Technologies

FBC: Firebreak: 9 Beginner Tips to Survive Your First Shift

If you want to make it out of the Oldest House alive, you’ll have to work together with your teammates to utilize every tool at your disposal.

So you’ve volunteered to be a Firebreaker, and now you’re staring down a paranatural threat with only a glorified super soaker in your hands. It happens to the best of us.

FBC: Firebreak is developer Remedy Entertainment’s first crack at a live-service multiplayer game. It’s a Left 4 Dead-like horde shooter set in the Oldest House (from Control), an ever-shifting building that contains the world’s foremost paranatural threats.

Taking place six years after Remedy’s 2019 game Control, FBC: Firebreak has players participating in a new initiative that seeks to contain the Hiss invaders and other crises throughout the Oldest House’s sectors by drafting a ragtag team of volunteers from within the Bureau.

The game is heavy on action, and you’ll have to utilize teamwork, your first-person shooting skills and all of the pieces of your arsenal to survive. Here are some tips to survive your first shift.

FBC: Firebreak has crossplay — so bring any friend you can

Firebreak has full crossplay between PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, which means you can venture into the heart of the Oldest House with any of your friends. This is a game where camaraderie and team play will win the day, so you’ll want to play with folks who you know will have your back. It’s also just nice to be able to communicate with your teammates over Discord.

Note that even though Firebreak has crossplay, it doesn’t have cross-progression. That means you can bring the whole gang together to play, but your level-ups, perks and kit unlocks will be locked to whatever platform you’re playing on.

Communication is important, even without voice chat

One of Firebreak’s more bizarre design decisions is the fact that a horde shooter has no in-game chat options. You can’t hook up a microphone to communicate with your teammates, and there’s no text chat option to send them a quick message.

That makes queuing with randoms extremely difficult — this is a game that requires teammates to stick closely together to receive shield and perk benefits from one another, and anyone who splits off can be quickly overwhelmed by paranatural threats. This is even mechanically enforced — if you stray far from your squad, soon your shields will deplete.

You should frequently mark waves of enemies your teammates haven’t noticed yet, ping where you’re moving to keep the team together and point out shelters before you open them and spawn a wave of Hiss enemies.

Even if you’re in a good place resource-wise, ping the healing showers and sinks and any ammunition you don’t need. Live and die by the ping system, because it’s the only way you’ll be able to share crucial information with the team.

The Splash Kit is the worst solo kit, but it’s the best multiplayer kit

The game’s three classes (or Kits) all bring a substantial amount of utility to Firebreak’s Jobs. The Jump Kit quickly restarts electronics, and the Fix Kit hammers away at the showers, ammo stations and the lights to get crucial interactables working again more quickly than a manual repair.

The Splash Kit starts off with a glorified Super Soaker that makes enemies wet and staggers them upon charged-up hits, but doesn’t really feature any other utility out of the box. In solo play, you’ll barely have time to pull out your gun before the horde you just knocked backwards gets up and starts to maul you again.

Multiplayer matches are where the Splash Kit really sings. When massive mobs of enemies descend on the team, the person carrying this kit keeps many of the Hiss fighters permanently knocked down by firing globs of water at them. This lets the rest of the team clean up the fight quickly, efficiently and without much risk. It can even wash off fire and other annoying hazards, too.

Bring along a six-shooter at the beginning of the game

Firebreak’s arsenal of weapons is extremely limited, and all of the guns hit like a wet noodle until you upgrade them. You start with a boomstick that doesn’t boom, a submachine gun that requires you to burn ammo to tick away an enemy’s health bar and a revolver that can knock out fodder in two shots (or one well-placed shot to the dome).

The revolver is the obvious choice for new players until you have enough lost assets to buff your weapons up by advancing in the requisition pass (which functions like a Helldivers 2 war bond). It hits the hardest, it has a modest reload time compared with the shotgun and its only downside is offset by the fact you have two teammates covering you as well.

When the horde bears down upon you, combine your kit powers

When the Hiss enemies threaten to overwhelm your Firebreaker squad, stow your guns and pull out your class abilities. A Fix Kit user might have a rough go of things in the early game — the wrench doesn’t connect with a satisfying kinetic impact and does very little damage or knockback until it gets upgrades.

But the Splash Kit and Jump Kit have fundamentally strong synergy that cuts a swath through waves of foes. Your Splash Kit user should be hosing down a horde, while the Jump Kit user follows up with devastating shocks. The strategy isn’t super consistent, but electricity should chain through most of the wet Hiss, and you can take out dozens of fodder enemies at once.

The best part is that this pairing can be repeated whenever you want. You can use the water gun or the electric jumper as often as you like, so employ this combo liberally when the going gets tough.

Resource management is the key to victory in harder Jobs

Once you unlock more parts of your Firebreaker kit, you’ll want to step into harder Jobs, either by upping the difficulty or the containment level for longer expeditions. That’s the right move, but you’ll have to learn a new skill: Resource management. It’s very easy to stay stocked up on ammunition on lower difficulty missions, but it starts to get harder to retain your resources as hordes of enemies constantly spawn in as you set the threat level higher.

Make sure you know where the closest ammo station is at all times, and don’t be afraid to pop open one of the bunker-like shelters to collect the ammunition (and more importantly, the grenades) from within. Certain enemies, like the armored grenadiers with miniguns, will also drop several ammo pickups when you defeat them.

Players are able to restock their most important equipment as well, like the Fix Kit’s swivel gun or the Splash Kit’s healing humidifier, but this takes longer and you can’t count on being able to pull another one of these valuable abilities out of the ammo station in a pinch (its replenishment seems erratic). Prepare your arsenal between encounters so you have these powerful pieces of equipment when you need them the most.

Stock up on lost assets wherever you can find them

If you see a dossier, grab a dossier. These folders — known as lost assets — are the primary currency in FBC: Firebreak, and you’ll need them to purchase items on the requisition pass and unlock perks.

Lost assets can be found sparsely scattered around levels, but you’re guaranteed to find a heap of them if you crack open a shelter and take a peek inside. Mini boss enemies (the ones that spawn with unique names and a health bar at the top of your screen) also drop a handful of lost assets for you to pick up.

Not every asset gives you the same amount of requisition points. The fatter closed folders will give you more points to spend after you extract them. There’s no limit to how many assets you can recover, though, so pick them all up at your leisure.

It’s important to know that if you go down and a teammate can’t revive you, all of the lost assets you were carrying will scatter around the spot where you were defeated. Once you respawn, work with your teammates to fight back to that location — or else you’ll lose all of the lost assets you were previously toting around.

The Black Rock Neutralizer is your new best friend

The ragtag Firebreak initiative team doesn’t exactly have a stellar arsenal. You’re carrying around a single (probably faulty) firearm, a jury-rigged gadget and a couple of other odds and ends. It’ll certainly be a challenge to hold your own against the paranatural threats of the Oldest House, but every once in a while, you may come across a great equalizer.

The Black Rock Neutralizer is a special weapon you can find at ammo stations or (rarely) within opened bunkers. This grinder propels chunks of black rock ore at enemies, ripping them apart with ease. It’s an incredibly effective weapon that thins out hordes or shreds through boss health bars.

Most importantly, if you’re playing with corruption modifiers on, the Black Rock Neutralizer is the only way to destroy the altered items that cause chaos throughout the match. No matter what you use this weapon for, it’s an incredibly versatile piece of equipment that can help your team stay in control of the battlefield.

When in doubt, huddle it out

This is a team game, and you and your teammates are forced to stick together if you want to fight at full power.

Players in close proximity to one another get resonance bonuses, sharing the benefit of any leveled-up perks that they have equipped. More importantly, players who are split up from one another don’t get the benefits of shield regeneration, which means they’re basically kneecapping their own survivability.

When a situation gets out of hand, sometimes the best thing a team can do is huddle up in an area with health and ammo until they can get things back under control. Whether you park yourself in the start of a zone with an ammo station and a shower, or you find a nice warm bunker to open up, identify the best places to make a combined stand.

Technologies

Your Pixel 10 Might Have Issues With Older Wireless Chargers

You might want to try taking the case off your phone in order to successfully charge it.

When Google introduced the Pixel 10 lineup in August, it became one of the first major Android phones to receive the Qi 2 wireless charging standard, which Google calls Pixelsnap. However, users noticed issues with wireless charging on the Pixel 10 almost immediately after its release.

Some people are having trouble charging their phone with the new Pixelsnap charger, and others are having issues with older wireless chargers, including Google’s own Pixel Stands. The bulk of the problems happen when a case is on the phone — whether it has the magnet array or not.

I own both the first and second generation Pixel Stands and both will charge my Pixel 10 Pro XL without an issue if there’s no case on it. However, when I add a case to my phone, the problems begin.

I have three cases for my phone, the Mous Super Thin Clear Case, the Magnetic Slim Case Fit by Grecazo, and a no-name soft TPU case. If my phone has any of those cases on and I attempt to charge it while it’s vertical, it starts to charge and then stops after a second or two, and keeps doing that.

I can fix this for the first-generation Pixel Stand by turning the phone horizontal, but it will still charge very slowly. I can’t seem to fix it at all for the Pixel Stand 2 — vertical, horizontal, it doesn’t charge.

Not everyone has this issue

The problem doesn’t seem to be universal. CNET editor Patrick Holland said he had no issues charging the Pixel 10 Pro during his time with it.

A Google spokesperson told me the Pixel 10 lineup is not optimized for older Qi wireless charging standards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the phones won’t work with older wireless chargers.

Qi 2 is backwards-compatible with older standards, but the phone’s height and charging coil placement on both the phone and the charger are still factors. If you’re having problems, you might see if removing the case helps.

The prospect of potentially needing to replace your older wireless chargers with newer ones isn’t ideal, especially if you shelled out $80 for one or both of Google’s own Pixel Stands. Still, if you want the best wireless charging speed for your brand new Pixel 10 phone, it won’t be with wireless chargers that only support older Qi standards.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Sept. 19, #361

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Sept. 19, No. 361.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

The yellow category in Connections: Sports Edition is always easy, but today’s seemed like a no-brainer. The other categories aren’t too tough, either, especially for midwesterners. But if you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Spotted on TV.

Green group hint: Unusual team names.

Blue group hint: Air Jordan.

Purple group hint: The Big House is another one.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Things seen on an NFL sideline.

Green group: NBA teams with singular nicknames.

Blue group: Teams Michael Jordan played for.

Purple group: Big Ten stadiums.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is things seen on an NFL sideline. The four answers are benches, chains, coaches and medical tent.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is NBA teams with singular nicknames. The four answers are Heat, Jazz, Magic and Thunder.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams Michael Jordan played for. The four answers are Barons, Bulls, UNC and Wizards.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Big Ten stadiums. The four answers are Beaver, Camp Randall, Ohio and Spartan.

Technologies

AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods Pro 2: Should You Upgrade?

Here’s a look at the key differences between Apple’s latest flagship noise-canceling earbuds compared with their predecessor.

With Apple releasing the AirPods Pro 3, folks who already own the AirPods Pro 2 may be wondering whether it’s worth upgrading.

A good portion of my full review of the AirPods Pro 3 is devoted to discussing the differences between the two models. Here’s how I conclude my review: «Several new features, such as Live Translation, will be available for the AirPods Pro 2, so many AirPods Pro 2 owners won’t feel the need to upgrade right away. But if you’ve been using AirPods Pro 2 for a while, it might be worth passing them on to a friend or relative and upgrading to the Pro 3s.»

Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025

AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods Pro 2: What’s stayed the same

The AirPods Pro 3’s list price is still $249 (£219, AU$429). That wasn’t a given with all the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration tariffs, but we’ll see how the price shakes out on Amazon and other retailers, where AirPods models often get discounted.
The AirPods Pro 3 are powered by Apple’s H2 chip, the same one that powers the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 and Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. Rumors pointed to an H3 chip, but that didn’t happen.
No new color options; white is still the only option.
The AirPods Pro 3 stick with Bluetooth 5.3, just like the AirPods Pro 2 (though some true-wireless earbuds have already jumped to Bluetooth 6.0).
The buds still feature a MagSafe charging case with USB-C and wireless charging. However, no USB-C charging cable is included (Apple also left out a charging cable with the AirPods 4, though most people have a USB-C cable).

AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods Pro 2: What’s changed

While they look similar to the previous model, the AirPods Pro 3 have been redesigned. Their geometric shape has changed a bit, with the angle of the bud shifted. They’re the same length but slightly smaller width-wise, slightly larger depth-wise and weigh a touch more (5.55 grams vs. 5.3 grams on the AirPods Pro 2).
The AirPods Pro 3 come with new foam-infused silicone eartips in five sizes, including a new extra-extra small size.
The AirPods Pro 3 are equipped with heart-rate sensors like the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2.
2x better noise cancellation compared to the AirPods Pro 2, according to Apple.
While the AirPods Pro 3 have 10.7mm drivers like the AirPods Pro 2, those drivers have been upgraded to take advantage of the buds’ new multiport acoustic architecture, which moves more air through the buds and improves sound quality.
The AirPods Pro 3’s microphones have been upgraded.
The AirPods Pro 3’s Transparency Mode has been enhanced.
New Live Translation feature (also available for the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 series, but not the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2).
The AirPods Pro 3’s battery life has improved to 8 hours with noise cancellation on and up to 10 hours in Hearing Aid mode with transparency on. The AirPods Pro 2 are rated for up to 6 hours of battery life with noise-canceling on.
Instead of being IPX4 splash-proof like the AirPods Pro 2, the AirPods Pro 3 got an IP57 rating (so did their charging case), which means they can withstand a sustained spray of water. (I poured water on them and they survived just fine.) They’re also dust-resistant.
The AirPods Pro’s case now includes a U2 chip, boosting Precision Finding range in the Find My app by 1.5x (requires an iPhone 17). The AirPods Pro 2’s case has the U1 chip.
Like with the AirPods 4, the AirPods Pro 3’s case no longer has a button for Bluetooth pairing. You simply double-tap on the front of the case to put the buds into Bluetooth pairing mode. The AirPods Pro 2 have a physical button for Bluetooth pairing.

The AirPods Pro 3’s new geometric shape and eartips are among the biggest changes

While the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Pro 2 look very similar at first glance, they do feel different in your ears. That’s because the AirPods Pro 3’s new eartips are made of silicone but infused with foam toward the front of the ear tip. Also, the angle of the bud has been adjusted so the eartips point more directly into your ear canals.

If you’re someone who couldn’t quite get a good fit with the original AirPods Pro or Pro 2, the new design could very well help you get a snugger, more secure fit. The fact is that a tight seal is crucial for optimal sound and noise-canceling performance, and Apple redesigned the eartips to make sure users could hear the sound and noise-canceling upgrades with the AirPods Pro 3.

Alas, the new AirPods Pro 3 tips don’t work with earlier AirPods Pro models; they attach differently.

Do you really need the AirPods Pro 3’s heart-rate monitoring?

I personally don’t feel that heart-rate monitoring is a must-have feature, particularly if you already own a smartwatch with the feature. But for some folks, it will be a welcome addition. The heart-rate sensors have been custom-designed for the AirPods Pro 3 (they’re Apple’s smallest heart-rate sensors) and aren’t identical to the ones in the Powerbeats Pro 2, but the experience using the heart-rate monitoring feature is the same.

How much better are the AirPods Pro 3 than the AirPods Pro 2?

It’s always hard to put an exact percentage on how improved one generation of a product is to the next, and there are always some people who will prefer the older model for whatever reason. But for me, the AirPods Pro 3 are about 20-25% better.

While they both use the H2 chip, the newest AirPods have been redesigned on the outside and inside, and most people should notice the improvements to sound quality, noise cancellation and fit.

If you own the original AirPods Pro, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend upgrading, especially if your battery life has decreased.

If you’re happy with your AirPods Pro 2, there’s no hurry to upgrade unless your battery life has become an issue (some people have the older AirPods Pro 2 with a Lightning connector for charging instead of USB-C). The previous generation supports most of the same features as the AirPods Pro 3 (aside from heart-monitoring), including Live Translation and Hearing Aid mode.

It’s worth pointing out that the AirPods Pro 3 offer slightly better speech clarity for Hearing Aid mode (with Automatic Conversation Boost) and better battery life — up to 10 hours with Transparency and Hearing Aid mode. That makes the AirPods 3 the better choice if you have small to moderate hearing loss and plan to use your AirPods as hearing aids.

AirPods Pro 2 vs. AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods 4 with ANC spec comparison

	AirPods Pro 2	AirPods Pro 3	AirPods 4 with ANC
Weight (each earbud)	0.19 ounce (5.13 grams)	0.20 ounce (5.5 grams)	0.15 ounce (4.3 grams)
Weight (case)	1.79 ounces (50.8 grams)	1.55 ounces (43.99 grams)	1.22 ounces (34.7 grams)
Water resistant	IPX4	IP57	IP54
Sensors	Skin-detect sensor, Optical in-ear sensor, Motion-detecting accelerometer, Speech-detecting accelerometer, Force sensor	Skin-detect sensor, Optical in-ear sensor, Motion-detecting accelerometer, Speech-detecting accelerometer, Force sensor, heart-rate sensor	Optical in-ear sensor, Motion-detecting accelerometer, Speech-detecting accelerometer, Force sensor
Microphones	Dual beamforming microphones, inward-facing microphone	Dual beamforming microphones, inward-facing microphone	Dual beamforming microphones, inward-facing microphone
Chip	H2	H2	H2
Conectivity	Bluetooth 5.3	Bluetooth 5.3	Bluetooth 5.3
Active Noise Cancelation, Transparency mode	Yes	Yes	Yes
Conversation Awareness, Adaptive Audio	Yes	Yes	Yes
Voice Isolation, Personalized volume	Yes	Yes	Yes
Battery life	Up to 6 hours +30 hours with case	Up to 8 hours +24 hours with case	Up to 5 hours +30 hours with case
Wire in box	Yes	No	No
Launch Price	$249	$249	$179