Archipelago region, almost impossible to level up

I do return there, if there’s good enough reason (certain loot, merchant, mob etc).

I’m not saying that is forbidden, sir, I merely said, I do not believe that is the intention of Archi…

Besides most open-world games limit tutorial area within short “dungeon” or small town district, that will have second use. In this case making Archi the “greenland” is fine design choise, that low-level unprepared players could have cozy start into serious situations starting from Farmlands (my first time entering farmlands with friends and it was infested with harvies and tanks did great impact on us).

I talk about that “it would be nice to be more active in that region” in late game.

They did this to get you right into the feel and experience to the game, I think, sir.

I’d love to see about 20 times the current machine population everywhere…
Probably not going to happen…
But for Archi…
Sir, I think it’s not quite a good idea.

But… that’s me…

I respect that opinion, good sir.

For me currently GZ is more like COTW :wink:

As for Archipelago - perhaps finishing the final main non DLC mission could trigger some sort of repopulation of this region with additional machines and machine types.

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As I certainly respect yours, good sir!!!

In the end, we can want whatever we want, but we will therefore not get it. :slight_smile:
That, sir, I think we can agree on, it’s the Dev’s choice in the end…
:wink:

Agree sir.
There the targets do not try to kill either. :stuck_out_tongue:

What I would like to see, sir, is that when you begin FR (or even at the end of AU), all machines in “Sweden” become at least FNIX.
Coming from Hjimfall… Sweden is… beyond weak, opponent wise.
The extreme lack of threat is depressing.

Now, let’s say, once you ended the AU main quest, all machines, including Archi, will increase in both Class, as well as amount.

Story logic would be: FNIX, in our absence, called the machines back for upgrade.
It already should’ve been that way, seen from a logical perspective.
FNIX surely knew, that Hjimfall posed higher threat.
And it surely would understand, Proto and Military class… just won’t cut it.

Thoughts?

As far as I’ve been observing, Apocs are still “human” project, based on Military pattern robots, which are also follow “practical” armament, albeit CBRN element made series “too brutal” to be conventional. But there’s in supplemental material (forgot sources) that Apoc, while based on “army” series can’t be just upgraded due to difference in materials used. Not that mass-produced, but there’s means to assemble them (FOA 4).

“Army” series are intented for mass produce and there’s sure as hell a lot of facilities and resources to keep “army” line running, besides “army” series while weaked than FNIX, they posess practical military approach in combat (especially Hunters). Seems to be most numerous series.

FNIX series were deep rework of “army” and “prot” lines with added original “too high” tech toys from AI.
Robots of this line become sturdier than “army”, but high-tech armament made some 'em impractical.
Prime example: hunters - army carry MG and gas launcher, tactics - gas meatbags out of cover and brutalize with thick bullet barrage, for added annoyance - anti-material rifle for sniping and tick pods; FNIX carry tickpods, sometimes AMR for range and stotguns with slow-velocity high-tech flechette. Second in terms of quantity and growing.

Prots being made as proof of concept and carry basic, low-tech, practical stuff. Didn’t made to last, so basically can be made of recycled scrap metal. Roaming harvesters probably gather defeated smaller robots and carry them to recycling facilities, where bot refurbished into “prot” class, due to low cost and low material quality. I’d keep “prot” line if I can have more numbers even made of waste material.

Question, sir.
In Hjimfall, we erase the opponent forces, correct?
These are APOC and FNIX, correct?
FNIX is a “highly intellectual” AI (or is supposed to be), correct?
Would FNIX then have machines in function, knowing these are beyond absolete, sir?
Not even worth anymore as cannonfodder?

That is tactical suicide, good sir, isn’t it?

1st: quantity over quality, even if means recycling junk and scraps into ticks and hounds;
2nd: Himfjall has apoc production facility, “mainland” (remind me how it properly named) has many other facilities;
3rd: high-tech stuff is picky about materials, after cataclysm and large scale of production, a lot of “fat” been used up. “Army” line was designed by military humans - that means “relatively cheap and easy to produce/maintain” with “sturdy/reliable design” seasoning. Cheap and plentiful steel for chassis and internals still good alternative to aluminium, titanium and tungsten metals and alloys.
4th: “military approach” means “they used practical and efficient way” - force target out of cover in the open and gun down it with accurate (read hard to dodge) machinegun. Other series? Prots has just mg but they are very soft, FNIX has oh so high tech armament, but it’s limited to close quarters and rather easy to dodge, apocs are good urban fighter, but very weak agains mobile targets in the open. Army are good all-rounders with MG, Gas GL/AMR and ticks. I fear most army harvester for it can send wave after wave of these area-denying bullet-hell freaks.
5th: “army” series production was launched long before cataclysm and already had quite a number. So for AI it was far more simple just to activate every single unit it can reach. Do you know how much of hastle is for your average army to adopt something new that intented to replace something widely used, say assault rifle? FNIX had a couple of month with all that hindrance to operations from players. Well, in RL Sweden, despite being obsolette rifle from sixties, army (primarily home guard) keep G3 around and even issued upgrade kits and new ammo, while having decades younger and easier to use FNC (which also has own “ikea” kits).

Quantity…
LOL…
Sir, the reason why Germany stood so long, was the quality of thir materials…
Overcomplicated, sure, but damn awesome quality.
Many an American back then said, each Tiger or Leopard was worth 10 Shermans.

Why do you think we are no longer using revolvers in the army?
MUCH easier to make, sir…

Quality is very important, sir.
And it’s not just quality, but improved technology as well.
Not that the game shows this, sadly, but you get the point, I think, sir…

Okay, then. I HAD Nazi Germany in mind as examples.
They went nuts with heavy tanks (tigers +). And then by the end of war they had more StuG’s than Pz’s - same chassis, but when numbers were needed, StuG’s were cheaper and faster to assemble.
Tigers indeed were tecnologically superior and required more production time and quality material. But they didn’t do much by the time they beed active. Hell, there’s even “Entwicklung series project”.

Okay, let’s stop here - our techno-economic babble ain’t add much to why not to repopulate Arcipelago region.

Agreed, sir.

If you have finished FR: what did you feel seeing orange and camo machines, if I may ask, coming from Hjimfall?

Thank f*** that level 4 apocalypse harvester didn’t show up when i was still level 1

Very eloquently put, sir… grins

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Just came up with the method, albeit time wasting one - camping. Yes, with tents and marshmallows over fire (jk).

Learn most possible machine’s patrol routes and/or possible spawn points. Then, find a reliable place to hide for the long term, minimize game to read/shitpost on this forum/elsewhere or play on your phone etc.
When you hear machine noices - switch back to game and destroy group (dog pack or couple of hunters). Rince and repeat. After 3-4 ambushes it is advised to change fishing spot within region or even move abroad for repopulation by game’s simulation component. Lures (horn and music) might speed up the process.

Example spot

There is another method as well, albeit faster one - cheesing.

From another topic:

Cheesing ain’t working reliably too - I’ve tried that: clear spots, create new session, clear spots again. Thing is, with each new restart odds to encounter new spawns drastically drops. I figured that there’s something about limits about overall population in region, sort of “respawning rate” and density changes. This observation confirmed some cars in my train of thoughts after update, when 30+ rivals and around same count non-rival fatties happily grazing at Farmlands, while Archi and N.Coast were empty.

I noticed that aswell that there were a lot of machines in farmlands so I started killing them, but after one hour orn so there were none left. More annoyingly finding fnix and apoc tanks is extremly hard. So finding the new weapons feels more like a chore them something fun and exiting. I have this memory from back probably april 2019. I had just left the archipelago and on the map I saw the airbase. So naturally I went there. I managed to climb over the fence. With my newfound thermal vision unit I scouted the airfield and saw probably 6-10 tanks all over the airfield. Because I only had 2-3 star weapons this was an impossible task to complete so I decided to look for weapons around the airfield. I did find an AK so I decided to try killing the tanks, failed miserably and left the airfield with an AK and a broken pride. Many hours later me and my friends decided to try to take the challange on together and went back to the airbase. There they were, probably over 10 tanks hidden on the sides of the airbase aswell as on the runway. We went in with 2000 rounds each and 1 hour later we walked out of the airbase with our newly found 5 crown weapons and with carnage on airbase. But now… everytime I travel to the airbase I rarely find any tanks and if I find any it’s only 1 or 2. And as I walk through the warzone that is south farmlands I don’t see any tanks nor hear them in the distance. If they don’t fix this issue next patch then I really don’t know for how long I would be able to play this game because this is really taking awey all the fun from the game. As someone wise said, “What is a game about killing machines if there is no machines to kill” -Wise person 2020

What I do for leveling up regons is, I try to find a hot spot of machines, and pray to get Harvester rivals. Then I go up to the harvesters, kill their Hunter supports and disengage. Repeat