Solo Extinction Class

[83457]

Edit: down below I'm working on teaching you to solo poc for wins/teeth (later post in this thread).

This is for poc, as each map will have different requirements.

First the class, then the why.

Name: The No-Doubt Loadout; take this class on poc solo and you will win.

Class: Tank (yes, medic is best)

Pistol Type: Magnum

Ammo Type: Explosive. (pistol ark if you have it)

Team Support: (was boosters) grenades.

Strike Package: Sentry Gun

Equalizer: Crowd Control

Relic: Pistol Only

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Why Tank? Solo, only 1 point is required in Tank to be able to stab Scouts dead in 1 hit. That saves ammo, your health, time, reduces chance to be overwhelmed. The majority of enemies in the game (area 1+2-technically, about half of the total creatures) go down in 1 stab. Plus you get a 25% health bonus. Later in the game, max this class out for double health and extra stab damage; remember, we otherwise only have a pistol (now grenades too). The best is medic; while you will take more damage having to 2-stab honey dogs, your life comes back quicker and the (tooth unlocked) medic upgrade is the best of the classes (imo).

Why Magnum? Because of the damage it does and the low ammo use. Only 1 point gives it muzzle brake (or pistol ark) and increased speed, which also seems to affect drill-carrying speed. That second skill point gives a 9 round magazine (and corresponding extra reserve ammo; 108-162). Ammo use is so low that ammo is the last thing to build up.

Why Explosive? Best damage per shot + splash damage. It's simply the best ammo. If you have the 'start with an extra $1000', buy ammo at the start of game. That way, as you scavenge, usually all of the specialty ammo that you find will be explosive a long as you have some in your gun. (now using pistol ark/upgraded armor piercing since the damage is increased).

Why grenades (booster removed)? Even early, those couple of Semtex can help when the drill is overwhelmed. Late game, the 5 bouncing betties do more for me than reloading faster and give me something reliable/useful to dump excess money on. You can only have 5 down at once, but you can immediately buy 5 more for reserve, which will be needed soon enough. Drop 2 at a time next to sentries/drill versus Hunters.

Why Sentry Gun? Well, we all need a little firepower sometimes and it is one of the very few items to earn back the money spent on it. Since the class doesn't need much points, you can build these up to 2 (do that immediately for an easy game). Once you are familiar with winning solo, you can do it without these, but i recommend getting them unlocked and using them until you get better. Basically, put them in the open, more or less facing each other and be sure to cover all of the pertinent approaches to your current hive (this knowledge will come over time). If you don't have it unlocked, try the portable turret (max it, but at first, even 2 points in it makes it possibly make it's money back). Possibly use ims with 1 point in it to watch your back (though sentry is still a better choice). Jump off it and stab the cryptids that assault you (or to avoid scorpion gas), jump back on it. Double tap x to move it/realign it.

Why Crowd Control (shield)? Cheap, keeps you alive, kills in a pinch (packs a wallop), requires no skill points (build up late in the game since ammo needs no points). If you only start with $500, buy this early instead of ammo. This really helps on the run back to start after the nuke is activated (tooth bought 'no snare' could help if you don't use the shield, but the shield also protects against a lot of damage).

Why Pistols Only Relic? Well, we are using stabs mostly and have a great weapon in the Magnum. Most games, i use the pistol most anyway. It gets rid of all other gun challenges in game, no having to spend 3k on a gun that you don't want, with points that you didn't want to spend, buying ammo that won't last long enough (and requiring skill points in ammo) just to get 1 skill point awarded to you. Plus, since we were using pistols anyway, we just get extra experience for the relic and it ends up being more of a boon than a drawback.

Skill points: option 1: easy mode; first point in tank for the easy stabs since only honey dogs (scouts) show up, then put 7 in sentry. Then 2 in pistol, then max tank, then grenades, then shield.

Pistol only needs 2 points, ammo needs 0 points.

Option 2: better player, more interactive; first 1 in tank, 2 in pistol, then build up sentry gun to at least +3. Then, work on tank, sg, grenades. You could replace the shield (crowd control) with the portable turret, build that up late for help with the last hives. Generally the automated sentries are better in solo, doing the work while you basically protect them, but the portable sentry kills Rhinos extremely fast and (depending on skill) should be much more accurate. And, late game, you can always drop 2 sentries and watch them from your portable turret. I would suggest the no-snare upgrade if you have no shield for the home run.

Money: buy shield when needed, even use it to bash to get rid of an old 1, get a new 1. Buy ammo if out or maxed money. Set up existing sentries at the next hive, but don't buy new ones until you see the challenge at the start of round.

This class is easy on skill points and money, yet strong enough to get somewhere.

Good luck, happy gaming.

Edited September 7, 2014 by 83457

[vinnievu115]

Interesting loadout. I think on Point of Contact and Nightfall, I would say switch Tank to Weapon Specialist for the Speed Reload at +3 and I might keep the others as is. Just my opinion though, since armor and the shield already has your health protected.

 

For Mayday, maybe switch Tank to Engineer, since the drill becomes really important as it is used so often in that map, and a bigger wallet can store more cash to deploy more Sentry Guns.

 

For pistols, I always use the MP-443 Grach, as I love automatic guns, even though it's not an automatic pistol in multiplayer (I wish it was). For relics, I don't know, I don't really want to use relics unless I'm going to play in a co-op game.

Edited May 9, 2014 by vinnievu115

[83457]

Thanks fur the feedback as i don't really know what I'm doing.

The pistol relic actually helped by getting rid of the other gun challenges, which saves money.

A lot of folk suggest the auto pistol. I was surprised at how well i could do using the magnum, it is easier than expected.

[83457]

Well, I picked up a solo poc platinum win. (I don't play much extinction).

It was pretty much this class except that the shield is so crappy and points intensive and just not worth it solo on tank. I used team explosives, and while that seems really crappy without launchers, the couple of Semtex really helped save the drill/clear out a crowd once in a rare while; when i had nothing better to spend $ on, i threw out a couple Semtex for cheap.

The main tricks: tank + 1 skill point = 1 stab scouts, others go down easier. (Tank also starts with a flare, by far the easiest solo class).

2 sentries: set about 20 feet apart, facing each other. At least one faces the hive. Guard them, they guard you. This is key.

Upgrades that i recommend

Tank (though i didn't have it yet).

Damage upgrade 5%. Matters in solo/magnum use.

Sentry armor. An absolute must in solo, good in mp.

Start with a skill point. Just plain helps.

Heal quicker. Negligible, but i had it on.

Skill points;

What i did: 1 on tank, 2 in sentry, decided to farm so dropped 2 in magnum for faster movement/longer range/9 shots. Then went back to hives, finished sentry gun, finished tank. Then some in ammo then shield.

What i recommend: 1 in tank, 7 in sentry (max), then work on tank/everything else.

Pistol only relic keeps away the annoying gun challenges. Works so much more efficiently (plus faster movement) than any of the automatic weapons anyway and doesn't have their greed for ammo, so ammo didn't need to be built up. Plus, since one isn't scavenging for attachments, one scavenges for money and regular ammo (and hypno knives/flares/SOFLAM).

Happy gaming solo!

Edited August 22, 2014 by 83457

[thedinobot]

This is the class setup I use on solo PoC, you can run 4-6 relics easy and get fast teeth if you want to grind:

 

Class: Medic - (make sure you have the medic upgrade from the armory) because with the relics you'll be running it will make the scorpion gas extremely annoying and having this will save you.

 

Pistol Type - MP-443 Grach Pistol has always been my favorite, but that or the Magnum would be best. Whichever you're better with since you'll have on Pistols Only.

 

Ammo Type - the default ammo. I say this because you really won't be using much ammo and this type refills more of your ammo than the rest. Limited Ammo relic makes this one better in my opinion.

 

Team Support - Armor by far is the best one to have, but if you could also throw on Feral and throw on the Stand Your Ground relic

 

Strike Package - Sentry Gun or IMS. Personally I love the IMS, but both are extremely helpful here though. You can place two sentry guns but they can be pretty costly. IMS is just 1250 and really packs a punch. 

 

Equalizer - Riot Shield or Grenade Turret. This one just depends on which you feel more comfortable with. Grenade Turrent is really easy to use and has 30 grenades for just 1000 (maybe 1100). That is extremely cheap and does a lot of damage. If you use the grenade turret, IMS works well with this one as you can place it a few feet behind you to protect your back. You could also have two sentry guns on each side of your turret to protect you while you protect them. Riot Shield is great when you're trying to regain health and will take multiple hits for you (really helps with Rhinos, especially if you have the fire shield). 

 

Relics used with this setup - Take More Damage - Pistols Only - Fragile - Do Less Damage - Limited Ammo

Ones you can use are - Stand Your Ground (really only recommended if you have Feral) - Smaller Wallet

 

This is an easy setup to use and also get easy teeth if you want to try and get more on solo.

Edited September 5, 2014 by thedinobot

[83457]

Wow thanks. Some of those are ideas that I've contemplated. I've picked up several solo escapes now, but always just 1 relic.

I've escaped poc with each class, team support has evolved to using boosters; you don't need them until late game when you'll finally have the skill points to build them up, then they are life-saving.

I did the engineer/traps/grenade turret win.

I guess the weapons specialist ability is best with primaries? It was rather negligible using pistol only. The worst of the abilities for solo/pistol. This class, just missed platinum. The others were all platinum.

The medic ability is by far the best.

I use Tank solo most often simply due to the 1 hit melee of scouts.

Point on 'start with an extra 1000'/solo/pistol only; buy explosive ammo at start. Then, as you scavenge early (which you do since you won't need attachments), the game will give you explosive ammo pick ups for the 'specialized weapon ammo' search piles. No more random incendiary (if you're lucky), armor piercing, nor stun.

[83457]

Soloing for teeth on poc tutorial; A win generates 6-14 teeth in solo and a fast game is about an hour. Maybe your sick of randoms, maybe they fail to win too often, maybe it's hard to get 4 friends on the same game system, maybe you're more obsessive than your fellow Extinctioneers...whatever the reason, you are ready to solo some poc for teeth.

Well, I've done at least 50 solo wins, rarely use the special ability, rarely go down. So I'm offering up my methods.

This is not a fun or challenging class/strategy, this is all about grinding teeth easily.

Class: medic or tank. Medic is definitely best: moves fastest, becomes immune to gas clouds, heals fastest, longest run, and (t15 upgrade) can instantly heal yourself.

Tank is amazing for the first half of the game: 1-stabbing all of the scouts, having double life. Stab/Shield hits super hard (max tank; shield is 400% of a non-tank-players' stab). His ability can easily save your life in a pinch. On the drill; run to drill, hold x to fix first, then double tap up to be invincible. Otherwise, if you do the double tap part first, there is a second or 2 when you cannot fix the drill despite holding x.

If you can't make it past the first barrier hive solo, try Tank until you build confidence, but Medic will definitely be best in the end game. On top of the existing reasons, medic can also hurry through the game (hurry up offense) after each barrier hive. While you could do this with other classes, for an easy win it is best to shuffle the plethora of flares and any found trophy systems toward the end hives: having flares and trophies will help get your non-medic through the end game, but will add about a half-hour of mindless tedium to the game.

Flare/trophy shuffle (for non medics); take trophies from the motel area, move them near the next barrier hive, but out of the way, so they don't get used. Go to motel area, grab a flare, search the town area for a trophy, swap, move the trophy near the barrier hive, but out of combat. Move any motel flares to the town, trade for trophies/hypno-knives (throw the knives away if needed, they aren't that valuable at all). You want to leave a flare on the ground in town, where you can grab it as you run back to start at the end. The rest, try to shuffle them the same way up to the last area after you beat the town barrier hive. Then you have emergency flares in the crater area and should (hopefully) have 3 trophies spread out on hive 14. Be sure to leave 1 trophy just after the motel barrier hive, by the army vehicle for the run home; there are always scorpions squirting you there while you battle the rhino. So, throwing that left-behind flare and having that trophy make for an easy platinum (the flares and trophies will last all game).

So we want to try to stick to medic to reduce the need for flares/trophies so we can just run through the game quickly. It is still smart as medic to know where a flare or 2 are as you run back through town to keep your beatings to a minimum. Then simply make sure to carry a flare with you as you progress through the game, it saves you, it may help with challenges.

Yeah, there will be a lot to say. I'm quite verbose.

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Class build: sentry gun baby-sitter.

Recommend teeth upgrades for this: pistol ark (works without it) 125 teeth.

Sentry armor (they must be protected, it works very well and is only 5 teeth).

Start with a skill point. Buy this first if you don't have it yet. 20 teeth.

Medic (or tank) special skill will help if the need arises, but i rarely need it solo (I'm not bragging, I'm saying that if this old, half-blind freak can do it, so can you). 15 teeth.

Medic: build up class in Town (7 sp). We discussed class above. Use tank if you keep tanking (pun intended) until you get better.

Start as tank: 1 sp in tank

Start as medic: 1 sp in pistol.

Magnum: 2 skill points between motel/town area if possible. The first gets you the muzzle brake (ark attachment if you have it) and faster movement. The second gives you 9 shots, increases stock ammo count from 108 to 162. Gun is powerful, saves ammo (no whining, just use it). If you are constrained on points, do put 2 total in pistol during town, wait on the final class points.

Explosive ammo: 0 sp until like hive 13/14 when you have nothing better to do with them.

Team support: 5 sp, after sentry and class are maxed and pistol has 2 sp in it.

Medic; grenades are best, followed by fast hands booster. Fast hands is very tempting, but your class is 'sentry gun babysitter' and late game grenades will be vitally important. Reloading your measly pistol weighs in lower than having 5 bouncing betties as you run to throw the trap on over and over on hive 14. Hunters are douchebags that crawl out of the ground onto your sentries. Grenades are better and while you can scavenge a decent amount during the game, it just won't help in the end. These protect your sentries, the drill, you while fixing the drill/setting up sentries. They help babysit while you run to complete a challenge; remember everytime that you turn your back, a hunter will take that chance to use your guns as a chew-toy. You will run out of cash if you fail your primary babysitting role. Also, grenades are consumable when you need to spend money; you can buy a set, throw them down, buy a new set for inventory (5 max total Claymores/bbs on the ground at once). Early game, even Semtex is useful, rather than holding max money. You can gather a set of 5, then trade then for found grenades, leaving little pockets of grenades to grab when/if convenient.

Tank: grenades or fast hands or feral instincts. Same argument for grenades. Feral will get his slow ass in gear for the end, help him heal faster, and he will stab/bash 20% faster. Speed hands is always nice, but probably 3rd place here.

Sentry gun; 7 sp by first barrier hive. You knew that. They do lots of work, last a while, and earn more than they cost; this is key. Only a couple things earn back their money and none with the proficiency of the sg. Later, play whatever hard/challenging class you want, but this thread is about cake-walking a sentry win for teeth. After an initial point in class (tank) or pistol (medic) dump the next 7 here. Set them down so they watch each other and you and the hive and then watch over them. This is your main job, followed closely by 'complete challenges'. Hive by hive sentry placement later in this post.

Crowd control (riot shield): late game, if the challenges have been kind, feel free to squeeze an sp or 2 into this (especially tank). Maybe mix building this up along with grenades at the last hives, depending on how much you get hit (i usually buy 2-4 shields per game, no point building it up if I won't be buying a new one anyway).

Pistol only relic: keeps away some challenges, saves money/ammo and winning with a Relic earns a tooth.

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Challenges: if you get all 12, that's +4 teeth if you escape. If you get 10, you get 2 teeth on the spot regardless of the win. That's 6 bonus teeth for a flawless win on top of others earned.

That being said, some challenges are easy, some are quite...the challenge.

Kill the leper in 30 seconds: run from your set up to the other side of the map for a craptid that often runs outside the map and hides behind stuff. He usually ignores flares even if you throw them at him. He does die easily to Semtex at least. Sentry kill fails the challenge, be careful.

Kill 3 craptid in the air: and hope the game counts them. Annoying challenge, kills, in the air, over my head, don't register often. Bah. Watch for them to jump, hope for the best. Electric fences often work wonders, sentry kills don't count.

Prone kills: sentry doesn't count. Ark attachment liquified them so the corpses don't block your view. Set sentry to watch the drill, you lay, forming a triangle with them. Shoot them off of your sg and drill.

Accuracy at xx%: motel; wait for the first honey dog to hop on the drill, kill him. Set sentry, stab your sentry attackers.

Town/crater: here you can basically do the same, but this is one extremely glitched-out statistic; you can land shots and have the numbers go down. You can be at 2 hits, 2 misses (50%) and your next shoot brings it to 100% which is nonsensical. My friend and i (split screen) watched as the numbers randomly changed while we stood there not moving. Let the sentries do the work, try to avoid any shooting beyond the first shot to 100%. The mounted sentry turret will count, so don't use it. Carefully place shots on Hunters attacking your sentries/drill/you.

Kills with traps: motel; fire up the fence, run through it.

Town; middle alley, use that trap, stand in that alley. Or use the 2 by the barrier hive. Motel and town are easy. The cabin/crater area is very hard to get this; many big dudes with more hit points than earlier who rarely go anywhere near the traps at all. Best bet so far is to activate the fire trap and try to run seekers/scouts through it (use flare or grenades to keep control of the game while you do this. Honestly, this is the one that i fail the most.

Glitch: trying to call in a sentry gun while i had 2 gives the 'you have too many turrets' massage. I did that at the start of the round when it was going to show the challenge and it never gave me a challenge (or it didn't show on screen nor tell me that it failed). Watch out for that. I occasionally do that to check if my other sentry was still alive, this time it cost me.

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Hive sentry placement (some challenge info):

Start: you are in a 1 pseudo-barrier hive area. Put start point in pistol (1 in class for tank).

Challenges: melee only-easy enough. Or take no damage; if you have 'start with extra $1000', buy explosive ammo (shield is useless, they usually hit you through it at start). With ark attachment, this is even easier, but basically keep shooting the drill attackers before more come, watch for the ones that appear to be set on coming after you. Throw a flare if you have (tank) one or scavenge (medic) one, if needed. If you fail this, start over as you can only fail 2 without losing the '10 challenge' teeth.

Put 2 skill points in sg.

Motel area: 5 possible hive areas, 3 will be hives before the barrier hive. Immediately search the hive-free areas for trophies/flares, ammo, take any special ammo (if you bought explosive, most of these should be explosive if not regular ammo clips). You tend to get lots of the same (up to 3) items, like all flares/ammo/specialty ammo, or soflams/Semtex/cash. This happens for each of the 3 areas, expect to see the same stuff in each area, sometimes through all 3 areas. Great when it's flares and trophies, sucks when it's cash and ammo as these will not be in need.

Try to do the most annoying hives in any area first as there will be less enemies, so less stress.

I would do the 'middle' hive (parking lot of motel) or Lopez hive (in the middle of Lopez Road [this is this road's name according to the street sign in town]) as they are the most annoying to defend.

Middle hive: the second hive is always the 75% accuracy challenge. Wait for the scout to hop on the drill, shoot it, go left under the overhang by the propane tank/water barrel, set a sentry to watch the drill/fence. Stab or carefully shoot the sg attackers. I hate this hive most, so i do it first.

Lopez hive: may be pistols, traps, prone, turrets, propane, leper. Most should be easy enough. Set your lone sentry to the left of the hive, between the hive-pink and the barrier with barbed-wire, so it watches the drill. Go to the other side of the drill and watch both.

Corner hive (behind motel): often in-air challenge; shoot them as they jump off of the ledge or roof above, place sentry so it faces back towards start. May be pistol only, don't reload, possibly others. Keep turning to check drill/sg.

Sign hive: by the start hive, this is quite easy to defend. Put a sentry on the start hive, pointing up Lopez Road and watching the hive. If you get prone kills/pistol kills, move the sentry onto Lopez, facing back towards the hive. Form a triangle of you/sg/drill and shoot them off of the drill/sg, while the sg covers you. When done, put the sentry on hive 1 again.

Tree hive (for lack of a better term, it is the only one to the right of the road, has some trees around it). Sentry in the back alcove, but not way back; give it room to see every approach to the area. Various challenges, use the previously mentioned tips.

Barrier hive (no challenge): go to the yellow sign that points left. Get behind it, aim your sentry so it sees the rock on the right, motel office ahead, lol sign to it's left. If you're good on cash as you should be, drop one out about 20 feet, watching down Lopez and the cliff above the tree hive. Watch your guns for honey dogs. Always listen to the helicopter guy (ghost squad from Safeguard); he will whine when a scorpion hits him. Make sure to stop the scorpion from doing so. As long as you damage a scorpion, he will move from his location, so don't waste long-distance shots trying to kill him, just wound him and let him move into the kill zones (the sentry won't shoot through the tree tops or get him on the reverse side of the sign, that is your only other job. So be aware of scorpions that aren't getting sg'd and watch your sgs for scouts. Pretty easy and fast in solo.

After hive: spend down to under $3000, take the money box.

Now you have unlimited time until you start the next hive. You may kill the rhino (if it's there), but otherwise it will go away if you don't shoot it (sg doesn't count) with your pistol.

Bathroom/food/smoke/whatever time if needed.

As medic, you may take your sg(s) and continue or let them die as you search and move trophies/flares. Have no fear, your new sentries will earn their money back if you let the old ones time out (mp tip: hold your sentry while others do stuff to keep them from timing out during this period if you're not doing anything else).

Best case: you have 10 skill points (start with sp: 20t upgrade). 7 in sg, 2 in pistol, 1 in class (whether tank or medic).

9= 7 in sg, 2 in pistol (medic) or 1 class/1 pistol (tank).

8= 7 in sg, 1 in pistol/class (medic/tank).

7 or less: try to get that sentry finished at the next hive, try to do better in the future (what can i say? You want to get challenges, sometimes they just screw you). If you're sucking this bad just take it as practice and work on your weak areas). I couldn't win this crap solo at first either. Only by trying will you succeed until it's easy.

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Town area: 4 possible locations, 3 hives. I hate the middle hive here too and will always do it first. If it isn't there, i simply do them in the closest order, making my way across the map, ending at the barrier hive. That reduces the 'move sg time (always move sgs, then drill)'. Search areas without hives (even if doing the hurry-medic strategy) then search the area around hives as you play them. If you are familiar with this area, just search everything quickly. Try to set up that flare next to the barrier hive (there's even often 1-2 spots on the other side of it after you beat it, check those), or in the middle alley by the trap, or just outside that by the steps (near lsat) for the run to start at the end (and try to drop that trophy just past the first barrier hive for the scorpion/rhino fight so you don't miss the meteor drop/platinum run to start).

Middle hive: looking at the hive, go left to the truck with the yellow fire hydrant behind it. (If applicable: grab a sentry and) Get on the yellow hydrant, jump to the rear of the truck (there is a ledge), jump to climb up. Set 1 sentry in the rear, facing the corner of the building to watch down Lopez, the hive, the roofs. Set the other towards the front (while still on top of the back of the truck, not on the cab) to watch across Main Street (where the barrier hive is) and the wall to your right. Most of the challenges can be done up here as you will get lots of scouts jumping up (landing in the back corner almost exclusively) to stab, shoot, et cetera. May be spend $6000. If you get 'trap' challenge, simply go to the middle alley and stand there with the trap on (not quite in the trap of course) as that works best and the sentries won't shoot the beasties coming from the back area. If you don't have sentries yet, do this challenge first and then set up on the truck. If you get 'don't spend money/don't use abilities, immediately drop 2 sentries before the 10 second timer is up. If you don't have the skill to easily get your guns up top on the truck; instead, set one facing the drill, set the other in the opening of the alley between buildings, by the hive. Turn on the trap and stay with your other gun, watch the drill/sg. Use the 2 traps between you and the barrier hive as well. Always shoot scorpions.

Town Lopez hive: this is the first one that you come to after the motel barrier hive. None come from the motel area, occasionally a scorpion will come over the building to the left of the hive if you look at the hive from across the street. Rarely, a hunter may come over the building across from the hive, but this usually only happens if you set a sentry too far back in that white alcove (area with dumpsters). So, set 1 sentry in the road to watch down Lopez and see down the alley to it's left somewhat. Set the other sentry slightly back in the large (white building side) alcove to watch down the alley, barely see the drill, and your other sentry. Often it's melee scouts challenge; feel confident in leaving your sentries to run down Lopez and stab some. If it is 'traps' run to that middle alley (hit the fire trap too if you want) and turn in the electric alley trap and stand in the alley, by the boxes, run through the fence opening if needed and back. Often propane kills.

Back hive (the one down the alley from the Town Lopez hive, by the electric trap and the mounted-on-the-wall turret). Go to the far back corner (white wall with vines) and set one sentry between the vine spots so that it sees down the alley towards the Lopez hive area, the drill (barely), the roof, and across the whole back fence area. Walk the fence to the burning barrel. Stand in the corner made by barrel/dumpster and line up the golden, upwards-pointing sg barrel of the next sg with the church steeple, drop it. It will watch the drill, roofs, other sg. Some seekers will come through the fence here (rare hunter action). Go stand by the first sg. Often spend $6000. Seeker damage (Semtex is good, watch the ones that come through the fence). Don't spend/use abilities (drop sentries fast, then move into place).

At the end, move the vine sentry slightly to the corner to have it protect itself better against stragglers, move the other sentry to the next hive first.

Church hive (end of Main street by garage door): one sentry in the corner moved out slightly to see down sidewalk past the barrier hive. The other out just past the $750 mounted turret, in the street slightly to keep it out of the other sentries view down the sidewalk. It faces straight down that alley and covers the hive and the truck next to the hive (where scorpions go). May be stab scouts. Spend/don't spend money/abilities. In air. Use traps. It is rare to get the leper challenge in town, sucks if you do.

Barrier hive: one sentry by the electric trap wall, facing the barrier hive just enough to see the left wall behind it, aimed more towards the corner/purple awning. The other more or less in front of the hive, facing the first sg, the roofs. Use the electric traps (there is one on either side of that opening) constantly as they are cheap and very effective. Listen to ghost squad when he whines; hurry the scorpions, get them to move into the danger zone (yes, i just said that in my head like Archer).

Just do this: watch sentries, listen for scorpions that aren't getting their proper beatdown (and remedy that without running away-Semtex the roof guys that are out of sg view), and keep the traps on. Use a flare if shit gets crazy. Always know where a nearby one is if possible. Use excess soflams on hive or beasties, use propane tanks to speed up the hive destruction if you feel like it.

Propane tip (any drill hive): these can always be thrown by the drill for a quick multi-kill when getting overwhelmed, run the ones chasing you past the drill (and the guys attacking the drill) then turn and shoot it. You can even carry some to the last area if you feel like wasting a lot of time on the flare/trophy/propane shuffle between barrier hives and the next area.

After the hive, spend down below $3000, grab the money. Fight the rhinos if you want. Search the spot or 2 past the hive. Either hurry up or do the shuffle.

Bathroom/food/smoke time. Unlimited time. Sentries will time out if not held.

---

Cabin/Crater area: here it gets nastier. They are meaner and more numerous, but it is solo, so not too too hard.

Rhino: on hives 10, 12, 14 just past the halfway point. I think that they give $1300 solo iirc.

Hunters: their a-hole level is maxed; sneaking in windows, crawling out of the ground behind your sentry, taking the back door route to your sentries and you. Any time you move from your sentries, more often than not, these guys will magically appear on your sentry guns. Shoot them constantly, have your sentries watching each other.

Hives: there are 5 hives. Hive 14, the big one on the edge of the crater, in the muddy grassless area, is the last hive. You can't do it until the end. It is a pseudo-barrier hive like hive 1; it has a challenge and gives unlimited time after it is beat.

The Fence hive has 2 locations along the fence. The other hives are always in the same places.

Okay, you just finished the trophy/flare shuffle or just came up the road in a mad dash for the finish line, so you pass under the connecting footbridge and near the Cellar hive...

Cellar hive: (it blocks a cellar door where there is a helicopter laptop that you can stupidly waste money on if you like spending money for crap; $3000s/6000mp. There is one on the roof in town that is the same useless thing). It calls in an attack helicopter for a few seconds.

This hive, coming from under the footbridge, place a sentry by the left wall, just before the hive. Face it out at the fire trap. It sees the drill on it's left, the path ahead, the building up and right. Go back under the footbridge to the fence by the octo-tree, turn around and set a sentry facing the right wall under the footbridge. It sees the drill/sg, the bridge, the building to the right (scorpions on the roof). Stay by the fence if possible. Watch for Hunters/scouts on this sg (the other will be fine). Watch for scorpions on the left roof, the fence sort of blocks them but not good enough. Occasional meteor behind you on the dirt road.

May be leper; likely behind the Barn (upstairs hive) sitting where you can't see him, if you look behind the barn, he climbs up.

May be spend/don't spend.

May be knife scorpion.

May be no seeker damage: just watch for the one behind you. Watch for where the others land and put distance between you (and keep an eye on that second sg). Use grenades.

Rhino just past the halfway point is usually barely noticed. Stand under the footbridge (listen for your sentry behind you to stop because it's getting chewed on), shoot the rhino. Rarely it hurts the drill to the point of repair, which can often be ignored long enough for the hive to pop.

Barn hive (upstairs hive): grab your sentries and run past the fire trap, past the end of the white fence, up that ladder. This is the quickest way as you will run out of time getting 2 sg + drill up here.

Coming up that ladder, go forward into the corner, turn around. Go right so you are along the back wall by the drill still in that general corner, across from the ladder that you came up. Face sg1 left so it sees the wall, left door, drill on the right (aimed at chain-SAW). Move left to the corner and slightly out towards that door. Set sg2 there, facing the drill. Both sgs see each other and the drill. You mostly stay in the corner, challenges allowing.

May be traps...which i have trouble with. Try to get some seekers or scouts to chase you through the fire trap. Grenades to watch the Barn and/or flares might help. This challenge sucks back here. If you know a solo method, let me know.

May be spend/don't spend.

May be leper.

May be melee scorpion.

Fence hive spots: if it is the...

Middle Fence hive spot, stay in the barn; move oldest sentry to the front, set where the broken bits stick out of the front of the barn (the open area between both ladders), facing straight out. Take the newest to that area, but left, by the edge above the ladder (but still out front), facing the older sentry, the drill, some of the upstairs. Fairly easy, but the rhino shows up downstairs and then comes up. Grab your newer sg and drop and run past the hive, turn and drop it facing the rhino who should be merrily smashing your other sentry. Kill everything else first. Hunters will be like bees on your other sentry. Throw a flare if needed; the rhino will ignore it, but quickly bang out the others, kill rhino. Drop a sentry or 2 if needed on either side of the drill and hang out there for the remainder of the round.

Otherwise it is the...

Cliff Fence spot, where you would do this (from the Barn hive upstairs): grab sg, run past Cliff Fence hive, up the mud ramp on the left, under the deck overhang. Just past the post, drop the sg facing the barn (more or less) it sees the drill on the left, under the overhang on the right.

Run to barn, grab drill, drop off, set down drill (just so you won't be trying to climb the ladder while being attacked if they start coming before you are ready), climb back up, grab sg2, set anywhere by hive in view of sg1, get/plant drill, grab sg2 and head under the overhang, set in back corner, watching anything it can, but especially the other sg. This isn't too hard, but the combination of occasional scorpion missiles plus the very determined hunter attacks plus the eventual visit by the rhino can be a tad trying.

Often stab a scorpion or spend $.

When the rhino shows here it is a pain. Try to spread your guns about 20 feet facing each other. Shoot him. He goes down fast but throw in a few Hunters here and a scorpion and it gets annoying fast. This is a good one to have a flare for to make this really easy. If you don't kill the rhino quickly the scene may become chaos. Quickly focus on Hunters attacking you/scorpions/Hunters not attacking you/rhino, in that order. The hive will probably be done at this point, but drop a new sg if you can't take control because you have very little time between hives now.

Finishing fence hives: if you have 2 sentries left now after the hive popped, place the oldest one on top of the dead hive, pointing towards the Grassy Cliff hive. Move the other first, then this one. This will protect you if you ran out of time and you can easily see if it gets destroyed/times out. Grab this one, then grab the drill, but if you are getting attacked already, grab the drill and head where this sg will shoot. It will protect you and get eaten so you can make a new one.

Grassy Cliff hive: straight out from the drill, moving away from the hive, hit the edge of the cliff, turn around and set a sentry looking towards hive 14, down that incline. Follow the cliff edge ahead a few feet and set another sentry facing the Grassy Cliff hive so their fire crosses each other. Leave almost no room between the sentries and the cliff edge; even 2 feet will be enough for Hunters to climb straight up out of the ground onto the back of them.

Will either be scorpion melee (try using the shield, easy enough with the sentry damage they are taking already), or drill health 50% or better which is quite easy.

By now, a steady stream of Claymores or bouncing betties should be on the field, blowing up almost as fast as they go down (5 max down).

This should be a relatively easy hive.

Hive 14 (i could have called it Crater Hive, but no. It's Hive 14. That's just what it is). Once destroyed, the nuke laptop will be exposed. Don't fall off the edge.

Quickly run your sentries to the puddle, facing each other, maybe 10-20 feet apart. One watches from the tree above the hive and left of that as far as possible. The other watches from the cliff edge on out. They watch each other. You watch the drill, the sgs, any scorpions that are straight out and may not get shot by the sentries (just wound them to keep them moving into danger). You constantly drop grenades, mostly by the drill area or right at the base of sentries (1 per sentry, several by the drill). And you run to turn on the electric trap every time it goes off; throw down grenades, then run.

The electric trap is on for a random period of time. I originally thought that it lasted a set time, then thought it depends in how much damage it deals, but no. Testing shows that it just randomly turns off, usually lasting 10, 30, or 60ish seconds. I have turned it on during a lull, ran back through the puddle, still no cryptids, then had it shut off; 10 seconds long while dealing no damage. Other times it just stays on for a while. I'm not sure if the randomness is intentional or a glitch.

This hive is maybe 6 minutes (?) and you get attacked by a rhino just past the halfway point. He is usually dead quickly here. Same as usual; he beats on a sentry, you and the other sentry get him quickly. Otherwise, try to steal the sentry as he beats on it, move it, drop it.

Not too hard of a hive on solo.

"...then haul your ass back here": as ghost squad said at start-arm the nuke and run.

First, you have unlimited time. Mop up the leftover scorpion or 2.

If 1sg left; take it up to the cellar doors (where Cellar hive was). Set it down facing fence where the Middle Fence hive might have been.

If you have a second sg, run over to this side of the town barrier hive, set it there, facing up the road towards this end area. Drop bouncing betties by them; 2 by cellar, 3 by barrier hive.

Make sure to grab a flare (walk to start if needed). And make sure that you know the location of your Town flare.

Make sure that you know the way home. Walk it all the way back if needed (though nowadays the game has little yellow markers to show the way).

If you see any trophy systems set them up shy of the barrier hives as you will be stopped by meteors temporarily at these locations while rhinos and Hunters and scorpions show you their love.

Get to the nuke. Wait to be sure that your 'run meter' is full and your class upgrade ability is ready. If tank/feral instincts, throw these immediately after activating the nuke.

Okay, hold x. Go up ladder, zig left around ledge that you can't climb, zag right to the corpse of the Cliff Fence hive (so you don't get hit by the rhino by the Middle Fence hive corpse). Run, fight by the sentry. You hope to get the rhino interested in it over you, but don't waste much time.

Run until you near the meteor. If it looks busy, throw the flare where your sentry will shoot them. Fight the rhino by the white fence if he's there as he can be manipulated here (try playing with him here after the town barrier hive for practice).

The meteor makes 4(?) Crackling sounds and drops on the last, it won't harm you, I often slide through them as they drop.

Go through the barrier hive area (grab that flare I talked about if you don't have one now), straight through the center alley (this makes the rhino come around and he takes longer to kick your ass), a waiting scorpion shares of his body fluids with you. As you hit Lopez Road (and a seeker, and some Hunters, and more scorpions), drop the flare, drop some betties, run past your trophy there, turn and set a sentry.

Either you will sit here unmolested until the meteor drops below ground or you will be getting bludgeoned by your rhino friend. If it is the latter, drop another sentry up higher if possible (if he goes after it, turn the first one to face him, otherwise) run around the army vehicle and try to keep it between you and the rhino, kill anything else and/or shoot the rhino, but you must get to the meteor in time for it to fall. Take the beating, use the special medic (or tank) ability to survive. When that meteor drops, move. Stay right down the sidewalk. If not medic or no feral instincts, just run for the platinum win (your shield will keep the Hunters at bay, or quickly turn and shoot if needed). If medic or boosted enough, spend money to keep up your spend rate leaderboards.

On the ride out, whip out the soflam and try to middle-snipe a scorpion before the helicopter gets him.

Good luck, thanks for reading!

Give feedback or let me know if this helped as it was a lot of effort to write all this... Ha.

Edited September 8, 2014 by 83457

[baejsunk]

Nice guide!! can you put some visuals on the sg positions? or better yet video yourself doing 1 run with complete challenges and how you do the flare/trophy swapping thing, its easier to visualize that way..

 

Thanks man

[thedinobot]

Nice guide!! can you put some visuals on the sg positions? or better yet video yourself doing 1 run with complete challenges and how you do the flare/trophy swapping thing, its easier to visualize that way..

 

Thanks man

Which challenges are you having trouble with?

[83457]

Hmmm. Thanks for the feedback. I don't have any recording devices and am a financial failure, so...

On the swap: now i usually wait until after the second barrier hive (poc) before moving them up, no point in doing that twice.

Take a flare with you into the new area (crater). Find a trophy or Hypno knife. Trade the flare for the trophy/hk, then you set up the trophy at the last hive (14).

Now what you have done is added a flare to this end area. In case of emergency, or to use for getting a scorpion to hold still for 'melee a scorpion' challenge or whatever.

If it was a Hypno knife you traded for, simply run that back to town or motel area, trade for a flare, then bring that flare up, trade that one. Keep repeating this to get several flares into the end area where they will be most useful. (again, medic usually survives well enough to skip this, but other classes could use the flare support).

This way, you move all trophies/flares to the end area.

I recommend leaving one flare in an easy-to-access spot in town for when you have to stop at the meteor just before the motel. There are always scorpions and more there. So as you get there, you will definitely have that flare to throw down so, as you wait for the meteor to go away, you are only concerned with the rhino; every other critter is staring at that flare. Then, set down sentries (or vulture, or a manned turret) to gun them down/fight the rhino. It is also wise to drop one trophy there also, about by the front of the army vehicle with the mounted turret on it.

If anyone has a capture card, a 2 man game is quite similar. I could show these swaps in action and some preferred sentry placement. (i still have xbox360. I'm poor remember?). If you know how to embed that in a post, I'm game. Currently have lots of free time, wasting it on Extinction.

[83457]

Also, if you are a decent player, the vulture can get you through a solo game with only a little more stress.

You won't have the tedium of moving sentries, but you will probably do several more drill repairs during the game.

I would highly recommend the t50 upgrade to the vulture to get the 75 second length and the increased rocket action.

It will be a little less useful in the early game, but by the second barrier hive, it should be easily paying for itself. Later, it isn't susceptible to being destroyed like the sentries and will follow you around. Sentries and vultures both have their pros and cons.

The above class but with vulture;

What you can do for a little more firepower is bring the portable turret instead of shield (build up vulture, pistol 2 points, class, turret, in that order). You probably won't set them up until the last couple of hives, but they take rhinos/Hunters down extremely fast. As medic, scorpion gas won't be an issue while on the turret and the vulture will protect you.

Just don't use it on accuracy challenges.

So, for fastest games, i will use the vulture.

In general, let the vulture work; stand where it can see clearly all approaches to your area.

Town barrier hive: stand up top on the building across from the barrier hive. Focus on protecting yourself and killing whatever scorpions are just out of the vulture's view.

Crater area; first hive, stand on the little connecting bridge, fall back if you get approached by seekers on the seeker challenge.

Upstairs hive or middle fence hive: stand on the ledge by the upstairs hive.

Cliff fence hive: stand up top on the broken wooden deck. Watch your own back while the vulture watches the drill.

Hive 14; I'll often stand near the switch for the electric puddle trap so the vulture has a great view and craptids tend to attack you and less pressure on the drill. Still use the trap.

Using the vulture is about maximizing it's partially limited potential. Motel area hives; use in emergency as it won't be maxed and will be a points waste until about the first barrier hive. These hives are about 2 minutes.

Town area hives: these are about 3 minutes, so challenges permitting, your maxed vulture will last 15 seconds less than half of each hive. So wait for the battle to get going for a few, then call it in and another just post the halfway point. Watch out for a bunch of leftovers at the end.

Crater area hives; here, just keep calling then in as they time out. The constant flow of cash will keep them out. Just grab the drill, run and drop it at the next hive to not waste vultures in use as the previous hive dies.

The biggest issues are getting trap kills in the crater area; running to the puddle trap is the only viable option. Try to do it as seekers come down as they are the easiest to get the trap challenge with (but a vulture in the air might kill them).

Vulture won't fail the leper challenge.

Just like turrets, getting the 'don't spend money' or 'don't use abilities' means call it in quickly before that 10 second timer goes down.

Good luck and happy gaming!

Edited September 25, 2014 by 83457