Genshin Impact – How To: Deliver Chisato’s Letter

Ritou Escape Plan – Side Quest

As an outlander in Inazuma, you are required to obtain various permits to conduct your business within its boundaries. As you take the quest Ritou Escape Plan, you will come to know Hiiragi Chisato. She will offer you help on obtaining your necessary permits to leave Ritou and visit other parts of Inazuma.

But in order for her to provide assistance, you must first take care of her request. This includes delivering her letter to her lover Kujou Kamaji.

  1. Find Kujuo Kamaji in Inazuma City.
  2. Once found, talk to him about the letter.
  3. You’re then instructed to collect the snacks ordered at Kiminami Restaurant.
  4. After running the errand, the Travel Permit is then handed over to you.
  5. You then report back to Chisato and tell her what has transpired.
  6. After talking to her, the quest will then be completed and you are free to travel around Inazuma.

Alternative – Ritou Escape Plan

To be honest, I didn’t finish Chisato’s Letter quest until I finished the Archon quest of Inazuma. Just after the Traveler was escorted by Chisato to escape the borders, I went straight for the Waypoint markers and the other Statues of Seven in Inazuma.

In fact once you have activated waypoints outside of Ritou, you are free to roam around Inazuma. However, if you teleport back to Ritou and attempt to walk out through the border, you will be halted and asked whether you have a travel permit or not.

Maybe you’ve already done it, or maybe you’ve just read about this and would like to do it yourself. There’s no stopping you really. Maybe the Genshin Impact developers designed it that way, or it just might be an oversight on their part.

Have you done this too? Let us know what you did by leaving a comment below.

Inspiration4 Successfully Launches From Cape Canaveral

The Inspiration4 mission launched shortly after 8:00 pm Eastern time from Cape Canaveral. The first-ever civilian crew is commanded by Shift4Shop founder Jared Isaacman, who organized the mission as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Isaacman raised a total of $113 million for the hospital in a raffle giving away one of the seats. A friend of crew member Chris Sembroski reportedly won the raffle, then gifted the seat to Sembrowski. SpaceX apparently hosted a fundraiser for St. Jude on its livestream of the Inspiration4 launch, which at last check raised an additional $229,000.

Another seat was given away in a contest in which entrants could qualify by testing the Shift4Shop ecommerce solution. Sian Proctor, a geology professor at South Mountain Community College, won that contest.

Hayley Arceneaux, a childhood cancer survivor who now works as a physician at St. Jude, rounds out the crew and will serve as the team’s medical officer.

Inspiration4 will orbit Earth at an altitude of about 585 kilometers, higher than the International Space Station. The crew will conduct several biomedical experiments that include studies on cognition and behavior while in space, as well as conducting a sleep study and providing additional “research grade” data on heart rate and blood oxygen saturation. The data can be used to solve many of the biomedical riddles related to crewed space missions.

The Crew Dragon for Inspiration4 was previously used for NASA’s Crew-1 mission, which was the first operational mission for the Commercial Crew Program. Crew-1 was launched last November, ferrying four astronauts to the International Space Station, and successfully splashed down in May. Crew-1 Commander Michael Hopkins gave the Crew Dragon the name of “Resilience” before his flight.

Congratulations for the crew is already pouring in from around the world. Although Inspiration4 was not organized or sponsored by NASA, it was quick to treat its congratulations:

Local coverage by Tampa Bay News Nine included space enthusiasts like the founder of the popular Facebook group Space Hipsters, Emily Carney.

“I think it’s right up there with the first major flights just because it’s showing that you don’t have to be part of a space agency to fly to space. You can be a civilian,” she told Tampa Bay News Nine during coverage of the launch.

If you have a Netflix subscription, the first part of its planned five-part documentary on Inspiration4 should already be up. Netflix plans to release subsequent parts in what it describes as “near real-time,” as soon as possible during and after the Inspiration4 mission.

Upcoming all-civilian missions include a series of flights organized by Axiom Space and often commanded by veteran NASA astronauts like Peggy Whitson and Michael Lopez-Alegria. Axiom Space’s missions will lay the groundwork for adding its inflatable modules to the International Space Station and eventually spinning them off into an independent space station.

SpaceX also plans to send civilians on a trip around the Moon as part of the dearMoon mission, organized by Japanese fashion industry entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa. Maezawa will fly with several to-be-determined individuals who are likely to be artists representing a wide variety of art forms.

How To Play Idle Heroes Part 1

Early on, the game provides the basic tutorial on navigating and conducting campaigns; After that, however, you are left to fend for yourself. There are a lot of things happening in this game, and we have prepared something to point you in the right direction.

Daily Quests

This should be your priority every day you login. There are a total of ten daily quests that you should accomplish each day. Each daily quest will reward you with a valuable resource that when accumulated can be game changing, and after you accomplish them, you will receive 100 gems as an additional reward. If unfinished, these quest will remain available until the next server refresh.

Name of QuestRewards
Use Hand of Midas 1x to gain Gold.2x Wishing Coins
Send Out Hearts.250x Monster Souls
Spin 2x on the Wishing Fountain.30x Gems
Start 2x Tavern Quests.641k Gold
Buy any item in the Marketplace.50x Chaos Stone
Complete 1x Basic Summon.382k Hero Upgrade EXP
Complete 1x Heroic Summon.50x Gems
Complete 3x Battles in Arena2x Arena Ticket
Get Rewards 2x in Campaign.20x Gems
Claim the Check In Reward.350x Magic Dust
Complete all Daily Quests.100x Gems

Check In

Check-in’s are part of the Daily Quests. It provides the player’s hero fragments, gems, summoning scrolls, and many more. If you complete the 30-day login, you will get a guaranteed 50 hero fragments and a huge amount of gems.

Send Out Hearts

Send a heart gift to your friends is another of the daily quests. Accumulating enough hearts, 100 to be exact, will allow players to perform the Friendship Summon. With which the players will receive 10 random ranked heroes to add to their roster.

Basic, Heroic and Friendship Summons

Here we are able to summon random rank & faction heroes. We need Basic and Heroic Summoning scrolls to do so and, as we previously mentioned, the hearts to be able to do a Friendship Summon.

Wishing Fountain

A Wishing Fountain is one of two types of fountains available. The other one is named Super Wishing Fountain which uses a different kind of coin. Here a roulette is spun round and will cost players 1 coin for 1 wish or 8 coins for 10 wishes. In the roulette are the corresponding rewards a player may receive.

Tavern Quests

The Tavern Quest contains two distinctions, the Team and Individual Quests; however, they differ only in name since both will require you to send out heroes to accomplish random quests ranked 1 through 7.

Marketplace

The game has finally optimized the market. Now everything you need to purchase is found in just one place. It is here that you get to spend all your hard earned in-game money. Available for purchase are heroes, skins, summoning scrolls, artifacts and so much more.

Campaign

This is where you’ll get the majority of your experience whilst you are away playing other games. Your designated heroes continue their journey in fighting enemies and gaing experience and rewards as they move forward. Each campaign is composed of stages. As your reach the last stage, you then unlock the next island. Once you completed all the islands, you will then restart campaining with a much higher diffuiculty.

Hand of Midas

Allows all players to collect a certain amount of gold for free. They may also opt in to using gems to collect more gold.

Arena

In here lies the true test of strength for your heroes. The arena is where you battle other players from other servers. Fighting to increase fame and ranking amongst your friends and against other players.

Seal Land

This PvE domain is used to test the strenght of your heroes according to their faction. This also gives you insight on which faction you could give focus to balance the effectiveness of your team. Please note that a team is composed of six heroes. A minimum of three heroes having the same faction may result in the availability of an aura which adds bonus attributes to your heroes.

Brave Trial

The Brave Trial is a PvP dungeon with stages of varying difficulties. This dungeon opens for 24 hour with 48 hour interval between openings. It has two modes, Day and Night with the latter giving higher rewards. At times you are matched with tougher players and with a bit of luck you get to face off with your own team. For every stage you may purchase power ups for your heroes using trial badges as currency. And you obtain them each time you win a challenge.

These are the few of the things you need to remember to visit whenever you log in to Idle Heroes. Also, don’t forget to link your account so you won’t lose any progress you’ve made if you switch devices.

We will be doing a follow up on this as there are a lot more that this game offers. For the meantime, if you found this to be helpful, let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

The Basics of Witcher 3

You’re probably here because you’ve watched “The Witcher” from a famous online streaming site and know that it was based off of a video game, which was also based from a book published by, Polish author, Andrzej Sapkowski.

We aren’t going to bore you with the details about the story, so let’s get straight on to the gaming basics. If you want to know the storyline, the game starts mostly with cut scenes and few of the basic tutorials to get you going.

Interaction

One of the most common things for games is the characters’ ability to interact with Non-Playing Characters (NPCs). This may have glitches, but none that can’t be fixed with a game relaunch or a system restart. To interact an NPC:

  1. You need to get close to an item, carcass or NPC.
  2. Press E to interact, investigate, or initiate something.

The game requires you to investigate things in order to complete quests and follow the story. If you can’t see things clearly, you can use your Witcher Sense to reveal everything that is hidden. To do so:

  1. Press and hold the Right Mouse Button.
  2. You will see highlighted objects or clues that were previously invisible to you.
  3. Get near them to interact, activate, or investigate.

Combat

Melee

Right after the cut scenes during the start of the game. You are given the option to undergo the tutorial process. However, you may have chosen to opt out of the tutorial or may have forgotten it already. So we’ve taken the liberty of preparing something that will refresh your memory.

To start slashing and slaying foes you will have to:

  • Draw your sword. It is not good to use fists when facing monsters or armed guards. You have two of them the steel for humans & non-humans and silver for monsters and otherworldy foes. You can draw each by pressing their hotkeys, 1 for steel and 2 for silver. Pressing the buttons again will resheath them.
  • Before flailing your sword, pick a target by pressing Z or just by using your mouse to point at which direction your enemy is standing. The former is rather effective as you are more focused.
  • Use the Left Mouse Button to use normal attacks.
  • To use a stronger attack, hold down Left Shift while pressing the Left Mouse Button.
  • To move about, use W, A, S, D keys to go forward, left, backward and right respectively.
  • To dodge attacks, you’ll need press either W, A, S, D and then press the ALT key.
  • And if you wish to roll, press either W, A, S, D and press Spacebar.
  • If you’re not a fan of dodging and rolling then you may parry all attacks by pressing the Right Mouse Button.

Magic

Witchers are also able to use magic. They cast various numbers of signs that produce different kinds of magical effects at a time.

SignEffects
Acts as a shield that protects you from damage and certain critical effects.
Deals fire damage to enemies which may lead to a burning effect. Can be used to blow up gas vapors and incendiaries. Burn spider webs light torches and more.
Stuns or knocks opponents and other materials to the ground.
Disorients the opponent temporarily making them vulnerable to attack.
A magic trap that slows anyone that enters the area of effect.

For you to use them:

  1. Press Tab to open the Quick Access Menu.
  2. Use you mouse to select which sign you wish to use then click on the Left Mouse Button.
  3. Once selected, press Q to cast the selected sign.

Travels

Call your horse. Roach is your main transport as you travel in between quests. In order for you to use your horse:

  1. Press E to mount. That is if he is within your sights.
  2. If Roach isn’t within your reach, you can press X to call him by whistling. Then mount him by pressing E. Press the same key to unmount.
  3. Alternatively, Fast Travel is available by using Sign Posts scattered around your map. This lets you move around explored areas quickly. This definitely beats horseback riding at the expense of not being able to exploring and randomly gather quest items, ingredients and side quests.

Now all you need to do is to launch the game, if you haven’t already, and start your journey as the famed Geralt of Rivia.

If you found this helpful, do share. And if you want something else covered about Witcher 3, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Automakers Protest Extra Tax Credit for EVs Made by Union Workers

Tesla has a reputation for being anti-union, including accusations that Elon Musk attempted to intimidate union organizers and a brief fight with one German automakers’ union over the union’s complaints related to Tesla hiring a factory manager for Gigafactory Berlin away from Mercedes-Benz. Now Tesla is joining other automakers like Toyota and Honda to protest a proposed additional tax credit for electric vehicles purchased from companies that have a strong union presence.

The companies say that the proposed $4,500 in tax credits hurts competition and unfairly favors other companies like General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, all of which have unionized hourly-wage employees represented by the United Auto Workers union and have gone on record as supporting the extra tax credit for union-made vehicles. The total of $12,500 in tax credits were proposed by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee as part of its discussion of a $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill.

The proposal also limits the tax credit to a maximum vehicle price of $55,000 for cars and $74,000 for trucks. The Tesla Model S Standard Range Plus starts at $39,990 and the Model Y Long Range starts at $53,990. With customizations and options, it would be easy for buyers of these vehicles to rapidly exceed the cap to be eligible for the tax credit.

Elon Musk was characteristically quick to criticize the additional tax credit for union-made cars, seeming to refer to Cars.com’s recent placing of two Tesla models in the Top Three of its list of most American-made vehicles. Known among Elon Musk watchers for its efforts to control as much of its supply chain as possible, Tesla manufactures many of the batteries and components used to manufacture vehicles at the Gigafactory near Fremont, California, at a nearby factory. The proposed tax credit for purchases of American-made vehicles was reportedly reduced to just $500.

By way of comparison, most of Ford’s electric Mustang Mach-E sold in the United States are made in Mexico. It does plan to start manufacturing the electric F-150 and Transit in the United States next year.

Toyota was quick to echo complaints about the proposal being anti-competitive by working against automakers that aren’t unionized. It wrote in an open letter to the Ways and Means committee:

“The current Ways and Means Committee draft makes the objective of accelerating the deployment of electrified vehicles secondary by discriminating against American autoworkers based on their choice not to unionize.”

The automakers’ lobby organization Autos Drive America also came out against the proposal, saying that it would create an “unlevel playing field that will limit consumer choice and punish non-unionized American workers, their families, and their communities.”

President Biden has notably snubbed Elon Musk and Tesla despite the president’s claims to support efforts to move away from fossil fuels to fight climate change. Most recently, his administration did not send Tesla an invitation to a summit for electric vehicle manufacturers hosted at the White House, leading to speculation that Biden plans to favor unionized automakers regardless of whether they make significant investments in the development and manufacturing of electric vehicles or not.

How To: Play Hades

Hades is a roguelite fast-paced action game developed by Supergiant Games earlier for Windows, Mac, Nintendo Switch and later included PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S.

You play Zagreus, the son of Hades, as he attempts to escape the depths of the underworld. The game is about defying death; however, death is a part of the experience. During your escape attempt, you’ll face various types of enemies with increasing difficulties.

You start in one of the rooms of Tartarus.

To move up, left, down and right, you use the keys W, A, S, and D respectively. Use Spacebar to Dash. Left Mouse Button to use Normal Attack or Charged Attacks. And the Right Mouse Button uses to shoot a Bloodstone which causes damage to enemies.

For the first room, you are presented with any item. For this one, we have an upgrade item, the Daedalus Hammer. This hammer is used to upgrade one skill and attributes that your weapon has.

Before you enter the room, the door shows what type of reward you will gain. This reward will only be obtained after the room has been cleared of your enemies.

For this first encounter, we receive a gift from Posiedon.

Our second encounter rewards us with Gems. This is a type of currency used to purchase Underworld Renovations, Special Items from the House Contractors and Chthonic Keys from the Wretched Broker.

For the third one, we are rewarded with Darkness. This is used to upgrade Zagreus’s Talents using the Mirror of The Night.

During each run you’ll enter rooms that contain two doors. This is now a matter of choice with which god you’re keen on continuing to receive gifts from. In our case, We’ve already received boons from Posiedon, so it’s an easy choice for us to pick the door where we can receive additional boons from the same god.

If you compare the first set of boons we’ve received from Posiedon, you may see that Tempest Flourish has been repeated. It’s best to choose another boon to add to your characters abilities while in combat. Here are some of Posiedons boons that you may acquire during runs.

In this instance, we come across a door containing another type of currency called Charon’s Obols or Obols. These are used to purchase various items from Charon. He’s not the most talkative, but may prove useful at times of need.

This room contains two doors. The one on the left leads towards Charon, the one we previously discussed, and the other contains a Chthonic Key. This key is used to unlock additional talents in the Mirror of the Night, unlock weapons in the armory and purchase Nectar from the Wretched Broker.(Tip: The fountain to the upper right will replenish a small amount of your characters health points.)

The Nectar is an artifact currency used as gifts towards other gods. When a god is gifted with nectar, that god will return the favor by gifting back a keepsake. Nectar also increases your affinity with the gods.However, Alecto, Tisiphone, Theseus and Asterius cannot be gifted with nectar. With that said, you must also watch out for Patroclus, Eurydice, Thanatos and Sisyphus as they are very rare. It is advised that you keep one or two nectars with you in case you get a chance encounter with them.

Keepsakes are items that help you by providing special attributes like added bonus to attack damage, increased percentage of being able to land critical damage.

We hope you found this article helpful and now understand the basic principles of this game. Have fun playing the game and Good Luck! If you find any helpful tricks or special hidden keepsakes, let us know in the comments. below!

Tesla Releases Full Self-Driving Beta Version 10

Tesla has released an important update for the beta version of Full Self-Driving. Beta Version 10 may fix many of the reported issues with Version 9.2 – a version that even Elon Musk admitted was terrible – and also added new features that made it easier to navigate some features of city streets like roundabouts. It also updated driving visualizations that make it possible for Tesla vehicle owners to see what Full Self-Driving “sees”.

Elon Musk also expects that Version 10.1 will be forthcoming shortly:

Tesla considers the beta program to be an important part of improving Full Self-Driving by collecting real-world usage data to help train the AI behind it. The company has spun up a series of powerful computers to store that data and improve the AI. The most powerful of these will be the “Dojo” supercomputer, which is specifically designed for machine learning.

Initial reports from beta testers indicate that Beta Version 10 isn’t without the expected bugs and flaws, however. One driver reported that it approached a parked car faster than he would have liked. Another reported that FSD ran a stop sign. Neither driver intervened in either case, but there were no crashes as a result of the FSD’s errors.

On the flip side, drivers say that the updates made it possible for FSD to navigate a “twisty” street in San Francisco without requiring intervention and also navigate a couple of construction zones without a problem.

Testers have already posted some videos of themselves making use of FSD Beta Version 10 on YouTube. One YouTuber posted a video in which he called FSD “More confident … aggressive” while it drove along.

Tesla has issued repeated warnings that drivers should stay alert when using Autopilot and FSD. Documents related to access to FSD’s Beta program require that testers keep their hands on the wheel and say that they can be kicked from the program if the FSD software determines that they were unalert too many times. It may simply amount to not being a distracted driver even with FSD activated.

Experts say that Full Self-Driving is still at Level 2 on the SAE’s five-level scale of self-driving software. That means it is capable of performing some basic driving tasks, but drivers should remain alert for any unusual, complicated, or unexpected driving scenarios.

Some communications between Tesla developers and state-level regulators did express concern about the possibility that Tesla and Elon Musk might overstate the capabilities of Full Self-Driving. Developers say that the software probably won’t be at Level 5 as soon as Elon Musk seemed to expect. Even Elon Musk admitted that achieving Level 5, or full autonomy, was more difficult than he had expected at first. Even so, he says that Tesla prioritized work on Autopilot due to one incident in which a driver fell asleep at the wheel, leading to a fatal wreck, and then sued Tesla alleging that the “new car smell” making him drowsy.

Tesla handily won that particular lawsuit, though Musk’s concern about the role of driver error in fatal crashes is not unwarranted. Despite occasional clashes between Tesla and the NHTSA, the NHTSA itself once said in a report that driver error was a contributing factor in more than 90% of fatal crashes.

The SAE recently issued a revision clarifying the distinctions between some levels on its chart. The revisions also removed unclear jargon from the document.

Genshin Impact – How To: Complete Hyakunin Ikki

This new Limited-Time Event Domain Hyakunin Ikki allows every player to test their characters strength and abilities by placing them in an arena, divided into six teams with two characters each and may have two Ganryuu Arts.

Players are allowed to change characters or teams during battle. You’ll need to plan carefully how you pair your characters to take advantage of their special skills and elements.

It’s Haiku Time!

To start this event:

  1. Press J to open your quest journal.
  2. Select Hyakunin Ikki: The Greatest Battle. Alternatively, press ESC and a window will open. Click on Events then select Hyakunin Ikki. Click Go to Quest.
  3. A location will be marked on your map.
  4. Proceed to that location and find Kayabuki Kazuyoshi.
  5. Press F to talk to him.
  6. The instructions for the event will then be given.
  7. After the cutscene, Kayabuki Kazuyoshi will take you to a different location and reveal the entrance to the Arena.
  8. Press F to enter.
  9. In the Domain Entrance, displayed are the challenges available, rewards, score multiplier and the types of opponents you will be facing once inside the arena.
  10. Press Start to proceed.
  11. You will now select your characters and configure their skills to use in the arena.
  12. Click Start to proceed to the arena entrance.
  13. Once in the arena, go to the middle and you’ll find a key.
  14. Press F to start the challenge.
  15. You’ll have to defeat the enemies that spawn until the time is up.
  16. As the timer reaches zero, the challenge is completed. You are allowed to retry the domain to get even more rewards as you exceed you previous best score.
  17. To claim the rewards however, you’ll have to go to the Events tab,
  18. Select Hyakunin Ikki
  19. Click on the Challenge Rewards.
  20. Click Claim to acquire the rewards you won in the arena.

Congratulations! You completed the event. How difficult did you find it? Were the rewards worth it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Tesla Finds Legal Loophole to Build Service Center in New Mexico

New Mexico legally banned Tesla from building a service center for its vehicles within the state. This forced Tesla owners in New Mexico to travel to other states to have their vehicles serviced. Now Tesla has found a clever way around the state’s laws: Build a service center within the Nambé Pueblo Native American tribe’s land.

Nambé Pueblo territory is legally not subject to the state’s laws because it is regarded as a tribal nation. At the grand opening of the new service center, tribal leaders were quick to welcome the new establishment along with US Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján.

“This truly represents a historic moment,” said Nambé Pueblo Governor Phillip Perez.

The senators emphasized the importance of electric vehicles like Tesla’s in combatting the effects of climate change. Luján said that he is especially looking forward to the release of the Cybertruck despite repeated delays in production of the electric pickup truck.

Although Tesla’s vehicles were still criticized for running on electricity generate by coal-fired plants, the company has fought this image by investing heavily in solar power, including adding it to some of its Supercharger stations and inking deals with developers of luxury homes to add solar roofs and at-home charging stations to homes in new developments.

Tesla has also supported lawmakers’ efforts to combat carbon emissions created by gasoline-powered vehicles, including joining an industry lobby group of automakers interested in manufacturing EVs and fighting delays in emissions regulations in court.

Tesla has previously had to deal with state-level laws that make it difficult to establish a presence in the state without working with dealerships. When the Gigafactory in Texas begins manufacturing vehicles, for instance, it will have to ship the vehicles out of the state and then ship them back on semi-trucks without any visible Tesla branding before they can be delivered to customers unless Texas changes its laws governing car sales.

Tesla has frequently criticized the normal model of going to a dealership to buy a car, saying that it greatly inflates the cost of vehicles and creates a complicated process that might discourage some buyers who prefer not to deal with car salesmen who earn commissions based on the profit of each sale to the dealer. It makes the case that direct sales would not cause “unfair competition” with car dealerships or disincentivize consumers from buying a new or used vehicle from one, as the owners of those dealerships and competing vehicle manufacturers often claim.

“How do you sell the future if your business depends on the present?” a Tesla official told Chicago Tribune at one point, referring to the current model of selling vehicles through dealerships.

The new service center in the Nambé Pueblo territory is a 7,000 square-foot facility that used to be a casino near the Nambé Falls Travel Center. Although there is no word yet on how many jobs this will provide to the Nambé Pueblo people, Tesla will also support educational opportunities for Nambé Pueblo students, including providing tutors and scholarships.

Genshin Impact – How To: Find and Farm in Domains

In the world of Teyvat, domains are instances with a temple like entrance. As players complete the domain challenges, rewards are given at random. They vary from talent level-up, weapon ascension, weapon enhancement materials. Included are artifacts, mora, adventure experience and companionship experience in exchange of Original Resin.

In your travels you’ll stumble across some of them. Just for finding them, you may be given Primogems and Adventure experience as a reward. Few will require prerequisites like quests or puzzle to be completed first. It will allow players to unlock and enter the domains.

TYPES OF DOMAINS

Challenge Domains

These domains contain three stages that will open only on specified days of the week, Sunday being the most consistent day that it is open for players to enter the domain. Under this category are:

1. Domains of Forgery

These domains gives Weapon Ascension Materials. The name gives it away. It’s to ascend your weapons and increase the stats value and max level.

DomainLocationRank RequiredParty LevelElements
Cecilia GardenWolvendom,
Windwail,
Highland,
Mondstadt
16 / 21 / 30 / 4015 / 36 / 59 / 80Cryo, Pyro, Electro
Hidden Palace of Lianshan FormulaMingyun Village,
Qiongji Estuary,
Liyue
16 / 21 / 30 / 4015 / 36 / 59 / 80Pyro / Cryo
Court of Flowing SandMt. Yougou,
Narukami Island,
Inazuma
16 / 21 / 30 / 4015 / 36 / 59 / 80Geo / Cryo

2. Domains of Blessing

These domains gives Artifacts. They increase your characters stats. To unlock and use Artifacts, players will have to complete the Prologue Chapter of the Archon Quests.

DomainLocationRank RequiredParty LevelElements
Domain of GuyunGuyun Stone Forest,
Sea of Clouds,
Liyue
22 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 4534 / 47 / 59 / 69 / 80 / 90Electro
Midsummer CourtyardStarsnatch Cliff,
Starfell Valley,
Mondstadt
22 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 4534 / 47 / 59 / 69 / 80 / 90Pyro
Valley of RemembranceDawn Winery,
Windwail Highland,
Mondstadt
25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 4547 / 59 / 69 / 80 / 90
Hidden Palace pf Zhou FormulaWuwang Hill,
Bishui Plain,
Liyue
30 / 35 / 40 / 4559 / 69 / 80 / 90Cryo
Peak of VindagnyrSkyfrost Nail,
Dragonspine,
Mondstadt
30 / 35 / 40 / 4559 / 69 / 80 / 90Electro, Anemo, Pyro, Geo
Ridge WatchBishui Plain,
Liyue
30 / 35 / 40 / 4559 / 69 / 80 / 90Geo, Hydro, Cryo
Momiji-Dyed CourtYashiori Island,
Inazuma
30 / 35 / 40 / 4559 / 69 / 80 / 90Cryo, Pyro
Clear Poo and Mountain CavernMt. Aocang,
Minlin,
Liyue
35 / 40 / 4569 / 80 / 90Geo

3. Domains of Mastery

These domains gives Artifacts. They increase your characters stats. To unlock and use Artifacts, players will have to complete the Prologue Chapter of the Archon Quests.

DomainLocationRank RequiredParty LevelElements
Taishan MansionJueyun Karst,
Minlin,
Liyue
27 / 28 / 36 / 4538 / 54 / 71 / 88Electro, Hydro, Cryo
Forsaken RiftSprindvale,
Windwail Highland,
Mondstadt
27 / 28 / 36 / 4538 / 54 / 71 / 88Electro, Pyro
Violet CourtKannazuka, Inazuma27 / 28 / 36 / 4538 / 54 / 71 / 88Electro

Trounce Domains

These domains contain powerful Bosses that can be re-challenged after completing specific Archon or Story quest. They are always open. They will only give out rewards ones a week. To claim rewards, you’ll need to spend 30 original resins to Open the Ley Line Blossom.

1. Spiral Abyss

This domain changes overtime and is deemed special. Players will unlock it at Adventure Rank 20 and can only be accessed through a wormhole in the sky at Cape Oath. The stages counts as domain challenges. When you clear each stage, the rewards also increase.

2. One-Time Domains

These domains are unique. They will only give rewards for the first time you enter and complete the domain challenge. Players no longer receive rewards after the fact. The boosts you receive include Adventure EXP, dish recipes, and Primogems.

Identified One-Time Domains are as follows:

DomainLocationRank RequiredParty LevelElements
Shakkei PavillionTatarasuna,
Kannazuka,
Inazuma
AR-DependentCryo, Electro,
Anemo,
Pyro
Formation EstateJakotsu Mine,
Yashiori Island,
Inazuma
AR-DependentCryo, Electro,
Anemo,
Pyro
Temple of the FalconWindrise, Galesong Hill,
Mondstadt
1220Pyro
Temple of the WolfThousand Winds Temple,
Starfell Valley,
Mondstadt
1525Electro, Pyro
Temple of the LionFalcon Coast, Galesong Hill,
Mondstadt
1830Electro
Eagle’s GateCape Oath,
Galesong Hill,
Mondstadt
2135Electro, Pyro
Domain of Forsaken RuinsGuili Plains, Qiongji Estuary,
Liyue
2445Cryo, Geo
Domain of the Wayward PathLingju Pass, Lisha, Liyue2750Geo
Hidden Palace of Guizang FormulaGuili Plains, Qiongji Estuary,
Liyue
30 / 3560 / 70
Palace in a PoolWatatsumi Island, Inazuma38AR-DependentCryo, Electro,
Anemo,
Pyro
Empty Boat of A Thousand GatesAraumi, Narukami Island,
Inazuma
50AR-DependentCryo, Electro,
Anemo,
Pyro

3. Story Domains

These domains are the same as the One-Time domains. They are accessed as part of the Archon, Story and World quests. If completed, will never be available again. It is recommended that you search every nook and cranny for hidden chests or rewards.

Identified Domains in this category are:

DomainLocationRank RequiredParty LevelElementsCharacter(s)
Hidden Teardrop in the Heart of the JungleEagle’s Gate,
Cape Oath,
Galesong Hill, Mondstadt
18Electro, Cryo
The Reward for Courage is FlightSpringvale,
Windwail Highland,
Mondstadt
15PyroAmber
Retrieve the Holy Lyre der HimmelSpringvale,
Starfell Valley,
Mondstadt
17Electro, Pyro, Anemo, CryoDiluc
Deep Within the Temple of the LionTemple of the Lion, Falcon Coast, Galesong Hill, Mondstadt5Lisa
Deep Within the Temple of the WolfTemple of the Wolf, Thousand Winds Temple,
Starfell Valley,
Mondstadt
5Kaeya
Deep Within the Temple of the FalconTemple of the Falcon, Whispering Woods, Starfell Valley, Mondstadt4Amber
Cipher for the CiphertextTemple of the Lion, Falcon Coast, Galesong Hill, Mondstadt23PyroDiluc
Delusion FactoryYashiori Island, Inazuma90Hydro, Anemo, Electro, Pyro
Police Detention CenterInazuma City, Narukami Island, InazumaCryo, Pyro
Tenryou Commission HeadquartersInazuma City, Narukami Island, Inazuma90Kujou Sara
Lost Treasure of ArcadiaFalcon Coast, Galesong Hill, Mondstadt10Electro, CryoKaeya
Narukami Island: TenshukakuTenshukaku, Inazuma City, Narukami Island, Inazuma
Secret IngredientStone Gate, Bishui Plain, Liyue1316PyroXiangling
Find the Stolen BookStarfell Valley, Starsnatch Cliff, Mondstadt1519Lisa
Storming TerrorStormterrors Lair, Bright Crown Mountains, Mondstadt1826Venti
Cloud Retainer’s AbodeMt. Aocang, Minlin, Liyue2326Pyro
Ascend: Clear the RuinsMidsummer Courtyard, Starsnatch Cliff, Starfell Valley, Monststadt25 / 35 / 45 / 5035 / 60 / 80 / 90Hydro, Anemo, Cryo, Pyro
Deserted Ruins of ThermadonTemple of the Wolf, Thousand Winds Temple, Starfell Valley, Mondstadt2635
Deserted Ruins of EyaTemple of the Wolf, Thousand Winds Temple, Starfell Valley, Mondstadt2635
Inside the TeapotSea of Clouds, Liyue29
Plane of EuthymiaNarukami island, Inazuma30
Retrieve the TreasureWhispering Woods, Starfell Valley, Mondstadt3230Klee
Hunt Down the Abyss MageWindrise, Galesong Hill, Mondstadt3430Jean
The Golden ShadowGolden House, Mt. Tianheng, Sea of Clouds, Liyue3530
Call of the AbyssMt. Aocang, Minlin, Liyue3628Cryo
Abyssal TracesTemple of the Falcon, Windrise, Galesong Hill, Mondstadt3628Cryo
The Great Adventurer StanleyTemple of the Lion, Falcon Coast, Galesong Hill, Monstadt3628Electro, Anemo, Cryo, PyroVenti
Beneath the Ancient TreeBeneath the Dragon-Queller, Nantianmen, Minlin, Liyue4090Zhongli
Behind Enemy LinesSpringvale, Starfell Valley, Mondstadt4088Cryo, HydroEula
The Wonderful World of Mr. CylopsLingju Pass, Lisha, Liyue4071HydroTartaglia
Enter the “Border”Wuwang Hill, Bishui Plain, Liyue4035PyroHu Tao
Karma-Heavy CavernGuili, Plains, Qiongji Estuary, Liyue4026Xiao
Of Mysteries and SaltSal Terrae, Bishui Plain, Liyue4035GeoZhongli
Hidden Mountain BaseMt. Yougou, Narukami Island, Inazuma4082

Domains can be done solo or co-op. Play with other players by merging both of your worlds in co-op mode. If a domain is quite difficult to complete, this can be your other option. Do note, not every domain allows co-op mode.

As mentioned earlier, Domains will require resin for you to claim various rewards. There are a total of 160 resin for you to use daily. Once the day resets, any used resin will be replenished. So make every resin count and visit domains to obtain better items to make your heroes stronger.

To check your daily available resin, just press M to open the map and check the top right of the screen.

If this article had been helpful, do let us know by leaving a comment below. Take time to share with your friends the benefit of playing Co-Op mode in Genshin Impact. Reap the rewards and grow stronger together.

Genshin Impact – How To: Go Fishing on the Latest Update

Since the release of Genshin Impact, we’ve only been able to catch fish by just jumping in and somehow grabbing it by the gills and taking it out of the water for us to use in meals.

Now, a new update has been rolled out with the added function of catching fish properly, that is, with a rod, hook, bait and bait recipes. But this time, it’s more like sport-fishing rather than catch and cook.

But before we go out fishing, we first need to:

  1. Press J to open your Quest Journal.
  2. Look for the Exploding Population quest.
  3. Press Navigate and visit Katheryne in Mondstadt.
  4. Press F to talk and initiate the quest..
  5. Visit Nantuck. He’s found in this part of Mondstadt near Cider Lake.
  6. Press F to talk.
  7. After talking to him, proceed to this location in Cider Lake near Springvale.
  8. Talk to him again and receive instructions.
  9. Position your character near the lake until you see ripples in the water and fish in and around it. Or until and interaction button pops up.
  10. Press J to prepare to for fishing.
  11. Click Start Fishing to proceed.
  12. Use the Right Mouse Button to select your bait.
  13. Click Confirm to hook it.
  14. Click Left Mouse Button to aim and cast your bait.
  15. Now you wait until you hook one.
  16. Once a fish bites, you need to click the Left Mouse Button for an initial pull and then a bar will appear up top. Make sure it stays green to ensure a catch.
  17. After catching a fish, talk to Nantuck and receive further instructions.
  18. Proceed to a lake near Stormbearer Mountains to catch an Ornamental Fish.
  19. Go near the lake, just close enough to see the ripples and fish.
  20. Press F to start fishing.
  21. If you’re done fishing, press Spacebar to exit.
  22. Go back to Nantuck to complete the quest.

Now you just have to catch as many fish as you can; however, you’ll need plenty of bait to do that. And we have just that! Just after the update was rolled out, a few minor changes and a quick server maintenance prevented us from logging in.

But as soon as the servers were up, we went straight for it. Here’s how you can continue fishing without the fear of running out of bait.

BAIT, BAIT, BAIT!

In reality, when you go out fishing, you’ll need many things. And it seems like Genshin Impact also requires many things. Before you go out and search every fishing spot, you’ll need bait. There are four types of bait for different types of fish.

Bait Ingredients Fish Type

Fruit Paste
1 Wheat
1 Sunsettia
Aizen Medaka

Crystal Fish

Dawncatcher

Glaze Medaka

Sweet-Flower
Medaka

Redrot 1 Fowl
1 Dendrobium
Akai Maou

Betta

Lunged Stickleback

Snowstrider

Venomspine Fish
False Worm1 Berry
1 Slime Condensate
Abiding Angel Fish

Brown Shirakodai

Tea-Colored Shirakodai

Fake Fly1 Horesetail
1 Sakura Bloom
Bitter Pufferfish

Golden Koi

Pufferfish

Rusty Koi

MAKING MORE BAIT!

In order for you to create more bait you need to:

  1. Visit Nantuck in Mondtstadt.
  2. Press F to talk.
  3. Select “I’d like to buy some fishing supplies“.
  4. Assuming you have previously gone fishing, click on any of the formula to purchase them. (Note: You will need 3 Medakas for each Formula)
  5. Click Exchange.
  6. Your chosen formula will now be added to you bag / inventory.
  7. Press B to access your bag / inventory.
  8. Go to the Precious Items tab.
  9. Find and click the newly bought formula.
  10. Click Use.
  11. Proceed to an Alchemy Table marked with in your map.
  12. Press F to craft.
  13. Scroll down to locate the bait you wish to create.
  14. Press Craft.
  15. Click Confirm on the notification window.
  16. Your bait of choice has been crafted and is added to your bag / inventory.

Now you can proceed with your fishing trip worry free.

FISHING SPOTS

By now, you probably are pumped about the new fishing feature of the game. But since you’re here, we assume you’ve emptied the pond out of fish. Here’s where you could book your next fishing trip on Genshin Impact. We will be updating the map once we find new fishing areas.

This concludes our fishing trip on Genshin Impact. Find out more about How-To: Obtain the Pool of Sapphire Grace.

If you found this thread helpful, share it with your friends and do let us know by leaving a comment below.

How To Obtain and Forge Weapons in Genshin Impact

Weapons are an integral part to most games today. Some games allow the characters to use a wide variety of different types and strengths of weapons. However, each character in Genshin Impact is only able to use a specific type of weapon. There are five different types of weapons in the game. And these weapons are as follows:

Weapon IconWeapon TypeDescription
SwordSword attacks are the middle ground of melee weapons, the damage of their hits and speed of their attacks are somewhere in between the slow attacks of Claymores and the rapid attacks of Polearms.
ClaymoreClaymores restrict the character wielding it to slower hits than other melee weapons, but deal much more damage per swing. Claymores also have a damage bonus towards breaking Geo objects, like a monster’s shield.
PolearmPolearms have the fastest attacks of all the weapons and good forward reach.
BowBows boast long-ranged attacks in the game, with Charged Attacks that are capable of hitting monsters as far as the eye can see with the proper aim.
CatalystDue to their magical nature, all Normal and Charged Attacks performed with a Catalyst are considered elemental damage. The element of the damage depends on the wielder’s natural element/vision.

How to Obtain Stronger Weapons

Genshin Impact has weapons ranked by strength and rarity using a five star system, one star weapons being the most basic, and five star weapons being the strongest and rarest.

Rarity How To Find Them
Obtained from Chests or Purchased from Shops
Obtained from Chests or Purchased from Shops
Obtained from Chests, Event Rewards, Battle Pass Bounty.
Obtained through Wishes and Forging. The only Chest spawned weapon is a Snow-Tombed Starsilver
Obtained through Wishes

Weapons by Type

Sword

NameRarityBase ATKBonus StatDescription
Mistsplitter Reforged48
(674)
CRIT DMG 9.6%
(44.1%)
Mistsplitter’s Edge
Gain a 12~24% Elemental DMG Bonus for every element and receive the might of Mistsplitter’s Emblem. At stack levels 1/2/3, Mistsplitter’s Emblem provides a 8/16/2816/32/56% Elemental DMG Bonus for the character’s Elemental Type. The character will obtain 1 stack of Mistsplitter’s Emblem in each of the following scenarios: Normal Attack deals Elemental DMG (stack lasts 5 seconds), casting Elemental Burst (stack lasts 10 seconds); Energy is less than 100% (stack disappears when Energy is full). Each stack’s duration is calculated independently.
Skyward Blade46
(608)
Energy Recharge 12%
(55.1%)
Sky-Piercing Fang
Crit Rate increased by 4~%. Gains Skypiercing Might upon using Elemental Burst: Increases Movement SPD by 10%, increases ATK SPD by 10%, and Normal and Charged hits deal additional DMG equal to 2040% of ATK. Skypiercing Might lasts for 12 seconds.
Freedom Sword46
(608)
Elemental Mastery 43
(198)
Revolutionary Chorale
A part of the “Millennial Movement” that wanders amidst the winds. Increases DMG by 10-20%. When the character wielding this weapon triggers Elemental Reactions, they gain a Sigil of Rebellion. This effect can be triggered once every 0.5 seconds and can be triggered even if said character is not on the field.
When you possess 2 Sigils of Rebellion, all of them will be consumed and all nearby party members will obtain “Millennial Movement: Song of Resistance” for 12 seconds. “Millennial Movement: Song of Resistance” increases Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack DMG by 1632% and increases ATK by 2040%. Once this effect is triggered, you will not gain Sigils of Rebellion for 20 seconds.
Of the many effects of the “Millennial Movement,” buffs of the same type will not stack.
Primordial Jade Cutter44
(542)
CRIT Rate 9.6%
(44.1%)
Protector’s Virtue
HP increased by 2040%. Additionally, provides an ATK Bonus based on 1.22.4% of the wielder’s Max HP.
Summit Shaper46
(608)
ATK 10.8%
(49.6%)
Golden Majesty
Increases Shield Strength by 2040%. Scoring hits on opponents increases ATK by 48% for 8 seconds. Max 5 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.3 seconds. While protected by a shield, this ATK increase effect is increased by 100%.
Aquila Favonia48
(674)
Physical DMG Bonus 9%
(41.3%)
Falcon’s Defiance
ATK is increased by 2040%. Triggers on taking DMG: the soul of the Falcon of the West awakens, holding the banner of the resistance aloft, regenerating HP equal to 100160% of ATK and dealing 200320% of ATK as DMG to surrounding opponents. This effect can only occur once every 15 seconds.
Amenoma Kageuchi41
(454)
ATK 12%
(55.1%)
Iwakura Succession
After casting an Elemental Skill, gain 1 Succession Seed. This effect can be triggered once every 5 seconds. The Succession Seed lasts for 30s. Up to 3 Succession Seeds may exist simultaneously. After using an Elemental Burst, all Succession Seeds are consumed and after 2 seconds, the character regenerates 612 Energy for each seed consumed.
Festering Desire42
(510)
Energy Recharge 10.0%
(45.9%)
Undying Admiration
Increases Elemental Skill DMG by 16-32% and Elemental Skill CRIT Rate by 612%.
Sword of Descension39
(440)
ATK 7.7%
(35.2%)
Descension
Effective for players on “PlayStation Network” only.
Hitting enemies with Normal or Charged Attacks grants a 50% chance to deal 200% ATK as DMG in a small AoE. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds. Additionally, if the Traveler equips the Sword of Descension, their ATK is increased by 66.
The Alley Flash45
(620)
Elemental Mastery 12
(55)
Itinerant Hero
Increases DMG dealt by the character equipping this weapon by 1224%. Taking DMG disables this effect for 5 seconds.
Favonius Sword41
(454)
Energy Recharge 13.3%
(61.3%)
Windfall
CRIT hits have a 60-100% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12 seconds.
The Black Sword42
(510)
CRIT Rate 6%
(27.6%)
Justice
Increases DMG dealt by Normal and Charged Attacks by 2040%.
Additionally, regenerates 60100% of ATK as HP when Normal and Charged Attacks score a CRIT Hit. This effect can occur once every 5 seconds.
Blackcliff Longsword44
(565)
CRIT DMG 8%
(36.8%)
Press the Advantage
After defeating an opponent, ATK is increased by 1224% for 30 seconds. This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others.
The Flute42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Chord
Normal or Charged Attacks grant a Harmonic on hits. Gaining 5 Harmonics triggers the power of music and deals 100200% ATK DMG to surrounding enemies. Harmonics last up to 30 seconds, and a maximum of 1 can be gained every 0.5 seconds.
Sacrificial Sword41
(454)
Energy Recharge 13.3%
(61.3%)
Composed
After dealing damage to an opponent with an Elemental Skill, the skill has a 4080% chance to end its own CD. Can only occur once every 30 seconds.
Royal Longsword42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Focus
Upon dealing damage to an opponent, increases CRIT Rate by 816%. Max of 5 stacks. A CRIT hit removes all existing stacks.
Prototype Rancour44
(565)
Physical DMG Bonus 7.5%
(34.5%)
Smashed Stone
On hit, Normal or Charged Attacks increase ATK and DEF by 48% for 6 seconds. Max of 4 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.3 seconds.
Lion’s Roar42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Bane of Fire and Thunder
Increases DMG against enemies affected by Pyro or Electro by 2036%.
Iron Sting42
(510)
Elemental Mastery 36
(165)
Infusion Stinger
Dealing Elemental DMG increases all DMG by 612% for 6 seconds. Max of 2 stacks. Can only occur once every second.
Fillet Blade39
(401)
ATK 7.7%
(35.2%)
Gash
On hit, has 50% chance to deal 240400% ATK DMG to a single enemy. Can only occur once every 15 seconds.
Traveler’s Handy Sword40
(448)
DEF 6.4%
(27.5%)
Journey
Each Elemental Orb or Particle collected restores 12% HP.
Harbinger of Dawn39
(401)
CRIT DMG 10.2%
(46.9%)
Vigorous
When HP is above 90%, increases CRIT Rate by 1428%.
Dark Iron Sword39
(401)
Elemental Mastery 31
(141)
Overloaded
Upon causing an Overloaded, Superconduct, Electro-Charged, or an Electro-infused Swirl reaction, ATK is increased by 20~?% for 12 seconds.
Cool Steel39
(401)
ATK 7.7%
(35.2%)
Bane of Water and Ice
Increases DMG against opponents affected by Hydro or Cryo by 1224%.
Skyrider Sword38
(354)
Energy Recharge 11.3%
(51.7%)
Determination
Using an Elemental Burst grants a 1224% increase in ATK and Movement SPD for 15 seconds.
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Swords

Claymore

NameRarityBase ATKBonus StatDescription
Skyward Pride48
(674)
Energy Recharge 8%
(36.8%)
Sky-ripping Dragon Spine
Increases all DMG by 8~16%. After using an Elemental Burst, Normal or Charged Attack, on hit, creates a vacuum blade that does 80~160% of ATK as DMG to opponents along its path. Lasts for 20s or 8 vacuum blades.
Wolf’s Gravestone46
(608)
ATK 10.8%
(49.6%)
Wolfish Tracker
Increases ATK by 20~40%. On hit, attacks against opponents with less than 30% HP increase all party members’ ATK by 40~80% for 12s. Can only occur once every 30s.
Song of Broken Pines49
(741)
Physical DMG Bonus 4.5%
(20.7%)
Rebel’s Banner Hymn
A part of the “Millennial Movement” that wanders amidst the winds. Increases ATK by 16~32%, and when Normal or Charged Attacks hit opponents, the character gains a Sigil of Whispers. This effect can be triggered once every 0.3s.

When you possess four Sigils of Whispers, all of them will be consumed and all nearby party members will obtain the “Millennial Movement: Banner-Hymn” effect for 12s. “Millennial Movement: Banner-Hymn” increases Normal ATK SPD by 12~24% and increases ATK by 20~40%.

Once this effect is triggered, you will not gain Sigils of Whispers for 20s. Of the many effects of the “Millennial Movement”, buffs of the same type will not stack.
The Unforged46
(608)
ATK 10.8%
(49.6%)
Golden Majesty
Increases Shield Strength by 20~40%. Scoring hits on opponents increases ATK by 4~8% for 8s. Max 5 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.3s. While protected by a shield, this ATK increase effect is increased by 100%.
Katsuragikiri Nagamasa42
(510)
Energy Recharge 10.0%
(45.9%)
Samurai Conduct
Increases Elemental Skill DMG by 6~12%. After Elemental Skill hits an opponent, the character loses 3 Energy but regenerates 3~5 Energy every 2s for the next 6s. This effect can occur once every 10s. Can be triggered even when the character is not on the field.
Blackcliff Slasher42
(510)
CRIT DMG 12%
(55.1%)
Press the Advantage
After defeating an opponent, ATK is increased by 12~24% for 30s. This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others.
Snow-Tombed Starsilver44
(565)
Physical DMG Bonus 7.5%
(34.5%)
Frost Burial
Hitting an opponent with Normal and Charged Attacks has a 60~100% chance of forming and dropping an Everfrost Icicle above them, dealing 80~140% AoE ATK DMG. Opponents affected by Cryo are dealt 200~360% ATK DMG instead by the icicle. Can only occur once every 10s.
Sacrificial Great Sword44
(565)
Energy Recharge 6.7%
(30.6%)
Composed
After dealing damage to an opponent with an Elemental Skill, the skill has a 40~80% chance to end its own CD. Can only occur once every 30~16s.
Lithic Blade42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Lithic Axiom – Unity
For every character in the party who hails from Liyue, the character who equips this weapon gains 7~11% ATK increase and 3~7% CRIT Rate increase. This effect stacks up to 4 times.
Serpent Spine42
(510)
CRIT Rate 6%
(27.6%)
Wavesplitter
Every 4s a character is on the field, they will deal 6~10% more DMG and take 3~2% more DMG. This effect has a maximum of 5 stacks and will not be reset if the character leaves the field, but will be reduced by 1 stack when the character takes DMG.
Luxurious Sea-Lord41
(454)
ATK% 12%
(55.1%)
TBA
Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 12%. When Elemental Burst hits opponents, there is a 100% chance of summoning a titanic tuna that charges and deals 100% ATK as AoE DMG. This effect can occur once every 15s.
Whiteblind42
(510)
DEF 11.3%
(51.7%)
Infusion Blade
On hit, Normal or Charged Attacks increase ATK and DEF by 6~12% for 6s. Max of 4 stacks (24~48% total). Can only occur once every 0.5s.
The Bell42
(510)
HP 9%
(41.3%)
Rebellious Guardian
Taking DMG generates a shield which absorbs DMG up to 20~32% of max HP. This shield lasts for 10s or until broken, and can only be triggered once every 45s. While protected by a shield, the character gains 12~24% increased DMG.
Royal Great Sword44
(565)
ATK 6%
(27.6%)
Focus
Upon dealing damage to an opponent, increases CRIT Rate by 8~16%. Max 5 stacks. A CRIT hit removes all existing stacks.
Rainslasher42
(510)
Elemental Mastery 36
(165)
Bane of Storm and Tide
Increases DMG against opponents affected by Hydro or Electro by 20~36%.
Prototype Archaic44
(565)
ATK 6%
(27.6%)
Crush
On hit, Normal or Charged Attacks have a 50% chance to deal an additional 240~480% ATK DMG to opponents within a small AoE. Can only occur once every 15s.
Favonious Great Sword41
(454)
Energy Recharge 13.3%
(61.3%)
Windfall
CRIT hits have a 60~100% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12s.
White Iron Great Sword39
(401)
DEF 9.6%
(43.9%)
Cull the Weak
Defeating an opponent restores 8~16% HP.
Skyrider Great Sword39
(401)
Physical DMG Bonus 9.6%
(43.9%)
Courage
On hit, Normal or Charged Attacks increase ATK by 6~10% for 6s. Max of 4 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.5s.
Debate Club39
(401)
ATK 7.7%
(35.2%)
Blunt Conclusion
After using an Elemental Skill, Normal or Charged Attacks, on hit, deal an additional 60~120% ATK DMG in a small area. Effect lasts 15s. DMG can only occur once every 3s.
Quartz40
(448)
Elemental Mastery 16
(Invalid base2ndStat)
Residual Heat
Upon causing an Overloaded, Melt, Burning, Vaporize, or a Pyro-infused Swirl reaction, increases Base ATK by 20~40% for 12s.
Ferrous Shadow39
(401)
HP 7.7%
(35.2%)
Unbending
When HP falls below 70%, increases Charged Attack DMG by 30~50%, and Charged Attacks become much harder to interrupt.
Bloodtainted Great Sword38
(354)
Elemental Mastery 41
(187)
Bane of Fire and Thunder
Increases DMG against opponents affected by Pyro or Electro by 12~24%.
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Claymores

Polearm

NameRarityBase ATKBonus StatDescription
Skyward Spine48
(674)
Energy Recharge 8%
(36.8%)
Blackwing
Increases CRIT Rate by 8~16% and increases Normal ATK SPD by 12%. Additionally, Normal and Charged Attacks hits on opponents have a 50% chance to trigger a vacuum blade that deals 40~100% of ATK as DMG in a small AoE. This effect can occur no more than once every 2s.
Engulfing Lightning46
(608)
Energy Recharge 12%
(55.1%)
Timeless Dream: Eternal Stove
ATK increased by 28~56% of Energy Recharge over the base 100%. You can gain a maximum bonus of 80~120% ATK. Gain 30~50% Energy Recharge for 12s after using an Elemental Burst.
Staff of Homa46
(608)
CRIT DMG 14.4%
(66.2%)
Reckless Cinnabar
HP increased by 20~40%. Additionally, provides an ATK Bonus based on 0.8~1.6% of the wielder’s Max HP. When the wielder’s HP is less than 50%, this ATK bonus is increased by an additional 1~1.8% of Max HP.
Primordial Jade Winged Spear48
(674)
CRIT Rate 4.8%
(22.1%)
Eagle Spear of Justice
On hit, increases ATK by 3.2~6.0% for 6s. Max of 7 stacks. This effect can only occur once every 0.3s. While in possession of the maximum possible stacks, DMG dealt is increased by 12~24%.
Vortex Vanquisher46
(608)
ATK 10.8%
(49.6%)
Golden Majesty
Increases Shield Strength by 20~40%. Scoring hits on opponents increases ATK by 4~8% for 8s. Max of 5 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.3s. While protected by a shield, this ATK increase effect is increased by 100%.
Crescent Pike44
(565)
Physical DMG Bonus 7.5%
(34.5%)
Infusion Needle
After picking up an Elemental Orb/Particle, Normal and Charged Attacks deal an additional 20~40% ATK as DMG for 5s.
Prototype Starglitter42
(510)
Energy Recharge 10.0%
(45.9%)
Magic Affinity
After using an Elemental Skill, increases Normal and Charged Attack DMG by 8~16% for 12s. Max of 2 stacks.
Kitain Cross Spear44
(565)
Elemental Mastery 24
(110)
Samurai Conduct
Increases Elemental Skill DMG by 6~12%. After Elemental Skill hits an opponent, the character loses 3 Energy but regenerates 3~5 Energy every 2s for the next 6s. This effect can occur once every 10s. Can be triggered even when the character is not on the field.
Dragonspine Spear41
(454)
Physical DMG Bonus 15%
(69.0%)
Frost Burial
Hitting an opponent with Normal and Charged Attacks has a 60~100% chance of forming and dropping an Everfrost Icicle above them, dealing 80~140% AoE ATK DMG. Opponents affected by Cryo are dealt 200~360% ATK DMG instead by the icicle. Can only occur once every 10s.
Royal Spear44
(565)
ATK 6%
(27.6%)
Focus
Upon dealing damage to an opponent, increases CRIT Rate by 8~16%. Max of 5 stacks. A CRIT hit removes all existing stacks.
The Catch42
(510)
Energy Recharge 10.0%
(45.9%)
Shanty
Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 16~32% and Elemental Burst CRIT Rate by 6~12%.
Favonious Lance44
(565)
Energy Recharge 6.7%
(30.6%)
Windfall
CRIT hits have a 60~100% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12~6s.
Lithic Spear44
(565)
ATK 6%
(27.6%)
Lithic Axiom – Unity
For every character in the party who hails from Liyue, the character who equips this weapon gains 7~11% ATK increase and a 3~7% CRIT Rate increase. This effect stacks up to 4 times.
Deathmatch41
(454)

(454)
CRIT Rate 8%
(36.8%)
Gladiator
If there are at least 2 opponents nearby, ATK is increased by 16~32% and DEF is increased by 16~32%. If there are fewer than 2 opponents nearby, ATK is increased by 24~48%.
Dragon’s Bane41
(454)
Elemental Mastery 48
(221)
Bane of Flame and Water
Increases DMG against opponents affected by Hydro or Pyro by 20~36%.
Blackcliff Pole42
(510)
CRIT DMG 12%
(55.1%)
Press the Advantage
After defeating an opponent, ATK is increased by 12~24% for 30s. This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others.
White Tassel39
(401)
CRIT Rate 5.1%
(23.4%)
Sharp
Increases Normal Attack DMG by 24~48%.
Black Tassel38
(354)
HP 10.2%
(46.9%)
Bane of the Soft
Increases DMG against slimes by 40~80%.
Halberd40
(448)
ATK 5.1%
(23.4%)
Heavy
Normal Attacks deal an additional 160~320% DMG. Can only occur once every 10s.
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Polearms

Bow

NameRarityBase ATKBonus StatDescription
Skyward Harp48
(674)
CRIT Rate 4.8%
(22.1%)
Echoing Ballad
Increases CRIT DMG by 20~40%. Hits have a 60~100% chance to inflict a small AoE attack dealing 125% Physical ATK DMG. Can only occur once every 4s.
Thundering Pulse46
(608)
CRIT DMG 14.4%
(66.2%)
Rule By Thunder
Increases ATK by 20~40% and grants the might of the Thunder Emblem. At stack levels 1/2/3, the Thunder Emblem increases Normal Attack DMG by 12/24/40~24/48/80%. The character will obtain 1 stack of Thunder Emblem in each of the following scenarios: Normal Attack deals DMG (stack lasts 5s), casting Elemental Skill (stack lasts 10s); Energy is less than 100% (stack disappears when Energy is full). Each stack’s duration is calculated independently.
Amos’ Bow46
(608)
ATK 10.8%
(49.6%)
Strong-Willed
Increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 12~24%. After a Normal or Charged Attack is fired, DMG dealt increases by a further 8~16% every 0.1 seconds the arrow is in the air for up to 5 times.
Elegy for the End46
(608)
Energy Recharge 12%
(55.1%)
The Parting Refrain
A part of the “Millennial Movement” that wanders amidst the winds. Increases Elemental Mastery by 60~120. When the Elemental Skills or Elemental Bursts of the character wielding this weapon hit opponents, that character gains a Sigil of Remembrance. This effect can be triggered once every 0.2s and can be triggered even if said character is not on the field. When you possess 4 Sigils of Remembrance, all of them will be consumed and all nearby party members will obtain the “Millennial Movement: Farewell Song” effect for 12s. “Millennial Movement: Farewell Song” increases Elemental Mastery by 100~200 and increases ATK by 20~40%. Once this effect is triggered, you will not gain Sigils of Remembrance for 20s. Of the many effects of the “Millennial Movement,” buffs of the same type will not stack.
Compound Bow41
(454)
Physical DMG Bonus 15%
(69.0%)
Infusion Arrow
Normal Attack and Charged Attack hits increase ATK by 4~8% and Normal ATK SPD by 1.2~2.4% for 6s. Max 4 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.3s.
Prototype Crescent42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Unreturning
Charged Attack hits on weak points increase Movement SPD by 10% and ATK by 36~72% for 10s.
Hamayumi41
(454)
ATK 12%
(55.1%)
Full Draw
Increases Normal Attack DMG by 16~32% and Charged Attack DMG by 12~24%. When the equipping character’s Energy reaches 100%, this effect is increased by 100%.
Mitternachts Waltz42
(510)
Physical DMG Bonus 11.3%
(51.7%)
Evernight Duet
Normal Attack hits on opponents increase Elemental Skill DMG by 20~40% for 5s. Elemental Skill hits on opponents increase Normal Attack DMG by 20~40% for 5s.
Windblume Ode42
(510)
Elemental Mastery 36
(165)
Windblume Wish
After using an Elemental Skill, receive a boon from the ancient wish of the Windblume, increasing ATK by 16~32% for 6s.
Alley Thunder44
(565)
ATK 6%
(27.6%)
Oppidan Ambush
While the character equipped with this weapon is in the party but not on the field, their DMG increases by 2~4% every second up to a max of 20~40%. When the character is on the field for more than 4s, the aforementioned DMG buff decreases by 4~8% per second until it reaches 0%.
Blackcliff Warbow44
(565)
CRIT DMG 8%
(36.8%)
Press the Advantage
After defeating an opponent, ATK is increased by 12~24% for 30s. This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others.
The Viridescent Hunt42
(510)
CRIT Rate 6%
(27.6%)
Verdant Wind
Upon hit, Normal and Aimed Shot Attacks have a 50% chance to generate a Cyclone, which will continuously attract surrounding opponents, dealing 40~80% of ATK as DMG to these opponents every 0.5s for 4s. This effect can only occur once every 14~10s.
Predator42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Strong Strike
Effective for players on “PlayStation Network” only.
Dealing Cryo DMG to opponents increases this character’s Normal and Charged Attack DMG by 10% for 6s. This effect can have a maximum of 2 stacks. Additionally, when Aloy equips Predator, ATK is increased by 66
Favonious Warbow41
(454)
Energy Recharge 13.3%
(61.3%)
Windfall
CRIT hits have a 60~100% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12s.
Sacrificial Bow44
(565)
Energy Recharge 6.7%
(30.6%)
Composed
After dealing damage to an opponent with an Elemental Skill, the skill has a 40~80% chance to end its own CD. Can only occur once every 30~16s.
The Stringless42
(510)
Elemental Mastery 36
(165)
Arrowless Song
Increases Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst DMG by 24~48%.
Rust42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Rapid Firing
Increases Normal Attack DMG by 40~80% but decreases Charged Attack DMG by 10%.
Royal Bow42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Focus
Upon dealing damage to an opponent, increases CRIT Rate by 8~16%. Max of 5 stacks. A CRIT hit removes all existing stacks.
Recurve Bow38
(354)
HP 10.2%
(46.9%)
Cull the Weak
Defeating an opponent restores 8~16% HP.
Slingshot38
(354)
CRIT Rate 6.8%
(31.2%)
Slingshot
If a Normal or Charged Attack hits a target within 0.3s of being fired, increases DMG by 36~60%. Otherwise, decreases DMG by 10%.
Sharpshooters Oath39
(401)
CRIT DMG 10.2%
(46.9%)
Precise
Increases DMG against weak spots by 24~48%.
Raven Bow40
(448)
Elemental Mastery 20
(94)
Bane of Flame and Water
Increases DMG against opponents affected by Hydro or Pyro by 12~24%.
Ebony BowUnknownUnknownDecimate
Increases DMG against mechanoid Ruin opponents by 40~80%.
Messenger40
(448)
CRIT DMG 6.8%
(31.2%)
Archer’s Message
Charged Attack hits on weak spots deal an additional 100~200% ATK DMG as CRIT DMG. Can only occur once every 10s.
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Bows

Catalyst

NameRarityBase ATKBonus StatDescription
Lost Prayer of the Sacred Winds46
(608)
CRIT Rate 7.2%
(33.1%)
Boundless Blessing
Increases Movement SPD by 10%. When in battle, gain an 8~16% Elemental DMG Bonus every 4s. Max 4 stacks. Lasts until the character falls or leaves combat.
Skyward Atlas48
(674)
ATK 7.2%
(33.1%)
Wandering Clouds
Increases Elemental DMG Bonus by 12~24%. Normal Attack hits have a 50% chance to earn the favor of the clouds. which actively seek out nearby opponents to attack for 15s, dealing 160~320% ATK DMG. Can only occur once every 30s.
Memory of Dust46
(608)
ATK 10.8%
(49.6%)
Golden Majesty
Increases Shield Strength by 20~40%. Scoring hits on opponents increases ATK by 4~8% for 8s. Max 5 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.3s. While protected by a shield, this ATK increase effect is increased by 100%.
Everlasting Moonglow46HP + 10%Byakuya Kougetsu
Increases Healing Bonus by 10% and Normal Attack DMG by 1% of the character’s max HP. After an Elemental Burst, Normal Attacks will restore .6 energy for 12s. Energy only be recovered this way once every .1s
Mappa Mare44
(565)
Elemental Mastery 24
(110)
Infusion Scroll
Triggering an Elemental reaction grants a 8~16% Elemental DMG Bonus for 10s. Max 2 stacks.
Blackcliff Agate42
(510)
CRIT DMG 12%
(55.1%)
Press the Advantage
After defeating an opponent, ATK is increased by 12~24% for 30s. This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others.
Royal Grimoire44
(565)
ATK 6%
(27.6%)
Focus
Upon dealing damage to an opponent, increases CRIT Rate by 8~16%. Max of 5 stacks. A CRIT hit removes all existing stacks.
Sacrificial Fragments41
(454)
Elemental Mastery 48
(221)
Composed
After dealing damage to an opponent with an Elemental Skill, the skill has a 40~80% chance to end its own CD. Can only occur once every 30s.
Solar Pearl42
(510)
CRIT Rate 6%
(27.6%)
Solar Shine
Normal Attack hits increase Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst DMG by 20~40% for 6s. Likewise, Elemental Skill or Elemental Burst hits increase Normal Attack DMG by 20~40% for 6s.
The Widsith42
(510)
CRIT DMG 12%
(55.1%)
Debut
When a character takes the field, they will gain a random theme song for 10s. This can only occur once every 30s.
Recitative: ATK is increased by 60~120%.
Aria: Increases all Elemental DMG by 48~96%.
Interlude: Elemental Mastery is increased by 240~480.
Hakushin Ring44
(565)
Energy Recharge 6.7%
(30.6%)
Sakura Saiguu
After the character equipped with this weapon triggers an Electro elemental reaction, nearby party members of an Elemental Type involved in the elemental reaction receive a 10~20% Elemental DMG Bonus for their element, lasting 6s. Elemental Bonuses gained in this way cannot be stacked.
Dodoco Tales41
(454)
ATK 12%
(55.1%)
Dodoventure!
Normal Attack hits on opponents increase Charged Attack DMG by 16~32% for 6s.Charged Attack hits on opponents increase ATK by 8~16% for 6s.
Favonious Codex42
(510)
Energy Recharge 10.0%
(45.9%)
Windfall
CRIT hits have a 60~100% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12s.
Wine and Song44
(565)
Energy Recharge 6.7%
(30.6%)
Ever-Changing
Hitting an opponent with a Normal Attack decreases the Stamina consumption of Sprint or Alternate sprint by 14~22% for 5s. Additionally, using a Sprint or Alternate Sprint ability increases ATK by 20~40% for 5s.
Prototype Amber42
(510)
HP 9%
(41.3%)
Gilding
Using an Elemental Burst regenerates 4~6 Energy every 2s for 6s. All party members will regenerate 4~6% HP every 2s for this duration.
Frostbearer42
(510)
ATK 9%
(41.3%)
Frost Burial
Hitting an opponent with Normal and Charged Attacks has a 60~100% chance of forming and dropping an Everfrost Icicle above them, dealing 80~140% AoE ATK DMG. Opponents affected by Cryo are dealt 200~360% ATK DMG instead by the icicle. Can only occur once every 10s.
Eye of Perception41
(454)
ATK 12%
(55.1%)
Echo
Normal and Charged Attacks have a 50% chance to fire a Bolt of Perception, dealing 240~360% ATK as DMG. This bolt can bounce between opponents a maximum of 4 times. This effect can occur once every 12s.
Magic guide38
(354)
Elemental Mastery 41
(187)
Bane of Storm and Tide
Increases DMG against opponents affected by Hydro or Electro by 12~24%.
Otherworldly Story39
(401)
Energy Recharge 8.5%
(39.0%)
Energy Shower
Each Elemental Orb or Particle collected restores 1~2% HP.
Twin Nephrite40
(448)
CRIT Rate 3.4%
(15.6%)
Guerilla Tactic
Defeating an opponent increases Movement SPD and ATK by 12~20% for 15s.
Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers39
(401)
HP 7.7%
(35.2%)
Heritage
When switching characters, the new character taking the field has their ATK increased by 24~48% for 10s. This effect can only occur once every 20s.
Emerald Orb40
(448)
Elemental Mastery 20
(94)
Rapids
Upon causing a Vaporize, Electro-Charged, Frozen, or a Hydro-infused Swirl reaction, increases ATK by 20~40% for 12s.
Amber Catalyst40
(448)
Elemental Mastery 16
(Invalid base2ndStat)
Elemental Mastery
Normal Attack hits increase all Elemental DMG by 6~12% for 6s. Max 2 stacks.
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Catalysts

Forging Weapons

Forging is another way of creating duplicates of your weapons, instead of just depending on Wishes to acquire them. Weapon duplicates are required when refining your weapons to make them even stronger. To create weapons in Genshin Impact, players will need to use Northlander Billets and forging ores to create 4-Star weapons. Here’s a list of the Billets you need to make it happen.

ItemObtain by
Northlander Bow Billet1. Dropped by Weekly Bosses.
2. Purchased at Mingxing Jewelry.
3. Northlander Billet Trove.
Northlander Catalyst Billet1. Dropped by Weekly Bosses.
2. Purchased at Mingxing Jewelry.
3. Reward from Adventurer Handbook Chapter 4.
4. Northlander Billet Trove.
Northlander Claymore Billet1. Dropped by Weekly Bosses.
2. Purchase at Mingxing Jewelry.
3. Reward from Level 14 Sacred Sakura’s Favor.
4. Luxurious Chest at the end of the quest Break the Sword Cemetery Seal.
5. Northlander Billet Trove.
Northlander Polearm Billet1. Dropped by Weekly Bosses.
2. Purchased at Mingxing Jewelry.
3. Reward from Spiral Abyss Chamber’s Bounty, Floor 3, Chamber 3.
4. Reward from Lever 8 Frostbearing Tree.
5. Reward from Level 24 Sacred Sakura’s Favor.
6. Northlander Billet Trove.
Northlander Sword Billet1. Defeat Weekly Bosses
2. Purchase from With Wind Comes Glory
3. Reward from Level 4 Red Sacred Sakura’s Pleasure
4. Northlander Billet Trove
5. The Farmer’s Treasure Quests

In order to craft the aforementioned 4-Star weapons you need to:

  1. Visit any Blacksmith.
  2. Press F to interact.
  3. Select “I’d like to have something made.”
  4. On the Forge Window, scroll down to Select your desired item for Forging.(Tip: check if you have the correct amount of materials to forge your weapon of choice.)
  5. Click Start.
  6. Once forging is complete, click Obtain.
  7. Item will be added to your inventory.
  8. Click Confirm to complete the process.

It’s important to always check Chests and mine ores & crystals whenever possible. You can never have too much of them. And they are more valuable than you think, especially if you want stronger weapons to equip your ever increasing roster of heroes.

If you found this article helpful, do share amongst your friends and let us know how we did by leaving a comment below.

Genshin Impact – How To: Refine and Enhance Weapons

In order to increase your Adventure Rank, you need to go out on an adventure; however, you may have encountered many monsters that are too tough to handle. Whether they are out in the wild or inside a dungeon, they’re sure to make grinding even more difficult than it already is.

You may come across monsters that are very aggressive and will want to hurt you so bad. Some of them are manageable but some are too tough to handle. This is because Genshin Impact adjust the monsters stats and levels based on your stats and level. So if you’re level is high enough, you’ll definitely feel the strain of pushing on, grinding everyday to increase your Adventure Rank and obtain valuable items.

With that said, your character can be toughened up with the use of upgrades. When weapons and gears are upgrades an the items base stats like attack damage and crit rate and increased. Also, added bonus stats are randomly given which allows your characters to stand up against high level bosses.

Types of Weapon Enhancements

Level UpIncreases basic attack power
AscendingIncreases the weapon’s maximum level and significantly increases attack power.
RefiningIncreases weapon effectiveness and enhanced skills

Weapon Ascension will also improve your weapon’s sub stats. With this, your weapons can become really strong if done multiple times.

To LEVEL UP your weapons:

  1. Press B to open your bag / inventory.
  2. Click the Weapons tab.
  3. Select your weapon of choice.
  4. Click Details at the bottom right.
  5. Select Enhance.
  6. On the Enhancement Materials Consumed section, you may Click Auto Add, or you can manually add up to 20 enhancement materials.(Tip: Be careful when using the Auto Add function as it may include some of your powerful weapons.)
  7. Click Enhance at the bottom right.
  8. Click Confirm to complete the process.

To ASCEND your weapons:

  1. Press B to open your bag / inventory.
  2. Click the Weapons tab.
  3. Select your weapon of choice.
  4. Click Details at the bottom right.
  5. Select Ascend.
  6. At the Weapon Ascension Materials section, check to if you have the appropriate number of materials used for Ascending your weapon.
  7. If you do have enough of them, Click Ascend at the bottom right.
  8. Click Confirm to complete the process.

To REFINE your weapon:

  1. Press B to open your bag / inventory.
  2. Click the Weapons tab.
  3. Select your weapon of choice.
  4. Click Details at the bottom right.
  5. Select Refine.
  6. Click Identical Weapon Materials.
  7. Click on the identical weapon on the left pane.
  8. Click Refine at the bottom right.
  9. Click Confirm to complete the process.

Now that we’ve showed you how to Enhance, Ascend and Refine; always remember that materials are scarce. You’ll need to prioritize what items to spend them on, but for the sake of this guide, and the lack of luck to get five-star gears, we’ve spent some of the hard earned materials. “Do as I say, not as I do”.

We hope to have helped you on your travels. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. Also, check out our other how-to-guides to help you while roaming, wandering and occasional grinding in the world of Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact – How To: Forge Upgrade Materials & Gadgets

You may have already obtained numerous weapons through Forging and Wishing. If you’ve acquired better equipment than what you’re already using, you’ll be needing Weapon Enhancement Materials. This increases your weapons level and other attributes that make them more effective to use in combat.

Forge: Weapon Enhancement Materials

Item TypeRarityMaterialsCostCrafting Time
Enhancement Ore2 Iron Chunk5 Mora5s
Fine Enhancement Ore3 White Iron Chunk or
3 Starsilver
10 Mora6s
Mystic Enhancement Ore4 Crystal Chunk or
4 Amethyst Lump
50 Mora3min
Mystic Enhancement Ore3 Magical Crystal Chunk, 10 Original Resin100 Mora5s

To obtain these materials you need to:

  1. Visit a blacksmith.
  2. Press F to interact.
  3. Select “I’d like something made.
  4. On the forge window, scroll down to and find the Weapon Enhancement Material you wish to forge.
  5. Look closely at the material you choose to forge and their required materials.
  6. Click Start to proceed with forging the chosen item.
  7. On the Forge Queues window you’ll see the items being forged and the time remaining to complete the process.
  8. Once completed, click Obtain.
  9. The item is now added in your bag / inventory.
  10. Click Confirm to complete the process.

It’s best to forge Weapon Enhancement Materials by using only the ores and avoid the recipe requiring you to use the Resin. Resins are valuable when you enter Domains found all over Teyvat. It’s best to save and use resins for Domain usage daily.

To use your accumulated Weapon Enhancement Materials, you may check this to know more about increasing your weapons level.

Gadget Types

Gadgets are items that can be crafted through Alchemy, Forging and Rewards from Quests, Events & Reputation system. Some of these gadgets are reusable and have a cooldown time after being used. Most of them can be equipped into the Quick-Use slot available for repeated use with ease.

Permanent

Obtained by all players as soon as they are able to fulfilling prerequisites such as completing quests or attaining certain reputation levels in major areas of the map.

NameEffectObtain byReusableUsage
Anemoculus Resonance StoneUsed to search for Anemoculi in Mondstadt.Craft via Alchemy when you reach Level 2 Reputation in Mondstadt.NoQuick Use
Geoculus Resonance StoneUsed to search for Geoculi in Liyue.Craft via Alchemy when you reach Level 2 Reputation in Liyue.NoQuick Use
Geo Treasure CompassUsed to Search for Chests in Liyue.Craft via Alchemy when you reach Level 2 Reputation in Liyue.YesQuick Use
Wind CatcherUsed to capture and hold 5 Anemograna to create wind currents. Cooldown for 100s after use.Craft via Alchemy when you reach Level 6 Reputation in Mondstadt.YesQuick Use
Portable WaypointCreate 1 temporary waypoint at current location for 7 days.Reach Level 6 Reputation in MondstadtNoPlaced
Adepti Seeker’s StovePortable stove used for cooking outside of combat.Reach Level 5 Reputation in LiyueNoPlaced
NRE (Menu 30)A two-slot bag, for HP recovery and Revival DishesReach Level 5 Reputation in MondstadtYesQuick Use
Anemo Treasure CompassUsed to Search for Chests in Mondstadt.Craft via Alchemy when you reach Level 6 Reputation in Mondstadt.YesQuick Use
Warming BottleEmits heat for a short period within an area to counter sheer cold.Craft via Alchemy you reach Level 4 Offering at Frostbearing Tree.NoQuick Use
KameraUsed to take pictures even when in combat. No cooldown.Complete Snapshots World QuestYesQuick Use
Special KameraUsed to take pictures with a special border.Complete Perfect Shot QuestYesQuick Use
Parametric TransformerUsed to transmute up to 150 pieces of any material into some other material. Charge using elemental attacks. 7days cooldown.Complete Tianqui Treasure Trail World QuestYesPlaced
Serenitea PotContains the Players housing.Complete A Teapot to Call Home: Part 1 QuestYesPlaced
Electroculus Resonance StoneUsed to search for Electroculi in InazumaReach Reputation Level 8 in InazumaNoQuick Use
Seed DispensaryWhen equipped, used to harvest certain plantsComplete The Art of HorticultureYesQuick Use
Electro Treasure CompassUsed to Search for Chests in Inazuma.Reach Reputation Level 9 in InazumaYesQuick Use
Red Feather FanIncreases gliding movement speed by 30% for 30s.Reach Reputation Level 5 in InazumaYesQuick Use
Memento LensUsed near small fox statues to view hidden objects.Complete Sacrificial Offering World QuestYesQuick Use
Wilderness RodBasic fishing rod.Complete Exploding Population QuestYesFishing
WindtanglerIf you can stay within the Ideal Tension Zone while fishing, this rod will shorten the time in which fish will struggle by a stable amount and increase your chances of success. This effect only works in Mondstadt.Exchanged at Mondstadt Fishing AssociationYesFishing
WishmakerIf you can stay within the Ideal Tension Zone while fishing, this rod will shorten the time in which fish will struggle by a stable amount and increase your chances of success. This effect only works in LiyueExchanged at Liyue Fishing AssociationYesFishing
Narukawa UkaiIf you can stay within the Ideal Tension Zone while fishing, this rod will shorten the time in which fish will struggle by a stable amount and increase your chances of success. This effect only works in Inazuma.Exchanged at Inazuma Fishing AssociationYesFishing

Commemorative

Are permanent gadgets that are obtain from time-limited events.

NameEffectObtain byReusableUsage
Mini Seelie: DayflowerCommemorative gadget.Lost Riches EventYesEquipment
Mini Seelie: RoseCommemorative gadget.Lost Riches EventYesEquipment
Mini Seelie: CurcumaCommemorative gadget.Lost Riches EventYesEquipment
Mini Seelie: ViolaCommemorative gadget.Lost Riches EventYesEquipment
EndoraCommemorative gadget.Wishful Drops EventYesEquipment
Windblume Festival Commemorative BalloonReleases a single balloon every time it is used. It has a cooldown of 5 seconds.Invitation of Windblume Event ShopYesQuick Use
Windsong LyreAllows the player to play music.Invitation of Windblume Event ShopYesQuick Use
Wind-Blessed HarpastumReplaces the current character’s Elemental Skill with a throwable ball.Summer Vacation: Proceed with CautionYesQuick Use
Waverider Repair ToolboxRepairs the damage done to a Waverider by restoring 50% of the health on a 90 second cooldown.Midsummer Island Adventure: Part 1: main Cannon, Make Ready…Fire!YesInventory

Event Only

Gadgets that are only available for use during certain events. Are removed from inventory once the specific event ends.

NameEffectObtain byReusableUsage
Treasure Seeking SeelieReveals the presence of Iron Coins.Lost Riches EventYesQuick Use
Kurious KameraAllows event-specific pictures to be taken anywhere. Has no cooldown period.Five Flushes of Fortune EventYesQuick Use
Inquisitive EndoraReplaces the player’s Elemental Skill with Endora’s Bubble Spit ability.Wishful Drops EventYesQuick Use
Straight ShooterDeals a large amount of Pyro DMG to a single opponent.Midsummer Island Adventure Event Part IV: The Final Riddle – A Secret UncoveredNoQuick Use
Floaty SplodyDeals a certain amount of Pyro DMG over a wide AoE.Midsummer Island Adventure Event Part IV: The Final Riddle – A Secret UncoveredNoQuick Use
Hot PodDeals a small amount of Pyro DMG over a small AoE.Midsummer Island Adventure Event Part IV: The Final Riddle – A Secret UncoveredNoQuick Use

It’s been tried and tested that after wandering around Teyvat for so long, you feel tired, drained and a wee bit discouraged. But with the use of some gadgets it’s been proven to revitalize some players, enough to get them going and searching for more.

Take sometime to rest your eyes. Strategize for your next travel to make it even more fruitful and let us know what you think about this guide by leaving a comment below.

Genshin Impact – How To: Obtain the Pool of Sapphire Grace

OBTAIN: POOL OF SAPPHIRE GRACE

You may have noticed that while fishing, fish have either been ranked 3 or 4 Stars. Ranked 3 fish are used in exchanging fishing rods from the Fishing Association. Specifically, the fish called Medaka is needed to exchange for Formulas from the Fishing Association. The Pool of Sapphire Grace Furnishing is found only in the Fishing Association in Liyue Harbor.

To purchase the Pool of Sapphire Grace Furnishing Blueprint you need to:

  1. Have 10 Medaka Fish on hand.
  2. Visit Jiawei of the Fishing Association in Liyue Harbor.
  3. Press F to talk.
  4. Select “I’d like to buy some fishing supplies”.
  5. Click on the Pool of Sapphire Grace Blueprint.
  6. Click Exchange.
  7. The blueprint is now in your bag / inventory.
  8. Press B to open your bag / inventory.
  9. Go to Gadget Tab.
  10. Select Serenitea Pot.
  11. Click Place.
  12. Press F to enter the Serenitea Pot.
  13. After entering, press B to open your bag / inventory.
  14. Go to Precious Items tab.
  15. Look for the Pool of Sapphire Grace, click it andpress Use.
  16. Go to Tubby and press F.
  17. Select Create Furnishing.
  18. Under Furnishing Schematics, look for the Pool of Sapphire Grace and click on it. (Tip: Take note of the item requirements found at the bottom. You need to meet the minimum required number of ingredients in order to proceed with creating the furnishing.)
  19. Click Create.
  20. To check how long it will take to finish making, click the Creation Queue tab. It’ll take 16 hrs to finish; however, since we are in a hurry, we will try to get it now by clicking Get Now at the bottom.
  21. Click Confirm to consume the Vial of Adeptal Speed.
  22. And viola! Your done and the furnishing can now be placed somewhere in your Serenitea Pot lawn.

USE: POOL OF SAPPHIRE GRACE

After all the work to save up some Medaka, and then travel all the way to Liyue, and finally create the Pool of Sapphire Grace furnishing, it is now time to actually place it in your backyard.

To do this:

  1. Inside the Serenitea Pot, Press and hold Alt then click on the hand at the top. This will allow you to rearrange your furnishings.
  2. Select Outdoor Furnishing.
  3. On the Fish Pond Tab, click Pool of Sapphire Grace.
  4. Click and drag the icon to the open space.
  5. Reposition the furnishing to your desired location
  6. Press Save located on your right.
  7. Exit the editor view by Pressing ESC or hitting X on the top right corner.
  8. You have now successfully placed the Pool of Sapphire Grace in your Serenitea Pot.

ADD FISH: POOL OF SAPPHIRE GRACE

We mentioned earlier that there are 2 ranks of fishes. Ranks 3 and 4. Rank 3 acts more like currency as they are used to exchange goods such as formulas and fishing rods. The Rank 4 fish however, are Ornamental Fish.

As the name suggests, they’re more like decorations and that they should be raised in the Pool of Sapphire Grace. As discussed previously, it is a furnishing to be used inside the Serenitea Pot.

If you’ve already got an Ornamental Fish in your bag, then what are we waiting for? Let’s put them in the pool.

To do this:

  1. Climb up the stairs of the pool.
  2. Press F to Raise Fish.
  3. On the Raising Ornamental Fish window. Select up to five (5) Ornamental Fish to be raised inside the Pool of Sapphire Grace.(Tip: You can create multiple pools and place them around, inside your Serenitea Pot)
  4. Click Raise to place the fish inside the pool.
  5. You now have the previously caught Ornamental Fish inside the Pool of Sapphire Grace.

The new update sure did bring a welcome addition to the Serenitea Pot. Maybe on future updates, we get to see some use out of the fish we’ve raised, but for the meantime, let us enjoy and welcome fishing in Teyvat.

How’d we do Traveler? If you find this article helpful, please share it with your friends and do let us know your thoughts on the comments below.

Genshin Impact – How To: Find and Obtain Recipe Ingredients

We’ve covered How To: Heal and Cook. As well as How To: Find and Obtain Recipes. Now we will focus on finding and obtaining recipe ingredients.

Ingredients can be found just about anywhere, in the plains, over the hills, up the trees, or in the bushes. Everywhere you look, there is something that’s able to be picked up and stored in the bag. But there are some things that aren’t readily available.

So without further ado, here’s a list of every available ingredient in Genshin Impact and how to get them.

Ingredient(s)How To Obtain
AlmondSold by Ms. Bai at Qingce Village and Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
BaconSold by Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt and by Shimura Kanbei at Shimura’s in Inazuma
Created by processing 2 Raw Meat and 2 Salt
BerryFound in the wild by foraging near grassy areas
Bird EggSold by Draff in Springvale and Mondstadt
Found in the wild on trees and sometimes shrubs
ButterSold by Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt and Verr Goldet at Wangshu Inn in Liyue Harbor
Created by processing 2 Milk
CabbageInvestigate / Destroy random barrels and crates
Sold by Aoi in Inazuma, by Blanche in Mondstadt, and by Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
CarrotInvestigate / Destroy random barrels and crates
Sold by Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor
Found in the wild
CheeseSold by Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt and Changshun in Liyue Harbor
Created by processing 3 Milk
CrabCatch near lakes, rivers, banks and beaches
Sold by Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor, Obata in Inazuma, Shimura Kanbei at Shimura’s in Inazuma, Uncle Sun in Liyue Harbor
Crab RoeSold by Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt
Created by processing 4 Crab
CreamSold by Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt
Created by processing 1 Milk
FishCatch near lakes, rivers, banks, and beaches
Sold by Bolai at Wanyou Boutique in Liyue Harbor, Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor, Obata in Inazuma, Shimura Kanbei at Shimura’s in Inazuma, Uncle Gao in Liyue Harbor, and Uncle Sun in Liyue Harbor
FlourSold by Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor, Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt, and Shimura Kanbei at Shimura’s in Inazuma
Created by processing 1 Wheat
FowlFound by hunting birds out on the plains and ducks on lakes
Purchase from Draff in Springvale and Mondstadt
HamSold by Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor and Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt
Created by processing 2 Raw Meats and 1 Salt
JamSold by Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt
Created by processing 3 Sunsettia, 2 Berry, and 1 Sugar
Jueyun ChiliFound in the wild around Liyue Harbor and Qingce Village
Sold by Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt
Lotus HeadFound in the wild near lakes and river banks
Sold by Herbalist Gui at Bubu Pharmacy in Liyue Harbor and Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor
MatsutakeFound in the wild by foraging near pine trees
MilkSold by Aoi in Inazuma, by Blanche in Mondstadt, and by Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
MintFound in the wild
Sold by Chloris in Mondstadt
MushroomFound in the wild by foraging near grassy areas
Sold by Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor
OnionSold by Aoi in Inazuma, by Blanche in Mondstadt, and by Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
PepperSold by Aoi in Inazuma, by Blanche in Mondstadt, and by Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
PineconeFound in the wild below pine trees
PotatoInvestigate / Destroy random barrels and crates
Sold by Aoi in Inazuma, by Blanche in Mondstadt, and by Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
RadishInvestigate / Destroy random barrels and crates
Found in the wild
Sold by Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor and Shimura Kanbei at Shimura’s in Inazuma
Raw MeatFound in the wild by hunting beasts like Boar and Foxes
Sold by Draff in Springvale and Mondstadt
RiceSold by Aoi in Inazuma and Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
SaltSold by Aoi in Inazuma, by Blanche in Mondstadt, and by Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
SausageSold by Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor, Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt, Shimura Kanbei at Shimura’s in Inazuma, and Verr Goldet at Wangshu Inn in Liyue Harbor
Created by processing 3 Raw Meat
Shrimp MeatSold by Aoi in Inazuma, Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor, Obata in Inazuma, and Uncle Sun in Liyue Harbor
Smoked FowlSold by Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt
Created by processing 3 Fowl and 1 Salt
Small Lamp GrassFound in the wild in Whispering Woods and Wolvendom
SnapdragonFound in the wild
Sold by Chloris in Mondstadt
SugarSold by Changshun in Liyue Harbor, Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor, Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt, and Shimura Kanbei at Shimura’s in Inazuma
Created by processing 2 Sweet Flower
Sweet FlowerFound in the wild
Sold by Flora at Floral Whisper in Mondstadt
TofuSold by Aoi in Inazuma, Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor, and Ms. Bai at Qingce Village
TomatoInvestigate / Destroy random barrels and crates
Sold by Chef Mao at Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue Harbor and Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor
VioletgrassFound near cliffs in Liyue Harbor
Sold by Herbalist Gui at Bubu Pharmacy in Liyue Harbor and Verr Goldet at Wangshu Inn in Liyue Harbor
WheatInvestigate / Destroy random barrels and crates
Sold by Aoi in Inazuma, by Blanche in Mondstadt, and by Dongsheng in Liyue Harbor

Food Processing

In order for you to cook up a dish of your choosing you should be mindful of the required ingredients. Some of these ingredients can be acquired on their own and some need processing. From the list above, you will see the ingredient name and how to obtain them.

As in real life, bacon, butter, cheese and cream require some sort of process. However, we reside in the fictional world of Teyvat. We will not be churning butter the old fashioned way.

To process ingredients we need to:

  1. Visit a restaurant or a camp fire.
  2. Press F.
  3. Click Process.
  4. Select an ingredient you wish to process.
  5. Click Cook.
  6. Adjust the amount of items.
  7. Click Confirm and wait for it to finish.
  8. When finished, Click Obtain.
  9. The processed ingredient is now added to your bag/inventory.

Some ingredients takes some processing time ranging from 1-20 minutes, so while you wait for it to finish, you may do some quests or visit other shops to see what might interest you.

Foraging

This is quite easy. All you need to do is:

  1. Get close to the item you wish to acquire (Flowers, Berry’s Fruits)
  2. Press F and move somewhere else where there’s plenty.

Hunting

It is recommended that you use a character with a bow and arrow. But waving your sword or spear wildly is just fine. To do this:

  1. Position your character in a distance, within range and in a clear line of sight get too close and they start running or fly away.
  2. Use any charged attack that your character has.
  3. Aim at your target and shoot.
  4. When successful, get close and collect your loot.

Fishing

This will require you to swim on any body of water deep enough to contain fish. However, it is reported that an update will include the Fishing function and hopefully we don’t get our character soaking wet to catch fish. To get that fish out of the water you:

  1. Get in the water.
  2. Swim towards the fish.
  3. When you get close enough Press F to catch.

Be mindful of your stamina bar though. If it goes empty, your character will drown. Yeah! your hero drowns in the game.

Investigating

This is also simple. You only need to:

  1. Observe you surroundings.
  2. Get near crates or boxes and any part of the area that’s glimmering.
  3. Press F to investigate or use normal and special attacks to destroy crates and boxes. This reveals concealed items in them.

Now that these aren’t a mystery anymore, do try to be diligent in picking up items if you come across any on your travels. As they say, always prepare for a rainy day. You never know when an ingredient will come in handy.

If this guide has been helpful do share it with your friends and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

How To Unlock and Obtain New Characters in Genshin Impact

Twins, Lumine and Aether

A prelude is shown before you get to play Genshin Impact on your own. It shows two characters being confronted by a goddess with a pyro ability. It turns out that these characters are twins, Aether and Lumine, brother and sister. You then get to choose which of them you are keen to play.

Twins vs the Pyro goddess
Lumine getting captured by the goddess

However, it doesn’t matter who you choose. After picking one, the other get’s abducted. You are then left to wander alone until Paimon comes along.

Paimon is not a playable character , but you both wander through the land of Teyvat. Your main character will be referred to as “The Traveler” throughout the game, and as you play along you will come across other characters that may join you in your quest to find your twin sister(or brother depending on who you chose).

FREE CHARACTERS

It would be boring if everything had to be purchased in-game right? Sure it’s alright for some, but why burn some cash if you could get them free? Check out what we prepared for you.

AMBER

Is the only remaining Outrider of the Knights of Favonius. She uses a bow and her element is Pyro.

To get her to join your travels.

  1. Follow Act I: The Outlander Who Caught the Wind
  2. Complete the Winds of the Past quest.

KAEYA

The Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius. He uses a sword and his element is Cryo.

To get him.

  1. Follow Act I: The Outlander Who Caught the Wind
  2. Complete the Crash Course quest.

LISA

A powerful mage from Sumeru Academia and the Librarian of the Knights of the Favonius. She uses a catalyst for a weapon and her element is Electro.

To get her.

  1. Follow Act I: The Outlander Who Caught the Wind
  2. Complete the Sparks Amongst the Pages quest.

BARBARA

A Deaconess of the Church of Favonius and the younger sister of Jean. She uses a catalyst for a weapon and her element is Hydro.

To get her.

  1. Follow Act III: Song of the Dragon and Freedom
  2. Complete A Long Shot quest.
  3. Or by completing the Baptism of Song event.

XIANGLING

The Head Chef of Wanmin Restaurant and duaghter of Chef Mao. She uses a polearm for a weapon and her element is Pyro.

To get her.

  1. Enter Spiral Abyss EventPeople’s Choice
  2. Clear Level 3, Chamber 3 of Spiral Abyss.

Now that we’ve named a few of them, we’ll let you in on a secret. You don’t need to pay-to-play every hero all you need is to grind, complete quests and earn primogems.

IN-GAME CURRENCY

Primogem

Is the first type of special currency used to purchase Intertwined and Acquaint Fates only.

shop view for Purchase with Primogems

To obtain them you need to:

  1. Daily Check In – a visit to the HoYo Lab may just give you a surprise. Yes! this part of the rewards is the most ignored. Make sure to click the link and check-in daily.
  2. Redeem Codes – keep an eye out for redeemable codes no matter what the rewards are. You just might get the surprise you wanted.
  3. Complete Daily Commissions – every day there are four commissions given by the Adventurers Guild with 10 Primogems each as a reward. An additional 20 is given after completing all four tasks. Effectively bringing the total to 60 Primogems daily.
  4. Achievements – remember the “Boared to Death” achievement? Well, that gave us Primogems as a reward. I can’t quite remember how many though. Most of the achievements give out up to 20 Primogems as rewards along with other items and gold. Make sure to always check you achievements tab and collect your Primogems from there.
  5. Events – as often as the game is updated. New events are introduced. This rewards diligent players with hundreds of Primogems. You best hurry because all of them are limited-time events.
  6. Character Test Runs – the game introduces new characters and they also allow you to try for a limited time and then leave you wanting more if you happen to love the character. Trying them out for a certain period will reward you with Primogems.
  7. Story Quests – these unlock future quests dependent on the previous ones. And make sure you finish every quest just to make sure the outpour of Primogems rewards never cease.
  8. Spiral Abyss – on the lower levels, the Spiral Abyss gives rewards only once. But for Floor 9 and up, you are able to replay and regain rewards whenever Spiral Abyss updates. And you need to be really strong to clear these floors and not waste your time on Primogem farming.

Masterless Starglitter

Is the second known special currency used to purchase new characters and weapons and ascension materials. However, this is a bit hard to come by.

shop view for Exchange with Masterless Starglitter

To obtain this you need to:

  1. Purchase Intertwined or Acquaint Fate using Primogems.
  2. Use either Interwined or Acquaint Fate to execute a Wish.
  3. After wishing, either a weapon or a character is rewarded. If a player obtains a duplicate 4 or 5 star weapon or character, they will receive Masterlessglitter. How much they receive varies according to the rarity of the weapon or character obtained.

Masterless Stardust

Is the third type of special currency used to purchase Intertwined and Acquaint Fates, ascension materials. However, this is a bit hard to come by.

To obtain this:

  1. Use either Intertwined or Acquaint Fates when wishing.
  2. For every 3 star weapon you acquire, you will receive x15 Masterless Stardust.
shop view of Exchange with Masterless Stardust

WISHES

Also known as banners are gacha system in Genshin Impact which contains two types: The Permanent Standard Wish, Wanderlust Invocation, and the Limited-time Event Wishes for Characters and Weapons.

Wishes are unlocked after completing the Archon Quest Prologue, Act I: The Outlander Who Caught the Wind – Knights of Favonius at Adventure Rank 5.

Acquaint Fate

The Standard Wish, Wanderlust Invocation is available and will require Acquaint Fate to execute the wish(es). Results definitely vary as they are all random, you either get weapons of lower tier or characters and weapons with 4-5 stars if you are ever so lucky.

view of Standard Wish

Intertwined Fate

Limited-time Event Wish are split into two banners, one for characters and one for weapons. They require Intertwined Fate to execute the wish(es). The character event promotes a 5 star character along with 3 featured 4 star characters. The weapon event promotes two 5 star weapons along with five 4 star featured weapons.

HOW TO BUY

To be able to use Acquaint and Intertwined Fates, you must first accumulate a large amount of special currency (Primogem & Masterlessglitter) and then you buy them. If you have read this thread thoroughly, then you already know how to get them in-game by.

To purchase Acquiant and Intertwined Fates go to:

  1. Press ESC on the main screen.
  2. Select Shop on the popup pane.
  3. Click Paimon’s Bargains.

To purchase using Masterless Starglitter:

  1. Select the Starglitter Exchange on top.
  2. Choose either Intertwined or Acquaint Fate.
  3. Adjust the Quantity of your items to purchase.
  4. Click Exchange.
  5. Item has been added to your bag / inventory.

To purchase using Masterless Stardust:

  1. Select the Stardust Exchange on top.
  2. Choose either Intertwined or Acquaint Fate.
  3. Adjust the Quantity of your items to purchase.
  4. Click Exchange.
  5. Item has been added to your bag / inventory.

To purchase using Primogems:

  1. Select the Purchase with Primogems on top.
  2. Choose either Intertwined or Acquaint Fate.
  3. Adjust the Quantity of your items to purchase.
  4. Click Purchase.
  5. Item has been added to your bag / inventory.

WISHES GRANTED?

Now that you’ve purchase so many Intertwined or Acquaint Fates, it’s time for us to test our luck. We will now be using our new purchased items to do some wishes. To do this:

  1. Press ESC on the main screen.
  2. Select Wish on the popup pane.

To use your Intertwined Fate:

  1. Select either the Character Event Wish or the Weapon Event Wish
  2. Click on Wish x1 or Wish x10 on the bottom right.
  3. An animation will appear resembling wishing stars falling from the sky. Right after that, a silhouette of the rewards appear slowly revealing its form.(Note: There’s the Extra x15 Masterless Stardust when you get a 3 star weapon)(Note: We got lucky and received Sayu when using the Intertwined Fate on Character Event Wish)

To use Acquaint Fate:

  1. Select Standard Wish, Wanderlust Invocation.
  2. Click on Wish x1 or Wish x10 on the bottom right.
  3. An animation will appear resembling wishing stars falling from the sky. Right after that, a silhouette of the rewards appear slowly revealing its form.

And there you have it. It’s a lengthy piece, however, if your someone who does not want to spend a dime; then this guide should be on your go to list of how-tos in Genshin Impact.

Have we been helpful with your travels? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Also, consider sharing your knowledge with your friends by the link to this article. Don’t forget, we also have other How-to-guides that might help you so do check them out.

How To Find and Obtain Recipes in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact is a fast-paced game. Like many others, it takes time to master each and every aspect. Cooking is a key feature of the game. Travelers are heavily dependent on dishes for things like sustaining the need for stamina, replenishing health points, increasing attack or defense for physical and elemental damages and more.

If you are preparing for dungeons or boss fights, there are two things that will allow your team to have a fighting chance. They are assembling an arsenal of rare and reinforced weapons and obtaining a wide array of recipes to create dishes with different effects.

With that said, here’s a list of recipes that will allow you to last longer in battle even with the simplest of weapons and armor equipped.

Recipes: Location and Ingredients Declassified

Combat Stat Dishes – Boosts Atk, Crit Rate, Def

NameIngredientsEffectsHow to obtain
Adeptus Temptation4 ham, 3 crab. 3 shrimp meat, 3 matsutakeincreases entire party’s Atk by 260-372 and Crit Rate by 8-12% for 300s.by opening a chest on the floating island above Qingyun Peak
Almond Tofu1 almond, 3 milk, 1 sugarincrease entire party’s Atk by 66-95 for 300s investigate the kitchen table at Wangshu Inn in Dihua Marsh, Liyue
Die Heilige Sinfonie (Blessed Symphony) [Fischl]1 ham, 1 bacon, 1 sausage, 1 mintincreases all party members’ Physical DMG by 55% for 300scomplete Eagle’s Gate domain to receive the Cold Cut Platter. Let Fischl cook the Cold Cut Platter to receive Blessed Symphony
Calla Lilly Seafood Soup4 crab, 1 calla lilly, 2 mintincrease entire party’s Def by 108-154 for 300spurchase from Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt for 5000 Mora at Adventure Rank 30
Cold Cut Platter1 ham, 1 bacon, 1 sausage, 1 mintincrease entire party’s physical damage by 20-40% for 300scomplete Eagle’s Gate domain to receive the Cold Cut Platter
Come and Get It3 raw meat, 3 fish, 3 rice, 1 tofuincrease entire party’s Crit Rate by 10-20% for 300spurchase for 5000 Mora from Chef Mao in Wanmin Restaurant in Liyue at Adventure Rank 40
Fisherman’s Toast3 flour, 2 tomato, 1 onion, 1 milkincrease entire party’s Def by 88-126 for 300salready available
Fishy Toast [Klee]3 flour, 2 tomato, 1 onion, 1 milkincreases entire party’s Def by 141 for 300salready available. obtained only when Klee cooks the dish
Fried Radish Balls3 flour, 2 radish, 1 pepperincrease entire party’s Atk by 66-95 for 300salready available
Golden Crab5 egg, 5 flour, 4 crab, 2 saltincreases all party members’ Def by 242-308 and healing effects by 6-10 for 300sobtain after completing Mona’s Story Quest. Quest reward from Pressing Deadlines
Jade Parcel3 lotus head, 2 jueyun chili, 2 cabbage, 1 hamincreases entire party’s Atk by 65-95 for 300scomplete the cooking Showdown Quest
Jewelry Soup2 snapdragon, 2 tofu, 1 lotus headincreases entire party’s Def by 62-88 for 300scomplete the Custodian of Clouds Quest at Mt. Aocang. purchase the regular version from Harris in Dragonspine camp
Jueyun Chili Chicken2 fowl, 1 jueyun Chili, 1 pepperincreases entire party’s Crit Rate by 6-12% for 300spurchase from Wanmin Restaurant for 2500 Mora after on Adventure Rank 20
No Tomorrow [Qiqi]3 raw meat, 3 fish, 3 rice, 1 tofuincrease all party members’ Crit Rate and Crit Dmg by 20%cook Come and Get It using QiQi
Once upon a time in Mondstadt [Diluc]3 raw meat, 3 potato, 1 small lamp grass, 1 cheeseincreases party members Crit Rate and Dmg by 20%cook Pile ‘Em Up using Diluc or purchase from Sara at Good Hunter in Mondstadt for 5000 Mora at Adventure Rank 40
Pile ‘Em Up3 raw meat, 3 potato, 1 small lamp grass, 1 cheeseincrease party Crit Rate by 10-20% for 300spurchase from Sara at Good Hunter for 5000 Mora at Adventure Rank 40
Qingce Stir Fry3 mushroom, 2 lotus head, 1 jueyun chili, 1 cabbagerestores 8-10% of max HP to a selected character then regenerates 210-300 HP every 5s for 30spurchase from Ms. Bai in Qingce Village for 5000 Mora
Satisfying Salad [Mona]2 cabbage, 2 apple, 1 bird egg, 1 potatoincreases entire party’s Atk by 211-301 for 300salready available
Sauteed Matsutake3 matsutake, 3 flour, 2 pinecone, 2 butterincreases party’s Atk by 160-228 for 300spurchase from Sara at Good Hunters in Mondstadt for 5000 Mora at Adventure Rank 35

Healing Dishes – Restore Health Points

NameIngredientsEffectsHow to obtain
Bamboo Shoot Soup2 raw meat, 2x ham, 1x bamboo shootrestores 26-30% of Max HP to the selected character and regenerates 450-790 HP every 5s for 30s.purchase at Verr Goldet at Wangshu Inn
Black Back Perch Stew3 fish, 1 jueyun chili, 1 salt, 1 violetgrassrestores 7.5% of entire party’s HP and regenerates 350-580 HP every 5s for 30sreach adventure rank 30 and purchase at Wanmin Restaurant for 5000 Mora
Chicken Mushroom Skewer1 mushroom, 1 fowlrestores 8-10% of your ma HP and gives 800-1200 HP to selected characteralready available
Crab, Ham & Veggie Bake1 crab roe, 1 ham, 1 cream, 1 cabbagerevives the selected character. Restores 900-1500 HP.complete a certain version of the Commission Food Delivery Quest
Crystal Shrimp3 rice 3 shrimp meat, 2 carrotrestores 18-22% of a selected character max HP and regenerates 320-490 HP every 5s for 30spurchase from Wanmi Restaurant for 2500 Mora at Adventure Rank 20
Countryside Delicacy [Xingqiu]3 rice, 3 shrimp meat, 2 carrotrestores 34% of max HP to entire party and regenerates 1410 HP every 5s for 30slet Xingqui cook Crystal Shrimp
Flaming Red Bolognese2 flour, 2 raw meat, 1 tomatorestores 18-22% of a selected character’s max HP then regenerates 320-490 HP every 5s for 30spurchase from Sara at Good Hunters in Mondstadt for 2500 Mora at Adventure Rank 20
Fruity Skewers [Kaeya]1 mushroom, 1 fowlrestores 16% of max HP and an extra an 1350 HPa version of Chicken Mushroom Skewer cooked by Kaeya
Grilled Tiger Fish1 fish, 1 pepperrestores 34% of max HP and further 750-1000 HP to selected characterpurchase from Wanmin Restaurant for 1250 Mora at Adventure Rank 10
Matsutake Meat Roll2 matsutake, 2 raw meatrestores 20-24% of a selected character’s max HP then further 900-1600HPcomplete the Custodian of Clouds Quest at Mt. Aocang. purchase from Verr Goldet in Wangshu Inn for 1775 Mora
Mondstadt Hash Brown2 pinecone, 1 potato, 1 jamrestores 30-34% of a selected character’s HP then a further 600-1900 HPcomplete the Temple of the Wolf domain. Available at Adventure Rank 15
Nutritious Meal (V.593) [Sucrose]1 crab roe, 1 ham, 1 cream, 1 cabbagerestores 20% of max HP and an additional 1500 HPcook Crab, Ham and Veggie Bake with Sucrose
Puppy Paw Hash Brown [Razor]2 pinecone, 1 potato, 1 jam,a variant of Mondstadt Hash Brown. cook with Razor
Mushroom Pizza4 mushroom, 3 flour, 2 cabbage, 1 cheeserestores 26-30% of a selected character’s max HP then regenerates 650-1120 HP every 5s for 30sopen a Precious Chest in Storm Terror’s Lair just north of the tower, or above the “o” in “terror” on the map. Alternatively, players can obtain the recipe directly during the quest Food From Afar
Invigorating Pizza [Jean]4 mushroom, 3 flour, 2 cabbage, 1 cheeserestores 34% of entire party’s max HP and regenerates 1410 HP every 5s for 30sa variant of Mushroom Pizza cooked by Jean
Mysterious Bolognese [Lisa]2 flour, 2 raw meat, 1 tomatorestores 26% of entire party’s HP then regenerates a further 590 HP every 5s for 30sa variant of Flaming Red Bolognese cooked by Lisa
Radish Veggie Soup1 radish, 1 mintalready available
Squirrel Fish4 fish, 2 tomato, 2 flour, 1 sugarrestores 30-34% of a selected character’s max HP then a further 600-1900 HPpurchase from Wanmin Restaurant for 5000 Mora at Adventure Rank 35
Survival Grilled Fish [Keqing]1 fish, 1 pepperrestores 16% of max HP and an additional 1350 HPa variant of Grilled Tiger Fish Cooked by Keqing
Sweet Madame2 fowl, 2 sweet flowerrestores 20-24% of max HP and an extra 900-1500 HP to a selected characteralready available
Wanmin Restaurant’s Boiled Fish [Xiangling]3 fish, 1 jueyun chili, 1 salt, 1 violetgrassrestores 34% of max HP to the selected character and regenerates 980 HP every 5s for 30sreach Adventure Rank 30 and purchase it at Wanmin Restaurant for 5000 Mora

Revival Dishes – Revive Fallen Heroes

NameIngredientsEffectsHow to obtain
Baked Veggie Pie1 cabbage, 1 ham, 1 cream, 1 crab roerevives the selected character. Restores 900-1500 HP.complete the Commission Food Delivery quest
Qiankun/Caelum Terra Mora Meat [Ningguang]1 raw meat, 1 flourrevives downed character and restores 20% of their max HP and an addition 550 HPa variant of Mora Meat cooked by Ningguang
Crispy Teyvat Egg [Bennett]1 bird eggrevives a character and restores 10% of their ma HP and an additional 150 HP a variant of Teyvat Fried Egg cooked by Bennett
Flash Fried Filet [Beidou]1 raw meat, 1 jueyun chilirevives a character and restores 10% of mx HP then restores and additional 150 HPa variant of Stir Fried Filet cooke by Beidou
Golden Shrimp Balls4 shrimp meat, 3 potato revives selected character and restores 250-550 HPreward from Ms. Yu upon reaching Reputation Level 1 in Liyue
Lighter than air Pancake [Noelle]3 berry, 2 flour, 1 bird eggrevives a character and restores 20 of their mx HP then a further 550 HPa variant of Tea Break Pancake cooked by Noelle
Mondstadt Grilled Fish1 fish, 1 pepperrevives a selected character and restores 50-150 HPalready available
Mora Meat1 raw meat, 1 flourrevives a selected character and restores 50-150 HPcomplete Custodian of Clouds quest in Mt. Aocang
Outriders Champion Steak [Amber]2 raw meatrevives a character to 10% of max HP then a further 150 HPa variant of Steak cooked by Amber
Steak2 raw meatrevives a selected character and restores 50-150 HPalready available
Stir Fried Fillet1 raw meat, 1 jueyun chilirevives a character and restores 50-150 HPopen a chest on top of Mt. Tianheng
Tea Break Pancake3 berry, 2 flour, 1 bird eggrevives a selected character and restores 250-550 HPpurchase from Sara of Good Hunter in Mondstadt for 2500 Mora at Adventure Rank 15
Teyvat Fried Egg1 bird egg

Stamina Dishes – Decrease and Restore Stamina

NameIngredientsEffectHow to obtain
A Buoyant Breeze [Venti]4 carrot, 4 potato, 4 oniondecrease all party members’ stamina consumption by 25% for 1800s when gliding and sprinting.talk to Vind at Stormbearer Point
Barbatos Ratatouille4 carrot, 4 potato, 4 oniondecrease all party members’ stamina consumption by 25% for 900s when gliding and sprintingtalk to Vind at Stormbearer Point
Cream Stew2 raw meat, 2 cream, 1 snapdragondecreases stamina depleted by sprinting for the entire party by 20-35% for 900sbought at Good Hunter in Mondstadt for 2,500 Mora at Adventure Rank 25
Lotus Seed and Bird Egg Soup1 lotus head, 1 bird egg, 1 sugardecreases stamina lost by sprinting for the entire party by 20-35% for 900spurchase at Bubu Pharmacy in Liyue for 2500 Mora
Noodles with Mountain Delicacies3 mushroom, 2 raw meat, 1 flourrestores 40-60 staminapurchase from Ms. Bai in Liyue for 2500 Mora
Cold Noodles with Mountain Delicacies [Chongyun]3 mushroom, 2 raw meat, 1 flourrestore 80 stamina pointsa variant of Noodles with Mountain Delicacies cooked by Chongyun
Northern Smoked Chicken1 smoked fowl, 1 onion, 1 cabbagerestores 40-60 staminainside a chest near the top of the central tower at Stormterror’s Lair
Spicy Stew2 cream, 2 raw meat, 1 snapdragondecreases stamina lost by sprinting for entire party by 35% for 1800sa variant of Cream Stew cooked by Barbara
Sticky Honey Roast4 raw meat, 2 carrot, 2 sugarrevives a character and restores 50-150 HPcomplete the Master’s Day Off story quest at Adventure Rank 23 or from the Dawn Winery variant of the NPC commission Food Delivery
Zhongyuan Chop Suey3 raw meat, 3 fish, 3 flour, 2 saltdecreases stamina depleted by climbing and sprinting for all party members at 15-25% for 900scomplete the Old Tastes Die Hard quest

PHEW! If you read all that, you’re probably wondering about the variants other dishes have. Those come from being cooked by different heroes. This is actually about that character’s cooking specialty. It’s purely based on luck and will not always appear. But once it does appear, they usually have greater attributes imbued with them.

To switch characters when you are cooking:

  1. Press F near a camp fire to start cooking.
  2. Select the dish you wish to cook. For this one we will cook Stir-Fried Filet.
  3. Click Cook.
  4. In this view you’ll see Select Character on the top right just below the close button. Go ahead and click it.
  5. The Character Selection pane will appear. Listed in it are the available characters you may use for the task. Select Beidou as she is listed as being able to make a special dish using the Stir Fried Filet Recipe.
  6. Now that we are set, Click Cook Manually. (Note: Our proficiency level with this recipe is low. We will need to complete 5 perfect attempts in order to achieve the Auto Cook function)
  7. It may take several cooking attempts to be able to obtain the aforementioned dish variants but, eventually you will get them as I did.

Now that you have had a taste of what the dishes provide for your heroes, always be on the lookout for opportunity for gather, forage and hunt for ingredients for you to be able to whip up dishes at will.

How To Complete the “Boared to Death” Quest in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact contains many hidden things. Ranging from quest items, rare artifacts and many more. This also includes a hidden achievement called Boared to Death. This quest can be unlocked by accident but only a few actually know about this. So today, let us help you in achieving this quest.

Through countless hours of traveling, you may have encountered numerous kinds of wildlife in the game. There have been beasts, Birds, Fish and many others. But as you can immediately guess we will involve the help of a boar to get this quest done.

So, without further delay, let’s get to it.

To do this:

  1. You need to have a character that has about 150 health points or less.(Note: If you don’t already have a character that meets the criteria then click here and check the alternative method.)
  2. Switch to the character that meets the requirements.
  3. Press M to open the map interface. (Tip: If you are new to the game, majority of the areas are still blacked out. You need to increase your adventure rank to be able to take on the monsters roaming the areas of Liyue.)
  4. You need to teleport to this spot.
  5. And voila! A boar appears, running towards you with the intent of eliminating you on sight.

Alternatively, if your party members are at full health. You will need to sacrifice the health of one of them.

You should:

  1. Teleport to any elevated map on the area. You could also try to lure monsters to attack you until your health points are totally depleted. But the first option is far quicker than the latter. It’s all up to you.
  2.  When your character dies, use any revival dish you have in your inventory.
  3. Press B to open your bag/inventory.
  4. We recommend using the Teyvat Fried Egg or any revival dish that restores 50 health points. Please check the Genshin Impact How To: Revive a Fallen Hero guide learn more about how to use revival dishes and how to get them
  5. Select the chosen revival dish.
  6. Click Use.
  7. Select the hero you wish to revive.
  8. Click on Confirm.

You will now have a hero with only 50 health points remaining.

Now all you need to do is to:

  1. Teleport to this area.
  2. Find a boar and it should attack you without you having do anything, let it kill you.
  3. You will then be notified that you’ve unlocked the achievement, “Boared To Death” and then check to claim the rewards.

We hope you are enjoying Genshin Impact along with its many surprises. Do check out our other How-to-guides about the game.

If our guides have had positive results for your adventures, please let us know by leaving a comment below and make sure that you share this all your friends as well.

How To Revive a Fallen Hero in Genshin Impact

In Genshin Impact, not every adventure goes according to plan. Every now and then, things turn sideways quickly and unexpectedly. Whether you are outnumbered, outgunned, or outmatched. Maybe you just forgot to cook your favorite dish to consume before, during, and after battles, or maybe, just maybe, you fell short while jumping and fell down a very steep cliff (which happens most of the time when you forget to bring stamina increasing dishes).

As mentioned on previous articles, the game features a four-man team. However, only a single character may be used at a given time. And at most times, you are caught off guard with a slew of monsters getting in your range and suddenly attacks.

Inevitably, one or two and in some cases, your whole party gets taken down and is wiped out during intense or even random battles. So, this entry will give you every opportunity to prepare and equip yourself with the bare essentials of survival during intense combats.

Reviving a hero is easy. as some dishes can be bought in restaurants and specialty shops around Teyvat. However, the number of dishes you can purchase per day are limited only to 5 to 10 pieces per day. And when you are grinding your days away, it is evident that these numbers aren’t enough and you may have to wait a few hours for a refresh and be able to purchase the same limited number of dishes.

Luckily, since you’re a good cook and is a very diligent adventurer able to find recipes, you are able to cook up a dish. Check out the Genshin Impact – How To: Find and Gather Recipes guide to know more about where to get recipes. The dishes you will need contain the on the upper-left corner.

A Pilgrimage: Visiting the Statues

The Statues of Seven are found around Teyvat and each nation has Statues with their corresponding Archons. There are 13 statues in total. They imbue travelers with elemental talents, increase stamina, revive the fallen heroes and replenish health points. Whenever you are near one, always pay a visit. It’s free and unlimited, meaning no cooldowns.

Food To Go: In Shop Purchases

Purchasing a revival dish requires you to visit Restaurants such as:

  1. Sara – Good Hunter, Mondstadt.
  2. Chef Mao – Wanmin, Liyue
  3. Shimura Kanbei – Shimuras, Inazuma.

To Purchase from these you need to:

  1. Go near the NPC.
  2. Press F to interact.
  3. Select Food To Go.
  4. Browse the shop and check for dishes containing the icon.
  5. Click Purchase.
  6. Indicate the number of pieces you wish to buy and then click Purchase.
  7. Click X to exit the shop.

Cooking

You can also cook various dishes to revive your hero. Check out the Genshin Impact – How To: Find and Gather Recipes to learn more about the different recipes and ingredients and also check Genshin Impact – How To Heal and Cook for cooking dishes.

To consume your chosen dish you:

  1. Press B to access your bag/inventory.
  2. Click on the Food Category.
  3. Select the available revival dish.
  4. Click Use.
  5. Choose the fallen hero you wish to revive.
  6. Click Confirm to revive your hero.
  7. Press ESC a couple of times until you exit the inventory window.
  8. Your previously fallen hero has now been revived. Make sure to feed him dishes that increase health points.

As an alternative, you can do the following:

  1. On the main screen, Press the number to which the fallen hero corresponds.
  2. A popup window appears showing you the available revival dish(es) that’s already within your bag/inventory.
  3. Select the revival dish you wish to use (if you have several of them).
  4. Click Confirm.

And voila! You have successfully revived your hero but with very little health points.

A word of caution: The use of revival dishes is immediate, however, there is a cooldown time before using them again. So, make sure that you are out of sight of any monsters that might take you down in a single hit. We recommend using it after an area has been cleared or inside a known safe zone.

Having said that, checkout the Genshin Impact – How To: Unlock Boared To Death Achievement which will definitely interest you. And if you are in a rush to complete a different quest altogether, then do consume some health point recovery dish to make your hero ready for the next battle or adventure.

Do you find this guide helpful? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Elon Musk Rebuffs Texas Governor’s Comment on Social Policies

Following the signing of a nationally unpopular bill banning abortion after six weeks’ pregnancy, Texas Governor Greg Abbott was heard to say that Elon Musk “likes the social policies” of Texas. Musk was quick to rebuff the governor in a Tweet, saying that he would “prefer to stay out of politics.”

Musk may not be as completely apolitical as he claims, as Tesla recently joined a lobby group that promotes the adoption of electric vehicles in the United States. It has also lobbied the Australian government to alter a regulation that would have banned Tesla Semis from city streets.

He may simply prefer not to let Abbott claim him as a supporter on the new, highly restrictive abortion law, even by implication. If any possible dispute between Abbott and Musk arises, the Tweet seems to imply that Musk will default to opposing any policy that stinks of Big Government shutting down on the rights of individuals and businesses and it wouldn’t matter whether the U.S. state involved is heavily Democrat or heavily Republican.

Elon Musk moved to Texas and sold all of his California homes after a very public fight with the state of California over its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily forced Tesla to close the Gigafactory in Fremont before it was declared an “essential business.” The battle included legal challenges against state and county officials whom he accused of overreaching their authority. His statement at the time reflected his most recent Tweet on poorly considered government policy:

“The harsh truth is that California has fallen into disrepair. Bad policies discourage business and innovation, stifle opportunity and make life in major cities ugly and unpleasant. … But now a state like Texas provides these opportunities without the problems and baggage California has accumulated.”

So it may be a matter of whether Texas might pick up baggage that has a different form, but is no less heavy. Some social media accounts have already called for a boycott of companies that have a heavy presence in Texas and Tesla could wind up on that list. So it’s possible that Musk’s unusually polite refusal to let Abbot drag him into the state’s politics by obliquely claiming him as a supporter of the abortion ban is a way to cover his bottom line. Musk has often blasted state and federal lawmakers and regulators for decisions that he did not like.

Musk has previously said that Austin has the potential to become America’s next boom town and called for the development of more housing in the area. Austin is best known for its music scene, which was most popularized by the televised live music show Austin City Limits. The area is also the future home of factories owned by SpaceX and Tesla. Both are expected to provide thousands of jobs in the area and the new Tesla factory has recently shown off a pre-production build of at least one of the vehicle models that will be built at the new factory.

Inspiration4 Crew to Conduct Medical Experiments During Flight

The Inspiration4 flight is set to launch on September 15 on a three-day flight that will orbit Earth at an altitude of about 575 kilometers. The crew includes Shift4Shop founder Jared Isaacman, St. Jude physician’s assistant Hayley Arcenaux, data engineer Chris Sembroski and geoscientist and artist Sian Proctor. Isaacman organized the flight as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which raised $113 million through a raffle of one of the seats on the flight.

According to newly available information about the flight, the crew will conduct several medical experiments while orbiting Earth. These include monitoring of ECG (electrocardiograph) activity, movement, a sleep study, heart rate and rhythm, blood oxygen saturation, cabin noise, and light intensity. Tests will include producing samples that will be used for analysis of the crew’s genetics and microbiome, as well as scans of their organs using an ultrasound device that is currently being tested by the crew on the International Space Station. The tests could improve future missions by providing data needed to assess changes in behavioral and cognitive performance over time.

The research is being organized in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine, which will store samples and data using a Biobank, which is capable of cryogenically freezing samples. According to SpaceX, the research could have practical applications on Earth along with being useful for planning during future space flights.

Meanwhile, the crew has been through months of training, including procedures for a possible medical emergency. Isaacman said of it:

“There’s north of 60 procedures that range from normal contingency to emergency. In a multi-day mission there is a lot of time for a lot of things to go wrong.”

Most things could be covered by the level of automation on a SpaceX Crew Dragon or through troubleshooting by a ground control team like the one at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. SpaceX operates a Launch Control Center at Cape Canaveral and a Mission Control Center in southern California. The crew have also trained for taking manual control of the spacecraft if something fails, though NASA astronauts who have previously flown on the Crew Dragon seem to consider it unlikely.

“There’s no plans to do any more manual flying, unless there’s a need for it from a systems failure kind of scenario,” says astronaut Doug Hurley, who flew on SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission, which was the final test flight for the Crew Dragon. NASA is now satisfied that the Crew Dragon is fully operational.

Netflix plans to produce a documentary on Inspiration4, which will be released in five parts in near-real time. Titled Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space, the documentary is being produced by director Jason Hehir, who previously produced the documentary on basketball star Michael Jordan titled The Last Dance. Netflix is also producing the companion show A StoryBots Space Adventure.

SpaceX Completes Retrofit for Recovery Ships “Bob” and “Doug”

SpaceX has completed the retrofit for two new ships that will be added to its recovery fleet with the names “Bob” and “Doug.” They are, obviously, named in honor of the crew of the first Crew Dragon to ferry NASA’s astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Demo-2 mission, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.

Bob and Doug were previously used as standard platform supply vessels, which could make supply runs to platforms at sea that are used for things like offshore oil drilling. Their previous names were Ella G and Ingrid.

The two ships will be used to retrieve fairings that are typically used to protect payloads during launch. They have been retrofitted with a large crane designed to lift the fairings out of the water, as well as a winch and roller that will enable the deployment of a chain for towing. Upgrades to their communications gear appears to include a Starlink terminal that can be used to upload and download data using SpaceX’s Internet satellite constellation.

SpaceX had previously attempted to catch fairings in a net suspended between two ships but gave up on that earlier this year due to the hit-or-miss nature of the attempts. The fairings have since been upgraded to better survive exposure to corrosive sea water. SpaceX prefers to refurbish rather than discard the fairings after each use as part of its efforts to develop reusable hardware that can bring the cost of launches down.

Since SpaceX quit attempting to catch the fairings in nets, it relied on contracts with other ship owners to retrieve the fairings, but found it to be more expensive than operating its own fleet.

Bob and Doug will also be capable of towing SpaceX’s drone barges and providing support for drone barge operations, which could theoretically reduce the number of ships required to bring back the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket after launch from five ships to just two. Although the drone ships used for Falcon 9 rocket stages to land on are mostly automated, the tug ships used to bring the drone ships back to port and fairing retrieval ships still require crews.

SpaceX’s continues its tradition of humorous names for its drone ships with the addition of “A Shortfall of Gravitas” to its fleet. “Just Read the Instructions” and “Of Course I Still Love You” are currently being upgraded, possibly to improve their ability to operate autonomously. Once the upgrades are complete, “Of Course I Still Love You” will be used to support rocket retrieval operations off the Californian coast, where SpaceX sometimes launches Starlink satellites and customers’ payloads from Vanderberg Space Launch Complex.

The use of autonomous ships like SpaceX’s drone barges are still relatively new and unfamiliar turf. The Coast Guard, for instance, apparently had a ton of questions for SpaceX about its barges, their autonomous operation, and their ability to avoid collisions between vehicles operating at sea. (The Coast Guard’s inquisitiveness does not seem to have triggered Elon Musk’s famously short temper with regulators, though.)

The new fairing cargo ships, Bob and Doug, are unlikely to be fully autonomous quite yet. However, they are likely to improve SpaceX’s efficiency at retrieving important hardware like the fairings for refurbishment.

NHTSA Requests Info on Tesla Autopilot’s Ability to Recognize Emergency Vehicles

The United States’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has requested detailed information on the Tesla Autopilot’s ability to recognize a crash scene with emergency vehicles present as part of a probe into accidents that involved a Tesla vehicle with Autopilot engaged crashing into a stopped emergency vehicle with lights activated.

The NHTSA is also seeking information on the Autopilot’s ability to ensure that drivers remain alert, the details of Tesla’s testing of new Autopilot features, marketing materials related to the driver assist program, and all consumer complaints, lawsuits and arbitration cases involving Autopilot. There have been some incidents that indicate that Autopilot can be fooled into thinking that the driver is paying attention, including a couple of cases of a Tesla owner riding in the back seat of a driverless Tesla vehicle. In response to these incidents, Tesla activated a camera mounted to the rearview mirror to improve tracking of user alertness.

Tesla currently conducts a public beta program in which Tesla vehicle owners can help test new features and send driving data back to Tesla in order to help train the AI behind Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. One new feature is the ability to recognize emergency vehicle lights and vehicles’ turn and brake lights.

The probe has expanded to include twelve incidents, including a recent one in which a Tesla vehicle crashed into a Florida Highway Patrol vehicle on an interstate highway near Orlando’s downtown area. Seventeen people were injured and one was killed in these incidents since 2018. The probe covers 765,000 Tesla vehicles in the 2014 to 2021 model years.

Tesla has issued repeated warnings that Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) are not infallible and drivers should stay alert. These driver assist programs are rated as Level 2 on the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) five-level scale of a vehicle’s autonomy. At that level, Autopilot and FSD are capable of performing some tasks like lane-keeping and cruise control. Level 5 is full autonomy, with a maximum of one driver input required for every million miles of driving.

Tesla’s developers have also admitted in communications with California’s DMV that Tesla and Musk sometimes overstate the capability of Autopilot and FSD. Musk recently admitted that the development of a Level 5 self-driving car was more difficult than he had originally thought and Tesla is working on fixes for issues with Full Self-Driving Beta 9.2 for release with Beta 9.3.

CEO Elon Musk has previously clashed with regulators due to scrutiny of both Tesla and SpaceX. Previous clashes involve the SEC’s censoring of Musk over a 2018 tweet saying that he could take Tesla private and the occasional tug-of-war over Tesla vehicle recalls, one of which involved a flaw in the onboard computer system that could cause the touchscreen to go blank. In the latter case, Tesla denied that the computer system issue posed a safety risk.

Under the Biden Administration, the NHTSA does seem to be taking a tougher stance on the safety of driver assist programs like Autopilot and FSD. It has previously hesitated to get involved due to the risk of hampering development and adoption of automated driving software. Past studies indicate that driver error is a critical factor in as many as 90% of serious vehicle crashes.

Tesla has until October 22 to respond to the NHTSA’s query. If it doesn’t, it could face a $114 million fine. Tesla does not have a PR department and has characteristically not responded to requests for comment about the NHTSA’s most recent probe.

India Approves Four Tesla Models for Sale

Tesla has received approval from the government of India to manufacture or import four if its models in the country, potentially moving it one step closer to building a factory in India. The models have passed India’s roadworthiness tests, according to its ministry of road transport and highways.

“The tests ensure the vehicle matches the requirements of the Indian market in terms of emission and safety and road worthiness,” says the ministry’s website.

Tesla Club India said in a tweet that the models were probably variants of the Model 3 and Model Y.

Tesla had previously lobbied to lower tariffs for electric vehicles imported to India, which can as much as double the price of its more expensive models. This has met with mixed opinions in the automotive industry, with Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz in favor of reduced tariffs.

Elon Musk is also pursuing the possibility of manufacturing a Gigafactory in India, which the government seems to favor for the sake of increasing the number of manufacturing jobs in the country. However, Musk says that the building of a factory is dependent on Tesla’s ability to first test the market by importing vehicles that are more comparable in price to what they would cost if Tesla could manufacture them locally.

Musk has cited India’s efforts to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources as an incentive to move toward electric rather than gas-powered vehicles. Its vehicles could easily run on sufficient solar power, which, incidentally, can be provided by Tesla’s residential solar products like solar roofs and Powerwalls, as well as more industrial-strength products like the Megapack battery.

Musk has previously given Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a tour of the Gigafactory in California as part of his efforts to convince India.

Organizations in India such as the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association favors not only increased domestic automobile manufacturing within India, but also pushing for local sourcing of important electric vehicle components like batteries. Tesla often prefers to manufacture its own batteries at its Gigafactories or own stakes in the companies that produce them. This policy has led Cars.com to rank two Tesla models in its Top 3 for American-made vehicles.

In an October 2020 Tweet, Tesla Club India did ask if Musk planned to build a factory in India. At the time, Musk said, “Next year for sure.” However, that has since slipped, possibly due to bureaucratic red tape or the uncertainty involved in making a solid entrance into the Indian market. Less than one percent of vehicles sold in India are electric vehicles, which could as much be explained by India’s ongoing efforts to improve its residents’ access to its electric grid as the cost of importing an electric vehicle. Most Tesla vehicle owners prefer to charge their vehicles overnight while they are at home.

How To Switch Party Members in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact implements the four-man party system. This allows you to coordinate your character’s functions and abilities to further increase your dealt damage against monsters. It also has party presets so the only thing you have to do is to switch presets for specific tasks.

With this, you are free to choose whatever combination of characters that suit your immediate need especially in hunts, dungeons, boss fights especially those with particular elemental weaknesses and more.

Now let us proceed on how you are going to do it to preserve your dominance and might over the various bosses and elemental types in game.

To do so:

  1. Press and Hold ALT then click o the Top Left Character Icon . Alternatively, simply Press ESC key on your keyboard. That works too! Yay!
  2. Click on Party Setup.
  3. Here you will see your currently deployed party members.
  4. There are four party presets indicated by which also contains four slots where you can place various characters of different elements and abilities.
  5. Click each slot to reveal a character selection pane with which you can customize your party.
  6. Click on your chosen character. In this guide, we will chose Ningguang.
  7. Click Switch to immediately use that character add them to your party.

Now we have successfully added Ningguang into the party.

To make Ningguang appear as the main character. You need to Press the number 4 or whichever number your favorite hero has been assigned to your party hud.

And that’s all there is to it. Happy Hunting!

Genshin Impact – How To: Heal and Cook!

header

Genshin Impact is an adventure action role-playing game initially published by miHoYo on the 28th of September 2020. Moreover, the game allows you to play in single player mode or connect with other players and merge his/her world with your existing one.

As for every new player adventurer, you may and will have to deal with hoards of monsters trying to eliminate you on site. But instead, you outwit the enemy and emerge victorious! However, your health bar is no longer at a hundred percent and you fear that your next encounter might be fatal.

In that case, you are in luck! And without further delay let us help you equip yourself with the often-overlooked necessity early in the game.

Tree of Life: Almost

sunsettia_01

Since you are as meticulous as can be, that you never allow every stone unturned, we are sure you’ll never miss this one. Early in the game, you will encounter fruit-bearing trees. And there are only two of them. One is the Sunsettia Tree and the other, the Apple Tree.

You either pick them one by one by pressing F and/or you can shake the tree by using your normal weapon attack or with the use of your skill to knock them off the tree.

sunsettia_02

A Sunsettia or an Apple will add 300 health points to your character.

sunsettia_03
apple

In order for you to consume the freshly picked fruits, you need to:

  1. Press B to access your bag / item inventory.
  2. Take a look on the Food Category, it’s the fourth icon on top food_category_icon.
  3. Look for the freshly picked Apple or Sunsettia then click either one.
  4. Click Use.
  5. On the Traveler popup screen. heal_01 Select your character of choice to feed your selected food.
  6. Click Confirm. heal_02

Character health points have been increased after c.

Also, notice that the Food Inventory displays items with the icon on the top left of each. This indicates that the dish can be used to increase your health points whenever you need them.

heal_04

And by following the same steps, you can feed a separate dish to the same character to further increase health points.

heal_05

It is important to know that this game emulates realistic scenarios. For example, you can only feed one character a limited number of times. Just like in real life, when you are stuffed with food, you will never be able to take in more of it. So, make good use of every dish and its capacity to increase your health points, especially in combat situations to make sure you last longer in battle.

Statue(s) of Seven

statue_header

These statues are found scattered all over Teyvat. They imbue players with elemental talents, buff stats, act as teleportation devices, allow unlocking of maps, and of course healing.

To locate these statues, you should:

  1. Press M to reveal the map.map_location
  2. Locate the ones encircled in red. They are the markers indicating the location of each statue. (Note: If the surrounding area is blacked out, that means you have not yet explored the area or have not yet activated the statue within it. Thus, you are unable to use immediate teleportation towards that marker and the need to walk or run towards it is necessary.)
  3. Approach the statue close enough to reveal the interaction button. This immediately heals your party to full health. And when you interact with the statue, you will unlock and reveal the map view of its area.heal_statue_01heal_statue_02

Cooking

As a traveler, you are bound to come across deserted camps. These camps often have pots left behind by other travelers and are useful for cooking different dishes. The dishes you cook may contain various attributes such as stamina regeneration, stat bonuses, increased attack or defense, revive and, of course, heal.cooking_01

In order to cook, you need many things. One of them is fire. If you look closely there is no fire under the pot so we need to create fire to create the dishes we need. Each of your characters possess elemental attributes useful for every situation. In this case, we need someone with the Pyro ability placed in the party. You can switch characters simply by pressing the numbers between 1 and 4 to which your character with the fire ability is found. If you do not have one in your party, please refer to Switching Party Members before proceeding.

Now that we have selected the appropriate character let us proceed. I have chosen Amber; she’s equipped with a bow and arrow. To start cooking:

  1. Position Amber, or your character of choice, close enough to light a fire.cooking_02
  2. Press R for Amber to aim and use her charged attack.camp_cooking_03
  3. Click the Left Mouse Button to release the arrow and voila! You have yourself some fire for cooking.cooking_04
  4. Get close enough to one of the pots until the interaction button appears and allows you to cook. Press F to start cooking.cooking_05
  5. Once in the cooking interface, select the dish you wish to cook. (You will see recipes in your possession. Use these recipes to cook the dish of your choosing. The ones greyed out mean that you do not have enough ingredients to create that dish. So, when you are out travelling, make sure to loot whatever it is you come across, it might be of use in certain situations.)cooking_06
  6. Lets will select the Sweet Madame for this one. Its ingredients are Fowl (obtained by attacking ducks, birds and purchasing from Draff in Springvale during the day time.) and Sweet Flower (obtained by looting.) Then click Cook.
  7. If you have mastered cooking the dish, you will have the option to Cook Automatically. If not, then you will have to click Cook Manually.camp_cooking_07
  8. After clicking Cook Manually a meter will appear. Make sure to hit the orange part of that meter to attain Perfect score by clicking Stop exactly when it hits the orange part of the meter.cooking_08cooking_09cooking_10
  9. Click Confirm.
  10. Click X at the top right to close this window.cooking_11
  11. Press B to open your bag / inventory.
  12. Go to the Food section indicated by cooking_12
  13.  Select the dish you cooked earlier. In this one, choose the Sweet Madame.cooking_13
  14. Click Use.
  15. Now select the character you wish to feed the dish to.cooking_14
  16. Click Confirm.
cooking_15

You have now successfully increased your character’s life points with the dish you have cooked in the game. Please check the slew of how-to guides we have for Genshin Impact to help make you a formidable foe.

Amazon Files Protest Against SpaceX’s Application for Upgraded Starlink Satellites

Earlier this month, SpaceX filed for FCC approval to launch upgraded Starlink Gen2 System satellites, which are capable of generating more power than the existing generation of Starlink satellites. Now Amazon’s Project Kuiper, a competing satellite Internet service provider, has filed a protest with the FCC.

SpaceX filed two possible configurations for the Starlink Gen2 System satellites but plans to use only one. Project Kuiper alleges in its complaint that SpaceX violated the FCC’s rules by failing to specify that it planned to file more than one configuration.

“The Commission’s rules require that SpaceX settle the details of its proposed amendment before filing its application, not after. The Commission should enforce its rules, dismiss SpaceX’s Amendment, and invite SpaceX to resubmit its amendment after settling on a single configuration for its Gen2 System,” Project Kuiper corporate counsel Mariah Dodson Shuman said in a letter to the FCC.

If the new generation of Starlink satellites is approved, SpaceX could launch as many as 30,000 of them. It already has 1,740 satellites in orbit, nearly enough to provide global coverage for Internet access. According to data from Speedtest, the constellation is already approaching “traditional” broadband speeds and response times.

Some critics say that launching that many Starlink satellites could clutter up the night sky, interfering with astronomers’ observations from ground-based telescopes and increasing the risk of collisions with other satellites. SpaceX says that the upgraded satellites will include an improved method for deorbiting the satellites when their useful lifespan is over.

Project Kuiper has not yet launched any satellites. The move could be seen as part of a bigger fight between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former Amazon CEO and current Blue Origin boss Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin is currently firing salvos in its fight with SpaceX over a contract for NASA’s Human Landing System, which will land NASA’s astronauts on the Moon.

Most recently, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit against NASA, claiming that it made errors in awarding the contract to SpaceX. The Government Accountability Office has already sided with NASA’s analysis that SpaceX is both more technically capable of producing the HLS and bringing it in at nearly half the cost of Blue Origin’s bid. NASA has put the contract with SpaceX to develop the HLS on hold until the lawsuit can be resolved.

This has led Elon Musk to take the usual potshots at Jeff Bezos on Twitter:

Project Kuiper’s FCC complaint isn’t a lawsuit (yet) but isn’t the first time that Starlink has faced regulatory challenges from competitors with the FCC acting as a referee. ViaSat has previously filed an environmental complaint with the FCC and then a court case challenging Starlink’s license to launch satellites, both of which apparently went nowhere. Elon Musk sniped that ViaSat’s leadership just hates competition, which might not be unfair considering that Speedtest data indicates that ViaSat’s constellation is nowhere close to capable of matching Starlink’s speed and latency.

Starlink recently delivered its 100,000th terminal and operates in twelve countries. It has a waitlist of more than 500,000 potential subscribers who made a deposit for Starlink access when it comes out of beta.

Tesla Releases Update for Vehicle, Powerwall Apps

Tesla has released updates for the mobile apps that provide greater control for its vehicles and Powerwall batteries that add new features and improve functionality.

The Tesla vehicle app has been upgraded to Version 4, which features a redesigned user interface. New features include a streamlined Summon function and ability to send commands to a vehicle immediately upon opening the app, improved phone key support, better access for Supercharger history, and ability to pay a bill for charging. Want some Tesla swag? Tesla added the ability to buy some directly in the app.

Notes on possible future developments for the Tesla vehicle app mention “iOS widget support” and “MacGyver questions in the app,” though details on these possible features are lacking. MacGyver may be a reference to a TV show protagonist who was known for improvising technical solutions for problems with whatever he had on hand.

Powerwall owners now have a new mobile app that makes it easy to go off-grid and use the charge in their Powerwall instead. The new app will enable users to monitor their energy usage, with the option to take a look at a breakdown of their energy usage from Tesla’s solar roofs, Powerwalls, and the energy grid.

This may prove popular for future residents of new developments like an upcoming luxury community in Florida that are opting to add Powerwall batteries and solar rooftops as part of a “quieter” and potentially more environmentally friendly alternative to generators when the power goes out. (And, yes, Elon Musk seems to anticipate that the owners of the new homes will consider Tesla vehicle ownership to be a status symbol. The new homes outfitted with Powerwalls will also have charging ports for Tesla vehicles, lol.) Residents of some states like Texas and California have faced frequent blackouts and brownouts and requests from officials responsible for maintaining the power grid to conserve power when possible.

Although Tesla has delivered record numbers of vehicles in recent quarters, it also seems to be focusing more on the solar energy side of its business, likely in an effort to justify the acquisition of SolarCity. Elon Musk has recently faced a lawsuit from investors who alleged that the acquisition amounted to a bailout of his cousins. SolarCity had been a major money sink at the time.

The updates to the apps could be seen as preparation for components of Elon Musk’s “master plan” for Tesla. Tesla is currently recruiting Powerwall owners in California and Australia for a “virtual power plant” project in which Powerwall owners can send energy to the grid during peak hours. It also recently sent an application to the Texas Public Utility Commission to become a retail provider of electricity that can make use of its Megapack batteries.

Tesla is also preparing to open up its proprietary Superchargers to electric vehicles made by other automakers. This move is likely to require the owners of other electric vehicles to obtain an adapter for their vehicles’ charging ports until and unless Tesla retrofits the Superchargers for this purpose.

Elon Musk Proposes Tesla Power Company in Texas

In the wake of the poor performance of Texas’ power grid last winter and over the summer, Elon Musk has proposed a Tesla subsidiary that can provide power to the state’s Public Utility Commission. According to the paperwork related to the application, the subsidiary will be known as Tesla Energy Ventures.

Despite the success of its industrial-sized Megapack batteries, Tesla has previously avoided going into the retail energy sector. The seeming change of heart could have been sparked by challenges faced by the electric grid in Texas this year. With Elon Musk’s move to Texas from California and his companies’ increasing presence in the state, Musk may be looking out for the reliability of utilities that are critical to both Tesla and SpaceX.

When Texas was hit by three massive winter storms in rapid succession in February, power was knocked out more than 4.5 million homes and businesses. Experts say that the problems were caused by state officials’ failure to prepare its power plants for exceptionally harsh winter weather. Texas runs on a different grid system than the rest of the United States and failed to properly ‘winterize’ the power plants. Texas lawmakers attempted to blame the problems on renewable energy sources, a claim that was quickly debunked by experts who say that the primary failure involved power plants that use natural gas.

Over the summer, Texas’ power grid failed again due to exceptionally high summer temperatures, which was accompanied by higher-than-normal use of power for air conditioning. Mechanical problems at power plants exacerbated the problem, which led to serious rolling blackouts. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas requested that Texans conserve power as much as possible until the problems could be fixed.

Five electricity retailers have already left Texas since the catastrophic failures and Tesla may aim to help fill the gap that they left with its solar power options. Elon Musk had previously proposed that an upgrade to the Texan power grid would help prevent future problems. The proposal would naturally include Tesla’s solar power products, including batteries capable of storing solar power for use at night.

Tesla Energy Ventures could start by spinning up two backup batteries that are capable of storing hundreds of megawatts of power for use by wholesale power companies if it is approved by the Public Utility Commission. Tesla has previously sold similar batteries to Apple for use in a solar farm being constructed in California and provided batteries for use in Australia (and, yes, one of the batteries in Australia did catch on fire recently, though local firefighters were able to put it out).

Tesla is already constructing one of its backup batteries near Houston. The battery will be capable of storing 100 megawatts of energy and is already registered with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. If the second battery is approved, it will be constructed near Austin and capable of storing 250 megawatts of power. The battery in the Austin area will be not far from the Gigafactory under construction, which will construct Tesla’s Cybertrucks when they are finally ready for prime time.

SpaceX Says Liquid Oxygen Shortage Could Impact Launch Schedule

According to SpaceX president Gwynn Shotwell, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing a liquid oxygen (LOX) shortage that makes it difficult to obtain this important component of rocket fuel for its Falcon 9 rockets. Liquid oxygen is used by hospitals to provide oxygen for patients who have illnesses like COVID-19 that severely impact their respiratory systems.

In SpaceX’s rocket engines, LOX is used as an oxidizer to ignite liquid kerosene, which is used as a propellant. At the Space Symposium event, Shotwell requested that anyone who has LOX to spare send her an email, although she did acknowledge that hospitals should get priority if they are feeling the pinch.

Hospitals are currently facing challenges having supplies of liquid oxygen delivered or creating liquid oxygen with their own equipment. The process of generating liquid oxygen involves extracting it from the atmosphere and chilling it to a frigid -300⁰ Fahrenheit. The equipment used to chill oxygen to that low temperature could form excessive amounts of ice, which can cause it to stop functioning.

“You can completely—literally, completely—shut down an entire hospital supply if that happens,” University of Cincinnati respiratory therapist Rich Branson told Advisory.com.

The liquid oxygen shortage is impacting more than hospitals and the aerospace industry. Some U.S. cities like Tampa and Orlando are requesting that residents conserve water or changing the way that they treat the city’s water supply to conserve liquid oxygen.

Cases of COVID-19 have surged in the United States recently, especially in states like Florida and Texas. Hospitals report being overwhelmed with cases to the point where they have been turning away some people with serious conditions. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is currently fighting against mask mandates in schools and has been criticized for promoting questionable treatments for COVID-19. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has blocked local governments from issuing vaccine mandates and businesses in the state from requiring that consumers show proof of vaccination before entering their premises. In a statement, Abbott urged the Texas state legislature to get involved, saying that his goal is to avoid an unpredictable “patchwork of vaccine mandates across Texas.”

The liquid oxygen shortage could delay some of SpaceX’s plans, such as launching and deploying the next generation of its Starlink satellites that will have a built-in capability for laser communications and thrusters that can deorbit them when they malfunction. SpaceX is already facing challenges in manufacturing the satellites and Starlink terminals due to the global semiconductor chip shortage, though it anticipates that it will eventually be able to slash the price of the terminals.

SpaceX may be forced to prioritize some launches due to the LOX shortage. It currently has contracts to launch cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, as well as launch components for the Lunar Gateway and the Jupiter-destined Europa Clipper. Work on the lunar lander for the Artemis Program is currently on hold due to a lawsuit brought by Blue Origin against NASA, alleging irregularities in the space agency’s awarding of the contract to SpaceX.

SpaceX Aims to Slash Cost of Starlink Terminals to Consumers

SpaceX currently sells its Starlink terminals to subscribers for $499 apiece. It takes a loss on each terminal sold, though it has managed to bring the cost of manufacturing them down from $3,000 to about $1,300. At the ongoing 36th Annual Space Symposium, SpaceX president Gwynn Shotwell says that it could cut the sale price of Starlink terminals to $250 by the end of the year, and then eventually to $125.

This price cut for the one-time fee for the equipment needed to access the satellite Internet service could cause the already impressive demand for Starlink to shoot up drastically. SpaceX already has a waitlist for access to Starlink that includes more than 500,000 potential subscribers in 12 countries who made a deposit for access. Apparently, it can only make the terminals so fast, and Shotwell cited the same shortage of semiconductor chips that is hitting the automotive industry so hard as one of the chief challenges in manufacturing them. Some areas like northern Virginia are already seeing wait times that could push back the delivery of residents’ terminals to 2023 if SpaceX doesn’t ramp up its production capacity.

SpaceX has also put a pause on launching new Starlink satellites in order to complete an upgrade to the satellites that it refers to as the Starlink Gen2 System in new regulatory filings. The upgrades include a new laser system that may also require an upgrade to the terminals. The company expects that it could resume launches of Starlink satellites in a few weeks, however.

The price reduction for terminals could be good news for residents of low-income regions who are eager to finally gain access reliable, affordable high-speed Internet. Elon Musk has said that SpaceX would be willing to consider a lower-cost monthly subscription plan for low-income customers even though it wouldn’t be based on the traditional speed tiers of other Internet service providers.

SpaceX has also worked with a few school districts, less advantaged communities, and even countries like Chile to provide early to Starlink for residents in low-income or isolated communities. This initiative has been praised for closing the “Digital Divide” and providing new online opportunities for these residents.

The main obstacles for delivery of Internet service to areas that have previously been left out by lack of investment in Internet infrastructure could be regulatory ones. While SpaceX says that it could have global coverage for Starlink by September, actual regulatory approval for providing Internet service would have to be done country by country. Russia has already said that it will fine residents who use Starlink rather than its state-owned satellite Internet service.

The upfront might have also seemed prohibitive to people living in some areas, but Shotwell expressed confidence that this could be addressed at the recent Space Symposium event: “We’ve made tremendous progress on the user terminal, but those are still expensive. But again, I think they’ll be about a quarter of the cost to us right now in maybe a year.”

Elon Musk Proposes Boring Traffic Tunnel to Boca Chica Launch Facility

In a meeting of local government officials, Elon Musk has proposed having the Boring Company drill a traffic tunnel that will make it easier for SpaceX employees to come to work at the Boca Chica, Texas, launch facility. He says that it will make it easier to leave some sections of the public beach open to visitors during critical launch operations.

The proposed tunnel would stretch from an area just south of Saint Padre Island, where several SpaceX employees live, and an area just north of the public beach. County officials say that the tunnel would have to go under a channel that is commonly used by boats passing through, which means that the Boring Company would have to drill pretty far down in order to construct the tunnel. The county is also considering adding a ferry to provide transportation between Saint Padre Island and Boca Chica Beach.

The county says that it wouldn’t be able to provide any funding for the proposed tunnel project. A 1.7-mile loop in Las Vegas, which opened in June and includes three stops, cost $47 million to construct. Those who tested the system when the Las Vegas tunnel first opened say that the ride can be pretty bumpy.

Competing project include Virgin Hyperloop, a part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, which built a 500-meter test track just outside Las Vegas. This project appears to be closer to Musk’s original vision for an underground transportation option and includes a pod that can carry passengers at speeds up to 172 kilometers per hour.

County officials have not yet made a decision on approving construction, although they admit that they haven’t discussed it much since the meeting with Elon Musk. However, officials say that they could see the benefit of such a project.

“From what we understand from SpaceX, there is a good portion of the beach that can remain open if there was access to it, even though the road is closed and even though a portion of the beach is closed,” County Administrator Pete Sepulveda Jr. said after the meeting.

That echoed concerns about “government relations” expressed by observers who say that managing the paperwork and bureaucracy could be more challenging than actually building things like Hyperloops and underground traffic tunnels. As NBC News’ Cyrus Farivar, a reporter who has covered the Boring Company’s projects put it:

“Many construction professionals will tell you that, you know, it’s not the speed of the tunnel boring that you need to worry about. It’s the environmental review. It’s the bureaucratic procedure. It’s the permits.”

Residents of Cameron County, which the launch facility is located in, have previously complained about alleged excessive closures of roads and beaches. SpaceX’s security guards were allegedly seen improperly turning vehicles away on nearby public roads. The company that any incidents may have been the result of an improperly trained security guard. SpaceX has since proposed that it could take over ownership of at least one road that runs past the Boca Chica facility.

Elon Musk Says Tesla Developer Team Working on Fix for FSD Beta 9.2

In a Tweet, Elon Musk admitted that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta 9.2 “isn’t that great” and said Tesla’s developers are working hard on a fix for issues with FSD’s current beta version. He hinted that part of the issue may be with components of FSD’s AI, which needs to be reworked to treat highways and city streets as a single stack.

Tesla urges users of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving driver assist programs to stay alert at all times, especially if they are using the beta to help Tesla test new features and train its AI. FSD and Autopilot have both made mistakes, including sparking an NHTSA investigation by failing to recognize emergency vehicles, which caused a few crashes. Tesla claims to have plugged that hole by making Tesla vehicles’ onboard camera systems capable of recognizing emergency vehicles with lights activated since the crashes occurred.

Tesla recently spun up another supercomputer that is designed for machine learning and AI programs like the ones used for its driver assist software and still plans to have the even more capable “Dojo” supercomputer up and running by the end of the year. These supercomputers will help train the AI to recognize hazards on the road.

At Tesla’s recent AI Day, Elon Musk also said that elements from the Tesla AI could also be used for its newly revealed robot, the Tesla Bot. He does say to not worry about a Tesla Bot possibly going haywire, though. He says that it will only be able to move at five miles per hour and can be easily overpowered if needed.

Overall, though, Tesla’s development of fully autonomous self-driving vehicles does not seem to be going as smoothly as Elon Musk may have liked. In 2016, Musk anticipated that Tesla could have it by 2018. Then he envisioned a fleet of self-driving “RoboTaxis” by 2020. Now Tesla is likely to miss Musk’s goal of having fully autonomous vehicles by the end of the year.

“Tesla is at Level 2 currently. … Tesla couldn’t say if the rate of improvement would make it to L5 by end of calendar year,” said an internal memo that the media was able to obtain from the California State DMV, referring to a five-level scale of driver assist programs that is based on levels of autonomy. Level 5 would require the capacity to manage most driving tasks and require user input only once every million miles at most. The DMV had communicated with Tesla engineers as part of an apparent investigation into whether Tesla and Musk overstate the capabilities of its driver assist programs.

Musk did mention that he tried FSD Beta 9.3 during a recent drive from Pasadena to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and it seemed to be “much improved,” even for a complicated driving situation like the area around a major airport.

Although Musk anticipates that FSD Beta 9.3 will be able to plug some of the holes in Beta 9.2, he says Version 10 will include significant changes to the software’s architecture. Some users did complain about having to buy new hardware in order to access the upgraded FSD.

SpaceX Pushes Starlink Access for Some Communities Back to 2023

Despite SpaceX’s claim that it could have global coverage for its Starlink satellite Internet access by September, it is officially pushing some communities’ access to Starlink back to 2023. It cites high demand for Starlink as the reason for its decision.

SpaceX is currently taking pre-orders for access to Starlink and delivery of the necessary equipment. More than 500,000 customers have already signed up and made a deposit. When new users sign up, they typically receive an expected delivery date, which until now has been sometime in 2021 or 2022.

However, one customer in northern Virginia says that the estimated delivery date displayed on SpaceX’s website is now sometime in 2023. The customer posted a screenshot of the expected delivery date on Reddit. According to the available screenshots, Starlink’s website claimed that the Internet service is currently full to capacity in the customer’s area – meaning that people in northern Virginia may have to wait a little longer for access to Starlink.

SpaceX’s limited ability to churn out Starlink terminals could account for a lot of the delivery slowdowns in some areas, especially when crimps in the supply chain become a factor. SpaceX President Gwynn Shotwell says that the global semiconductor chip shortage is making it difficult to manufacture the required equipment fast enough. “We need the electronic piece part situation to settle down so that we can actually build the user terminals for the folks that want the service,” she said.

The semiconductor chip shortage has also hit automakers like Tesla hard, especially considering efforts to ramp up production of electric vehicles to meet some countries’ and U.S. States’ requirement to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030. Tesla had floated the possibility of acquiring a semiconductor chip manufacturer in an attempt to secure a reliable supply.

The 2023 delivery date for some parts of Virginia is still just an estimate and there is a chance that the equipment could arrive sooner if SpaceX can make manufacturing more efficient. SpaceX currently takes a loss on the equipment that includes a terminal and the equipment needed to mount it, which it manufactures for about $1,000 and sells for $499 (plus $50 for shipping). SpaceX personnel have discussed bringing the manufacturing cost down.

SpaceX has also shown a willingness to work out deals for providing early access to the Starlink satellite Internet service to communities that need it the most. It is working with a Texas school district to provide free Internet access to low-income students and Native American communities like the Cherokee Nation and Hoh Tribe to improve Internet access for their members.

Starlink currently has more than 90,000 users in 12 countries as part of its “Better than Nothing Beta.” According to Speedtest results, it is beginning to approach speeds that are comparable to traditional broadband. Testers have also said that Starlink terminals perform well in harsh winter conditions, though they could use some improvement for performing in the insanely hot Arizona summers.

SpaceX Reveals Next Generation Starlink Satellite

New regulatory filings from SpaceX indicate a new Starlink Gen2 System that makes upgrades to its Starlink satellites. The new Starlink satellites are reportedly heavier and capable of generating more power than the original satellites.

In the paperwork for the new filing with the FCC, Starlink cited the potential demand for satellite-based broadband Internet as one major reason for the upgrade:

“While the original constellation provides unprecedented capacity for a satellite system, the demand for more broadband continues to grow unabated and the need for user connectivity has never been more important.”

The upgraded satellites are meant to supplement the capabilities that Starlink already has. According to data from tests using Speedtest, a popular tool for testing Internet speeds, Starlink is already getting close to broadband speeds, especially when compared to competitors like ViaSat. SpaceX already has more than 1,700 Starlink satellites in orbit.

SpaceX says that the preferred configuration for the Starlink Gen2 System satellites would have 29,988 satellites in orbit at staggered altitudes ranging from 340 to 614 kilometers. Alternatively, it could have a round 30,000 satellites at altitudes ranging from 328 to 614 kilometers. This comparatively low altitude for Internet satellites would allow for lower latency and an overall improved global coverage.

It now plans to launch some satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit to allow for better coverage of polar regions like Alaska and the far north of Canada.

SpaceX says that the risk of of collisions between its satellites and other objects in space is mitigated with an advanced propulsion system that can operate independently of the rest of the satellite. The existing Starlink satellites in orbit can already maneuver to avoid collisions and the propulsion system can deorbit malfunctioning satellites so that it burns up in the atmosphere.

SpaceX did briefly get into it with OneWeb after OneWeb’s false claim that a Starlink satellite nearly collided with a satellite that was being launched. According to SpaceX, the two satellites did not pass one another as closely as OneWeb claimed.

“Although the design of these protective features is still being finalized, SpaceX has improved redundancy in the power and propulsion systems,” SpaceX says of the Gen2 System’s ability to avoid any possible future collisions.

According to the regulatory filing, SpaceX plans to launch future Gen2 System satellites on Starship. Although Starship is still under development, it will be capable of sending more satellites into orbit in a single launch. Using Starship will also allow the satellites to maneuver to their destination orbits within weeks rather than the months that it currently takes. SpaceX currently launches Starlink satellites on the Falcon 9 rocket and recently resumed these launches after a two-month hiatus.

SpaceX president Gwynn Shotwell recently said that Starlink should be capable of global coverage by September. By tapping a market that could be worth as much as $1 trillion, SpaceX could attain Elon Musk’s ultimate goal of sending people to Mars. Musk has said that he might spin Starlink off with an IPO at some point in the future once it becomes more predictable with generating revenue. Its “Better than Nothing Beta” currently has 90,000 users in 12 countries, with a waiting list of more than 500,000 people who made a deposit for Starlink access when it comes out of beta.

Elon Musk Unveils Tesla Bot at AI Day

Elon Musk unveiled a new “Tesla Bot” that will be capable of carrying out tedious, boring or dangerous work at the recent AI Day event. According to a 3D rendering and statistics, the robot would be five feet eight inches tall, weigh 125 pounds, and be capable of deadlifting up to 150 pounds or carrying up to 45 pounds.

Musk envisioned them working on Tesla’s factories or even carrying out difficult and dangerous tasks on Mars. The company made the Tesla Bot roughly human-shaped and bipedal so that it can “navigate through a world built for humans,” according to Musk. The human shape will also help with tasks like carrying a bag or working with tools made for humans.

He acknowledged the increasing discussion about the likelihood that robots will take many jobs that require physical labor: “In the future, physical work will be a choice. If you want to do it, you can. But you won’t need to do it.”

Musk also touched on the possibility that there would someday be household robots that can help with tasks like carrying bags of groceries. He suggested that Tesla could take the lead in this by creating “useful AI that people love.”

Musk has occasionally expressed concern about the possibility for unethical use for AI. He has funded research into AI in a bid to stay on top of the problem by getting it into the hands of people who can use it ethically. Tesla is also working on improving the AI used by the driver assist programs Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, partly by spinning up increasingly powerful supercomputers like the upcoming Dojo, which will be designed for machine learning.

The NHTSA has investigated claims about safety issues involving the Autopilot and is currently looking into a few crashes involving both emergency vehicles and Tesla vehicles with the Autopilot engaged. Tesla says that misuse of its driver assist programs could have been a factor in some incidents, which is backed up by instances in which drivers abused the system, including one Tesla owner in California who was seen riding in the back seat of a driverless vehicle.

He emphasized that the Tesla Bot would be friendly and make use of some of the same AI technology that is used for Tesla’s driver assist programs. In a reply to a tweet, Musk suggested that the bots could be mass produced for labor on Mars. His ultimate goal with SpaceX and its development work on the Spaceship spacecraft is to create a sizable and growing settlement on the red planet.

Musk said that the Tesla Bot could be ready for production as early as next year and start by carrying out some basic tasks that workers tend to dislike. However, don’t expect it to turn into a speedy or especially agile robot like the ones seen in the movie version of Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot.”

“You could run away from it or possibly overpower it” if something goes wrong, Musk joked.

Elon Musk Advisor Joins Rebooted Dogecoin Foundation

Elon Musk’s personal advisor, Jared Birchall, is joining the board of advisors of the rebooted Dogecoin Foundation, which will work on the development of Dogecoin. Birchall is in charge of Musk’s family office.

The original Dogecoin Foundation was founded in 2014. However, the Foundation’s activity tapered off over time. This may have led to concern that Dogecoin would become yet another abandoned cryptocurrency, which caused its fall from its previous position as the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

The rebooted version of the Dogecoin Foundation is currently seeking funding for three years’ worth of activity and the board plans to meet monthly. According to its founding announcement, the Foundation plans to support development for the Dogecoin ecosystem, including APIs for financial, social, and charitable projects and protect Dogecoin trademarks like the Shiba Inu-inspired logo and mark against attacks by parties that have previously sought to co-opt them for selfish and less-than-honest purposes. The Foundation gives credit to an individual named Jens Wiechers, who fended off early attempts to seize Dogecoin’s intellectual property. The Dogecoin Foundation does say that it will allow for the use of its intellectual property for Dogecoin-related projects, however.

The Dogecoin Foundation’s website includes Dogecoin’s motto of “Do Only Good Everyday” (D.O.G.E.). In the past, Dogecoin has sponsored racecars and Olympic athletes and raised over $30,000 for charity:water, which brings clean water to disadvantaged populations. Other advisors include Dogecoin creator Billy Markus, who the website lists as the community and memes advisor. Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin is also joining the board of advisors.

With the recent surge of attention, which includes significant promotion by Elon Musk himself, Dogecoin currently sits at 7th place by market cap on CoinMarketCap’s list of cryptocurrencies. According to posts on the official subreddit, Dogecoin holders have used their recent profits to adopt pets and pay their vet bills, cover basic expenses after losing their jobs, and made desired purchases like (most recently) a new motorcycle.

These posts are, of course, in between the endless posting of memes. Created in 2013, Dogecoin was originally meant to be a humorous meme-inspired cryptocurrency. Dogecoin often poked fun at the seriousness of other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Elon Musk has become nearly as well-known for his support of cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin as he is for companies like PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla. He plugged Dogecoin during his guest-hosting gig for SNL and briefly used the handle of “CEO of Dogecoin” on his Twitter account as a joke.

Tesla briefly accepted Bitcoin for vehicle purchases before Musk reversed course, citing energy usage concerns. This has led some to suggest more environmentally friendly and efficient cryptocurrencies, as well as push for actually accepting Dogecoin. Musk has said that Tesla might reinstate Bitcoin payments if more major cryptocurrency mining firms move to “greener” energy sources.

This year’s regulatory filings have revealed that both Tesla and SpaceX hold cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets. SpaceX accepted Dogecoin for the “DOGE-1” mission, which will place a small experimental satellite in lunar orbit. The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase recently revealed that both Tesla and SpaceX are customers.

Senators Call for FTC Probe of Tesla Autopilot

In response to an NHTSA probe of a few crashes involving Tesla vehicles and emergency vehicles, some U.S. Senators have asked the FTC to probe Tesla’s claims about Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD). They want the FTC to probe whether the naming of Tesla’s driver assist programs amount to deceptive marketing practices.

The move was sparked by incidents in which Autopilot failed to recognize the presence of an emergency vehicle, which may have contributed to crashes. The NHTSA says that there have been 11 reported crashes involving a Tesla vehicle with Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control activated and an emergency vehicle since 2018.

Recent updates to Tesla Vision include the ability to recognize an emergency vehicle with its lights activated. One Tesla owner says that his vehicle was able to recognize that other vehicles are stopped with brake lights on since the software was updated. However, these recent updates likely won’t be enough to convince regulators and lawmakers.

“We fear that Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD features are not as mature and reliable as the company pitches to the public. Tesla drivers listen to these claims and believe their vehicles are equipped to drive themselves — with potentially deadly consequence,” Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ed Markey (D-MA) said in a letter to FTC chair Lina Khan.

The full text of the letter was published on Richard Blumenthal’s subdomain of the Senate.gov website.

Private consumer watchdogs like Consumer Reports have criticized Tesla’s driver assist programs, though Consumer Reports did restore the “Top Pick” rating for the Model 3 after careful safety testing. Consumer Reports previously expressed concern about Tesla’s decision to drop radar in favor of a purely visual camera system for its less expensive vehicle models. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean a complete free pass for Tesla’s Autopilot. In a report published in May, Consumer Reports warned that consumers “should be wary” of claims made by Tesla about the capabilities of its driver assist programs.

Tesla’s website publishes the disclaimer that Autopilot and FSD are not yet ready for fully autonomous driving and drivers should remain alert. The Autopilot has recently demonstrated the ability to act if the driver isn’t alert by pulling over to the side of the road when a driver lost consciousness. Shortly after the incident, Elon Musk admitted that he had Tesla prioritize work on Autopilot after a Tesla vehicle, which obviously didn’t have Autopilot, hit a cyclist after its driver fell asleep at the wheel.

According to the NHTSA’s own data, driver error is a critical factor more than 90% of vehicle crashes. If Tesla or a similar company can develop fully autonomous vehicles and they become normalized, it could take driver error out of the picture.

If one goes by the data, it would be easy to think that regulators and lawmakers are simply picking on Tesla, especially after President Biden’s failure to invite Tesla to a summit on the future of electric vehicles. On the flip side, some software developers working for Tesla have admitted in communications with California’s DMV that statements from Tesla and especially CEO Elon Musk overstated the software’s capabilities. Tesla seems to be nowhere close to giving up on its AI-backed driver assist programs, however, and continues its work to increase their ability to handle most situations on the road.

Blue Origin Team Leader Joins SpaceX

As the fight over the contract for NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) continues, Blue Origin’s team leader for its proposed lunar lander has left the company for a position at SpaceX. The employee in question, Nitin Arora, announced the move in a LinkedIn post.

“It was one hell of a ride working on the lunar program. Really honored that I got a chance to work with and lead incredibly smart, passionate people over last three years,” he said.

The latest round in a fight for the HLS contract involves a lawsuit against NASA brought by Blue Origin, who claims that the space agency made significant errors when evaluating the proposals made by each of the companies who were in the running. Blue Origin has offered to reduce its bid by $2 billion to make it more competitive against SpaceX’s bid of about $2.9 billion. This offer was rejected on the grounds that Blue Origin was unlikely to create its lunar lander for the lower cost without significant changes to the lunar lander that could make it less functional.

Blue Origin and fellow competitor Dynetics had both attempted to challenge NASA’s award of the contract solely to SpaceX with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO sided with NASA’s analysis that Blue Origin and Dynetics both failed to show that it could have done the job more effectively than SpaceX. SpaceX’s bid also came in at about half the cost of Blue Origin’s.

An especially baffling claim by Blue Origin is that NASA failed to clearly state that supporting the health and safety of a crew using the HLS was a requirement for a successful proposal. The HLS will be required to land two astronauts on the Moon and return them to the Orion capsule that NASA plans to use for the Artemis Project. Despite occasional fatal losses of spacecraft like the Challenger and Columbia disasters, NASA has traditionally made the safety of crews a priority.

Although Arora didn’t give a specific reason for his departure from Blue Origin, some indications that the engineers working for Blue Origin are unhappy with the company executives’ decision to make such a protracted fight out of the HLS award have slipped through the tracks. At least one engineer expressed displeasure with the infographics released by Blue Origin’s public relations department that painted SpaceX’s Starship-derived lunar lander in an unflattering light.

“I personally believe that the vast majority of the company’s employees do NOT agree with the infographics and other PR stunts that the company’s leadership has been pushing. … In fact, most of us are rather disgusted and embarrassed to be represented in this manner,” an anonymous Blue Origin employee said in a Reddit post. He went on to say that Blue Origin’s engineers “do believe in Team Space” and will support anyone who is making progress on the space front, including competitors like SpaceX.

Some commenters did speculate that this would lead to SpaceX poaching some Blue Origin employees that were involved in developing its lunar lander proposal, possibly based on Arora’s recommendations.

“Usually when team leads move positions they are asked if they have any rock stars who they should also try and poach,” said one Redditor known as captaintrips420.

Neither Blue Origin nor SpaceX have published a statement on Nitin Arora’s decision to move over to SpaceX.

Blue Origin Files Lawsuit in Feud Over SpaceX Lunar Lander Contract

In the latest round of the fight over NASA’s award of the lunar lander contract to SpaceX, Blue Origin has filed a federal lawsuit against NASA. Blue Origin continues to claim that NASA made errors that gave SpaceX an unfair advantage.

“This bid protest challenges NASA’s unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals,” Blue Origin said in paperwork related to the lawsuit.

NASA had originally intended to choose two out of the three finalists’ proposals for the Human Landing System (HLS) but chose only SpaceX’s Starship-derived proposal. The space agency claimed budget shortfalls forced it to make a tough choice. SpaceX’s bid came in at about $2.9 billion, a couple of billion dollars less than Blue Origin’s bid.

Dynetics was the third aerospace company in the running to design and ultimately build the HLS. Both Dynetics and Blue Origin had filed complaints with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), but the GAO sided with NASA’s claim that SpaceX did an all-around better job of meeting its selection criteria.

This hasn’t stopped members of Congress from weighing in on the ongoing drama surrounding the HLS. The Senate approved an amendment to the U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act that could increase NASA’s funding by $10 billion to allow it to move forward with two proposals as originally planned. The amendment was introduced by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-MI), who represents the state that Blue Origin has its headquarters in.

Blue Origin has also launched a public relations offensive against NASA and SpaceX in the form of critical infographics. The infographics called Starship an “immensely complex & high risk” approach that has never actually flown.

“There are an unprecedented number of technologies, developments, and operations that have never been done before for Starship to land on the Moon,” Blue Origin said.

There is evidence that SpaceX plans to conduct its planned orbital test of Starship as soon as possible, possibly within the next few weeks. Elon Musk has made comments implying that the main holdups are regulatory ones. A successful orbital test that concludes with the test rocket being brought back to land intact would be the best possible answer to Blue Origin’s criticisms.

SpaceX also has a contract with NASA to conduct an orbital refueling test of its Starship rocket. The ability to refuel in orbit is often regarded as an important component of sustainable space operations. The most efficient methods for refueling – including when, where, and how – has often debated in venues like the annual Mars Society conference.

Past designs for the Lunar Gateway included the addition of the capacity to refuel spacecraft in route to other destinations in the Solar System such as Mars. Some supporters of crewed Mars missions say that it would be more efficient to refuel return vehicles using local resources harvested on Mars.

All this wrangling between aerospace companies could cause yet another delay in NASA’s Artemis Program, which is already struggling with cost overruns and slow progress. The uncrewed first test flight for the SLS had originally been scheduled for 2016 but has been delayed multiple times and is unlikely to happen before the end of 2021. Elon Musk recently said that SpaceX could handle making the spacesuits for use on the lunar surface after NASA’s Inspector General said that the delivery of the spacesuits being manufactured for the Artemis Program could be delayed until 2025 at the earliest.

Based on these delays, Elon Musk recently said that SpaceX could get people on the Moon before 2024 even if NASA doesn’t pick up the tab. It already has a contract to send eight people around the Moon in 2023 with the dearMoon mission. Even if SpaceX doesn’t meet Musk’s typically ambitious schedule, it may get to the Moon before NASA does.

And Musk’s response to Blue Origin’s refusal to give up on the HLS? “The sad thing is that even if Santa Claus suddenly made their hardware real for free, the first thing you’d want to do is cancel it.”

United States Regulator Probes Issues With Tesla Autopilot

The United States’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking into issues with the Tesla Autopilot that may have led to a series of crashes with emergency vehicles. The investigation covers 765,000 vehicles that were sold in the United States since 2014.

The reported crashes injured 17 people and killed one. The NHTSA says that there were 11 crashes involving both emergency vehicles and Tesla vehicles that had Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control activated since 2018. It says that the emergency vehicles were making use of warnings that included flashing lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board or cones warning of hazards.

A recent update to Tesla vehicles’ onboard software makes Tesla Vision more capable of recognizing emergency lights, hazard lights, and (according to one owner of a vehicle equipped with Autopilot who noticed the change) brake lights.

Musk recently said that Tesla prioritized work on the first version of Autopilot after a wreck that killed a cyclist in which the driver admitted to falling asleep at the wheel. The Autopilot has since demonstrated the ability to handle the situation when a driver falls asleep or loses consciousness by pulling over to the side of the road. (It probably didn’t hurt that Tesla recently activated an interior camera to track a driver’s alertness.)

There have still been occasional safety issues involving the Autopilot. Tesla recently had to recall nearly all of the vehicles with Autopilot that had been sold in China to fix an issue with drivers accidentally activating the cruise control.

Some Tesla watchers have accused the media of blaming the Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software for every accident involving a Tesla vehicle for the sake of views, however. Tesla maintains that these programs are meant to be driver assistance programs rather than fully replace a driver (though it is definitely working toward full autonomy). The Autopilot had initially been blamed for fatal wrecks like a recent one in Texas in which Tesla’s logs of Autopilot use later revealed that the software had not been engaged at the time.

Despite the challenges involved in both developing and promoting fully autonomous vehicles, Tesla maintains that Autopilot and Full Self-Driving will save lives once they become both fully functional and normalized for use on the road. According to a report issued by the NHTSA, driver error is a major factor in over 90% of vehicle wrecks while on the road. Once the software for fully autonomous vehicles is fully developed and widely used, it could drastically cut down on vehicle wrecks and fatalities.

The Biden Administration still seems intent on being tougher on companies like Tesla that are developing driver assist programs, however. Some observers have suggested that Biden plans to use the NHTSA to be tougher on Tesla, especially after the company didn’t receive an invitation from his administration for a recent meeting with automakers who manufacture electric vehicles or have plans to.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which serves as a “watchdog” for transportation regulations, partially blamed lax regulatory enforcement for some crashes in which the Autopilot was activated. Although the NHTSA may have let some things slide in the past, this hasn’t always stopped Tesla CEO Elon Musk from occasionally grumbling about regulators slowing things down in regards to development of his companies’ products. The investigation may lead to more recalls, but it could also lead to the NHTSA concluding that the issue has been fixed with recent updates to the Autopilot that makes them better able to recognize emergency vehicles.

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Could Send People to Moon Before 2024

NASA aims to return humans to the Moon with the Artemis Program and had hoped to do it by 2024. Now that timeline could slip due to challenges and delays in producing important hardware like the Space Launch System (SLS) and the spacesuit that is meant for use on the Moon. Now Elon Musk says that SpaceX could send people to the Moon before 2024.

Musk had previously said that Spacex could produce the spacesuit more easily and cheaply by doing it completely in-house rather than splitting it up between subcontractors. Its comments were made in response to a report by NASA’s Inspector General saying that the spacesuit being made for the Artemis Program was likely to run into delays and cost overruns from private contractors having too many fingers in the pie.

SpaceX has been given the go-ahead to continue developing its Starship-derived human landing system (HLS) for Artemis now that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) rejected appeals by Blue Origin and Dynetics, both of which had competing proposals. NASA has already given SpaceX a $300 million initial payout for work on HLS.

The ruling seems to imply that the GAO was less than impressed with Blue Origin’s ability to meet NASA’s standards with its proposal. This includes a rejection of Blue Origin’s complaint that NASA left out requirements that should have been obvious to anyone with experience in crewed spaceflight, such as the ability for a crewed spacecraft to operate in the dark and include robust support for the health and safety of the crew.

NASA is currently considering sending future Artemis crews to an area in the lunar south pole that does not get much sunlight because the area is cold enough to support the presence of frozen water. A lunar day is equivalent to about 28 Earth days, which means a 14-day “nighttime” on the Moon. Any future prolonged lunar mission that includes crewed operations would have to function in dark, frigid conditions that could be hard on electronics and deadly to unprotected crews.

SpaceX’s proposal has shown that it can meet these requirements and also come in a couple of billion dollars cheaper than Blue Origin’s proposal. Although Blue Origin has offered to reduce the cost, the GAO backed up NASA’s claim that it was “implausible” that Blue Origin could drop the cost enough to be competitive with SpaceX without significantly changing its design.

SpaceX already plans to send people to the Moon with the dearMoon mission, a purely private mission that will carry eight people around the Moon as early as 2023. The mission’s backer, Yusaku Maezawa, initially floated the idea of including artists who could capture the experience in a variety of media. In an announcement in mid-July, dearMoon hinted that it is getting close to its final passenger selection. (Yes, Maezawa is the guy who floated the idea of a space-themed, “Bachelor”-like reality show, but he backed off after backlash.)

Could SpaceX actually land people on the Moon before NASA? Elon Musk has become known for repeatedly setting unreasonably ambitious timelines that later slipped. However, it would be difficult to rule out the possibility that he could land people on both the Moon and Mars before NASA does, considering that he already has the “head start” of becoming the first company to fly astronauts to the International Space Station in a 100% privately owned spacecraft.

SpaceX also has commitments from other private parties for crewed space missions, including Inspiration4, which is scheduled to launch next month and will be covered in near real-time in a five-part Netflix documentary. Axiom Space recently expanded its contract with SpaceX to send private crews to the International Space Station.

Tesla Aims to Begin Manufacturing at Gigafactory Berlin in October

Tesla has set the new goal of opening Gigafactory Berlin as early as October. It had hoped to begin manufacturing at the factory just outside Berlin over the summer, but construction was delayed by a series of regulatory issues, lawsuits from environmentalists, and poor management that led to the company replacing the factory’s manager.

Permits from regulators were one of the big holdups for the Gigafactory. As recently as April, Tesla complained about regulatory red tape holding up construction. It seemed to be constantly being bogged down by the paperwork, though that may not have been entirely the regulators’ fault, considering that Tesla filed changes that included additional details about planned manufacturing-related activities in June.

German environmentalist groups have also caused hassles for Tesla. Environmentalists have filed a lawsuit claiming that Tesla wasn’t doing enough to mitigate the environmental impact of construction and become suspects in an arson case that damaged power lines leading to the Gigafactory. Most recently, a court rejected a bid by environmentalists to suspend provisional permits issued by the Bradenburg state government. An attorney for the group said that they were only seeking clarification for the permits.

Tesla recently invited a candidate for the German prime minister, Armin Laschet, to meet with CEO Elon Musk and tour Gigafactory Berlin. Laschet is the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union and has recently suggested changes in German law to make it more difficult for people to file legal challenges against companies like Tesla if they are not directly impacted by the companies’ operations. Laschet and Musk may hope that this will cut down on the delays in completing the Gigafactory, which will provide thousands of jobs in the state of Bradenburg once it is open for manufacturing. The national election for prime minister is scheduled to occur on September 26.

Once Gigafactory Berlin is complete, it will reduce Tesla’s reliance on importing cars from China for sale in the European government. The majority of vehicles manufactured at Gigafactory Shanghai are exported to Europe amid reports of weak sales in China due to poor publicity caused by extensive vehicle recalls to fix issues with the suspension units and Autopilot. Tesla has also had to respond to the Chinese government’s concerns that the vehicles’ onboard cameras could be used for espionage, including building a datacenter to store data collected by the cameras in China.

During Laschet’s visit to Gigafactory Berlin last Friday, Elon Musk expressed eagerness to actually open the factory: “We’re looking forward to hopefully getting the approval to make the first cars, maybe in October if we’re fortunate.”

Europe is expected to be a strong market for electric vehicles like Tesla’s. Both Germany and England have hopped aboard the growing movement to phase out sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030. Companies like Fastned and cities like Oxford are ramping up investment in charging stations for electric vehicles, many of which will include Tesla Superchargers soon if they don’t already. Experts say that it will take millions of chargers in England alone just to keep up with the expected demand. So it will be good for both Europe and Tesla if it can get Gigafactory Berlin open soon.

Tesla to Propose Changes to Board of Directors at Next Shareholder Meeting

According to a recent regulatory paperwork filing, Tesla will hold its next shareholder meeting at the Gigafactory in Fremont, California, on October 7. During the meeting, it will propose changes to the board of directors that will include a reduction of term length from three years to two years. It will also propose reducing the number of board members from nine people to eight.

Tesla’s board of directors are currently divided into three groups, each of which are up for election on a staggered schedule of every three years. This is similar in structure to the U.S. Senate, in which members serve six-year terms and 1/3 of its members are up for reelection every two years.

Board member Antonio Gracias has announced that he will not seek re-election when his term is up this year. Gracias is a venture capitalist who has been on Tesla’s board of directors since 2007. If the proposed changes to the board of directors are approved by shareholders, his seat would simply be eliminated rather than filled.

The company’s proposal to reduce the terms was a response to a similar proposal that will reduce board members’ terms to one year if it passes. Tesla says that its counterproposal “strikes a suitable balance to the long-term interests of and nearer-term accountability to our stockholders at this time.”

Elon Musk did have to give up his position as president of the board of directors as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators due to a Tweet in which Musk floated the idea of taking Tesla private. This would have eliminated the need to have a board of directors or even any accountability to shareholders at all. The FCC, however, said that the Tweet violated securities-related regulation because it could have been seen as manipulating the market.

Musk has since said that it would be impossible to take Tesla private due to the respectable increase in the value of Tesla shares (NASDAQ:TSLA) over the past couple of years. Although the gains have slowed in 2021 after a 2020 blitz in which Tesla started posting profitable quarters and delivered a company record-setting 499,550 vehicles, the gains were enough to qualify TSLA for inclusion in the S&P 500 index.

The FCC has not banned Musk’s family members from being members of the board, however. Fellow board members whose terms are up this year are James Murdoch, a son of News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch, and CEO Elon Musk’s brother, Kimball Musk. The board has nominated them for reelection. If the changes to the term lengths are approved, their next terms will end in 2023.

SpaceX to Launch Third Lunar Probe for Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines’ Steven G. Labbe Discusses Work on the Nova-C Lander

Intuitive Machines recently signed deals with SpaceX to launch two of its automated Nova-C lunar landers on Falcon 9 rockets. Now it has signed a deal with SpaceX to launch a third one as early as 2024.

Two of the Nova-C landers are slated to launch in 2022. The one officially labeled IM-1 will launch in Q1 2022. IM-2 will launch in Q4 2022. One of the landers had initially been slated to launch in late 2021, but SpaceX couldn’t fit it into its already-packed launch schedule this year.

The Nova-C landers are capable of delivering payloads of up to 130 kilograms to the lunar surface. The payload for the Nova-C launches will also include a rideshare dispenser ring that can deliver a total of 1,000 kilograms’ worth of payload into lunar orbit, with the possibility of retrieving the orbiting payloads at a later date. According to Intuitive Machines, payloads attached to the dispenser ring can also be delivered to other locations throughout the solar system.

“We’re offering our customers more than lunar surface payload delivery and extreme surface mobility. Our turnkey solution for delivering, communicating, and commanding customer payloads on and around the moon is revolutionary. Now, we’re proving we can do it at an annual cadence,” says Intuitive Machines president and chief executive Steve Altemus.

The first Nova-C landers are being launched as part of Intuitive Machines’ contract with NASA for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. This program is designed to support the Artemis Program, which will return American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo Program, by delivering supplies and advance scouting capability in the form of landers and rovers.

NASA is especially interested in searching for the presence of frozen water in areas like the lunar south pole that get very little direct sunlight. Resources like water could be extracted locally to support long-duration lunar missions.

An explanation of why the lunar south pole is such an attractive candidate for a future crewed landing site.

CLPS is shaping up to be a lucrative program for SpaceX as both a contractor and a launch provider for other aerospace companies with contracts from NASA. SpaceX also has a contract to launch the VIPER rover for NASA’s exploration of the South Pole as a likely crewed landing site. It will also launch the first components of the Lunar Gateway on a Falcon Heavy.

SpaceX did move one step closer to finally being cleared to continue development on the Starship-derived, crew-rated lunar lander for the Artemis Program after the Government Accountability Office rejected challenges from competitors Blue Origin and Dynetics. The award for the lunar lander would have been a lucrative one for any aerospace company that was in the running, but SpaceX’s bid came in at the lowest cost at $2.89 billion dollars and it demonstrated the best capability for actually landing crews on the Moon. SpaceX also has the most experience at flying actual crews in a privately owned spacecraft with three crewed flights to the International Space Station as part of its Commercial Crew contract.

For now, though, SpaceX is playing a large role in preparations for the Artemis Program with contracts for launch services of lunar landers like Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C landers.

Coinbase Claims Tesla, SpaceX as Customers

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has claimed that Tesla and SpaceX are both customers. It says that both companies have used the platform to buy large amounts of Bitcoin.

Elon Musk has been critical of government-backed, or “fiat,” currencies, saying that their inflationary nature makes them a poor store of value. Governments can always print more money whenever they want. Tesla’s balance sheets showed $1.5 billion in Bitcoin holdings earlier this year and Musk says that the company might acquire more to hedge against negative interest rates in places like Europe.

By contrast, Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto baked an upper limit of 21 million bitcoins into the code and claimed that lost bitcoins were “a donation to everyone” who holds bitcoin because they can’t be replaced without access to the digital wallet’s private key.

Elon Musk has also occasionally been critical of Bitcoin, saying that it’s just one step above fiat currencies and it isn’t very environmentally friendly. He did say that Tesla might reinstate the option to purchase an electric vehicle with Bitcoin if its image problem as an electricity-guzzler can be addressed. In response, major North American Bitcoin mining firms formed the Bitcoin Mining Council with the goal of greater transparency in the energy sources used for their operations.

“Q2 was a really strong quarter for us. … We had amazing growth in terms of users added to the platform, assets on the platform, revenue, just about everything,” said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong during a Q2 2021 earnings call. He added that Coinbase could become “the Amazon of assets.”

(Yes, “Jeff who?”)

Coinbase saw Q2 2021 revenue of $2.23 billion, significantly up from $178 million in the same quarter of 2020. Verified users have risen to 68 million.

Coinbase’s recent cryptocurrency additions include Dogecoin, which besides being Elon Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, saw 6,000% gains this year. Institutional investors have flocked to Bitcoin as a form of “digital gold,” though some OG Bitcoin insiders have hopped to other cryptocurrencies that they say are better designed to be “digital cash” that is easy to spend.

Considering Elon Musk’s involvement, how likely is it that cryptocurrency could go to the literal Moon or Mars? Despite the “DOGE-1” mission being funded with Dogecoin and a handful of past proposals to launch Bitcoin nodes as satellites, there may not be any concrete plans yet. However, that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. Elon Musk has dished on his plans to build a large and growing settlement on Mars at events like last year’s Mars Society conference and it would logically follow that an enormous Martian settlement will need a medium of exchange at some point.

Plus, there’s Marscoin, which debuted at the Mars Society conference six years ago:

And, beating the odds for a cryptocurrency, Marscoin is still active and just recently held its first online expo:

Even so, digital currencies like Kenya’s M-Pesa have caught on with people who don’t have easy access to financial services. The associated cryptographically secured ledger, commonly called blockchain, has also been suggested as a way to manage a futuristic space economy in books like Blockchain Space and Blockchain & The Space Economy.

Is putting Tesla’s and SpaceX’s reserves into cryptocurrency a good move, though? Tesla’s investors don’t seem too terribly razzed by it – at least, they aren’t as upset about it as they are about the acquisition of SolarCity yet. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets, as evidenced by Dogecoin’s meteoric rise this year and Bitcoin’s frequent bouncing around like a jumping bean. However, historically, Bitcoin has performed way better than many assets. As of August 12, 2021, one Bitcoin is worth US$44,688.08, as opposed to far less than one cent when it was first introduces in January 2009.

Tesla Makes Bioweapon Defense Mode Standard in Model Y

In a move that is likely to get the attention of those who worry about an epidemic worse than COVID-19, Tesla has made the Bioweapon Defense Mode standard in the Model Y.

The system includes a HEPA air filter capable of eliminating most airborne pollutants from outside air coming into the vehicle. This air filter is more capable than a standard vehicle air filter and more on par with the air filters that hospitals use to keep the worst allergens and pollutants out of their facilities. It may be somewhat debatable whether the filter can block viruses that may or may not be bioweapons, but test data indicates that it can definitely help people who suffer from seasonal allergies or want to be able to ride through places with poor air quality with fewer worries about it affecting their respiratory systems.

So the Bioweapon Defense Mode may be useful for blocking pollutants and allergens, but Tesla has simply chosen a name for it that is as grandiose as Full Self-Driving (FSD) without the added benefit of being something that can truly counter bioweapons. FSD is capable of doing things like pulling over to the side of the road and turning on hazard lights if a driver loses consciousness, as it recently did for a drunk driver in Norway. However, as Tesla will often warn owners of its electric vehicles, FSD is not yet ready for fully autonomous driving and users should stay alert if possible.

Even so, the Model Y may become a top pick for people who live in areas with heavy pollution. Even before COVID-19, it was normal for people in some cities around the world to mask up due to heavy smog and allergen levels. Even in places with strong environmental protections, it’s possible for some companies to get around having to make the upfront investment in “greener” operations by buying carbon credits from companies like Tesla, which frequently exceeds emission standards that apply to the automotive industry with its manufacture of electric vehicles.

The profits from selling carbon credits have prompted Tesla to file a legal challenge to delays in the implementation of the Obama Administration’s strict emissions standards, which it says has hurt the carbon credit market. Despite the obvious criticisms, the sale of carbon credits could be seen as a tacit reward for making the upfront investment to exceed current environmental standards.

Tesla has not yet said whether it is working on an enhanced Bioweapon Defense Mode that could filter out a theoretical future bioweapon. If it can develop such a thing, the Bioweapon Defense Mode alone could make the Model Y Long Range well worth its $89,990 base price before available rebates to people who may be a trifle paranoid about a future bioweapon being released.

Tesla may be waiting on the possibility of manufacturing or sourcing smaller HEPA filters for more compact models like the Model 3. The Model Y with the Bioweapon Defense Mode is currently manufactured at the factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla Delays Release of Cybertruck

Tesla has delayed the release of the Cybertruck until 2022 at the earliest. It had originally planned to release it near the end of 2021 but says that a shortage of components is forcing it to delay production yet again. Customers who are interested in the Cybertruck can still place a $100 deposit but won’t be able to choose their final configuration until Tesla is close to ready to manufacture it.

Much of the shortage may be caused by the response to COVID-19, which forced the closure or limited operations of many factories. Elon Musk brought the issue of forced factory closures to the fore in the state of California when he challenged state- and county-level officials in court over the forced closure of the Tesla factory in Fremont.

The shortage of semiconductor chips that are used in automobile batteries has especially been a concern for the automotive industry. Geopolitics may be a major factor in this problem, as there is currently a growing dispute over the status of Taiwan, which claims its independence from mainland China even though China disputes this. The majority of semiconductor chips is manufactured in Taiwan. Tesla has floated the idea of acquiring a factory that manufactures them in order to secure a supply of chips for its electric vehicle batteries.

The Cybertruck will also require specialized and often brand-new manufacturing techniques such as the production of a 30-time cold-rolled stainless-steel frame known as the Exoskeleton. Tesla says that it currently lacks the equipment meant to manufacture it.

Tesla plans to manufacture the Cybertruck, along with the all-electric Tesla Semi, at the Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, which is currently under construction. When this Gigafactory is finally open, it will add 10,000 jobs in the Austin area.

(Seriously? If you live in Austin and need a job, check out Tesla’s career page and SpaceX’s career page. Both companies are on a massive hiring spree in Texas. And don’t think that you have to be an engineer to work for one of Elon Musk’s companies. SpaceX is currently hiring a mixologist to work at its bar in Boca Chica!)

Tesla has also blamed “issues with the supply chain and regional permits,” possibly referring to Elon Musk’s companies’ frequent wrangling with regulators. In Tesla’s case, it has had to deal with a lot of regulatory red tape when getting permits to complete the manufacturing of its Gigafactories.

Germany has been especially bad about this, with most of the delays in the completion of Gigafactory Berlin having to do with bureaucratic delays in the approval of permits and legal challenges from local environmentalist groups. Due to the delays, Tesla still has to import most of the vehicles sold in the European market from Gigafactory Shanghai in China.

Meanwhile, competitors like Ford and Chevrolet are gearing up to release electric versions of their popular pickup trucks. Due to pressure from the competition, Tesla recently added four-wheel drive to the Cybertruck. Elon Musk has admitted that the Cybertruck might flop, although he thinks the design, which looks like a vehicle from a low-resolution video game, is cool. He probably won’t have to worry about the Cybertruck failing to sell well when it finally goes into production, though. Customers have already made more than 1.25 million reservations for the vehicle.

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Could Make Spacesuits for Moon Mission

Following a report issued by NASA’s inspector general saying that NASA is not likely to have a spacesuit that’s suitable for operations on the lunar surface before April 2025, Elon Musk says that SpaceX could make a spacesuit that’s suitable for use on the Moon completely in-house.

NASA had been working to return crews to the Moon by 2024, but several elements needed for the job have slipped, including the SLS rocket and (now) the spacesuit. The SLS has long been criticized as yet another Congressional boondoggle that has only had one uncrewed test flight so far.

“NASA’s current schedule is to produce the first two flight-ready xEMUs by November 2024, but the Agency faces significant challenges in meeting this goal” that includes “funding shortfalls, COVID-19 impacts, and technical challenges,” according to the inspector general’s report.

NASA had expected to receive the first two flight-ready xEMUs by November 2024. By the time NASA’s spacesuits are ready, they will have cost $1 billion. Elon Musk blamed it on the entire process being overly complex and especially having too many contractors involved in making elements for the spacesuit:

Musk suggested that the process could be improved by just letting one aerospace contractor handle the job – SpaceX, naturally. It would be a question of whether SpaceX could design a lunar spacesuit, or xEMU as NASA officially calls it, in time to meet the inspector general’s recommendation of “developing an acquisition strategy for the next-generation spacesuits that meets the needs of both the ISS and Artemis programs.” SpaceX does have its own spacesuit, which it uses in conjunction with the Crew Dragon, but it may take a little work to upgrade it for use on the Moon.

SpaceX has, of course, faced delays of its own in developing its hardware, most recently in the form of a challenge of NASA’s award of the lunar lander development contract to SpaceX. Competitors Blue Origin and Dynetics claimed that NASA made errors in the process of selecting a company to continue development of its lunar lander proposal. The Government Accountability Office has since ruled in favor of SpaceX, allowing it to resume work on the lunar lander.

It’s likely that the losses of four Starship prototypes in a row during high-altitude tests and the usual wrangling with regulators like the FAA has also slowed SpaceX down from its original, ambitious schedule. It had hoped to launch the orbital test of a Starship prototype in July, but is now ramping things up for a likely attempt in August if the FAA doesn’t slow it down with regulatory red tape and the failure of an FAA inspector to show up for the test again.

Even so, that hasn’t stopped NASA from making SpaceX its go-to launch provider recently, with recent contracts including deals to launch components of the Lunar Gateway, the Europa Clipper, and a new lunar rover that will scout for signs of water on the lunar south pole ahead of crewed landings on the Moon.

It remains to be seen whether NASA might take Elon Musk up on his offer to make spacesuits for use on the lunar surface, too, considering that it has already awarded contracts to 27 different companies to work on components for the xEMU.