Why This Game Intentionally Screws You Over On Excavation Missions?

[REgamesplayer]

Hello everybody.

 

I'm quite new player, I have 90 hours on this game at this point. Despite all, I feel that excavation missions, especially against infested are specifically designed to fail you. My first gripe with the game is that at wave 5 game always refuses to spawn power carriers. As the rule, they will be absent for a very long time. My second problem is that enemies ignore me and suicide on the node. This is just poor game design which results to be major point of frustration to me. Yes, game should give you a challenge, but not one which just auto-fails you. If game wishes, it could rather just take away one excavation site at random, it at least would reveal its true colors and would not add so much frustration in doing so.

 

 

Overall, it is unlikely to get fixed. Could you guys give me advise outside of playing with random clowns of how to solve this problem? Is there a warframe, weapon, equippable which would taunt enemies on me? 

[egregiousRac]

There is a maximum number of power cells at any one time. Since it takes a while to despawn them, leaving them behind when you move to a new site hurts you. This is probably why by the fifth one is causing you difficulties.

 

The nice thing about Excavation is that losing one doesn't lose you the mission. You can just drop another one and keep going.

[dendroaspis84]

I don't understand your problem. Usually we collect 2500-3000 cryos on pluto/hieracon with random guys. Isn't it enough for you?

[The_Raall]

if enemies did nothing but were after you it would not be excavation mission... that would be called survival then. you are supposed to protect those extractors.

[Autongnosis]

I don't understand your problem. Usually we collect 2500-3000 cryos on pluto/hieracon with random guys. Isn't it enough for you?

90 hours. Hardly your average Hierarcon player.

Excavation, particularly vs Infested, requires you to be a lot better equipped than other missions of the same level. That's partly to balance the fact that excavations have a way better reward/time ratio than any other mission.

What frames do you have? Weapons? From your post it's really hard to help you other than saying that when soloing you need to be really close to the extractor at all time.

[dendroaspis84]

90 hours. Hardly your average Hierarcon player.

 

???

[Autongnosis]

???

The OP has 90h of playtime.

Hierarcon is on average attended by players with a lot more playtime. Other than the odd game, i mostly get matched up with MR10+ with 500+h of playtime.

[dendroaspis84]

The OP has 90h of playtime.

Hierarcon is on average attended by players with a lot more playtime. Other than the odd game, i mostly get matched up with MR10+ with 500+h of playtime.

Oh yes, right.

[REgamesplayer]

There is a maximum number of power cells at any one time. Since it takes a while to despawn them, leaving them behind when you move to a new site hurts you. This is probably why by the fifth one is causing you difficulties.

 

The nice thing about Excavation is that losing one doesn't lose you the mission. You can just drop another one and keep going.

 

 

Thank you. Now I will know that my strategy was wrong from the very beginning. Due to shortage that I had experienced, I started to kill carriers and leave as much cells behind as possible in order to have them in abundance for then I will return.

Edited February 13, 2016 by REgamesplayer

[xiaodenden]

The enemies are suppose to attack the excavators and you and your teammates are suppose to be near the excavators to protect them and to feed them with energy. I personally don't have the problem of running out of power cores, but you and your teammates should bring power cores to the next location so you're not waiting for enemies to spawn at the new location.  If you're worried about the excavator being destroyed, use Frost to put a snow globe around it or use crowd control frames like Nyx.  Like someone already said, at least losing some excavator isn't an automatic failure so you don't need to be too stressed out it.  

[REgamesplayer]

90 hours. Hardly your average Hierarcon player.

Excavation, particularly vs Infested, requires you to be a lot better equipped than other missions of the same level. That's partly to balance the fact that excavations have a way better reward/time ratio than any other mission.

What frames do you have? Weapons? From your post it's really hard to help you other than saying that when soloing you need to be really close to the extractor at all time.

 

 

I have: Banshee, Ember, Excalibur, Mag, Nyx, Oberon, Rhino, Saryn, Trinity.

Weapons: Braton, Burston, Cernos, Drakgoon, Grakata, Karak, Latron, MK-1 Braton, Soma, Strun, Tetra.

Planning to manufacture double Grakatas just to have insane burst and Kohm just because I got its blueprint.

Secondary: Angstrum, Atomos, Bolto, Kunai,Lex, MK-1 Furis, Twin Gremlins.

Planing to make Furis soon.

Melee: Lekta, Akyros, BO, Ceramic dagger, Cronus, Dark Sword, Dual Ether, Fragor, Heat dagger, Heat Sword, Kronen, Nami Solo, Scindo, Skana.

Companions: Sahasha Krubow, Helos.

Planets: Doing Sedna and Europa (I need further navigation modules). All others are more or less cleared.

Mods: I have 320% shields, 240% extra health and 60% shield recharge for myself. For weapons I usually got with 105% for rifles and 80% for shotguns. I add similar mods to improve firing speed, impact, puncture, slash damage and etc. but this is just general guide line for that level mods I have at my disposal. 

 

In addition, I use specters to help me out, but I find them to be rather a drain on my credits. 

 

I prefer to level up my character on Earth in addition of farming neurodes. I prefer shorter bursts of waves to maximize my chances of getting one neurode and leaving for next match for basic, but hefty credit bonus to scale better. For now, they are very scarce resource for me then I have constant production of new stuff.

Edited February 13, 2016 by REgamesplayer

[REgamesplayer]

The enemies are suppose to attack the excavators and you and your teammates are suppose to be near the excavators to protect them and to feed them with energy. I personally don't have the problem of running out of power cores, but you and your teammates should bring power cores to the next location so you're not waiting for enemies to spawn at the new location.  If you're worried about the excavator being destroyed, use Frost to put a snow globe around it or use crowd control frames like Nyx.  Like someone already said, at least losing some excavator isn't an automatic failure so you don't need to be too stressed out it.  

 

 

This is the problem. I dislike random people. I have a friend to do harder missions with, but we have same problems, even him having OP melee, we still sometimes struggle to defend generator. Mobs ignore us slashing and shooting nearby and get stuck on attacking critical point. It is very frustrating to see enemies just run past you, suiciding on critical points. 

[-CdG-Zilchy]

I have: Banshee, Ember, Excalibur, Mag, Nyx, Oberon, Rhino, Saryn, Trinity.

Weapons: Lekta, Akyros, Braton, Burston, Cernos, Drakgoon, Grakata, Karak, Latron, MK-1 Braton, Soma, Strun, Tetra.

Planning to manufacture double Grakatas just to have insane burst and Kohm just because I got its blueprint.

Secondary: Angstrum, Atomos, Bolto, Kunai,Lex, MK-1 Furis, Twin Gremlins.

Planing to make Furis soon.

Melee: BO, Ceramic dagger, Cronus, Dark Sword, Dual Ether, Fragor, Heat dagger, Heat Sword, Kronen, Nami Solo, Scindo, Skana.

Companions: Sahasha Krubow, Helos.

Planets: Doing Sedna and Europa. All others are more or less cleared.

Mods: I have 320% shields, 240% extra health and 60% shield recharge for myself. For weapons I usually got with 105% for rifles and 80% for shotguns. I add similar mods to improve firing speed, impact, puncture, slash damage and etc. but this is just general guide line for that level mods I have at my disposal.

In addition, I use specters to help me out, but I find them to be rather a drain on my credits.

I prefer to level up my character on Earth in addition of farming neurodes. I prefer shorter bursts of waves to maximize my chances of getting one neurode and leaving for next match in order to for basic bonus to scale better.

You should try to get a stronger primary. I recommend the Hek and get the Syndicate Augment Scattered Justice.

[SaturnKnight]

This is the problem. I dislike random people. I have a friend to do harder missions with, but we have same problems, even him having OP melee, we still sometimes struggle to defend generator. Mobs ignore us slashing and shooting nearby and get stuck on attacking critical point. It is very frustrating to see enemies just run past you, suiciding on critical points. 

 

Much of the more difficult content depends upon crowd control. You need a way to protect the excavators, not just attack nearby enemies. Vauban is my go to frame for infested defense and excavation. Since he is difficult to acquire you may want to try Frost. With the augment for his bubble it will slow, and possibly freeze in place, enemies that come into melee range of the excavator.

[REgamesplayer]

I could manufacture this weapon today, but it has low magazine size and quite long reload. Weapon damage for me is not a problem, I level up Drakgoon now and it takes lesser mobs with one hit and bigger ones with few. The problem is then I miss or then I need to reload. Downtime is the main problem to my dps, not that it is low. 

[REgamesplayer]

Much of the more difficult content depends upon crowd control. You need a way to protect the excavators, not just attack nearby enemies. Vauban is my go to frame for infested defense and excavation. Since he is difficult to acquire you may want to try Frost. With the augment for his bubble it will slow, and possibly freeze in place, enemies that come into melee range of the excavator.

 

Vauban seems as an awesome concept. You motivated me to rush through the planets in order to be able to respond to alerts. Yes, I could farm Nova quite soon. Was actually progressing to this boss right now.

[dendroaspis84]

Vauban seems as an awesome concept. You motivated me to rush through the planets in order to be able to respond to alerts. Yes, I could farm Nova quite soon. Was actually progressing to this boss right now.

Yep, Vauban is God of Dark Sector. Best warframe against Infested.

[Sloan441]

Have to bring the right tools for the job.

 

Just ran a 4000+ excavation on Hieracon last night. This was a PuG (at least from my perspective--I just joined in). It got hairy (to put it mildly), but it also got done. NyxP, two VoltPs, and an EmberP, covered the bases reasonably well.

[xiaodenden]

This is the problem. I dislike random people. I have a friend to do harder missions with, but we have same problems, even him having OP melee, we still sometimes struggle to defend generator. Mobs ignore us slashing and shooting nearby and get stuck on attacking critical point. It is very frustrating to see enemies just run past you, suiciding on critical points. 

 

I hear you about playing random people.  It's always a gamble.  Some are great and others are terrible, but thank goodness most of the time you won't see them again if they are terrible.

 

Like someone said, you probably need better weapons (and leveled damage mods) to deal with the swarm of enemies.  I like Ignis or Amprex because they have a huge range, don't require too much accuracy, and can clear large groups quickly, but they do need a bunch of forma to reach their full potential.  Atomos + Ruinous Extension or Sonicor are really good secondary to hit a bunch of enemies without too precise aiming so can shoot from the hips when enemies are overwhelming you or the excavator.  You should also consider melee weapons that can hit multiple enemies at once and has wide reach.  Orthos and Atterax are good choices.  I see you already have a Soma; build for crit and you're ready to go.

 

Oh yes, Vauban is great against infested, but it's annoying that his parts are alert only rewards. As I mentioned Frost or Nyx works very well in excavation missions, but looking at your list, I think Banshee could work well for you.  Her sonic boom is a cheap, quick crowd control that can knock back enemies.  Her sonar is an awesome damage multiplier so you can take down the enemies more quickly. Her 3 and 4 are also good crowd controls.  Excalibur also could work if you use his radial blind to blind the enemies and use exalted blades to clear out enemies.  I also recommend Loki with the augment mod Irradiating Disarm and built for range and efficiency.  If the enemies are confused, they won't be attacking you or your excavators.

[ClinkzEastwood]

You solo? If you solo excavation in this game it's like you pointing your rear up and ask DE to put their red hot pointy stick inside you until you bleed.

Mostly because enemy spawn is lowered if you solo.

Also try to farm a frost to defend excavators.

Edited February 13, 2016 by ClinkzEastwood

[REgamesplayer]

You solo? If you solo excavation in this game it's like you pointing your rear up and ask DE to put their red hot pointy stick inside you until you bleed.

Mostly because enemy spawn is lowered if you solo.

Also try to farm a frost to defend excavators.

 

Well, I'm yet to hit grind wall. Everything in this game is achieved so quickly, I'm spoiled for choice, but do not have enough time to hit mastery ranks with everything. Only high level mods are getting to be little bit grindy, but I'm yet to get to that stage. Just upgrading secondary mods and farming more weapons before high level content.

[dendroaspis84]

Have to bring the right tools for the job.

 

Just ran a 4000+ excavation on Hieracon last night. This was a PuG (at least from my perspective--I just joined in). It got hairy (to put it mildly), but it also got done. NyxP, two VoltPs, and an EmberP, covered the bases reasonably well.

Nice, we (with random guys) yesterday also had tough time on Hieracon, extracted 5000+ cryos with Vauban(me), Frost, Banshee, Nova Prime.

286 level enemies

 

5136 Cryos

 

Team of Vauban, Frost, Banshee, Nova Prime

Edited February 13, 2016 by dendroaspis84

[REgamesplayer]

Yup, excavation missions are inherently broken at least in some cases. Right now I soloed a simple mission, except that on first freaking generator no power cells spawned! I waited and waited and nothing! Mobs seemed to get stuck deep in the map or something. Then they spawned, they @(*()$ completely ignored me and went for generator, making mission impossible. Sigh, thought and effort put in for solo players in this game is absent. I hate this game due to similar frustations then game spawns several boses on wave 5 like 2 Brumas and auto fails you out of your all loot and wasted a lot of your time.

[dendroaspis84]

Yup, excavation missions are inherently broken at least in some cases. Right now I soloed a simple mission, except that on first freaking generator no power cells spawned! I waited and waited and nothing! Mobs seemed to get stuck deep in the map or something. Then they spawned, they @(*()$ completely ignored me and went for generator, making mission impossible. Sigh, thought and effort put in for solo players in this game is absent. I hate this game due to similar frustations then game spawns several boses on wave 5 like 2 Brumas and auto fails you out of your all loot and wasted a lot of your time.

This game is intended for coop, not solo. You never have power cells problem when you play with team. I don't understand why some people play this game solo. It's like to play CS GO with bots.

Edited February 14, 2016 by dendroaspis84

[REgamesplayer]

Yup, this game just did it again. Solo due to poor programming is nearly impossible on some missions since no matter how you treat power carriers, they will not spawn at 5'th wave for a few minutes. Now I just ignore them and let them shoot me in order to lure them to next dig site and yet I have the same problem. In addition, as I told before, code is not here to support solo players. One person simply cannot cover a point well enough then everybody goes past you to kill excavator. 

[REgamesplayer]

This game is intended for coop, not solo. You never have power cells problem when you play with team. I don't understand why some people play this game solo. It's like to play CS GO with bots.

 

It is a loss for developers actually. Significant part of players prefer single player gameplay. I avoid multiplayer aspect due to these reasons:

1) I want to move at my own pace. Especially at the start of the game then I wanted to appreciate levels, train my marksmanship skills, go for stealth gameplay. I do not need random dude rushing through the level, breaking all the immersion I have with a game;

2) Player base are either mute or toxic. I have no ways to communicate with them or they will start insulting me and others around them. It is far more enjoyable to have select few with whom to play than to rely on random people;

3) Surprisingly I found missions easier or more interesting alone than in multi. The problem is that high level player will be thrown or game will scale poorly and we will rolf stomp everything. That is simply not fun. Sometimes they are so terrible that same mission is actually easier alone...

4) I hate loot rushing, people competing for containers and drops;

5) No players for lvling up. I do random missions on the planets and low level grinds in order to level up my multiple characters and huge arsenal of weapons. I level up Braton now and soon will move up to Soma. After that, I will level up them on planet missions. You see, I like to gather weapons and to compare them. I love to master them and to try as many combinations as possible. I love to experiment, but that is only ruined by multiplayer. Sometimes and often there is simply no players on your specific tile and if they are, it's just harder to evaluate your new combos in the party.

6) I'm a player who found battletoads to be okey game and not too hard at all. I was here from the beginning and I love good and fair challenge and I see soloing as the best way to do that. Multiplayer outside poor score screen afterwards simply just not correspond to my mentality properly thus I prefer old way in which I'm used to play.

7) If I have little time in a day to play a video game, I prefer sometimes which would more or less is guaranteed to be enjoyable. After League of Legends, I avoid multiplayer games if I have an hour or two to play it after long day.

Edited February 14, 2016 by REgamesplayer