Each Corporate Leader starts at the Apertian hot mine located in the volcanic area of Aperta. To unlock the next mission, the clone must reach a specific depth in the cave, following certain rules in its progression.
Every cave is unique, and it can be completed by reaching a specific depth unique to each mine. These parameters are determined by Arcadian scientists and communicated to every Corporate Leader by Elora, the main Arcadian System Operator. Bellow an exemple on New Terra, 8 caves are present, and they require the following "/ xxx" depth :
Once a mine is completed, it is possible to move on to the next cave. It is also possible to attempt to go deeper into this cave.
Important note: Caves don't have a bottom. It is possible to go as deep as you want. However, every 10 levels, monsters will become stronger and gain +1 level. Tokens will also gain :
+1% every 30 level in all but last 2 caves.
+1% every 20 level in pre-final cave.
+1% every 10 level in final cave.
Each level has an initial length of 5 minutes when choosing the normal mode and the progression within this level is divided into "rounds" of 10 seconds each. Every round, the system randomly determines which event awaits the clone. Three options are possible:
Nothing. Nothing happens and the clone moves to the next round. After 10 seconds, another roll takes place to determine what event the clone has to face.
Find something. In this case, the clone will pick up some materials, gears or ressources available from the mission dashboard listing.
Fight. The clone will face an enemy and try to defeat it. See more details about fights and corresponding outcome inFight and stats section.
Factors which influence your progression
Mission difficulty
Stealth, Normal and Hunter mission mode impact the level completion time and the encountering enemy chances likely impacting your clone progression. See Mission settings section for more details.
Consumables
Consumables can influence the outcome of every round, acting on top of the mission settings to further change what happens at the end of every 10-second interval.
Speed and Exploration Speed
Finally, the clone speed also influences the level duration. For instance, if a clone has 10 points in speed with a Mission Exploration Speed bonus of +0.5 seconds per speed point, the level will be 5 seconds shorter.
Each clone will establish a camp at a secure location at the entrance of each cave (level 1). This position will be used by the clone to rest, recover, and get support from the space station if needed.
Additionally, every 10 levels, the clone will establish a new camp. Camps act as checkpoints from which the clone can withdraw and hide in case of issues, interact with the outside and transfer the items that they collected if you have the Teleportation Transponder module.
Thus, every 10 levels serve as a secure location for Corporate Leaders to regain contact with their clone and further pursue their explorations. Therefore, it is important to strategically use checkpoints to start missions at particular depths.
Each level has a unique topology. When a clone enters the level for the first time, it knows nothing about it, and the explored percentage is equal to 0%. Once the clone finishes its run in the level, it will know a bit more about the level, and the exploration percentage will slightly increase. If the clone keeps exploring this level, it will gather more and more information about this particular level, and the exploration percentage will keep increasing.
A high exploration percentage means that a clone knows the level since it has explored it many times already. Therefore, it will encounter fewer monsters, it will find fewer items and tokens.
The exploration factor functions as follows:
Every 5 events within a level (fight, finding items, tokens etc.), the exploration factor for the particular level increases by 1%.
The exploration factor decreases the probability of events happening in the level. For instance, an exploration factor of 25% will reduce by 25% the probability for the clone to find items, tokens, or encounter monsters. An exploration factor of 50% will cut those events in half.
Even if the exploration factor is extremely high, a clone always has a 20% chance of encountering an enemy or finding an item. This means that even if the exploration factor is equal to 100%, the clone can still meet monsters and find items.
Preventing your clone from collecting specific materials or equipment does affect your loot chance.
In each cave, once the required level to unlock the next cave is reached, the clone will gradually become more familiar with the cave, resulting in a reduction in the number of materials and tokens found (decrease by 0.1% for each new level entered).
The drop decrease is capped at 95%. Level of exploration prevents players from endlessly farming the same level, while the cave exploration factor prevents players from endlessly farming the same cave. This logic also encourages players to move to the next cave.
The last 2 mines are not subject to the global cave exploration decrease. This will allow more competitive players to continue farming tokens without impairment but in a more challenging environment.
This factor will apply directly on the mission loot chance on any level beyond the mission length, for instance :
New Terra mine 8 mission length = 400
No cave exploration factor applied from lvl 1 to 400
0.1% applied on lvl 401 (0.99 * 29.5%)
10% applied on lvl 501 (0.80 * 29.5%)
Cave exploration factor only reduce the drop of tokens and items, it does not impact enemy spot chance. Cave exploration factor is cumulative with level exploration factor.
The mission exploration speed reduces the time that a clone spends in each level proportionally to its skill points in speed. Initially, clones start with a mission exploration speed of +0.5 SEC/SPEED, meaning that every skill point in speed reduces the time the clone will spend in the level by 0.25 seconds.
For instance, if a clone has 10 points in speed, every level will be 5 seconds shorter. With an increase in speed, the time between rounds (10 seconds) remains the same, but the number of rounds per level decreases.
Exploration speed can be increased by tuning your boosts or upgrading specific skill points within your skill tree.
The last essential concept behind exploration is that a clone will never die. Each clone was genetically engineered to possess improved tissue regeneration properties along with survival mechanisms, allowing it to hide and recover when its life is in danger.
Therefore, reaching lower depths inside a given cave is a subtle balance between speed and strength. Anyone progressing too quickly will soon become stuck on harder levels, whereas clones that take excessive time to train will never reach the deeper levels.
All New Terra mines completed as the player have reach the depth requirements in each one of them.
