient animals have returned to the Vallis, and we need your help to save them. Purchase their new Echo-Lures from The Business, track them down and whisk them away — before the Corpus get to them first.

Sawgaw
This crimson-faced bird of prey circles and stalks the cliffs and fungal groves of Venus, searching for rodent prey.

Horrasque
This hideous creature is terrible to behold but will not attack unless provoked. When it does, its roar will shake the bowels of even the most steadfast tracker.

Stover
The Stover is a kind of proto-Kubrow that resurrected when Venus thawed. When grouped in a pack, Stovers are relentless opponents.

Conservation Additions, Changes & Fixes:

• Animal Pheromone Synthesizer items have been added to The Business’ Offerings! When deployed before using an Echo-Lure, these increase the chance of attracting a Rare variant of the respective animal.
• Increased range of Tranq Rifle pulsing sound from 100m to 180m.
• Fixed the UI breaking and Echo-Lure/Tranq/Mining Lasers not functioning after dismounting a K-Drive.
• Fixed having no weapon when getting downed while the Echo-Lure or Tranq is equipped.
• Fixed Tranqing an animal during its despawn animation would cause instant disappearance.
• Fixed Echo-Lure’s not changing pitch for Clients.
• Fixed a case of the Echo-Lure UI indicator not matching true pitch of the animal call.
• Fixed Conservation UI (and other custom scopes) being disabled when dismounting a K-Drive.
• Fixed potential cases of the Conservation start point or the call point spawning too far into the edge of the map, making it unreachable.

Hotfix 24.1.2 (2018-11-29)

• The Conservation gear when tracking animals now functions similar to the Fishing gear, where tapping the bound key will auto-equip the respective item, instead of having to hold the key and re-select the item.
• Fixed continued issues with hunting footsteps not being visible. This includes a key issue with AMD graphics cards as well as general visibility.
• Echo-Lures no longer need to be equipped in your Gear Spiral, they are auto-equipped in the Conservation gear when a Tranq is equipped.
• Increased the fire rate of the Tranq Rifle so that it enters the reload state faster.
• Fixed animals sometimes spawning in range and instantly running away.
• Fixed animals vanishing too quickly instead of being ‘taken away’ after being captured in Orb Vallis.
• Fixed not seeing the correct UI text when the Conservation gear is active when using a controller with the default ‘classic controls’.
• Fixed the controller binding to switch between options in the Conservation gear not functioning.
• We now show the 'Infinity' symbol for Conservation gear, indicating the fact that it is not consumed on use.
• Fixed various poop decals not being correctly hooked up.

Hotfix 24.1.1 (2018-11-23)

• Removed The Business’ unnecessary VO of "You need to practice the Echo-Lure more" when the animal escapes.
• Fixes towards potential cases where animal tracks don't appear.
• More fixes towards an animal appearing to be left behind when two players attempt to collect it at the same time.
• Fixed animals potentially spawning way too far away from the call point.
• Fixed Kubrow and Kavat Companions sometimes attacking/using abilities on animals.
• Fixed some Orb Vallis fungus covering up animal tracks.

Hotfix 24.0.9 (2018-11-21)

• Conservation UI now scales correctly and matches Fishing UI.
• Fixed a case where the animal capture screen might not open for Clients and the animal doesn't get whisked away.
• Fixed ability to Tranq an already-captured animal resulting in obtaining numerous Tags.
• Fixed Clients sometimes not getting the HUD to show up after starting an animal tracking trail.
• Fixed incorrect icon displaying in the Conservation HUD when you select a Lure from the main wheel.
• Fixed 2 players capturing an animal at the same time resulting in one animal being left behind.
• Fixed a script error that could occur when capturing an animal.

Hotfix 24.0.7 (2018-11-15)

• Animals that wake up from their invulnerable sleep due to certain Warframe Abilities will become vulnerable once again. Timing and speed is your best bet for that Perfect Capture!
• Fixed a captured animals age sometimes showing as ‘4 years 12 months’.
• Fixed a script error that could occur when capturing an animal in Orb Vallis.

Hotfix 24.0.4 (2018-11-12)

• Resource Boosters now apply to Tags procured from capturing animals in Orb Vallis! May your Floof stockpiles grow!
• Improved animal spawning give players more time to ‘get down wind’, instead of animals spawning almost instantly right beside you and getting spooked.
• Increased reliable and size of the Bolarola hitboxes.
• Removed 'next shot damage bonus' from Mods or other sources being applied to the Tranq Rifle. This also prevents Volt’s Passive from unintentionally killing animals.
• Removed Warframe Ability immunity on animals so that they can be put into a peaceful slumber by special Abilities like Ivara’s Sleep Arrow and Equinox’s Rest.
• Fixed Conservation HUD (top center 'diamond' HUD when tracking) not using HUD scale.
• Fixed a script error on the animal capture screen if multiple animals were captured in quick succession.

Hotfix 24.0.3 (2018-11-10)

• Fixed single lures being applied to multiple conservation trails in some cases.

Hotfix 24.0.2 (2018-11-09)

• Tweaked the animal capture logic to allow for better Perfect/Good captures. Bad/Good/Perfect Captures are stressed based, which rises when the animal comes in contact with a player. A quick tranq of a non-startled animal would yield you a ‘Perfect Capture’ - so get down wind and don’t miss!
• Animals that have been Tranq’d are now invulnerable to avoid teammates/enemies killing them by accident (or on purpose).
• Increased the animal tracking footprint pulse brightness to improve visibility.
• Fixed the animal trail pulse FX not being visible for Clients.
• Fixed a case where a Virmink trail would spawn Pobbers in the mountains.
• Fixed multiple Pulse sounds in a row for multiple animal encounters.
• More fixes towards Lure's not working when Master Volume is muted in Orb Vallis.
• Fixed a Darvo transmission perpetually playing in Fortuna if you captured an animal in Orb Vallis.

Update 24.0 (2018-11-08)

• Introduced.

Last updated: Hotfix 24.1.2 (2018-11-29)