Servius
20th Feb 09, 12:37 PM
I'm about to begin my 3rd campaign. The furthest along I've gotten is Day 11 or 12 I think. I keep restarting every time I reach a point where I've learned enough new stuff about how the game works that I feel my past actions are dumb. However, I have reached a point where I think I have a decent grasp on the concepts in the title. Since these things are not mentioned in the manual and are not very well explained by the in-game tips, I thought I'd try to help others by posting what I've found.
STRATEGIC ASSETS
There are 3 types of strategic assest: Shrines, Automated Foundries (hereafter "foundries"), and Communication Arrays (hereafter "arrays"). Each map has 2 assets. So far each map has had 2 different assets (I've never seen one with two of the same).
Each assets grant a Sector Control Bonus that you benfit from no matter which planet you're fighting on as well as two planet-specific bonuses. One of those planet-specific bonuses is associated with a limited-use accessory. The number of uses per mission is based on the number of assets you control on the planet you're fighting on. The second planet-specific bonus is not accessory-based.
Shrines
- Sector Control Bonus: Once you get 6 of the 8 in the sector, regardless of which planet they're on, your squads will earn bonus exp at the end of a mission. NOTE: Once you have all 6, if you get 11 medals (eg 5 Fury + 5 Resilience + 1 Speed) at the end of the mission, your exp will be sufficient to get 1 additional deployment. This is without any help from foundries (either increasing your score or lessening the requirment for add'l deployments).
- Planet Bonus: Each shrine on a particular planet helps counteract the Tyranoformation effects on that planet. The tooltip says that they a) reduce the rate of invasions and b) reduce the effect of invasions. This buys you more time in the campaign, which in turn means more time for side missions, and thus the ability to strengthen your squads faster.
- Accessory: The first time you capture a shrine you'll get the Rosarius accessory. It allows you to make all your squads invulnerable for a few seconds (maybe 3-5). The number of shrines you have on the planet you're fighting on determines the number of times you can use this accessory per mission. You can always use it at least 1 time per mission, even if you don't have any shrines on a particular planet.
Foundries
- Sector Control Bonus: Controlling all 6 of the foundries in the sector will reduce the post-mission score needed to get additional deployments. NOTE: Holding 6 reduces the amount needed by the equivalent of holding 1 fountry on the planet. This is also the equivalent of 1 extra medal in Fury, Resilience, or Speed.
- Planet Bonus: When you finish a mission, you get mission exp based on how many enemies you killed (Fury), how few of your sergeants were incapacitated (Resilience), and how quickly you completed the mission objectives (Speed). The total is shown in blue and is the main determinant of whether you get additional deployments that day. Then, depending on the number of foundries you have, that bar will extend a bit further in green. I don't think this means you get extra exp, I think it basically is just trying to get you closer to the 2 pre-determined marks for +1 or +2 additional deployments. NOTE: 3 foundries appears to grant you enough of a bonus to cover the distance from the 1st add'l deployment to the 2nd. This is before any reduction to the requirements granted after you have 6 foundries.
- Accessory: The first time you capture a factory you'll get a turret accessory. It allows you to deploy turrets. The number of foundries you have on the planet you're fighting on determines the number of turrets you can deploy per mission. You can always deploy at least 1 turret per mission, even if you don't have any factories on a particular planet. I've read these are very helpful against bosses. I keep forgetting to test it out.
Communication Arrays
- Sector Control Bonus: The in-game tool tips says "Controlling numerous arrays across all planets also increases available ordinance in defend missions." When you play a Defend mission, you will be given 2 turrets. I think the number of arrays you have in the sector determines the number of mines you can deploy.
- Planet Bonus: The more arrays you have on a particular planet, the more pre-mission intelligence you'll have access to regarding the enemy's strengths and weaknesses.
- Accessory: The first time you capture a post you'll get a Signum accessory. It allows you to call down a minor PDF artillery strike (maybe 3-5 shells). The number of arrays you have on the planet you're fighting on determines the number of times you can use this accessory. You can always use it at least 1 time per mission, even if you don't have any posts on a particular planet. I have found this to be less useful than Frag Grenades, so I never equip it.
Summary on Strategic Assets
In DOW2's campaign, you're racing against a clock. The clock is provided by the rate at which the Tyranids tyranoform the planets. The less time you have, the fewer side missions you can afford to take, and thus the weaker your forces will be when you fight the core campaign missions. Foundries and Shrines help ease this issue. Foundries do it by making it easier to earn multiple deployments in a single day. While it doesn't slow tryanofomation, it may allow you to fit in more missions per day, which has the same relative effect. Shrines increase exp (once you have 6) and slow tyranofomation.
There are two differences between shrines and foundries. Shrine effects on tyranoformation are immediate and constant. Nothing you do after capturing it will increase or decrease its effectiveness. In addtion, once you have 6 shrines, the exp bonus is also constant. I don't yet know if it's a flat exp bonus (eg + 100 exp) or a % based thing. If it's % based, then the bonus is not constant and is dependent on how well you play.
The benefits of foundries not certain, they're conditional. They make it easier to get multiple deployments, but they don't guarantee them. Their utility depends on your performance in each mission (which hopefully leads to more deployments) and requires that you then fight those additional battles to stay ahead of the clock so to speak. While foundries require more effort on your part, they also grant more opportunities to collect wargear (which can be trashed for exp). I haven't yet reached the point where I have 6 shrines, so I can't say how big the after-mission exp bonus is, thus I can't say which asset (shrines or foundries) grant you the biggest bang for the time investment. However, the in-game tool tip clearly states the foundries are your best bet to keeping ahead of the invasion.
So far, I have only ever had 1-2 arrays, so maybe they become much more useful if you have more. But from what I've seen so far, Communication Arrays appear to be worthless relative to the bonuses of shrines and foundries. The intel can be intuitive and sometimes info on vulnerabilities to certain weapons is negated by your lack of numbers or people who can carry those special weapons. At the Captain level of difficulty, the artillery strikes cause knockback and a little damage but are also inaccuate. They pale in comparison to Frag Grenades, and you can gather more Frags as you move through a map.
In conclusion, given what I know right now, my preference is foundries first, shrines second, arrays third.
FURY, RESILIENCE, AND SPEED
These three things come into play at the end of each mission.
- The more enemies you kill, the higher your Fury score.
- The fewer number of sergeants incapacitated, the higher your Resilience score. For example, if your FC is the only character who gets knocked out during a mission, you'll get the same Resilience score if he's knocked out once or 20 times. On the other hand, if every one of your 4 characters gets knocked out, even if it only happened 1 time during the mission, you'll get 0 points for Resilience. It's not the number of knock outs per character, it's the number of characters ever knocked out.
- The faster you complete the mission objectives, the higher your Speed score.
NOTE: These three variables also appear in your Campaign Score/Rank (where Resilience is called Savior). I think that stuff only affects GFWL achievements. Not sure.
The way I like to play is to clean every square inch of a map. Thus I usually have very high Fury scores and very low Speed scores. Resilience's relationship with Speed can go either way. If you are careful and take good care of your Sgts, you may move slowly and thus hurt your Speed score. On the other hand, if you move too fast and are careless with your squads, they'll die more, which means you'll have to spend more time running back to a reinforcement site. Therefore, I see Fury and Speed as polar opposites and Resilience as an indpendent variable. That means you can have high Fury and Resilience scores OR high Speed and Resilience scores, but you can never have high Fury and Speed scores.
In conclusion, knowing what I know right now, I focus on being thorough and careful, and I forget about speed. Not having to move quickly allows me to move more carefully, which hopefully will lead to a high Resilience score.
EXPERIENCE
There are two times when your squads gain experience. The first is when they participate in a mission and kill enemies. Only the 4 squads on the field earn exp in this way. Then, at the end of each successful mission, you get your Fury, Resilience, and Speed scores. Your Fury + Resilience + Speed scores = your bonus mission exp. Having 6 Shrines will add to this (not sure how much yet). The mission exp will be added to every squad you have, including those that stayed on the ship. I don't know if everyone gets the same mission exp (the 4 who fought may get more than the ones who stayed on the ship) but I know that even the guys on the ship get something.
Post-Mission experience is based on the medals given for Fury, Resilience, and Speed. You can get up to 5 of each, though as said above there is usually a trade-off between Fury and Speed. For the meter that decides how many additional deployments you get, 1 medal = 1 foundry, except the medal grants experience whereas the foundry does not. NOTE: If any of your Sgts. get incapacitated, you will get a max of 3 medals in Resilience. If 2 get knocked out, you get 2 medals. I'm pretty sure that if 3 or 4 get knocked out, you'll still get 1 medal. Speed works in this way too in that, no matter how long you take, you'll still get 1 medal.
+++ End Transmission +++
Please respond with revisions to the info in here. I'll try to update the OP with accurate info as it comes in.
STRATEGIC ASSETS
There are 3 types of strategic assest: Shrines, Automated Foundries (hereafter "foundries"), and Communication Arrays (hereafter "arrays"). Each map has 2 assets. So far each map has had 2 different assets (I've never seen one with two of the same).
Each assets grant a Sector Control Bonus that you benfit from no matter which planet you're fighting on as well as two planet-specific bonuses. One of those planet-specific bonuses is associated with a limited-use accessory. The number of uses per mission is based on the number of assets you control on the planet you're fighting on. The second planet-specific bonus is not accessory-based.
Shrines
- Sector Control Bonus: Once you get 6 of the 8 in the sector, regardless of which planet they're on, your squads will earn bonus exp at the end of a mission. NOTE: Once you have all 6, if you get 11 medals (eg 5 Fury + 5 Resilience + 1 Speed) at the end of the mission, your exp will be sufficient to get 1 additional deployment. This is without any help from foundries (either increasing your score or lessening the requirment for add'l deployments).
- Planet Bonus: Each shrine on a particular planet helps counteract the Tyranoformation effects on that planet. The tooltip says that they a) reduce the rate of invasions and b) reduce the effect of invasions. This buys you more time in the campaign, which in turn means more time for side missions, and thus the ability to strengthen your squads faster.
- Accessory: The first time you capture a shrine you'll get the Rosarius accessory. It allows you to make all your squads invulnerable for a few seconds (maybe 3-5). The number of shrines you have on the planet you're fighting on determines the number of times you can use this accessory per mission. You can always use it at least 1 time per mission, even if you don't have any shrines on a particular planet.
Foundries
- Sector Control Bonus: Controlling all 6 of the foundries in the sector will reduce the post-mission score needed to get additional deployments. NOTE: Holding 6 reduces the amount needed by the equivalent of holding 1 fountry on the planet. This is also the equivalent of 1 extra medal in Fury, Resilience, or Speed.
- Planet Bonus: When you finish a mission, you get mission exp based on how many enemies you killed (Fury), how few of your sergeants were incapacitated (Resilience), and how quickly you completed the mission objectives (Speed). The total is shown in blue and is the main determinant of whether you get additional deployments that day. Then, depending on the number of foundries you have, that bar will extend a bit further in green. I don't think this means you get extra exp, I think it basically is just trying to get you closer to the 2 pre-determined marks for +1 or +2 additional deployments. NOTE: 3 foundries appears to grant you enough of a bonus to cover the distance from the 1st add'l deployment to the 2nd. This is before any reduction to the requirements granted after you have 6 foundries.
- Accessory: The first time you capture a factory you'll get a turret accessory. It allows you to deploy turrets. The number of foundries you have on the planet you're fighting on determines the number of turrets you can deploy per mission. You can always deploy at least 1 turret per mission, even if you don't have any factories on a particular planet. I've read these are very helpful against bosses. I keep forgetting to test it out.
Communication Arrays
- Sector Control Bonus: The in-game tool tips says "Controlling numerous arrays across all planets also increases available ordinance in defend missions." When you play a Defend mission, you will be given 2 turrets. I think the number of arrays you have in the sector determines the number of mines you can deploy.
- Planet Bonus: The more arrays you have on a particular planet, the more pre-mission intelligence you'll have access to regarding the enemy's strengths and weaknesses.
- Accessory: The first time you capture a post you'll get a Signum accessory. It allows you to call down a minor PDF artillery strike (maybe 3-5 shells). The number of arrays you have on the planet you're fighting on determines the number of times you can use this accessory. You can always use it at least 1 time per mission, even if you don't have any posts on a particular planet. I have found this to be less useful than Frag Grenades, so I never equip it.
Summary on Strategic Assets
In DOW2's campaign, you're racing against a clock. The clock is provided by the rate at which the Tyranids tyranoform the planets. The less time you have, the fewer side missions you can afford to take, and thus the weaker your forces will be when you fight the core campaign missions. Foundries and Shrines help ease this issue. Foundries do it by making it easier to earn multiple deployments in a single day. While it doesn't slow tryanofomation, it may allow you to fit in more missions per day, which has the same relative effect. Shrines increase exp (once you have 6) and slow tyranofomation.
There are two differences between shrines and foundries. Shrine effects on tyranoformation are immediate and constant. Nothing you do after capturing it will increase or decrease its effectiveness. In addtion, once you have 6 shrines, the exp bonus is also constant. I don't yet know if it's a flat exp bonus (eg + 100 exp) or a % based thing. If it's % based, then the bonus is not constant and is dependent on how well you play.
The benefits of foundries not certain, they're conditional. They make it easier to get multiple deployments, but they don't guarantee them. Their utility depends on your performance in each mission (which hopefully leads to more deployments) and requires that you then fight those additional battles to stay ahead of the clock so to speak. While foundries require more effort on your part, they also grant more opportunities to collect wargear (which can be trashed for exp). I haven't yet reached the point where I have 6 shrines, so I can't say how big the after-mission exp bonus is, thus I can't say which asset (shrines or foundries) grant you the biggest bang for the time investment. However, the in-game tool tip clearly states the foundries are your best bet to keeping ahead of the invasion.
So far, I have only ever had 1-2 arrays, so maybe they become much more useful if you have more. But from what I've seen so far, Communication Arrays appear to be worthless relative to the bonuses of shrines and foundries. The intel can be intuitive and sometimes info on vulnerabilities to certain weapons is negated by your lack of numbers or people who can carry those special weapons. At the Captain level of difficulty, the artillery strikes cause knockback and a little damage but are also inaccuate. They pale in comparison to Frag Grenades, and you can gather more Frags as you move through a map.
In conclusion, given what I know right now, my preference is foundries first, shrines second, arrays third.
FURY, RESILIENCE, AND SPEED
These three things come into play at the end of each mission.
- The more enemies you kill, the higher your Fury score.
- The fewer number of sergeants incapacitated, the higher your Resilience score. For example, if your FC is the only character who gets knocked out during a mission, you'll get the same Resilience score if he's knocked out once or 20 times. On the other hand, if every one of your 4 characters gets knocked out, even if it only happened 1 time during the mission, you'll get 0 points for Resilience. It's not the number of knock outs per character, it's the number of characters ever knocked out.
- The faster you complete the mission objectives, the higher your Speed score.
NOTE: These three variables also appear in your Campaign Score/Rank (where Resilience is called Savior). I think that stuff only affects GFWL achievements. Not sure.
The way I like to play is to clean every square inch of a map. Thus I usually have very high Fury scores and very low Speed scores. Resilience's relationship with Speed can go either way. If you are careful and take good care of your Sgts, you may move slowly and thus hurt your Speed score. On the other hand, if you move too fast and are careless with your squads, they'll die more, which means you'll have to spend more time running back to a reinforcement site. Therefore, I see Fury and Speed as polar opposites and Resilience as an indpendent variable. That means you can have high Fury and Resilience scores OR high Speed and Resilience scores, but you can never have high Fury and Speed scores.
In conclusion, knowing what I know right now, I focus on being thorough and careful, and I forget about speed. Not having to move quickly allows me to move more carefully, which hopefully will lead to a high Resilience score.
EXPERIENCE
There are two times when your squads gain experience. The first is when they participate in a mission and kill enemies. Only the 4 squads on the field earn exp in this way. Then, at the end of each successful mission, you get your Fury, Resilience, and Speed scores. Your Fury + Resilience + Speed scores = your bonus mission exp. Having 6 Shrines will add to this (not sure how much yet). The mission exp will be added to every squad you have, including those that stayed on the ship. I don't know if everyone gets the same mission exp (the 4 who fought may get more than the ones who stayed on the ship) but I know that even the guys on the ship get something.
Post-Mission experience is based on the medals given for Fury, Resilience, and Speed. You can get up to 5 of each, though as said above there is usually a trade-off between Fury and Speed. For the meter that decides how many additional deployments you get, 1 medal = 1 foundry, except the medal grants experience whereas the foundry does not. NOTE: If any of your Sgts. get incapacitated, you will get a max of 3 medals in Resilience. If 2 get knocked out, you get 2 medals. I'm pretty sure that if 3 or 4 get knocked out, you'll still get 1 medal. Speed works in this way too in that, no matter how long you take, you'll still get 1 medal.
+++ End Transmission +++
Please respond with revisions to the info in here. I'll try to update the OP with accurate info as it comes in.