Achievement: CompletionistDescription: Complete all Extinction challenges and escape.This achievement is best done with 4 players so I've wrote this guide accordingly. Regardless, I've also listed the solo requirements if you feel you're up for it. This mode now has an easy difficulty which you can't unlock achievements on, so stick to original.
RECOMMENDED LOAD-OUTS: (Highly recommend level 22 for sentry turret and 25 for armor piercing ammo)Player 1: Priority is Armor Piercing Ammo.
Class: Tank
Pistol Type: MP-443 Grach Pistol
(Can change this to your preferred/best available)Ammo Type: Armor Piercing Ammo
(Can change this to your best available)Team Support: Armor
Strike Package: Sentry Gun
(If not then I.M.S.)Equalizer: Riot Shield
(Might help with the rhinos at the end)Player 2: Priority is Team Booster.
Class: Tank
Pistol Type: MP-443 Grach Pistol
(Can change this to your preferred/best available)Ammo Type: Armor Piercing Ammo
Team Support: Team Booster
Strike Package: Sentry Gun
(If not then I.M.S.)Equalizer: Riot Shield
(Might help with the rhinos at the end)Player 3: Priority is Armor.
Class: Medic
Pistol Type: MP-443 Grach Pistol
(Can change this to your preferred/best available)Ammo Type: Armor Piercing Ammo
Team Support: Armor
Strike Package: Sentry Gun
(If not then I.M.S.)Equalizer: Minigun or Riot Shield
(Might help with the barrier hives and rhinos at the end)Player 4: Priority is Armor.
Class: Medic
Pistol Type: MP-443 Grach Pistol
(Can change this to your preferred/best available)Ammo Type: Armor Piercing Ammo
Team Support: Armor
Strike Package: Sentry Gun
(If not then I.M.S.)Equalizer: Minigun or Riot Shield
(Might help with the barrier hives and rhinos at the end)GENERAL SURVIVAL IDEA:AREA 1 of 3 (MOTEL):With the first four points (from the first two hives) fully upgrade your specific support type.
Player 1: Armor Piercing Ammo
Player 2: Team Booster
Player 3: Armor
Player 4: Armor
Deploy the level 4 armor and ammo. Team booster won't be needed until the barrier hive. From here work on fully upgrading your sentry gun/I.M.S.. On these next two barriers just finish their respective challenges and drop ammo/armor if needed. At this point you might want a primary weapon and personally the vector works pretty well for me. On a side note, this first area has two electrical fences which are suitable to grind your traps kills for:
Simply jump over the fallen section of fence to lure the little scouts over repeatedly for a quick and easy 40G's.
Now you'll be at the first barrier hive. The trick to getting this done A.S.A.P. is to put down a turret/I.M.S. each facing away from the barrier hive to cover you. Then as soon as you see the hive's health bar appear, immediately put down team booster and lay into the inside of the largest spore (death machines especially will make this go fastest). Put down ammo/armor regularly with another team booster the second the 60 seconds of the first are up. This will make the barrier go a lot faster than if you waited for the chopper. With the barrier hive destroyed the enemy will stop re-spawning and you'll get 3,000 cash. If you haven't done so already you should unlock this achievement:
AREA 2 of 3 (CITY):In this second area it is pretty much the same deal except all equipment will need to be put down more frequently. Keep the call-outs coming so that everyone knows what you need. You can start putting turrets down to cover the hives too at this point but be ready to turn them around if a challenge requires kills with X weapon. Once you turret/I.M.S. is fully upgraded start to work on tank/medic (only upgrade tank to 4/5 or you'll be slow at the end) as you'll need it for the next area then on whichever will best help you.
Once you get to the second barrier hive put down 2 turrets each and I.M.S.'s if you've got them. Don't worry about the points as you'll get them back in no time from the turrets. Just like the first barrier hive drop team booster/ammo/armor and lay into it. Just remember to kill the scorpions on the wall behind it before they spit on you. If you haven't done so already you should unlock this achievement:
AREA 3 of 3 (CABIN):Last area! Now is the best time to earn this achievement (given that there are still enough dig sites) as all areas are now available and creature free:
Every hive at this point will NEED the turrets/I.M.S.'s to cover the drill. Ammo/armor/team booster will need to continuously be put down. Especially armor (can't emphasize this enough)! This is pretty much the make or break for this achievement. If you get offered the sniper challenge or the trap one then things could get a little tricky but it might be worth still trying anyway. The accuracy one might also seem hard at this point but as long as you shoot the 1 bullet for 100% then let the turrets/I.M.S. do the work, you'll be fine. You should also keep dropping armor and knife them to help get things moving.
ONCE YOU GET THE OPTION TO ARM THE NUKE..... WAIT! There is a little trick that will make a world of difference. Get your team to run back towards the alley leading from the city. Then with your back to it put down half of your equipment (turrets/I.M.S.'s) so that they'll cover you when you get there. Now with your other equipment do the same thing but at the first barrier in between the starting area and the city on the road. They won't be there yet but they'll spawn as you'll approach them on the way back from the nuke.
It is very important that you know that you CAN'T help the barrier along. No matter what each will take 20 seconds to disappear so just keep dropping equipment and focusing fire on the rhinos until then. Knowing this have everyone fully armored, at maximum ammo and next to the nuke ready. THEN drop team boost for everyone to pick up before quickly arming the nuke.
ESCAPE:NOW arm the nuke and run to the first barrier. AS SOON AS you arrive drop all equipment, deploy riot shields if you have them
(may need to melee to actually equip it on your back... you can see a shield icon by your health bar if it is in fact equipped) and lay into the rhinos. Have the medics revive anyone that goes down immediately. If you have a flare now would be a good time to drop it to draw attention away. Once the barrier is down run to the last and put down more turrets/I.M.S's if you can and again lay into the rhinos. From here it is a straight forward run to the end. Just remember that if so many go into the ring and the last gets downed you'll go without them and they'll miss out. So DON'T enter the ring until everyone is next to it ready.
*ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED*Using my method you should of also unlocked (if not done so already):
and most likely this as well;
If you also had a relic on too then you would of got the last escape achievement too:
CHALLENGES:Now that we've covered the general idea to survive I'll go through each challenge and the most efficient way of doing them. The first is always one of two:
Use only melee attacks to damage aliens until the hive is destroyed.Pretty straight forward, just stay close to the drill only using your knife to damage the aliens.
or
Do not take any damage from aliens before the hive is destroyed.Again easy enough. Stay back, stay together, stay focused.
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Now the rest of the challenges aren't all too predictable but with some luck you'll get the easier ones. ALWAYS wait before you put the drill down just in case there is a challenge for not spending money/using ability for so long. This way you can have all the equipment already in play. Anyway, here's a list of the other challenges:
Kill 25 aliens using pistols before the hive is destroyed. (15 solo)Let me start off by saying that using special ammo with ANY of these weapon challenges will make them so much easier. This one specifically is insanely easy as it is your default weapon.
Find and kill the Leper in 30 seconds.This is easy if you actually know what you're looking for. Basically it is just like the scout (normal alien) except it is slightly larger and has a red glow opposed to yellow/orange. He WILL keep his distance from traps and turrets so bear that in mind. One thing about it though is that it will sometimes be outside the playable zone in the first two areas. In the first I have seen him on the mound to the left of the barrier hive and in the second on a roof near the second barrier hive. However, this is not always the case - half the time he will be in the map. A REALLY helpful tip for this one is to have someone with feral instincts as they'll get a new vision which will highlight all the enemies in orange and more importantly the leper red! Making this A LOT easier.
Kill 25 aliens using shotguns before the hive is destroyed. (15 solo)Use armor piercing ammo and have at least 2 players actively work on this. All equipment should be turned away/moved/not placed. The others shouldn't be killing at all. In the motel area there is a FP6 shotgun leaning against the lower floor of the motel under the stairs, next to a hive spawn. In the city area there is a bulldog against the electric wall on the far right coming from spawn. The cabin area has another bulldog on the wooden decking above the chopper contribution laptop room and a MTS-255 in the crater to your immediate right ahead.
Kill 25 aliens using SMGs before the hive is destroyed. (15 solo)Same idea as shotgun. In the motel area there is a vector-CRB against the arch sitting on the right of the road and a vepr up the road against the building next to the motel sign. The city area has a CBJ-MS lying on the sidewalk by the electric wall and a Bizon near some dumpsters (all the way to the left wall, from entering the area). The cabin area has a MTAR-X (at the top of the ladder from the crater).
Kill 25 aliens using assault rifles before the hive is destroyed. (15 solo)Same idea as shotgun. The motel area has a AK-12 next to the second hive. The city has a SA-805 lying against the wall of the building on the right as you enter. The cabin area has a honey badger at the bottom of the barn.
Kill 25 aliens using LMGs before the hive is destroyed. (15 solo)Same idea as shotgun. In the motel area there is a MR-28 in the grass to the right through the arch. In the city area there is a M27-IAR on top a wooden platform to the left as you first enter. In the cabin area there is a chain SAW at the top floor of the barn.
Kill 25 aliens using sniper rifles before the hive is destroyed. (15 solo)Same idea as shotgun. There is a VKS in the motel area at the start on a mound of dirt to the right after the very first hive. In the cabin area there is a L115 around on the raised decking of the building straight ahead at the top of the road and another VKS under the decking (with the bulldog sitting on it) of the house to the left at the top of the road.
Spend $X before the hive is destroyed.You'll get this just putting out equipment and turrets/I.M.S.'s as you go.
Kill 5 aliens while they are in the air before the hive is destroyed.This one is quite tricky and will require some timing and guessing. Try to lead one or two crawlers along keeping your distance and timing your shots every time they jump (when they do). You may well find that this is easier to do with the scorpions if you get given the challenge far enough in as all they do is jump to get around.
Kill 10 aliens with turrets before the hive is destroyed. (5 solo)If you have someone with a sentry turret this will be done in no time especially if you have a flare. Just stick it down in front of the turret and watch it do work.
Kill a scorpion with a melee before the hive is destroyed.Like most challenges, divert your turret's attentions and move I.M.S.'s out of the way. Then get everyone to keep an eye out and knife it. Don't forget armor whilst you wait.
Protect a random player from entering last stand.As long as the armor and ammo keeps coming, the turrets and I.M.S.'s are going, you'll all be fine. Any point after the first barrier hive put down team booster as much as possible too.
Do not bleed out before the hive is destroyed.Same as protect X.
Do not go into last stand before the hive is destroyed.Same as protect X.
Do not let the drill go below 50 health before the hive is destroyed.There is no way to go wrong with this as you'll be able to repair it if it even manages to hit 75. Which it shouldn't with all the turrets and I.M.S's.
Keep shot accuracy at 75% or above before the hive is destroyed.The trick to this is to hit 1 bullet then knife the rest of the enemies or if you're far enough in just get your turrets/I.M.S.'s to kill the aliens. Be sure to deploy plenty armor during this.
Keep shot accuracy at 50% or above before the hive is destroyed.Exactly the same as the previous.
Kill 10 aliens with traps before the hive is destroyed. (5 solo)If you're in the first area, use the electric fences. The second area, the fire trap or the electricity wall. With the third area having the electric fence or electricity running into the water. If you get this challenge in the third area it is going to be really difficult unless you're in the barn as you're equipment will most likely take all the kills. However if you are, turn your turrets away and drop a flare by a trap or run circles by it. Shouldn't be too troublesome.
Do not take any damage from exploding seeker aliens until the hive is destroyed.Have your turrets and I.M.S.'s in place with you behind them then just focus your attention towards the meteors which start to appear after the half way point. Each one spawns about 4 seekers - they are the little red tickers.
Don't reload for 60 seconds.Just remember one thing whilst waiting out the time. Picking up ammo WILL reload your weapon if it has a full mag or not. However, if you quickly switch weapon you'll be fine. In the meantime put down equipment, armor and just use your knife.
Don't use any abilities for 90 seconds.Don't touch your D-PAD. It's as simple as that. You can still pay to use an already placed turret. Other than that just use your knife to keep the aliens off the drill.
Don't spend any money for 2 minutes.Same idea as don't use any abilities except you can't pay to use turrets either. So again just use your knife.
Kill 10 aliens with propane tanks before the hive is destroyed. (5 solo)For this challenge I like to get a propane tank and place it in an fairly open area and run circles around it until there's a reasonable amount of enemies nearby. You can get around 3-5 aliens each time doing this. If you have a flare you could also place that next to the tank to make it even easier (Make sure not to hit the tank with it though, as it will blow it up on you before they surround the flare). There are plenty of tanks to go through in both areas so no worries if you're only getting a couple each time.
This is completely luck based --as far as which challenges you get-- so just restart if you fail a challenge and just keep trying. Eventually they'll give you the right challenges at the right times. Good luck!
Thanks to
FiBER NL and
https://www.trueachievements.com/CounterInsurgnt.htm for the advice on what to use in equalizer and
Phoenix BLK,
CrAzEdCaNuCk18 and
Dokter V for additional info!
Hope this helps.