Well, I went to ground on this again earlier with those in the know - shortly after we got the Base Assault issue update.
I remember Pontus saying they may have a lead on what is was from last week, so be sure to get the region at circa 10-12k threat points ready for when the time comes.
Question: Is there also a solution for the rivals not going into a hotspot? Staying there, that’s happened to me before, you’re almost at 20 (threat level) and then when you empty the spot, a rival level 4 suddenly appears, which then drops everything back to under 10.
Well, there’s a bit more clarity now on the XP within the rival. On the description, it will tally the XP as it gains levels right up to Level 4. Most average 3k, reaper 3.6k, so always bare in mind that number will go from your region threat level.
As for the rivals themselves, it’s pretty on par with pre landfall. Providing you have the region itself loaded with machines - 1k - 1.5k worth of XP into the region will tend to spawn a rival regardless of threat level. Ironically, I’ve recently done 2 rebuilds on the North Coast with only Lynx as Rivals. Started at 0, and kept trying until I got 8. Rinse and repeating the hotspots kept spawning rivals all through the region levels.
I’m still set that 10k is a good place to be for Base Assault to spawn, with low rival count. My hours in Sweden have taught me that the less the game has to deal with, the less drama you have. As the Base Assault system works the same as rivals, in theory - less rivals = better chance of Base Assault.
It is bitter sweet however, as once the “patch” comes out - I’ll be at square one like everyone else, so holding back on a " how to " guide for the community for now.
Ok, now that the hotfix is out on Steam, maybe we could talk more about how this system actually works.
I’ve gotten a few bases to spawn, but there’s still some unknowns:
How do you see the level of the FNIX base? (I could see that one had a “dotted ring” around the icon, I believe this was max level with 4 shield generators)
Can you get cement from the lowest level bases? (I believe this was the case earlier, but now I don’t get any cement from newly spawned bases)
For the seeing of the level, keep an eye on the centre of the icon for them. Itll start with only the bottom third filled in, then progress to the middle being filled in then finally being fully filled in for max level.
Cant say anythin for cement since all i have is max level bases for something later.
Thanks for the tip on base level - I’ll have to note the icons more closely. And then you’re also set, because I’m pretty sure you’ll always get cement for max level bases - at least I have gotten it so far.
The fact about the icon is ok, but it should be more clear. Not everyone has as good eyes
And, but it could be a Playstation related bug, my friend wasn’t able to see these diffences in the icon when he was in my game. For him they looked all identical.
Maybe the devs should add an info-screen like the rivals have. There could be some additional info what you should expect in the specific lvl of a selected base.
Anyway, from what I’ve tested so far, I think the most time-effective way to farm Cement is to assault Medium (Lvl 2) FNIX bases, and do Base defense on Easy.
Easy base defense is a walk in the park, and still gives at least 15 cement. Medium base assault takes some time, but should give ~20 cement each time. I did Easy base assault 2 times without getting any cement, so this seems hit and miss.
Normal/Hard base defense and Hard base assault gives a little more cement, but not enough to be worth it for the extra time and destruction in my opinion.
The higher your region score, the higher probability that both base defense and base assault missions will spawn. The exact spawn rate is random, so you’re not guaranteed a spawn of either type. But as long as you grind up the region level, they will spawn eventually (now that spawn rate has been fixed).
Personally I recommend bombing the walls with a suitable rocket launcher. Be wary of the enemy respawners (glowing purple) and take them out quickly to avoid getting swamped.
Take out the power generators (they have red pillars of light above them) so that the main core is vulnerable, then destroy it.
Yeah, you need to take care of the shield generators first. And after that, the center will still only take damage when it’s not glowing (it has some periods after taking damage when shield comes back up).