Missions

Missions are the main form of gameplay in . Missions must be selected from the Mission Selection Terminal, located in front of the green hologram of Hoxxes IV on the first floor of the Space Rig, or by pressing the TAB key to view the browser. When selecting a mission, the host must first select a Planetary Region, then select a mission type. Some Planetary Regions may be temporarily unavailable while Missions are being refreshed. Completing missions will yield the player both Credits and  Experience. Any Crafting Materials obtained during a mission will also be awarded to the player to spend on Equipment Upgrades and Vanity items. A failed mission still has a reward, though only 25% of Credits,  Experience and mined minerals will be retained.

Every Mission has a randomly generated name comprising of two parts, picked from two tables of words; a "First Name" table for the first half and a "Last Name" table for the second half.

Mission Types
There are currently seven mission types available to choose from. Each mission type has different objectives, generated cave systems will also vary based on mission type. Each mission type becomes available for hosting after completing the Conquer Hoxxes IV Assignment.

Mining expedition icon.png Mining Expedition
Mining Expeditions are the first mission available to new Miners. Mining Expedition missions are characterized by linear series of connected caves separated by dirt walls between them with a "treasure room" full of resources at the end.

The goal of a Mining Expedition mission is to collect the quota of Morkite and whatever optional Secondary Objective item has been called for.

The required quota of Morkite differs based off the mission length and complexity.

Once the main objective of collecting the quota of Morkite has been met a button on the M.U.L.E. can be pressed which will call an escape pod down somewhere on the map. At this point players will have 5 minutes to make their way back to the pod and escape.

You are accompanied on the mission by the M.U.L.E. and either your fellow Dwarven companions (other players) or your drone, Bosco (when playing alone in a server or in Solo Mode).

Egg collection icon.png Egg Hunt
Egg Hunt missions are characterized by a central starting room with several branching paths connecting to large, irregularly shaped caverns with a few small offshoot caves connected, usually via dirt walls.

The goal is to collect Alien Eggs that are hidden within the walls throughout the cave system, along with optionally collecting an assigned Secondary Objective material. Eggs are identified by small orange blisters on the surface of the walls they are buried within, a very notable organic mass, as well as a slight purple glow emitting from the egg itself. Upon digging an Egg free from a nest, a roar will sound and a group of angry bugs will spawn. There is also a chance that the extraction of an egg attracts a swarm.

The required amount of Alien Eggs changes based off the level length.

Once the main objective of collecting the quota of Alien Eggs has been met a button on the M.U.L.E. can be pressed which will call an Drop Pod down somewhere on the map. At this point players will have 5 minutes to make their way back to the pod and escape.

You are accompanied on the mission by the M.U.L.E. and either your fellow Dwarven companions (other players) or your drone, Bosco (when playing alone in a server or in Solo Mode).

Refining icon.png On-site Refining
On-site Refining missions are characterized by one large cavern that you are dropped into that has a large central refinery platform dropped into the map shortly after all players have exited the Drop Pod, and an aggressive flow of enemies. The refinery platform is raised from the ground, has four ramps attaching it, two central deposit points for materials, a launch button that activates the extraction phase, headlights, and three pipeline access ports.

The first goal is to locate Liquid Morkite sites, easily identifiable by a dense geyser of blue liquid. After calling Pumpjacks on the found wells, coming back to the Refinery site via the pipeline access, it requires building a network of pipes to the Pumpjacks. Once all pumps are connected, the refining process can be activated via a button on the platform. From this point, swarms of enemies will attack until the end of the mission, becoming worse over time. During the extraction of the liquids, leaks will appear on the pipeline grid and will need to be fixed to progress the objective, as well as optionally collecting an assigned Secondary Objective material.

The required quota of Liquid Morkite does not differ based off the mission length and complexity. Only the distance between the wells and the Refinery vary.

Once the quota of Liquid Morkite has been met, a launch button located on the refinery platform will become active. The enemies will not stop spawning and attacking before activating the button. Once activated, the refinery head used for depositing minerals will detach from the platform and propel itself back to the space rig via a rocket.

At this point, a short time will pass until a drop pod arrives nearby for escape. Players will have three minutes to make their way to the Escape Pod.

You are accompanied on the mission by your fellow Dwarven companions (other players) or your drone, Bosco (when playing alone in a server or in Solo Mode). In this mission you are not provided with the M.U.L.E.

Salvage icon.png Salvage Operation
Salvage Operation is characterized by a small starting room which branches out into one giant cave with many Mini-M.U.L.E. parts lying around and a broken Drop Pod.

The first goal is to search the tunnels for broken mini-M.U.L.E.s, easily identifiable by either a beeping noise or a green visual beacon. Around each broken M.U.L.E. there will be up to four mini-M.U.L.E. legs. Each mini-M.U.L.E only needs three legs where after they are attached, they must be repaired. Repairing each M.U.L.E. rewards the team with what it was carrying, which is always Nitra and Gold.

After the mini-M.U.L.E.s have all been repaired, a button on the M.U.L.E. becomes available to press which recalls the M.U.L.E. to the drop pod. The team must then repair a communications uplink which, once repaired, allows mission control to triangulate the pod's position. During this time the team must defend themselves from a large swarm and stay within a green sphere around the uplink or else the progress will slow down or even decrease. Getting downed in the sphere will count as if a player has left the area, and if the progress completely depletes this mission will instantly fail.

After triangulation is complete the team gets a breather while waiting for the Fuel Pod to drop down. After it arrives the team must link up the fuel pod to the drop pod with cords and then defend themselves within another green sphere, which players have to stay inside of for the fuel to fill the drop pod. Once this is completed the team will be free to move anywhere but will have to hold out for an additional two minutes until the drop pod is ready to leave after which the team can finally escape.

The number of Mini-M.U.L.E. to salvage is dependent on the length of the mission.

You are accompanied on the mission by the M.U.L.E. and either your fellow Dwarven companions (other players) or your drone, Bosco (when playing alone in a server or in Solo Mode). After recalling the M.U.L.E. to the broken Drop Pod, it will not be available for the rest of the mission; players can still deposit directly into the mineral grinders on the sides of the broken Drop Pod.

Point extraction icon.png Point Extraction
Point Extraction missions are characterized by one large cavern that you are dropped into that has a large central mining platform dropped into the map shortly after all players have exited the Drop Pod, and an aggressive flow of enemies. The mining platform is raised from the ground, has four ramps connecting it to the ground, two central deposit points for materials, a launch button that activates the extraction phase, two headlights which slowly rotate, and three turrets each with 600 rounds of ammunition. The turrets will disappear once all of their ammo has been spent. The longer the player stays in the mission, the higher frequency of enemy spawns.

The goal is to explore the large cavern and collect blue gems called Aquarq that are hidden within the walls as well as optionally collecting an assigned Secondary Objective material. Aquarq are identified by blue flecks of crystal on the surface of the walls they are buried within, as well as a slight blue glow emitting from the gem itself. Once the gems have been unearthed, the gems must be carried back to the mining platform and deposited into one of two slots in the mining head at the center of the platform. This mission is one of only two mission types featuring the "collect Dystrum" Secondary Objective.

The number of Aquarq to collect is dependent on the length of the mission.

Once the quota of Aquarq has been met, a launch button located on the mining platform will become active. Once activated, the mine head used for depositing minerals will detach from the platform and propel itself back to the space rig via a rocket.

At this point, a two minute timer will begin counting down until a drop pod arrives nearby for escape, during which swarms of enemies will attack. Once the two-minute timer ends, players will have three minutes to make their way to the Escape Pod.

You are accompanied on the mission by your fellow Dwarven companions (other players) or your drone, Bosco (when playing alone in a server or in Solo Mode). In this mission you are not provided with the M.U.L.E.

Escort icon.png Escort Duty
Escort Duty missions are characterized by a large starting room with several unconnected large, irregularly shaped caverns and rare small caves.

The goal is to maintain and escort a Drilldozer until it reaches the Ommoran Heartstone. During the drilling operation waves of enemies will continually attack the vehicle who will run out of fuel and stop in a large cave. Two fuel canisters will be accessible behind the Drilldozer, equipped with lasers they can collect Oil Shale material, once both full and re-injected into the drill, it will continue its operation after pressing the button. At the Ommoran Heartstone, the drill will start piercing and the players must complete four phases. The first one is a wave of enemies, followed by Flying Rocks trying to bombard the vehicle, another wave of creatures will appear until the final stage with a various number of crystals emerging from the ground and emitting lasers, which can be destroyed with the Pickaxe, the Driller's Reinforced Power Drills or Bosco's rockets among other weapons that affect terrain. The Ommoran Core can then be collected and put on the M.U.L.E.

The required number of refueling differs based off the mission length.

Upon successful collection of the Ommoran Core, a button on the M.U.L.E. can be pressed which will call a Drop Pod down somewhere on the map.

At this point players will have 5 minutes to make their way back to the pod and escape.

You are accompanied on the mission by the M.U.L.E. and either your fellow Dwarven companions (other players) or your drone, Bosco (when playing alone in a server or in Solo Mode).

Elimination icon.png Elimination
Elimination mode is characterized by a central starting room with multiple branching interconnected tunnels and dirt paths leading from the starting room.

The goal is to search the tunnels to locate the two to three cocoons containing the mini-bosses, the various Dreadnought Types. Dwarves must fight and kill all the Dreadnoughts, and optionally collect an assigned Secondary Objective material.

The number of targets to kill is based on the length and complexity of the mission.

Upon successfully eliminating the Dreadnought targets, a button on the M.U.L.E. can be pressed which will call an escape pod down somewhere on the map.

At this point players will have 5 minutes to make their way back to the pod and escape.

You are accompanied on the mission by the M.U.L.E. and either your Dwarven Companions (other Players) or Bosco the drone (when playing alone in a server or in Solo Mode).

DeepDive Icon.png Deep Dives
The Deep Dive is a collection of three missions which are pre-seeded, meaning that they will be the same layout every time you play. The missions require two primary objectives to be completed before the Drop Pod can be summoned, with Mutators having a much higher chance of occurring whereas other features such as Crafting Materials and Machine Events are disabled. All three levels must be played in sequence with each mission granting extra rewards if completed. The status of the Dwarves including each player's individual health and ammo as well as the Team Depository is carried over between missions. There are also Elite Deep Dives, which are significantly more difficult but offer better rewards. Enemy spawns will never be the same unless it is an objective specific target.

Hazard Bonuses
Each mission will have a Hazard Bonus, a multiplier for the total Credits and  Experience earned during a mission. This bonus is calculated based on the Hazard Level of a mission, its Cave Complexity, its Length, and any Warnings the mission has. The sum of each of these elements will be the final Hazard Bonus, which can be seen at the mission end screen.

Mutators
Mutators were released in Update 15: Mutation Warning. Missions may have Mutators, which are special events that may modify the mission for better or worse. Warnings are negative mutators and Anomalies are positive or neutral mutators. A mission currently can have at most two Warnings and one Anomaly. Warnings will increase the Hazard Bonus from 15% up to 30%.

Random Events
Creature Encounters are rare unique and special denizens of the depths that the player may encounter while on a mission. There can be multiple encounters of different types during a given mission, but never more than one of each. All of these encounters are decided upon at mission generation.

Additionally, special enemy swarms can consist of a large group of Praetorians, Macteras creatures, Glyphid Grunt species, Swarmers or even a Dreadnought.

Trivia

 * As of Update 23, the 18th song in the soundtrack "Beneath the Crust" will play on the results screen upon mission completion.
 * After release, Update 32: Roughnecks At Work added two mission type: On-site Refining and Escort Duty.

Misiones